Science in South Africa

Teaching in the majority of schools in South Africa is teacher-centred, with pupils playing a mainly passive role and learning by rote. In most cases the language of instruction is English, which is a second language for the majority of children. Not surprisingly students find it difficult to understand science concepts and, at best, can only reiterate what they have been told.  

To address some of these issues Paul Webb of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa and David Treagust from Curtin University in Australia teamed up to introduce a group of teachers to new teaching methods and to monitor how these affect students' performance in reasoning and solving problems.¹