Browsing by Subject "conceptual profile"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Learning to assess in the academic workplace: case study in the natural sciences
    (Unisa Pres, 2008) Jawitz, Jeff
    A study into how academics learn to assess student performance affirms the significance of context in understanding learning in the academic workplace. The study involved three case studies in academic departments with significant differences in the teaching, research and professional dimensions of academic life. This article reports on the experiences of new academics in one of the case studies, a department in the Natural Sciences. This case study highlights how relationships between colleagues, opportunities for conversations about assessment practice, and the alignment of assessment practices with the kinds of capital valued in each context are important considerations in understanding the ease, or difficulties, new academics experience in learning to judge student performance. Programmes that aim to help academics develop their assessment practice need to recognise that learning to judge student performance involves developing confidence to create and use opportunities to learn within the academic workplace.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Preparedness for tertiary chemistry: multiple applications of the chemistry competence test for diagnostic and prediction purposes
    (The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2011) Davidowitz, Bette; Potgieter, Marietjie
    The development of the Chemistry Competence Test was prompted by the extensive curriculum changes in the South African school system after democracy was established in 1994. As chemists, we were concerned that there might be a lack of articulation between secondary and tertiary levels, since we anticipated that curriculum changes would have an impact on the knowledge base and skills development of prospective students. A diagnostic test developed initially to document proficiencies of first-time entering students to South African universities has proved to be a versatile instrument for multiple uses. Apart from monitoring levels of preparedness for tertiary chemistry during a period of systemic change, it has also been used to evaluate institutional placement policies, to identify specific conceptual problems and procedural deficiencies, and to measure conceptual gains over the course of the first year at university. In addition, its application for the prediction of risk of failure in first-year chemistry based on cognitive and non-cognitive variables was demonstrated. All these findings are valuable resources to inform lecturers who are concerned about minimizing the conceptual gap between secondary and tertiary chemistry.