An analysis of the alignment of the grade 12 physical sciences examination and the core curriculum in South Africa

dc.creator	Nazeem Edwards
dc.date	2010-01-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-07-20T22:11:52Z
dc.date.available	2015-07-20T22:11:52Z
dc.identifier	0256-0100
dc.identifier	2076-3433
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/ddfe3669b5bb464f9cff53a59921f41b
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/14771
dc.description	I report on an analysis of the alignment between the South African Grade 12 Physical Sciences core curriculum content and the exemplar papers of 2008, and the final examination papers of 2008 and 2009. A two-dimensional table was used for both the curriculum and the examination in order to calculate the Porter alignment index, which indicates the degree of match between the two. Alignment indices of 0.8 and 0.6 for Physics and Chemistry, respectively, were computed and remained constant for Physics, but fluctuated initially for Chemistry before levelling off. Using the revised Bloom's taxonomy, discrepancies were found in terms of cognitive levels as well as content areas in both Physics and Chemistry. The cognitive level Remember is under-represented in the Chemistry and Physics examinations, whereas the cognitive levels Understand and Apply were over-represented in Chemistry. It is argued that the shift to higher cognitive levels is in line with the reported increase in cognitive complexity of the Physical Sciences curriculum. The significance of the study for Physical Science teachers is highlighted, and the potential for further research is also indicated.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	Education Association of South Africa (EASA)
dc.relation	http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-01002010000400005
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/0256-0100
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/2076-3433
dc.source	South African Journal of Education, Vol 30, Iss 4, Pp 571-590 (2010)
dc.subject	alignment
dc.subject	assessment
dc.subject	Chemistry
dc.subject	cognitive level
dc.subject	curriculum content
dc.subject	Physics
dc.subject	revised Bloom's taxonomy
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.title	An analysis of the alignment of the grade 12 physical sciences examination and the core curriculum in South Africa
dc.type	article