A case study of a high achiever's learning of physical science.

Abstract

This is a case study of the learning of physical science of a high achiever, selected on the

assumption that instruction in learning strategies and styles used by successful learners

may improve learning effectiveness of less successful learners.

Operating in an interpretive paradigm, qualitative data was gathered by participant

observation aimed at sensing the complexities of the case. A rich, holistic description is

given, enabling readers to form naturalistic generalisations of their own. The data corpus

spans three years and is composed of audio-recorded lessons and interviews, field notes

and written material. Data collection, analysis and interpretation were done in an

inductive, cyclic manner, guided by research questions about learning strategies used by

the learner, instructional strategies used by the teacher, and the roles played by intrinsic

factors, practical work and problem solving, in contributing to effective learning of

physical science by the high achiever.

The study implies that effective learning, even by the highly intelligent, involves

struggle and requires the use of a variety of strategies. This fits a constructivist, rather

than transmissionist, view of learning, and thus supports learner-centered

transformations in South African education. The learner is interpreted to be intrinsically

motivated by interest and a high regard for knowledge precision, elegance, and

transferability, to use a large number of learning strategies, particularly while solving

open-ended problems and performing practical investigations, in order to come to a deep

understanding of physical science. The study suggests that teaching children how to

learn, particularly by addressing their outlook on learning and introducing them to a

variety of strategies, should be an aim of physical science instruction, and that

interesting, open-ended, learner-centered tasks should be used in attempts to induce self-regulated learning.