Science teachers' pedagogical content challenges in teaching the relationship between the sun, moon, and earth to grade seven learners in Limpopo Province

Abstract

This study focused on the specific content-related teaching challenges that grade 7 Natural Sciences teachers face when teaching the relationship between the sun, the moon, and the earth in the Mankweng Circuit, South Africa. These challenges further emphasised the need for sustained professional teacher development. These challenges underscored the need for continuous teacher professional development. Guided by Shulman’s theory of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) and Vygotsky’s Social Constructivism, the study explored how science teachers’ subject knowledge and classroom practices intersect with the social and interactive processes of learning. Using qualitative research design, data was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and classroom observations of ten Natural Sciences teachers. Using thematic analysis and in-depth interviews, crucial issues relating to teaching and learner engagement, conceptual and pedagogical strategies, classroom discourse and interactions, and materials and resources were unveiled. There was a notable lack of misconceptions, as teachers struggled to engage learners and sustain meaningful learner-teacher interactions. Moreover, the data revealed the ineffectiveness of currently used professional development programmes to address the emerging pedagogical issues. The study highlights the essential focus of professional development regarding the enhancement of teachers’ PCK. It necessitates addressing the long-standing misconceptions, covering the use of constructivist strategies, and improving the nature of classroom interactions. The study also noted that the challenges of pedagogy and contents are found in teaching and learning as well as in the implementation of the instructional strategies. The study underscores the benefits of school-based exercise-oriented pedagogic approaches during professional development, where novice teachers are allowed to enact, learn, rehearse, and reflect on the teaching procedures. To ensure credibility and reduce bias, data triangulation was employed. The study design involved two rounds of interviews: the first round with a focus on the teachers’ academic and pedagogical backgrounds and the second with a focus on teachers’ reflections on effective PCK and teaching strategies relevant to the topic. Both rounds of interviews and observations were audio-visualised and this took place in the schools of the participants. With that, the study fills the knowledge gap regarding the theoretical training offered by tertiary institutions and the actual practical pedagogical challenges in the classroom and provides greater insight into the science teaching realities. In all the ten cases where challenges relating to pedagogical content were reported, assessments were conducted in a sequence of bad, average, and good. In the end, the study advocates for carefully structured ongoing professional development programmes as a prerequisite to improve teaching in Natural Sciences in the senior phase, in a context where science is a difficult subject in South Africa with consistently low learner performance. The study contributes to theory by extending Pedagogical Content Knowledge discourse through contextualised evidence on how teachers’ content understanding and pedagogical reasoning interact when teaching abstract astronomy concepts. It further demonstrates the relevance of social constructivist principles in mediating learners’ understanding of complex scientific relationships. In terms of policy, the findings highlight the need for curriculum planners and education authorities to strengthen professional development programmes that explicitly focus on astronomy content and topic specific pedagogical approaches in the intermediate phase. Regarding classroom practice, the study provides practical insights into the importance of using models, simulations, and learner centred strategies to address misconceptions and enhance conceptual understanding of celestial relationships. These contributions offer collective valuable implications for improving science teaching, teacher training, and curriculum implementation at Grade Seven level.