PERC 2012 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | A study of postgraduate students in an astrophysics bridging year: Identifying Contradictions in a complex system |
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| Abstract: | Postgraduate students who transfer from "Historically Black Universities" to the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme (NASSP) that is run at the University of Cape Town often struggle academically. While our previous studies on student epistemology went some way towards understanding student performance it became clear that broader socio-cultural and systemic issues were playing critical roles. Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as a theoretical perspective we (a) characterized the broader context as an Activity System and (b) identified the four main levels of systemic contradictions as proposed by the theory. We present findings from studies involving various cohorts of students. One of the components of the curriculum that presented particular difficulty was an intermediate level Electromagnetism course. We therefore analysed this as a subsystem identifying several systemic and historical tensions. |
| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Victoria Nwosu Department of Physics, University of Cape Town RW James, Rondebosch Cape Town, Non U.S. 7701 Phone: 011216503337 |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Saalih Allie, Department of Physics, University of Cape Town, South Africa Dedra Demaree, Department of Physics Oregon State University, USA Andrew Deacon, Centre for Educational Technology, University of Cape Town, South Africa |
Contributed Poster | |
| Contributed Poster: | Download the Contributed Poster |
