Are the ways of engaging with the world that students develop through higher education particular... more Are the ways of engaging with the world that students develop through higher education particular to bodies of knowledge they study? In this article, we examine how students’ accounts of the discipline of chemistry in England and South Africa changed over the three years of their undergraduate degrees. Based on a longitudinal phenomenographic analysis of 105 interviews with 33 chemistry students over the course of their undergraduate degrees in four institutions, we constituted five qualitatively different ways of describing chemistry. These ranged from chemistry as something that happens when things are mixed in a laboratory to a more inclusive account that described chemistry as being able to explain molecular interactions in unfamiliar environments. Most students expressed more inclusive accounts of chemistry by the end of their degrees and the level of change appeared to be related to their educational experiences. In contrast to approaches that emphasise the generic student out...
African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2010
Abstract: Supervision lies at the heart of PhD pedagogy, but the focus has been on improving effi... more Abstract: Supervision lies at the heart of PhD pedagogy, but the focus has been on improving efficiency and completion rates of the PhD process rather than theorising about the nature of the postgraduate supervision process. The study explores the usefulness of situated ...
Towards a new future in engineering education, new scenarios that european alliances of tech universities open up
First-generation students have been a focus in higher education research over the past ten years.... more First-generation students have been a focus in higher education research over the past ten years. However, limited attention has been paid to engineering students who are the first in their generation to enter university. The paper reports on data collected as part of a longitudinal study of first-generation engineering students at a South African university during the early stages of the pandemic. First-generation students, who already face multiple difficulties in their educational journey, were confronted with a juxtaposition during the lockdown. As engineering students, they are inducted into technical approaches to problem-solving via systematic and analytical exploration. Levi-Srauss contrasts this notion of the ingenieur, grounded in the Enlightenment belief in the superiority of rational scientific reasoning, with the bricoleur, who finds solutions by “doing things with whatever is at hand”. With the lockdown period being less amenable to structured problem-solving, students...
An introductory electrical engineering course has unintentionally become a gate-keeper course for... more An introductory electrical engineering course has unintentionally become a gate-keeper course for electrical engineering students at the University of Cape Town. A phenomenographic study using course evaluation data and focus group interviews with students explored students’ perceptions of structural features of the course (including work load, assessments, communication with students), students’ expectations of and motivation for the course, students’ approaches to studying this course, and how students experienced the pace and complexity of the content. The phenomenographical data yielded rich information about a variety of factors impacting on success in the target course. Three categories emerged: structure related factors, student related factors and disciplinary knowledge factors. This on-going study will contribute to the current re-curriculation discussion on the shape and direction of introductory engineering courses.
In this article we analyse the mid-year Mathematics I results for students in the University of C... more In this article we analyse the mid-year Mathematics I results for students in the University of Cape Town’s engineering programmes over the period 2005 to 2009. These results are furthermore compared to the 2010 final results from a semesterised version of the course. The particular focus in the analysis is on the disaggregated group of students who wrote the 2008 NSC examinations in comparison with other groups. Concerns were raised after the 2008 NSC mathematics results showed a marked increase in success over previous years. Scepticism about the NSC mathematics results and the related increase in intake of first-year students has lead to speculation about the reasons for particularly poor mid-year Mathematics I results in 2009. This study draws on data from the mid-year Mathematics I results for the years 2005, 2007 and 2009, and the final results for the semesterised version of the course in 2010. The results suggest that the 2008 South African matriculants who moved directly fr...
In this article we analyse the mid-year Mathematics I results for students in the University of C... more In this article we analyse the mid-year Mathematics I results for students in the University of Cape Town’s engineering programmes over the period 2005 to 2009. These results are furthermore compared to the 2010 final results from a semesterised version of the course. The particular focus in the analysis is on the disaggregated group of students who wrote the 2008 NSC examinations in comparison with other groups. Concerns were raised after the 2008 NSC mathematics results showed a marked increase in success over previous years. Scepticism about the NSC mathematics results and the related increase in intake of first-year students has lead to speculation about the reasons for particularly poor mid-year Mathematics I results in 2009. This study draws on data from the mid-year Mathematics I results for the years 2005, 2007 and 2009, and the final results for the semesterised version of the course in 2010. The results suggest that the 2008 South African matriculants who moved directly from school to university showed a marked decline in success in first-year mathematics. However, the 2007 first-year mathematics results suggest that this decline cannot solely be attributed to the new NSC but rather has been taking place steadily over quite some time. We argue that the nature of first-year mathematics courses need to be redefined, in terms of content as well as how the learning environment is structured, to ensure maximum chance of success of students in the course.
In this article we present a statistical comparison of the mid-year mathematics and physics resul... more In this article we present a statistical comparison of the mid-year mathematics and physics results for students in the University of Cape Town’s engineering programmes over a five year period. The particular focus is on the disaggregated group of students who wrote the 2008 NSC examinations in comparison with other groups. Concerns were raised after the 2008 NSC mathematics results showed a marked increase in numbers and pass rate over previous years. Scepticism about the NSC mathematics results and the related increased intake of first year students has lead to speculation about the reasons weak mid-year Mathematics I and Physics I results. This study draws its empirical data from the mid-year course results for the years 2009, 2007 and 2005. The results indicate that the South African matriculants who moved directly from school to university, show a marked decline in both mathematics and physics. However, the 2007 mathematics results for the South African students indicate that this decline cannot only be attributed to the 2008 matriculation examinations. The data also suggests that increasing the university entry criteria based on NSC marks may not have a marked effect on the performance of the first year students.
The combination of massification and increased diversity in student body pose particular challeng... more The combination of massification and increased diversity in student body pose particular challenges to higher education. The paper attempts to contribute to conversations around one of the ‘silences’ in higher education research – the uncritical use of ‘disadvantage’ discourse and its effect on pedagogic processes. It explores some of the challenges of coping with student diversity, with particular reference to a South African higher education context. Students enter higher education institutions with a variety of educational backgrounds, not all of which is considered to be sufficient preparation for the demands of higher education. The dominant thinking in higher education attempts to understand student difficulty by framing students and their families of origin as lacking some of the academic and cultural resources necessary to succeed in what is presumed to be a fair and open society. This constitutes a deficit thinking model: it focuses on the inadequacies of the student, and ‘fixing’ this problem. In the process the impact of structural issues is often ignored or minimised. Employing a deficit mindset to frame student difficulties acts to perpetuate stereotypes, alienate students from higher education and disregards the role of higher education in the barriers to student success. In the process universities replicate the educational stratification of societies. This paper suggests that we need to find more suitable responses to diversity in the student body. These require a change in our way of thinking: we need to thoughtfully consider the readiness of higher education institutions to respond to students, and cultivate the will to learn in our students. We need to find ways to research the full texture of the student experience and to value the pre-higher education context of students. In addition the notion of ‘at risk’ students could be helpful, and the original sense of the concept needs to be reclaimed.
There is a long and ongoing concern for students moving into higher education for the first time.... more There is a long and ongoing concern for students moving into higher education for the first time. We locate our study in the discussion of perceptions of students as underprepared for university studies. In the context of this discussion our students are highly successful school leavers, who meet stringent entry requirements. Yet at the end of 2009 about 25% of the students were excluded from continuing with their studies for not meeting minimum academic requirements, and indications are that an additional 20-30% of the same cohort is potentially facing exclusion at the end of 2010. The study points to several implications for higher education. Perhaps seriously entertaining the notion of the university as the underprepared entity in the interface between student and higher education may open fresh ideas in terms of dealing with transition. In this we need to be guided by research about entering students rather than commonsense notions about what might be needed. This involves more than just a cursory look at how students’ prior knowledge about subject areas has changed.The data from our study makes it clear that an emphasis on academic orientation (rather than mere physical and social orientation) is needed. In order for higher education to better ”mind the gap” and to possibly even acknowledge our own underpreparedness, we need to better understand our students’ strengths and weaknesses. We need to move beyond the ‘defensive cynicism’ (Haggis, 2006, p. 3) that frame first year difficulties in terms of a wearing down of standards and equating wider access with the sacrifice of valued higher education ideals.
In this article we present a statistical comparison of the mid-year Mathematics and Physics resul... more In this article we present a statistical comparison of the mid-year Mathematics and Physics results for students in the University of Cape Town’s engineering programmes over a five year period. The particular focus is on the disaggregated group of students who wrote the 2008 NSC examinations in comparison with other groups. Concerns were raised after the 2008 NSC Mathematics results showed
a marked increase in high marks resulting in more students meeting the engineering entrance requirements than in previous years. Scepticism about the NSC Mathematics results and the related increased intake of first year students has lead to speculation about the reasons for weak mid-year Mathematics I and Physics I results. This study draws its empirical data from the mid-year course results for the years 2009, 2007 and 2005. The results indicate that the South African matriculants who
moved directly from school to university, show a marked decline in both Mathematics and Physics. However, the 2007 Mathematics results for the South African students indicate that this decline cannot only be attributed to the 2008 matriculation examinations. The data also suggests that increasing the university entry criteria based on NSC marks may not have a marked effect on the performance of the
first year students.
Supervision lies at the heart of PhD pedagogy, but the focus has been on improving efficiency and... more Supervision lies at the heart of PhD pedagogy, but the focus has been on improving efficiency and completion rates of the PhD process rather than theorising about the nature of the postgraduate supervision process. The study explores the usefulness of situated learning as a theoretical framework for thinking about PhD pedagogy. In the process, Petersen’s conception of supervision as boundary work is investigated: the study considers the extent to which the construct of the supervisor as facilitator of the negotiation of the boundaries around the research community of practice gives helpful insights. Six PhD supervisors from an engineering department at a research intensive South African university were interviewed, using a semi-structured interview guide. Thirteen of their PhD students completed an open-ended questionnaire. The transcribed interviews and the questionnaires were analysed to identify categories relating to the elements of the situated learning framework. Conference participation and paper publication are explored as legitimate peripheral activities in which PhD students participate in order to gain access to the community. An important result uncovered in the study is the high premium placed on the PhD student’s ability to work independently. This insistence on autonomy set up tension with the different elements of the situated learning framework. The study also hinted at issues of power possibly linked to the matter of ‘competent autonomy’ prized in doctoral students. This possibly presents the greatest constraint for the use of situated learning as a theoretical framework, and some suggestions are made for mitigating this limitation.
Keywords: PhD supervision, situated learning, boundary work, PhD autonomy, community of practice, legitimate peripheral participation.
Are the ways of engaging with the world that students develop through higher education particular... more Are the ways of engaging with the world that students develop through higher education particular to bodies of knowledge they study? In this article, we examine how students’ accounts of the discipline of chemistry in England and South Africa changed over the three years of their undergraduate degrees. Based on a longitudinal phenomenographic analysis of 105 interviews with 33 chemistry students over the course of their undergraduate degrees in four institutions, we constituted five qualitatively different ways of describing chemistry. These ranged from chemistry as something that happens when things are mixed in a laboratory to a more inclusive account that described chemistry as being able to explain molecular interactions in unfamiliar environments. Most students expressed more inclusive accounts of chemistry by the end of their degrees and the level of change appeared to be related to their educational experiences. In contrast to approaches that emphasise the generic student out...
African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2010
Abstract: Supervision lies at the heart of PhD pedagogy, but the focus has been on improving effi... more Abstract: Supervision lies at the heart of PhD pedagogy, but the focus has been on improving efficiency and completion rates of the PhD process rather than theorising about the nature of the postgraduate supervision process. The study explores the usefulness of situated ...
Towards a new future in engineering education, new scenarios that european alliances of tech universities open up
First-generation students have been a focus in higher education research over the past ten years.... more First-generation students have been a focus in higher education research over the past ten years. However, limited attention has been paid to engineering students who are the first in their generation to enter university. The paper reports on data collected as part of a longitudinal study of first-generation engineering students at a South African university during the early stages of the pandemic. First-generation students, who already face multiple difficulties in their educational journey, were confronted with a juxtaposition during the lockdown. As engineering students, they are inducted into technical approaches to problem-solving via systematic and analytical exploration. Levi-Srauss contrasts this notion of the ingenieur, grounded in the Enlightenment belief in the superiority of rational scientific reasoning, with the bricoleur, who finds solutions by “doing things with whatever is at hand”. With the lockdown period being less amenable to structured problem-solving, students...
An introductory electrical engineering course has unintentionally become a gate-keeper course for... more An introductory electrical engineering course has unintentionally become a gate-keeper course for electrical engineering students at the University of Cape Town. A phenomenographic study using course evaluation data and focus group interviews with students explored students’ perceptions of structural features of the course (including work load, assessments, communication with students), students’ expectations of and motivation for the course, students’ approaches to studying this course, and how students experienced the pace and complexity of the content. The phenomenographical data yielded rich information about a variety of factors impacting on success in the target course. Three categories emerged: structure related factors, student related factors and disciplinary knowledge factors. This on-going study will contribute to the current re-curriculation discussion on the shape and direction of introductory engineering courses.
In this article we analyse the mid-year Mathematics I results for students in the University of C... more In this article we analyse the mid-year Mathematics I results for students in the University of Cape Town’s engineering programmes over the period 2005 to 2009. These results are furthermore compared to the 2010 final results from a semesterised version of the course. The particular focus in the analysis is on the disaggregated group of students who wrote the 2008 NSC examinations in comparison with other groups. Concerns were raised after the 2008 NSC mathematics results showed a marked increase in success over previous years. Scepticism about the NSC mathematics results and the related increase in intake of first-year students has lead to speculation about the reasons for particularly poor mid-year Mathematics I results in 2009. This study draws on data from the mid-year Mathematics I results for the years 2005, 2007 and 2009, and the final results for the semesterised version of the course in 2010. The results suggest that the 2008 South African matriculants who moved directly fr...
In this article we analyse the mid-year Mathematics I results for students in the University of C... more In this article we analyse the mid-year Mathematics I results for students in the University of Cape Town’s engineering programmes over the period 2005 to 2009. These results are furthermore compared to the 2010 final results from a semesterised version of the course. The particular focus in the analysis is on the disaggregated group of students who wrote the 2008 NSC examinations in comparison with other groups. Concerns were raised after the 2008 NSC mathematics results showed a marked increase in success over previous years. Scepticism about the NSC mathematics results and the related increase in intake of first-year students has lead to speculation about the reasons for particularly poor mid-year Mathematics I results in 2009. This study draws on data from the mid-year Mathematics I results for the years 2005, 2007 and 2009, and the final results for the semesterised version of the course in 2010. The results suggest that the 2008 South African matriculants who moved directly from school to university showed a marked decline in success in first-year mathematics. However, the 2007 first-year mathematics results suggest that this decline cannot solely be attributed to the new NSC but rather has been taking place steadily over quite some time. We argue that the nature of first-year mathematics courses need to be redefined, in terms of content as well as how the learning environment is structured, to ensure maximum chance of success of students in the course.
In this article we present a statistical comparison of the mid-year mathematics and physics resul... more In this article we present a statistical comparison of the mid-year mathematics and physics results for students in the University of Cape Town’s engineering programmes over a five year period. The particular focus is on the disaggregated group of students who wrote the 2008 NSC examinations in comparison with other groups. Concerns were raised after the 2008 NSC mathematics results showed a marked increase in numbers and pass rate over previous years. Scepticism about the NSC mathematics results and the related increased intake of first year students has lead to speculation about the reasons weak mid-year Mathematics I and Physics I results. This study draws its empirical data from the mid-year course results for the years 2009, 2007 and 2005. The results indicate that the South African matriculants who moved directly from school to university, show a marked decline in both mathematics and physics. However, the 2007 mathematics results for the South African students indicate that this decline cannot only be attributed to the 2008 matriculation examinations. The data also suggests that increasing the university entry criteria based on NSC marks may not have a marked effect on the performance of the first year students.
The combination of massification and increased diversity in student body pose particular challeng... more The combination of massification and increased diversity in student body pose particular challenges to higher education. The paper attempts to contribute to conversations around one of the ‘silences’ in higher education research – the uncritical use of ‘disadvantage’ discourse and its effect on pedagogic processes. It explores some of the challenges of coping with student diversity, with particular reference to a South African higher education context. Students enter higher education institutions with a variety of educational backgrounds, not all of which is considered to be sufficient preparation for the demands of higher education. The dominant thinking in higher education attempts to understand student difficulty by framing students and their families of origin as lacking some of the academic and cultural resources necessary to succeed in what is presumed to be a fair and open society. This constitutes a deficit thinking model: it focuses on the inadequacies of the student, and ‘fixing’ this problem. In the process the impact of structural issues is often ignored or minimised. Employing a deficit mindset to frame student difficulties acts to perpetuate stereotypes, alienate students from higher education and disregards the role of higher education in the barriers to student success. In the process universities replicate the educational stratification of societies. This paper suggests that we need to find more suitable responses to diversity in the student body. These require a change in our way of thinking: we need to thoughtfully consider the readiness of higher education institutions to respond to students, and cultivate the will to learn in our students. We need to find ways to research the full texture of the student experience and to value the pre-higher education context of students. In addition the notion of ‘at risk’ students could be helpful, and the original sense of the concept needs to be reclaimed.
There is a long and ongoing concern for students moving into higher education for the first time.... more There is a long and ongoing concern for students moving into higher education for the first time. We locate our study in the discussion of perceptions of students as underprepared for university studies. In the context of this discussion our students are highly successful school leavers, who meet stringent entry requirements. Yet at the end of 2009 about 25% of the students were excluded from continuing with their studies for not meeting minimum academic requirements, and indications are that an additional 20-30% of the same cohort is potentially facing exclusion at the end of 2010. The study points to several implications for higher education. Perhaps seriously entertaining the notion of the university as the underprepared entity in the interface between student and higher education may open fresh ideas in terms of dealing with transition. In this we need to be guided by research about entering students rather than commonsense notions about what might be needed. This involves more than just a cursory look at how students’ prior knowledge about subject areas has changed.The data from our study makes it clear that an emphasis on academic orientation (rather than mere physical and social orientation) is needed. In order for higher education to better ”mind the gap” and to possibly even acknowledge our own underpreparedness, we need to better understand our students’ strengths and weaknesses. We need to move beyond the ‘defensive cynicism’ (Haggis, 2006, p. 3) that frame first year difficulties in terms of a wearing down of standards and equating wider access with the sacrifice of valued higher education ideals.
In this article we present a statistical comparison of the mid-year Mathematics and Physics resul... more In this article we present a statistical comparison of the mid-year Mathematics and Physics results for students in the University of Cape Town’s engineering programmes over a five year period. The particular focus is on the disaggregated group of students who wrote the 2008 NSC examinations in comparison with other groups. Concerns were raised after the 2008 NSC Mathematics results showed
a marked increase in high marks resulting in more students meeting the engineering entrance requirements than in previous years. Scepticism about the NSC Mathematics results and the related increased intake of first year students has lead to speculation about the reasons for weak mid-year Mathematics I and Physics I results. This study draws its empirical data from the mid-year course results for the years 2009, 2007 and 2005. The results indicate that the South African matriculants who
moved directly from school to university, show a marked decline in both Mathematics and Physics. However, the 2007 Mathematics results for the South African students indicate that this decline cannot only be attributed to the 2008 matriculation examinations. The data also suggests that increasing the university entry criteria based on NSC marks may not have a marked effect on the performance of the
first year students.
Supervision lies at the heart of PhD pedagogy, but the focus has been on improving efficiency and... more Supervision lies at the heart of PhD pedagogy, but the focus has been on improving efficiency and completion rates of the PhD process rather than theorising about the nature of the postgraduate supervision process. The study explores the usefulness of situated learning as a theoretical framework for thinking about PhD pedagogy. In the process, Petersen’s conception of supervision as boundary work is investigated: the study considers the extent to which the construct of the supervisor as facilitator of the negotiation of the boundaries around the research community of practice gives helpful insights. Six PhD supervisors from an engineering department at a research intensive South African university were interviewed, using a semi-structured interview guide. Thirteen of their PhD students completed an open-ended questionnaire. The transcribed interviews and the questionnaires were analysed to identify categories relating to the elements of the situated learning framework. Conference participation and paper publication are explored as legitimate peripheral activities in which PhD students participate in order to gain access to the community. An important result uncovered in the study is the high premium placed on the PhD student’s ability to work independently. This insistence on autonomy set up tension with the different elements of the situated learning framework. The study also hinted at issues of power possibly linked to the matter of ‘competent autonomy’ prized in doctoral students. This possibly presents the greatest constraint for the use of situated learning as a theoretical framework, and some suggestions are made for mitigating this limitation.
Keywords: PhD supervision, situated learning, boundary work, PhD autonomy, community of practice, legitimate peripheral participation.
Uploads
Papers by Renee Smit
Keywords: deficit thinking; student diversity; academic literacy
a marked increase in high marks resulting in more students meeting the engineering entrance requirements than in previous years. Scepticism about the NSC Mathematics results and the related increased intake of first year students has lead to speculation about the reasons for weak mid-year Mathematics I and Physics I results. This study draws its empirical data from the mid-year course results for the years 2009, 2007 and 2005. The results indicate that the South African matriculants who
moved directly from school to university, show a marked decline in both Mathematics and Physics. However, the 2007 Mathematics results for the South African students indicate that this decline cannot only be attributed to the 2008 matriculation examinations. The data also suggests that increasing the university entry criteria based on NSC marks may not have a marked effect on the performance of the
first year students.
Keywords: PhD supervision, situated learning, boundary work, PhD autonomy, community of practice, legitimate peripheral participation.
Keywords: deficit thinking; student diversity; academic literacy
a marked increase in high marks resulting in more students meeting the engineering entrance requirements than in previous years. Scepticism about the NSC Mathematics results and the related increased intake of first year students has lead to speculation about the reasons for weak mid-year Mathematics I and Physics I results. This study draws its empirical data from the mid-year course results for the years 2009, 2007 and 2005. The results indicate that the South African matriculants who
moved directly from school to university, show a marked decline in both Mathematics and Physics. However, the 2007 Mathematics results for the South African students indicate that this decline cannot only be attributed to the 2008 matriculation examinations. The data also suggests that increasing the university entry criteria based on NSC marks may not have a marked effect on the performance of the
first year students.
Keywords: PhD supervision, situated learning, boundary work, PhD autonomy, community of practice, legitimate peripheral participation.