Out-of-school Activity: A Comparison of the Experiences of Rural and Urban Participants in Science Fairs in the Limpopo Province, South Africa

Sure Mupezeni; Jeanne Kriek

doi:10.29333/ejmste/92041

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Sure Mupezeni ¹, Jeanne Kriek ¹ ^*

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¹ Institute for Science and Technology Education, University of South Africa, UNISA, SOUTH AFRICA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

The paper compares the experiences of rural and urban learners who participate in Eskom Expo for Young Scientists science fairs in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Within an exploratory case study in the Limpopo province, a third-generation activity-theory framework was applied as an analytical tool to determine differences in activities between learners from rural and urban schools. To address triangulation, personal meaning mapping, interviews, focus-group discussions, and observations were used. The study involved eleven learners, six from rural schools and five from urban schools. Themes were identified to present the learners` view on science fairs and possible reasons for their performance or failure. The results revealed that the differences in activities of rural learners are due to: poor school facilities, lack of support, lack of mentors, lack of equipment, lack of computers and computer illiteracy. Two new areas are confirmed namely the level of attention with regards to learner`s engagement and readiness to learn and depth of knowledge of learners – factors that were not identified in previous studies on science fairs.

Keywords

activity theory
out-of-school activity
personal meaning mapping
science fair

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 14, Issue 8, August 2018, Article No: em1577

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/92041

Publication date: 07 Jun 2018

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How to cite this article

APA

Mupezeni, S., & Kriek, J. (2018). Out-of-school Activity: A Comparison of the Experiences of Rural and Urban Participants in Science Fairs in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(8), em1577. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/92041

Vancouver

Mupezeni S, Kriek J. Out-of-school Activity: A Comparison of the Experiences of Rural and Urban Participants in Science Fairs in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2018;14(8):em1577. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/92041

AMA

Mupezeni S, Kriek J. Out-of-school Activity: A Comparison of the Experiences of Rural and Urban Participants in Science Fairs in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2018;14(8), em1577. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/92041

Chicago

Mupezeni, Sure, and Jeanne Kriek. "Out-of-school Activity: A Comparison of the Experiences of Rural and Urban Participants in Science Fairs in the Limpopo Province, South Africa". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2018 14 no. 8 (2018): em1577. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/92041

Harvard

Mupezeni, S., and Kriek, J. (2018). Out-of-school Activity: A Comparison of the Experiences of Rural and Urban Participants in Science Fairs in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(8), em1577. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/92041

MLA

Mupezeni, Sure et al. "Out-of-school Activity: A Comparison of the Experiences of Rural and Urban Participants in Science Fairs in the Limpopo Province, South Africa". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 14, no. 8, 2018, em1577. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/92041