Recent research suggests that many South African pupils in their final year of schooling have erroneous ideas about various aspects of respiration (Sanders and Cramer, 1992). This study investigates teachers as a possible source of pupils' errors. The views of 136 biology teachers about respiration and related concepts were elicited by means of an analysis of how teachers marked an essay containing errors commonly found among year‐12 pupils. The teachers' responses suggest that many of them might well have erroneous ideas. These are reviewed in terms of four conceptual areas related to respiration. Finally the implications for teachers are discussed, and suggestions are made about possible ways to address the problem of erroneous ideas among teachers and pupils.

Canada goose droppings, collected in parks to which the public had access, were screened for a range of bacteria that could be pathogenic in man. Droppings of Canada geese, and other waterfowl, did contain such bacteria, including some that are well-known causes of illness in man. These bacteria, plus a species of Salmonella that was experimentally inoculated into droppings, were shown to survive and multiply in the droppings for up to one month after their deposition by geese. Canada geese ranged further from water than other waterfowl species and thus distributed their droppings over a larger area of park grassland. This more widespread distribution of their droppings leads Canada geese to pose a greater potential health risk than other waterfowl studied here, but variations in human responses to challenge with bacteria, and variations in human and waterfowl behaviour in public parks, renders quantification of this risk impossible.

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Curriculum statements and textbooks are considered to be vital support tools for teachers, particularly during times of curriculum innovation. A recent change in South Africa was the controversial inclusion of evolution in the school curriculum, raising serious concerns amongst biology teachers regarding the adequacy of their content and pedagogical content knowledge for teaching the topic. Widespread 'misconceptions' about evolution make teaching this topic difficult for biology teachers worldwide. Identifying the sources of errors is an essential step needed before addressing them. This study explored curriculum support materials as a possible source of misconceptions, using content analysis of the South African school Natural Sciences curriculum statement and six Grade 7-9 Natural Sciences textbooks from two different publishers, and investigated 'curriculum slippages' between the 'formal' and 'perceived' curricula. The aim was to determine the nature and extent of unscientific ideas about evolution, and 217 Sanders and MakotsaCurriculum materials as a source of misconceptions to see how authors dealt with potential misconceptions. Errors were found in the curriculum statement and in the textbooks, where they escalated in frequency. Latent problems associated with ambiguous wording of statements posed further problems. Although this paper uses evolution as an example, lessons learned about curriculum materials as a possible influence on misconceptions are applicable to other subjects.Keywords: curriculum support materials, textbooks, misconceptions, curriculum slippages, evolution, natural selectionIn times of curriculum innovation textbooks become important props for teachers, particularly if they are inadequately prepared to implement new curriculum content. However, an important assumption is that such support materials will be scientifically accurate. If they contain errors, teachers with poor content knowledge may not be in a position to recognise mistakes, which are thus likely to be transmitted to pupils. This paper focuses on an investigation of curriculum statements and textbooks as a possible source of misconceptions, as well as how the textbooks identified and addressed common misconceptions. We have used the umbrella term 'misconceptions' for this paper in the commonly understood everyday sense, referring to incorrect ideas, as this is how most teachers and the public are likely to understand the term. Because document analysis was used for this study it was not possible to discriminate between ideas which have been mentally constructed by the document authors (the correct technical meaning of 'misconceptions') and 'errors', which have been acquired from some outside source. THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDYThe inclusion of evolution in the South African school curriculumThe radical revision of the South African school curriculum, progressively implemented by the newly elected government's education department between 1998 and 2008, was characterised by several changes, one of which was a modernisi...

This study diagnosed the understanding about energy and biologicalcontext energy concepts held by 90 first-year South African university biology students. In particular, students' explanations of energy in a biological context, how energy is involved in different biological situations and whether energy is present and what types of energy are involved in diagrams depicting biological phenomena were investigated. The pencil-and-paper diagnostic test, specifically designed for this study, was used to elicit students' understanding using test items involving biological phenomena. The results showed that many students had problems in understanding energy and energy-related concepts in the following areas: First, the majority of the students provided definitions of energy rather than the explanations they were asked to provide, and the definition could have been rote-learned. Second, although nearly all students knew the energy conservation principle (energy cannot be created or destroyed), many of them were unable to apply this concept to biological contexts. Third, many students erroneously claimed that the energy for metabolism and life processes is made available during photosynthesis in plants, during digestion in animals or that this energy comes directly from the sun. Fourth, about two thirds of the students erroneously indicated that there is no energy involved/present in inanimate objects such as a statue. The implications for the teaching and learning of energy and its related concepts and recommendations for further research are discussed.