The influence of indigenous knowledge on chemistry metacognition

Research problem

The researchers’ observation during the August Vacation School teaching of 2016 and 2017 in Tsholotsho (Matabeleland North) and of pre-service science teachers at the teachers’ college was that there was indeed poor performance by learners in Chemistry. The majority of the pre-service science teachers at the teachers’ college come from Matabeleland province schools, which have low pass rates and have learners who find Chemistry challenging. (Chikiwa, 2018; Nkala, 2018). Pre-service science teachers find Chemistry difficult and challenging as they struggle with the Chemistry knowledge, skills and attitudes, thus resulting in poor academic performance in Chemistry at the teachers’ college. (Mudzakir, 2017; Wheeldon, 2017; Cam, Topcu and Sulun 2015). Misconceptions or alternative conceptions, insufficient content knowledge, skills and attitudes contribute significantly to the pre-service science teachers’ ability to adequately learn Chemistry in terms of difficulties and challenges. Pre-service teachers were found to have electrochemistry misconceptions and inadequate content knowledge (Yilmaz and Bayrakceken, 2015; Bektas, Tuysuz, Kirbulut and Cetin-Dindar, 2011). The teaching and learning of Chemistry concepts are detached from the socio-economic daily life experiences of pre-service science teachers (Ugwu and Diovu, 2016) as it is conceptualised from the western and eastern philosophical orientations that are based on a universal approach towards knowledge generation and dissemination (Shumba, 2014).

Research focus

Internationally and regionally, research has shown that the acquisition and use of metacognition improves academic achievement and motivation of learners including, those who are intellectually limited, education resource disadvantaged, prior knowledge limited as well as culturally disadvantaged. A study of how the performance of secondary school students in Chemistry was impacted by metacognition awareness was studied in the Asian country of Pakistan (Rahman, Jumani, Chaudry, Chitsti and Abbasi, 2010). The findings were that; (i) metacognition is important in student’s academic achievement and, (ii) highly metacognitive students’ performance was better than those of low metacognitive skills (Rahman, Jumani, Chaudry, Chitsti and Abbasi, 2010). The function of metacognition among primary school learners in the African country of Kenya in everyday problem solving was studied (Aurah, Koloi-Keaikitse, Isaacs and Finch, 2011). The findings of the study were; (i) learners who were better problem solvers were those with higher metacognition level than learners who had low levels of metacognition and, (ii) high grade level learners were better in terms of metacognition and the ability to perform problem-solving (Aurah, Koloi-Keaikitse, Isaacs and Finch, 2011). Van Aswegen (2015) did a study on the metacognitive awareness development of intermediate phase young learners using stories for facilitation in South Africa. The finding of the research implied that the development of metacognitive awareness using story-based interventions yielded positive results (Van Aswegen, 2015).

Most of the research that has been done has focused on the relationship between metacognition and academic achievement. However, there is a gap in knowledge on the contribution of indigenous Chemistry knowledge (pre-service science teachers’ prior knowledge and beliefs) to Chemistry metacognition in the Zimbabwean teachers’ college context. This research seeks to fill that gap in knowledge. The ideal Chemistry teaching and learning should be done from the African philosophical orientation that is locally contextualised and culturally relevant in terms of knowledge generation and dissemination that meets the needs and provides practical solutions to the everyday life chemical challenges and problems of the community.

Research aim and research questions

The aim of this research was to explore the use of culturally contextualised indigenous Chemistry knowledge by pre-service science teachers in Chemistry metacognition. The following research questions guided the study:

General background

An embedded mixed methods case design was employed which had 99% of qualitative and 1% of quantitative elements in which the interpretive paradigm was employed to study the influence of indigenous Chemistry knowledge on Chemistry metacognition. Focus group interviews and a test (paper and pen) were used to assess the metacognitive awareness level of the pre-service science teachers before and after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. Focus group interviews were also used to get the indigenous Chemistry knowledge possessed and practised by pre-service science teachers. This study was conducted with post ordinary level pre-service science teachers from a secondary teacher training college in Zimbabwe.

Ethical considerations

The University of South Africa college of education ethics review committee approved the study on 2019/07/24, and consent was sort of in a written form. The certificate has the following reference number 2019/07/24/63816997/18/MC. This article is written in in with SRQR guidelines (Mudau, 2023d).

Sample

The participants were 29 (15 males and 14 females) post ordinary level pre-service science teachers who were in their first term at college who had no previous exposure to tertiary chemistry education. The whole class was asked to participate and all agreed. There was no exclusion criteria. The highest academic qualification for 20 of the pre-service science teachers was ordinary level and 9 was advanced level. There are three major levels of education in Zimbabwe which are primary, secondary and tertiary level. The primary level consists of 9 years of schooling that are split into 4 years of infant education and 5 years of junior education which has an external public examination written at the end. Secondary level is split into junior high school and senior high school. Junior high school is 4 years which ends with an external public examination called ordinary level examination. A full certificate at ordinary level must have five subjects passed including English language, Mathematics and Combined Science (formally Integrated Science).

The ordinary level full certificate enables learners to: look for work, proceed to senior high school or go to tertiary institutions for professional training such as teachers’ colleges. Senior high school (advanced level) is two years (form 5 and 6) and is done after having passed five ordinary level subjects. Advanced level external public examinations are written in the second year (form 6) of senior high school. A complete certificate at advanced level consists of two subjects passed which enables learners to look for work or enroll at tertiary institutions.

Purposive sampling was used to choose the participants. All the students in a particular class in the college of education were asked to participate using letters. They all accepted. Out of the 29 participants, those who had chemistry at ordinary level were five and those with chemistry at advanced level were 3 who were also part of the 5 who had chemistry at ordinary level.

Instrument and procedures

The first author who is male and held a master degree at the time was the lecturer at the institution from which data was collected had to collected all the data. The data was part of his PhD studies. The first author gave the potential participants letters that were approved by the ethical committee of the university. The letters contained the purpose of the research and why they were requested to participate. Methodology triangulation was used to ensure that matters of biases are taken care of. The second author also read the trabnscripts to ensure that there was internal validity. In stage one, the metacognitive awareness levels of the pre-service science, teachers before the indigenous chemistry knowledge intervention were ascertained using an adapted metacognitive awareness inventory from Schraw and Dennison (1994). The adapted metacognitive awareness inventory was in the form of focus interview guide and paper and pen test for triangulation purposes. So the students were given the pen and pare test first and theerfater they were also interviewd. As indicated what was in the pen and paper instrument was also similar to what was in the interview guide. The tools were piloted to ensure that they were free to a certain degree of any biases or mistakes. This happened after contact teaching time. This happened between March and June in 2020. The adapted Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) ascertained the levels of all the metacognition sub-components which were: declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, conditional knowledge (knowledge of cognition) and planning, information management strategies, comprehension monitoring, debugging strategies and evaluation (regulation of cognition).

In stage two, focus group interviews conducted by the first author were used for identifying the cultural indigenous Chemistry knowledge held and practised by pre-service science teachers. Each focus group had a maximum of nine participants and they were three groups with two of those having 10 students each. The interviews were recorded by an audio recording gadget. Each group varied from between 20 minutes to 30 minutes in duration. For all the tools that were used for this study field notes wrer also taken for triangulation purposes. Document analysis was also used for identifying the cultural indigenous Chemistry knowledge held and practised by pre-service science teachers in stage two. In stage three, focus group interviews and paper and pen test were used to assess the extent to which pre-service science teachers have acquired Chemistry metacognition after the cultural indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. The intervention was a series of four additional lesson wherein based on what was discovered from the stage 1 and 2 data collection procedures. The content ranged from fermentation processes from their homes to fractional distillation of liquid air process from their homes.

Observations were done with pre-service science teachers in the Chemistry laboratory at the teachers’ college during Chemistry lecture times. Permission was asked for using the letters and consent forms as approved by the ethics committee. Document analysis was done using pre-service science teachers’ written tests, assignments and practical write-ups at the teachers’ college after marking the pieces of work. For stage four, document analysis was used to assess and find out the extent to which pre-service science teachers have acquired Chemistry metacognition through cultural indigenous Chemistry knowledge. The pieces of work that focused on the topics of atomic structure, redox reactions, stoichiometry, periodic table and periodicity as well as practical assessments were analysed. This was done over a period of eight weeks in which three tests, two assignments and two practical write-ups were done. The college minimum assessment requirements are one test, 1 assignment and 1 practical per term.

Materials used in this study can be found as Extended data (Mudau, 2023c).

Data analysis

The typology approach which was a constant comparison data analysis was used to analyse the metacognitive awareness levels of the pre-service science teachers before and after the indigenous chemistry knowledge intervention. In a typology approach themes and catergories are predetermined but this does not mean that if new themes and categories are identified whilst analysing data they are not included. The data analysis scheme was developed based on the research questions and literature reviewed. The indigenous chemistry knowledge possessed and practised by the pre-service science teachers for use in the indigenous chemistry knowledge intervention was also analysed using the constant comparison data analysis. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS version 23.

What is the indigenous Chemistry knowledge possessed by pre-service science teachers?

Pre-service science teachers exhibited that they are a repository for indigenous Chemistry knowledge and skills. Indigenous Chemistry knowledge and skills possessed by pre-service science teachers cover most survival areas in their lives. Extensive use and effectiveness of indigenous Chemistry knowledge and skills were found in agriculture, environmental conservation, food processing, food preservation and health care. These verisimilitudes indigenous knowledge, skills and attitudes are shown in Tables 1 to 6.

How relevant is the indigenous Chemistry knowledge to Chemistry metacognition?

Pre-service science teachers were of the opinion that Indigenous Chemistry knowledge has the same Chemistry ideas/concepts which are found in the western Chemistry knowledge. The indigenous Chemistry knowledge is the Chemistry prior knowledge for western Chemistry knowledge. Indigenous Chemistry knowledge and skills have numerous beneficial characteristics in most aspects of life in general. However, it is their invaluable assistance in understanding Chemistry concepts which was also mentioned by pre-service science teachers among other benefits in terms of Chemistry metacognition. The fact that they are passed from one generation to the next generation ensures continuity of chemistry prior knowledge which is a vital bridge between indigenous chemistry knowledge and western Chemistry knowledge. Pre-service science teachers were also in agreement that the indigenous Chemistry knowledge and skills are very efficient.

Indigenous Chemistry knowledge and skills are seen as useful and reliable by pre-service science teachers to a larger extent. However, the pre-service science teachers identified the aspect of some of the indigenous Chemistry knowledge and skills as being seasonal that can pose challenges on reliability. The experiences of indigenous Chemistry knowledge and skills that have been had by the majority of the pre-service science teachers are positive. Having positive experiences with indigenous Chemistry knowledge and skills means the pre-service science teachers will less easily forget the acquired indigenous Chemistry knowledge and skills. They went on to say these indigenous Chemistry knowledge and skills are relatively easy to master, though it depends on the complexity of the indigenous Chemistry knowledge and skills to be mastered. This implies that the majority of pre-service science teachers have acquired some indigenous Chemistry knowledge, skills and attitudes from their everyday cultural experiences.

There are some common characteristics between indigenous Chemistry knowledge and western Chemistry knowledge that were identified by pre-service science teachers. These included taking precautions when using them, procedures and processes to be followed, formal chemistry is based on indigenous chemistry and serve the same purpose of providing chemical solutions to chemical challenges. Pre-service science teachers are aware that there is a relationship between indigenous Chemistry knowledge and formal Chemistry with the indigenous Chemistry knowledge being the known (prior chemistry knowledge) and college Chemistry the unknown in chemistry teaching and learning.

How effective is the indigenous Chemistry knowledge in Chemistry metacognition?

A comparison of the focus group with pen and paper test metacognition awareness scores before intervention for the pre-service science teachers are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Comparison between focus group with pen & paper test.

The pen and paper test metacognition awareness scores are higher than for focus group metacognition awareness scores before the intervention. The Pearson product moment correlation was used to correlate the focus group metacognition awareness scores with those of the pen and paper test metacognition awareness scores before the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. The correlation was found to be 0.79 which shows a strong positive correlation between the focus group metacognition awareness scores and pen and paper test metacognition awareness scores before intervetion. The variance of the focus group metacognitive awareness scores that is accounted for by the variance in the pen and paper test metacognition awareness scores is 62% before the intervetion.

The mean scores for focus group metacognition awareness as well as for pen and paper test metacognition awareness before intervention are indicated in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Pre-intervention test versus interview metacognition awareness.

There is a slight difference in the mean scores implying a slight difference in metacognition awareness between focus group and pen and paper test before intervention. This indicates that the results of the focus group metacognition awareness are to a large extent confirmed by the pen and paper metacognition awareness test in terms of triangulation.

In the observations for the application of indigenous chemistry knowledge, the application of indigenous Chemistry knowledge in the lectures before the intervention phase was rare except for second lecture where it was medium standard. This was when the “Plum pudding” model of the atom was described using a positively charged pumpkin, which has pumpkin seeds acting as the electrons by one pre-service science teacher. However, after metacognition instruction using indigenous Chemistry knowledge as prior knowledge, there was a high standard of the application of indigenous Chemistry knowledge in Chemistry concepts. Also, in the two Chemistry practical assessments that were done, the application of indigenous Chemistry knowledge was high though most of the time negatively. This suggests that the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention was effective as pre-service science’s frequency of using indigenous Chemistry in the Chemistry lectures had improved.

A comparison of the focus group with pen and paper test metacognition awareness scores after intervention for the pre-service science teachers are shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Post intervention comparison between interview and test scores.

There was a high metacognition awareness for the focus groups when compared to pen and paper test in most of the metacognition components except for planning after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. This is the opposite for the scores before the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention in which the metacognition awareness for focus groups was lower when compared to the pen and paper test. There is no consistency in the increase of the scores.

The Pearson product moment correlation was used to correlate the focus group metacognition awareness scores with the pen and paper test metacognition awareness scores after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. The correlation was found to be 0.76 which shows a strong positive correlation between the focus group metacognition awareness scores when correlated to the pen and paper test metacognition awareness scores after the intervention. The variance of the focus group metacognitive awareness scores that is accounted for by the variance in the pen and paper test metacognition awareness scores is 58% after the intervention.

The mean score of focus groups when compared to the mean score of the pen and paper tests after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention give the extent to which the two are in agreement. The mean scores for focus group metacognition awareness as well as for pen and paper test metacognition awareness before the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention are indicated in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Metacognition awareness mean scores after the intervention.

There was no difference in the mean scores implying there was no difference in the metacognition awareness after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention of the mean score of the focus groups when compared to the mean score of the pen and paper test after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. This indicates that the results of the focus group metacognition awareness were confirmed by the paper and pen metacognition awareness test after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention in terms of triangulation. The impact of the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention on metacognitive awareness can be ascertained by comparing the focus group scores after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention to those before the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. A comparison of the scores after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention and before the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention are shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Comparison of focus group scores before and after intervention.

The metacognition awareness scores are higher after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention when compared to the metacognition awareness before the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. The indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention had an effect in the positive direction on the metacognition awareness. The indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention had an effect of improving the metacognition awareness of the pre-service science teachers. Comparing the means scores of the focus group before and after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention gives an idea of the degree of change after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. Figure 6 shows this comparison.

Figure 6. Metacognition awareness mean scores before and after intervention.

There is a sharp difference between the focus group metacognition awareness mean score before the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention and focus group mean score after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. The metacognition awareness mean score of the focus groups increased after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. This implies a sharp increase in metacognition awareness as a result of the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. The impact of the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention can be found by comparing the pen and paper metacognition awareness scores after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention to those before intervention. Figure 7 shows a comparison of the pen and paper metacognition awareness scores after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention to those before the intervention.

Figure 7. Comparison of pen and paper metacognition awareness scores.

The pen and paper test metacognition awareness scores are higher after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. The indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention had an effect of increasing the metacognition awareness. There is a consistency in the increase in metacognition awareness for both the focus groups and pen and paper test after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. A comparison of the pen and paper test metacognitive awareness mean scores before and after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention shows changes that might have occurred as a result of the intervention. Figure 8 shows a comparison of pen and paper metacognitive awareness scores before and after intervention for the pre-service science teachers.

Figure 8. Metacognition awareness mean score before and after intervention.

There is a significant difference in metacognition awareness mean scores before and after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. The metacognition awareness mean score of the pen and paper test increased after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. The implication is that there is a significant increase in metacognition awareness as a result of the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. The change in academic performance of the pre-service science teachers can be identified by the differences in the mean scores of assignments and tests before and after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention. The mean scores for assignments and tests before and after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention for pre-service science teachers are shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. Comparison of means scores before and after intervention.

The pre-service science teachers’ mean scores of the Chemistry assignment one and chemistry test one before indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention are lower than the mean scores of the assignment two and test two & three after intervention. This implies that the academic performance of the pre-service science teachers improved after the indigenous Chemistry knowledge intervention.

The process of chemistry metacognition

Chemistry metacognition is the recognition of the value of one’s extensive and systematic native Chemistry knowledge (prior knowledge) with an accurate assessment of the demands of a challenging western Chemistry learning activity, what understanding and skills are needed, as well as the intelligence required to make the appropriate deduction on how to apply one’s native Chemistry knowledge reliably and effectively in a particular situation. The study has shown how the process of chemistry metacognition occurs as indicated in Figure 10.

Figure 10. The process of chemistry metacognition.

Major contributions of the study to chemistry education literature

Four important major contributions to the literature on the influence of indigenous Chemistry knowledge on Chemistry metacognition have been made by this study due to the research in these four areas being relatively new and there is still limited related literature in this area. Figure 11 shows the major contributions of the study.

Figure 11. Contributions of study to chemistry education.

First, the research participants were first year post ordinary level science pre-service science teachers who had no experience of Chemistry education at a tertiary level and found the Chemistry to be challenging, particularly for those who had no previous Chemistry education at any level of education. This study should contribute to the development of methods of identifying and collecting ideological, rational, communal and empirical indigenous Chemistry knowledge possessed by Chemistry learners for use in Chemistry education at this level. The sacred nature of some of the indigenous Chemistry knowledge as well as its visual or oral forms of transmission might pose challenges in terms of its accurate collection for use in Chemistry education.

Second, the study looked at the relevance of indigenous Chemistry knowledge in Chemistry metacognition research of which is almost non-existent when compared to the research on the effect of metacognition on academic performance (Van Aswegen, 2015; Aurah, Koloi-Keaikitse, Isaacs and Finch, 2011; Rahman, Jumani, Chaudry, Chitsti and Abbasi,2010). The findings of this study should enhance the literature on the relationship between indigenous Chemistry knowledge and Chemistry metacognition, particularly on how the former influences the latter.

Third, the effectiveness of indigenous Chemistry knowledge on Chemistry metacognition was looked at in this study, which is not familiar to most Chemistry educators. The findings of this study might attract other Chemistry educators to the effect of indigenous Chemistry knowledge on Chemistry metacognition. There is more in-depth Chemistry learning and improved academic performance by Chemistry learners who have acquired Chemistry metacognition skills. Finally, this study on the influence of indigenous Chemistry knowledge on Chemistry metacognition improved the originality of the research. Although the impact of metacognition on academic performance has been analysed since the 1970s (Akman and Alagoz, 2018), the influence of indigenous Chemistry knowledge on Chemistry metacognition has never been done before. This study therefore contributes to new literature in this area.