Dr Hanlie Botha

• Exploring Mathematical Literacy: The relationship between teachers’ knowledge and beliefs and their instructional practices.

• How Mathematical Literacy teachers implement a socially orientated curriculum.

• The experiences of pre-calculus student teachers regarding application problems in mathematics.

Title of RDP funded research project:

• The relationship between Mathematical Literacy teachers’ mathematical content knowledge development and their instructional practices.

Dr Ronel Callaghan

• Teaching development and support as interaction between technology, pedagogy and content.

• Development of interactive teaching and learning material in the public sector and other academic fields.

• Technological innovations and investigations into enhancing the teaching and learning experience.

• Teaching methodologies in the Informatics subject areas.

Coréne Coetzee

• Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge: It’s measurement and application in teacher training
• Misconceptions in Science in relation to teacher development

Prof Rian de Villiers

He is involved in various research projects, some of which involve international affiliations. His research focus areas are inter- and intra-continental teacher migration studies, teacher training in life sciences education, values and beliefs in the life sciences classroom, and community-based service-learning.

Dr Estelle Gaigher

• Inquiry Based Science Education

• Physics Education

• Teacher Training in Science Education

Dr Grietjie Haupt

My primary focus is on cognitive science within the context of the design processes of experts in the various design disciplines. My secondary focus is on the mapping of expert psychological processes on the development of design education programmes including engineering, industrial design, architecture and technology education. My philosophical and theoretical specialisation lies in the extended cognition theories which relate to the interaction between internal information processing and situational cognition. I specialise in research methodology that relies on visual analysis, sketch analysis and protocol analysis. The title of my PhD, which is in its final phase of completion, is “The cognitive dynamics of socio-technological thinking in the early phases of expert designers’ design process”.

Dr Monde Kazeni

• Teacher training in Life sciences education

• Context-Based teaching approaches in science

• Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE)

• Teaching and assessment of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)

Kgadi Mathabathe

• Chemistry education at university and school level

• Self-regulated learning in science education (specifically Metacognition and Self Efficacy)

• Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) at university and school level

Maryke Mihai

• Computer Integrated Assessment

• E-learning

• Management challenges in a rural network using Interactive Whiteboards

• Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Education

Dr Jeanine Mwambakana

• Mathematics of Epidemiology and Dynamical System,
• Mathematical modelling and Numerical analysis.
• FET Mathematics, Teachers' professional development (use of technology; mathematical software) and teachers' network.

Dr Willem Rauscher

His research focuses on the nature of technological knowledge, which includes the relationship between technology and science. Other research interests include the knowledge pertaining to the nature of artefacts, project-based-learning, and the knowledge and cognitive process dimensions of Technology teachers.

Dr Trisha Salagaram

Her research in computational physics educational research is two-fold:

• developing simple computational paradigms to enhance students’ understanding of statistical physics, quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, etc., and to teach the underlying theory, algorithmic and programming details of large, complex scientific codes, namely ab initio codes, to undergraduate and postgraduate students, and
• creating interactive physics simulations using Easy Java simulations (Ejs) which can be used to enhance students’ understanding of physics at high school and undergraduate level.

Her research in computational solid state physics involves the quantum mechanical study of condensed matter systems using ab initio codes such as VASP and Quantum Espresso to predict various properties (equilibrium lattice constants, band structure, optical properties, elastic constants, etc.,) of crystalline solids.

Prof Gerrit Stols

His research interests in mathematics education concern the use of technology in the mathematics classroom as well as mathematical conceptual development.

Dr Thiru Vandeyar

Being a ‘teacher’ at heart, it is seemingly difficult to change my mind-set from a teaching focus to a research focus. However, as a researcher I have positioned most of my scholarly contributions in the field of information and communication technology (ICT), its integration into the classroom practices of teachers, and policy implementation studies with special attention to the South African e-education policy. My current research and development project “Agents of change: exceptional patterns of ICT practice” investigates good practice of teachers. My research in “teacher identity and teacher professionalism”, “ICT integration in teaching and learning”; “education policy implementation”; “best practices” and “situated learning” represent my fields of interest and the foci of my current research.

Prof William Fraser

William Fraser is a teacher educator, charted biologist (CBIOL), Fellow of the Society of Biology (FSB) and member of the South African Academy for Science and Arts (M.Acad.SA). He also serves as advisor to the editorial boards of the Turkish Journal of Distance Education, the Journal of Instruction and the Journal of Biological Education. As subject methodologist he specialises mainly in curriculum theory and practice, curriculum development, instructional design and programme evaluation. He also works in the fields of quality assurance in conventional and distance education. His other interests are the social context of curriculum, as well as the community’s engagement in teaching and learning. His work in life sciences methodology focuses on scientific inquiry, discovery learning and the teaching of life sciences to blind and visually impaired learners. He is currently also serving as guest editor to the South African Journal for Science and Technology (Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Natuurwetenskap en Tegnologie).