An exploratory case study involving six Grade 9 science teachers was undertaken to probe how teachers" understanding of learners" misconceptions relate to their perceptions about teaching simple circuits. The participants" understanding of documented misconceptions in electricity were explored by means of a questionnaire, while their perceptions about teaching electric circuits were also explored in the questionnaire, followed by a semi-structured interview. Results were analysed using content analysis and interpreted using pedagogical content knowledge as a theoretical lens. The results indicated that understanding learners" misconceptions did not always correlate with conceptual perceptions about teaching electric circuits. While fair understanding of misconceptions was demonstrated by teachers who studied Physics at undergraduate level, only those who also held qualifications in Education showed conceptual perceptions about teaching electricity.Teachers who did not study Science Education revealed technical perceptions, focused on facts, demonstrations and calculations. From these results a developmental model for pedagogical content knowledge was proposed. It was recommended that teacher education programs should involve misconceptions and also facilitate the development of conceptual perceptions about teaching.

While a considerable body of research has focused on learners’ acceptance of or resistance to mobile technologies, fewer studies have focused on teachers. This research study aimed to understand the factors influencing South African teachers’ acceptance of or resistance to using mobile technologies in their classroom practice. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used as a lens to explore factors that enhance mobile technology acceptance. The study consisted of a sequential mixed method, action research approach. Fifteen participants received training at a Mobile Technology workshop, aiming to provide professional development and enhance technological literacy knowledge and skills for teachers. The participants were then tasked to teach with technology and to share and reflect on their experiences and perceptions during the community of practice meetings. Content analysis was used to analyse the transcripts of these meetings and this led to the identification of 2 key factors, which enhanced the teachers’ acceptance of mobile technology, namely, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Six sub-factors affecting acceptance were also identified: anxiety, ability, attitude, facilitating conditions, subjective norm and voluntariness. The factors that were identified suggest that additional professional development, infrastructure and resources need to be provided for teachers. We argue that by providing these necessities and eliminating or significantly reducing these factors, the use of mobile technology will be a success.

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Gamification is the use of game elements in non-gaming contexts. This paper explored how gamification can be a motivation and engagement tool for adult learners in an End-user Computing (EUC) course. Due to their high workloads and limited practice opportunities, staff members at the University of Technology (UoT) struggled to find time to enhance their EUC skills. The researchers used the Jasperactive platform to teach EUC skills to adult learners. A conceptual framework using motivation and engagement theories and elements was used as a conceptual lens for this study. The study followed an interpretive case study design with a qualitative approach. The sample comprised thirty participants who were purposefully selected and regarded as adult learners. Data was collected through the researcher’s observations and one-on-one interviews with six participants. Thematic data analysis was conducted using the elements included in the conceptual framework. The findings revealed how certain gamification elements influenced the motivation and engagement of adult learners. The study findings, furthermore, indicated that gamification may be used to solve motivation and engagement issues in training and working environments if it is well-designed and founded on well-established execution principles. Moreover, when adult learners are motivated and involved in the learning process, current motivation and engagement theories might be useful to explain the phenomenon. Adult learners seemed to be motivated and engaged in the effort to enhance their EUC abilities when using a gamified platform like Jasperactive. The study suggested that the participants were further motivated to complete the course to obtain their Microsoft Office Specialist certificate.

The publisher (AOSIS) endorses the South African 'National Scholarly Book Publishers Forum Best Practice for Peer Review of Scholarly Books'. The manuscript underwent an evaluation to compare the level of originality with other published works and was subjected to rigorous two-step peer review before publication, with the identities of the reviewers not revealed to the editor(s) or author(s). The reviewers were independent of the publisher, editor(s) and author(s). The publisher shared feedback on the similarity report and the reviewers' inputs with the manuscript's editor(s) or author(s) to improve the manuscript. Where the reviewers recommended revision and improvements the editor(s) or author(s) responded adequately to such recommendations. The reviewers commented positively on the scholarly merits of the manuscript and recommended that the book be published.