Using DPSIR Framework to Determine Secondary School Students’ Conception of Ecological Concepts in the Context of a Wetland Ecosystem

Tsepo Mokuku; Kabelo Tlhakola

doi:10.21601/ijese/11021

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Tsepo Mokuku ¹ ^* , Kabelo Tlhakola ¹

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¹ National University of Lesotho, LESOTHO^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

This study investigated the secondary school students’ conception of ecological concepts, based on wetland ecosystem. The guiding question was ‘What is grade 11 students’ conception of ecological concepts in association with Koro-Koro wetland?’. Thirty-one Grade 11 students were assessed for their understanding, within the Driving-Pressure-State-Impacts-Response (DPSIR) framework. A questionnaire was administered to establish the students’ conceptions. The findings revealed that students’ understanding of their local wetland was relatively better in wetland fauna, and limited in relation to plant diversity, ecosystem energy flow and conceptualization of an ecosystem. Many students could not relate what they learnt in class to their local environment. It is recommended that future studies be directed towards investigating teaching strategies that can effectively enhance students’ scientific understanding of local wetlands.

Keywords

wetlands ecosystem
ecological concepts
DPSIR model
secondary school students

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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

INTERDISCIP J ENV SCI ED, 2021, Volume 17, Issue 4, Article No: e2252

https://doi.org/10.21601/ijese/11021

Publication date: 25 Jun 2021

Article Views: 1708

Article Downloads: 1035

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How to cite this article

APA

Mokuku, T., & Tlhakola, K. (2021). Using DPSIR Framework to Determine Secondary School Students’ Conception of Ecological Concepts in the Context of a Wetland Ecosystem. Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 17(4), e2252. https://doi.org/10.21601/ijese/11021

Vancouver

Mokuku T, Tlhakola K. Using DPSIR Framework to Determine Secondary School Students’ Conception of Ecological Concepts in the Context of a Wetland Ecosystem. INTERDISCIP J ENV SCI ED. 2021;17(4):e2252. https://doi.org/10.21601/ijese/11021

AMA

Mokuku T, Tlhakola K. Using DPSIR Framework to Determine Secondary School Students’ Conception of Ecological Concepts in the Context of a Wetland Ecosystem. INTERDISCIP J ENV SCI ED. 2021;17(4), e2252. https://doi.org/10.21601/ijese/11021

Chicago

Mokuku, Tsepo, and Kabelo Tlhakola. "Using DPSIR Framework to Determine Secondary School Students’ Conception of Ecological Concepts in the Context of a Wetland Ecosystem". Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education 2021 17 no. 4 (2021): e2252. https://doi.org/10.21601/ijese/11021

Harvard

Mokuku, T., and Tlhakola, K. (2021). Using DPSIR Framework to Determine Secondary School Students’ Conception of Ecological Concepts in the Context of a Wetland Ecosystem. Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 17(4), e2252. https://doi.org/10.21601/ijese/11021

MLA

Mokuku, Tsepo et al. "Using DPSIR Framework to Determine Secondary School Students’ Conception of Ecological Concepts in the Context of a Wetland Ecosystem". Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education, vol. 17, no. 4, 2021, e2252. https://doi.org/10.21601/ijese/11021