Abstract:
First year students at tertiary institutions find themselves in an environment that is both exciting
and intimidating. This study explores the dynamics of the classroom where biology students meet
an experienced and a beginner lecturer teaching arguably the most difficult topic in the syllabus,
photosynthesis. The study investigated the difference in their teaching orientations, which was
expected to influence the way in which they plan and present the lessons, the experiences of the
students in class, with the emphasis on sections that were explained well and on problems that
students may still encounter at the end of the lecture. Interview and classroom observation data
were analysed to probe the beliefs, goals and topic specific pedagogical content knowledge of
the lecturers in order to generate a qualitative description of the difference in their teaching
orientations. The data suggests that the difference in the disciplinary background of the two
lecturers influenced their teaching orientations and their time allocation to different sections of the
content. It was evident from an inductive analysis of journal entries that first year students respond
positively to lecturers that are enthusiastic, well prepared and committed to deliver to the best of
their abilities. The study concludes that the poor performance of students in this topic cannot be
ascribed to the difference in the teaching orientations of the two lecturers.
