The effect of context, culture and learning on the selection of alternative options in similar situations by South African pupils

The intuitive beliefs about a number of well-known physical events were investigated in a longitudinal and cross-cultural study involving 2326 pupils in schools in the Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa and the then Republic of Transkei using a multiple-choice questionnaire designed for the purpose. One of the findings of the study is that the context of the question has a clear effect on the frequency with which different options are selected in physically similar situations. Furthermore, differences between the beliefs of pupils in schools in the Cape and in Transkei emerge, as well as an increasing trend towards the selection of the correct response in some situations across the standards in Cape schools which appear to indicate the effect of learning in science.