Background: Foundation phase teachers are not science specialists; however, they are expected to teach science. It is important that research determines where teachers face challenges in teaching science in order to assist them to bridge the gaps and to improve their competence in teaching science. Aim: The aim of this research was to explore teachers’ implementation of the science curriculum. Setting: The research was conducted in a primary school in a province of South Africa. Four foundation phase teachers participated in the study. Methods: This interpretative, qualitative study used classroom observation, learners’ workbooks and post-observation interviews to develop an understanding of teachers’ science knowledge, their facilitation of hands-on science investigations as well as the nature of their interaction with learners in the science classroom. Results: The findings revealed that teachers were not competent in teaching science and when rated according to their profiles of curriculum implementation all four were allocated low scores. However, in-depth observations revealed that while teachers generally had poor science knowledge, they were competent in engaging learners through questions and activities. This pedagogic knowledge could have translated into pedagogic content knowledge should the teachers have attempted to spend more time preparing their science lessons to ensure that they mastered the necessary science content and science knowledge, as well as appropriate methodologies to teach science. Conclusion: Science education should be in the foreground in the foundation phase curriculum to encourage teachers to teach science as an integral part of the curriculum.

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基础阶段的科学教学：差距在哪里，如何弥补这些差距？

背景：基础阶段的老师不是科学专家；但是，他们期望教授科学。研究确定教师在科学教学中面临的挑战很重要，以帮助他们弥合差距并提高他们在科学教学中的能力。目的：本研究的目的是探讨教师对科学课程的实施情况。地点：这项研究是在南非某省的一所小学进行的。四个基础阶段的老师参加了这项研究。方法：这项解释性，定性研究使用课堂观察，学习者的作业簿和观察后访谈来加深对教师科学知识的理解，他们对动手科学调查的便利，以及他们与科学教室中的学习者互动的性质。结果：调查结果表明，教师在教学科学方面不称职，并且根据课程实施情况对其评分，这四位教师的得分均较低。但是，深入的观察表明，尽管教师通常对科学知识的掌握较差，但他们有能力通过提问和活动来吸引学习者。如果教师试图花更多的时间准备科学课，以确保他们掌握了必要的科学内容和科学知识，以及用于教授科学的适当方法，则该教学知识可能已转化为教学内容知识。结论：