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The adoption of Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) during the COVID-19 Pandemic brought a shift in how lecturers teach in higher education, posing a threat to the usual development of competencies in students. This study aimed to uncover the knowledge and skills backlogs experienced by pre-service teachers. The study is framed within various concepts that characterize an ideal science teacher. Using a qualitative case-study design, data were collected through interviews with nine pre-service teachers who were subjected to the ERT. Transcripts of the interviews were analyzed thematically using the established framework as a lens. The findings indicate that while the science pre-service teachers acquired some technological knowledge, there was a concurrent loss of sufficient content knowledge, a crucial prerequisite for the development of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). Additionally, the pre-service science teachers highlighted alack of knowledge in practical work and the specific pedagogies essential for teaching science. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of moving forward

Curriculum reform worldwide has often reflected changing perspectives on the teaching and learning of science. Such perspectives underline the notion that not only the teaching of science content knowledge is relevant but also the aims and methods scientists use to further their knowledge and the social context in which science is applied. We call this the 'cognitive-epistemic' and 'social institutional aspects' of science. They form the hard core of the nature of science (NOS) concept for curriculum reform. In South Africa, after years of Apartheid, a key focus of school science curriculum reform is for importance to be given to NOS due to the potential benefits of learning and understanding of NOS for students. This study analyses cognitive-epistemic and social-institutional categories of NOS in the South African Life Sciences and Physical Sciences school curricula. A critical finding for both Life Sciences and Physical Sciences curricula was the imbalance in the NOS categories. In the curricula, there is less presence of the social-institutional categories compared to the cognitive-epistemic categories. In general, there was poor interconnectedness amongst NOS categories, with the strongest interconnectedness revealed for the cognitive-epistemic categories 'scientific practices' and 'methods and methodological rules'. Implications for the design of future curricula and recommendations for future research are discussed.

The aim with this study was to analyse and explore how physical sciences, engineering science and technology subjects (technical electrical technology, technical civil technology, technical mechanical technology) can contribute to the alignment of the technical sciences curriculum. We used document analysis to collect data. An analysis of the curriculum and assessment policy statements (CAPS) for technical sciences, physical sciences, electrical technology, civil technology, mechanical technology, and textbooks for engineering science was done. The findings of the study suggest that the technical science curriculum is a replica of the physical science curriculum. We recommend that the technical sciences curriculum be reviewed such that relevant scientific concepts can be used to bridge the gaps identified in the curriculum. The implications are that a new, aligned technical sciences curriculum that is relevant for technology subjects must be developed.

The inquiry-based strategy in science education is widely recommended and incorporated in practical work. However, contextual and intrinsic teaching challenges associated with practical investigations (inquiry-based practical work), occur in resource-constrained physical sciences classrooms in South Africa. The intrinsic challenges have previously been identified from the perspective of the pedagogical content knowledge framework and the concerns-based adoption model. In this article we present a novel approach, investigating the intrinsic challenges from a viewpoint of instructional design. The multi-method technique was used to collect data which was analysed by combining the deductive and the inductive approaches in thematic analysis. The findings consist of intrinsic teaching challenges in the initiation, planning, and implementation phases of practical investigations. Examples of the challenges include practical work being considered to have a confirmatory role, inadequacies linked to addressing learner safety, and unfamiliarity with well-known instructional models. While new challenges were identified, the findings add a new perspective to intrinsic challenges relating to practical investigations in the context of physical sciences education in South Africa. Also, the findings enhance global knowledge about the complexity of intrinsic teaching challenges linked to practical investigations. In addition, the findings inform teacher support while suggesting lines of future research linked to practical investigations in resource-constrained physical sciences classrooms in South Africa and beyond.

The current study examined self-organized learning environments (SOLEs) pedagogy as a conduit to learners' metacognitive skills and conceptual understanding in physical sciences and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as a whole in Capricorn District of Limpopo Province of South Africa. The aim was based on ongoing debates related to integrating technology and metacognitive skills in STEM education to improve educational outcomes. Anchored upon the aim and through experimental (one urban and one rural) groups and control (one urban and one rural) groups, the study employed a non-equivalent quasi-experimental (control group) design to glean and analyze data from 155 selected participants through a stratified sampling method. Data were collected using physical sciences pre- and post-tests and metacognition self-assessment scale questionnaire. Data analysis employed descriptive (mean [M], standard deviation, and effect size) and inferential (parametric t-test) analysis. The findings indicate that the mean gain score (M=6.37) of the experimental groups (that were taught through SOLEs pedagogy) was higher than that of their counterparts (M=2.60) in the control groups with a p-value (p=0.037) that is less than 0.005. Similarly, in terms of conceptual understanding, the findings indicate that the experimental groups improved significantly more than the control groups at a significant p-value of 0.00. Finally, the study concludes that SOLEs pedagogy improves learners' metacognitive skills that, in turn, enhance conceptual understanding of physical sciences content. Furthermore, the current study recommends further longitudinal studies with larger sample sizes to explore SOLEs pedagogy in STEM.

This study sought to narrate the experiences of a digital novice South African rural teacher, using technological pedagogical reasoning (TPR). The ubiquity and pervasiveness of digital technology is creating a need for teachers to develop TPR to remain relevant in this ever-changing global teaching community. TPR is developed in the real context of a teacher's practice; hence, teachers need to have the experiences of learning to teach with technology in their actual classes. In this study, one South African rural teacher found computer simulations (CS) to be curricular materials with the potential to transform how physical sciences can be taught in South African rural schools. Their affordances are many, depending on how they can be manipulated by the user to add value to their pursuits. In addition, they have pragmatic value to the practice of South African teachers. The benefits of using CS were informed by using the technological pedagogical reasoning (TPR) framework. These affordances were relational, uncovered through an active interaction with the technology and the learners. The use of technology in teaching does not come with a pedagogical manual; hence, their use by the individual teachers is idiosyncratic. Hence, this creates a need for more research in the use of specific technology while teaching in rural schools to develop a more nuanced understanding of TPR.

This research analyzed the state of metacognition in South African Physical Science classrooms, the extent to which South African Physical Science teachers possess metacognitive awareness, and how effective the teachers are in fostering metacognition. Assessment of the current state of metacognition in a sample of Physical Science classes at two KwaZulu-Natal districts, inferring the observed and analyzed level of metacognition of the participants, was based on the assumption that low levels of metacognitive awareness was the reason for achieved poor results. The major findings of this research found: there is a poor state of metacognitive awareness within the studied Physical Science classrooms.

Learners who pass the South African National Senior Certificate (NSC) physical sciences examination generally show a weak conceptual understanding of chemistry at university. This inconsistency was investigated by examining strategies used in the teaching of chemical equilibrium in schools. A combination of on-site observations, journaling and teacher interviews was used in a survey of 4 teachers in 3 well-resourced schools whose learners regularly achieve good results in the subject. In this article we argue that, whereas the study reported on here revealed a high degree of consistency in basic concept teaching approaches calculated to help learners pass the NSC examination, focus on the examination comes at the expense of in-depth exploration of concepts. We found that Grade 12 chemistry teachers value learners' success in the NSC examination more than their understanding of concepts and ability to use those concepts beyond the examination. Reasons for, as well as consequences of this strategic choice were identified and are discussed.

Developing students' understanding of and about science is an important educational goal. Learning the nature of science (NOS) has been recognized as a critical component of science literacy, affecting how students (our future citizens) make informed decisions. Textbooks can be useful teaching materials if the content presented aligns with curriculum guidelines, but they may not completely satisfy students' learning needs. The reconceptualized FRA to NOS (RFN) offers a framework for teachers and students seeking to unpack and construct a comprehensive understanding of NOS. The present research analysed how NOS was represented in three chapters addressing magnetism and electricity in three high school textbooks published in South Africa. Using the 11 RFN categories and four levels of information explicitness criteria as analytical tools, we found that scientific practices, scientific knowledge, and social values were the three most frequently used NOS representations. Textbook excerpts representing these three RFN categories at different levels of information explicitness were also discussed in order to show how the target RFN were represented on this topic. Chronological diagrams were employed to denote how NOS representations interacted with one another, as well as reveal the level of information explicitness. Finally, the identified learning goals proposed by the textbooks were analysed to see how the NOS-related content aligned with the learning goals from the RFN perspective.

The decision to integrate Nature of Science into classroom practice is no longer a debate among science educators and curriculum experts. There exists empirical evidence to substantiate its effectiveness, judging by both the academic performance and ability of students to conceptualize abstract yet teachable areas in science. Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement of physical science permits for teachers, fundamentally, the discretion to inculcate and incorporate Nature of Science in classroom practices. However, the usual classroom practices are far from the expectations of both curriculum experts and policy makers in the field of science education. Ambiguity, accessibility, and perceived non-domestication were three areas identified in the literature to be responsible for lack of integration aside capacity building. This manuscript provided answers to the three areas of need by traversing relevant literature on both Nature of Science and Science education with a view to aggregate and simplifies scholarly positions for easy classroom usage for teachers and educators alike. Positions were drawn from nature of science, attendant curriculum, and position of literature with respect to the locale. Literature reviewed in this manuscript avail reader's inherent conditioning and grit to understand nature of science and its essence in science teaching and learning.

The importance of the enactment of formative assessment as a pedagogical tool in science teaching and learning cannot be over-emphasized. Teachers encounter pedagogical challenges when enacting formative assessment in science classrooms. These pedagogical challenges underscore the need to explore teachers' perspectives on pedagogical strategies used to enact formative assessment in science classrooms. This study examined grade 10 Physical Sciences teachers' perspectives on pedagogical strategies they adopted to enact formative assessment in science classrooms in diverse schools in South Africa. The empirical investigation invoked the sociocultural theory as a conceptual lens to provide insightful elucidation into the nature of teachers' perspectives on pedagogical strategies used to enact formative assessment in science classrooms. A generic qualitative research approach was employed. Data were collected through semi-structured focus group interviews and classroom observations. The study involved 12 purposively selected grade 10 Physical Sciences teachers as participants. The findings revealed that grade 10 Physical Sciences teachers adopted various pedagogical strategies when enacting formative assessment in science classrooms. However, meaningful enactment of formative assessment in science classrooms was largely hampered by a myriad of contextual factors such as class size and general lack of essential resources. It is recommended that teacher professional development interventions coordinated by the Department of Basic Education ought to make provision for meaningful opportunities to enhance teacher professional capacity required for coherent enactment of formative assessment as an essential tenet in science education. Theoretical implications for pedagogic innovation are discussed.

The concept of self-directedness is a missing link in South African science classrooms, and as a result, science teachers are often not self-directed in employing innovative teaching and learning strategies such as blended problem-based learning (BPBL) that might enhance self-directed learning. The literature is replete with studies showing that science teachers in the United States, Indonesia, and South Africa, to name a few, lack the necessary technological skills to utilize simulations in the teaching and learning of physical sciences. This intervention-based explanatory mixed methods study was conducted in one of the nine education provinces of South Africa. Quantitative data were generated using a self-directed learning instrument (SDLI), the Physics Education Technology interactive simulations questionnaire, and a PBL questionnaire. Forty participants were sampled using both cluster and systematic random sampling techniques. Qualitative data were generated through a BPBL scenario, a reflective portfolio, and semi-structured interviews with two purposively selected participants. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and parametric statistics. The reflective portfolio was analyzed using performance standards scoring rubric adopted from Smith et al. (2001). The BPBL Scenario Evaluation Schedule and interviews were analyzed using Saldaña's (2013) code-to-theory analytical model. It was concluded that there was a significant difference in participants' perceptions of PBL, self-directedness, and interactive simulations after attending a teacher professional development intervention (TPDI) and implementing BPBL. The findings show that the utilization of interactive simulations and PBL in physical sciences classrooms was unknown to teachers -- suggesting that teachers were not self-directed in implementing BPBL. This study presents a model for designing BPBL activities and an evaluation schedule for assessing those activities for self-directedness in educational practices.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the nature of small group discussion tasks and learners' talk during Physical Science lessons. The study was conducted during Physical Science lessons with three self-selected groups of Grade 11 learners from one school. A total of three lessons were followed. During the lessons, learners were given group tasks to complete, and their discussion was audio-recorded. The small group discussion tasks were coded using the revised Bloom's taxonomy. The audio-recordings were transcribed and coded using Mercer's three types of talk. The nature of tasks in the small group discussions was paired with the type of talk used as the group members were responding to the tasks and the frequency of these pairs was analysed. Analysis of the tasks vs. types of talk used indicated that learners predominately used cumulative talk to find solutions to understanding tasks. Exploratory talk was predominately used to find solutions to application tasks. The findings show that this relationship between the nature of small group discussion tasks and learners' type of talk is statistically significant at p = 0.05 level. No disputational talk occurrences were observed. It is noted that the type of talk used to address each type of task is related to the cognitive skills demanded by the task, group composition and the embracing of the spirit of ubuntu by the group members.

In this qualitative study, the researchers explored the ways in which 21st-century skills (specifically communication and critical thinking) are enhanced by Grade 10 beginner Physical Sciences teachers while teaching Particulate Nature of Matter (PNM) through the implementation of problem-based learning (PBL). The study was conducted in one of the four educational districts of the North West province, South Africa. The district was selected due to its geographical proximity and accessibility to the researchers. Two participants were purposively selected from two rural government secondary schools. Research instruments for the study comprised an open-ended questionnaire and a reflective portfolio. The data were analyzed manually using Saldaña's model and Smith et al.'s assessment rubric. The findings show that PBL enhances communication and critical thinking skills. It is recommended that a teacher professional development (TPD) training program be presented for beginner Physical Sciences teachers which targets the formulation of PBL problems, the promotion of 21st-century skills (communication and critical thinking), and the implementation of PBL in other topics in Chemistry.

The ability to do inquiry does not necessarily translate to understandings about scientific inquiry or the processes by which scientific knowledge is generated. The study reported in this paper focuses on what students know about scientific inquiry and what impact school science may have on this knowledge. We investigated grade 12 physical and life sciences students' understandings about eight core aspects of the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI) at a diversity of high schools in South Africa. Data were collected in two phases. In phase 1, the Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) questionnaire was administered to 203 grade 12 students from six schools across different socio-economic spectra (township, former model c and independent schools). Phase 2 constituted follow-up semi-structured interviews with 20% of the questionnaire respondents (n = 41). The findings revealed that grade 12 students held mostly naïve and mixed understandings about the NOSI. Though observed differences indicated that students at elite independent schools held more informed views than students at suburban and township schools, chi-square test of association (X2) for different school types showed a statistically significant difference in students' understandings only for one NOSI aspect. This finding was regarded as being insignificant to make claims of differences in students' NOSI understandings for the different school types. The implications of these findings and future directions for research are also discussed.

Textbooks remain an important resource in the hands of science teachers in ensuring that curricular aims and educational reforms are realised in school science. In a publication of the National Research Council (NRC) entitled "A Framework for K-12 Science Education," emphasis is placed on students experiencing inquiry-based practices and not merely learning about them. These "practices" of science describe the behaviour in which real-life scientists engage while they investigate and construct model and theories about the natural and human world. The research reported in this article explored the extent to which these science practices are represented in South African Grade 12 Physical Sciences textbooks using qualitative content analysis. The analysis applied an adapted validated conceptual framework of the eight science practices that have been identified by the National Research Council. A Science Practice Continuum Rubric (SPCR) was developed for the coding of the textbooks. The analysis revealed that the science practices reflected in the textbooks were predominantly teacher-directed with only limited opportunity for student-engagement in the science practices. The findings of this analysis suggest that textbooks should be modified to sufficiently reflect practices at a higher level of student autonomy in order to improve the 21st-century learners' scientific literacy in South African high school science.

Curriculum reform worldwide has often reflected changing perspectives on the teaching and learning of science. Such perspectives underline the notion that not only the teaching of science content knowledge is relevant but also the aims and methods scientists use to further their knowledge and the social context in which science is applied. We call this the 'cognitive-epistemic' and 'social institutional aspects' of science. They form the hard core of the nature of science (NOS) concept for curriculum reform. In South Africa, after years of Apartheid, a key focus of school science curriculum reform is for importance to be given to NOS due to the potential benefits of learning and understanding of NOS for students. This study analyses cognitive-epistemic and social-institutional categories of NOS in the South African Life Sciences and Physical Sciences school curricula. A critical finding for both Life Sciences and Physical Sciences curricula was the imbalance in the NOS categories. In the curricula, there is less presence of the social-institutional categories compared to the cognitive-epistemic categories. In general, there was poor interconnectedness amongst NOS categories, with the strongest interconnectedness revealed for the cognitive-epistemic categories 'scientific practices' and 'methods and methodological rules'. Implications for the design of future curricula and recommendations for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching in global multilingual societies requires a change of instruction concerning reading comprehension, as many learners are not instructed in their home language. Reading comprehension skills are lacking in South Africa and are discernible in subjects like physical sciences, where the text requires high levels of cognitive thinking. This study focused on improving reading comprehension using strategies like vocabulary, syntactical awareness, and text recognition, among others. An interpretative qualitative approach was chosen to determine to which extent reading strategies are used and taught in the physical sciences classroom. Semi-structured interviews and non-participant teacher observations were conducted to determine the participants' knowledge of and ability and skill in using reading strategies. The study found that the use of reading strategies in physical sciences classrooms was limited, and the participants (physical sciences teachers) were unable to integrate many strategies to assist with reading comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textbooks play a prominent role in the teaching and learning of chemistry. It is the major organiser and the intended curriculum teachers adapt for their instructional practices. Although chemistry is abstract in nature, the use of visuals or images in textbooks to depict chemical phenomena at different levels remains a meaningful approach to help facilitate students' understanding of chemistry. Therefore, this study analysed chemical representations in the chemistry components of the Physical Sciences textbooks for grade 12 learners in South Africa. Three textbooks were selected and analysed using the five criteria developed by Gkitzia, Salta and Tzougraki (2011). The findings revealed that the chemical representations in the textbooks were largely at the macroscopic and hybrid levels, with surface features that are ambiguous or explicit and representations that are unlinked to text. In addition, there were few sub-microscopic, multiple, and mixed representations in the textbooks. An interesting result is that a majority of the chemical representations had appropriate captions. The implications of these findings for textbook authors or publishers were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advocacy for writing in science and STEM‐related fields through reasoning‐based writing, critical thinking and argumentation has been accentuated as a core competence in curriculum documents. In South Africa, the CAPS document for Physical Sciences acknowledged the importance of writing and consequently, call on teachers to engage in teaching language across the curriculum. This study examined the characteristics of writing prompts in three selected samples of textbooks to understand how writing is addressed in the Physical Sciences textbooks. Specifically, the study examined the frequency and characteristics of writing prompts included in the chemistry component of three selected Physical Sciences textbooks for Grade 12 learners. A total of 533 writing prompts were identified and analyzed using a coding scheme adopted for the study. Findings revealed that learners are prompted to write in variety of ways, with prompts that positioned them to explain why, discuss your ideas, explain how and explain what. While the prompts that ask learners to explain why and discuss your ideas were the most frequently coded, the press to write their reasoning with specific features that are inherent in the respective topics were inadequate. The implications for curriculum developers are the need for explicit instructions on the length of writings required, and for authors to develop adaptable guidelines to enable textbook users understand the writing expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two key categories of moves that drive interaction in science classrooms; initiating moves and rejoinders. Closed-ended initiating questions have always been associated with low student engagement and open-ended initiating questions with prolonged interaction in science classroom. In this paper, we report on a qualitative case study conducted in South Africa with three physical sciences teachers. The purpose of the study was to understand the nature of initiating and rejoinder moves and their effect in the science classrooms. We draw on a hybridised framework combining Analysing Teacher Moves (ATM) with teacher discursive moves. We present data that contradicts the claim that closed-ended initiating questions always lead to minimised interaction and that only open-ended initiating questions lead to prolonged interaction depending on the nature of rejoinders. We discuss the value of understanding this intricacy of teacher move patterns and its implications for teacher education and professional development of science teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of self-directedness is a missing link in South African science classrooms, and as a result, science teachers are often not self-directed in employing innovative teaching and learning strategies such as blended problem-based learning (BPBL) that might enhance self-directed learning. The literature is replete with studies showing that science teachers in the United States, Indonesia, and South Africa, to name a few, lack the necessary technological skills to utilize simulations in the teaching and learning of physical sciences. This intervention-based explanatory mixed methods study was conducted in one of the nine education provinces of South Africa. Quantitative data were generated using a self-directed learning instrument (SDLI), the Physics Education Technology interactive simulations questionnaire, and a PBL questionnaire. Forty participants were sampled using both cluster and systematic random sampling techniques. Qualitative data were generated through a BPBL scenario, a reflective portfolio, and semi-structured interviews with two purposively selected participants. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and parametric statistics. The reflective portfolio was analyzed using performance standards scoring rubric adopted from Smith et al. (2001). The BPBL Scenario Evaluation Schedule and interviews were analyzed using Saldaña's (2013) code-to-theory analytical model. It was concluded that there was a significant difference in participants' perceptions of PBL, self-directedness, and interactive simulations after attending a teacher professional development intervention (TPDI) and implementing BPBL. The findings show that the utilization of interactive simulations and PBL in physical sciences classrooms was unknown to teachers - suggesting that teachers were not self-directed in implementing BPBL. This study presents a model for designing BPBL activities and an evaluation schedule for assessing those activities for self-directedness in educational practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa lags behind in terms of competing globally in science and technology. Thus, the purpose of the study was to investigate teacher factors that influenced learners' motivation to learn science in a secondary school. The study also aimed to determine whether significant differences in motivation regarding teacher influence existed among age groups and genders. The research was conducted in a public secondary school in Gauteng province, South Africa with 462 learners from Grade 8 to Grade 11. Using a quantitative approach, the learners completed a questionnaire that involved several motivation constructs (mastery and performance goal oriented). The study identified some problems that could impact on learner motivation and also found that some significant differences existed among different grades and genders. A number of recommendations were made regarding the teacher's role in motivating science learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research reported here examined the outcome of using interactive simulation technology (IST) as a guided-inquiry approach to enhance learners' conceptual knowledge of electrostatics in physics. Participants were Grade 11 physical sciences learners (n = 60) and a teacher from a rural school in South Africa. Learners were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 30) that took part in the intervention lesson using the integration of IST in the science classroom, and a control group (n = 30) that continued with the conventional teaching method. We adopted a mixed-method approach for this research. Data were collected through a pre-post achievement instrument, classroom observations, and focus group interviews. Data were analysed using the Mann-Whitney U-test, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and content analysis. It was found that the mean rank rating of the pre-test results for learners in both groups was not significantly different. However, the Mann-Whitney U-test indicated that learners' conceptual understanding measured in the post-test result was greater for the experimental group (mean rank gain score = 38.83) compared to the control group (mean rank gain score = 22.17), U = 200.0, p = 0.000185. This finding indicates that integrating IST into inquiry-based activities can be used efficiently to improve learners' in-depth knowledge of science concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty years into the millennium, the world has been confronted with a pandemic that has had an immeasurable impact on the workplace, learning environment and related technologies. Technology and technological advancements are founded on three disciplines, namely Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science. Internationally, an integration of the curricula of these disciplines are promoted in the education space, as an effective way to achieve 21st century capabilities that lately includes computational thinking. This study explores the changes in the content and alignment of the three subjects in the South African secondary school system from an interdisciplinary framework perspective. Textbooks, curriculum documents and planning calendars provided the information for the content analysis. The content in Physics and Mathematics have remained basically the same, with a few topics removed from Physics and some added to Mathematics. Information Technology has replaced Computer Science, with significant changes in content in alignment with developments in computing technology. No clear indication of an alignment between the disciplines could be found, which, to a certain extent, puts South Africa outside the international frame. The basic education system appears to run an assessment-driven curriculum in Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Information Technology. This system produces poor results and seemingly does not allow for interdisciplinary skills development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As South African cities urbanise alongside climate change, resource constraints, and socio-economic challenges, water sensitive (urban) design (WSD) is slowly gaining traction as a framework to address water security goals and entrench resilience. This article reflects on the progression of WSD in South Africa and discusses the broadening of its initial association with stormwater and physical infrastructure to include critical governance and institutional arrangements and social engagements at the core of a water sensitive transition. The approach is being adapted for the socio-economic challenges particular to South Africa, including basic urban water and sanitation service provision, WSD related skills shortages, a lack of spatial planning support for WSD, and the need for enabling policy. Since 2014, a national WSD Community of Practice (CoP) has been a key driver in entrenching and advancing this approach and ensuring that the necessary stakeholders are involved and sufficiently skilled. The WSD CoP is aimed at promoting an integrative approach to planning water sensitive cities, bridging the gaps between theory and practice and blending the social and physical sciences and silo divisions within local municipalities. Three South African examples are presented to illustrate the role of a CoP approach with social learning aspects that support WSD : (1) the "Pathways to water resilient South African cities" interdisciplinary project which shows the institutional (policy) foundation for the integration of WSD into city water planning and management processes; (2) the Sustainable Drainage Systems training programme in the province of Gauteng which demonstrates a skills audit and training initiative as part of an intergovernmental skills development programme with academic partners; and (3) a working group that is being established between the Institute for Landscape Architecture in South Africa and the South African Institution of Civil Engineering which illustrates the challenges and efforts of key professions working together to build WSD capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]