The use of learning support materials in the rural schools of Maputaland, Kwa-Zulu Natal
- Authors: Van der Merwe, Michelle
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa -- Maputaland African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme Coelacanthiformes -- South Africa -- Maputaland Teaching -- Aids and devices -- South Africa -- Maputaland Environmental education -- Curricula -- South Africa -- Maputaland
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1815 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003701
- Description: The African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme (ACEP) was established in 2002 after the discovery of a colony of coelacanths off the Maputaland coast at Sodwana Bay, KwaZulu Natal. The environmental education and awareness sub-programme developed learning support materials (LSM's) for use in schools and the materials were disseminated annually through teacher education workshops. This study aimed to uncover the use of these LSM's in the rural schools of Maputaland. The active learning framework was used to analyse the materials. Collectively, the ACEP materials cover a range of active learning aspects; however alignment with the curriculum has resulted in an increased focus on experiments, accompanied by a loss of environmental content and a narrowing scope for active environmental learning. Workshop questionnaires and four school case studies revealed the patterns of practice of use of materials in schools. The stated use of materials by teachers is not fully realized in the actual classroom practice which centres on learning content and concept definitions. There is no culture of use of materials in the schools following the annual introduction of ACEP materials. It was also found that the marine and coastal knowledge holding power is outside the realm of the teachers' practice and control. The findings of this study come at a time when there is uncertainty over the future of South African education and the curriculum. This research may inform the environmental education and coastal and marine education field as to their role in education and more specifically the development of learning support materials.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Van der Merwe, Michelle
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa -- Maputaland African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme Coelacanthiformes -- South Africa -- Maputaland Teaching -- Aids and devices -- South Africa -- Maputaland Environmental education -- Curricula -- South Africa -- Maputaland
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1815 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003701
- Description: The African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme (ACEP) was established in 2002 after the discovery of a colony of coelacanths off the Maputaland coast at Sodwana Bay, KwaZulu Natal. The environmental education and awareness sub-programme developed learning support materials (LSM's) for use in schools and the materials were disseminated annually through teacher education workshops. This study aimed to uncover the use of these LSM's in the rural schools of Maputaland. The active learning framework was used to analyse the materials. Collectively, the ACEP materials cover a range of active learning aspects; however alignment with the curriculum has resulted in an increased focus on experiments, accompanied by a loss of environmental content and a narrowing scope for active environmental learning. Workshop questionnaires and four school case studies revealed the patterns of practice of use of materials in schools. The stated use of materials by teachers is not fully realized in the actual classroom practice which centres on learning content and concept definitions. There is no culture of use of materials in the schools following the annual introduction of ACEP materials. It was also found that the marine and coastal knowledge holding power is outside the realm of the teachers' practice and control. The findings of this study come at a time when there is uncertainty over the future of South African education and the curriculum. This research may inform the environmental education and coastal and marine education field as to their role in education and more specifically the development of learning support materials.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Relating indigenous knowledge practices and science concepts : an exploratory case study in a secondary school teacher-training programme
- Authors: Mandikonza, Caleb
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Ethnoscience -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Zimbabwe Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Zimbabwe Teachers -- Training of -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1918 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007321
- Description: This study reports research on how student teachers in Science at Mutare Teachers' College in Zimbabwe worked with indigenous knowledge practices in relation to science concepts in the secondary school syllabus. The study was conducted among first-year science students and involved them in developing science learning activities for a peer-teaching process that was part of their course. The research was undertaken during a review ofthe college syllabus and as a study to inform the Secondary Teacher Training Environmental Education Programme (ST²EEP). The research design involved the researcher in participant observations and interviews with rural people to document indigenous knowledge practices and to develop materials for the students to work with in the lessons design part of the study. The student teachers used the documented practices to generate learning activities and lesson plans to teach the science concepts they had identified. A peer review session and focus group interviews followed the lesson presentations. Findings from the research point to the rural community being a repository of diverse indigenous knowledge practices. Student teachers showed that they had prior knowledge of both indigenous knowledge practices and science concepts when they come to class. Student teachers were able to relate indigenous knowledge practices and science concepts in ways that have the potential to enhance the learning of science in rural school contexts that lack laboratories and science equipment. The scope of the study does not allow for anything beyond tentative conclusions that point to the need for further work to be undertaken with student teachers and for the research to be extended to teaching and learning interactions in schools. Recommendations are also made for further resource-based work to be undertaken within the forthcoming St²eep implementation phase in 2007.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Mandikonza, Caleb
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Ethnoscience -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Zimbabwe Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Zimbabwe Teachers -- Training of -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1918 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007321
- Description: This study reports research on how student teachers in Science at Mutare Teachers' College in Zimbabwe worked with indigenous knowledge practices in relation to science concepts in the secondary school syllabus. The study was conducted among first-year science students and involved them in developing science learning activities for a peer-teaching process that was part of their course. The research was undertaken during a review ofthe college syllabus and as a study to inform the Secondary Teacher Training Environmental Education Programme (ST²EEP). The research design involved the researcher in participant observations and interviews with rural people to document indigenous knowledge practices and to develop materials for the students to work with in the lessons design part of the study. The student teachers used the documented practices to generate learning activities and lesson plans to teach the science concepts they had identified. A peer review session and focus group interviews followed the lesson presentations. Findings from the research point to the rural community being a repository of diverse indigenous knowledge practices. Student teachers showed that they had prior knowledge of both indigenous knowledge practices and science concepts when they come to class. Student teachers were able to relate indigenous knowledge practices and science concepts in ways that have the potential to enhance the learning of science in rural school contexts that lack laboratories and science equipment. The scope of the study does not allow for anything beyond tentative conclusions that point to the need for further work to be undertaken with student teachers and for the research to be extended to teaching and learning interactions in schools. Recommendations are also made for further resource-based work to be undertaken within the forthcoming St²eep implementation phase in 2007.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
The significance of participation in capacity development and project sustainability: a case study of the Zimbabwe Secondary Teacher Training Environmental Education Project (St²eep)
- Authors: Van Ongevalle, Jan
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: High school teachers -- Training of -- Zimbabwe Environmental education -- Study and teaching (secondary) -- Zimbabwe Environmental education -- Curricula -- Case studies -- Zimbabwe Environmental education -- Curricula -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1766 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003651
- Description: This study uses a systems thinking perspective to explore the role and meaning of participation, capacity development and project sustainability in the Zimbabwe Secondary Teacher Training Environmental Education Project (St²eep). Since there was no consistent critical reflection upon the different assumptions that underpin these important aspects of St²eep in the original project design, this study aims to articulate a theoretical framework for guiding the project. St2eep is a donorfunded project, located in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education in Zimbabwe that seeks to integrate environmental education across the curriculum of secondary teacher education. The study first develops a theoretical framework drawing on systems thinking. In particular it uses the holistic and constructivist perspectives embedded in systems thinking to describe a number of analytic frameworks that are used as a guide to investigate participation, capacity development and project sustainability in the St²eep case study. The research methodology comprises a qualitative case study approach, which contains elements of an instrumental, evaluative and critical case study. Data-collection methods include document analysis, focus group discussions, focus group interviews, semi-structured face-to-face interviews and participant observation. Data analysis follows the constant comparative method of coding and categorising data as outlined by Strauss and Corbin (1998). The outcomes of this research show that participation processes in St²eep evolve around the interactions between a political dimension and a learning dimension. The political dimension relates to giving the project stakeholders a critical voice, allowing them to shape the project and involving them in the decision-making process. This approach has fostered an ongoing learning process in a small team of committed stakeholders based on the principles of collaborative learning, team learning and action research. Participation was shown to enhance capacity-development processes at individual and institutional level by the provision of support through learning teams, and by the renegotiation of responsibilities and power relations between lecturers involved in St²eep, donor representatives and college administrations. The strong operational role of the donor organisation was seen as a serious threat towards individual and institutional capacity development since it creates a functional but artificial and independent project system within the college system and takes over any local institutional support structure that it might seek to develop. Fostering continuous learning and capacity development, St²eep’s participatory approach was shown to contribute to a better understanding of the interconnectedness of factors that influence future sustainability of the project and the implementation of environmental education. This has assisted in the development of different scenarios on the sustainability of the project. The research shows that the project-ustainability planning process draws directly from St²eep’s ongoing learning process, with individual and institutional capacity development featuring strongly in the different scenarios, and with the external context such as the economic situation and the low priority of environmental education being recognised as important factors that need to be considered. Drawing on the findings from the case study, this study makes a tentative recommendation that donor organisations should focus more on capacity-development initiatives and avoid taking on a strong operational role in project activities. The research also recommends that there is need for a deliberate focus on both the political and learning dimensions of the participation process in order to foster local ownership. Making the learning aspect much more central in St²eep is presented as a possible strategy for motivating a larger number of college lecturers to become involved in the project and the implementation of environmental education. The study also urges St²eep to combine the different scenarios that have emerged during the project sustainability planning process and to focus on the benefits that stakeholders want to see sustained.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Van Ongevalle, Jan
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: High school teachers -- Training of -- Zimbabwe Environmental education -- Study and teaching (secondary) -- Zimbabwe Environmental education -- Curricula -- Case studies -- Zimbabwe Environmental education -- Curricula -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1766 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003651
- Description: This study uses a systems thinking perspective to explore the role and meaning of participation, capacity development and project sustainability in the Zimbabwe Secondary Teacher Training Environmental Education Project (St²eep). Since there was no consistent critical reflection upon the different assumptions that underpin these important aspects of St²eep in the original project design, this study aims to articulate a theoretical framework for guiding the project. St2eep is a donorfunded project, located in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education in Zimbabwe that seeks to integrate environmental education across the curriculum of secondary teacher education. The study first develops a theoretical framework drawing on systems thinking. In particular it uses the holistic and constructivist perspectives embedded in systems thinking to describe a number of analytic frameworks that are used as a guide to investigate participation, capacity development and project sustainability in the St²eep case study. The research methodology comprises a qualitative case study approach, which contains elements of an instrumental, evaluative and critical case study. Data-collection methods include document analysis, focus group discussions, focus group interviews, semi-structured face-to-face interviews and participant observation. Data analysis follows the constant comparative method of coding and categorising data as outlined by Strauss and Corbin (1998). The outcomes of this research show that participation processes in St²eep evolve around the interactions between a political dimension and a learning dimension. The political dimension relates to giving the project stakeholders a critical voice, allowing them to shape the project and involving them in the decision-making process. This approach has fostered an ongoing learning process in a small team of committed stakeholders based on the principles of collaborative learning, team learning and action research. Participation was shown to enhance capacity-development processes at individual and institutional level by the provision of support through learning teams, and by the renegotiation of responsibilities and power relations between lecturers involved in St²eep, donor representatives and college administrations. The strong operational role of the donor organisation was seen as a serious threat towards individual and institutional capacity development since it creates a functional but artificial and independent project system within the college system and takes over any local institutional support structure that it might seek to develop. Fostering continuous learning and capacity development, St²eep’s participatory approach was shown to contribute to a better understanding of the interconnectedness of factors that influence future sustainability of the project and the implementation of environmental education. This has assisted in the development of different scenarios on the sustainability of the project. The research shows that the project-ustainability planning process draws directly from St²eep’s ongoing learning process, with individual and institutional capacity development featuring strongly in the different scenarios, and with the external context such as the economic situation and the low priority of environmental education being recognised as important factors that need to be considered. Drawing on the findings from the case study, this study makes a tentative recommendation that donor organisations should focus more on capacity-development initiatives and avoid taking on a strong operational role in project activities. The research also recommends that there is need for a deliberate focus on both the political and learning dimensions of the participation process in order to foster local ownership. Making the learning aspect much more central in St²eep is presented as a possible strategy for motivating a larger number of college lecturers to become involved in the project and the implementation of environmental education. The study also urges St²eep to combine the different scenarios that have emerged during the project sustainability planning process and to focus on the benefits that stakeholders want to see sustained.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
The use of Van Hiele's theory to explore problems encountered in circle geometry: a grade 11 case study
- Authors: Siyepu, Sibawu Witness
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Geometry -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa Mathematics teachers -- Training of -- South Africa Mathematical ability -- Testing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1871 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004777
- Description: The research presented in this thesis is a case study located in the interpretive paradigm of qualitative research. The focus is on the use of van Hiele's theory to explore problems encountered in circle geometry by grade 11 learners and making some policy recommendations concerning the curriculum structure and teaching of the geometry at all grades. The interpretation is based to the learners' background in geometry i.e. their prior knowledge and experience of learning geometry. The study was carried out over a period of three years. The data collection process took a period of two months (April and May 2003) with a group of 21 grade 11 mathematics learners in a rural senior secondary school in the Eastern Cape. The researcher used document analysis, worksheets, participants' observation, van Hiele tests, a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to collect data. The study showed that the structure of the South African geometry syllabus consists of a some what disorganized mixture of concepts. It is not sequential and hierarchical and it sequences concepts in a seemingly unrelated manner. The study revealed that the South African high school geometry curriculum is presented at a higher van Hiele level than what the learners can attain. The findings of the study showed that many of the grade 11 learners were under-prepared for the study of more sophisticated geometry concepts and proofs. Three categories of reasons could be ascribed to this: Firstly, there was insufficient preparation of learners during the primary and senior phases. Secondly the study indicated that there is overload of geometry at the high school level in the South African mathematics curriculum. Thirdly, the over-reliance on the traditional approach to teaching geometry, poor presentation of mathematical technical concepts and language problems, were identified as possible additional reasons for the poor learner understanding of geometry in general and circle geometry in particular. The study recommends that the structure of the South African geometry curriculum should be revisited and redesigned. Teachers should be empowered and developed to be more effective in teaching geometry through further studies in mathematics and in-service workshops. They should also be engaged in the process of implementing the van Hiele's theory in the teaching of geometry in their classrooms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Siyepu, Sibawu Witness
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Geometry -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa Mathematics teachers -- Training of -- South Africa Mathematical ability -- Testing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1871 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004777
- Description: The research presented in this thesis is a case study located in the interpretive paradigm of qualitative research. The focus is on the use of van Hiele's theory to explore problems encountered in circle geometry by grade 11 learners and making some policy recommendations concerning the curriculum structure and teaching of the geometry at all grades. The interpretation is based to the learners' background in geometry i.e. their prior knowledge and experience of learning geometry. The study was carried out over a period of three years. The data collection process took a period of two months (April and May 2003) with a group of 21 grade 11 mathematics learners in a rural senior secondary school in the Eastern Cape. The researcher used document analysis, worksheets, participants' observation, van Hiele tests, a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to collect data. The study showed that the structure of the South African geometry syllabus consists of a some what disorganized mixture of concepts. It is not sequential and hierarchical and it sequences concepts in a seemingly unrelated manner. The study revealed that the South African high school geometry curriculum is presented at a higher van Hiele level than what the learners can attain. The findings of the study showed that many of the grade 11 learners were under-prepared for the study of more sophisticated geometry concepts and proofs. Three categories of reasons could be ascribed to this: Firstly, there was insufficient preparation of learners during the primary and senior phases. Secondly the study indicated that there is overload of geometry at the high school level in the South African mathematics curriculum. Thirdly, the over-reliance on the traditional approach to teaching geometry, poor presentation of mathematical technical concepts and language problems, were identified as possible additional reasons for the poor learner understanding of geometry in general and circle geometry in particular. The study recommends that the structure of the South African geometry curriculum should be revisited and redesigned. Teachers should be empowered and developed to be more effective in teaching geometry through further studies in mathematics and in-service workshops. They should also be engaged in the process of implementing the van Hiele's theory in the teaching of geometry in their classrooms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Teacher responses to the Namibian education reform : a case study of two Caprivi schools
- Authors: Kamwi, Kamwi Kenneth
- Date: 2002
- Subjects: Education -- Namibia Education and state -- Namibia Educational change -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1791 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003676
- Description: Effective implementation of education reforms consists of alterations in curriculum materials, instructional practices and behaviour, beliefs and understandings on the part of the teachers involved in the reform (Fullan and Hargreaves, 1993: 5). A process of implementation is therefore, a learning process, learning how to do something new (ibid.). This study was done to establish how Biology teachers in Caprivi have responded to the reform process ten years down the line. I used a qualitative case study of two secondary schools. Four Biology teachers, two school principals and two groups of learners participated in the study. Data was collected by means of interviews, lesson observations, a workshop, and school inventories. The data was analysed within an interpretive framework. The results of the study show a move into 'activity-based teaching'. It shows a shift from the traditional transmission teaching approach. In general teachers seem to equate 'activity-based teaching' with the learner-centred approach.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
- Authors: Kamwi, Kamwi Kenneth
- Date: 2002
- Subjects: Education -- Namibia Education and state -- Namibia Educational change -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1791 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003676
- Description: Effective implementation of education reforms consists of alterations in curriculum materials, instructional practices and behaviour, beliefs and understandings on the part of the teachers involved in the reform (Fullan and Hargreaves, 1993: 5). A process of implementation is therefore, a learning process, learning how to do something new (ibid.). This study was done to establish how Biology teachers in Caprivi have responded to the reform process ten years down the line. I used a qualitative case study of two secondary schools. Four Biology teachers, two school principals and two groups of learners participated in the study. Data was collected by means of interviews, lesson observations, a workshop, and school inventories. The data was analysed within an interpretive framework. The results of the study show a move into 'activity-based teaching'. It shows a shift from the traditional transmission teaching approach. In general teachers seem to equate 'activity-based teaching' with the learner-centred approach.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
Student teachers' conceptualisations of 'significant' animals
- Authors: Murtough, Neil
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa Teachers -- Training of -- South Africa Human-animal relationships -- South Africa -- Folklore Zoology -- South Africa -- Folklore
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1775 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003660
- Description: Constructivist approaches to teaching and learning are a well established component of the landscape of educational research, especially in Science education. This research took as its starting point the limited amount of social constructivist research available in the field of Environmental Education and responded to calls for further research. The research was designed within an interpretive tradition, as a critically phenomenological enquiry employing two methods; single case studies and a focus group. Data collection used progressively focused interview questions to proceed through a series of individual interview stages, starting with a simple description of conceptualisations and moving to deeper analysis of influences on, and use of conceptualisations. The focus group was designed as a forum to explore the pedagogic issues connected to the 'social negotiation of learning', based on data and insights gained from earlier interview stages. The goals of the study were to record data on the conceptualisations of animals perceived as significant by a group of Tsonga speaking students, and to seek insights into the formative influences on those conceptualisations. The research question, namely what contribution can social constructivist approaches to teaching and learning make to Environmental Education? guided an interpretation of the above data in terms of a range of social constructivist theories of learning. Theories of Radical and Social Constructivism as applied in Science education, although dominant orientations for educational research in constructivist learning, were challenged and found inappropriate as a basis to inform methodologies for Environmental Education. Instead Lave's (cited in O'Loughlin, 1992) socio-cultural approach to learning was explored as the basis to create a more useful perspective on an environmental education situation. Finally it was concluded that Lave's socio-cultural approach to learning may be a useful guide to helping a teacher- elicit the full range of conceptualisations present in an environmental education situation, but is not ultimately effective if no challenge and change comes about. Consequently, a socially critical constructivist teaching and learning approach was suggested In conclusion I commented on the interpretive research methodology employed and suggested an example of a socially critical methodology that could take this investigation further.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
- Authors: Murtough, Neil
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa Teachers -- Training of -- South Africa Human-animal relationships -- South Africa -- Folklore Zoology -- South Africa -- Folklore
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1775 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003660
- Description: Constructivist approaches to teaching and learning are a well established component of the landscape of educational research, especially in Science education. This research took as its starting point the limited amount of social constructivist research available in the field of Environmental Education and responded to calls for further research. The research was designed within an interpretive tradition, as a critically phenomenological enquiry employing two methods; single case studies and a focus group. Data collection used progressively focused interview questions to proceed through a series of individual interview stages, starting with a simple description of conceptualisations and moving to deeper analysis of influences on, and use of conceptualisations. The focus group was designed as a forum to explore the pedagogic issues connected to the 'social negotiation of learning', based on data and insights gained from earlier interview stages. The goals of the study were to record data on the conceptualisations of animals perceived as significant by a group of Tsonga speaking students, and to seek insights into the formative influences on those conceptualisations. The research question, namely what contribution can social constructivist approaches to teaching and learning make to Environmental Education? guided an interpretation of the above data in terms of a range of social constructivist theories of learning. Theories of Radical and Social Constructivism as applied in Science education, although dominant orientations for educational research in constructivist learning, were challenged and found inappropriate as a basis to inform methodologies for Environmental Education. Instead Lave's (cited in O'Loughlin, 1992) socio-cultural approach to learning was explored as the basis to create a more useful perspective on an environmental education situation. Finally it was concluded that Lave's socio-cultural approach to learning may be a useful guide to helping a teacher- elicit the full range of conceptualisations present in an environmental education situation, but is not ultimately effective if no challenge and change comes about. Consequently, a socially critical constructivist teaching and learning approach was suggested In conclusion I commented on the interpretive research methodology employed and suggested an example of a socially critical methodology that could take this investigation further.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
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