Investigating an environmental education curriculum to a developing society's needs: a case study of the programme offered at the Pilanesberg National Park, Bophuthatswana
- Authors: Johnson, Steven Robert
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: Environmental education Environmental education -- Curricula -- South Africa -- Bophuthatswana Environmental education -- Curricula -- Case studies Pilanesberg National Park (South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1585 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003467
- Description: The Environmental Education programme offered at the Gold Fields Environmental Education Centre (GFEE Centre) in the Pilanesberg National Park, Bophuthatswana, was initiated in response to requests from schools in Bophuthatswana to visit game reserves as 'syllabus related school activities'. Evaluative research into the GFEE Centre programme by an external researcher indicated that the learning experiences largely concentrated on cognitive development, and neglected to influence affective and psychomotor development. After a number of adaptations to the programme, which emphasised a more child-centred approach it was realised that little was known about the background and learning needs of the predominantly BaTswana school children. It was felt by the researcher that the learning activities provided at the GFEE Centre could also possibly be biased by a Western, scientific orientation which possibly lacked relevance to the cultural backgrounds of the pupils. The researcher used an action research approach in a number of workshops with a purposive sample of BaTswana primary school teachers, to gather data. The teachers were encouraged to critically reflect on the background and learning-needs of BaTswana children, with specific regard to environmental issues and worldviews. The information provided by the teachers' reflective deliberations and a seperate research project with school children, indicated that primary school children in Bophuthatswana tend to follow accepted human development patterns in their perceptions of the environment. The influence of either a predominantly rural or urban upbringing during a child's early formative years was considered by the teachers to be significant in determining worldviews, and culture was considered to have an influence on children's learning processes. Their beliefs and experiences were used by them in generating suggestions to correct the GFEE Centre programme. The teachers' also highlighted the fact that there were a number of socio-cultural and institutional issues which influenced the effectiveness of the GFEE Centre programme.
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- Date Issued: 1994
The recycling of domestic waste in the Cape Peninsula: implications for environmental education
- Authors: Gobregts, Engela
- Date: 1995
- Subjects: Recycling (Waste, etc.) -- South Africa Refuse and refuse disposal -- South Africa Environmental education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1723 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003606
- Description: This case study investigates domestic waste recycling schemes in the Cape Peninsula with special reference to educational aspects as a basis for developing educational resource materials. It explores the question: "In what way can projects for the recycling of domestic waste serve as a vehicle for environmental education?". The study employs the concept of education for the environment, following a socially critical approach with action-oriented and participatory dimensions. The research sample constituted interviewees and/or workshop participants from fourteen different municipalities, six recycling industries, one private waste contractor and the three most prominent voluntary organisations involved in recycling in the Cape Peninsula. A small-scale -interview survey was done to review existing recycling initiatives, combined with a case study of several small participatory initiatives towards educational resource development. The results were analysed qualitatively. The case study indicates that recycling initiatives have excellent potential for education for the environment. This potential was partially explored in this research by addressing key issues such as the role of local authorities in recycling of domestic waste, the short-term perspectives on the part of the local authorities, as well as the importance of and constraints on participation in recycling projects and in the research. Other issues discussed include the educational implications of personal (economic) benefits of recycling, the social development dimension of some recycling projects, the value of school children organising recycling projects, limited teacher participation in existing recycling projects, and the need for environmental education resource material. The major value of the project lies however in critical reflection on the research process. Recommendations regarding participatory resource development as an approach to socially critical environmental education are put forward to inform similar studies in the future and to elucidate the approach. Recommendations regarding the recycling of domestic waste in the Cape Peninsula are also made.
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- Date Issued: 1995
Enhancing the critical reading skills of student teachers in Namibia : An action research project
- Authors: Dikuwa, Alexander
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Reading (Higher education) Critical thinking , Teachers -- Training of -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1912 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007162
- Description: This thesis reports on a responsive action research case study undertaken to teach student teachers to read critically. I undertook this research to gain a basic knowledge about critical reading as well as to form a knowledge base that would enable me to teach it effectively. First, I gave students a diagnostic assessment activity, analyzed the result and established the students’ ability to read a text critically. After I had established the students’ strengths, weaknesses, and the requirements to move students from their existing critical reading competency to an improved one, I reviewed the literature to provide me with a theory of teaching critical reading. The lessons were then planned and taught. The lessons; focus group interviews; researcher’s diary; students’ reflections and non-participant observer comments formed the data of the study. The data were analyzed using the framework of “what went well”, “what did not go well” and “what needs to be improved if the lessons were to be repeated”. The main purpose was to address the goals of the research, which were to find effective ways of teaching critical reading, appropriate critical reading materials, and to identify any pedagogic shortcomings. The 30 students who took part in this research were third-year students studying English Second language and Mother tongue pedagogies to become specialists in the teaching of both at Junior Secondary level (grades 8 – 10). The study was guided by constructivist theory, which underpins learner-centred education, which continues to inform and shape the development of curricula in Namibia.
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- Date Issued: 2012
Investigating teaching and learning within three Eastern Cape reception year classrooms
- Authors: Mnene, Mthetheleli
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Competency-based education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Education, Elementary -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Curriculum evaluation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Education, Elementary -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Education, Elementary -- Parent participation -- South Africa Education, Elementary -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Education, Elementary -- Curricula -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1589 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003471
- Description: The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which young children in three Grade R classes in the Eastern Cape Province were exposed to developmentally appropriate opportunities to achieve the Critical Outcomes as outlined in the South African National Curriculum Statement. The research took the form of a case study. Semi-structured interviews and observations were used to collect data. Respondents included children, their parents, Grade R practitioners and the school leadership. The findings tentatively showed that this set of parents perceived their role in providing for their children’s developmental needs as separate to that of the GR practitioners. They seemed to see their roles as helping their children to develop social and emotional competence only, and that the GR practitioners provided, in addition to this, literacy and numeracy teaching to their children. In contrast, the three GR practitioners believed that parents were responsible also for promoting literacy, numeracy and life skills. There seemed therefore to be a lack of clarity of specific teacher and parent views of their roles. The researcher found, however, that the children seemed to be given few developmentally appropriate opportunities for planned and structured activities which enabled them to explore the Critical Outcomes, for example, working together, solving problems, using technology. The teaching methodology used by the GR practitioners during the observation periods, seemed to a large extent, to be based in 'talk and chalk' in the plenary grouping. It did not seem to enable the implementation of the curriculum and especially of the Critical Outcomes in a developmentally appropriate way. In addition, the environment in which children learned was not observed to be developmentally appropriate for relevant education to take place. Too many children were crowded into the available space, while learning equipment and materials were lacking. Any competences that young children in these three GR programmes achieved were therefore possibly learned incidentally, rather than deliberately through planned activities. In addition, GR classes in this study were not observed to be supported within the schools to deliver competent curriculum activities to the children. The study makes suggestions to meet some of these challenges. These include improving the understanding of curriculum guidelines of all role players in the three schools, enabling the management teams and especially parents to take a stronger support and monitoring role, and providing and using materials and equipment to promote the use of the Critical Out comes as methods for teaching and for learning.
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- Date Issued: 2012
An investigation into how grade 9 learners make sense of prior everyday knowledge and practical learning through exploring tooth decay problems in Onangalo village: a case study
- Authors: Asino, Tomas
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Dental caries -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Namibia -- Omusati -- Case studies Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Namibia -- Omusati -- Case studies Experiential learning -- Namibia -- Omusati -- Case studies Educational change -- Namibia Curriculum planning -- Namibia Education, Secondary -- Namibia -- Omusati
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1406 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001986
- Description: The main goal of this study was to investigate how grade 9 learners make sense of prior everyday knowledge and practical learning through exploring tooth decay problems in their local context. The study was conducted at a deep rural Junior Secondary School situated in Onangalo Village, Tsandi constituency in Omusati political region, northern part of Namibia. My research was triggered by the transformation in the Namibian curriculum, which now recognizes a need to contextualize science and make it relevant to the learners’ everyday life experiences. An interpretivist paradigm informed this study. Within this paradigm, a qualitative case study approach was employed. The unit of analysis was the various activities undertaken by my grade 9 learners with a view to make meaning of prior everyday knowledge and practical investigations in chemistry. A variety of data generating techniques were used in this study, namely, brainstorming and discussion sessions, questionnaires, practical activities with worksheets and semi-structured interviews. A video recorder was used to capture events throughout. Analytical categories emerged as a result of a coding system called pawing. From the analytical categories, analytical statements were formulated. The generated data was validated by a critical friend who was a Life Science teacher at the same school at which I did this study. Further validation was done through learners watching the video recordings and through focus group interviews. Methodological triangulation was also used to validate the data. The study revealed that the use of learners’ prior everyday knowledge and experiences in teaching and learning promoted active learners’ participation and enhanced meaning making. Thus, the study recommends the adoption of well-structured science lessons which take into consideration learners’ prior everyday knowledge. The study recommends that these science lessons be used in conjunction with practical activities to promote active learner engagement and conceptual development. Despite the benefits of integrating learners’ prior everyday knowledge during teaching and learning, the study however also revealed some challenges such as limited time and difficulties of English language proficiency amongst learners.
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- Date Issued: 2013
An organisation development intervention in an Anglican church theological seminary in Southern Africa
- Authors: Chinganga, Percy
- Date: 2013-08-08
- Subjects: College of the Transfiguration (Grahamstown, South Africa) Organizational change -- Church of England -- Africa, Southern Leadership -- Religious aspects -- Christianity -- Africa, Southern Church management -- Church of England -- Africa, Southern
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1959 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008377
- Description: "Organisation development is a planned, systematic process in which applied behavioral science principles and practices are introduced into ongoing organisations toward the goal of increasing individual and organisational effectiveness. " [French and Bell] This study describes and analyses the implementation of Organisation Development (OD) to an Anglican Church theological seminary, The College of the Transfiguration (Cott), in the Anglican Church of the Province of Southern Africa (ACSA). The origins of OD are business related, emerging in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Over the years, and recently in South Africa, OD has been applied in educational change initiatives. Unlike more traditional change strategies, OD promotes collaboration in organisational change processes through the inclusive participation of all stakeholders. This study is unique in the sense that OD is applied to an Anglican Church theological institution in Southern Africa. The goal of theological institutions, particularly Cot!, is to "form, inform and transform" (Cot! Prospectus, 2011) those who feel called to ordained ministry. Personal experience in this practice has confirmed that organisational emphasis is placed more on product than process; on results rather than the leadership and management of the organisation. This study was an attempt to introduce a process of planned change to such an organisational context. OD was introduced to The College of the Transfiguration in the form of action research using the Survey Data Feedback (SDF) strategy. Data gathered was interpreted and analysed, followed by action planning and implementation of agreed plans. The process had a positive impact on both stakeholders and the organisation despite the challenges associated with the unpredictable world of organisations. Ultimately, I propose tentative recommendations which could help Cott and other educational institutions to achieve long-term improvement in organisational leadership and management.
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Understanding change and implications of divisional management model (DMM ) in a merged multi- campus University in South Africa
- Authors: Mantashe, Lunga Xolisa
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Organizational change
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/6103 , vital:29491
- Description: The study sought to understand change and transition in a multi-merged campus university in South Africa. Specifically the objectives were to understand the Human Resource (HR) plan, how it is being rolled out, the reactions of workers to it, the effects of the plan on workers and the processes put in place to mitigate, rather than aggravate, the current and foreseeable consequences of the Human Resource plan. A qualitative case study was used and focus groups and semi-structured interviews (triangulated with observation and document analysis) were used on a purposive sample of unions and the university HR official in one campus. The researcher found that there is no organogram which acts as a framework wherein all workers in respective campuses shall fit in. additionally, there is no staff transition plan and harmonisation of conditions of service policy that is agreed upon. Though it seemed there were some mechanisms to attenuate the effects of the HR plan (possible retrenchments, loss of morale, uncertainty, stress, doubt and the like) such as voluntary service package, there were areas of concern about the lack of a properly and widely circulated plan, and the absence of plans to transition staff throughout the process of change. Consequently, the researcher recommended at the end of the study that there must be a change management leadership in each campus to drive transition, a creation of proper communication networks, institution of campus indabas, a design of a transition plan, harmonisation approaches, migration of institutional items to an institutional site and the facilitation of recognition agreements for those unions which are still recognise in the premerger manner.
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- Date Issued: 2014