Learners' perceptions of creating a collaborative hypermedia product: an exploratory case study at Mount Pleasant Primary School
- Authors: du Plessis, André
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Computer-assisted instruction -- South Africa Computers -- Study and teaching -- South Africa Education, Elementary -- Activity programs Competency-based education -- South Africa Educational technology -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1663 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003546
- Description: The Ministry of Education (SICTE, 2002) states that the widespread introduction of computers in schools should support Curriculum 2005 and that computer technology is part and parcel of making schools the center of community life. The vision is to establish Smart Schools: schools that are reinvented in terms of teaching-learning practices to prepare learners for the information era (SICTE, 2002). Kafai (1996:71) has found that conventional school assignments rarely give learners the opportunity to spend a great deal of time on complex projects. As a result, many learners have little experience in design: planning, problem solving, researching, dealing with time constraints, modifying expectations and synthesizing everything in a project. Research by Carver, Lehrer, Connell and Erickson (1992); Lehrer, (1993); Lehrer, Erickson and Connell (1994); Kafai (1996); Liu and Hsiao (2002) and Liu (2002) indicates that the design of hypermedia artefacts can assist in providing experience in design. To date, no equivalent research has been conducted in South Africa to ascertain the perceptions of learners regarding the creation of a hypermedia artefact over an extended period of time and whether some of the critical outcomes specified in Curriculum 2005 can be addressed in such a learning-by-design hypermedia project. This study shows that design skills and aspects related to the critical outcomes of Curriculum 2005 can be achieved. Furthermore, it indicates that this kind of project encourages interest, motivation and collaboration. In addition, it suggests that learners experience the role of the teacher as different and prefer such a learning environment. In spite of the positive results, some aspects that need attention for future implementation are suggested.
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- Date Issued: 2004
Through our eyes: teachers using cameras to engage in environmental education curriculum development processes
- Authors: Du Toit, Derick
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa Curriculum change -- South Africa Photography in education Competency-based education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1800 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003685
- Description: This research explores the potential for engaging teachers in school-based environmental education curriculum development processes by using camera. The research, through its epistemological and ontological position, is closely linked to educational orientations associated with aspects of outcomes-based educational transformation in South Africa. A participatory approach that recognises teachers as co-researchers, each bringing to the inquiry her or his questions and constructions of meaning, was adopted. Participatory inquiry was initiated by setting up cluster meetings that allowed for teacher inputs through open dialogic processes. Fundamental to the inquiry is the notion that context shapes curriculum and curriculum development processes. It was from this orientation that a group of 13 teachers, using cameras to create visual narratives, explored their own diverse and complex contexts. These narratives (or stories) form the basis for further inquiry and development of sophistication with respect to the concept of environment. The research process is critically and reflexively documented as a series of field and research texts constructed from a variety of data sources gathered over the period of one year. The work is presented as a process of engaging critically with environmental education curriculum development and an opportunity to raise questions, rather than seek answers in this regard.
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- Date Issued: 1999
A case study: exploring students' experiences of a participative assessment approach on a professionally-orientated postgraduate programme
- Authors: du Toit, Peter
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- South Africa Graduate students -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Case Studies Action research in education -- South Africa -- Case Studies Universities and colleges -- Graduate work -- South Africa -- Case Studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1432 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003313
- Description: The study was undertaken as the first cycle of an action research project. It presents a case study that explores the potential of the combined use of self-, peer-, and tutor-driven assessment in enhancing students’ learning in a professionally orientated postgraduate media management course. The study also explores how such a process can contribute to students developing the skills and dispositions required by autonomous learners and professionals. In approaching these questions the study draws directly on students’ own accounts of their experiences and contrasts these accounts with the growing body of literature on participative assessment in higher education that has emerged over the past decade. The study begins by exploring how action research can aid in the development of valuable insights into educational practice. It draws on educational theorists’ use of Habermas’s (1971, 1972 and 1974 in Grundy, 1987: 8) theory of knowledge constitutive interests in developing a conceptual framework against which assessment practice can be understood and argues against instrumental approaches to assessment. Set against a background of outcomes-based education, the study presents an argument for privileging the role of assessment in promoting learning above its other function. It contends that this function is undermined if students are excluded from direct involvement in assessment practice. Informed by research into participative assessment, the study presents a thick description of a particular approach used during the action research cycle and explores how students experienced this process. The findings of the study support theories favouring the involvement of students in their own assessment and suggest that such processes can contribute to meeting students’ present and future learning needs.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Enabling social learning to stimulate value creation towards a circular economy: the case of the Food for Us food redistribution mobile application development process
- Authors: Durr, Sarah Jane
- Date: 2020-04
- Subjects: Social learning South Africa Eastern Cape , Mobile apps , Circular economy South Africa Eastern Cape , Communities of practice South Africa Eastern Cape , Social networks South Africa Eastern Cape , Food for Us (Application software)
- Language: English
- Type: Master's thesis , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/245736 , vital:51401
- Description: This M.Ed. study investigates the social learning enabled by a food redistribution mobile application (app) project, Food for Us, in the Raymond Mhlaba municipality in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Over an 18 month period, the Food for Us mobile app innovation project was piloted in two case study sites, Worcester, Western Cape, and the Raymond Mhlaba municipality, Eastern Cape, in South Africa, the latter being the focus of this study. In South Africa, one-third of the food produced for consumption is wasted; paradoxically, 26% of all households’ experience hunger. Food surplus occurs in many contexts, including communities of emerging small scale farmers, many of which are not able to find markets for their produce, resulting in wastage. In a time of mobile technology expansion, the wide infiltration of Internet-enabled smartphones into diverse communities has increased dramatically with the uptake of mobile apps being a key area of interest amongst environmental educators. The Food for Us app project aims to address the challenges of food insecurity and market access for smallscale farmers by creating an innovative technological solution in the form of a mobile app. This research project aimed to investigate the social learning that was enabled within the communities of practice that utilised and interacted with the Food for Us mobile app and Food for Us project support systems. Data was collected through a series of surveys, interviews and workshops and was analysed using Wenger, Trayner and de Laat’s (2011) Value Creation Framework. The Food for Us app pilot was not successful in the way that was originally anticipated by the Food for Us team; however, there were important social learning findings that emerged from the project which opened up a new way of looking at technological innovation in the supply chains with the small scale farming contexts. The key findings that emerged from this study indicated that technological innovation on its own is not effective in enabling deep social learning. When facilitated and supported by other networked social learning systems (such as WhatsApp group, workshops and course meetings), however, boundary crossing, intergenerational learning and network building emerged as important forms of value creation that can be enabled. Through the analysis it was noted that inhibiting factors such as app trial design, lack of critical mass participation and continued application software challenges, affected the development of value. These inhibiting factors informed recommendations around the need to develop strong social networked systems around technologically innovative solutions to promote the realisation of transformative value. , Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2020
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- Date Issued: 2020-04
The history and the problems of Bantu urban secondary education in the Eastern Cape, 1937-1954 (Ciskei region)
- Authors: Dyasi, Hubert Mongameli
- Date: 1961
- Subjects: Black people -- Education -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Black people -- Education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1997 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014827
- Description: 1. Reasons for Choosing the Topic. Much has been written about secondary education in England, Continental Europe, the United States, Canada, China and other countries mainly "because Secondary Education has been one of the most prized of all formal types of education ... because it has been the rung of the educational ladder that has led to opportunity and preferment". Very little research work has been done on Bantu secondary education in the Ciskei, and still less about Bantu urban secondary education. This is a shortcoming since the Ciskei has been one of the most important educational areas for the Bantu in the Union of South Africa and the territories outside her borders. It was here that the experiment of Bantu day secondary schools was carried out. It could aptly have been said of the Ciskei, too, that "experimental work (destined one day to blaze into a consuming fire) has been carried on, where men and women of faith and inspiration have lit up some dark corner of the field, and where teachers of genius have defied tradition and convention, gone their own way in scorn of consequence, and have lit a candle which will never be put out". The Bantu Urban Day Secondary Schools started amidst conflicting opinions as regards their advantages and disadvantages. Difficulties were encountered and efforts made to overcome them. The present writer attempts to show how the problems of these schools were overcome and to assess the progress that was made. 2. Need for the Study. There is a great need for the study of the history and problems of Bantu Urban Day Secondary education because for many years to come these schools will have to serve an increasing number of urban Bantu pupils. The results of the research may serve as a guide to teachers appointed to these schools. The important history of these institutions preserved only in the minds of old men and women, may be lost to posterity. There is also a great need to bring to light the unique problems confronting these schools. 3. Scope of Dissertation. The dissertation limits itself to Bantu Urban Day secondary education, in specific areas of the Ciskei. Two secondary and two high schools have been chosen for special study. Bantu Urban Day Secondary Schools are those schools which are situated in areas under the jurisdiction of municipalities or town councils irrespective of whether the school admits largely pupils who are outside such an area or only those within it or both. The entrance qualification to these schools has always been a pass in Standard VI (normally after eight years of primary or elementary schooling). For the Bantu pupil the Junior Certificate Course was of three years' duration. The successful completion of the J.C. course qualified pupils to train as nurses, in the case of girls, and agricultural demonstrators in the case of boys. Both sexes could undertake studies for Native Primary Higher Teachers' Course, and the Senior Certificate Course or the Matriculation leading to university degrees.
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- Date Issued: 1961
An analysis of the distribution and use of teaching aids in mathematics in selected Windhoek secondary schools
- Authors: Dzambara, Tobias Munyaradzi
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Namibia Teaching -- Aids and devices -- Research
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1344 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001410
- Description: This study investigates the types of mathematics teaching aids available at both public and private secondary schools in Windhoek. The study characterises their usage and source as well as teachers’ perceptions towards the use of such teaching resources in the Mathematics classroom. The study is grounded in an interpretive paradigm and employed a mixed methods approach to generate both quantitative and qualitative data in two sequential phases. Phase 1 of the research process, which involved 75 Mathematics teachers, took the form of an audit of the availability and use of teaching aids at 25 secondary schools in Windhoek. A case study methodology was adopted in Phase 2 which focused on five purposively selected schools that displayed different characteristics in terms of the availability of teaching resources. The study found that the majority of teachers at secondary schools in Windhoek have a positive attitude towards the importance and role of teaching aids in Mathematics, seeing them as promoters of hands-on engagement, visual reasoning, active participation and motivation amongst learners. However, in some instances schools are underresourced with respect to certain types of teaching aids, specifically graph boards, geoboards, geometric models and computers. A need for appropriate in-school support on the use of teaching aids was also identified
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- Date Issued: 2013
Investigating how outdoor environmental education programmes in South Africa respond to the needs of visually impaired learners via inclusive practices
- Authors: Eksteen, Hendrik Christiaan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Children with visual disabilities -- Education -- South Africa , Outdoor education -- South Africa , Environmental education -- South Africa , Outdoor recreation for children with disabilities -- South Africa , Inclusive education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92716 , vital:30721
- Description: Outdoor environmental education programmes in South Africa are conducted at campsites and centres owned by the government, non-profit organisations and private owners. People suffering from impairments are often disabled by society because of their handicap. More than three percent (3%) of young people in South Africa aged between 10 – 19 years are disabled. This study investigates the status of inclusion of outdoor environmental education programmes for disabled young people; what is offered and what practices are working in the industry in South Africa. It also investigates barriers to inclusion. Though many disabilities have been identified, visual impairment is the focus of the study. This study also looks at what more can be done from an Ecological Systems Theory of Human Development point of view and investigates what underlying mechanisms influence the inclusion of visually impaired individuals in outdoor environmental education programmes in South Africa. What is done and what is not done to promote inclusion for visually impaired learners in these programmes is also investigated. This study aims to answer the question; What is the current status quo concerning the inclusion of visually impaired learners in outdoor environmental learning programmes in environmental education centres and campsites in South Africa? An initial focus group conducted informally prior to the study, helped me to understand the context. In this study, key-interviews and questionnaires were used as research tools. I also ran a photo narrative project throughout the research project which was used as a participatory activity and provided further insight into practices. Inductive, abductive and retroductive analysis approaches were used to identify emerging themes, and I applied method triangulation using all research tools in order to address the research questions. Some of the most important findings are that: • There are many barriers, some intrinsic others extrinsic, that hinder inclusion of visually impaired individuals in outdoor environmental education programmes in South Africa. • Although there are many things done in the industry to promote inclusion, there is much more that could be done. • The visually impaired individual him/herself influences inclusivity in outdoor environmental education programmes. • Interactions and influences in the mesosystem (between different microsystems and ecosystems) have an impact on the inclusivity of visually impaired individuals in outdoor environmental education programmes. • Dispositions of people have an impact on the inclusion of visually impaired individuals in outdoor environmental education programmes. • The diversity of generative mechanisms (drivers to events), that interact at the level of the real, influence the inclusion of visually impaired individuals in outdoor environmental education programmes. Disability/impairment is a much-neglected area of environmental education research in South Africa. This study has contributed scholarship to this area and has also identified possible further areas of study in creating awareness, creating an opportunity to reflect on practices, and finding possible solutions to the barriers of exclusion.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Computer-based remediation in Cape Senior Certificate standard grade mathematics
- Authors: Elgie, Brian James
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Computer-assisted instruction Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Audio-visual aids Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1458 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003339
- Description: This dissertation begins by reviewing the difficulties experienced in teaching mathematics to pupiis, weak in mathematics, in the Senior Secondary phase of Cape Education Department schools. The possible use of computer-aided instruction (CAl) in improving the examination performance of such pupils is considered. A suitable CAl software program, viz. the SERGO system, is identified and its operation is described in detail. The researcher investigates, both from a quantitative and a qualitative aspect, the change in mathematics examination performance of a number of weak in mathematics pupils, as a result of receiving an extended period of extra tuition on the SERGO system. It needs to be noted that these pupils are passing candidates in other subjects, and have above average intelligence. They are not slow learners. The researcher identifies three categories of pupils who are weak in mathematics. Different programmes of remediation are recommended for each category. The possible use of the SERGO system as a stand-alone instrument of remediation , for pupils working in pairs, and the possible use by H.G. pupils in combined H.G./S.G. classes are also investigated.
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- Date Issued: 1991
Re-imagining the use of the abacus as a visualization tool to develop number sense in Grade 3 learners
- Authors: Elifas, Taimi Ndinelago
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Abacus , Mathematics Study and teaching (Elementary) Namibia , Visual learning , Teaching Aids and devices , Constructivism (Education) , Effective teaching Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191953 , vital:45182
- Description: The poor performance of learners in mathematics has long been a matter of concern in Namibia. After more than three decades after independence, the country's education system is still seeking ways of addressing the high rate of poor performance in mathematics. Research previously conducted pointed out the lack of number sense in learners, as one of the contributing factors to the poor performance in mathematics. This research study is a contribution towards using the abacus as a visualization tool to develop number sense in the Foundation Phase. The study was premised on the thought – supported by literature – that effective use of concrete equipment and manipulatives, of which the abacus is part of, does affect the teaching and learning of number sense. The study further examines the use of the abacus as a visualization tool to develop number sense by the four selected Grade 3 teachers. The study argues that the effective use of the abacus develops number sense in learners. This study was framed as a multiple case study that was grounded within an interpretive paradigm and informed by the constructivist learning theory. The qualitative data of this study were collected using questionnaires, observation, reflective journals, and semi-structured interviews. The data were then analyzed using thematic analysis and an analytical tool developed from relevant literature. A survey was conducted using 50 Foundation Phase teachers in the //Kharas region, while the intervention programme consisted of four purposively selected teachers from the four primary schools in the Kalahari circuit in the Keetmanshoop district. The findings of this study revealed that the majority of teachers were not aware of abacus use in teaching mathematics before the intervention programme. It was also revealed that the few teachers that use the abacus as a visualization tool to develop number sense, employ it as a counting tool for explaining certain concepts and as well as for teaching simple arithmetic. In this research study, the selected teachers use the abacus to link the abstract mathematics content to a concrete way of doing mathematics. In the absence of the abacus in classrooms, various manipulatives are used to develop learners’ number sense. Mathematical games, verbalizing mathematics concepts, and drawing pictures to visualize abstract concepts among others are used by the selected teachers to enhance the development of number sense in the Foundation Phase. The use of the abacus by the selected teachers effectively fostered the visualization process and the conceptual understanding of number sense in learners. Through the abacus, teachers led their learners into visualizing number sense concepts such as subitizing, computing, performing mental mathematics and physical representation of numbers in different ways. The abacus was used by teachers to enhance listening skills, improve concentration and strengthen the memory of learners. On the other hand, the study also revealed that despite the various benefits of the abacus, it is time consuming. The lack of abacus use in previous grades has a huge impact on the use of it and the development of learners’ number sense in the grades being studied in this research study. Teachers are recommended to make their own abacuses, encourage learners to make their own abacuses from the readily available materials, and to allow the learners to realize that the mathematics they are doing in classrooms is around them. The use of re-imagining, re-envisioning, re-conceptualizing and re-examining of so-called ‘old teaching tools’ such as the abacus, needs to be encouraged through in-service and pre-service teacher training programmes. The study concludes that the use of traditional algorithm methods do not promote conceptual understanding and visual strategies for Foundation Phase learners and should be discouraged. It is hoped that this study will contribute towards improving the practices of mathematics teachers primarily in the Keetmanshoop district, //Kharas Region and in the rest our Namibian schools. , Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2021
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- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
A process-genre approach to teaching argumentative writing to grade nine learners
- Authors: Elson, Jillian Margaret
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: English language -- Rhetoric -- Study and teaching (Secondary) English language -- Writing -- Study and teaching (Secondary) Written communication
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1714 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003597
- Description: This action research study aimed to improve teaching and learning of argumentative writing through a process-genre approach. Learners were carefully guided through the processes of writing the argumentative genre, with the focus being on teaching of the genre and on the structural conventions of writing arguments. Participants were a class of grade nine learners who speak English as a first language. They were chosen for this study as Grade Nine is a crucial year for writing development before learners enter the senior phase and are met with heightened expectations in the curriculum, that often they struggle to meet, as their writing has not been sufficiently developed to an academic level. The focus of writing in Grade Nine is on narrative and prose, so this writing intervention, in which a teaching module was developed in collaboration with the 1eamers, aimed to broaden their writing skills and provide them with a head start in leaming the fine art of argumentation, as this is a useful skill to acquire for purposes even beyond the classroom. Genre theorists advocate the importance of teaching genres to leamers at a young age, as it allows them access into different communities of discourse, as they become aware and understand the conventions held by a patiicular community, and realize the purpose of different styles of writing for effectively communicating, which prepares them to meet the expectations of their audience. Teaching the structures of different genres therefore allows the writer, and the audience, a framework for understanding the text. The process approach has been widely used by educators as it focuses on explicit teaching of writing processes that are fundamental to leamers' development in writing. Learners need to be carefully guided from the initial stages, to the more complex stages (especially in argumentative writing which has been deemed the most complex genre for learners to master) in order to understand the complexities of constructing an essay in a cohesive way, as they need to consider multiple aspects of writing, such as the linguistic features, rhetorical features and structural features of the genre and unify them into a sound argument. This takes time, practice and revision, and extensive feedback is required. The process-genre approach proved to be successful in this study, as leamers showed remarkable improvements in their writing from the initial stages of writing to the final drafts of their essays. The findings revealed that explicit teaching of genres and structural elements of writing is vital for ensuring learners' development. Learners require modelling of the genre, scaffolding and careful guidance through step-by-step processes in order to build confidence and express their ideas effectively in written text. The findings indicate the relevance of using the process-genre approach for teaching and learning and that teaching and learning writing is indeed a process that needs more time and practice that is cUiTently allocated in the curriculum.
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- Date Issued: 2012
An investigation of stakeholder participation and learning in two schools within the Seychelles Eco-School programme
- Authors: Emilie, Shane Antonio
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Environmental education -- Seychelles Schools -- Environmental aspects -- Seychelles Education, Primary -- Parent participation -- Seychelles Education, Secondary -- Parent participation -- Seychelles Student participation in administration -- Education (Primary) -- Seychelles Student participation in administration -- Education (Secondary) -- Seychelles Student participation in curriculum planning -- Education (Primary) -- Seychelles Student participation in curriculum planning -- Education (Secondary) -- Seychelles Education, Primary -- Seychelles Education, Secondary -- Seychelles
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1969 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011961
- Description: The aim of this study was to investigate stakeholder participation and learning in the Seychelles Eco-School programme within a primary school context and a secondary school context. Findings from each Eco-School have been presented in two case studies with the goal to explore and describe how teachers, students, parents and organizations are participating and learning in the Eco-School programme. Six elements of school community were used to deepen understanding of the participatory and learning processes in each Eco-School, namely, leadership, management and administration, curriculum planning, teaching and learning, resource use and management, management of physical surrounds of the school and networks and partnerships. Some of the contextual variables in each Eco-School that were constraining and enabling stakeholder participation and learning in the programme have also been explored within this study. Data in this study was generated from historical documents analysed, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and field notes. Data was also generated from questionnaires completed by organizations involved in the programme at each Eco- School. Data was analysed in two phases, the first phase involved reading across data generated from the methods mentioned above to organize the data under broad themes in relation to the elements of school community. The second phase of analysis involved the use of the conceptual framework of situating learning in a community of practice to interpret and discuss the participatory and learning processes across the two cases. The study showed that in each Eco-School there is a community of practice with the active involvement of teachers and students and the occasional involvement of parents and organizations. Students and adults are learning as they engage together in classroom and field-work interactions, environmental projects, environmental activities to commemorate environmental theme days, environmental campaigns and co-curricular activities through the practices of each Eco-School community. It was also discovered that students and adults are making different contributions in the Eco-School community based on their level of participation in the programme. It is hoped that the findings in this research contribute information regarding community participation in environmental education programmes like the Seychelles Eco-School programme. In addition, findings will inform the Seychelles Government and its partners to consider the possibility of enhancing school and community partnerships to respond to some of the challenges of participation and learning in the Eco-School programme.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Exploring extensive reading in cultivating positive attitudes and reading comprehension with Grade 8 Learners: a case study in a selected Namibian secondary school
- Authors: Engelbrecht, Sylviana
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Reading comprehension Namibia , High school students Books and reading Namibia , High school students Attitudes , Fluency (Language learning) Namibia , Motivation in education Namibia , Affective education Namibia , Second language acquisition
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/403092 , vital:69921
- Description: Extensive reading, otherwise known as “reading for pleasure”, “recreational reading” or “voluntary reading”, appears to be absent in the Namibian society, especially within public educational institutions. With the reformed Education System, the Namibian Curriculum for Basic Education makes room for a reading period in a 7-day cycle, from grade 1 to 11, in which all learners are expected to engage in a sustained silent reading (SSR) of interesting material of their choice. Nevertheless, such a period seems to be insufficient for engaging learners in an enjoyable reading experience, which could possibly create a positive attitude towards reading as well as enhance their reading skills of comprehension and reading fluency, possibly resulting in a habit of individual SSR. This research intended to explore an out-of-school, extensive reading program, over the period of one year, in the hope of cultivating Grade 8 learners’ positive attitude toward reading, in a selected secondary school in the township of Katutura, Windhoek, Khomas Region, Namibia. This one-year study, in which eight Grade 8 learners participated, focused on English only reading, as it is the Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT). Operating within the interpretivist paradigm, the research adopted a qualitative approach, using a single case study to explore how participants make meaning of their experiences and attitudes toward ER. Qualitative data was collected through pre- and post-questionnaires and document analysis of learners’ reading journals as well as the researcher’s reflective journal. The research site was purposively and conveniently selected. The study drew on Krashen’s, input and affective filter hypotheses as the driving theory of this study, which according to some scholars, is the main second language acquisition theory applied in ER research. Findings of this study suggest that ER programs have a positive impact on learners’ attitudes towards reading as well as on their reading comprehension, even in poorly resourced schools in previously disadvantaged communities. , Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
Understanding how trainee teachers engage with prior everyday knowledge and experience associated with biological concepts during integrated natural science education 5-7 : a case study
- Authors: Enghono, Albertina Magano
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Biology teachers -- Training of -- Namibia -- Case studies Teacher educators -- Training of -- Case studies Teachers -- Training of -- Namibia -- Case studies Education -- Namibia -- Case studies Prior learning -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1970 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011972
- Description: Since the Namibian independence in 1990, the education system has undergone some major revamping which involved the adoption of social constructivist perspectives in the teaching and learning of sciences. This learning theory acknowledges learners’ background prior knowledge as valuable tools in the effective construction of science concepts during lessons. A corollary is that the socio-cultural circumstances of learners might negatively influence the way learners construct new knowledge in the science classroom if they are not taken into consideration. This study was thus prompted by the need to understand how trainee science teachers engage with prior everyday knowledge and experiences, so as to enhance the conceptual development of biological concepts. The study was qualitative and it was underpinned by an interpretive paradigm with some elements of action research. Science trainee teachers at Katima Mulilo, Unam Campus were used as research participants. The techniques used to gather data included document analysis, brainstorming, observation, audio-visual, microteaching and semi-structured interviews. The results of this study showed that the changes that occurred during microteaching practices of the four trainee teachers involved in the study reflected their professional development in this approach. However, it emerged that prior everyday knowledge can be both a barrier and enabler to the construction of meaningful teaching and learning; hence its oversight may lead to instructional failures. The findings also indicated that selected platforms are essential to enable trainee teachers to incorporate prior everyday knowledge and experiences into the teaching of Western science. However, larger scale study should be conducted in order to deepen the understanding of the topic.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Contextualising curriculum through issues-based approaches: a case of eco-schools in Kenya
- Authors: Epus, Joash Gregory Odeke
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Environmental education -- Kenya -- Case studies Curriculum planning -- Kenya -- Case studies Curriculum change -- Kenya -- Case studies Environmental literacy -- Study and teaching -- Namibia -- Case studies Environmental education -- Activity programs -- Namibia -- Case studies Conservation of natural resources -- Study and teaching -- Namibia -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1463 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003344
- Description: This study involved an issues-based approach to curriculum contextualisation in the context of the Eco-Schools programme in Kenya. It adopted a two-phase design using interpretivist and socially critical research orientations. In this study, research is represented as a process which is socially constructed within a particular theoretical, contextual, social and historical context by unfolding the thesis to illuminate how the phases are closely woven into each other. The first phase used the survey method for a contextual review of existing approaches and views relating to environmental education in the formal education sector. The survey aimed to develop a deeper understanding of environmental education as currently practiced in Kenya and to unravel the complexities surrounding it. It involved about two hundred and six primary school teachers and a critical review of a set of resource materials used in Kenyan Primary Schools. It revealed that some aspects of environmental education practice and the prevailing technocratic view of curriculum in Kenyan primary schools potentially limit possibilities for issues-based approaches to curriculum contextualisation. The action research process in four case study schools in Nyanza province of Kenya represent an attempt to address issues in context through socially critical environmental education. Participant observations, workshops and document analysis revealed that, contextualised conceptions of the terms ‘environment’ and ‘environmental education’ that resulted from a process of deliberation of meaning by teachers in relation to their contexts and practices served to set perspective for the action research process. Further, the planning phase which involved environmental auditing to identify issues of concern, prioritization of actions, issues to address, and action planning to guide implementation was critical in setting the agenda of the action research process in each of the case study schools. Integration and infusion of local issues of concern into curriculum planning further enriched processes of curriculum contextualisation, making them relevant to local contexts by addressing real issues through appropriate pedagogical approaches in auditing, investigation and research, communicating and interpreting results, reflecting on investigations and taking action. The action research process further enhanced cooperation and partnership between the case study schools and surrounding communities with mutual benefits. The research report demonstrates that despite the limitations posed by the technocratic orientation of the Kenyan curriculum, it is possible to address real environmental issues, risks and associated sustainable development challenges in context through issues-based approaches to curriculum contextualisation in the context of the Eco-Schools programme.
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- Date Issued: 2010
Restricted teacher leadership : a case study in a township high school in Port Elizabeth
- Authors: Fani, Pamela Pumla
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Educational leadership , School management and organization -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:2059 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019882
- Description: The South African education system prior to 1994 was characterised by hierarchical management structures with top-down communication systems. After 1994, there was a policy call to shift leadership and management practices to more democratic ways of working. These policies required the principals to share their power with teachers, replacing the leader-follower system of leadership. The post-apartheid era in the South African education system marked a turning point where, in policy discourse at least, teachers were seen as leaders, opening the doors for teacher leadership. The aim of this study was to explore the enactment of teacher leadership in a township secondary school in the province of the Eastern Cape. It also sought to investigate the factors that enhanced or hindered this leadership enactment as teachers operated as leaders in their natural setting. Under the umbrella of distributed leadership as a theoretical framework, the research study was located within the interpretive paradigm and a qualitative case study was adopted. Three teacher leaders at the case study school were my primary participants. Data collection methods included interviews, questionnaires, observations, self-reflective journaling and telephonic conservations. I used Grant’s Model of teacher leadership as my analytical tool. My findings indicated that teacher leadership was enacted in all the zones of teacher leadership but to varying degrees. My teacher leaders enacted leadership in Zone 1 where they showed strong leadership in the classroom. They also enacted leadership in Zone 2 and 4 where they showed leadership in working with other teachers and learners outside the classroom in curricular and extra-curricular activities as well as in other neighbouring schools. However, in Zone 3 the School Management Team (SMT) controlled most of the leadership and management activities. Teacher leaders were not included in decision-making in this zone as the SMT thought that it was their sole duty. Teacher leadership in this school was thus characterised as ‘restricted’ following the characterisations of teacher leadership by Harris & Muijs (2007). Using Gunter’s (2005) categories of distributed leadership, I categorised the case study school as an example of authorised distributed leadership.
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- Date Issued: 2016
Engaging sense of place in an environment of change: youth, identity and place-based learning activities in environmental education
- Authors: Farrington, Katie
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Place-based education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Educational change -- South Africa Youth -- South Africa -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1942 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007931
- Description: This case study investigates sense of place of youth amidst a background of change in postapartheid South Africa. As used in this study, sense of place refers to the attachments made to both physical and social places, and the social and cultural interactions and meanings associated with such places. The research was conducted with a group of 13 young adults at Mary Waters Senior Secondary School in Grahamstown. The literature suggests that the changes that occur in the lives of the participants at school-leaving age such as new opportunities to identify with global aspirations, tend to influence their sense of place in local contexts. Social change that occurs due to globalising forces such as access to new technologies and improved personal mobility, also influences sense of place in this context. Another integral factor is the structural influence of changing cultural and educational norms. These notions form part of the backdrop of this study. The research project was developed in response to calls for learning approaches that are situated more in local contexts and which include the youth as intrinsic participants informing environmental education approaches. This research draws attention to the significance of finding sustainable ways that enhance opportunities for agency on the part of the youth in future local and global environmental care-taking. The study took place over a period of 15 months in which time the participants undertook place-based activities in their communities around self-identified environmental concerns. The study was intentionally generative in approach as this allowed the voices of the participants and their environmental perspectives to be considered in developing methods and activities that were suitable to their particular contexts and interests. The study highlights the relevance of particular social contexts, through the perspectives of people and in this case learners, as key to environmental education enquiries. The combination of approaches that consider: a) knowledge about social context, b) the educational intervention (place-based activities) and, c) the situated social capital of the participants, all form the basis of meaningful pedagogical engagements and serve to address my research question: How is learners' sense of place developed and articulated through place-based activities, and what are the implications for environmental education amidst a contemporary landscape of change in South Africa?
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- Date Issued: 2006
Narratives that shape the professional identities of mathematics teachers
- Authors: Felix, Clyde Benedict Aurelius
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Mathematics teachers -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Mathematics teachers -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Mathematics teachers -- Professional relationships , Mathematics teachers -- Training of , Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1995 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013547
- Description: The central position in this study is that the professional identities, and consequently the classroom practices, of mathematics teachers are continuously being shaped by their narratives of past and present experiences. The primary research question explores the narratives that shape the professional identities of seven mathematics teachers; and the secondary research question, how their narratives shape their professional identities. Furthermore, the potential implications of this study for the design and implementation of pre-service teacher education programmes and in-service teacher development initiatives are considered. This study is framed by Socioculturalism; a theoretical perspective of human thinking as social in origin and of learning as participation in social practices. Futhermore, in line with Situated Learning Theory, the key theoretical notions are: identity (or learning as becoming); community (or learning as belonging); practice (or learning as doing); and meaning (or learning as experience). Identity is construed here as a conceptual bridge between learning and its cultural settings; and also between the individual and the social. In this study, the identity-shaping narratives of seven mathematics teachers, all purposively sampled from schools in the Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown education districts of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, were accessed via a narrative inquiry; followed by a horizontal analysis to identify common patterns or recurring themes in the narratives of all seven participants; and, a vertical analysis of the narratives of four of the participants to determine how their narratives shape their professional identities. Recurring themes that emerged during the horizontal analysis include the influence of: family support; role models; changing work environments; continuous professional development; professional recognition; religion; and, micro-politics. The vertical analysis demonstrated how, through a process of interpreting the narratives and restorying them into a meaningful core narrative; it is possible to gain insights into how personal narratives shape a professional identity. This study highlights the importance of listening to the narratives of mathematics teachers; because their professional identities, and consequently their teaching practices, are continuously being shaped by their narratives. It is anticipated that this research will be of interest and benefit to researchers, policy-makers, and teachers; especially in the area of Mathematics Education, where both narrative inquiry as a research method and research into teachers’ professional identities are relatively new.
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- Date Issued: 2014
The influence of introduced forest management practices on transformative social learning in a selected social-ecological forest community : a case of PFM and REDD projects at Pugu and Kazimzumbwi Forest Reserves in Tanzania
- Authors: Ferdinand, Victoria Ugulumu
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Forest management -- Tanzania , Forest reserves -- Tanzania , Transformative learning , Social ecology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2064 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020333
- Description: This research investigates the influence of introduced forest management approaches on transformative social learning in the community surrounding the Pugu and Kazimzumbwi forest reserves in Tanzania from 2000 to 2015. The term transformative social learning reflects an understanding of learning processes that emerge through conscious changes in the perspectives of individuals or communities while interacting with forest management practices. The investigation explores the learning (if any) that occurred in the community and how and why the learning occurred. It also explores whether the learning was social and transformative and examines the conditions that enable or constrain transformative social learning at the Pugu and Kazimzumbwi community. Thus, the three concepts of social learning, transformative learning, and social practices are central to the research. Participatory Forest Management (PFM) emerged globally in the early 1980s to mobilise rural capabilities and resources in development and environmental stewardship. The Pugu and Kazimzumbwi community was introduced to Participatory Forest Management (PFM) projects by the late 1990s. The recent global focus on empowering communities around forests has drawn attention towards transformational adaptation to climate change impacts and building resilience capacities. As a result, in 2011 the Pugu and Kazimzumbwi community started working with a project for Reduction of Emissions through Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), which forms a key focus in this study as the most recently introduced PFM with embedded social learning assumptions. This research is designed and conducted as a qualitative case study. The research seeks to study the complex object of socially and contextually constructed learning through a systemic exploration of learning,using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, analysis of documents and archival records as well as observations and a reflexive workshop. Supportive information throughfield notes and audio voice and video recording was also generated. A contextual profile of the research site was conducted in March 2012, prior to the actual data collection in 2013 and 2014. Field explorations during the contextual profile helped to describe the research site and promote initial understanding of the context. During data collection, field inquiries based on interactive relationships between a researcher and participants stimulated practice memories and people’s living experiences with forestry and the introduced PFM projects under examination. Analysis of data employed analytical modes of induction, abduction and retroduction. Thick descriptions of learning obtained from fieldi based interactionswere produced before re-contextualising data through theoretical lenses. The research employed realist social theory by Archer (1995), under-laboured by critical realism, and practice theory advanced by Schatzki (2012) and Kemmis et al. (2014). The research process as a whole was underlaboured by the layered ontology of critical realism which proposes emergence of phenomena in open systems as shaped by interacting mechanisms which in this study were both material / ecological and social /political /economic /cultural. And more...
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- Date Issued: 2016
A Pedagogy of Love: reflections on 25 years of informal vocational education and training practices in the commercial fishing industry in South Africa
- Authors: Ferguson, Robin Anne
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/366189 , vital:65841 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/366189
- Description: This thesis is a reflection of informal vocational education and training (IVET) practices conducted by the Researcher in the commercial fishing industry between 1995-2021. Fourteen interventions took place during this time which involved several hundred sea-going employees who are disadvantaged by low levels of literacies and low/no Internet Computer Technology connectivity. The Production Programme was chosen as the focus of study and draws upon the influence of the other thirteen programmes. The purpose of the Production Programme was to teach technical fish processing skills to the production management teams and factory hands who work in the factories on board the vessels. The programme ran for five years and evolved through three distinct generations. At the heart of this work lies the question: ‘What made these programmes successful?’ This is an intra-programmatic study and seeks to identify the pedagogical practices which promoted or confounded the efficacy of the Production Programme; and based upon this understanding how such programmes could be improved, transferred, and taken to scale. These questions are both descriptive and explorative in nature. IVET is regarded as training which takes place outside of the formal South African National Qualifications Framework. This work is relevant because approximately 80% of sea-going staff neither finish school, nor get the opportunity of Post School Education and Training by going to a university, a technical institution, or a community college. This statistic is reflected in the general population (Department of Higher Education and Training [DHET], 2022). There is a fine line between being employed and unemployed for people working at this level in the formal economy which makes this project relevant to youth or persons who are ‘not in employment, education or training’ too. This means that for most South African adults IVET presents a significant opportunity for post-school education. Therefore, it is important to answer the questions raised above to rapidly improve inclusion of the majority of South Africans into meaningful education which improves livelihoods. The Theory of Practice Architectures (TPA), from the collection of social-material practice theories, is the conceptual framework for this thesis. The smallest unit of analysis of TPA are practices which may be ‘sayings/thinkings’, ‘doings’, or ‘relatings’. These practices bundle together into practice arrangements and form practice architectures. The reason that TPA was chosen was that practices were the only data available as we (learners, managers, facilitators, and me) knew what we had said/thought or done, and we were aware of the relationships between us over the years as the fourteen interventions played out. Under conventional research circumstances data would be collected in real time, however in this project, most of the data is historical. In addition to the fundamental building blocks of TPA, the theory is embedded in a Theory of Education. There have also been contemporary enhancements to the TPA which were significant to this study, for example, the Ecologies of Practices, a Trellis of Practices which Support Professional Learning, Middle Leadership, Travelling Practices, and moves towards transformative or transgressive education using the TPA in IVET. This is empirical, qualitative research and an ethnographic case study was chosen as the research design which is a methodology particularly suited to answering both descriptive and explorative questions. Nine methods for data collection were used, namely an historical reflective narrative; two focused-group interviews; three individual interviews; four Whatsapp videos; one WhatsApp voice note; two mobisodes; ten questionnaires; 29 documents; and 16 photographs. Because this data was collected under Covid-19 pandemic conditions, two conceptions were employed to guide the generation of data under these uncertain and constrained conditions. These were firstly, the ‘methodology of chance’ which allowed for a ‘methodological agility’; and secondly, the idea of ‘information power’ which is helpful in deciding on how much data is enough. In order to be explicit concerning a key research activity, the approach and method used to review the literature is explicated. Key practices were identified in the data set and described; and then the data was analysed using heuristics provided by TPA theorists. Seven Tables of Invention were used to synthesise the data arising from these practices. An eighth Table of Invention was used to synthesise all the practices and practice arrangements characterised; and to indicate how these evolved over time and space. The data description and analysis is supported by eight Analytic Memos, a comprehensive Data Code Table and a hyperlink to a data repository which provides access to oral and video material. The findings distinguished five key practices and practice arrangements which were: Practices of the Creation of Courseware; Practices of Teaching and Learning; Practices of Assessment; Practices of Love; Practices of Management. The thesis title is reflective of the impact which love has upon the pedagogical process of IVET. Based upon the analysis and synthesis of the corpus of data, practices which either promoted or confounded the Production Programme became visible; it is these insights which inform future improvements to similar programmes. Emanating from these findings, two overarching practice architectures (PA) were identified which restrained the Production Programme in the same manner that the banks of a river restrain a river, and yet simultaneously, are changed by the river over time. These are the PA of Methodology and Methods and the PA of Maturing Ecologies of Practices. The inferences drawn from the data were achieved through the use of deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning. My claim to new knowledge is a lamination of a practical contribution on one side of the coin, and a theoretical contribution on the other side of the coin. The PA of Methodology and Methods provides a practical mechanism to create, deliver and assess IVET. This is done by explicating the three practice architectures which constitute the overarching PA of Methodology and Methods which are, the PA of Informality; the PA of Range, and the PA of Relationality. An IVET programme constitutes Ecologies of Practices. The theoretical conception of the overarching PA of Maturing Ecologies of Practices provides a conceptual tool which enables the transferring and scaling of IVET programmes. It does this by providing theoretical indicators to establish the ‘state’ of an IVET programme as it matures over time from a pioneer state to a settler state. An IVET educator can then work towards creating a PA which is conducive for a mature ecologies of practices to form; and the programme can then be transferred and/or taken to scale, if this is desirable in the particular context. The power of my claim to new knowledge does not lie on one side or the other of the coin, but in the lamination of the practical and theoretical contributions put to use in the service of IVET. This thesis concludes with a number of theoretical and practical recommendations which are loosely grouped according to ‘sayings/thinkings’, ‘doings’ and ‘relatings’ in deference to the value of TPA to this thesis. An urgency is conveyed in these recommendations as there is an immediate need to improve the livelihoods of ordinary South Africans. One of the ways of doing this is through informal ‘education for living well’ which contributes to a ‘world worth living in’. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
Training in note making : the effects of a training scheme on first year teacher-training students
- Authors: Ferreira, Ignatius Leopold
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: Note-taking Teachers -- Training of Study skills
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1803 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003688
- Description: This research work is based upon a training technique devised and recommended by J. Smith (1985) in a pamphlet published by The British Historical Association. The technique involves training school pupils in the making of notes from text books and references and then selecting appropriate points to answer specific questions. The technique was slightly adapted and used on a small Experimental Group drawn from Black first year College of Education students at an Eastern Cape College. A Control Group from the same College received conventional lectures on two topicS from the first year college syllabus - the San and Khoi peoples of Southern Africa. The Experimental Group was given a brief training period in Smith's technique and then worked independently on extended reading passages on the same topics. Both groups received a similar introduction of a video tape on the San and a slide presentation on the Khoi. Both groups wrote the same final test after their learning experiences were over and both groups completed questionnaires on the initial visual input and on their reactions to the learning experience. Comparisons are drawn between the results and the students' reaction to those learning experiences.
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- Date Issued: 1992