Communicating in/from the Cave: a communication for development/social change project aimed at enhancing communication, action and learning within the science cave, a learner-led Grade 10 science club in a public school in Makhanda
- Authors: Bombi, Thandi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa , Communication in science -- South Africa , Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Communication in science -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Student centered learning -- South Africa , Student centered learning-- South Africa -- Makhanda
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96837 , vital:31330
- Description: This research seeks to design, execute and reflect on a process where the principles and techniques of Communication for Development and Social Change are applied to enhance, support and develop qualitative changes within a learner-led Grade 10 science club at a public school in Makhanda. It draws and reflects on an ethnographic action research (Tacchi et al 2003) cycle proposed to explore the club’s communicative ecology (Foth & Hearn 2007) and resources, and understand how these have the potential to encourage the expression of voice (Couldry 2010: 580) and participation (Carpentier, 2011) in the members of the club. The research then attempts to understand the kind of communication, action and learning that takes place as well as the ways in which the framework is able to support the club (or not). The research uses an ethnographic narrative, told from the perspective of the researcher informed by field notes, interviews and participant reflections written during the intervention. This narrative, alongside an analytical summery of the club’s complex communicative ecology, tells the story of a club building confidence within a closed group and using that to connect with a wider public, articulating its needs, resources and potential supporting stakeholders for the club’s future development. The club is able to share its achievements with a community of peers and uses the platform of Facebook, to communicate with and inspire other like-minded people with an interest in science and their community.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Bombi, Thandi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa , Communication in science -- South Africa , Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Communication in science -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Student centered learning -- South Africa , Student centered learning-- South Africa -- Makhanda
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96837 , vital:31330
- Description: This research seeks to design, execute and reflect on a process where the principles and techniques of Communication for Development and Social Change are applied to enhance, support and develop qualitative changes within a learner-led Grade 10 science club at a public school in Makhanda. It draws and reflects on an ethnographic action research (Tacchi et al 2003) cycle proposed to explore the club’s communicative ecology (Foth & Hearn 2007) and resources, and understand how these have the potential to encourage the expression of voice (Couldry 2010: 580) and participation (Carpentier, 2011) in the members of the club. The research then attempts to understand the kind of communication, action and learning that takes place as well as the ways in which the framework is able to support the club (or not). The research uses an ethnographic narrative, told from the perspective of the researcher informed by field notes, interviews and participant reflections written during the intervention. This narrative, alongside an analytical summery of the club’s complex communicative ecology, tells the story of a club building confidence within a closed group and using that to connect with a wider public, articulating its needs, resources and potential supporting stakeholders for the club’s future development. The club is able to share its achievements with a community of peers and uses the platform of Facebook, to communicate with and inspire other like-minded people with an interest in science and their community.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Toward universal sustainability: strategies and guidelines
- Authors: Robertson, Struan Ross
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Sustainability , Sustainable development , Economic development , Social planning
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEcon
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71591 , vital:29922
- Description: This research considers the notion of universal sustainability, which involves the three well-known pillars of sustainable development, namely, economic development, social development, and environmental sustainability. Critical to achieving this unity of purpose in the aligning of economic and social aspirations with the limits of the natural environment is the enhancing of human capability and the development of political institutions capable of representing the interests of all people by leveraging resources responsibly. Universal sustainability differs from the concept of sustainable development in that the emphasis is cast not on merely achieving economic development despite the challenges presented by social and environmental concerns, but on seeking to understand what a better society might look like that integrates outcomes in-line with these three factors. Universal sustainability is about re-thinking the purpose of material progress to realign this with the need for social cohesion and to reposition human values and expectations safely within ecological boundaries. In other words, strategies and guidelines that promote the realisation of universal sustainability would recommend a society that values economic and technological progress with equal measure to social development and environmental sustainability, as well as all the other factors that promote human wellbeing. Consequently, this research also considers the inter-linkages that are found between economic development (i.e. technological advancement) and social (i.e. normative progress) and societal (i.e. long-term institutional differentiation) development with respect to labour markets, the formation of skills, the scope of welfare regimes and hence, the trajectory of the social reproduction of society. The prospects of environmental sustainability, like that of societal development, are found to be influenced by the values that a society holds and the ability of economic and social factors to adapt in response to the environmental challenges that face societies in socially workable ways. This research concerns the great quest for meaning and purpose that humans have undertaken throughout history, and asks how human wellbeing – in its best, most expansive sense, can be improved and how societies can advance and prosper going forward while keeping the avenue of individual self-actualisation open as a possibility in the everyday lives of citizens? In achieving this end, this research looks at what economic development strategies suggest as tenable against these aspirations. Furthermore, this research looks at the experience of advanced democratic societies to better conceive of how material progress, social cohesion via education and welfare, and environmental sustainability can be attained. The selection of these countries ensures understanding for the kind of political arrangements that safeguard human wellbeing and give voice to freedom, material opportunities, and civic responsibilities. Critical to both these assessments is defining the mechanics that underlie the processes that achieve material and moral progress in human societies. The main goal of this research is to recommend strategies and guidelines for developing countries like South Africa that wish to develop and thrive. Therefore, this research presents an assessment framework for understanding both universal sustainability and how to achieve it. This research concludes that mindfulness about the natural environment and the services it supplies, as well as mindfulness about what drives economic development and what supports the conditions for human flourishing, are necessary for universal sustainability strategies and guidelines to work. Indeed, the ideologies that societies subscribe to and the values they hold are important 84 to creating the right conditions for economic tools to work to advance economic development, material improvement, socio-environmental justice, and ultimately for achieving universal sustainability. But central to both economic and environmental futures is an understanding that at the heart of the matter is a concern for apprehending what drives human behaviour and aspiration, and what creates social cohesion.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Robertson, Struan Ross
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Sustainability , Sustainable development , Economic development , Social planning
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEcon
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71591 , vital:29922
- Description: This research considers the notion of universal sustainability, which involves the three well-known pillars of sustainable development, namely, economic development, social development, and environmental sustainability. Critical to achieving this unity of purpose in the aligning of economic and social aspirations with the limits of the natural environment is the enhancing of human capability and the development of political institutions capable of representing the interests of all people by leveraging resources responsibly. Universal sustainability differs from the concept of sustainable development in that the emphasis is cast not on merely achieving economic development despite the challenges presented by social and environmental concerns, but on seeking to understand what a better society might look like that integrates outcomes in-line with these three factors. Universal sustainability is about re-thinking the purpose of material progress to realign this with the need for social cohesion and to reposition human values and expectations safely within ecological boundaries. In other words, strategies and guidelines that promote the realisation of universal sustainability would recommend a society that values economic and technological progress with equal measure to social development and environmental sustainability, as well as all the other factors that promote human wellbeing. Consequently, this research also considers the inter-linkages that are found between economic development (i.e. technological advancement) and social (i.e. normative progress) and societal (i.e. long-term institutional differentiation) development with respect to labour markets, the formation of skills, the scope of welfare regimes and hence, the trajectory of the social reproduction of society. The prospects of environmental sustainability, like that of societal development, are found to be influenced by the values that a society holds and the ability of economic and social factors to adapt in response to the environmental challenges that face societies in socially workable ways. This research concerns the great quest for meaning and purpose that humans have undertaken throughout history, and asks how human wellbeing – in its best, most expansive sense, can be improved and how societies can advance and prosper going forward while keeping the avenue of individual self-actualisation open as a possibility in the everyday lives of citizens? In achieving this end, this research looks at what economic development strategies suggest as tenable against these aspirations. Furthermore, this research looks at the experience of advanced democratic societies to better conceive of how material progress, social cohesion via education and welfare, and environmental sustainability can be attained. The selection of these countries ensures understanding for the kind of political arrangements that safeguard human wellbeing and give voice to freedom, material opportunities, and civic responsibilities. Critical to both these assessments is defining the mechanics that underlie the processes that achieve material and moral progress in human societies. The main goal of this research is to recommend strategies and guidelines for developing countries like South Africa that wish to develop and thrive. Therefore, this research presents an assessment framework for understanding both universal sustainability and how to achieve it. This research concludes that mindfulness about the natural environment and the services it supplies, as well as mindfulness about what drives economic development and what supports the conditions for human flourishing, are necessary for universal sustainability strategies and guidelines to work. Indeed, the ideologies that societies subscribe to and the values they hold are important 84 to creating the right conditions for economic tools to work to advance economic development, material improvement, socio-environmental justice, and ultimately for achieving universal sustainability. But central to both economic and environmental futures is an understanding that at the heart of the matter is a concern for apprehending what drives human behaviour and aspiration, and what creates social cohesion.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
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