Dramatic learning : a case study of theatre for development and environmental education
- Authors: Burt, Jane Caroline
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Drama in education -- South Africa Environmental education -- Study and teaching (Elementary)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1501 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003383
- Description: The aim of my research was to introduce drama, in the form of theatre for development processes, to local Grahamstown Primary School teachers, and to work closely with one teacher to explore theatre for development in the classroom, as a means of introducing both environmental education and learner-centred, constructivist teaching methodologies. I started my research by interviewing Primary School principals as well as sending out questionnaires to teachers, to survey their understanding and practice of drama and environmental education in the school curriculum and to invite them to participate in the research project. In collaboration with Educational Drama and Theatre students, I developed two workshops to introduce theatre for development processes such as image theatre and role-play to the teachers. Nine teachers attended this workshop which was video-taped. After the workshop I gave two lessons at a local school, in partnership with a teacher. Throughout this process I kept a research journal. All action components of the research were followed up with individual interviews, group discussions and a focus group. Although the study gave rise to multiple themes, I chose to highlight two: Firstly, Curriculum 2005 advocates a move towards more learner-centred,constructivist and process-orientated pedagogies. All of the participants in this study, including myself, had intentions of adopting a new approach tq education and teaching but found that we often reverted back to earlier learnt roles of product-orientated, text-based, authoritarian approaches to education which we originally had rejected. Secondly, I reflect on how we set out viewing environmental education, education, drama and research as a process and yet all the participants, including myself, continually tried to 'put on' the perfect performance in the form of a drama, a learning experience and research. This project was a participatory research project. The textwork of the research reflects a post-structural orientation. It has been written in the form of a drama to represent the many voices of the participants, but also to question the role of research in society and make research more accessible to non-academic readers. I also intend to perform the research process at a later stage.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
- Authors: Burt, Jane Caroline
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Drama in education -- South Africa Environmental education -- Study and teaching (Elementary)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1501 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003383
- Description: The aim of my research was to introduce drama, in the form of theatre for development processes, to local Grahamstown Primary School teachers, and to work closely with one teacher to explore theatre for development in the classroom, as a means of introducing both environmental education and learner-centred, constructivist teaching methodologies. I started my research by interviewing Primary School principals as well as sending out questionnaires to teachers, to survey their understanding and practice of drama and environmental education in the school curriculum and to invite them to participate in the research project. In collaboration with Educational Drama and Theatre students, I developed two workshops to introduce theatre for development processes such as image theatre and role-play to the teachers. Nine teachers attended this workshop which was video-taped. After the workshop I gave two lessons at a local school, in partnership with a teacher. Throughout this process I kept a research journal. All action components of the research were followed up with individual interviews, group discussions and a focus group. Although the study gave rise to multiple themes, I chose to highlight two: Firstly, Curriculum 2005 advocates a move towards more learner-centred,constructivist and process-orientated pedagogies. All of the participants in this study, including myself, had intentions of adopting a new approach tq education and teaching but found that we often reverted back to earlier learnt roles of product-orientated, text-based, authoritarian approaches to education which we originally had rejected. Secondly, I reflect on how we set out viewing environmental education, education, drama and research as a process and yet all the participants, including myself, continually tried to 'put on' the perfect performance in the form of a drama, a learning experience and research. This project was a participatory research project. The textwork of the research reflects a post-structural orientation. It has been written in the form of a drama to represent the many voices of the participants, but also to question the role of research in society and make research more accessible to non-academic readers. I also intend to perform the research process at a later stage.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
The role of indigenous knowledge in/for environmental education: the case of a Nguni story in the Schools Water Action Project
- Authors: Masuku, Lynette Sibongile
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Environmental education Environmental education -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1749 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003633
- Description: In March 1997 an indigenous knowledge story was included by the Schools Water Action Project (SWAP)partners in a resource pack for Water Week educational activities. This research developed as the result of an interaction between myself and some of the schools while we investigated water quality within Howick in the KwaZulu Natal Midlands. An interest in understanding the role of indigenous knowledge in/for environmental education developed. Some of the teachers and students involved in the water audit were requested to share their views on the role of indigenous knowledge in/for environmental education. From here the study broadened to also include interviews with elderly community members and environmental educators involved in materials development processes. This post-positivistic case study documents the views of a small sample of interviewees using the SWAP story entitled Sweet Water as a spring board towards a better understanding of indigenous knowledge within the school context, with a particular aim to inform educational materials development processes. The study displayed that a link which exists between indigenous knowledge and environmental education needs to be brought to the fore. This is likely to happen with the blurring of boundaries between home and school as learning contexts, a process which student interviewees emphasised, along with the need for respecting values that award respect to the environment. Elderly community members were of the view that they have a role to play in addressing educational problems such as interpersonal and intercultural respect. However, the study also raised several issues around the complexities surrounding indigenous knowledge processes, including its appropriation, commodification and reification.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
- Authors: Masuku, Lynette Sibongile
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Environmental education Environmental education -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1749 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003633
- Description: In March 1997 an indigenous knowledge story was included by the Schools Water Action Project (SWAP)partners in a resource pack for Water Week educational activities. This research developed as the result of an interaction between myself and some of the schools while we investigated water quality within Howick in the KwaZulu Natal Midlands. An interest in understanding the role of indigenous knowledge in/for environmental education developed. Some of the teachers and students involved in the water audit were requested to share their views on the role of indigenous knowledge in/for environmental education. From here the study broadened to also include interviews with elderly community members and environmental educators involved in materials development processes. This post-positivistic case study documents the views of a small sample of interviewees using the SWAP story entitled Sweet Water as a spring board towards a better understanding of indigenous knowledge within the school context, with a particular aim to inform educational materials development processes. The study displayed that a link which exists between indigenous knowledge and environmental education needs to be brought to the fore. This is likely to happen with the blurring of boundaries between home and school as learning contexts, a process which student interviewees emphasised, along with the need for respecting values that award respect to the environment. Elderly community members were of the view that they have a role to play in addressing educational problems such as interpersonal and intercultural respect. However, the study also raised several issues around the complexities surrounding indigenous knowledge processes, including its appropriation, commodification and reification.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
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.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
- 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.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
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