Investigating quality in Education through the use of an active learning framework : the case of an intervention in the Namibian Environmental Studies curriculum
- Authors: Jacobs, Nicola Clara
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Environmental education -- Study and teaching -- Activity programs -- Namibia -- Windhoek , Active learning -- Namibia -- Windhoek , Education -- Evaluation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:2058 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019803
- Description: The study was conducted to explore the relationship between active learning processes emerging from the use of O’Donoghue’s (2001) active learning framework and a series of education quality indicators proposed by Nikel and Lowe (2010). To achieve this aim a professional educational intervention was conducted encouraging the use of this active learning framework in the Namibian Environmental Studies Curriculum, in order to strengthen educational quality within the Environmental Studies Curriculum. The research was conducted in the Windhoek region at the school where I am currently teaching. Four teachers took part in this study, including myself in the role of a participantobserver. The active learning framework was used to guide us in the planning and presentations of environmental learning lessons. The study was conducted within the interpretive paradigm and was qualitative in nature as well as focusing on a quantitative aspect to analyse some of the data (learners’ written work). Qualitative data were generated through individual interviews, focus-group discussions, lesson observations and document analysis. The key findings of the study were that: a) prior to the intervention with the active learning framework the teachers who took part in the study did not ask learners to explore environmental issues in the environment or to respond to particular environmental issues; b) active learning processes have the potential to facilitate the exploration of environmental issues in the environment, and responses to particular environmental issues. Active learning also have the potential to strengthen all aspects of education quality indicated in Nikel and Lowe’s (2010) quality model, namely effectiveness, efficiency, equity, relevance, responsiveness, reflexivity and sustainability; c) the active learning framework encouraged teachers to use a variety of situated learning approaches, such as the collaborative method, the cooperative method, the problem-solving method and the enquiry method, in order to strengthen the educational quality in Environmental Studies classrooms; and d) teachers find the active learning framework useful as a tool for planning and presenting environmental learning lessons. The findings of the study have the potential to inform curriculum developers, materials developers and educators with an interest in improving education quality through environmental learning processes within the Environmental Studies Curriculum in Namibia. Furthermore, Nikel and Lowe’s education quality indicators provided an informative and comprehensive understanding of education quality and provided a useful tool in evaluating and reflecting on education quality as well as my own work as a teacher.
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- Authors: Jacobs, Nicola Clara
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Environmental education -- Study and teaching -- Activity programs -- Namibia -- Windhoek , Active learning -- Namibia -- Windhoek , Education -- Evaluation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:2058 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019803
- Description: The study was conducted to explore the relationship between active learning processes emerging from the use of O’Donoghue’s (2001) active learning framework and a series of education quality indicators proposed by Nikel and Lowe (2010). To achieve this aim a professional educational intervention was conducted encouraging the use of this active learning framework in the Namibian Environmental Studies Curriculum, in order to strengthen educational quality within the Environmental Studies Curriculum. The research was conducted in the Windhoek region at the school where I am currently teaching. Four teachers took part in this study, including myself in the role of a participantobserver. The active learning framework was used to guide us in the planning and presentations of environmental learning lessons. The study was conducted within the interpretive paradigm and was qualitative in nature as well as focusing on a quantitative aspect to analyse some of the data (learners’ written work). Qualitative data were generated through individual interviews, focus-group discussions, lesson observations and document analysis. The key findings of the study were that: a) prior to the intervention with the active learning framework the teachers who took part in the study did not ask learners to explore environmental issues in the environment or to respond to particular environmental issues; b) active learning processes have the potential to facilitate the exploration of environmental issues in the environment, and responses to particular environmental issues. Active learning also have the potential to strengthen all aspects of education quality indicated in Nikel and Lowe’s (2010) quality model, namely effectiveness, efficiency, equity, relevance, responsiveness, reflexivity and sustainability; c) the active learning framework encouraged teachers to use a variety of situated learning approaches, such as the collaborative method, the cooperative method, the problem-solving method and the enquiry method, in order to strengthen the educational quality in Environmental Studies classrooms; and d) teachers find the active learning framework useful as a tool for planning and presenting environmental learning lessons. The findings of the study have the potential to inform curriculum developers, materials developers and educators with an interest in improving education quality through environmental learning processes within the Environmental Studies Curriculum in Namibia. Furthermore, Nikel and Lowe’s education quality indicators provided an informative and comprehensive understanding of education quality and provided a useful tool in evaluating and reflecting on education quality as well as my own work as a teacher.
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Quality of work and work life: understanding the work ethic of medical professionals in selected hospitals in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa
- Authors: Kwizera, Alice Stella
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Hospitals -- Medical staff -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Work ethic -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Medical personnel -- Job satisfaction -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Protestant work ethic
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3323 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003111
- Description: This thesis reports a study of work ethic values, beliefs and attitudes held by medical professionals in selected hospitals in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The study was in response to the public outcry about the declining work ethic and poor service delivery in South Africa’s healthcare sector. Scholarly interest in the work ethic and its role in economic development dates back to Max Weber’s classical work, which was the starting point for my study. The German economic sociologist published his seminal essay on The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in 1904/1905. Since that time, Weber’s ideas on the Protestant work ethic continue to inform and influence studies of the contemporary work ethic, which is thought to have become secularised. My study was informed by data collected in 2009 through a questionnaire survey and personal interviews. A total of 174 doctors and nurses, working in four urban, periurban and rural hospitals near East London, completed a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire replicated the Multi-Dimensional Work Ethic Profile (MWEP) developed by Miller, Woehr and Hudspeth in 2001/2002. The instrument examines seven critical dimensions of the work ethic, namely self-reliance, morality, (foregoing) leisure, hard work, centrality of work in life, not wasting time, and delay of gratification. In addition, I conducted personal interviews in the same four hospitals with 41 hospital managers, doctors, nurses, and patients to discuss their understanding of the work ethic and its practical application. The study found that both doctors’ and nurses’ overall work ethic scores on the MWEP scale were above average. Although there was no significant difference between the overall work ethic scores of the two professions, doctors scored significantly higher than nurses on the ‘hard work’ and ‘self reliance’ dimensions of the work ethic scale. In the qualitative study, the doctors’ work ethic was rated much more highly than the nurses’ by their superiors and patients; and the work ethic of nurses in the urban hospitals was rated much lower than that of their rural colleagues. In contradiction to the idea of the secularization of the contemporary work ethic, religiosity and religious beliefs were influential in the endorsement of work ethic principles. In line with the notion that ‘happy’ workers are more productive, job and life satisfaction were found to be strong correlates of the work ethic of medical professionals.
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- Authors: Kwizera, Alice Stella
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Hospitals -- Medical staff -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Work ethic -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Medical personnel -- Job satisfaction -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Protestant work ethic
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3323 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003111
- Description: This thesis reports a study of work ethic values, beliefs and attitudes held by medical professionals in selected hospitals in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The study was in response to the public outcry about the declining work ethic and poor service delivery in South Africa’s healthcare sector. Scholarly interest in the work ethic and its role in economic development dates back to Max Weber’s classical work, which was the starting point for my study. The German economic sociologist published his seminal essay on The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in 1904/1905. Since that time, Weber’s ideas on the Protestant work ethic continue to inform and influence studies of the contemporary work ethic, which is thought to have become secularised. My study was informed by data collected in 2009 through a questionnaire survey and personal interviews. A total of 174 doctors and nurses, working in four urban, periurban and rural hospitals near East London, completed a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire replicated the Multi-Dimensional Work Ethic Profile (MWEP) developed by Miller, Woehr and Hudspeth in 2001/2002. The instrument examines seven critical dimensions of the work ethic, namely self-reliance, morality, (foregoing) leisure, hard work, centrality of work in life, not wasting time, and delay of gratification. In addition, I conducted personal interviews in the same four hospitals with 41 hospital managers, doctors, nurses, and patients to discuss their understanding of the work ethic and its practical application. The study found that both doctors’ and nurses’ overall work ethic scores on the MWEP scale were above average. Although there was no significant difference between the overall work ethic scores of the two professions, doctors scored significantly higher than nurses on the ‘hard work’ and ‘self reliance’ dimensions of the work ethic scale. In the qualitative study, the doctors’ work ethic was rated much more highly than the nurses’ by their superiors and patients; and the work ethic of nurses in the urban hospitals was rated much lower than that of their rural colleagues. In contradiction to the idea of the secularization of the contemporary work ethic, religiosity and religious beliefs were influential in the endorsement of work ethic principles. In line with the notion that ‘happy’ workers are more productive, job and life satisfaction were found to be strong correlates of the work ethic of medical professionals.
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An appraisal of the impact of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme on land use practices, livelihoods and the natural environment at three study areas in Kadoma District, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Chigumira, Easther C
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Land reform -- Zimbabwe , Land tenure -- Zimbabwe , Land settlement -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe , Land use -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe , Agriculture -- Zimbabwe , Sustainable development -- Zimbabwe , Rural development -- Zimbabwe , Zimbabwe -- Economic conditions , Natural resources -- Zimbabwe , Environmental policy -- Zimbabwe , Farms, Large -- Zimbabwe , Farms, Small -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4815 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005489 , Land reform -- Zimbabwe , Land tenure -- Zimbabwe , Land settlement -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe , Land use -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe , Agriculture -- Zimbabwe , Sustainable development -- Zimbabwe , Rural development -- Zimbabwe , Zimbabwe -- Economic conditions , Natural resources -- Zimbabwe , Environmental policy -- Zimbabwe , Farms, Large -- Zimbabwe , Farms, Small -- Zimbabwe
- Description: This research appraises the impact of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme at three resettled communities in Kadoma District, Zimbabwe. In particular it assesses the livelihood practices of land recipients and their effects on the natural environment. Two of the communities, Lanteglos and CC Molina were resettled under the A1 villagised and self-contained settlement scheme and are found in the Natural Farming Region III. Pamene, the third community, was resettled under the A2 small-scale commercial settlement scheme and is found in the Natural Farming Region IIb. Multiple research methods including household surveys, interviews, observations, reviews of literature and map construction through the use of Geographic Information Systems, allowed for the collection of empirical, descriptive, and spatial data to provide for the appraisal. The land use practices included dry land crop production, livestock rearing, vegetable gardening and exploitation of the natural environment for a variety of purposes. Farming was mostly subsistence with the use of traditional equipment by all three communities. Tenure was perceived to be insecure by beneficiaries and although a variety of papers to show ownership were held, none provided for leasing or freehold tenure. Despite acquiring natural capital from the resettlement process, the findings of this research show low levels of financial, physical and social capital amongst beneficiaries. Moreover climatic variability, the declining macro-economic and unstable political environment and little support from government have adversely affected the livelihoods of beneficiaries. The implication of all this has been a reduction in livelihoods that are based solely on agricultural production, leading to off-farm practices primarily exploiting the natural environment. The long term effect would be increased degradation of the environment, leading to reduced arable and grazing land, and thereby hindering sustainable livelihoods from farming. Recommendations are proposed based on this research’s findings being typical in Zimbabwe. Central to this is the need for government to revise its present land policy and, provide for a comprehensive and holistic land policy that should be based on the vision of how agriculture should evolve in Zimbabwe
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- Authors: Chigumira, Easther C
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Land reform -- Zimbabwe , Land tenure -- Zimbabwe , Land settlement -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe , Land use -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe , Agriculture -- Zimbabwe , Sustainable development -- Zimbabwe , Rural development -- Zimbabwe , Zimbabwe -- Economic conditions , Natural resources -- Zimbabwe , Environmental policy -- Zimbabwe , Farms, Large -- Zimbabwe , Farms, Small -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4815 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005489 , Land reform -- Zimbabwe , Land tenure -- Zimbabwe , Land settlement -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe , Land use -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe , Agriculture -- Zimbabwe , Sustainable development -- Zimbabwe , Rural development -- Zimbabwe , Zimbabwe -- Economic conditions , Natural resources -- Zimbabwe , Environmental policy -- Zimbabwe , Farms, Large -- Zimbabwe , Farms, Small -- Zimbabwe
- Description: This research appraises the impact of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme at three resettled communities in Kadoma District, Zimbabwe. In particular it assesses the livelihood practices of land recipients and their effects on the natural environment. Two of the communities, Lanteglos and CC Molina were resettled under the A1 villagised and self-contained settlement scheme and are found in the Natural Farming Region III. Pamene, the third community, was resettled under the A2 small-scale commercial settlement scheme and is found in the Natural Farming Region IIb. Multiple research methods including household surveys, interviews, observations, reviews of literature and map construction through the use of Geographic Information Systems, allowed for the collection of empirical, descriptive, and spatial data to provide for the appraisal. The land use practices included dry land crop production, livestock rearing, vegetable gardening and exploitation of the natural environment for a variety of purposes. Farming was mostly subsistence with the use of traditional equipment by all three communities. Tenure was perceived to be insecure by beneficiaries and although a variety of papers to show ownership were held, none provided for leasing or freehold tenure. Despite acquiring natural capital from the resettlement process, the findings of this research show low levels of financial, physical and social capital amongst beneficiaries. Moreover climatic variability, the declining macro-economic and unstable political environment and little support from government have adversely affected the livelihoods of beneficiaries. The implication of all this has been a reduction in livelihoods that are based solely on agricultural production, leading to off-farm practices primarily exploiting the natural environment. The long term effect would be increased degradation of the environment, leading to reduced arable and grazing land, and thereby hindering sustainable livelihoods from farming. Recommendations are proposed based on this research’s findings being typical in Zimbabwe. Central to this is the need for government to revise its present land policy and, provide for a comprehensive and holistic land policy that should be based on the vision of how agriculture should evolve in Zimbabwe
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Radio observation of the Gum Nebula Region
- Authors: Woermann, Beate
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Radio sources (Astronomy) Nebulae -- Observations Radio astronomy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5485 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005271
- Description: This thesis describes the results of an investigation of the physical properties of the Gum Nebula. For this investigation a radio continuum map of the region was made at 2326 MHz and resolution ⅓° with the HartRAO antenna. This map was used to generate spectral index images and an infrared to radio flux density ratio (IRR) image. The latter image shows that the IRR of the nebula is in the range 20 to 250, identifying it as an old SNR. Several spectral index images of this region were generated using two different methods, one based on the isolation of the nebula from its background radiation, the other based on TT-plots (Turtle et al., 1962). The two methods yield similar results, which show that the nebula has a thermal shell with a non-thermal region in its interior. Below the galactic plane the thermal region dominates and above the plane the nonthermal region. These results suggest a model of an old SNR with an H II region shell. Spectral line observations of hydrogen recombination lines and hydroxyl (OH) were made with the HartRAO and the Mopra telescopes. The detection of hydrogen recombination lines at four positions in the thermal regions of the nebula give electron temperatures and emission measures in the ranges 4000 to 6000 K and 220 to 460 pc.cm⁻⁶ respectively. The turbulent velocities are of the order of 20 km/s. A search for shocked OH lines at 1667 MHz and 1720 MHz in the Gum Nebula gave results that were negative, but numerous unshocked 1667 MHz OH lines were detected. The latter were used in a test for an expansion of the nebula. The most plausible fit to the data gives an expansion centre at l = 260.5°, b = -2.5° and at a distance of 0.7 kpc from us. The front face angular radius and expansion velocity are 10.5° and 16 km/s respectively. The back face angular radius and expansion velocity are 8.50 and 7 km/s respectively.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Woermann, Beate
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Radio sources (Astronomy) Nebulae -- Observations Radio astronomy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5485 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005271
- Description: This thesis describes the results of an investigation of the physical properties of the Gum Nebula. For this investigation a radio continuum map of the region was made at 2326 MHz and resolution ⅓° with the HartRAO antenna. This map was used to generate spectral index images and an infrared to radio flux density ratio (IRR) image. The latter image shows that the IRR of the nebula is in the range 20 to 250, identifying it as an old SNR. Several spectral index images of this region were generated using two different methods, one based on the isolation of the nebula from its background radiation, the other based on TT-plots (Turtle et al., 1962). The two methods yield similar results, which show that the nebula has a thermal shell with a non-thermal region in its interior. Below the galactic plane the thermal region dominates and above the plane the nonthermal region. These results suggest a model of an old SNR with an H II region shell. Spectral line observations of hydrogen recombination lines and hydroxyl (OH) were made with the HartRAO and the Mopra telescopes. The detection of hydrogen recombination lines at four positions in the thermal regions of the nebula give electron temperatures and emission measures in the ranges 4000 to 6000 K and 220 to 460 pc.cm⁻⁶ respectively. The turbulent velocities are of the order of 20 km/s. A search for shocked OH lines at 1667 MHz and 1720 MHz in the Gum Nebula gave results that were negative, but numerous unshocked 1667 MHz OH lines were detected. The latter were used in a test for an expansion of the nebula. The most plausible fit to the data gives an expansion centre at l = 260.5°, b = -2.5° and at a distance of 0.7 kpc from us. The front face angular radius and expansion velocity are 10.5° and 16 km/s respectively. The back face angular radius and expansion velocity are 8.50 and 7 km/s respectively.
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Somewhat strange : a study of the relationships between text and music in English song, 1588-1789
- Hutchings, Geoffrey Justin Mackay
- Authors: Hutchings, Geoffrey Justin Mackay
- Date: 1984
- Subjects: Songs, English -- 16th century -- HIstory and criticism Songs, English -- 17th century -- HIstory and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2670 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006978
- Description: This study is concerned with the ways in which linguistic texts combine with music to form song, essentially an art of relationship. It argues that the relationship has never been a very stable one outside folk song, and traces the development of the relationship in English song from the appearance of the first English madrigals in 1588 to the death of G F Handel in 1759. The different sorts of relationship during this period are discussed in detail, with particular attention being paid to the sort of lyric poetry that is most suitable for musical setting. The conclusion is reached that, in the art of setting a poem to music, the late Elizabethan masters, Thomas Campion and John Dowlland, were supreme in the period under discussion. After them, the aevelopment of a new system of tonality and of denser textures of accompaniment resulted in music's assumption of a more and more Dominant role in the relationship to the neglect and detriment of poetic text.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Hutchings, Geoffrey Justin Mackay
- Date: 1984
- Subjects: Songs, English -- 16th century -- HIstory and criticism Songs, English -- 17th century -- HIstory and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2670 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006978
- Description: This study is concerned with the ways in which linguistic texts combine with music to form song, essentially an art of relationship. It argues that the relationship has never been a very stable one outside folk song, and traces the development of the relationship in English song from the appearance of the first English madrigals in 1588 to the death of G F Handel in 1759. The different sorts of relationship during this period are discussed in detail, with particular attention being paid to the sort of lyric poetry that is most suitable for musical setting. The conclusion is reached that, in the art of setting a poem to music, the late Elizabethan masters, Thomas Campion and John Dowlland, were supreme in the period under discussion. After them, the aevelopment of a new system of tonality and of denser textures of accompaniment resulted in music's assumption of a more and more Dominant role in the relationship to the neglect and detriment of poetic text.
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Wood-wind instruments at the cross-roads : a survey of recent changes
- Authors: Honey, Albert Edward
- Date: 1969
- Subjects: Woodwind instruments Woodwind instruments -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MMus
- Identifier: vital:2685 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012331
- Description: Since the rise of the "Stile Rappresentative" early in the seventeenth century, the composer has made definite and increasing demands on specific performance and tonal combination of instrumentalists which has materially affected the developnent in technique and, consequently, the improvement in construction and design of every musical instrument. The monodic "Stile Rappresentative" required expressive instruments with an extensive range to match the singers and, consequently, many instruments of the Renaissance period were rendered obsolescent. For instance, the shawms, pommers and crumhorns disappeared from concerted music-making with the exception of military and outdoor use, mainly in German windbands. More flexible instruments were required, and thus cornetts, flutes (mainly recorders and fipple-flutes), oboes and bassoons came gradually into their places, which for the main part they have occupied in the orchestra ever since that time. The String sections, too, underwent radical changes. A gradual metamorphosis from the Consort of Viols to the Violin Family took place following the work of the craftsmen Gasparo da Salố (1540 - 1609) and Giovanni Paolo Maggini of Brescia, perfected by the famous Cremonese school founded by Andrea Amati and continued by Stradivarius.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Honey, Albert Edward
- Date: 1969
- Subjects: Woodwind instruments Woodwind instruments -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MMus
- Identifier: vital:2685 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012331
- Description: Since the rise of the "Stile Rappresentative" early in the seventeenth century, the composer has made definite and increasing demands on specific performance and tonal combination of instrumentalists which has materially affected the developnent in technique and, consequently, the improvement in construction and design of every musical instrument. The monodic "Stile Rappresentative" required expressive instruments with an extensive range to match the singers and, consequently, many instruments of the Renaissance period were rendered obsolescent. For instance, the shawms, pommers and crumhorns disappeared from concerted music-making with the exception of military and outdoor use, mainly in German windbands. More flexible instruments were required, and thus cornetts, flutes (mainly recorders and fipple-flutes), oboes and bassoons came gradually into their places, which for the main part they have occupied in the orchestra ever since that time. The String sections, too, underwent radical changes. A gradual metamorphosis from the Consort of Viols to the Violin Family took place following the work of the craftsmen Gasparo da Salố (1540 - 1609) and Giovanni Paolo Maggini of Brescia, perfected by the famous Cremonese school founded by Andrea Amati and continued by Stradivarius.
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