On locating the experiences of second year science students from rural areas in Higher Education in the field of science: lived rural experiences
- Madondo, Nkosinathi Emmanuel
- Authors: Madondo, Nkosinathi Emmanuel
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Science students -- South Africa , Rural college students -- South Africa , Science -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Curriculum change -- South Africa , Learning -- Evaluation , Social justice and education -- South Africa , Action research in education -- South Africa , Participant observation -- South Africa , Critical realism , Ethnoscience -- South Africa , Focus groups -- South Africa , Bernstein, Basil
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145758 , vital:38464
- Description: This study was designed to investigate the experiences of Second Year Science students who come from rural backgrounds within a Higher Education context. The purpose of the study was to understand the enabling and/or constraining factors that influence the teaching and learning of Second Year Science students who come from rural contexts. Given this purpose, the participants that were considered relevant to answer the question: What are the enabling and constraining factors that influence teaching and learning of second year Science students who come from rural backgrounds at a South African University? were students from rural areas enrolled in the Faculty of Science at the research site, academic teachers and senior leaders’, and roles in providing enabling and/or constraining teaching and learning environment. The phenomenon under investigation was thus, the extent to which the teaching and learning environment, in the field of science, enable or constrain access to the Discourse of science for students who come from rural areas. To generate data, the study used focus group discussions, Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) tools as part of Participatory Action Research (PAR), digital documentaries, as well as academic teachers’ rich descriptions of the rationale for the design and delivery techniques of their modules by means of focus group interviews, as well as curriculum review documents. The purpose of Action Research (AR) in this study was to enable change by way of advancing a self-consciousness, envisaged to yield some action based on the enablements or constraints identified by the participants involved. Archer’s (1995, 1996) analytical dualism was used as the analytical framework to identify the interplay of structural, cultural and agential mechanisms shaping the emergence of, and practices associated with students’ experiences of the science curriculum and academic teachers’ observations of these experiences. Bernstein’s pedagogic device was also used to explain the options that academic teachers have to shape the curriculum, a curriculum that would reflect the experiences of the heterogeneity of the student cohort when designing their course guides, for example. The analysis thus used Archer’s (1995, 1996) Morphogenesis/Morphostasis framework through which change or non-change can be observed over time. The work of Bhaskar (1975, 1979) was important in this regard because it allows us to separate what we see, experience and understand (in the transitive world) from what is independent of our thoughts and experiences (the intransitive world) when conducting scientific enquiry, so that we are able to deduce the ‘real’ factors that enable and constrain the events and experiences being studied. Since there are multiple mechanisms operative that can act to include or exclude students in Science classrooms, particularly those who come from lower class, including those who come from rural areas, this study focuses on curriculum as one mechanism that can be at play in the problem of exclusion. In this study, I argue, the University and its structures like curriculum are not neutral but are historical, cultural, political and social, which is why persistent apartheid legacy and coloniality were seen as playing a role in how the curriculum is designed and thus enacted. This is the reason, a decolonial gaze was adopted in order to engage with social justice issues and in the process tease out the social relations of knowledge practices. A decolonial gaze provided a way to re-describe the structuring of the curriculum and the contradictions it sets up for black students, particularly those who come from lower class backgrounds, including those from rural areas. Findings reveal that the way in which the science curriculum (and/or teaching and learning) is structured, and thus enacted, tends to favour certain worldviews to the exclusion of others. Also, findings show that when students are presented with knowledge that seems completely separate from them, their identities, their heritage, their backgrounds and value systems, accessing that knowledge can seem inordinately difficult. Consequently, students from rural contexts are often alienated, because the “world” they bring and know is often not considered part of the starting point, neither is it seen as relevant when teaching the science curriculum. There is therefore a clear need to bring something ‘from home’ into our teaching as a means of reassuring students that all is not foreign and that what they already know is valuable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Madondo, Nkosinathi Emmanuel
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Science students -- South Africa , Rural college students -- South Africa , Science -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Curriculum change -- South Africa , Learning -- Evaluation , Social justice and education -- South Africa , Action research in education -- South Africa , Participant observation -- South Africa , Critical realism , Ethnoscience -- South Africa , Focus groups -- South Africa , Bernstein, Basil
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145758 , vital:38464
- Description: This study was designed to investigate the experiences of Second Year Science students who come from rural backgrounds within a Higher Education context. The purpose of the study was to understand the enabling and/or constraining factors that influence the teaching and learning of Second Year Science students who come from rural contexts. Given this purpose, the participants that were considered relevant to answer the question: What are the enabling and constraining factors that influence teaching and learning of second year Science students who come from rural backgrounds at a South African University? were students from rural areas enrolled in the Faculty of Science at the research site, academic teachers and senior leaders’, and roles in providing enabling and/or constraining teaching and learning environment. The phenomenon under investigation was thus, the extent to which the teaching and learning environment, in the field of science, enable or constrain access to the Discourse of science for students who come from rural areas. To generate data, the study used focus group discussions, Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) tools as part of Participatory Action Research (PAR), digital documentaries, as well as academic teachers’ rich descriptions of the rationale for the design and delivery techniques of their modules by means of focus group interviews, as well as curriculum review documents. The purpose of Action Research (AR) in this study was to enable change by way of advancing a self-consciousness, envisaged to yield some action based on the enablements or constraints identified by the participants involved. Archer’s (1995, 1996) analytical dualism was used as the analytical framework to identify the interplay of structural, cultural and agential mechanisms shaping the emergence of, and practices associated with students’ experiences of the science curriculum and academic teachers’ observations of these experiences. Bernstein’s pedagogic device was also used to explain the options that academic teachers have to shape the curriculum, a curriculum that would reflect the experiences of the heterogeneity of the student cohort when designing their course guides, for example. The analysis thus used Archer’s (1995, 1996) Morphogenesis/Morphostasis framework through which change or non-change can be observed over time. The work of Bhaskar (1975, 1979) was important in this regard because it allows us to separate what we see, experience and understand (in the transitive world) from what is independent of our thoughts and experiences (the intransitive world) when conducting scientific enquiry, so that we are able to deduce the ‘real’ factors that enable and constrain the events and experiences being studied. Since there are multiple mechanisms operative that can act to include or exclude students in Science classrooms, particularly those who come from lower class, including those who come from rural areas, this study focuses on curriculum as one mechanism that can be at play in the problem of exclusion. In this study, I argue, the University and its structures like curriculum are not neutral but are historical, cultural, political and social, which is why persistent apartheid legacy and coloniality were seen as playing a role in how the curriculum is designed and thus enacted. This is the reason, a decolonial gaze was adopted in order to engage with social justice issues and in the process tease out the social relations of knowledge practices. A decolonial gaze provided a way to re-describe the structuring of the curriculum and the contradictions it sets up for black students, particularly those who come from lower class backgrounds, including those from rural areas. Findings reveal that the way in which the science curriculum (and/or teaching and learning) is structured, and thus enacted, tends to favour certain worldviews to the exclusion of others. Also, findings show that when students are presented with knowledge that seems completely separate from them, their identities, their heritage, their backgrounds and value systems, accessing that knowledge can seem inordinately difficult. Consequently, students from rural contexts are often alienated, because the “world” they bring and know is often not considered part of the starting point, neither is it seen as relevant when teaching the science curriculum. There is therefore a clear need to bring something ‘from home’ into our teaching as a means of reassuring students that all is not foreign and that what they already know is valuable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Understanding climate change and rural livelihoods in Zimbabwe: adaptation by communal farmers in Ngundu, Chivi District
- Authors: Nciizah, Elinah
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Agriculture -- Zimbabwe , Agriculture -- Climatic factors -- Chivi District (Zimbabwe) , Chivi District (Zimbabwe) -- Rural conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118765 , vital:34666
- Description: Climate change and variability is a global phenomenon which has deeply localised patterns, dynamics and effects. Amongst those people who are particularly vulnerable to climate change effects are small-scale farmers who are dependent in large part on rain-fed agriculture in pursuing their livelihoods. This is true of small-scale farmers in contemporary Zimbabwe and, more specifically, farmers in communal areas. At the same time, at international and national levels, there are attempts currently to minimise the effects of, and to adapt to, climate change. However, adaptation measures also exist at local levels amongst small-scale farmers, such as communal farmers in Zimbabwe. In this context, as its main objective, this thesis examines climate change and small-scale farmer livelihood adaptation to climate change with specific reference to communal farmers in Chivi District in Zimbabwe and, in particular, in Ward 25 which is popularly known as Ngundu. In pursuing this main objective, a number of subsidiary objectives are addressed, including a focus on the established livelihoods of Ngundu farmers, the perceptions and concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change, the coping and adaptation measures of Ngundu farmers, and the enablements and constraints which affect attempts by Ngundu farmers to adopt such measures. The fieldwork for the thesis involved a diverse array of research methods, such as a questionnaire survey, life-history interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and transect walks. In terms of theoretical framing, the thesis makes use of both middle-level theory (the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework) and macro-theory in the form of the sociological work of Margaret Archer. Combined, these two theories allow for a focus on both structure and agency when seeking to understand livelihood adaptations to climate change by communal farmers in Ngundu. The thesis concludes that there are massive constraints inhibiting adaptation measures by Ngundu farmers, but that this should not distract from the deep, often historically-embedded, concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change and the multiple ways in which they express agency in and through adaptation and coping activities. It also highlights the need for more specifically sociological investigations of climate change and small-scale farmer adaptation, as well as the need for localised studies which are able to identify and analyse the specificities of adaptation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nciizah, Elinah
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Agriculture -- Zimbabwe , Agriculture -- Climatic factors -- Chivi District (Zimbabwe) , Chivi District (Zimbabwe) -- Rural conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118765 , vital:34666
- Description: Climate change and variability is a global phenomenon which has deeply localised patterns, dynamics and effects. Amongst those people who are particularly vulnerable to climate change effects are small-scale farmers who are dependent in large part on rain-fed agriculture in pursuing their livelihoods. This is true of small-scale farmers in contemporary Zimbabwe and, more specifically, farmers in communal areas. At the same time, at international and national levels, there are attempts currently to minimise the effects of, and to adapt to, climate change. However, adaptation measures also exist at local levels amongst small-scale farmers, such as communal farmers in Zimbabwe. In this context, as its main objective, this thesis examines climate change and small-scale farmer livelihood adaptation to climate change with specific reference to communal farmers in Chivi District in Zimbabwe and, in particular, in Ward 25 which is popularly known as Ngundu. In pursuing this main objective, a number of subsidiary objectives are addressed, including a focus on the established livelihoods of Ngundu farmers, the perceptions and concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change, the coping and adaptation measures of Ngundu farmers, and the enablements and constraints which affect attempts by Ngundu farmers to adopt such measures. The fieldwork for the thesis involved a diverse array of research methods, such as a questionnaire survey, life-history interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and transect walks. In terms of theoretical framing, the thesis makes use of both middle-level theory (the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework) and macro-theory in the form of the sociological work of Margaret Archer. Combined, these two theories allow for a focus on both structure and agency when seeking to understand livelihood adaptations to climate change by communal farmers in Ngundu. The thesis concludes that there are massive constraints inhibiting adaptation measures by Ngundu farmers, but that this should not distract from the deep, often historically-embedded, concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change and the multiple ways in which they express agency in and through adaptation and coping activities. It also highlights the need for more specifically sociological investigations of climate change and small-scale farmer adaptation, as well as the need for localised studies which are able to identify and analyse the specificities of adaptation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
African middle class elite
- Authors: Nyquist, Thomas E
- Date: 1983
- Subjects: Black people -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Social conditions Social classes -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Black people -- South Africa -- Social conditions Black people -- South Africa -- Grahamstown -- Social conditions Grahamstown African Rugby Union Middle class -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Book , Text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/2780 , vital:20325 , ISBN 0868100412
- Description: In this time of crucial change for all of Southern Africa - as the former colonies of Portugal struggle to become viable states, as Rhodesia totters on the brink of political change, and as South Africa girds itself for an uncertain future - the question is: “What of the potential African leaders in South Africa?” We hear of the Bantustans and their thrust forward, but what of those Africans of ability living in the urban areas whose counterparts have provided much of the leadership in other African countries? Who are they? What are their circumstances? What are they thinking? And what are they doing? The goal of this study is to suggest tentative answers through the careful and detailed study of a specific community and its potential leaders, the upper stratum. Such answers can only be approximate, of course. Community circumstances differ. Moreover, the explosive events in Soweto and elsewhere in South Africa during 1976 have altered reality, and our study was carried out during 1966-7 and 1975. The locus of research has been Grahamstown and, most particularly, the African community attached to it (see Maps 1 and 2). Situated in the eastern region of the Cape Province, Grahamstown is a city of regional importance, best known as the centre of the first large English settlement1. Arguments about its suitability for research of this nature are detailed in Appendix A, but from the researcher’s perspective its African population of 35 000+ gives it more than local significance while still being small enough to allow a thorough study. In addition, the community’s depth of contact with Europeans going back to the 1830’s, and the general importance of Grahamstown as an educational centre, imply a more sophisticated population than its size might otherwise indicate. Further, the community's nearness to the African Bantustan of the Ciskei, one of nine such “homelands” for Africans, and to the African university at Fort Hare, add to its significance. The primary group under study has been the upper stratum of the African community, as defined by the Africans themselves. From the research has evolved a series of propositions. They relate, first, to the composition of the African upper stratum and the role of its members in their own community, and, second, to the way in which their marginal position within South Africa contributes to particular attitudes and social behaviour often detrimental to the achievement of a better community. (For a discussion of the research techniques used, see Appendix B.) , Digitised by Rhodes University Library on behalf of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER)
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1983
- Authors: Nyquist, Thomas E
- Date: 1983
- Subjects: Black people -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Social conditions Social classes -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Black people -- South Africa -- Social conditions Black people -- South Africa -- Grahamstown -- Social conditions Grahamstown African Rugby Union Middle class -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Book , Text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/2780 , vital:20325 , ISBN 0868100412
- Description: In this time of crucial change for all of Southern Africa - as the former colonies of Portugal struggle to become viable states, as Rhodesia totters on the brink of political change, and as South Africa girds itself for an uncertain future - the question is: “What of the potential African leaders in South Africa?” We hear of the Bantustans and their thrust forward, but what of those Africans of ability living in the urban areas whose counterparts have provided much of the leadership in other African countries? Who are they? What are their circumstances? What are they thinking? And what are they doing? The goal of this study is to suggest tentative answers through the careful and detailed study of a specific community and its potential leaders, the upper stratum. Such answers can only be approximate, of course. Community circumstances differ. Moreover, the explosive events in Soweto and elsewhere in South Africa during 1976 have altered reality, and our study was carried out during 1966-7 and 1975. The locus of research has been Grahamstown and, most particularly, the African community attached to it (see Maps 1 and 2). Situated in the eastern region of the Cape Province, Grahamstown is a city of regional importance, best known as the centre of the first large English settlement1. Arguments about its suitability for research of this nature are detailed in Appendix A, but from the researcher’s perspective its African population of 35 000+ gives it more than local significance while still being small enough to allow a thorough study. In addition, the community’s depth of contact with Europeans going back to the 1830’s, and the general importance of Grahamstown as an educational centre, imply a more sophisticated population than its size might otherwise indicate. Further, the community's nearness to the African Bantustan of the Ciskei, one of nine such “homelands” for Africans, and to the African university at Fort Hare, add to its significance. The primary group under study has been the upper stratum of the African community, as defined by the Africans themselves. From the research has evolved a series of propositions. They relate, first, to the composition of the African upper stratum and the role of its members in their own community, and, second, to the way in which their marginal position within South Africa contributes to particular attitudes and social behaviour often detrimental to the achievement of a better community. (For a discussion of the research techniques used, see Appendix B.) , Digitised by Rhodes University Library on behalf of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER)
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1983
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