Intergenerational learning and environmental care: a case of a fishing community next to Africa’s first marine protected area
- Authors: Cloete, Cindy-Lee
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Tsitsikamma Marine Protected Area (South Africa) , Covie (South Africa) , Intergenerational relations -- South Africa -- Covie , Intergenerational communication -- South Africa -- Covie , Fishing villages -- South Africa -- Covie , Sustainable fisheries -- South Africa -- Covie , Environmental education -- South Africa -- Covie
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7598 , vital:21277
- Description: This study explored the relationship between intergenerational learning and environmental care in the small fishing community of Covie, located next to the Tsitsikamma Marine Protected Area (TMPA) on the south-eastern coast of South Africa. Since Covie’s establishment as a woodcutter settlement in 1883, the community has depended on the marine and coastal environment such that their communal identity and basic means of subsistence are closely tied to their traditional fishing practices. Since its proclamation in 1964, the TMPA has undergone numerous policy changes, most notably the complete closure of the TMPA to fishing in 2001. Against this backdrop, the study sought to understand how intergenerational learning about fishing practices are mediated in Covie and the ways in which such learning processes constitute a sense of place and belonging for the Covie fishers, and to develop a sense of care for the natural environment. The study included 12 Covie community members of different generations and genders so as to be representative of the community (approximately 86 members). The research was informed by qualitative data generated through a focus group discussion with eight Covie community members, a mirror workshop with the same eight community members, eight semi-structured interviews, and five naturalistic observations of fishing practices. Data generation and analysis was informed by Etienne Wenger’s theory of Communities of Practice which was complemented by theoretical perspectives on intergenerational learning and attachment to place. This study found that the Covie fishers indeed operate as a community of practice who depend significantly on intergenerational learning processes to transfer knowledge, skills and values about fishing practices to younger generations. The 2001 policy changes that denied the Covie fishers access to their traditional fishing sites were shown to reduce the participation in fishing of a range of community members (in particular children and women), which in turn influenced forms of intergenerational learning about fishing. The youth’s reduced participation especially was linked to more protracted and fragmented processes of learning about fishing and Covie’s code of fishing conduct, including its underpinning sense of environmental care. Finally, this study argues that the affective and socio-material connections to their natural surroundings have shaped the Covie community’s sense of care and responsibility toward the environment.
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Investigating how Grade 10 Physical Science teachers help learners to make sense of concepts of electromagnetism using easily accessible materials in under-resourced schools
- Authors: Samuel, Paulo
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/8143 , vital:21359
- Description: This study sought to explore teachers’ perceptions and experiences of using easily accessible materials and how they might collaboratively develop learning and teaching support materials using easily accessible materials. The study explored three aspects. Firstly, the views, experiences and factors which influence grade 10 Physical Science teachers’ perceptions and experiences of teaching the topic of electromagnetism. Secondly, to find out what teachers can do to improve teaching and learning of electromagnetism in grade 10 Physical Science using easily accessible materials. Thirdly, to look at what enables or constrains grade 10 Physical Science teachers in under-resourced schools when dealing with electromagnetism, from using easily accessible materials. A qualitative method approach was adopted, underpinned by an interpretive paradigm but using some quantitative methods as well. Within the interpretive paradigm a case study approach was used. The study was carried out in Swakopmund and Gobabis education circuits of the Erongo and Omaheke Regions respectively. Data were collected using questionnaires, lesson observations and stimulated-recall interviews. The data obtained were validated in two ways, firstly, by triangulation from different data gathering techniques, and secondly, validation was done by member checking of the transcripts. To make meaning from the data generated, Vygotsky’s (1978) socio-cultural theory was used as a lens to analyse the data. The quantitative data generated were presented in figures, tables; whereas the qualitative data were coded inductively into descriptive texts to make meaning. It was found that teachers’s perceptions and experiences are that the topic of electromagnetism is quite challenging. Teachers reported that their learners find it difficult to comprehend phenomena associated with electromagnetism, thus making it difficult for their learners to grasp concepts associated with it. Lack of resources to do practical activities in the topic of electromagnetism was found to be a major contributing factor to teaching and learning of this topic. The use of easily accessible materials among teachers was found to be very limited. Easily accessible locally sourced materials were found to have the potential to enable grade 10 Physical Science teachers to help learners to make sense of concepts of electromagnetism in under-resourced schools. In light of the above findings, the study recommends that science teachers should make use of easily accessible materials which can minimise their dependence on standard laboratory equipment which is unaffordable anyway by most schools.
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Investigating teachers’ pedagogic practices of argumentative essay: a qualitative case study of two Grade 11 classrooms in the Oshikoto Region, Namibia
- Authors: Kanyama, Victoria Magano
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Persuasion (Rhetoric) -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Namibia , English language -- Rhetoric -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Namibia , English language -- Writing -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/8132 , vital:21358
- Description: Argumentative writing in Namibian schools has been a challenge over the years as Grade 11-12 English Second Language (ESL) learners perform poorly when compared to other writing that is stipulated in the curriculum. In most instances learners do not satisfy the structural and rhetorical features of this genre. English teachers are, therefore, expected to ensure that argumentative writing is adequately developed in order for the learners’ writing to be up to the required standard. Studies carried out in Namibia by Nghikembua (2013) and Nyathi (2009) indicated that learners perform poorly in writing. The examiners’ reports of 2011-2014 pointed to lack of teachers’ guidance as one of the factors contributing to poor performance. It was for this reason that this study aimed to investigate teachers’ pedagogic approaches when teaching argumentative essay both on Higher and Ordinary Level in Oshikoto region, Namibia. An interpretive qualitative case study was used in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the teachers’ pedagogic approaches and how it affects their learners’ argumentative essay writing. The theoretical framework was informed by the Genre theorist, Gibbons (2002), who focuses on the Curriculum Cycle and Hyland’s (1990) model. Two Grade 11 English teachers were purposefully and conveniently sampled. One of the teachers is from a government school while the other from a private school. Data were collected from interviews, videoed writing lessons (3 per teacher), and learners’ written essays. Data analysis revealed that both teachers have a sound understanding about argumentative writing, but their classroom practices did not sufficiently assist the learners to grasp the argumentative writing conventions. Their classroom practices were not adaptive enough when giving feedback to the learners, and they did not adhere to the four steps of Gibbons’ (2002) Curriculum Cycle. Also, the process to writing (brainstorming, drafting, and revising) was also not incorporated into their teaching. These meant that the Namibian curriculum specifications are not met which deprives the learners of the needed practice scaffolding and explicit teaching into competent independent writers. A recommendation of this study is that there is a need for the teachers to be exposed to a mixed process/genre approach as advocated by the Namibian curriculum.
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Investigating the interplay between Grade 9 learners’ home visual literacy and their development of school visual literacy in English First Additional language classrooms
- Authors: Mnyanda, Lutho
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Visual literacy , Digital literacy , Action theory , Culturally relevant pedagogy , English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers -- Case studies , English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/50191 , vital:25966
- Description: Visual literacy is one of the critical aspects that English First Additional Language teachers and learners battle with. The focus of this investigation was on developing learners’ performance in visual literacy and helping teachers improve teaching practice. This thesis reports on efforts in developing critical visual literacy in two Grade 9 classrooms; a rural and a township school in the King William’s Town District in the Eastern Cape. The research spread over four week, spending two weeks at each school as an ethnographic researcher, being assimilated to the culture of the each school. In understanding the kind of visual knowledge that these learners brought from home between the rural-urban divide, the learners displayed an interest in visual literacy, used the necessary language and appeared to design certain visual materials around the school. Data was collected in the form of questionnaires that learners filled, informal Facebook conversation screenshots, as well as the researcher’s field notes. Learner focus group discussions were conducted, tape recorded and transcribed. Two lessons each were observed with the two teachers, and these were recorded and transcribed. A camera was used to take shots in the classroom to show the interaction between the teachers and the learners. Also, semi-structured interviews were held with each teacher and these were recorded and transcribed. The data revealed that there were no major differences between rural and urban school learners. However, the research has provided a valuable insight into the mismatch between home visual literacy practices and school visual literacy teaching. The learners’ digital visual literacy practices were far ahead than those of the teachers who are not able to capitalise on these visual skills; the cultural capital that learners bring to school. Learners also displayed a low reading culture but the medium for reading has shifted considerably and learners developed communication skills through digital technology. Teacher agency in the classroom revealed that teachers need to first engage with the cognitive functions of the visual images that they teach by the prevalence of low level questions that they ask. Moreover, there is a place for translanguaging in visual literacy lessons. These indicate important areas for teacher development to promote the emergence of transformative agency.
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Investigating the use of models to develop Grade 8 learners’ conceptual understanding of and procedural fluency with fractions
- Authors: Albin, Simon
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Fractions -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Namibia , Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Namibia , Information visualization , Visual learning -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/36288 , vital:24537
- Description: Both my teaching experience and literature of this research study strongly suggested that fractions are difficult to teach and learn across the globe generally, and Namibia in particular. One of the identified contributing factors was teaching fractions by focusing on procedures and not the conceptual understanding. Therefore, this research project developed and implemented an intervention in order to experiment and suggest an alternative teaching approach of fractions using models. The purpose of this research was to: “Investigate the use of models to develop Grade 8 learners’ conceptual understanding of and procedural fluency with fractions”. This investigation had three areas of focus. Firstly, the study investigated the nature of learners’ conceptual understanding of and procedural fluency with fractions before the teaching intervention, by means of administering a pre-test and pre-interview and analysing learners’ responses. Secondly, the study investigated the changes in learners’ conceptual understanding of and procedural fluency with fractions after the teaching intervention, by means of administering a post-test, post-interviews and recall interviews, and analysing learners’ responses. Thirdly, this study investigated the possible influence of the teaching intervention on the changes in learners’ conceptual understanding of and procedural fluency with fractions by analysing the lesson videos and learners’ worksheets, and describe their critical interaction. This study was conducted at a multicultural urban secondary school located in the Oshikoto Region, Namibia. The sample consisted of 12 Grade 8 mathematics learners whose age ranged from 13-16 years old. A purposive sampling method was employed to select both the research site and participants. This research is framed as a case study, and is grounded within the interpretive paradigm and qualitative research. This research revealed that these learners displayed conceptual and procedural difficulties in their engagement with fraction models and fraction symbols, before the teaching intervention. Conceptually, the study found that these learners read fractions using inappropriate names; and learners did not identify the whole unit in the models and therefore identified fractions represented by the fraction models using different forms of inappropriate fraction symbols. Procedurally, the study found that these learners compared and ordered fractions inappropriately using the sizes of the numerators and denominators separately; and learners used the lowest common denominator method inappropriately for adding fractions with different denominators. The research also suggested conceptual and procedural changes in learners’ conceptual understanding of and procedural fluency with fractions and that the intervention seemed to help learners to engage better with fraction models and fraction symbols. Conceptually, the findings suggested that the intervention using area models and number lines, seemed to help these learners to read fractions using appropriate names; to identify the whole unit in the fraction models and to develop a sense of the size of fractions in relation to one whole unit. Procedurally, the learners compared and ordered fractions appropriately using either equal fraction bars, equal number lines, benchmarking or rules for comparing and ordering fractions with the same numerator or denominator; and learners used equal fraction bars to visually represent the lowest common denominator method and to recognise that only equally sized units can be counted together. This research identified four factors as possible influences of the teaching intervention. These factors are namely: identifying both fraction symbols and appropriate fraction names to see fractions as relational numbers; prompting to partition whole units of the fraction models and graphically illustrating fraction symbols to identify the whole unit in the fraction models and to develop a sense of the size of fractions in relation to one whole unit; graphically illustrating fraction symbols using the models to use equal fraction bars and number lines, benchmarking and rules for comparing; and graphically illustrating fraction denominations using equal fraction bars to recognise that only equally sized units can be counted together. This research strongly suggests that the effective use of models has the potential to develop learners’ conceptual understanding of and procedural fluency with fractions in a number of ways.
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Language and literacy development for a Grade 10 English first additional language classroom: a reading to learn case study
- Authors: Mataka, Tawanda Wallace
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: English language -- Study and teching (Secondary) -- South Africa Reading -- Study and teching (Secondary) -- South Africa Literacy -- Study and teching (Secondary) -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/249 , vital:19941
- Description: The problem of poor reading skills is a serious one in South Africa, with negative implications for learners’ educational achievement. The failure of learners to read at age- and grade-appropriate levels presents a major challenge to the teaching of reading in South African schools. It is against this background that this study aimed at ascertaining the positive impact of the Reading to Learn methodology in improving the literacy levels of learners in a Grade 10 English First Additional Language classroom in a township school. Reading ability levels were established via a passage extracted from a Grade Platinum English First Additional Learner’s book. Pronunciation and word recognition formed the basis of the reading assessment. Reading translates into writing, so the learners were also assessed in comprehension and creative writing. The results indicated that the learners’ reading abilities were weak, the methodology used to teach reading led to research findings that caused the study to yield findings that suggest that RtL may be the solution to reading problems in the classroom. In addition the study revealed that the ability to read corresponds with cognitive development. The study therefore calls for the adoption of RtL to assist in alleviating reading problems in the classroom.
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Leadership development in a Representative Council of Learners (RCL) in a secondary school in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Strydom, Monica Petro
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/43054 , vital:25261
- Description: The purpose of this study was to answer two main research questions: How is leadership promoted on a Representative Council of Learners (RCL) and What leadership roles do learners on the council play in schools? Recent research suggests that although the democratisation of school governance has given all stakeholders a voice in how schools are being governed, it seems that learner voice is still largely silenced. Literature on this issue paints an uninspiring picture of learner under-involvement and marginalisation. In seeking underlying causes for this, this study is informed by notions of leadership for social justice. The study investigated the RCL at a public, fee-paying school in the Makana district of the Eastern Cape. By observing the daily functioning of the council, engaging with the learner leaders as well as teachers, parents and other role players, I developed a better understanding of the challenges the RCL faced as well as factors which promoted their role as learner leaders. This aided in answering the first key research question of how the RCL promotes leadership development. To answer the second key question, I needed to consider the perceptions of stakeholders concerned and how they saw the operation of the RCL. This study is situated in the interpretive research tradition and uses critical realism as its under-labourer. To support this study and to answer some of the aims of this research, Leontiev’s second generation Cultural Historical Activity Theory was used. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, questionnaires an observation and document analysis. Data analysis took the form of identifying themes which emerged from the data. These formed the basis of my discussion and I was thus able to address the main research questions. Data revealed that learner leaders in schools are mainly managers and not really leaders; that learners are still very much marginalised as leaders and that they subsequently do not have a lot of say when it comes to how their schools are governed. It further emerged that despite formal legislation and guidelines which are in place to allow for the democratic rights of learners’ opinions to be heard in schools, historical and cultural forces account for parents and other role players’reluctance to allow learners to have too much of a say. I trust that the findings from this research will strengthen learner leadership structures in schools and perhaps provide guidelines on how learner leadership could be developed and managed.
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Observing and evaluating creative mathematical reasoning through selected VITALmaths video clips and collaborative argumentation
- Authors: Kellen, Matthew Earl
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Mathematics Study and teaching (Secondary) South Africa Grahamstown , Mathematics Study and teaching (Secondary) Audio-visual aids , Reasoning , Mathematical ability
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6107 , vital:21032
- Description: Creative mathematical reasoning is a definition that the NCS policies allude to when they indicate the necessity for students to, “identify and solve problems and make decisions using critical and creative thinking.”(NCS, 2011: 9). Silver (1997) and Lithner (2008) focus on creativity of reasoning in terms of the flexibility, fluency and novelty in which one approaches a mathematical problem. Learners who can creatively select appropriate strategies that are mathematically founded, and justify their answers use creative mathematical reasoning. This research uses Visual Technology for the Autonomous Learning of Mathematics (VITALmaths) video clips that pose mathematics problems to stimulate articulated reasoning among small multi-age, multi-ability Grade 9 peer groups. Using VITALmaths clips that pose visual and open-ended task, set the stage for collaborative argumentation between peers. This study observes creative mathematical reasoning in two ways: Firstly by observing the interaction between peers in the process of arriving at an answer, and secondly by examining the end product of the peer group’s justification of their solution. (Ball & Bass, 2003) Six grade 8 and 9 learners from no-fee public schools in the township of Grahamstown, South Africa were selected for this case study. Participants were a mixed ability, mixed gendered, sample group from an after-school programme which focused on creating a space for autonomous learning. The six participants were split into two groups and audio and video recorded as they solved selected VITALmaths tasks and presented their evidence and solutions to the tasks. Audio and video recordings and written work were used to translate, transcribe, and code participant interactions according to a framework adapted from Krummheuer (2007) and Lithner (2008) and Silver (1997) and Toulmin (1954). This constituted the analysis of the process of creative mathematical reasoning. Group presentations of evidence and solutions to the VITALmaths tasks, were used in conjunction with an evaluation framework adapted from Lithner (2008) and Campos (2010). This was the product analysis of creative mathematical reasoning. This research found that there was significant evidence of creative mathematical reasoning in the process and product evaluation of group interactions and solutions. Process analysis showed that participants were very active, engaged, and creative in their participation, but struggled to integrate and implement ideas cohesively. Product analysis similarly showed that depth and concentration of strategies implemented are key to correct and exhaustive mathematically grounded solutions.
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Positioning 'the self': comparative case studies of first generation students' academic identities when home meets campus in a rapidly transforming higher education context
- Authors: Alcock, Andrea
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: First-generation college students -- South Africa , First-generation college students -- South Africa -- Case studies , Social perception -- South Africa , Educational equalization -- South Africa , College students -- South Africa -- Attitudes , College students, Black -- South Africa -- Attitudes , College students, Black -- South Africa -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6897 , vital:21198
- Description: This research offers an in-depth view of the self-positioning of a sample of seven first generation students in an extended curriculum programme for Arts and Design at the Durban University of Technology. This comparative case study aims to examine how these participants took up, held or resisted positions, during the transitional process of entering a university. The students' responses were elicited in order to explore the development of student academic identity in this stage of late adolescence. Using positioning theory as an analytical framework, a visual methodology was employed to generate data during photo-elicitation interviews. For these, participants were invited to take metaphorical and non-mimetic photographs, in response to the prompt "Take photographs that show you as a student at home and on campus". Themes that surfaced were examined using positioning theory where the storylines, speech acts and rights and duties form the apex points of the positioning triangle that acts as a framework to analyse the participants' narratives. The study revealed the ways in which participants positioned their home communities and thereby developed their own agency. The majority of the participants used their self-positioning in relation to these home communities to build their academic identities. It was evident in the data that certain role models and peers played a significant part in such self-positioning. The rural to urban migration described by some of the participants indicated that the transition students navigated as they developed their academic identities was profound. The university was often perceived in this process as a powerful structure which offered opportunities but could simultaneously be experienced as alienating. Financial challenges added to the complexity of this experience. The development of student academic identity was evident in positioning statements of the participants and, in some cases, a professional identity was revealed. The analysis indicated that the participants were able to use their self-positioning to overcome many of their challenges through the creation of agential power and resilience. Furthermore the emergence of academic identity seemed to give rise to a positive view of 'the self' in relation to the period of transition to university.
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Teachers’ use of situated learning approaches to teach environmental topics in Natural Science and Health Education: a multi-case study of two Namibian teachers
- Authors: Mamili, Joy Z
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Environmental education -- Namibia , Science -- Study and teaching -- Namibia -- Cast studies , Health education -- Namibia -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/40901 , vital:25037
- Description: This study focuses on the use of situated learning approaches in the teaching of environmental topics in Natural Science and Health Education (NSHED) and is the first of its kind in Namibia. Although situated learning approaches, as examples of learner-centred pedagogy, are advocated in national education policies, little empirical research has been conducted in Namibia into how situated learning approaches play out in classroom practice. Therefore, the goal of this study was to find out how NSHED teachers use situated learning approaches when teaching environmental topics. The study reviews the characteristics of situated learning theory and clarifies situated learning approaches as a form of learner-centred pedagogy which is actively promoted in the Namibian schooling system. The study commences with a contextual profile of the communities around the two selected schools. This describes the socio-economic and social-ecological context in which learners are taught about environmental topics. The profile also describes the under-performance of the schools in recent national assessments, especially in relation to environmental topics in NSHED. Drawing on data generated through document analysis, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations, the study concluded that: 1. NSHED teachers both knew about and wished to create an authentic context to enhance situated learning approaches. However, their understandings and applications of situated learning tended to be basic. 2. Teachers dominated the scaffolding process and their scaffolding strategies did not enable learners to increase independence in performing. 3. Despite the use of situated learning approaches, learners’ engagement with lesson content was superficial, and the teachers did little to encourage deeper reflections or critical thinking. 4. The teachers appeared to use situated learning approaches to clarify subject content but not to encourage broader environmental understanding, action-taking and change. Based on the research findings, the study recommends that situated learning approaches be integrated into pre- and in-service teacher training with the aim of enhancing teachers’ understanding regarding the use of situated learning approaches in the teaching of environmental topics in NSHED.
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The development and institutionalisation of knowledge and knowledge-sharing practices relating to the management of healthcare risk waste in a home-based care setting
- Authors: Masilela, Mapula Priscilla
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Medical wastes -- Management -- South Africa -- West Rand , Medical wastes -- Government policy -- South Africa -- West Rand , Environmental health -- South Africa -- West Rand , Environmental health -- Administration -- South Africa -- West Rand , Environmental health -- Government policy -- South Africa -- West Rand
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/13142 , vital:21807
- Description: Improperly managed healthcare risk waste is associated with environmental degradation due to its potential to pollute air, land and water; it also poses a public health threat due to risks to community members (adults and children) who may find themselves exposed to waste that has been disposed of improperly. Despite these obvious environmental health risks, there is little information or legislative guidance on how to effectively manage the healthcare risk waste generated by community health workers who move from house to house and do not operate out of a fixed clinic with formal waste management facilities. This poses a challenge for municipal environmental health practitioners who are mandated to ensure compliance and to monitor the management of healthcare risk waste by community home-based care facilities. This educational study looks at how the knowledge held by environmental health practitioners influences knowledge-sharing practices and management of healthcare risk waste by community health workers, and how these knowledge-sharing practices can be developed and institutionalised. The study takes an interventionist approach within the social constructionist tradition. Cultural- Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and expansive learning provide the theoretical and methodological framework to surface systemic tensions and contradictions affecting knowledgesharing and healthcare risk waste management practices. A series of Change Laboratory Workshops using the Developmental Work Research methodology enabled a twenty-seven month expansive learning process with selected municipal employees and community health workers in a small South African city. The study found that employees (such as environmental health practitioners and waste inspectors) working in municipal activity systems knew very little about the forms and functions of community home-based care facilities in their municipality. As such, their knowledge-sharing practices about the management of healthcare risk waste were restricted and generally unsystematic, which in turn contributed to inappropriate and often haphazard healthcare risk waste management practices by community health workers. As an interventionist project, the study concluded that the participatory, expansive learning process it initiated had built knowledge-sharing networks, enabled professional boundary crossing and potentially institutionalised better knowledge-sharing practices relevant to the effective management of healthcare risk waste.
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The use of an analogy in conjunction with a conventional practical activity to mediate Grade 11 learners’ sense making of Ohm’s law
- Authors: Ramasike, Lineo Florence
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Physical sciences -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa Ohm's law Academic achievement
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4558 , vital:20689
- Description: In most South African schools Grade 12 Physical Sciences learners are generally not performing well. As Examiners’ Reports reveal, they are particularly weak on the topic of electrical circuits. Because of this, the Examiners recommended that conventional practical activities and revision should be implemented to improve learners’ performance whilst they are in Grade 11. These factors contributed to the rationale of this study in using the ‘straw electricity’ analogy in conjunction with a conventional practical activity to mediate learners’ sense making of Ohm’s law. The study falls within the interpretive paradigm, whose focus is on the understanding of human world-views. Within the interpretive paradigm a qualitative case study approach was employed. It is a case study because it aimed to investigate a group of learners in a given context. This qualitative case study used purposive sampling to select participants. Various data gathering techniques were employed, namely, documents, observations and stimulated recall interviews. The gathered data was analysed so as to determine the indicators of how learners made sense of Ohm’s law. The findings of this study are that learners were able to construct new knowledge within a social context where the ‘straw electricity’ analogy, using easily accessible resources, was incorporated in tandem with a conventional practical classroom task. Moreover, the ‘straw electricity’ analogy enabled a better understanding of science concepts as it tested and supported different learning skills.
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Working for ecosystems: an account of how pathways of learning lead to SMME development in a municipal social-ecological programme within a green economy context
- Authors: Burger, Margaret Hendrieka Margo
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Working for Ecosystems (South Africa) , Small business -- South Africa , Environmental education -- South Africa -- Durban , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Durban
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7735 , vital:21291
- Description: Global climate change alters climatic zones to the extent that species invasion and, in particular, invasive alien plant growth, is regarded as one of the biggest threats to ecosystem functioning. Socio-ecological adaptive management practices have emerged from these threats as opportunities in developing countries where the immediacy of poverty relief acts as a political drawcard and potential for job creation. Local workers in the eThekwini Municipality’s ‘Working for Ecosystems’ biodiversity management programme (WFE) are emerging as micro-enterprise contractors (SMMEs). The transition from worker to entrepreneur has been part of the ethos and long-term planning of the Working for Ecosystems programme at a management level with a view to economic inclusion and realising long-term sustainable livelihoods. Evidence from narratives support claims of transformative outcomes. The findings of this study show that transformation is accessed at various levels: at a management level, at a well-established SMME level and from worker-to- SMME level. These show an “articulation of learning pathways and the connections that are made without a formally structured pathway of learning being in place” (Lotz-Sisitka & Ramsarup, 2013, p. 33). The routes followed to knowledge, practice and sustainability competences by participants in Working for Ecosystems are examined within the complex constellation of material- economic, social-political and cultural-discursive structures and are conceptualised as learning pathways. To fully appreciate the evolving and multidimensional nature of the emergence of SMME practice learning in the Working for Ecosystems programme, relational ontology as a perspective was introduced, with the intention of emphasising the relationship between practice, knowledge and context. Narrative enquiry and extensive data analysis was used as the method to examine workplace learning pathways. These workplace learning pathways can be enriched by more explicitly integrating observation of local and indigenous knowledge of biodiversity in everyday work and practice. However, intermittent contractual work causes disruption in learning pathways formation and results in a lack of stability in conflict with the aims of the programme’s objectives of building capacity and robustness. Findings show that skills development in terms of workplace learning with intersecting, diverse levels of participation and knowledge flow, is particularly important for learning pathways development in the field of invasive alien plant control where divergent values, norms and levels of practice are operational. Prior knowledge, of either indigenous plants or business functioning mechanisms, scaffolds SMME skills through relevance and connected learning in the two fields of practice pertaining to the Working for Ecosystems programme. Clarity of management roles and solidarity within management enhances SMME functioning and learning pathway development for all participants. The Expanded Public Works Programmes (such as Working for Ecosystems) are examined as an opportunity for acquisition of knowledge, competence and new skills development. A prime competence for sustainability understanding is interpersonal skills as these form an essential link with most other competences and as such should be foregrounded in training and learning pathway development. Site selection and time in the programme is a critical factor for expansive learning pathways and environmental stewardship development. Ultimately, in examining and reflecting on the Education for Sustainable Development and green economy potential, it is apparent that learning pathway development needs more support to realise the possibility of entrepreneurship and its political and social significance in terms of sustainable livelihoods. There is a need to recognise diversity, multiple ways of knowing and learning, in learning pathways development “to build joint capacity to cope with complex sustainability challenges” (Wiek, Withycombe, & Redman, 2011).
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An examination of teaching strategies for mediating the construction of environmental content knowledge: a case of Grade 11 Life Sciences teaching in two Eastern Cape schools
- Authors: Chitsiga, Christina
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/361 , vital:19953
- Description: In South Africa the new Curriculum Assessment and Policy Statement (CAPS) introduced a more strongly content referenced curriculum which has commitments to active and critical approaches to learning, and to environment and sustainability content. Successful implementation of CAPS requires that teachers attain the requisite knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge for working with environmental and sustainability content. The study examined teachers’ knowledge of environmental content as well as how teachers are mediating learning, through exploring the classroom techniques used by teachers working with environmental content. This was to examine how teachers are through their teaching bridging the gap in the understanding, investigation and application of environmental content in the curriculum. The study used a number of approaches from the field of environmental education which offer different lenses (or pedagogical sensitizing constructs) for viewing mediation processes as a relational process of knowledge construction. These pedagogical constructs were: knowledge co-construction where perspectives and understandings are shared in the process of social relations (deliberation); relating environmental content knowledge to cultural historical context (situated learning); relating environmental content knowledge to everyday and intergenerational knowledge through hands on experience (proximity experience) and developing an iterative relationship between environmental content knowledge and sustainability practices (practical reasoning). Practice theory as suggested by Schatzki (2005) and a theory of practice architectures elaborating on Schatzki’s practice theory (Kemmis & Heikkinen, 2011) was used as the ontological lens to help in understanding the mediation of environmental content knowledge. Practice theory was used for exploring pedagogical practice in terms of sayings, doings and relatings by teachers, and practice architectures that represent enabling or constraining factors of teachers practice. This research was an interpretive case study drawing on findings from lesson observations, semi structured interviews, stimulated recall interviews and document analysis. The research found that teachers used different strategies to enhance their environmental content and pedagogical content knowledge to present the mediation. Teachers are supporting situated learning and deliberation in environmental learning. Another finding was that teachers could be enabled to enhance proximity experiences and practical reason in their mediating approaches in environmental learning. The research further showed that teachers could benefit from teacher professional development programmes that explicitly develop pedagogical content knowledge to support critical deliberation, proximity encounters, situated learning and practical reasoning in order to work with the diverse complex places-based, socio-cultural-historical nature of environmental curriculum content in the context of sustainability practices. Findings also showed that there were constraining factors to mediation of environmental learning. These constraining factors from the research were firstly in material economic arrangements of timetable compliance in CAPS, ability to find internet resources and availability of resources. Secondly, present were constraining factors of socio-political arrangements of CAPS curriculum document prescriptiveness, multiculturalism, learning institution management and governance. Thirdly, cultural discursive arrangements of teacher learner language, knowledge of the language of the field affected mediation. Teachers passion for environmental content topics, the ability of teachers’ to improvise resources in mediating environmental content lessons and the ability of teachers’ to navigate a stringent CAPS timetable were found in this research to be enabling mediation. Recommendations from the research are ongoing teacher refresher workshops on the environmental content in the CAPS curriculum, teachers’ need more input on strategies to mediate environmental content, teachers’ prior knowledge of new knowledge can be used to strengthen teacher professional development processes, teachers’ prior knowledge needs to be deepened and reinforced, there is need to develop quality educational resources encompassing a variety of pedagogical sensitizing constructs and support needs to be given for familiarising teachers with teaching materials and their appropriate use . These could help to strengthen mediation of environmental content knowledge in the Grade 11 CAPS Life Sciences and inform South African teacher professional development programmes seeking to understand classroom practices in relation to environmental content.
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An exploration of learners’ autonomous learning of mathematics by using selected Visual Technology for the Autonomous Learning of Mathematics (VITALmaths) video clips: A case study
- Authors: Haywood, Thomas
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:2071 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021155
- Description: One of the major problems in the achievements of learners in mathematics is the difficulty they experience in performing tasks involving higher level thinking skills which are developed through autonomous learning behaviours (Karp, 1991). Thus, to engage meaningfully in high level mathematical tasks, one should be able to work independently (Karp, 1991). Teachers therefore should support learners in developing the skills that will afford them the opportunity to manage their own learning outside the sheltered surroundings of the classroom, when the teacher is no longer there for support (St. Louis, 2003). A study was undertaken with 11 Grade-10 learners to ascertain how their engagement with the VITALmaths video clips support and improve the learners’ understanding of the Pythagorean Theorem and the addition and subtraction of fractions autonomously. The VITALmaths database of video clips, which consists of short video clips (1 - 3 minutes long) was developed collaboratively by students and researchers at the School of Teacher Education at the University of Applied Sciences North-Western Switzerland and Rhodes University in South Africa (Linneweber-Lammerskitten, Schäfer & Samson, 2010). The video clips, which are freely available, can be downloaded on mobile phones. The study was structured into four different phases during which data was collected and analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. I specifically looked at the learners’ use of manipulatives during their learning of the Pythagorean Theorem and the addition and subtraction of fractions, whether there was a growth of a discourse-for-oneself and whether or not their engagement with the video clips enhanced the learners’ understanding of the Pythagorean Theorem and the addition and subtraction of fractions. While the theoretical framework provided a sound basis for researching autonomous learning, it required a considerable effort to determine whether the participants showed growth in terms of moving from a discourse-for-others to a discourse-for-oneself. The study revealed that the learners’ engagement with the VITALmaths video clip encouraged the use of manipulatives in their learning of the Pythagorean Theorem and the addition and subtraction of fractions. The majority of the learners involved in the study showed a growth of a discourse-for-oneself. A number of the learners showed an enhancement in their understanding of the Pythagorean Theorem and the knowledge involved in the addition and subtraction of fractions. The overall findings showed that mobile technology can easily be incorporated in the learners’ learning of mathematics. The VITALmaths video clips can play a significant role in the learners’ autonomous learning and understanding of certain mathematical concepts.
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An exploration of what Grade 7 Natural Science teachers know, believe and say about biodiversity and the teaching of biodiversity
- Authors: Isaacs, Dorelle
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/1309 , vital:20045
- Description: In the context of the newly implemented Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) for Natural Science, this study explores what Grade 7 Natural Science teachers know, believe and say about biodiversity and the teaching of biodiversity. Despite its significance to environmental sustainability, biodiversity loss is accelerating in South Africa and internationally, driven by unsustainable economic development models, population growth and associated problems of habitat loss and widespread pollution. Against the backdrop of these challenges, this study shares insights into how teachers’ biodiversity knowledge relates to the CAPS and to international agreements and policies on biodiversity. The study seeks to inform teacher education and support programmes and future curriculum implementation decisions, especially those associated with the Fundisa for Change programme. The study is designed as a qualitative case study inquiry that has used classroom observation, semistructured interviews and document (textbook) analysis to generate data. Theories of teacher cognition (after Shulman, 1987) were used to gain an understanding of teachers’ biodiversity knowledge. Different environmental and biodiversity metaphors and narratives were reviewed to gain an understanding of how teachers represented biodiversity and Kronlid & Öhman’s work on environmental ethics (2012) provided a framework for considering teachers’ values and ethical responses to biodiversity. The study found that the biodiversity knowledge of the teachers in these three case studies was mostly limited to what they access in the curriculum and textbooks. Secondly, there appears to be the assumption that if teachers teach from certain textbooks, they will meet the Specific Aims for Natural Science, as well as implement the process skills which are the ‘new’ knowledge according to the Senior Education Specialist. It was found that teachers’ close adherence to activities prescribed in the textbook seems to limit the depth, scope and criticality of their biodiversity teaching. The study also revealed that all three teachers expressed a pragmatic view of the value of biodiversity. The study recommends that the Natural Science CAPS as well as textbook authors should reflect a more systemic approach to biodiversity knowledge, recognising the interrelations and interdependence of the ecological systems that make up biodiversity – including relationships with humans – and convey a sense of the changeability of biodiversity. Natural Science teachers should be supported in broadening their understanding of biodiversity and biodiversity loss. They should be encouraged and supported to develop or adapt textbook material where necessary and develop learner activities that will encourage their learners to question, deliberate, look for cause and effect, and seek solutions. This may help to realise the final recommendation, that learners and teachers become citizen scientists who will access and contribute to the various biodiversity databases and so join scientists in generating biodiversity knowledge.
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An investigation into how Grade 10 Physical Sciences learners make sense of resultant vectors
- Authors: Motsilili, Tshepo Elliot
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/1407 , vital:20054
- Description: The focus of this study was on how Grade 10 Physical Sciences learners make sense of resultant vectors. During my experience over more than 10 years as a Science teacher in Matatiele in the Eastern Cape Province I found that Grade 10 Physical Sciences learners consistently struggled to work with resultant vectors. Many studies have shown that learners in similar contexts are generally not doing well in Science. An interpretive paradigm was used in this study, focusing on the individual or a specific group in a qualitative case study approach and a social constructivist perspective. The unit of analysis was on how Grade 10 Physical Sciences learners make sense of resultant vectors. A diagnostic test, observation and videotaped lessons, learners’ workbooks, summative test and stimulated recall interviews were used to gather data. The data were analysed inductively using a thematic approach and in relation to the main research question: How do Grade 10 Physical Sciences learners make sense of resultant vectors? The data were validated through watching the videotaped lessons with the teacher who had been observed teaching vectors. Also, transcripts of the interviews and a summary of discussions were given back to the teacher whose learners had been observed to verify the learners’ responses and check for any misconceptions. It was found that linking scientific concepts to learners’ prior knowledge enabled them to learn in a relaxed and non-threatening environment. In doing so, sense making of resultant vectors was possible. The study thus recommends that teachers should be supported in their endeavours to help learners make sense of scientific concepts during teaching and learning situations. Some language related challenges that were also encountered warrant further research.
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An investigation into how Grade 8 Natural Sciences learners make sense of chemical reactions during lessons involving familiar resources: a case study
- Authors: Mashozhera, Farasten
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/1374 , vital:20051
- Description: My experience of working with science learners for the past 25 years and witnessing their difficulty in comprehending chemical reactions motivated me to investigate how learners make sense of chemical reactions in lessons involving the use of familiar resources. Essentially, this study sought to gain insights into whether engaging learners during practical activities using familiar resources facilitated meaning-making of chemical reactions. There is not much literature on early high school learning of concepts linked to chemical reactions which opened the way for this research. This study was conducted at a public high school comprised of Grades 8-12 (FET band) in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is located within the interpretive paradigm. Within this paradigm, both quantitative and qualitative methods were conducted with a Grade 8 Natural Sciences class. Data sets were analysed in relation to the research questions. A variety of data gathering techniques were used, namely diagnostic and summative tests, worksheets and a semistructured interview with a focus group. Both inductive and deductive processes were applied during the data analysis process. The validation process was done through data analysis using mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative), checking transcriptions with the focus group and the use of a research participant. Learners in the focus group verified their responses, checking for any misrepresentations. The main finding of this study is that the use of practical activities, using familiar resources, facilitated learner engagement and meaningful learning. However, this study further revealed that some concepts associated with chemical reactions were challenging to learners. Similarly, that some prior everyday knowledge and experiences that learners bring to the science classroom impede sense-making in Natural Sciences. In addition, the language of learning and teaching (LoLT) and the language of science are other factors impeding sense-making of scientific concepts. It is thus recommended that teachers plan well in order to incorporate the use of practical activities using familiar resources during mediation of learning.
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An investigation into how participation in science expo projects influences grade 9 learners’ dispositions towards science learning: a case study
- Authors: Musekiwa, Beatrice K
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/1430 , vital:20056
- Description: There has been increasing participation of learners from disadvantaged backgrounds in competitive events like the Eskom Science Expo over the past few years. It is against this backdrop that this study sought to find out how some grade 9 learners’ participation in science expo projects influences their disposition towards science. In the context of this study, disposition refers to how learners view themselves in relation to science learning as a result of participating in science expos. The study is underpinned by an interpretative paradigm and I made use of a qualitative case study. My research participants were five grade 9 learners from two secondary schools in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. I used observations, semistructured interviews and learners’ journals for my data collection. To analyse the data I used the inductive approach where I made use of themes emerging from the data. The social learning theory described by Vygotsky (1978) is the guiding theory in the research with a focus on mediation of learning and the zone of proximal development (ZPD). The main findings from my study were that indeed participation in science expos does influence the disposition of learners towards science among the grade 9 learners. I also found an improved understanding of scientific concepts as the learners interacted with science in everyday and familiar contexts. Lastly, doing projects that are close to learners’ interests resulted in them enjoying doing science more. The learners’ science expo projects contribution to the Grahamstown community is of no small value, as has already been seen by the achievement of previous participants. The current group is already showing their impact and influence of the science–expo project involvement in terms of their performance in their classrooms and in their awareness of their role as young ‘scientists’. I therefore recommend that more learners be encouraged to take part in such projects as the science-expo projects not only improve learners’ understanding of the subject matter but also encourages a positive shift in their attitude towards science learning. It also enhances their understanding by allowing the young learners to interact with their environment to find solutions to problems that the community might be faced with, for example, water shortages and sustainable development initiations like gardening and the proper use of naturally acquired water resources.
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An investigation of participative management in a museum in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Madinda, Nozipho
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Museums -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Management , Management -- Employee participation , Albany Museum (Grahamstown, South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:2068 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020847
- Description: The purpose of my research was to investigate participative management at the Albany Museum with a view to generating knowledge and insights that can be used to support senior management’s engagement with participative management at mid-management level. My interest was to investigate participative management with regards to five HODs of the Albany Museum with a view to generating knowledge and insights that can be used to support senior management’s engagement with participative management at mid-management level. The research was informed by the interpretive paradigm. The interpretive paradigm does not concern itself with the search for broadly applicable laws and rules but rather seeks to produce descriptive analyses that emphasise deep interpretation and understanding of social phenomena through the meaning that the people assign to them. This study is mostly descriptive and presents the reality of participants from their own experience. Semi-structured interviews and observation capture ‘insider’ knowledge that is part of an interpretive methodology. The study found that participative management was both understood and generally accepted as a good way to manage an organisation, and even members who were critical of it could see its benefits. However, the fractured and diversified structure of the organisation calls for a particularly skillful application of this management approach, one which would also demand leadership and a greater sense of working towards what are called collegial models of management. Whether this is in fact desirable for a museum is debatable.
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