An investigation of learning and emerging knowledge in the Mpophomeni Sanitation Education Project, Howick, KwaZulu-Natal
- Authors: Boothway, Reinetta Louina
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa , Mpophomeni Sanitation Education Project (South Africa) , Water quality management -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Knowledge and learning
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115377 , vital:34121
- Description: This study took place within the broader context of water resources management in South Africa. With the democratisation of water stewardship through an enabling international and South African water policy landscape, an opportunity opened up for citizens to participate in the effective management of their own water resources. In this context, a community-engaged citizen science project known as the Mpophomeni Sanitation Education Project emerged to demonstrate how a diverse range of knowledge agents can work and learn together to better manage their water resources and address problems of sewage pollution threatening their provincial water source. The following study aimed to shed light on the learning and emerging knowledge in the MSEP. The study was conducted in three phases. Wenger’s Communities of Practice (CoP) theory provided a lens to look at Phase One, which aimed to answer the following sub-question: Is the MSEP a CoP? Wenger’s CoP theory also assisted with the investigation during Phase Two, which looked at the following question: What is the nature of learning in the MSEP? Social realist theories of knowledge and education, and Tàbara and Chabay with their Ideal Type (IT) worldviews, provided suitable lenses for Phase Three’s investigation of the following question: What is the nature of emerging knowledge in the MSEP? The main finding for Phase One is that the MSEP does function as a CoP. With its strong focus on relationships, it’s clearly defined joint enterprise of solving the problem of sewage pollution, individual and joint commitment to engage with the problem and the sharing of a repertoire of tools, ideas and practices it is cultivating a culture conducive to purposeful learning. Regarding the exploration of the nature of learning in Phase Two, findings confirming the engagement of identity with learning and the importance of context for meaning-making emerged. Finally, study findings about the nature of knowledge in the MSEP found that the knowledge practices in the MSEP that are both social and epistemic in nature are produced by a diverse range of knowledge agents in an open knowledge space.
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A case study of emergent environmental pedagogical content knowledge in a Fundisa for Change teacher professional development course
- Authors: Brundrit, Susan
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Career development -- South Africa , Environmental education -- South Africa , Teachers -- Training of --South Africa , Environmental education -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Fundisa for Change
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62850 , vital:28301
- Description: This study set out to explore and describe in the form of a qualitative case study, an iteration of a Fundisa for Change teacher professional development programme, in this case the Teaching Life & Living short course presented to seventeen teachers as part of their Advanced Certificate in Teaching (ACT) Senior Phase Natural Sciences, at the University of Cape Town. The focus of the research was on describing how the development of teacher environmental pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) was supported and constructed in the course. The Consensus Model of Teacher Professional Knowledge and Skill, an outcome of the 2012 PCK Summit, was used to define the concept of PCK and also contributed the concept of amplifiers and filters as processes that mediate the development of teacher PCK. The study drew on Borko’s (2004) model of a professional development system, using the elements of course, teachers, facilitators and context as an analytical framework. Data generated included a teacher contextual profile questionnaire, audio-recordings of group work, course outputs and reflection and evaluation forms. Data analysis had two phases: the first phase concentrated on the development of analytic memos based on particular data sources whereas the second phase worked across data sources to present the evidence relating to each of the professional development system elements. The study found that teachers were supported in the development of their environmental PCK by the collaborative learning opportunities afforded by the course. Emergent PCK was organised according to five components: assessment knowledge; pedagogical knowledge; content knowledge; knowledge of learners; and, curricular knowledge. Emergent teacher learning ranged in specificity from general, to subject-specific, to domain-specific, and lastly to topic-specific knowledge. Teacher beliefs and orientations, prior knowledge and contexts brought into the professional development system were described as amplifiers and filters to teacher learning of PCK. In particular there were several contextual factors that emerged as themes from the data that had potentially filtering effects. Recommendations included that facilitators create an atmosphere conducive to collaborative learning, that evidence of learner conceptual understanding be examined during the course, that teachers be exposed to in-depth examples of canonical PCK and that more modelling of formative assessment strategies are presented.
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An Investigation of the usage of teaching methods and assessment practices in environmental learning processes and emergent curriculum and sustainability competencies
- Authors: Mkhabela, Antonia T
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa , Environmental education -- Curricula -- South Africa , Life sciences -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7812 , vital:21301
- Description: This study explores the teaching and assessment practices used by teachers in environmental learning processes and emergent curriculum and sustainability competencies. The focus is the school subject Life Sciences in the Further Education and Training Phase. The study is based on four cases of teachers in schools in the Midlands area, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Lenses used to review the data included curriculum defined cognitive skills and cognitive levels to review the curriculum competencies and a systems approach to teaching and learning (Wiek, Withycombe, Redman & Mills, 2011) to review emergent sustainability competencies. This study employed qualitative methods, namely a questionnaire, stimulated recall interviews, observations (of lesson plan implementation in classrooms) and document analysis (detailing lesson plans, assessment tasks and learners’ work) to generate data. Analysis took place in four phases and included: a descriptive contextual analysis of factors influencing teaching and assessment practices; a descriptive analysis of teacher intentionality, topics, assessment planned and resources used; an analysis of emergent curriculum competencies in informal and formal assessment tasks; and, finally, a second layer of analysis describing emergent sustainability competencies in the environmental learning processes. Ethical considerations included permission for access, anonymity, participant rights and awareness of my role as cluster leader for the group of teachers involved. The study found that the nature of Life Sciences environmental topics and implementation influences the development of curriculum and sustainability competencies. Also, the choice of teaching methods influenced the emergence of particular curriculum and sustainability competencies. The findings also suggested that switching between isiZulu and English, unfamiliarity with action verbs, and the inconsistent use of higher order questions in classroom discussion, informal and formal assessment tasks might have affected success in the development of higher order thinking skills. Finally, the study revealed that environmental learning has the potential to support the development of integrated sustainability competencies. This study was driven by an interest in environmental content knowledge, teaching and assessment within the South African Fundisa for Change network of environmental educators. It is hoped that the study’s illustration of how consideration of curriculum and sustainability competencies can contribute to quality education practices in environmental learning, will be of use in this network.
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