This study was conducted in Gauteng Province and Tshwane North District. The study explored the poor performance of learners in Mathematics in the early grades. Learners’ performance is dependent on teacher input in class. Learners’ Mathematics performance is also influenced by various aspects contributing towards development such as nutrition, parental literacy which includes teachers’ knowledge of content and language in the subject taught. The poor Mathematics performance is exacerbated by lack of visual perceptual skills as the basis for learning. This study sought to investigate whether early grade teachers met this requirement. The proposed research investigated the teaching of number sense in the early grades. The research was informed by daily experience as subject advisor. The study was informed by theories of both Vygotsky and Piaget. Teaching in the Foundation Phase is mainly through group work and play and therefore this theory is appropriate. The primary research question for this study was as follows: How do teachers experience teaching number sense in the Foundation Phase? Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and observation. Purposive sampling was used to select participants for this study. Teachers from Grades 1-3 were interviewed and it was found that many lacked content knowledge and different strategies to teach number sense. Furthermore, teachers indicated that there was minimal support from HODs and subject advisors. They agreed that they needed more capacity building workshops to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of teaching number sense. The study revealed that teachers teach Mathematics in Foundation Phase without the relevant qualification. Due to the lack of knowledge and understanding of the Foundation Phase content, strategies and methods of teaching, teachers experienced challenges mainly in teaching number sense in the early grades. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Early Childhood Education / MEd / Unrestricted

The Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 was the start of the increasing tensions inthe Baltic sea. According to the Swedish government, the threats against the Nordic-Baltic countries have increased and this study will examine the Swedishgovernment’s security measures during the period of 2014 - 2020. Our methodselection is based on a qualitative text analysis. To review Sweden’s arrangements,we will analyse one proposition from a theoretical framework that is constituted ofthe Constructivism theory and the Securitization theory. The conclusion of the studyis that the Swedish government looks at the situation in the Baltic sea as amultidimensional security process. In order to protect the Swedish territory, thecountry must expand and strengthen both its national and international militarypower.

Abstract / Multinational corporations have played a significant role for e-learning systems’ penetration in Africa. This study sought to explore how e-learning systems are accepted and used by a multinational corporation in Africa. The multinational company focuses in building materials and construction. The qualitative research approach utilizing the exploratory and analytical case study design was employed in this study. The research participants comprised of managers who are employees of a multinational corporation, and they were purposively sampled from Middle East Africa region. Research instruments used were interviews guide and questionnaires on e-learning and its use by a multinational corporation operating in Africa. The results revealed that e-learning systems play a pivotal role in transforming education in Africa. The study also found that for a prosperous e-learning strategy in Africa, there is requisite for leadership transformation, team building, and easy access to information. In addition, there is also a need for commercial transformation, and understanding of company goals, induction of new members, and promotion of a learning culture, collaboration, and guidance. Finally, the study considered the various e-learning systems application challenges in Africa. These were found to range from the lack of technological awareness by learners, lack of time by the working class, poor connectivity, high setup costs, language barriers, as well as the lack of customised gadgets for e-learning. / School of Computing / M.Sc. (Computing)

In this thesis, I draw attention to patterns at the intersection of (a) interpretations of science in two journals (Philosophy of Science, and Social Studies of Science) and (b) references to Wittgenstein's writings. Interpretations of science can be classed according to the degree to which they support a realist or social constructivist understanding of the entities described by current scientific theories. By tracing the intellectual traditions from which these interpretations emerged, I develop an abstracted classification of these positions. Since this classification does not meaningfully map onto the positions articulated by the writers sampled here (which is telling about intellectual histories generally), I develop a new, more promising scheme of classification. I find that Wittgenstein is appropriated more often in support of social constructivist views of science, but that reasons for this support are generally weak. Using a novel measure of content which I call "appeal-to-authority," I show that there is a significant difference between these journals in their use of Wittgenstein's writings. But there is a subtle methodological argument at work here as well. I show that methods of analysis which rely exclusively on intellectual histories, bibliometrics, and globablizing statements about the products of science suffer serious limitations. In short, this thesis reflexively shows that the methods upon which it is based allow room for considerable bias and manipulation, and thereby implicates many bodies of work built upon these methods. / Master of Science

The study of European integration has increasingly become an important topic for IR-scholars and has developed into a field of its own. Scholarly interest in the role of identities in these regional integration processes has also risen over the last decades. This study can be comprised within this line of study. By using social constructivism as a theoretical framework, the paper seeks to understand the role of national and European identities in the case of Brexit. The paper also looks at identity formations of citizens and their attitudes towards European integration in relation with these identities. Although the UK has always stood on the sidelines of the European project, the results of the vote indicate that there are deeper processes that need to be studied. By using qualitative content analysis, the paper looks at framings in two national British newspapers and by two political leaders. The paper comes to the conclusion that these identities are both portrayed as compatible and competing with each other.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how identity construction is expressed in contemporary Norwegian literature written by the offspring of migrants, and thus contribute to the existing body of research on identity construction in academic literature. This is done by exploring which processes are important in the process of identity construction and through the application of a theoretical framework. The framework both makes use of the concepts of ‘othering’, identity, ethnicity, and ‘culture’, as well as it raises a discussion of how intersectionality theory functions as a broader analytical frame in this study.The analysis examines how identity construction is seen in two anthology books, making use of textual analysis supported by the theoretical framework. What the analysis shows is that ‘othering’, the grouping of ‘us’ and ‘them’, as well as ethnicity play a large role in howidentities are constructed. The empirical material provides us with a representation of theseidentity constructions, and leads to a debate on whether the processes of ‘othering’ and social categorisation work in one way only, or if it is a more complex process – as well as what this ‘othering’ might lead to concerning the question of finding belonging or community in being ‘other’.

The decision to apply for Swedish membership in NATO in May 2022 demonstrates a major shift in security policy, as it means leaving the tradition of non-alignment. Three factors make this event interesting to explore further. 1) The decision was conducted under rapid circumstances and, 2) two of the larger political parties, the Social democratic party and the Sweden democrats, changed their traditional viewpoint on keeping non-alignment and instead argue for NATO-membership. 3) The decision was isolated from debates and referendum, which means a lack of transparency to the citizens. The research problem is focused on how this rapid decision officially was legitimized, and the aim of the research is thus analysing how the discourse on NATO-membership was constructed and prompted by the political actors who changed their policy. Leaning on theories on how attitudes, worldviews and security are constructed, this report analyses both the political actors’ communication process as well as how they displayed their attitudes and interpretations of the security context. Methodologically, Political discourse analysis (PDA) was applied on speeches and statements in order to deconstruct arguments, and as a complement, statistics were analysed to view public opinion. The findings display that the political actors mostly used descriptive arguments to rationalise the decision to apply for membership in NATO. In addition, the political parties used arguments associated with “fear” and “danger”. Emotional arguments that connoted “national love” were integrated in the Social democratic party´s speech to the citizens. In contrast, the Sweden democrats offered few statements and short speeches. Similarities between the political actors were that the Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 is mirrored in the political actors’ interpretation of the security situation and the claim that Sweden needs the defence guarantees that follows with a membership in NATO. In conclusion, the findings suggest that the Swedish resistance to NATO-membership has turned to positive attitudes in a similar way in both politics and the “everyday life” of the citizens.

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The newly hired teachers at the Missionary Training Center are expected to learn to teach foreign language well enough to prepare students to communicate functionally in that language within 2-3 months. These teachers have very little to no language teaching experience and must tend to the responsibilities of this part-time job while juggling the demands of full-time school work and social lives. This report details the design and development of a prototype training program aimed to initiate young teachers into the culture of methods and tools employed at the MTC by walking them through the process of planning their first language lesson. The Missionary Training Center has a rich culture of language learning practices. While there are specific expectations related to language teaching espoused by MTC administration, there is also a strong community of language teachers who routinely adapt MTC methods and invent practices to best meet the needs of their students. This project is an attempt to balance the request to develop particular competencies with the need for new teachers to be assimilated into the community of language teachers. This is done by infusing an objective training program with constructivist values, including authentic activity, modeling, representing multiple perspectives, generating, and reflecting.

This paper seeks to present an interpretation of the swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheterto extract essential elements of realism and/or constructivism from articles about theinvasion of Ukraine. This is done by the use of ideal types of respective theory andisolating critical aspects of the decision making made by vital actors in the invasion ofUkraine. Due to the insurmountable amounts of documents regarding this event aperiod of 19 days, that stretches from the build-up of to the start of the war. Thisresulted in 12 articles that was subjected to analysis.The result concludes that the newspaper puts a lot of focus on Russia and Putin as anactor and aggressor which is followed by a surprising amount of realist elements thatpaints a threatening picture of the eastern actors during this time of conflict anduncertainty.