Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Communication & Culture. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-106). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=1&did=1240699741&SrchMode=1&sid=10&Fmt=2&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1195151769&clientId=5220

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pennsylvania State University, 2007. / Vita: leaf [172]. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 160-167).

Thesis (M.A.)--Kent State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Mar. 26, 2010). Advisor: Masood Raja. Keywords: Rhizomatic; resistance; social transformation; pedagogy; radical; education; literature. Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-161).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-179).

Thesis ()--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Sociology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 329-354). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ99229

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Antioch University New England, 2006. / UMI Number: 3247520. Advisor: Heidi Watts. Includes bibliographical references (p. 345-357).

The focus of the research for this thesis is the development of critical pedagogy for a greater understanding of environment/development issues among sixth form A Level geography students. The thesis first considers the concept of sustainable development which can provide a framework for supporting the close integration of environment and development issues. Caution is necessary, however, given the various interests it serves and resulting contradictions inherent in proposed radical change within traditional economic, social and political structures. Within this context student perceptions of environment/development issues were investigated using phenomenography as a methodology. However, a critique of the methodology was necessary, given contradictions in accepting multiple realities of phenomena based on conceptualisation through experience while also seeking a limited number of categories of description of phenomena. Out of the action research undertaken, a curriculum module based on critical pedagogy (influenced by critical theory) was developed to encourage critical thinking by students on a case study example of an environment/development issue. The research shows that the students could perceive environment/development issues as complex inter-related phenomena, but only to a limited extent did it enable them to be confident in challenging systems which perpetuate or exacerbate some of the problems related to the issues.

Presentation. Critical Librarianship & Pedagogy Symposium, February 25-26, 2016, The University of Arizona. / Facilitated Roundtable Discussion Are critical assessment practices possible? Is the role of assessment fundamentally at odds with critical library pedagogy? Assessing both instructor performance and student learning can rationalize academic programs or services, demonstrate student learning, measure teacher performance accountability, or provide feedback on the efficacy of instruction. In today’s neoliberal higher education landscape this is often reflected through “value” and “return on investment.” Given the fraught purposes of assessment in higher education, what would critical assessment look like in practice? This roundtable will ask participants to discuss the tension and propose assessment methods that are congruent with a critical pedagogy perspective.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for Doctor of Philosophy, University of the Witwatersrand. / In South Africa, difficulties with learners solving word problems has been a recurrent problem identified through national standardised assessments extending from Foundation Phase into the Senior Phase. As is evident globally, particular difficulties have been identified with young children solving ‘compare-type problems’ where the numbers of objects in two disjoined sets are compared. This design experiment provides empirical data of young South African learners trying to make sense of compare-type problems. The task design from this design experiment suggested that engaging learners in narrative processes where they are expected to model the problem situations and then retell and vary the word problems, to become fluent in using the sematic schemata may assist them to become more experienced and better able to make sense of compare-type problems. This finding contradicts the advice offered in official South African government documentation. The study was a three-cycle classroom-based design experiment which took place over 10 consecutive school days with Foundation Phase learners in a full service township school where the majority of learners were English Language Learners (ELLs), learning mathematics in English when their home language has not English. This study set out to research a ‘narrative teaching approach’ for a specific mathematics topic: additive relation word problems. At the heart of the study therefore, was a question relating to the efficacy of a teaching strategy: To what extent do young children’s example space of additive relations expand to include compare type word problems? This design experiment reveals that when adequately supported with careful task design and effort in monitoring and responding to learner activity, Grade 2 ELL children in a township school can improve their additive relations problem solving, in a relatively short time frame. The majority of the learners in this design experiment were able to solve compare-type problems at the end of the 10-day intervention. These learners were also able to produce evidence of movements towards more structured representations, and towards better learner explanation and problem posing using storytelling. III The design experiment intervention showed promise in expanding young children’s example space for additive relations word problems. In both cycles the mean results improved from pre-test to post-test. The gains evident immediately after the intervention were retained in a delayed post-test administered for the third cycle which showed further improvements in the mean with a reduced standard deviation. The effect sizes of the shifts in means from pre-test to post-test was 0.7 (medium) in both cycles, while the effect size of shifts in the mean from pre-test to delayed post-test was 1.3 (large). T-tests established that these shifts in means were statistically significant. The core group showed the greatest learning gains, suggesting that the intervention was most successful in ‘raising the middle’ of the class. Particular patterns of children’s reasoning about additive relations word problems are documented from the South African ELL children in this design experiment. For example many ELLs in this design experiment initially responded to compare word problems like ‘Mahlodi has 12 sweets. Moeketsi has 8 sweets. How many more sweets does Mahlodi have than Moeketsi?’ with: ‘Mahlodi has 12 sweets’. New actions and contrasts relating to additive relations are brought into focus. For example the empirical results indicated that inserting attention to 1:1 matching actions was found to be useful to helping learners to deal with static compare situations. This study has helped to extend the theoretical foundations of what is meant by a ‘narrative approach’ as the theoretical features of the narrative approach are now situated within a broader theoretical framework of orienting theories, domain specific instructional theories, and related frameworks for action. The findings of this design experiment have been promising in the local context of the focal school. Should the intervention task design be found to yield similar results in other South African Foundation Phase contexts, when implemented by teachers other than the researcher, then it may be appropriate to use the research findings to improve the guidance provided to Foundation phase teachers (in curriculum documentation and through professional development offerings). / MT2017

Learner autonomy has been recognised as a desirable educational goal, especially within the domains of adult and higher education. Whereas this has led to a growing body of research addressing learner autonomy across different educational and cultural contexts, there are still contexts, including Kurdistan-Iraq (i.e. the context of this research), which have remained under-researched. On that account, researchers (e.g. Dickinson, 1996; Little, 1999; Palfreyman, 2003; Usuki, 2007) encourage examining learner autonomy within such settings. This research, therefore, was an attempt to understand the realities and complexities of the situation of learner autonomy within a public institution of higher education in Kurdistan-Iraq. To achieve that, this research included students, teachers and senior administrators as participants assuming that these are the major interacting parties that could influence and determine the overall situation of learner autonomy. This study adopted a qualitative case study design within which multiple methods of data collection were used. The data was obtained through classroom observations, focus groups with thirty-four students divided among six groups and interviews with six teachers and five senior administrators. The sample of students, teachers and senior administrators was drawn from five different academic disciplines, namely English, Kurdish, Law, Psychology and Biology across the four distinct existing faculties. The findings generally showed an unsatisfactory situation of learner autonomy within this specific context and there emerged multiple personal, pedagogical, institutional and socio-cultural constraints which altogether seemed to pose serious challenges to the exercise and development of learner autonomy. Apart from that, students turned out to be relatively more autonomous compared to their previous educational experiences and there appeared to be certain behaviours and practices not just among students as a manifestation of their autonomy but also on the part of teachers towards encouraging the sense of autonomy and responsibility among students. However, these autonomous and autonomy-supportive practices and behaviours seemed to be confined to ‘isolated individual efforts’ of some students and teachers which implies that no systematic institutional attempts were present to promote autonomy or at least to create a conducive environment within which autonomy could flourish or be exercised. The findings also indicated that the autonomous behaviours and autonomy-supportive practices appeared to mainly circulate within the non-political form of autonomy which tends to focus on personal learning gains and lack a political dimension which concerns with the need for autonomous capacities to resurge within the social and political life to serve the public good. This seemed to reflect the interpretations and values the participants associated with learner autonomy which were significantly oriented towards the non-political variant of autonomy. This study, therefore, points to the need of further research, particularly action research, aiming at promoting the political understanding of autonomy.