Thesis (MEd (Education and Social Science))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2010 / The purpose of this study is to discover the critical reader-responses of Grade 4 children to a novel written by Judy Blume (1980). The theoretical framework is based on the socio-cultural theories of learning, as well as Rosenblatt's critical reader response theory (1986). I examine the following issues: Cambourne's (2004) principles of engagement, Feuersteins' Mediated Learning Experience (1991), Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (1978), Erikson's Industry versus Inferiority (in Boeree, 2006), as well as Scaffolding (Vygotsky in Olivier 2010, 22-23). The literature review includes the most recent published literature pertaining to my research. Video interviews, as well as reflective journalling were used to gather data. My research answers the following research question: What are the critical reader responses of Grade 4 children to Superfudge, by Judy Blume? My argument, based on Rosenblatt's critical reader-response theory (1986) accurately reflected the manner in which the Grade 4 children rnade meaning of prescribed texts. My data was analysed qualitatively, using an inductive approach. In my findings five themes emerged: finding an authentic voice, gaining identity, the entertainment value of the novel, family dynamics with specific reference to siblings and the relocation of families. The discussion examines insights which emerged from my research. These insights are reviewed in relation to my theoretical frames and relevant literature. In conclusion the process of critical reader-response theory empowers children to develop critical thinking skills and habits that underlie effective reading.

Thesis (MTech (Education))--Peninsula Technikon, Cape Town, 2004. / The purpose of this research was to investigate the practices, understanding and application of critical thinking in the lives of learners, educators and parents. The research was conducted in the grade seven classes of three schools in the Western Cape. These schools are representative of the demography of the Western Cape. Initial questionnaires were sent to parents of the grade seven learners in this study to determine whether the home environment encourages critical thinking and whether or not the parents practice critical thinking in their home and personal lives. An interview was conducted with the 8 teachers of each grade seven class at the three schools, to determine their understanding of critical thinking, whether they use critical thinking in their personal capacity, and whether they nurture and teach critical thinking. Each learner completed a questionnaire to determine his or her knowledge and understanding of critical thinking, prior to teaching and learning interventions. The interventions occurred through a series of teaching/learning activities, and participative action research to facilitate the learning, understanding and application of critical thinking. Data was obtained from observation throughout intervention as well as from a final questionnaire at the end of the teaching/ learning activities. The data collected was analysed and the results and recommendations form part of this thesis. The results clearly indicated that it is possible to foster critical hoped that teachers' awareness of the need to teach and foster critical thinking in the classroom was aroused by this intervention. thinking through teaching and learning interventions. It also became evident that the influence of learners' home life plays a major role in children's thinking practices. It is hoped that teachers' awareness of the need to teach and foster critical thinking in the classroom was aroused by this intervention. / Peninsula Technikon

abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of instructor response prompts and rubrics on students' performance in an asynchronous discussion-board assignment, their learning achievement on an objective-type posttest, and their reported satisfaction levels. Researchers who have studied asynchronous computer-mediated student discussion transcripts have found evidence of mostly mid-level critical thinking skills, with fewer examples limited to lower or higher order thinking skill demonstration. Some researchers suggest that instructors may facilitate increased demonstration of higher-order critical thinking skills within asynchronous discussion-board activities. However, there is little empirical evidence available to compare the use of different external supports to facilitate students' critical thinking skills performance and learning achievement in blended learning environments. Results of the present study indicate that response prompts and rubrics can affect students' discussion performance, learning, and satisfaction ratings. The results, however, are complex, perhaps mirroring the complexity of instructor-led online learning environments. Regarding discussion board performance, presenting students with a rubric tended to yield higher scores on most aspects that is, on overall performance, as well as depth and breadth of performance, though these differences were not significant. In contrast, instructor prompts tended to yield lower scores on aspects of discussion board performance. On breadth, in fact, this main effect difference was significant. Interactions also indicated significant differences on several aspects of discussion board performance, in most cases indicating that the combination of rubric and prompt was detrimental to scores. The learning performance on the quiz showed, again, the effectiveness of rubrics, with students who received the rubric earning significantly higher scores, and with no main effects or interactions for instructor prompts. Regarding student satisfaction, again, the picture is complicated. Results indicated that, in some instances, the integration of prompts resulted in lower satisfaction ratings, particularly in the areas of students' perceptions of the amount of work required, learning in the partially online format, and student-to-student interaction. Based on these results, design considerations to support rubric use and explicit feedback in asynchronous discussions to support student learning are proposed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Technology 2012

nÃo hà / O presente trabalho dissertativo desenvolvido para interesses acadÃmico-polÃticos consiste de uma anÃlise crÃtica acerca da variabilidade sinonÃmica constatada no plano teÃrico-linguÃstico-polÃtico da categoria Pensamento CrÃtico expressa e estabelecida na e pela literatura vigente no campo educacional. Em outras palavras, buscamos pensar criticamente a categoria Pensamento CrÃtico, procurando compreender por que esta variabilidade sinonÃmica detectada à praticada por professores nos caminhos intrÃnsecos à educaÃÃo e, quais sÃo suas reverberaÃÃes, uma vez que tal categoria, mesmo subscrita no decurso dinÃmico e ideolÃgico à lÃgica sociometabÃlica do capital, à portadora de potÃncia latente de alternÃncia societal, mas transita numa temporalidade e especificidade distintas à revelia dos interesses dos sujeitos histÃricos como agentes indicadores para esta alternÃncia societal, e, que ambicionam livremente associar-se. Com efeito, esta categoria como observada nÃo està alinhada ao pensar criticamente que nega e rompe com a (re)produÃÃo da lÃgica do capital, pois à manipulada como mercadoria. Portanto, vimos por meio desta anÃlise crÃtica (pesquisa teÃrica) constatar, em carÃter preliminar, sob a implacÃvel condiÃÃo histÃrica do objeto, pois sà o Homem pode conferir-lhe lastro teÃrico estabelecendo marcaÃÃes materiais e significados, que o Pensamento CrÃtico, como categoria sociolÃgica de anÃlise das condiÃÃes histÃricoconcretas, reivindicada pelos sujeitos histÃricos inseridos nas esferas do conhecimento (educaÃÃo bÃsica pÃblica), à tratado pelos seus âusuÃriosâ como mercadoria e esta està subsumida à histÃrica lÃgica do capital, portanto, inerente à sua prÃpria crise, que à global, contraditÃria e hodierna. / The present dissertation developed for academic-political interests consists of a critical analysis about the synonymous variability verified in the theoretical-linguistic-political plane of the category Critical Thinking expressed and established in and by the current literature in the educational field. In other words, we try to think critically about the category Critical Thinking, trying to understand why this synonymous sensorial variability is practiced by teachers in the paths intrinsic to education and what are their reverberations, since this category, even subscribed in the dynamic and ideological course to the sociometabolic logic of capital, is a latent power of societal alternation, but it transits into a distinct temporality and specificity in the absence of the interests of historical subjects as indicators for this societal alternation, and which freely ambition to associate. In fact, this category as observed is not aligned with the critical thinking that denies and breaks with the (re) production of the logic of capital, since it is manipulated as a commodity. Therefore, we have seen through this critical analysis (theoretical research) to establish, in a preliminary way, under the relentless historical condition of the object, since only Man can confer theoretical ballast establishing material markings and meanings, which Critical Thinking, as a sociological category of the analysis of historical-concrete conditions, claimed by historical subjects inserted in the spheres of knowledge (public basic education), is treated by its "users" as commodity and this is subsumed to the historical logic of capital, therefore inherent in its own crisis, which is global, contradictory and modern.

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-09-25T11:38:22Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Audiney José Pereira - 2017.pdf: 25851098 bytes, checksum: f2fa83357cd72a93d187acc09788270a (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-09-25T11:38:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Audiney José Pereira - 2017.pdf: 25851098 bytes, checksum: f2fa83357cd72a93d187acc09788270a (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-25T11:38:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Audiney José Pereira - 2017.pdf: 25851098 bytes, checksum: f2fa83357cd72a93d187acc09788270a (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-23 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás - FAPEG / The writing of texts of rhetoric genres is essential to the literate practices in one democratic society. In this case, is very important to the school formation mediation the development of pedagogical interferences about the teaching this genres. This search constructs events of written that objective to the teaching of the written how social practice. The general objective this search is to investigate the factors that contribute to amplification of the discourses competences of the students, in works with rhetoric kinds that realize the type of dissertation. For to obtain this objective, we realized a search, whose actions supported themselves in Bakhtin’s position, in that the language has been considered in your conception character and about uses the speaking in the verbal complementation (BAKHTIN, 1992), (BAKHTIN, 1997; BAWARSHI and REIFF, 2013), of the argumentation and the new rhetoric (PERELMAN and OLBRECHTS-TYTECA, 2005; BAZERMAN, 2015a) and of the writing and various writing (GOULART, 2011; ROJO, 2013; RIOS, 2014); and we use discussions about the critic think (GIROUX, 1997; NOBRE, 2004; CHAUÍ, 1982). Position of Geraldi (2010) and Bawarshi and Reiff (2013), and position of Geraldi (2010), and Bawarshi and Reiff (2013), the know of the model forms of then kinds don’t transforms, necessarily, in domain of the writing production of this kinds. We verify that, still, there’s a deep wish from the students become proficient in the written of this rhetoric kinds. This wish is revealed in the training needs that valorize the voice, the listening and the dialogue, with the students, in interactions, whose analysis to that show about the students project about relation to the pragmatic questions of the speech. The search was evident that is in the ideological of the sign – that where, the object is inexhaustible – that is the questions the students. In this case, pedagogic interventions founded in the Backtin’s categories of the chronotope, of the thematization and of the dialogism show educationally powerful to contribute with the enlargement of the discursive competence of the students. / A escrita de textos de gêneros retóricos é essencial às práticas letradas de uma sociedade democrática. Diante disso, torna-se importante às mediações formativas escolares o desenvolvimento de intervenções pedagógicas voltadas para o ensino desses gêneros. Esta pesquisa constrói eventos de letramento que visam ao ensino da escrita como prática social. O objetivo geral de pesquisa é investigar os fatores que contribuem para a ampliação das competências discursivas dos educandos, por meio do trabalho com gêneros retóricos que realizam o tipo dissertativo. Para alcançar esse objetivo, realizamos uma pesquisa qualitativa aplicada, cujas ações se apoiaram em uma posição bakhtiniana, em que a linguagem deve ser considerada por seu caráter ideológico e pelos usos e formas reais de comunicação construídas e utilizadas pelos falantes na interação verbal (BAKHTIN, 1992). Recorremos especialmente às teorias de gêneros (BAKHTIN, 1997; BAWARSHI e REIFF, 2013), da argumentação e da nova retórica (PERELMAN e OLBRECHTS-TYTECA, 2005; BAZERMAN, 2015a) e do letramento e multiletramento (GOULART, 2011; ROJO, 2013; RIOS, 2014); e empregamos discussões relativas ao pensamento crítico (GIROUX, 1997; NOBRE, 2004; CHAUÍ, 1982). Ancorados nessas teorias e na reflexão construída por meio da práxis educacional, pudemos evidenciar que – conforme posição de Geraldi (2010) e Bawarshi e Reiff (2013) – o conhecimento das formas tipificadas do gênero não se transforma, necessariamente, em domínio da produção escrita desse gênero. Constatamos, ainda, que há uma profunda vontade dos estudantes de se tornarem proficientes na escrita de gêneros retóricos. Essa vontade é revelada por meio de mediações formativas que valorizem a voz, a escuta e o diálogo com os educandos, em interações cuja análise esclarece sobre aquilo que os estudantes projetam em relação às questões pragmáticas do discurso. A pesquisa evidenciou que é no aspecto ideológico do signo – ali onde o objeto é inesgotável – que se situam as dúvidas dos educandos. Nesse caso, intervenções pedagógicas baseadas nas categorias bakhtinianas do cronotopo, da tematização e do dialogismo se mostraram pedagogicamente poderosas para contribuir com a ampliação da competência discursiva dos estudantes.

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Ed. / Humanity needs to survive both physically and emotionally in a rapidly changing postmodern world, which has numerous problems. Critical thinking, and particularly strong sense critical thinking, could be a powerful enabling factor when dealing with these challenges. Education has long recognised its responsibility of teaching learners to think, but it is doubtful whether this goal has been achieved. The paradigm shift from content-based to outcomes-based education, with critical thinking as one of the twelve essential outcomes, makes this time in the history of South African education a particularly positive period in which to teach critical thinking The problem is however that no research has been done regarding the teaching of critical thinking in History - a subject that can ideally promote critical thinking - in South African primary schools. Two subordinate research questions were posed, namely what repertoire of critical thinking skills grade seven students of multicultural primary schools commanded in the History class and whether grade seven teachers taught their History students critical thinking activities. These questions provided information that assisted in answering the main research question regarding the generation of a possible approach for the facilitation of critical thinking in the History class, that would enable the teachers of grade seven learners in multicultural primary schools in the N5 District to teach critical thinking, and that could be implemented by educational psychologists. The intermediate research objectives were to determine the presence and nature of the critical thinking skills of learners in a grade seven History class of a multicultural primary school in District N5 in Gauteng; and to explore whether the History teacher of the grade seven class in a multicultural school teaches critical thinking to his learners and if this did occur, to describe what methods the teacher follows to achieve it. These intermediate objectives were utilised to achieve the overall purpose of this study, namely to develop and describe an approach for the facilitation of critical thinking in grade seven History classes in District N5, that would enable teachers to teach critical thinking and could be implemented by the educational psychologist. This study comprised prolonged, in-depth observation by means of videorecordings, of the critical thinking activities of the learners in a grade seven History class and their teacher, for a period of ten months. It was found that very little critical thinking was demonstrated in the classroom. The results of this research, along with information gained from a literature study, formed the basis of principles which were developed for an educational psychological approach to critical thinking instruction. The initial group of principles alluded to the general aspects of a critical thinking instruction program; the school environment required for such a program to thrive; and the needs and circumstances of the teachers who are to implement it. The second group of principles referred to the program content and highlighted the importance of teaching for, of and about critical thinking; the need to include the three themes of critical thinking, namely affective critical thinking operations, macro critical thinking operations and micro critical thinking operations; as well as the need to facilitate metacognition, to teach critical thinking for transfer and to assess critical thinking. The third group of principles concerned the role of the teacher and were directed at classroom organisation and climate; the structure of the lessons; and the teaching methods to be considered. The final group of principles focused on the education of teachers, district officials, principals, school management teams and parents regarding critical thinking instruction. An educational psychological approach to critical thinking instruction, which was contextualised for a district based on the principles of project management, was described.

This paper aims to examine what kind of relation social actions have to the sharing behavior on social media. The technology is developing rapidly and contributes to an information-rich society, which has many positive aspects. In contrast, a lot of shared information is old, biased, incorrect, or come from extreme sources, because people do not take the time to investigate the origin of the information. These negative aspects and the sharing behavior it leads to are examined in this paper to find out if they are related to the simplicity of sharing. The procedure for investigating this has been through two different methods. The first is a survey that was shared on Facebook, to get an understanding of what is primarily given and why. Based on the results from the survey interview questions were developed to be addressed to a number of Facebook users, to understand how they act on social media. Analysis of the results was carried out with the help of Uses and Gratification Theory as it focuses on how people consciously choose the media that satisfies their needs. The study concluded that people's past experiences create expected feelings, which then form the basis for the decision to perform an action, for example, to share information.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Applied Arts in Graphic Design, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / The context of this research is blended learning, a pedagogical approach that is effectively used in higher education. This pedagogical approach integrates face-to-face and online learning activities. The research inquiry focused on the researcher’s teaching of second-year students studying a three-year degree in graphic design at a private college in Durban, South Africa. Two interconnected teaching and learning challenges were addressed: the effects of the time-constrained, face-to-face studio style approach to design education; and students’ limited capacity for critical reflection. The research opportunity was therefore to evaluate the effectiveness of a graphic design blended learning intervention for supplementing contact time and fostering critical reflection. In the tradition of action research, the study took a developmental approach. Drawing on research on critical reflection in design and approaches to blended learning, parameters for a blended learning intervention were established. The resulting blended learning framework was applied in three interconnected cycles of action research, as follows. First, cycle one served as a baseline analysis of students’ critical reflection before the intervention. The researcher recorded and analysed a group review, and a series of individual reviews with her students. These were analysed with two questions in mind: ‘what’: “What types of reflection do students engage in?”; ‘why’: “Why are the students reflecting in a particular way?”.Second, cycle two developed, implemented and analysed a blended learning strategy for critical reflection (BLSCR). This was guided by the blended learning framework parameters, and the findings from cycle one. Third, cycle three evaluated students’ perception of the BLSCR through a focus group discussion with the participants. The focus group findings were compared with those of cycle two. The main finding is that the study’s blended learning strategy for critical reflection (BLSCR) works to foster critical reflection, but refinement is needed to address the matter of supplementing contact time. The two main points of refinement are: Students need to be ready to learn (feel psychologically responsible for their own learning);Students need to know that they have learned, and what they have learned.The findings and conclusion then motivate for implementing these refinements in further interventions beyond the study. / M

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / Scholars argue within a human capital perspective that generic employability skills such as critical thinking, computer literacy, independent thinking, problem solving, communication skills must be included in human capital development. Employers are demanding that education and training institutions enable students to develop generic employability skills so that they can be 'work ready' for employment in the 'new knowledge economy'. As a consequence, the implementation of generic employability skills programmes can be found in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges worldwide. Framed within a human capital perspective, this research paper focuses on an investigation into the extent to which the National Certificate (Vocational) Life Skills course, offered at a TVET college in the Western Cape, enables students to develop the required generic employability skills of communication, problem solving, teamwork, leadership and critical thinking. Findings reveal that the NCV Life Skills course was both successful and unsuccessful in enabling participants to develop generic skills which make them 'ready for work'.