South Africaâs participation in international achievement studies in recent years has served as a useful benchmark for learner performance in mathematics. The analysis of learning achievement against national and international benchmarks indicates that an improvement in the quality of learning output remains one of the biggest challenges facing the South African education system. Finding ways to improve learner performance in mathematics should thus be a critical priority for all stakeholders. The extant literature proposes that strengthening the practice of using assessment for formative purposes results in significant learning gains. The value of positive and constructive feedback to learners during the process of assessment is advocated by a number of studies, yet few studies focus on investigating the use of feedback strategies in a mathematics classroom context, or reflect on the contextual realities that may impact on the provision of feedback to learners. In this research a case study was conducted in the classrooms of two primary school mathematics teachers in order to explore evidence of feedback strategies used in their classrooms and the factors that may have an impact on their ability to provide constructive feedback to learners. The study also examined the contextual realities at classroom level that may impede on the use of constructive feedback to enhance learning. The teachers were observed in their classrooms and follow-up interviews were conducted. Samples of the teachersâ documents and the learnersâ work were used to evaluate the teachersâ feedback strategies and provide practical suggestions. The qualitative data was used to explicate findings from the literature review and enabled the study to provide recommendations pertaining to the provision of feedback to learners.

Abstract The study explores the nature of disciplinary knowledge differences and similarities between the sciences and the engineering sciences as these appear in curriculum texts. The work is presented as a case study of curriculum knowledge in thermodynamics, and the epistemic properties are investigated in four sub-cases in mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, physics and chemistry. Data was collected from prescribed undergraduate textbooks in the four disciplinary fields. The work is theoretically informed by two fields of scholarly work: the sociology of educational knowledge (in particular the work of Basil Bernstein) and the applied philosophies of science and engineering science, in order to develop a theoretical framework for analysis of the data. The framework allows the study to move beyond the typical binary classification of the sciences as 'hard-pure' and engineering sciences as 'hard-applied' disciplines. Starting from broad teleological considerations, the philosophical concepts of specialisation, idealisation and normativity are explored and developed into modalities and modal continua of variance to allow investigation of the epistemic differences and similarities in the recontextualised disciplinary knowledge from these contiguous conceptual fields. The empirical study identifies important differences in thermodynamics curriculum knowledge in terms of specialisation, normativity and idealisation across the broad disciplinary fields, rendering more complex Bernstein's notions of singulars and regions. The epistemic modalities and modes provide a way to conceive in more detail how the professional engineering science knowledge is orientated towards its field of practice. Curriculum knowledge in the engineering sciences is shown to be remarkably different from the knowledge in the sciences: both mechanical and chemical engineering knowledge emphasise particulars, rather than universals, have stronger normative aspects, and employ a limited form of idealisation in their commitment to physical realisability. By contrast, knowledge in the sciences is more universal, normativity is incidental, and idealisation is used expansively. In addition, the research findings suggest a negative correlation between idealisation and normativity as epistemic modalities: a commitment to normative concerns in the engineering sciences constrains the extent to which knowledge idealisation is pursued, compared to what is observed in the bodies of science curriculum knowledge. Furthermore, over and above differences in curriculum knowledge between the broad fields of science and engineering science, discernible variation exists between the engineering sciences investigated, raising cautions against a monolithic view of curricular epistemic properties across broad disciplinary areas.

This research study was motivated by a research project which observed differences in achievement levels within the creative arts classroom between working class schools and middle class schools. These achievement gaps were largely attributed to inadequate pedagogue skills and content knowledge and the lack of adequate materials in working class schools. The research project sought a way to address this problem by initiating a 2-year pilot extracurricular project at one working class school by introducing a methodology, freespace, which sought to simultaneously bring in facilitators and practitioners who work in the creative arts and also to provide the resources needed. Freespace is described as an informal educational tool which draws its principles from popular education discourse. The purpose of this research study was to conduct a comparative analysis of the transmission of pedagogic discourse between the informal classroom (freespace) and the formal classroom; with a particular emphasis on the regulative discourse inherent to both practices. Furthermore, this research study sought to understand the sort of contribution that informal pedagogic practice might make to the formal creative arts classroom. In order to conduct this study I employed Bernstein's model of the pedagogic device to set out my research design. I also used his methodology of developing an external language of description for coding my data. I conducted interviews with pedagogues and classroom observation to collect my data. The interview data were coded using Maton's development of Bernstein's code theory, namely Legitimation Code Theory (Specialisation) using epistemic and social relations, to allow me to capture the values and intentions of the pedagogues (the intended curriculum). To capture the enacted curriculum, I used Bernstein's framing dimensions to code the data from the classroom observations. The findings of this research study suggest that the pedagogic discourse(s) of both the formal and informal context and their inherent regulative discourses privilege an ideal learner-knower. In conclusion, this research study seeks to suggest that while the cultivated gaze has proven beneficial with respect to inculcating learners into a given dominant discourse, particularly within the creative arts; that an argument can also be made for adopting a social gaze in this particular context (working class school) in order to a) allow learners to be adequately socialised into art practise and b) allow for a plurality of the epistemic in order that both the dominant gaze and notions of achievement and effective pedagogy might be disrupted.

Access to the practice of a profession is controlled by formal education structures. These structures are intended to induct future professionals into the specialised knowledge, skills and values that underpin that profession. Yet, despite meeting the academic requirements of a professional degree, many graduates struggle to 'apply' specialised knowledge when confronted with problems in professional practice. This is a study of the nature of knowledge as it is mobilised in professional reasoning. The case studied was located in engineering education, because knowledge relations tend to be more explicit in education than in practice. The data were collected from design projects located in two differently structured curricula in civil and mechanical engineering curricula. The research questions that directed the study were: 1. What is the nature of the reasoning involved when specialised disciplinary knowledge is recruited to develop specific, often concrete, artefacts? 2. What is the logic of progression in a trajectory of engineering design tasks in terms of the relation between knowledge and artefact? The study draws on two intellectual fields: models of professional reasoning and design thinking on one hand, and social realism in the sociology of education on the other. These traditions take different positions on professional reasoning. Design thinking is concerned with contextual detail and case precedent, while social realism in the sociology of education is concerned with conceptual coherence within knowledge specialisations and the power of generalisation. Both offer important insights into professional reasoning, but alone neither is adequate. The analysis was done using the semantics dimension of Legitimation Code Theory, LCT (Semantics), which required an adaptation in order to fully describe the significance of contextual detail evident in the data. The findings showed that specialised knowledge and contextual detail interact far more dialectically than previously assumed. This provides empirical insights for structuring curricula. Students can be more intentionally inducted into recontextualising academic knowledge for the purpose of solving contextually emergent problems. Theoretically the study contributes to the social realist school within the sociology of education by revealing its blindness to contextual detail and consequently offering a fuller understanding of the nature of regions. This has implications for other studies of professional knowledge and education.

Bibliography: leaves 91-106. / The proliferation of computers in education has been studied for many years (Kulik, 1983; Loveless 1996; Underwood & Underwood 1990) including therein a diversity of standpoints from the examination of the effects of the computer on learners to the influence of computers on learning, problem solving and achievement, as well as other aspects of schooling (as cited in Lauman 2000: 2). However, little attention has been afforded to address individuals' perceptions, namely those of teachers and learners, of the technology. Given the great investments by schools due to high expectations concerning the educational benefits of computers, it is important that such research be conducted. The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' and learners' perceptions from four ex-Model C primary schools, on how and why computers are used in the Grade 7 classroom. The data was collected primarily by means of a questionnaire, which assessed the perceptions of teachers and learners re computer usage in Grade 7, with findings substantiated by observations and teacher interviews. The study found that: (1) most teachers were comfortable with using computers and expressed positive attitudes towards computer use; (2) teachers agreed that they integrate the computer into the classroom for student-centred learning, independent learning, as a research tool and as a communication tool; (3) teachers view the computer as optimally used for word processing, with importance placed on such skills; (4) teachers believe technology is an integral part of the process of educating their learners; and (5) teachers are of the opinion that their learners perceive the computer to be important, relevant, appealing, valuable, involving and needed. Analysis of the learner data revealed that: (1) learners express enjoyment with using the computer in Grade 7; (2) learners affirm the importance of computers as learning tools; (3) learners perceive that when undertaking tasks they enjoy on the computer they find the computer to be 'entertaining', while the worst thing about the computer is perceived to be 'computer malfunctions' and 'the age of the computer' (i.e. how old the computer was); (4) learners believe the computer has a positive impact on their school work; (5) learners perceive the use of the computer in Grade 7 to be important, interesting, exciting, meaningful and needed; and (6) they feel the computer is used to prepare them for their future. The findings of this study afford us a glimpse into how a sample group of South African teachers and learners in the ex-Model C primary school context, perceive computer use in the Grade 7 classroom. Further research with larger, more representative samples is recommended in this fairly untouched area of research, particularly in South Africa, as technology continues to take on a more significant role in South African schools.

Includes bibliographical references. / This dissertation examines the interface between pre-service teachers' HIV/AIDSknowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy, and their intentions to teach HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy. It is located within the models of teacher education which provides a conceptual framework to analyse HIV/AIDS pre-service teacher education. This study was conducted at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology's Faculty of Education which prepares pre-service teachers for primary school and high school teaching. It involved 68 first year foundation phase pre-service teachers in 2003. With the use of a qualitatively - based vignette probe, the pre-service teachers' intentions to teach HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy was investigated. The same pre-service teachers' were assessed for their levels of HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes towards people with HIV/AIDS, and their self-efficacy with regard to reducing their own risk of HIV/AIDS infection, using a quantitatively based comprehensive questionnaire probe. The overall findings of the study revealed that the interface between the pre-service teacher's HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy, and their intentions to teach HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy was inconsistent. The results highlighted the need for a constructivist model for HIV/AIDS pre-service teacher education which will develop pre-service teachers' HIV/AIDS subject matter expertise and their professional dexterity to critically assess and implement school - based HIV/AIDS curricula in an HIV/AIDS context of teaching.

In an era characterized by unprecedented ecological and technological change, Ontological Play: Reinventing (Machinic) Arts-Based Research in the Posthuman Era attempts to seed creative processes for educators, researchers, and artists to collaborate for the common good of planetary co-existence. Humanism and anthropocentrism have created precarious conditions, and much is at stake. Here I consider the revolutionary potential of aesthetic production, while engaging concepts such as mashup and remix as points of departure. In these times of theory fatigue, this dissertation functions as a wayfinding device with both simple and complex refrains that can be further sampled and repurposed. The aim is to reinvent social practices and to learn to play, ontologically. / Graduate / 2023-01-28

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