A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies, Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 2019. / This study aimed to explore the experiences of educators in using English as the language of learning and teaching for Grade 4 learners. It employed an interpretive qualitative approach. A sample of six teachers teaching Grade 4 were purposively selected from a district in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Data were collected through classroom observations and unstructured interviews. Findings revealed that teachers in rural monolingual community schools find it difficult to meet the policy prescriptions and curriculum demands in terms of the language of learning and teaching. Teachers end up translating into the mother tongue, which is isiZulu, and code-switching to enhance content understanding; this is a strategy that limits both teachers’ and learners’ exposure to English. In addition, learners transitioning from their Home language to English as the language of learning are not sufficiently supported. The findings also indicate that teachers in rural monolingual community schools in King Cetshwayo district find it difficult to meet the curriculum demands in terms of the language of learning and teaching. Grade 3 moves to Grade 4 with little English vocabulary and competence; this makes teaching very strenuous and challenging to teachers. Teachers were also found to be insufficiently proficient in English. The significance of the study relates to the educational issues of rural schools that are ignored by officialdom, including the fact that teachers are not adequately prepared to teach in English. In addition, learners transitioning to the very unfamiliar language of learning and teaching are not sufficiently supported with regard to improving their command of it. Hence, policies need revision to address the linguistic shortcomings of teachers and learners. New policies ought to be designed and implemented if English is to remain the language of learning and teaching in South African schools.

This thesis proposes a query expansion mechanism based on ontology. Automatic query expansion has facilitated web pages search in several ways. An external knowledge resource can help user identify the searching domain and efficient keywords. Ontology is taken as the metadata of a knowledge domain. Query could be expanding in different approaches based on ontology. In this research, an ontology learning process is implemented. With no initial ontology as backbone, domain ontology is constructed from World Wild Web document semi-automatically. Three expanding approaches based on concepts and their relations are proposed. Ontology learning result and expanding approaches are evaluated by comparing the different search results in atypical IR system.

This research investigated the need, design, and evaluation of a product capable of providing support to forward-leaning postures. Due to the high occurrence of low-back pain in industry potentially due to workers performing their tasks while assuming forward-leaning postures, along with the biological plausibility of these postures causing low-back pain, the need was established for a product that provides forward-leaning support. An envelope was quantified, ranging from the 5th percentile female to the 95th percentile male, to establish the range of potential forward-leaning postures. The design of a Support-Arm for use with current ergonomic chairs was discussed and design feature specifications were then provided. A Latin Square statistical design was employed to evaluate a Support-Arm model alongside 8 other commonly used chairs over 3 different postures. Subjects, overall, had lower peak pressures for the buttock-thigh region, increased productivity, higher comfort levels, and higher buttock-thigh contact areas when seated in the Support-Arm model chair as compared to the other chairs. Subjects, overall, also ranked this chair first over the other chairs for preferred use after having sitting experience in all 9 chairs. In an additional part of the evaluation, subjects chose their own set-up of the Support-Arm model chair. Eleven of the 18 subjects chose to use the Support-Arm when their workstation was located 36” above the floor. Subjects confirmed the need to design a Support-Arm capable of providing forward leaning support to the entire envelope of forward-leaning postures. Statistical evaluation revealed several significant differences between the chairs. The results gave no indication that the use of a Support-Arm for forward-leaning support may cause detrimental effects to users or overall chair ergonomics. Future research could track workers’ use of a Support-Arm in industry and compare their occurrence of low-back pain to a control group.

This research investigated the need, design, and evaluation of a product capable of providing support to forward-leaning postures. Due to the high occurrence of low-back pain in industry potentially due to workers performing their tasks while assuming forward-leaning postures, along with the biological plausibility of these postures causing low-back pain, the need was established for a product that provides forward-leaning support. An envelope was quantified, ranging from the 5th percentile female to the 95th percentile male, to establish the range of potential forward-leaning postures. The design of a Support-Arm for use with current ergonomic chairs was discussed and design feature specifications were then provided. A Latin Square statistical design was employed to evaluate a Support-Arm model alongside 8 other commonly used chairs over 3 different postures. Subjects, overall, had lower peak pressures for the buttock-thigh region, increased productivity, higher comfort levels, and higher buttock-thigh contact areas when seated in the Support-Arm model chair as compared to the other chairs. Subjects, overall, also ranked this chair first over the other chairs for preferred use after having sitting experience in all 9 chairs. In an additional part of the evaluation, subjects chose their own set-up of the Support-Arm model chair. Eleven of the 18 subjects chose to use the Support-Arm when their workstation was located 36” above the floor. Subjects confirmed the need to design a Support-Arm capable of providing forward leaning support to the entire envelope of forward-leaning postures. Statistical evaluation revealed several significant differences between the chairs. The results gave no indication that the use of a Support-Arm for forward-leaning support may cause detrimental effects to users or overall chair ergonomics. Future research could track workers’ use of a Support-Arm in industry and compare their occurrence of low-back pain to a control group.

The study investigated teachers’ formative assessment practice and the value they attach to formative assessment in primary schools in the Lagos and Kwara States of Nigeria. A total of 120 respondents were selected using the convenience sampling technique. Quantitative research methods formed the basis for analysis and data presentation. The inferential statistics used the Wilcoxon signed-rank test to analyse the data. The study surveyed possible differences in what teachers value and practice on five dimensions of assessment, namely Clarifying and Sharing Learning Intentions, Engineer Effective Classroom Discussion, Provide Feedback That Moves Students Forward, Activating Students as Instructional Resources for One Another and Activating Students as Owners of Their Own Learning. In summary, the study revealed that despite overall positively valuing formative assessment strategies, most of the teachers did not practise formative assessment as they did not adopt the strategy of clarifying and sharing learning intentions as well as the criteria for success with their students. Results of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that there is a statistically significant difference (p<0.05) between the teachers’ practice and the value they assign to formative assessment in Nigerian primary schools. The study notes a high reliance on formative assessment principles by teachers in their daily teaching engagement. As gleaned from the results, the disparity between appreciation of the principles and their implementation remains an area that possibly require further investigation to improve on the level of understanding of the principles as well as their practice and appreciation. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria 2020. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / Unrestricted

<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate leaning behaviours when completing tasks with constrained reaches. A logistic regression was developed, with the input of individual subject anthropometry and specific task characteristics, and the resulting model was able to provide a very accurate prediction of when an individual would lean. The inputs to this model give insight into what factors are important in the decision making process when a worker chooses whether lean. The task hand locations with the longest reaches resulted in the most frequent choice to lean. Leaning appears to be particularly common, and important, with long reaching and pulling tasks that can reduce task hand shoulder and trunk loads and improve balance, while allowing the worker to get closer to the task. Leaning hand forces were highest during pulling tasks. These findings are very important to document, as current ergonomic tools neglect to consider that different task characteristics may change how, and when, a worker leans. Even when only the direction of the task hand force was changed, leaning hand forces differed significantly. In this study, leaning hand height was slightly higher for the shoulder height, when compared to the umbilical height, task hand locations. The average height of the leaning hand did not vary considerably and ranged between 106.6cm to 116.3cm, depending on the condition. The leaning hand force magnitude changed as task hand location, force direction and force level changed. Leaning hand forces increased with increasing task hand load. Task hand forces in the push direction were higher compared to push and down exertions, regardless of task hand location or task hand load. The findings from this study are of particular use to industry as ergonomists now have representative forces and heights, to help guide leaning estimates during proactive risk assessments.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

No description available.

ABSTRACT Botanic Garden User Outcomes: A Means-End Investigation Christopher Lee Wassenberg This study explored the outcomes that Leaning Pine Arboretum users experience from visiting the botanic garden. Understanding visitor motivations and benefits has been a focus in the field of outdoor recreation, and the subject of a number of botanic garden and green space visitor studies. Previous studies have found that visiting a botanic garden can serve as a coping strategy for dealing with and reducing life stress (Holbrook, 2010; Kohlleppel, Bradley, & Jacob, 2002; Maller, Townsend, Pryor, Brown, & St Leger, 2005) and that visiting public outdoor green spaces led visitors to experience greater exposure to natural spaces and to have meaningful experiences with others (Burgess, Harrison, & Limb, 1988). This study employed means-end theory (Gutman, 1982) to investigate the link between garden attributes and user outcomes. In-person interviews were conducted with 83 garden visitors during the summer of 2011. Researchers coded the interview data to identify participants’ reported attributes, consequences, and values. Intercoder reliability was conducted to ensure validity of the results. Coded data were entered into the Laddermap (Gengler & Reynolds, 1995) computer software program to be analyzed. Implication matrixes were created to determine the number of times concepts were linked. From the implication matrixes, hierarchical value maps (HVMs) were developed to display the results graphically. HVMs show the strength of links between attributes, consequences, and values, and were used to compare results from different visitor groups within the study. These groups included males and females, students and non-students, and first time and return visitors. The findings revealed that participants felt that the botanic garden and plants were the most meaningful garden attributes. These garden attributes led participants to experience the consequences new experiences and learning stress and relief and relaxation. Having experienced these meaningful consequences allowed participants to reach the most frequently mentioned values: transference and improved quality of life. The study found important links between attributes, consequences, and values, including the consequences escape and stress relief and relaxation, and the consequence new experiences and learning, and the value transference. Important differences were also found between the attribute, consequence, and value chains of multiple visitor groups. Botanical garden and arboretum mangers may use this study to improve visitor experiences and outcomes. A better understanding of visitor benefits and outcomes can help managers understand the needs of current visitors, potential visitors, and potential garden supporters. In turn, garden visitors who have better experiences may be more inclined to provide funding or other support to conserve and preserve their local gardens. Based on the results garden managers should maintain a broad range of healthy, well-displayed plants; exert high-levels of detail to all aspects of garden operations; continue to provide opportunities for full visitor immersion; and offer unified, accessible interpretation of garden spaces and plants. Additionally, these results may be used to validate funding requests and guide allocation of funding. Keywords: Botanic garden users, outcomes, means-end theory, Leaning Pine Arboretum

In this article, we explore the determinants of foreign exchange market intervention by the People's Bank of China as well as RMB real exchange rate. Mmonthly data from July 2005 to October 2010 are used. In the foreign exchange market intervention, operating variables and economic variables are studied separately. For the economic variables, we find that economic leading index of China is an important factor to determine whether to intervene or not. In addition, we find that producer price index is better than consumer price index to explain intervention in foreign exchange market. Economic leading index of U.S. is also important to determine the intervention. For the operating variables, we find that intervention by the People's Bank of China has the characteristics of leaning against the wind and deferred intervention. Foreign capital inflows are also the important determinant of the intervention. As for the determinants of RMB real exchange rate, we find that the China-U.S. interest rate differentials and China's business cycles relative to the U.S. are the main factors to determine the RMB real exchange rate. Also, the RMB tends to move with the Euro's in the same direction.

Aim This study of a systematic review of systematic reviews on school, learning and mental health investigates the relation between school climate, mental health and positive school outcomes. The aim is to analyze the quality and content of previous reviews and to identify aspects in the school climate that positively affect learning and mental health. Research questions are: What is the quality and content of previous systematic reviews on school, learning and mental health? What is the current state of knowledge concerning causal relationships between school climate, learning and mental health according to systematic reviews? What factors in the school climate can be identified as vital for positive outcomes and good mental health? Method Systematic review of longitudinal or cross-sectional studies. 792 references were identified through literature searches in various databases, with search words considering mental health in combination with search words considering school and learning. Data extraction was performed in three steps; abstract, full text and in-depth data extraction. Criteria for inclusion were: systematic review, published 1999-2009, ages 2-19 years, published in English in peer reviewed journals. The number of reviews that met the criteria set for quality was 37, which were quality rated as of high 27% (10/37), medium 46% (17/37) or low quality 27% (10/37). Results Three categories of content emerge, where much research has been executed: the relation between positive aspects of mental health and learning, between mental health problems and learning and indirect relations between school factors and mental health and learning. The quality is relatively low, only 8% (3/37) meet all the quality criteria. At school level, where the teacher plays an important role, there is a positive relation between school climate and outcome and mental health, as well as on an individual level, where self-efficacy, i.e. will and skill to perform, can be identified as a factor of major importance to school outcome. Conclusions Due to the low quality of research on the relation between school, learning and mental health causal relation cannot be established. There are apparent connections between school outcome, self-efficacy and a positive school climate. Teachers are important in and for school climate and are of vital importance for outcome and mental health. Students’ possibility to influence and control their learning promote school outcome and mental health. Policy aimed at improving achievement and school outcome need to consider perceived self-efficacy. / Syfte och frågeställningar Denna studie av en systematisk översikt över systematiska översikter om skola, lärande och psykisk hälsa undersöker relationen mellan skolmiljö, psykisk hälsa och positiva skolresultat. Syftet är att analysera kvalitet och innehåll i tidigare översikter samt att identifiera faktorer i skolmiljön som påverkar lärande och psykisk hälsa positivt. Frågeställningar är: Vad är kvaliteten hos och innehållet i tidigare systematiska översikter om skola, lärande och psykisk hälsa? Hur ser aktuellt forskningsläge ut gällande orsakssamband mellan skolmiljö, lärande och psykisk hälsa enligt systematiska översikter? Vilka faktorer i skolmiljön kan identifieras som avgörande för positiva skolresultat och god psykisk hälsa? Metod Systematisk översikt av longitudinella eller tvärsnittsstudier. 792 referenser identifierades genom litteratursökningar i olika databaser, med sökord avseende psykisk hälsa i kombination med sökord gällande skola och lärande. Dataextraktion genomfördes i tre steg; abstrakt, fulltext och djupare data extraktion. Kriterier för inklusion var: systematisk översikt, publicerad 1999-2009, ålder 2 – 19 år, publicerad på engelska i tidsskrift granskad av sakkunnig. Antalet översikter som uppfyllde uppställda kriterier för kvalitet var 37 som kvalitetsbedömdes som av hög 27% (10/37), medel 46% (17/37) eller låg kvalitet 27% (10/37). Resultat Innehållsmässigt framträder tre kategorier där mycket forskning genomförts: relationen mellan positiva aspekter av psykisk hälsa och lärande, mellan psykisk ohälsa och lärande, samt indirekta samband mellan skolfaktorer och psykisk hälsa och lärande. Kvaliteten är relativt låg, endast 8% (3/37) uppfyller samtliga kvalitetskriterier. På skolnivå, där läraren spelar en viktig roll, finns det en positiv relation mellan skolmiljö och skolprestation och psykisk hälsa, såväl som på individnivå, där self-efficacy, dvs. vilja och kompetens att prestera, kan identifieras som en avgörande faktor för skolprestationer. Sammanfattning På grund av den låga kvaliteten på forskning om relationen mellan skola, lärande och psykisk hälsa, går orsakssamband inte att fastställa. Tydliga kopplingar finns mellan skolresultat, self-efficacy och en positiv skolmiljö. Lärare är viktiga i och för elevernas skolmiljö och spelar en avgörande roll för skolprestation och psykisk hälsa. Elevens möjlighet att påverka och kontrollera sitt lärande bidrar positivt till skolprestation och psykisk hälsa. Policy för att förbättra skolprestation och skolresultat behöver beakta individens upplevda self-efficacy.