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

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg, 2017. / Although simulation has been part of health care education for the last 40 years, there appears to be some resistance to embedding the education methodology in both nursing and medical curricula. Possible reasons for this lack of integration could be the educators’ fear of technology, organizational barriers, such as time for integration, and a lack of support for educators wanting to introduce simulation. In South Africa at present, simulation is only being used in pockets at universities and nursing colleges, with no formal contextually relevant training programme in place, specifically for nursing education, despite evidence that simulation improves student’s outcomes and critical thinking. Nurse educators have expressed anxiety and bewilderment and seem uncertain about the use of simulation. The purpose of this study was to develop a best practice simulation programme for nurse educators wanting to use simulation in their undergraduate nursing curricula. A multi-method design within a pragmatic paradigm was used for this study. The process was divided into four phases. Phase one involved data collection, using the National Council of State Board of Nursing (NCSBN) survey: Use of Simulation in Nursing Education (Hayden, 2010), to describe the prevalence and use of simulation in both university and college undergraduate curricula. Phase two consisted of two parts, conducted consecutively: a scoping literature review to determine simulation best practices in nursing and medical education, followed by a Delphi Study to elicit the perceptions of educators in South Africa regarding simulation and best practice. In the scoping literature review the question asked was: What does the literature identify as simulation best practices in nursing and medical education? Four best practices emerged from the literature, namely the importance of debriefing, identifying learner objectives, the integration of simulation into the curriculum and the inclusion of deliberate practice. A Delphi Study was then conducted to elicit the judgement and perceptions of simulation educators, working in the South African context, of the identified best practices. Phase three was the design of a conceptual framework and the development of a constructivist blended learning programme, using the Assessment, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation (ADDIE) instructional design method. The goal of the programme was: Participants will be able to apply simulation knowledge and skills to meet the learning needs of their undergraduate nursing students. The four best practices and the National League of Nurses/Jeffries Simulation Framework guided the programme. The resultant programme was developed in seven Modules building towards the completion of a simulation scenario, including planning for the scenario and post simulation debriefing. Phase four was an expert review of the programme, from an e-learning specialist, nurse educators and a simulation expert. Both an expert review guideline for a written report and interviews were used for evaluation and refinement of the programme, prior to the programme being rolled out to nurse educators. Results: Simulation in South African nurse education institutions is predominantly at a task training level and has been developed into complex patient scenarios using higher fidelity simulations. The programme was well received by the experts as relevant to simulation education in South African undergraduate nursing curricula, either in a university or nursing college educational environment. Limitations: The limitations to the study include the small sample sizes in the data collection phases, due to simulation in South Africa being relatively new in nursing education. Universities were predominantly represented in the data collection findings, despite the researcher reaching out to nursing colleges for their perspectives and inputs. There is a dearth of South African simulation literature and none on best education simulation practices in South African Nursing Education Institutions (NEIs), and therefore the researcher relied on international literature in the scoping review. Conclusion: The blended education simulation programme is based on the needs of nurse educators wanting to include simulation in their education environment, based on their resources, and allows them to work through the programme in their own work space and time. / MT2017

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes special report study entitled: Energy conscious design. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis explores the use of complexity theory in Physics Education Research as a way to examine the issue of student retention (a university’s ability to retain its students). University physics education is viewed through the concepts of nestedness and networked interactions. The work presented in this thesis covers two main aspects from a complexity theory perspective: (1) institutional action to enhance student retention; and, (2) the role of students’ in-course interaction networks. These aspects are used to reframe student retention from a complexity theory perspective, as well as to explore what implications this new perspective affords. The first aspect is addressed by conceptualizing student retention as an emergent phenomenon caused by both agent and component interaction within a complex system. A methodology is developed to illustrate a networked visualization of such a system using contemporary estimation methods. Identified limitations are discussed. To exemplify the use of simulations of complex systems, the networked system created is used to build a simulation of an “ideal” university system as well as a Virtual world for hypothesis-testing. The second aspect is divided into two sections: Firstly, an analysis of processes relating to how students’ in-course networks are created is undertaken. These networks are divided into two relevant components for student retention – the social and the academic. Analysis of these two components of the networks shows that the formation of the networks is not a result of random processes and is thus framed as a function of the core constructs of student retention research – the social and academic systems. Secondly, a case is made that students’ structural positions in the social and academic networks can be related to their grade achievement in the course.

This study explored the teaching processes in mathematics education for adults and how they are shaped by certain social and institutional forces. Teaching processes included the selection and ordering of content to be taught; the choice of such techniques as lectures or groupwork; the expectations, procedures and norms of the classroom; and the complex web of interactions between teachers and learners, and between learners themselves. The study addressed three broad questions: (1) What happens in adult mathematics classrooms? (2) What do these phenomena mean for those involved as teachers or learners? and (3) In what ways do certain factors beyond the teachers’ control affect teaching processes? The theoretical framework linked macro and micro approaches to the study of teaching, and offered an analytical perspective that showed how teachers’ thoughts and actions can be influenced and circumscribed by external factors. Further, it provided a framework for an analysis of the ways in which teaching processes were viewed, described, chosen, developed, and constrained by certain “frame” factors. The study was based in a typical setting for adult mathematics education: a community college providing a range of ABE-level mathematics courses for adults. Three introductory-level courses were selected and data collected from teachers and students in these courses, as well as material that related to the teaching and learning of mathematics within the college. The study used a variety of data collection methods in addition to document collection: surveys of teachers’ and adult learners’ attitudes, repeated semi-structured interviews with teachers and learners, and extensive ethnographic observations in several mathematics classes. The teaching of mathematics was dominated by the transmission of facts and procedures, and largely consisted of repetitious activities and tests. Teachers were pivotal in the classroom, making all the decisions that related in any way to mathematics education. They rigidly followed the set textbooks, allowing them to determine both the content and the process of mathematics education. Teachers claimed that they wished to develop motivation and responsibility for learning in their adult students, yet provided few practical opportunities for such development to occur. Few attempts were made to encourage students, or to check whether they understood what they were being asked to do. Mathematical problems were often repetitious and largely irrelevant to adult students’ daily lives. Finally, teachers “piloted” students through problem-solving situations, via a series of simple questions, designed to elicit a specific “correct” method of solution, and a single correct calculation. One major consequence of these predominant patterns was that the overall approach to mathematics education was seen as appropriate, valid, and successful. The notion of success, however, can be questioned. In sum, mathematics teaching can best be understood as situationally- constrained choice. Within their classrooms, teachers have some autonomy to act yet their actions are influenced by certain external factors. These influences act as frames, bounding and constraining classroom teaching processes and forcing teachers to adopt a conservative approach towards education. As a result, the cumulative effects of all of frame factors reproduced the status quo and ensured that the form and provision of mathematics education remained essentially unchanged.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009. / Prepared for: Dept. of Educational Studies. Title from title-page of electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves 185-213.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes special report study entitled : Energy conscious design. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

This study investigates the potential of the interactive board to affect the interaction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes in Greece. In Greece, the long term goals of the EFL classes are to prepare learners to cope with the demands of our times, that is, to use the target language appropriately to handle real world information in a wide range of interactional transactions. The Greek Ministry of Education, acknowledging these needs and the importance of interaction in EFL classes, proposes a syllabus that encourages communicative classrooms and activities that inspire interaction. Despite the innovations the curriculum suggests, there is research reporting that the teaching of English as a foreign language in Greece remains unchanged over the years.

Academic writing can be difficult to accomplish and disengaging to read (Monchamp 2007), the result is that often when we carry out research, our final readership can be miniscule. While reading and writing for the purposes of research should be informative, insightful, rigorous and challenging, is it also possible to make these processes entertaining or even pleasurable? Can the researcher give some personal insight into their world view and also from that of their interviewees instead of pretending that they play an entirely passive and objective role in the research process? Many qualitative researchers (Grumet 1981; Cortazzi 1993; Charmaz 1995; Ely, Vinz et al. 1997; Erben 1998; Usher 1998; Denzin and Lincoln 1998, 2003; Ellis and Bochner 1998, 2003; Richardson 1998, 2003; Bruner 2004; Perselli 2004; Antoniou and Moriarty 2006; Short, Grant et al. 2007; Sparkes 2007; Caulley 2008; Trahar 2008) have started to push the academic writing borders and explore new ways to write up research. This assignment seeks to provide a rationale for using narrative as a research method to tell the story of my research and to trial these methods on a small-scale project. A professor with an extensive writing portfolio has been interviewed in order to access some of her experiences with academic writing. The author seeks to use a emotionalist approach to the interview process by obtaining the participant’s view on their authentic experiences through open ended and unstructured interviews (Silverman 1993) with the aim of encouraging the interviewee to share their thoughts while discussing the author’s own observations and attitudes towards academic writing. This is in order to provide ideas and insight that might help other academics with their own approaches to the writing process.

Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished