D.Ed. / Societal structures are undergoing drastic changes at present. In the modern technological community, increasing pressure is placed on the child to achieve, particularly in the scholastic field. The urgent need for higher scholastic achievement makes greater demands on both the educator (parent and teacher) and the child. A positive self-concept can provide the motivation which could lead to higher scholastic achievement, but the way in which the child plans and uses his time, and works towards future success, may be of the utmost importance for high average scholastic achievement. Against this background, the aim of this research was to investigate selfconcept and time-concept within an educational context. The study probed the issue of whether there is a difference between the self -concept and time-concept of pupils with a high average scholastic achievement and those of pupils with a low average. Further, the possible relationship between the self-concept and the time-concept of these pupils was investigated. To achieve this goal, the research was based on seven sub-goals. The first three of these goals were realised by investigating a theoretical framework regarding the self-concept and time-concept of pupils within an educational context, and also by educationally founding self-concept, time-concept and scholastic achievement. An empirical investigation was undertaken on the basis of the theoretical framework mentioned. Standard six, eight and ten pupils who were enrolled at an Afrikaans-medium and an English-medium high school in the Roodepoort area falling under the ex-Transvaal Education Department, as well as such pupils at an English-medium high school in the Johannesburg area, falling under the ex-Department of Education and Training, were involved in the investigation. A structured questionnaire in Afrikaans and English was developed on the basis of the above-mentioned self-concept and time-concept by adapting and refining already existing instruments. In accordance with the fourth sub-goal, this questionnaire, consisting of two instruments, was used to investigate the pupils' self-concept (instrument one) and timeconcept (instrument two). The approach followed for analysing and interpreting the data entails six steps. The data on self-concept and time-concept were analysed separately in steps 1, 4 and 5. In step 1 the validity and reliability of the measuring instruments were investigated. First order factor analytical procedures and item analyses were applied respectively in this regard. In each case only one variable (scale), namely self-concept and time-concept, was identified in this way. In step 2 the calculation of the correlation between the average percentage of the previous examination (biographical information) and the calculated average percentage (from information in Annexure C) was done on the basis of the data obtained from the Afrikaans-medium high school. This calculation was aimed at using the data from the questionnaire (obtained from the one English-medium high school that failed to provide the information required in Annexure C) for further statistical analyses. Step 3 entailed the determination of the cut-off points for pupils with a high average and those with a low average in scholastic achievement. Two groups of pupils were thus identified, namely the group of pupils with a high average scholastic achievement and the groups of pupils with a low average. The variables (number of factors) of self-concept and time-concept that could be used in the further analyses of the data, were identified by means of a prime factor analysis (PFA1), together with a Doblimin rotation method identified in step 4. The variables of self-concept and time-concept were subsequently used to conduct multi-variable and single variable analyses according to step 5 on the data of the pupils. These analyses were aimed at establishing whether there was a difference between the self-concept and the time-concept of the pupils with a high average and those of the pupils with a low average in scholastic achievement. The Hotelling T 2 test and MANOVA were used to test multi-variable hypotheses. The Student's t-test, ANOVA and the Scheffe test were used to test the single variable hypotheses. In step 6 of the analyses a canonical correlation analysis was performed on the data to establish whether there were statistically significant relationships between the self-concept and the time-concept of the pupils with a high average scholastic achievement. The same procedure was followed to determine whether there were statistically significant relationships between the self-concept and the time-concept of the pupils with a low average scholastic achievement. The findings obtained from all these analyses are stated briefly: There is, in fact, a difference between the self-concept and time-concept of pupils with a high average scholastic achievement and those with a low average. With regard to self-concept, the pupils with a high average have a more positive academic self, a better relationship with family and relatives, a more supportive religious orientation and a better attitude towards values than the pupils with a low average in scholastic achievement. With regard to time-concept, the pupils with a high average are more future-oriented, more conscientious in their time management, experience less anxiety about the future and are less focused on the present than the pupils with a low average in scholastic achievement. With regard to the relationships between the self-concept and the timeconcept of the pupils, the findings include the following: * Pupils with a high average scholastic achievement - there is a relationship between academic self, relationship with family and - relatives, social relations, religious orientation, physical self, negative experience of frustration, attitude towards values and future orientation, conscientious time management, negative in anxiety about the future, independent utilisation of time and contentment with the present and the past. Pupils with a low average scholastic achievement - there is a relationship between academic self, relationship with family and relatives, social relations, religious orientation, physical self, attitude towards values and future orientation, conscientious time management, time-consciousness, focus on the present, independent utilisation of time and contentment with the present and the past. On the whole, it would therefore appear that two variables of the timeconcept, namely anxiety about the future and focus on the present, can give rise to an inability to achieve a high scholastic average. It could therefore be in the interest of the child that the educators (parents and teachers) should make every effort to foster a positive selfconcept and a future-oriented time-concept in the child. The emphasis should be placed on planning and working towards a future goal. In addition, it should also be stressed that the enjoyment of the moment should be exchanged for future success.

This thesis advances the proposition that learning disabled students' participation in kinesthetic or dance and mime performance activities provides an alternative expressive mode to the verbally oriented activities through which creativity has traditionally been examined and evaluated. Between February and May, 1989, I designed and carried out research project in an elementary school in Vancouver, B.C. A group of students, characterized as "learning disabled," participated under my direction in the design, rehearsal, and presentation of a performance of mime and movement to a narrated text developed mainly by the students. Techniques of participant observation and interview (as well as videotape recordings) were used to document both students' activities and the responses of students and their teachers The technique of cognitive mapping was used to analyze observations of the students in kinesthetic activities. Results of this case study have implications for theory and practice. Theoretical implications relate to conceptions o creativity derived from Maslow's description of "peak experiences" and from analyzing Weisberg's definition of creativity. An applied outcome of this research allows practical generalizations about the use, design, and implementation of programmed kinesthetic activities as a means of encouraging creativity among learning disabled students. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Recent research in second language acquisition makes a strong argument for the importance of promoting language learning tasks in the classroom which allow students to engage in authentic information exchange for which the main focus is meaning. The current emphasis on language learning through meaningful use has highlighted the role of negotiation of comprehensible input in second language learning. This has led to a psychololinguistic rationale for advocating group work in the classroom. Discussion on a topical issue provides a specific and natural group work task for ESL learners to use language in a problem-solving and decision-making context. As well, this type of task provides a productive context in which to study the processes of effective language use and the strategies of competent language users. The research reported here is exploratory; this document reports on a case-study of eight adult learners enrolled in an English for Academic Purposes discussion course. Their performance in discussion leadership was ranked globally by instructor and class peers using a leadership criteria checklist. These two subjective rankings correlated highly and were used as a central indicator of leader effectiveness. The study investigated the question: how might we better understand a number of variables which relate to these global rankings? This was explored through objective measures of discourse, self-reported learning strategies, an integration index and a learning style preference measure, which were analysed statistically for correlation. Discourse variables were measured on data collected during the group discussions. Strategy use, integrative motivation and learning style flexibility were determined by analysing what the students reported in a semi-structured interview. Results showed that the global ranking correlated positively with the objective discourse measures and learning style flexibility, but not with learning strategy use nor with integrative motivation. Qualitative examination of two high achievers was conducted. These two detailed cases reinforced some aspects of quantitative findings, but also shed light on possible individual differences between high achievers. The findings from both quantitative and qualitative data are reported together with their implications for future work in this area. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

Children have prior knowledge, or mini-theories about science topics presented at school before being formally taught that is constructed from their everyday experiences. Teachers generally do not take this knowledge into consideration in the planning of science units and are often confused about why their students fail to learn. Hewson (1983) suggests that students will experience conceptual change only if it is intelligible, plausible, and fruitful and that prior knowledge, which is often an alternate conception of a scientific idea, must be challenged or clarified. Schon (1984) claims that teachers need to reflect on their actions in order to understand their own as well as their students' "constructed worlds". He suggests that teachers, when they reflect, become their own researchers. This case study examines how I, a teacher/researcher, adopted a constructlvlst perspective towards teaching a unit in magnetism and how the students responded. Vignettes of selected Incidents tell the story of the difficulties that my students had learning some of the concepts of magnetism and how I reacted to the knowledge that they were having difficulty. The unit in magnetism was taught to my class of thirty-two students (10/11 year olds) at an elementary school in a community in British Columbia using a constructivlst teaching sequence developed by Driver (1986).The lessons in magnetism were video-taped and both the students and I kept a journal. To elicit students' ideas about magnetism a diagnostic test was given at the beginning of the unit. A continuing record of students' ideas was kept throughout the study and at the end a post diagnostic test was given to see which, if any, alternate conceptions persisted. It was found that teaching with a constructivist approach had its' difficulties. Reflecting, for myself and my students, took practice and taking students' ideas Into consideration, both in the planning and teaching stages, may have taken more time than many teachers have available. However, the knowledge that I gained about my students' beliefs, through the process of reflecting, was valuable in planning lessons that both challenged and clarified the students' alternate conceptions. Teachers are recommended to take their students' ideas into consideration in lesson planning and to use activities that will encourage conceptual change. However, teachers should consider the time factor and the difficulties in reflecting before using a constructivist approach in teaching science. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

self and other. If reading the local papers and talking to parents is any indication, Education, it seems, is asked to play a greater role in the upbringing of our students. The schools are responsible for ensuring that the students are well fed and adequately supervised not just during school hours, but before and after as well. Schools are expected to keep up with the rigors of ensuring that the students are practiced in the almighty disciplines of reading, writing, arithmetic and now, technology skills. This will somehow propel them into the economic demands of the new millenium. But the impact of the culture and the community from which the students come - the histories of their experiences as individuals and as a group- are seldom explored. L Intuitively, I am drawn to my own stories when trying to make sense of the stories that swirl and swish amongst the myriad of moments that collectively comprise each experience. The influence our narratives have on the way we understand and learn is explored in this paper. Sandwiched in between the stories is a study of how using Drama as an instructional technique can be used to explore our narratives and expand on our ways of knowing and understanding, particularly how it is experienced by the English as a Second Language (ESL) learner. . Twenty-six grade five and six students from a multi-cultural, suburban community were observed. The students participated in a two-month, tri-weekly unit on basic drama methods, which culminated in a final class narrative performance. Four ways of data collection were employed. A static camera (i.e. a video camera that remained in a fixed position on a tripod in one of the classroom corners) was used throughout each lesson to record the events and to supply another view to the multi-perspective data collection. Student journals as well as a personal narrative from each participant (a video portrait) were collected. The classroom teacher also kept a journal and made observations about her students throughout the unit period. This dissertation was not limited to the stories of the students in the classroom as this journey precipitated a desire, indeed a need, to tell my own stories of daughter, mother, sister, student, teacher and friend. Since our physical experiences, our stories and our ways of understanding are integrally intertwined, this (re) search honored narrative as a way of including these aspects in the dissertation. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

M.Ed. / This dissertation sets out to examine the feasibility of teaching English to rural black teachers by distance education. It argues that the retraining of teachers is central to the reconstruction program of the ANC government and that English, as medium of instruction in most schools, is an area of weakness that needs to be addressed. It claims that failure to tackle this language issue creatively will contribute to the continued failure to achieve educational goals in South Africa. While it recognises the inability of formal institutions to cope with the enormous task of teacher retraining programmes, it seriously questions the effectiveness of teaching communicative competence by distance education. It claims that distance education does not achieve parity with conventional provision either in quality, quantity or status. It therefore sets out to find some of the 'missing links' to successful language learning and teaching in existing distance systems and to offer suggestions and recommendations for future consideration. A critical discussion of the literature on distance education, learning theories and adult second language learning, provides the context in which the training of black teachers is situated. The theoretical debates highlight the deficiencies in many of our existing language programmes and illustrate the need to implement the concept of mediated learning in the development of distance language study courses. The dissertation proposes the thesis that autonomous learning, which is central to the concept of both open and distance systems, conflicts with the general characteristics of black teachers who are products of the Bantu Education system. It emphasises the need to recognise these barriers to learning and advises the creation of a distance learning context in South Africa which exhibits a greater 'continuity of concern' (Sewart,1978) by providing for a two-way dialogue through both tutor-learner and learner-learner interaction. The dissertation therefore deals with two prime concerns: the need to equip underqualified black teachers with communicative competence in English, which will facilitate learning in the classroom and the difficulty of teaching a skills based course at a distance (see also fig. 1 on p.1).

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to describe how sixth-grade students talk about their writing and their writing portfolios in a natural setting. A qualitative approach was used in the study. Through interviews, classroom observations, and analysis of site artifacts, I studied four female sixth graders’ talk in the context of a writing workshop for eighteen weeks. Assuming the role of limited participant observer, I spent a minimum of six to eight hours each week in the classroom observing and interviewing the informants during the second semester of the 1993-1994 school year. The primary questions I addressed were (a) How do sixth graders talk about their writing? and (b) How does writing fit into the informants’ personal literacy configurations? I codified all data in order to analyze how students talked about their portfolios. Two themes of talk emerged in this analysis: textual responses--responses to content, language, perspective, and mechanics; and affective responses--the role of association, imagination, accomplishment, singularity, effort, fantasy/realism, and entertainment value in their writing. Results revealed that the research participants applied a wide array of criteria-- both textual and nontextual in nature--to their writing and their writing portfolios. These criteria did not increase Significantly in number; however, students’ abilities to articulate the criteria developed. In addition, results indicate the social nature of writing. Five complex, interactive, and recursive factors highly influenced the manner in which students talked about their work: students’ prior writing experiences, shared trust, ownership and responsibility, classroom activities, and the opportunity to reflect. Results also suggest that students have the ability to assess their own writing and, therefore, should participate in self-assessment and in the establishment of a common composition vocabulary. Furthermore, the study reveals that portfolios encourage ownership and responsibility and aid Students in seeing themselves as writers. Finally, portfolios can be powerful reflective tools that may help many students in articulating their thoughts about their writing and in making revisions to their pieces. Students who do not see revision as an essential part of writing, however, may reap few benefits from portfolio assessment. / Ph. D.

This study examined the partnerships of three mentor/protege teacher dyads in early childhood education. Particular attention was paid to the impact of the relationship on the job satisfaction and teaching practices of the participants. Quantitative data were gathered through the Early Childhood Job Satisfaction Survey and through the Teaching Practices Observation Scale. Qualitative data were gathered through the use of in-depth interviews and teacher journals. Findings support the conclusion that mentoring partnerships can provide for enhanced professional development for all participants when a strong personal connection can be forged. Strategies for effective mentoring programs are suggested. / Master of Science

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education