A dominant feature of environmental education in British schools has been the centrality of the concepts of 'nature' and 'conservation'. Since the late 1970s, two influences have shifted educational attitudes away from purely considering rural nature and conservation, towards a more balanced approach which includes urban nature and conservation. The first influence was of the development of 'urban studies'. The second was the growth of 'Urban Wildlife Groups' (UWGs). U\VGs have influenced teacher approaches to urban nature at KS2 - not by using new ideas adapted to the unique circumstances of urban ecosystems, as the founders of the UWG movement had intended, but by using rurally-based ideas from their own progenitors: the County Wildlife Trusts. It is the contention of this thesis that curriculum planners and teachers at KS2 have been influenced by UWGs, who have selected and promoted concepts from a set of ecological values, theories and practices. The distinction between 'native' and 'alien' plant species on the basis of utility to wildlife is a key concept which permeates UWG theory and practice, and has influenced teachers. The 'alternative' approach provides both the contextual and theoretical underpinnings for the study of urban nature at KS2, through the entity of the Multicultural City Ecosystem and the process of multicultural ecology. It provides a framework for thought and practical reflection amongst education officers in UWGs, curriculum planners and teachers. It accepts dynamism in ecology, especially in cities. It accepts change over different scales of time and space in linking introduced species from overseas to prehistoric and historic cultural, social, economic and other human processes and agencies in cities. In so doing, it provides curriculum planners and teachers with an approach to urban nature at KS2 which is based upon an analysis of real events, historical (and prehistoric), contemporary and future. In essence, it focusses on what is there and why it is there, not on what urban ecologists say should be there. The KS2 text 'People, Plants and Places' (Agyeman (1995)) is an outcome of this approach.

Integrated science courses for secondary schools were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The rationale for the courses was the need to bridge the interface between school science and the personal lives of the students. so that they gained an understanding of themselves, and of the science and technology related issues that they would meet in their environment. There was also a wish to help students develop an awareness of the nature of science and of its limitations, so that if all the detail of courses was forgotten they held on to some idea about what science was and what it could do. The author argues that while the ideal of integrated science was moulded by events much of the dynamic remains and can be found in a different guise in the science curriculum of the mid 1990s. The socialisation of science teachers into particular science disciplines, concerns about teacher expertise to teach such courses and the organisational features such as the need for unusual timetable slots were all factors which militated against the implementation of this ideal. The centre-piece' of the research is a case study of change to integrated science for all pupils up to 16 in one secondary comprehensive school, between 1977 and 1980. The interplay of organisational, personal and ideological factors in the science department was like a rehearsal for a play, which was to he acted out on a national scale in the 1980s when a common examining system was put into place and science became compulsory. In the school, as in the wider context, the courses were modified by events, and in later years were designated as 'science'. Nevertheless it was possible to identify significant links to ideas in the early integrated science courses.

This thesis is based on research investigating 12-13 years old pupils' potential to approach through Logo different characterizations of variable prior to formal algebra teaching. The characterizations of variable considered are variable as general number, variables in a functional relationship and variable as specific unknown. Pupils' potential is defined by their capability to solve a range of specific Logo-based tasks involving one characterization of variable. During the solution process peer collaboration was encouraged and support was available from the researcher. The experimental work consisted of case studies of 6 pairs of pupils over a period of one year working in three specially designed Logo microworlds each one focussing on one characterization of variable. The observation of these pupils' work was carried out during their normal computer time with the researcher acting as the teacher of the whole group (34 pupils). Special attention was paid to the strategies pupils used to solve the posed tasks, researcher's interventions, peer collaboration and the influence of the Logo setting. Data included researcher's notes taken during the observation of pupils' work, pupils' written records, individual interviews and the responses to a paper and pencil questionnaire given at the beginning and at the end of the study. Previous studies of pupils' learning of algebra show that they have difficulties with each one of the three characterizations of variable whether they are algebra beginners or more advanced students. Evidence from this study shows that pupils can develop a potential to work with these characterizations of variable prior to formal algebra teaching. Crucial elements provoking this development were: the design of the activities appealing to pupils' prior numeric knowledge; the Logo environment; social interaction between pupils and with the researcher; the use of communicative and egocentric speech. The results of this research show that notions that are crucial to the use of variable can be developed prior to formal algebra teaching. Pupils' arithmetic can provide a basis for the development of these notions.

In recent years, research in students' conceptions about the physical world has revealed that when children reach the age of schooling they have already developed their own knowledge about the physical world which is sometimes rather different from the accepted scientific knowledge taught in schools. This thesis aims at investigating possible structures of commonsense reasoning about reversibility related to processes of interest to Science presented by students from two age-groups, 13/14 year old and 16/17 year old. The study has a theoretical framework based upon the scientific view of reversibility mainly related to Thermodynamics. It is also related to a conceptual, commonsense and developmental perspective taken from the literature, where reversibility is connected with different concepts such as causation, action, and conservation. Therefore, based upon this framework some very basic questions were asked to students about a selected number of phenomena. The empirical data was collected with the use of questionnaires. The sample consisted of two different age/instructional groups of students from England, Chile and Brazil. Factor Analysis was used to analyse the quantitative data. The qualitative data was analysed using a systemic network in which students' answers could be categorised. The main result of the quantitative analysis was a common three dimensional factor space of explanation for all groups with the dimensions relating to the ways in which the processes could be seen. They are respectively the contrast between 'can happen and cannot happen', 'needs an action and happens by itself, and 'has a goal and has no goal'. Phenomena can be located in this common space, but their position may vary for different age/instructional groups and for groups from different countries. The results of the qualitative analysis give a more detailed description of the way students see the reversibility of the processes and lend support to the quantitative results.

This research examined the teacher training for integrated science in some university departments and colleges in Nigeria with the aim of establishing its characteristics, quality and appropriateness of the training in fitting the trainees to their job. It was decided to focus on all the "players" in the training of teachers; to canvas their views and to investigate their understanding of integrated science as it appears in college and school curriculum. This study specifically sought to determine: (a) the thrust and characteristic features of the teacher training; (b) the relevance of the teacher training programme for integrated science students to their role in schools; (c) the concepts of integration implied and reflected in both the junior secondary school national core curriculum for integrated science and in the curricula for teacher training; further to compare and contrast the views found; (d) the perception and understanding of "integration of science" in schools held by practising integrated science teachers, student teachers and the teacher trainers. The integrated science curriculum in schools; and the curriculum used in the training colleges and the universities were also analysed to compare and contrast the integration models used to structure them. By means of questionnaires and interviews in schools, colleges and universities in Nigeria, data were collected and analysed describing the views, understandings and practices of integrated science teacher trainers, classroom (practising) teachers and the student teachers in selected schools and training institutions in Nigeria. A total of two hundred and sixty four (264) participants responded to the questionnaires. In the light of the research findings, their discussions and implications, the following conclusions and recommendations have been made, that: 1. There is a general low understanding of the meaning and the philosophy for integrated science education among the participants. The term "integrated science" was defined by most participants popularly as the teaching of the sciences of biology, chemistry and physics mixed together. 2. The student teachers, most of whom had weak background in the pre-requisite sciences, saw their training curricula as overloaded and not appropriately matched to the duration of their training and needs. However, students from training institutions that were under the Nigerian Integrated Science Teacher Education Project (NISTEP) were relatively more positive and optimistic about their training. 3. There is a dearth of relevantly trained integrated science practising teachers in schools as well as teacher trainers in the training institutions in Nigeria. 4. The Junior Secondary School curriculum for integrated science revealed a substantial amount of evidence to show that it was designed with relevance to the childhsneeds, environmental conditions in Nigeria and reasonable meaning of integration iii scope and intensity. The NISTEP curriculum appear to be a good model for the training of teachers to implement the JSS curriculum. Those of universities are more or less ambitious. It is recommended that a systematic programme of teacher training for integrated science be mounted to meet the need of the junior secondary schools as well as the teacher training institutions. First, a rigorous orientation and training of the teacher trainers in the meaning, philosophy and the methodology of integrated science education. The Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN) and the National Commission for College of Education (NCCE) can work together to achieve this goal. The NISTEP human and material resources and the STAN Integrated Science Panel can be invaluable vehicles in meeting both the full time and INSET training needs.

Language, for various reasons, tends to be a neglected area in the school physics curriculum. Discussion of "literacy" in the context of science teaching is limited, and many teachers are unclear about the issues involved. However, so-called "active reading" exercises have had an impact on the science curriculum up to GCSE level as part of a broader campaign for enhancing reading for learning. This has helped to highlight reading in science but without necessarily clarifying the issues or attempting to integrate results with what might be called "standard measures of progress". This study uses reading exercises constructed around topics in the Advanced level physics course, to investigate reading among physics students. Evidence of student progress and achievement such as homework marks and the A level grade, are related to students' responses on the exercises, to obtain an objective assessment of the value of language-related activities. Reasons for the choice of texts and methodologies are two-fold: From the point of view of the physics teacher, to allow an investigation into the range of skills and abilities which students demonstrate on language-based material. For the students involved, to make participating in the exercises useful and relevant to their studies. Analyses are directed at looking at the text, task and responses individually from a linguistic as well as a pedagogic perspective, and more particularly at the relationships between the areas. Connections between reading competence and achievement in physics are shown and suggestions are made on how teachers could encourage reading, monitor the reading competence of students and identify students with problems. Implications for future research into language in physics are also discussed.

This research is about the design, development and testing of a semiquantitative computer modelling tool called Linklt. The aim of the software is to provide secondary students with a computational environment where they can think at a system level about models and the modelling process by expressing and testing their own ideas about phenomena without having to pay attention to the analytical relations between the variables involved. The research involved two exploratory studies using two different versions of the software. These studies were carried out in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil with students aged 13-18 years old. During the studies, the students worked in pairs and used the computer tool to perform the expressive and exploratory tasks presented to them. The interviews were tape-recorded, some were also videorecorded and the models used and created by the students together with the steps to create them were saved and used for later analysis. The design of the first version of the software - Linklt I - was based on an analysis of another computer modelling system called IQON. This first version of the software was then tested with students during a Preliminary study. The analysis of the data collected led to a rethinking of the conceptual model of the system. A new interface and changes in the properties of the objects of the system were discussed and implemented, resulting in a new version of the software: Linklt II . The second (Core) study aimed to investigate students' success and failure with the new version of the system, paying attention to the ease of use and learnability of the software, as well as to how they explored and externalised their ideas when using it. The analysis of this study provided evidence that the students could learn to use the software in a short period of time and that they could undertake work of at least potential educational value with the tool.

This thesis describes the development of a specification for a computer based modelling system in geography. The modelling system will be for use in upper secondary school geography classes. The classroom approach to geography reflects the developments within the broader academic discipline. By adopting a systems analysis approach, it is possible to represent models on the computer, from the full range of geographical approaches. The essence of geographical modelling is to be able to use a computer based environment to manipulate, and create, the inter-relationships of the components of a geographical system. The development of the specification for the modelling system, follows an eleven step methodology. This has been adapted and modified from the Research and Development Methodology. It includes a formative evaluation of the prototypes in classroom trials. The possible forms of representation of geographical ideas on the computer are considered. Procedural and declarative models are developed, as prototypes, on a range of software tools. The software tools used, for the initial developments, are the Dynamic Modelling System, spreadsheets and the language, Prolog. The final prototype is developed in a Smalltalk environment. Consideration is also given to the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods of modelling. Model templates are identified which give an underlying structure to a range of geographical models. These templates allow the students to build new models for different geographical areas. Proposals are made for a staged approach which addresses the introduction and use of modelling in the geography classroom. These stages move through the use of simulation, through the modification of the underlying model, to the transfer of the model template to different areas and finally, the building of new models.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Magister Commercii - MCom / There is usually much reaction among employees when a new system is introduced in an organization. These things are intended to improve performance but sometimes cause considerable controversy amongst the employees and management. This study examines the implementation of LE and it attempts to analyse the reactions of employes in a manufacturing company in South Africa - GKN Sinter Metals (GKN), Cape Town. According to the literature review, the implementation of the LE can play a significant role in improving the company's performance. / South Africa