M.Ed. (Didactics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Media Science) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Art history serves as a record of civilization's cultural heritage. Yet there is a paucity of art history or appreciation materials for the elementary level child that are historically ordered. The problem with which this study is concerned is the development of a prototype of a slide-tape series on art history for instruction of upper elementary students. The purpose of this investigation is to produce a slide-tape set that is designed to use advance organizers, direct attention, proceed with moderate speed, elicit responses, and give feedback. The series also guides the student in analyzing art with a historical approach. More over, the media stress key ideas on the culture and examine the relationship between the culture and the art produced.

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M.Ed. / The aim and purpose of the study is to explore the Natural Science (NS) teachers' perceptions of their teaching competence in Senior Phase township schools in Soweto. An in-depth literature review on theoretical perspective in Natural Science teachers' perceptions of their teaching competence in Senior Phase indicated that these partially addressed the key questions of the study, namely: what are the perceptions ofNatural Science teachers' about their teaching competence in Senior Phase township schools? What competences are perceived to enhance and contribute to Natural Science teaching in Senior Phase schools m Soweto? This study identifies a number of motivational competences that have been derived from current theories. The theory developed from the literature on NS teachers' competences review, facilitated the development of an empirical research. Qualitative research was conducted to explore NS teachers' perceptions of their teaching competence in Senior Phase schools in Soweto. This was with a view to facilitating the improvement thereof wherever necessary. Seven NS teachers from three Diepkloof Senior Phase schools were sampled. It also emerged from the findings of the research that there are, teachers who are not qualified to teach NS subject at the Senior Phase level. There also seems to be a lack of competent N.S. teachers in Senior Phase schools in Soweto. The high numbers of learners in NS classes create challenges for NS teachers to provide individual attention to learners. NS laboratories are poorly equipped and that the district officials do not provide sufficient support to NS teachers so that they can be more effective in their teaching. The study gave the researcher the opportunity to explore the teaching competence ofNS teachers in three Senior Phase township schools in Soweto, where the competence gap had already been expressed. There were many challenges identified by the findings. A comprehensive picture of the many inter-dependant aspects affecting the NS teaching competencies was acquired. The research conducted gave the researcher the motivational framework to establish both the current level ofNS teaching competence and the ideal levels of competences to which the three schools and other schools nationwide could aspire.

M.A. / The present dissertation is divided into three parts. The first and second part consist of the related theoretical background; while in the third part presents the crux of research data, including classification, analysis, records, findings and proposals. Specifically: The research project begins with the introduction which contains challenges that determine the research. What, in 2007, caused the withdrawal of a new history schoolbook in Greece, especially since it had started taking positive comments from the daily press of the country and contained positive presentations and innovations? Nowadays, does the Greek school education remain emphatically national when more and more nations are becoming multicultural and national, economies are becoming increasingly internationalised and the fabric of society, both globally and in Greece, is changing, becoming enriched with diverse cultural, linguistic, national and socio-economic characteristics? This dissertation endeavours to discover all of this. The first chapter of the first part presents the purpose, scope, subjects and methodology of research. This section analyzes the historical period from the Fall of Constantinople (1453) to the establishment of the modern independent Greek state in 1830 ( called Tourkokratia). The historical content is presented as it is in textbooks of compulsory education in Greece and those of Greek education in the Diaspora and then they are identified and compared to one another. Several questions will be asked and considered. For instance, what does every history schoolbook focus on? What is comprehended of the national history in the generations of Greek children to come? What do they promote as imperative knowledge to have and what to ignore? What is the mindset on our national image? And how are the Greeks depicted in contrast with other nations, especially today? What conclusions can be drawn? What proposals can emerge about the study of History in school? This study aims, in addition to the previous analysis, to list the historical facts presented in each textbook and to make a parallel comparison. Also, analysis of new and revised history textbooks (2006-07) allows us to draw conclusions regarding the content, which is given to students in Greece and the Diaspora. A list with details of facts that differentiate the books from their predecessors, especially after the The main sources used for the study are Greek textbooks for the Primary Education, the Lower Secondary Education and the Diaspora, over the last 30 years. The methodological tool of content analysis is chosen using the paragraph as the unit of analysis in the treatment of data. This approach provides more in depth information than what is given by a simple reading of a text. Then, this latent information is extrapolated with the intention of utilizing it for research. The units of analysis and categorization enable a condensation of the text, summarizing it and giving an overview of the performances of the researcher, at the points of interest. In our study, the information utilised from school textbooks was obtained mainly from main texts, exercises, supplementary texts (sources, etc.), pictures, images and explanations of the images. The findings regarding references which promote peaceful and friendly disposition towards “others” were positive whilst the findings for references that cause aggression, xenophobia and violent emotions were negative. Neutral allusions considered petitions that carry neither positive nor negative evaluative load, or negative or positive messages. More specifically, the methodology that is applied to search the content of school textbooks followed the path below: • Finding common categories for all the material which is under investigation. After an initial approach of content of school textbooks, the categories of analysis were defined by the objectives of the investigation. In other words, the process of formation of categories is based on how the elements of the books are structured, following all the methodological conditions. • Configuration categories of analysis. • The categorization of the reports provides data that essentially refers to the portrayal of Greece that each schoolbook reflects. This includes the basic texts, exercises, tasks and images and the supplementary material. • Collection and processing of the findings. • The drawing of conclusions.

D.Phil. / Being Kenyan means belonging to a number of levels, the national, the local, one’s tribe or ethnic group and supra-state. It means living in a world beyond the Kenyan nation in which absolutism, whether of the ethnic or national civic state, is no longer operative. While encouraging Kenyans to regionalize and globalize, the state in Kenya has also simultaneously sought to construct a nation and develop among Kenyans a sense of national identity. State pronouncements point out that Kenyans need to strengthen their self-identity in the midst of growing globalization and regionalization. They suggest that Kenya needs to teach History in schools to produce a new breed of citizens, imbued with a new vision, characterized by the Kenyan personality, that is individuals who are driven by a deep sense of patriotism and nationalism that transcends ethnic and traditional ties. To achieve this purpose, History teachers must enable students to apply historical knowledge to the analysis of contemporary issues and to deploy the appropriate skills of critical thinking. They teachers need to develop a critical pedagogy in which knowledge, habits, and skills of critical citizenship are taught and learnt. The study adopted a basic interpretive qualitative research design to understand the strategies that the teachers used to develop the attitudes and skills of critical thinking that enable learners to transcend their ethnic and national ties when thinking about issues that are Kenyan. Classroom observations and interviews were employed. The study involved seven provincial secondary schools situated in the Nairobi Province, Kenya. The finding is that to learn history, learners should not be simply inducted into an already existing identity. They have to be assisted to engage in open-ended debates over the nature of this identity as a way of introducing them to historical thinking that links the teaching and learning of history with its disciplined inquiry and core values and make it possible for them to understand their national identity part of a Kenyan culture that is interconnected with others at regional and global levels.

The aim of this study was to find out whether the school history textbooks used in Transkei Junior and Senior secondary schools were adequate in helping pupils meet the demands of their course. The results of the study would be used as argument for or against the assumption that the type of textbooks used in Transkei schools, through their inadequacy in equipping the pupils with the necessary skills for "doing" history, do contribute to the high failure rate in history, especially that they are in most schools, the only recourse for both the teacher and the pupil. In particular the study intended to see what strategies the history textbooks used to aid concept understanding which is crucial to the understanding of history. Twenty three criteria, fourteen objective and nine subjective were used to assess the books for readability and for strategies which might aid concept understanding. Eight books were assessed: four Std 5 and four Std 8 books. The results showed that only three of the eight books catered for the development of skills of learning history and were suited to the level of the pupiils for whom they were intended . History textbooks therefore need to be improved so as to foster the skills of learning history. Their inadequacy could be a contributory factor to the high rate of failure. In-service and pre-service training in methods of textbook analysis can assist in textbook selection and for changes in methods of teaching to supplement shortcomings in books which are commonly used

This dissertation, which was motivated by high failure rate in senior secondary history, is primarily an attempt at identifying some of the possible causes for poor performance in high school history in Transkei schools. One possible cause of the weak performance was identified as outmoded teaching methods which were encouraged by lack of adequate facilities and resources for history teaching and learning. The investigation took the form of a survey of both human and material resources in 30 of the then 210 senior secondary schools in Transkei. The survey questionnaire, which was directed to history teachers, covered aspects on personal information about the teachers, material resources and facilities for teaching history, and teaching methods related to history teaching. A total of 55 teachers responded to the questionnaire. The survey included all the three senior secondary school class levels, that is standard 8, 9 and 10. By looking at the nature of history as a discipline and the way in which students learn, it was discovered that at school level history could be learnt best through the 'experiential' approach. This is mainly because in dealing with time-past as it has to, history usually comes up with 'strange' concepts which cannot be easily grasped by present-day senior secondary teenagers. This is because understanding of historical concepts tends to develop slower than would generally be expected, unless it is re-enforced. In Transkei schools this problem of concepts understanding is made worse by the foreign language medium (English) in which the subject is taught. It is felt that these constraints could be partly aleviated with the use of audio-visual aids and self-activity teaching methods. However, this study revealed a gross inadequacy not only in facilities for teaching history but also of both human and material resources. This automatically discourages the 'new history' approach and teachers (most of whom are underqualified) tend to cling to the old-style lecture-textbook method to the detriment of their students. This study suggests that to improve this situation it is essential to upgrade both pre-service and in-service teachers' academic and professional standards. In addition history facilities and audio-visual materials should be generously supplied to afford ample opportunities for pupil activity. This then would be line with modern history teaching theories and, hopefully, would improve performance in history in this region.

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