Text in Afrikaans / An increase in information accompanied by scientific and technological development necessitates the re-evaluation of the present Biology Curriculum, as the curriculum does not meet the demands of the community. An analysis of the above-mentioned problem reveals the structure and principles of Biology as a subject and the bio-ethic factors which to a larger extend influence man's values as technology and information change. By means of a literature study and personal interviews the development and design of a lifescience curriculum for Biology is formulated. Within this, several aspects concerning the teaching of a lifescience Biology Curriculum will be discussed. Important methods and strategies required for the successful teaching of Biology include a process approach, a constructivism approach, demonstration, discovery, reflective and metalearning, practical work, discussions and co-operative learning methods. The successful teaching of Biology, however, goes hand in hand with effective preservice and inservice training of Biology teachers. / lnformasievermeerdering gepaardgaande met wetenskaplike en tegnologiese ontwikkeling noodsaak 'n herevaluering van die huidige Biologiekurrikulum aangesien die kurrikulum nie voldoen aan die eise en behoeftes van die gemeenskap nie. Ter ontleding van bogenoemde probleem, word die struktuur en grondslae van Biologie as vak en die bio-etiese faktore wat toenemend die mens se waardedimensie beinvloed, namate die tegnologie en inligting verander, bespreek. Deur middel van 'n literatuurstudie en persoonlike onderhoude word die ontwikkeling en ontwerp van 'n Lewenskunde Biologiekurrikulum uiteengesit. Hieruit sal verskeie aspekte rakende die onderrig van 'n Lewenskunde Biologiekurrikulum bespreek word. Belangrike metodes en strategiee wat vir suksesvolle Biologie-onderrig benodig word, sluit die prosesbenadering, 'n konstruktivistiese benadering, demonstrasie-, ontdekkende -, reflektiewe - en metaleer, praktiese werk, besprekings- en kooperatiewe leermetodes in. Die sukses van Biologie-onderrig gaan egter hand-aan-hand met effektiewe voordiens- en indiensopleiding van Biologie-onderwysers. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Didaktiek)

Cette thèse présente l'exploration humaine du monde microscopique de règle de la beauté formelle, afin de révéler la loi inhérente de l’univers dans lequel tous les êtres sont connectés et communiqués. La thèse encourage les hommes à découvrir le charme unique de l’univers via les médias d’art, et à découvrir la signification essentielle de l'humanité qui apportera plus de l’esprit d’innovation. Tirer et appliquer de nombreuses formes de beauté des cellules biologiques sous le microscope dans la création de l’art contemporain est un travail totalement innovant et magique, comme les petites cellules contiennent l’essence de l’univers. La loi de l’univers joue un rôle primordial dans la formation de la beauté du monde microscopique. Cette thèse a également étudié comment l’esprit humain participe au processus de l’esthétique microscopique qui améliore la théorie de l’esthétique dans son ensemble. Tout cela enrichit la pensée et la forme de la création des artistes contemporains. Cette thèse vise à promouvoir la construction et la communication de l’esprit du monde microscopique, et à retrouver les inspirations et les natures. C’est un sujet spirituel qui mérite l’attention des artistes contemporains. / This thesis presents the human exploration of the rule of beauty, of forms in the microscopic world, to reveal the inherent law of the universe in which all beings are connected and communicated. The thesis encouraged men to experience the unique charm of the universe via the media of the arts, and to discover the essential meaning of humanity that will bring more spirits of innovation. Learning and applying the beauty of many forms of biological cells under the microscope in the creation of contemporary art is a completely innovative and magical work, since the small cells contain the essence of the universe. The law of the universe plays a crucial role in the formation of the beauty of the microscopic world. This thesis also studied how the human mind involved in the process of microscopic aesthetic that enhances the theory of aesthetics as a whole. All this enriched the thought and the form of the creation of contemporary artists.This thesis aims to promote the construction and communication of the spirit of the microscopic world, and to find the inspirations and natures. It is a spiritual subject that deserves the attention of contemporary artists.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES The investigation aimed to determine how the learning of the life sciences is facilitated (mediated) in special schools for blind learners and to establish how the lessons learnt from this experience could be implemented to the advantage of blind learners in the Senior Phase and Further Education and Training Band in inclusive Outcomes-based education settings. METHODOLOGY Educators and blind learners were interviewed through the use of the Qualitative Inquiry methodology as well as its techniques and strategies for data gathering. Analysis of the transcripts resulted in the development of themes/codes discussed in the research investigation. RESULTS Educators spent a good amount of time and effort with blind learners in the biology and life sciences classrooms. It appeared as if the pastoral role of the educator predominantly exceeded the teaching of biology and life sciences to these learners. Further, it became evident that the emphasis did not fall strongly enough on the achievement of the outcomes envisaged with the biology curriculum but more on the establishment of a caring and supportive classroom environment. CONCLUSIONS Biology and other life sciences subjects have much potential for the blind learners in South Africa but they are not offered at some of the schools or efficiently mediated due to educators’ reluctance, lack of knowledge and resources. Learning mediation strategies to make biology and life sciences more accessible to blind learners could be explored. / Thesis (PhD (Curriculum and Instructional Design and Development))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

Integrate the NGSS and CCSS ELA by using a cycle of science and ELA activities to help students learn about the flow of energy between photosynthesis and cellular respiration.

Die SED-Organisation an der Bergakademie Freiberg war in den 1950er Jahren eine Autorität mit Schwierigkeiten. Zum einen suchte sie nach einer optimalen Arbeitsstruktur. Zum anderen fehlten der Partei engagierte Genossen. Diese Schwierigkeiten nutzten Studenten und Wissenschaftler. Sie näherten sich der Partei oder distanzierten sich von ihr – je nachdem, wie sie ihre Ziele am besten verwirklichen konnten.

This paper focuses on the local additive manufacturing AM for life science ecosystem. It aims to study the roles of the different stakeholders, and the strengths and weaknesses of the local AM ecosystem through the lens of the research on Innovation ecosystems (IE), Innovation Systems (IS), and Innovation clusters (IC). The main framework used in this study is technological innovation systems (TIS). The methodology of this research relies on a mixed-methods approach that involved surveys administered through structured interviews and self-completion questionnaire. The stakeholders involved in the study include organizations from the industrial sector, healthcare providers, academia, public agencies, and innovation support. Data collected from twenty-two participants was compiled and used to determine response frequencies on nine multiple response questions, and mean scores for thirty-two Likert scale questions. The frequency response tables were used to determine the stakeholder roles, while mean scores were used to determine the TIS functional components ratings and overall standings.  The roles of the stakeholders were determined through the lens of the existing literature on IE. The stakeholders have mixed involvement across the ecosystem, sometimes occupying multiple role categories within the ecosystem. It was found that healthcare stakeholders, and industry stakeholders fill direct value creation and value support roles due to their active participation in defining medical needs and supporting the ecosystem. Next, Public agency stakeholders fill leadership roles, due to their regulatory and actor integration roles. Finally Academic stakeholders fill leadership roles by providing research and knowledge to the ecosystem.   In terms of strengths and weaknesses, the TIS framework was used to evaluate the seven original functional components, and an additional component that was added based on the IE research. It was found that Function 3 Knowledge Diffusion was the strongest function, due to the noncompetitive environment that the local AM ecosystem has established. Meanwhile, Function 2 Knowledge Development scored lowest and was determined to be the weakest functional component due to a lack in the number of patents within the innovation ecosystem. In addition, individual strengths and weaknesses within the functional components were highlighted for a more nuanced look into the strengths and weaknesses of individual functional components. The highest rated strength of the ecosystem was determined to be collaboration, and its weakest area was the noncompetitive environment.

This dissertation presents research in the development and use of a multi-modal visual and haptic virtual model in higher education. The model, named Chemical Force Feedback (CFF), represents molecular recognition through the example of protein-ligand docking, and enables students to simultaneously see and feel representations of the protein and ligand molecules and their force interactions. The research efforts have been divided between educational research aspects and development of haptic feedback techniques. The CFF model was evaluated in situ through multiple data-collections in a university course on molecular interactions. To isolate possible influences of haptics on learning, half of the students ran CFF with haptics, and the others used the equipment with force feedback disabled. Pre- and post-tests showed a significant learning gain for all students. A particular influence of haptics was found on students reasoning, discovered through an open-ended written probe where students' responses contained elaborate descriptions of the molecular recognition process. Students' interactions with the system were analyzed using customized information visualization tools. Analysis revealed differences between the groups, for example, in their use of visual representations on offer, and in how they moved the ligand molecule. Differences in representational and interactive behaviours showed relationships with aspects of the learning outcomes. The CFF model was improved in an iterative evaluation and development process. A focus was placed on force model design, where one significant challenge was in conveying information from data with large force differences, ranging from very weak interactions to extreme forces generated when atoms collide. Therefore, a History Dependent Transfer Function (HDTF) was designed which adapts the translation of forces derived from the data to output forces according to the properties of the recently derived forces. Evaluation revealed that the HDTF improves the ability to haptically detect features in volumetric data with large force ranges. To further enable force models with high fidelity, an investigation was conducted to determine the perceptual Just Noticeable Difference (JND) in force for detection of interfaces between features in volumetric data. Results showed that JNDs vary depending on the magnitude of the forces in the volume and depending on where in the workspace the data is presented.

In the emerging Web of Data, publishing stable and unique identifiers promises great potential in using the web as common platform to discover and enrich data in the ecologic sciences. With our collaborative e-Science platform “BEFdata”, we generated and published unique identifiers for the data repository of the Biodiversity – Ecosystem Functioning Research Unit of the German Research Foundation (BEF-China; DFG: FOR 891). We linked part of the identifiers to two external data providers, thus creating a virtual common platform including several ecological repositories. We used the Global Biodiversity Facility (GBIF) as well the International Plant Name Index (IPNI) to enrich the data from our own field observations. We conclude in discussing other potential providers for identifiers for the ecological research domain. We demonstrate the ease of making use of existing decentralized and unsupervised identifiers for a data repository, which opens new avenues to collaborative data discovery for learning, teaching, and research in ecology.

The funding regimens of Higher education institutions (HEIs) present a challenge to every institution. It is expected that students who are selected to register for degrees or diplomas must be successful and obtain their qualifications in the minimum time required to ensure optimum subsidy for the institution. The throughput rates in higher education institutions remains of serious concern and emphasis on the selection criteria or prerequisites to enter a specific programme might be a possible factor in the throughput rates of students. The aim of this study was to identify and describe whether basic nursing students who passed Grade 12 Biology, currently referred to as Life Science, with at least 50% was a factor in the successful completion of the Biological and Natural Science module (BNS 100) in their first year. A quantitative research study was conducted in one government nursing college, Gauteng province in Tshwane region in South Africa. A checklist was used to collect data from the 2014 first-year student records and a questionnaire was used to collect data from the 2015 second-year students. No sampling was done since all the 2014 first-year students’ admission records were accessed for data collection and all the available second-year students of 2015 were invited to participate. The findings revealed that background knowledge of Grade 12 Life Science and English language proficiency could be associated with the academic performance in the BNS100 module of the basic nursing students. The findings might be used to make recommendations for possible prerequisites for entry into a nursing programme as well as to support students’ education and training to ensure a reduction in student attrition rates and improve the shortage of nurses. The findings motivated the researcher to recommend that the college under study, and other HIEs with similar concerns and student profiles should revise the selection and recruitment criteria for students to enter the basic nursing programme. This might contribute to selecting the correct prospective candidates who would have a better chance of completing their basic training in the four-year time as the expected period to complete the programme. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

In the emerging Web of Data, publishing stable and unique identifiers promises great potential in using the web as common platform to discover and enrich data in the ecologic sciences. With our collaborative e-Science platform “BEFdata”, we generated and published unique identifiers for the data repository of the Biodiversity – Ecosystem Functioning Research Unit of the German Research Foundation (BEF-China; DFG: FOR 891). We linked part of the identifiers to two external data providers, thus creating a virtual common platform including several ecological repositories. We used the Global Biodiversity Facility (GBIF) as well the International Plant Name Index (IPNI) to enrich the data from our own field observations. We conclude in discussing other potential providers for identifiers for the ecological research domain. We demonstrate the ease of making use of existing decentralized and unsupervised identifiers for a data repository, which opens new avenues to collaborative data discovery for learning, teaching, and research in ecology.