published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Education

The end of apartheid in South Africa in 1994 triggered unprecedented changes in the country's institutions including the school. In the city of Durban one such change was the influx of Zulu-speaking pupils into previously "Indian" and "White" schools in their quest to learn through the medium of English only. The majority of these students are less proficient in English and therefore find it difficult to participate in classroom activities. Drawing on questionnaires, interviews and personal observations of classroom interaction, this study reports on one teaching method, peer tutoring, that some teachers at Southlands Secondary use to attend to the communicative needs of these students. In particular, the study reports on how peer-tutoring works at this school, what its benefits are to the learners, what the learners' attitudes are toward this teaching method, and what its implications are for the English-only argument. The study shows that contrary to the English-only argument, using the students' native tongue, Zulu, in an English-only classroom can assist rather than impede ESL learning. Peer tutoring not only contributes to the academic development of Zulu-speaking pupils and fosters friendships and meaningful contacts between Zulu-speaking and Indian pupils, but it also provides the latter with opportunities to learn Zulu and to appreciate the language as a resource in an English-only environment. It is hoped that this study, which is very much pilot in nature, will help highlight issues that can become the subject of more detailed studies in this field. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1999.

Volunteer literacy tutors are key actors in one-on-one adult learner-tutor relationships, although few studies have examined tutors' role in literacy provision. This study had two objectives: to describe and analyse how McGill Students for Literacy tutors understand literacy and how they behave toward their learners and toward their organization, and to understand why many tutors distance themselves and their match from the organization. 18 McGill Students for Literacy tutors participated in semi-structured interviews with the researcher in this organizational case study. The hypothesis states that tutors choose autonomy from the literacy organization because of certain beliefs related to their attitudes as volunteers and to the organization's focus on individualized learning. These beliefs are: one-on-one instruction succeeds where classroom-based instruction has not, individual attention compensates for lack of training, good-will is better than good training, and volunteer activities can be justified on the basis of perceived need rather than demonstrable progress.

The aim of the thesis will deal with the issue of free time and its use in adolescents. First, it will be explained the concept of man as a teenager in the development phase, then thesis will be given to the possibilities of spending your free time of young people. Will also be examined, in particular, the social factors that affect adolescents when selecting leisure activities. Emphasis will be placed on the family, peer groups, partners, the media, mainly because these factors act on their decisions. Work will include passages about possible socio-pathological phenomena that can occur in adolescentscaused by interference on the part of peer groups, media

The study was undertaken to identify the factors that influence standard seven pupils when they choose whether to continue with mathematics at senior secondary level or not. The relative importance of the factors was also determined. The literature study identified the following factors: attitude towards mathematics, utility of mathematics, family members' influence, mathematics teacher's influence, peer group influence, achievement and gender. The empirical study dealt with the following: * A 77 item questionnaire was completed by 201 standard seven pupils. * The statistical analysis revealed significant differences between pupils who chose mathematics and those who did not, with regard to all variables except gender. * A regression analysis identified the most influential factors as achievement, family members' influence, attitude and the mathematics teacher. * The overall implications were: - Pupils be made to experience success so that their attitudes may change. - Parents must be involved in their children's education. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Education in the Faculty of Education at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2014 / There is currently a strong emphasis on the teaching of Physical Sciences in the school system. The National Department of Education has established Dinaledi schools to address this situation to increase the number of learners taking Physical Sciences as one of their school subjects and to also increase the number of passes in the subject. Furthermore, Physical Sciences learners struggle to understand certain scientific concepts and develop alternative ideas about these concepts that have a negative influence on further development of other integrated science concepts. The thesis proposes the importance of developing concept mapping to enhance the teaching of topics in a Physical Sciences classroom. The research focused on the chemical equilibrium in a Grade 12 Physical Sciences tutoring classroom. This happened in a group setting, with learners enrolling with the specific aim of improving their marks for Physical Sciences as one of the important gateway subjects for entrance to tertiary education. The research focused on their prior knowledge of the topic and how they understood the topic. Using social constructivism as underpinning theoretical framework, and conceptual change theory, learners were taken through a process to identify and rectify their alternative ideas on chemical equilibrium. In this, perspective learning is seen as a social process in which learners actively participate and contribute with their understanding and arguments. The research was carried out in a science tutoring classroom and focused on three groups from secondary schools in the Paarl Valley, Drakenstein area, Western Cape, South Africa. The groups were taught and observed in the science tutoring classroom with special attention to data collection in order to capture their thinking and work on the topic. Data were collected by means of concept mapping, where each learner completed a minimum of three or maximum of four concept maps. Within each concept map, learners connected key concepts of the topic with one another. Each concept map identified the learner‟s prior knowledge as well as any alternative ideas created by using existing frameworks. Data were analysed using a rubric to determine each concept map‟s quality. Conclusions were that learners became actively involved in the process of concept mapping as well as learning. There were no definite differences between higher performing and lower performing learners. As for the enhanced teaching aspect, alternative ideas were identified quickly using the concept maps; these were centred on the individual learner, and were not general.