In this qualitative, action research study, I aimed to improve my teaching practices in my seventh grade drama classroom. I conducted the study by implementing a monologue unit plan I had used in the past adapted for this study. My emphases for the study were the promotion of creativity, the identification of drama and theatre elements, and the transformation in understanding. Data was gathered from students in my class, a third eye observer, and me. Notation, description, sources for analysis, and questioning procedures were used to survey the data by looking for patterns, coding the responses, and generating findings that satisfied the research questions. I discovered that imagination is supported in my classroom but that I need to develop better strategies to show how dramatic skills affect the daily lives of students and the importance of empathy for this class as well as the others I teach.

This study set out to design and assess the feasibility of an active learning approach to a legal research module. The study was a case study of the second year undergraduate Legal Research Writing and Reasoning (LRWR) module on the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. This module forms part of the basic law degree curriculum. The author, a subject librarian at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, has been involved with this module for several years. The module is situated within the general lecture timetable and the lecture format is unsuitable for a module such as this one that requires practical work. Students of law need to have a sound knowledge of the published legal literature because of the particular nature of the role of legal literature in the study of law, the vast array of literature available and the complex presentation of information within the sources of law. Students of law also need to be able to read, understand and apply the law to given situations. Legal education in South Africa has undergone considerable changes since 1994 alongside those in higher education generally. Since 2001 the LLB degree has become a four year undergraduate degree replacing the old three year undergraduate plus two year post-graduate qualification. New national qualification requirements emphasise a range of skills such as problem-solving, numeracy, computer skills, writing, and finding and using information. This is partly as a means of redressing the differential preparedness of students for university, a legacy of schooling of variant quality that was a feature of Apartheid governance prior to 1994. Thus students are having to complete the law degree in a shortened time period; do not have the benefit of an undergraduate degree before embarking on the law degree, and need to develop competencies in a range of skills and knowledge adjacent to substantive law modules. Information literacy is a process, an active problem-solving process and an amalgam of skills and knowledge concerned with identifying an information need, finding, evaluating and using a range of information to answer that need in appropriate ways. The problem-solving nature of the study of law, the new national requirements for a legal education and the characteristics of information literacy suggest that these three elements could be usefully combined in an active learning and teaching process to enable students of law to develop a holistic approach to learning skills and knowledge of legal research, writing and reasoning in the South African context. The research questions that arose in response to the research problem required an investigation into current research and writing with regard to information literacy, legal education, learning, teaching and assessment and whether an active learning approach was feasible with a large class size of approximately 130 students. The situation in South African law faculties as regards legal research teaching and learning needed to be considered to situate the current study in the broader national context. The literature review enabled the development of a theoretical framework for the LRWR module that took cognisance of a range of national, institutional and classroom climates, aims, objectives, outcomes and content for modules, the study of law, characteristics of learners and factors affecting their performance, teaching strategies, instructional design, assessment and information literacy. The module itself was designed in terms of a problem-solving situation which encompassed a range of integrated skills in order to manage the problem. An active learning approach was adopted in the form of group and class discussion, with a range of scaffolded written, oral and practical exercises and assignments to help students investigate the problem scenario from a number of perspectives. The design of the module required data in the form of demographic characteristics and work habits of the students in the class inclusive of learning styles which were acquired through the application of a questionnaire and learning styles inventory. Knowledge and skills with respect to module content were measured in terms of a pre- and post-test. A reflection exercise and focus groups provided evidence about how the students responded to the overall design of the module and in particular the active learning approach. The data collected and analysed suggested that the integration of information literacy, problem-solving processes with respect to the study of law and active learning was feasible and successful in this large class situation to varying degrees. The students in the module had expanded their repertoire of skills and knowledge, had appreciated the relationship between research, writing, reasoning and discussion and enjoyed the active learning approach. The contribution this research makes is with regard to the character, design and implementation of information literacy programmes in academic libraries in South Africa in particular, given the dearth of published practitioner research in this country. The research has also provided a comprehensive theoretical and practical framework for developing an information literacy programme within the changing South African legal education context. The research in this specific context usefully provides a baseline from which to develop and promote information literacy as a critical approach within the study of law. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Information Studies)) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

By reason of the topography of the land, Utah is and probably will remain a livestock grazing state. As far as agriculture is concerned over 90 percent of the area is suitable for grazing only. This grazing range is used by cattle and sheep.

The subject of this thesis is research study of bypass of the town Velké Meziříčí. Bypass is designed as a relaying of existing road II/602. Existing road passes through central parts of Velké Meziříčí and it doesn’t meet the technical requirements regarding directional solutions as well as disproportionately affects traffic in town. For these reasons and also in order to reduce negative impact of transport, new road section is designed. Assesment of designed variants and choice of the best one is also part of the thesis.

While medical technology, intervention, and treatment continue to advance, patients often find themselves involved in an increasingly complex healthcare system . Because of this, many patients lack access to the knowledge to facilitate successful navigation or participation in healthcare systems to their best advantage. Patient Ill education that provides experiential information has been shown to reduce anxiety levels and increase patient health outcomes and compliance with medical instructions or recommendations. Given the demonstrated effectiveness of experiential instruction in patient education, Model-Centered Instruction (MCI) has the potential to be an effective instructional design for patient education because it affords the learner experience with systems or models in the presence of instructional augmentation. While MCI design theory is well-documented, it has not been widely implemented and tested at the instructional product level.

No description available.

It has been taken for granted that being able to lecture presupposes being able to supervise research students, and completing a Master’s or doctoral degree successfully meant that an academic could assume the research supervisor role. However, findings on research into graduate students’ experiences of the research process indicate that in most cases, postgraduate students are dissatisfied with the guidance they receive from their supervisors. In an effort to contribute to finding ways and to continuing the debate on the improvement of postgraduate research supervision, in this study, I aimed to develop a framework that could be used to support postgraduate research supervisors within faculties. To achieve this aim, I conducted a literature review in order to understand what it means to supervise at postgraduate level effectively and also to identify existing support programmes for postgraduate research supervisors. I adopted a phenomenological research design within an interpretive tradition. The technique used to select the sample was purposeful criterion. The sample size was determined by means of data saturation. It consisted of four faculty postgraduate studies committee chairpersons, seven inexperienced and four experienced postgraduate research supervisors. Meetings and semi-structured interviews were employed to generate data. The findings revealed that attempts by faculties to support postgraduate research supervisors have not been systematically documented as they were done, to a large extent, informally. The size of the faculty, lack of resources, heavy workload and timing emerged as factors that impacted positively and/or negatively on the provision of support to postgraduate research supervisors within faculties. Thematic analysis of the semi-structured interviews revealed that both the experienced and the inexperienced postgraduate research supervisors view good postgraduate research supervision as a relationship of human beings involving critical engagement between the postgraduate students and their supervisors. A need to mentor postgraduate research students was also highlighted. The findings also indicated that the participants viewed good postgraduate research supervision as a developmental process of co-learning and mutual growth culminating from joint effort by both the student and the research supervisor. Striking the balance between backing off and taking over was highlighted as important linked to the roles of the student and that of the supervisor in the research supervision process. The inexperienced and the experienced supervisors had mixed feelings about the usefulness of the existing support initiatives by faculties that they have been exposed to, citing the duration, the level at which some of them were pitched and the presentation styles of the facilitators as cause for concern. The support needs that were common to both the inexperienced and the experienced supervisors were designated mentors, manageable workload and time. The inexperienced postgraduate supervisors expressed the need for focussed support, briefing sessions, online resources for easy access, good timing, and an extended co-supervision period. The experienced supervisors expressed the need for support that will be at their level, group supervision, time and/or money to buy the time and better prepared postgraduate students. This study contributed the proposed framework informed by the integration of the insights from the literature on postgraduate research supervision, professional development and the findings from this study. The principles of the Transformative Learning Theory are appropriate to guide the implementation of the proposed framework in future applications.

The main subject of this diploma thesis is a study on viability of a business plan which is designed for the social care area. The goal of the thesis is creation of the study on which base it will be possible to found and to keep a modern seniors home. The work is divided to a few units, chapters. In the first chapter basic expressions, bound with the viability study, are explained. The second chapter deals with the aging and its aspects, social services and legislation connected with this area of undertaking. The next unit is called Methodics and contains the detailed formal procedure of creating the study. The fourth chapter focuses on the study itself, it compiles all its parts based on the marketing research. The conclusion is an evaluation of the design and comprises a recommendation for improving problematic areas.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2006. / The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of substance abuse by senior primary school learners on their development This was achieved via a literature study and an empirical study. In the light of the findings certain recommendations which can assist educators, principals, parents and the Department of Education to plan and take action in order to combat drug abuse and addiction amongst senior primary school learners, were formulated. Schools have always had and will always have significant influence on learners' lives and must therefore be the focus of any effective implementation of arresting strategies. The senior primary school community has in the past and to a certain extent in the present not treated the increasing use of drugs as a priority. This could possibly be because of the many types of legitimate drugs that are available, and which are said to cure, prevent or slow down-diseases and enable people to lead longer, healthier and happier lives. Antibiotics have improved the treatment of infections and vaccines have prevented the spread of diseases such as measles, while analgesics have lessened or eliminated pain. However, it should be the harmful and illegal drugs that parents and the community should be made aware of. Illegal and harmful drugs infiltrate all levels of society, asking no name, title or gender. They come in many names and forms and they will negatively impact on health, sanity, families and finally people's lives. The literature study found that substance abuse affected the physical, psychological (cognitive and affective), social and normative development of the senior primary school learner. For the purpose of the empirical investigation, a self-structured questionnaire for educators was utilized. The data obtained from the completed questionnaires was processed and analyzed by means of descriptive statistics. The findings

"Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Occupational Therapy, Occupational Therapy Department, College of Allied Health and Nursing, Nova Southeastern University."Obesity is a global public health issue, yet interventions to create change have been largely ineffective. Few researchers have considered obesity from the perspective of the person experiencing it, and even fewer have explored the effects obesity has on the Mexican-American population. This dissertation explored the lived experiences of Mexican-American women with obesity living along the El Paso/Mexico border. The study used occupational therapy's Lifestyle Performance Model as the orienting framework. Theoretical concepts from psychology and sociology also clarified contexts of social construction and outcomes of negative stereotyping. Using a phenomenological, qualitative design, this study answered the following research question: What are the lived experiences of Mexican-American women with obesity living along the El Paso/Mexico border? Eight women participated in the study, ranging in age from 25-45 years. The women were recruited though posted flyers and snowball sampling methods. Individual, in-depth interviewing resulted in emergent themes and subthemes that articulated the core essence of their lived experiences. The dominant themes of the study portrayed obesity as a: (a) pervasive entity, (b) disruption to a harmonious self, (c) social negotiation, (d) disconnection from self and others, and (e) product of cultural patterning. Through the voices of the participants, results showed that obesity affects physical and emotional health, which alters lifestyle performance and overall quality of life. Cultural and environmental factors also significantly influence active engagement in meaningful occupation. The data suggest a need for clinician training, student education, and advocacy skills for individuals who live with obesity. Further topics for future research and detailed recommendations regarding treatment interventions are also discussed.