Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 2004. / Title from title page screen, viewed May 23, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Maureen E. Angell (chair), Sharon K. Litchfield, Mary M. O'Brian, W. Paul Vogt. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-181) and abstract. Also available in print.

This study aimed to investigate the role played by the Teachers’ Resource Centre (TRC) in Namibia in helping schools to provide quality education. The TRC concept began in Britain in the 1960s, where it was introduced as a means of supporting the professional development of teachers and giving them access to a range of educational resources. From the 1970s, the concept was promoted further afield as an effective strategy for dealing with teachers’ needs. TRCs emerged in Namibia in the 1980s under the auspices of the then Department of Education of the South African government. By 1989, only four TRCs were in existence, namely, Katutura, Tsumeb, Otjiwarongo and Rundu, plus one in the whites-only training college in Windhoek. In September 1991, the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) in Namibia produced a five-year plan that led to the diversification of the TRC network in Namibia. Yet, despite the now widespread existence of TRCs, little is known of whether and to what extent their services are helping teachers to provide quality education. This constitutes a gap in the literature that this study hopes in part to fill. The study was conducted using a case study approach in three schools in the Kavango region of Namibia. It made use of questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions and data analysis to gather and interpret data. The study’s finding is that TRCs are indeed beneficial to schools in their vicinity, despite their current limited capacities. However, TRCs should be better able to redress the poor quality of education in many schools due to a lack of resources, de-motivated teachers and other factors. This study therefore recommends that enough funds be made available for the TRCs to acquire the resources they need adequately to support quality educational processes. Furthermore, the study found that it is imperative for individuals in TRCs and schools to learn how to facilitate relevant transformation in their organisations’ efficiency and effectiveness. Thus the study recommends a transformational leadership approach as most appropriate for managing learning and bringing about successful change in these organisations. The significance of this research is that it sheds some light on the effectiveness of TRCs as a strategy for supporting teachers in the delivery of quality teaching. It also suggests potential areas in which stakeholders might usefully cooperate in their endeavours to realise quality education.

Researchers have described the special education identification process for students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) as "muddled and confused" (Bocian, Beebe, MacMillan, & Gresham, 1999) and "haphazard" and "capricious" (Shinn, 2007, p. 603). Bocian, Beebe, MacMillan, and Gresham (1999) proposed the theory of competing paradigms as a way to explain why researchers and school-based eligibility teams identify different groups of students as SLD. This qualitative study had two research questions: a) To what extent did interviews of secondary resource teachers reveal the concepts of relativity, acceptability, and profitability as they reflect on the SLD process? and b) What other themes regarding SLD eligibility determination emerged from interviews with secondary resource teachers? Utilizing the modified constant comparative method (Lincoln & Guba, 1985), the author revealed that there was moderate support for the paradigms of relativity and acceptability, but less support for the paradigm of profitability. In addition, the author identified other themes, such as difficulties with evaluating English language learners and the benefit of case management, that can be used to expand Bocian’s theory. The author also argued that the paradigms overlap with one another during the special education identification process, rather than proceeding in a sequential order. Finally, the author discussed the implications of her findings in terms of improving school-based and policy practices.

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This thesis examines writing centers and offers suggestions for tutor training that might help realize the ideal of the writing center as a Burkean parlor, a place where collaboration via continuous meetings and conversations between tutors and participants take place. Conflict can surface because of different cultural backgrounds and world views, particularly in terms of gender issues.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Includes bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The rationale for this study emerged from a realization that conventional instructional design approaches for introducing Calculus concepts, based on the logical sequencing and structuring of the concepts, did not adequately attend to or address students’ ways of thinking. This was particularly important in a distance education environment where learners depend on instructional texts to make sense of what is being presented, often without support from tutors. The instructional design theory of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) offered a promising approach for designing learning sequences based on actual investigations of the ways in which students think. This study’s focus was on trialling the process of RME theory-based design using the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus as an example. Curve sketching was prominent in this exercise. Applying RME required developing a hypothetical learning trajectory (HLT) while attempting to adhere to methodological guidelines of design research. In this project, the instructional designer’s conceptualization and interpretation of the derivative-integral construct has had the most immediate implications for the study. The line of inquiry has been largely didactic, in that it was framed by a need to establish ways of introducing the teaching of a mathematical concept following instructional design principles. Throughout the project, the instructional design space has been contested, broken down, rebuilt and, ultimately, enriched by the contributions of the expert teachers and the engagement of participating students. The series of design experiments have revealed knowledge about student reasoning in this learning domain in relation to four main areas of quantifying change, curve sketching, general mathematical reasoning and symbol use. The primary contribution of this research has been a deeper understanding of the extent to which RME can be used as an instruction design theory for planning and introducing a distance teaching Calculus unit. From the study, it is clear that successful adoption of the RME theory is influenced and facilitated by a number of factors, including: careful selection of the concepts and mathematical structures to be presented; a team of experts (mathematicians and mathematics subject didacticians) to research, test and develop the learning activities; opportunities for student interactions; and time and resources for effective RME adoption. More involved research is required to get to the stage of the evolution of a local instructional theory around introducing the derivative-integral relationship as expressed in the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die rasionaal van hierdie studie het uit die besef ontstaan dat konvensionele onderrigontwerpbenaderings vir die bekendstelling van Calculus konsepte, gebaseer op die logiese ordening en strukturering van die konsepte, nie voldoende beantwoord aan die eise van hoe studente dink nie. Dit was van spesifieke belang in die geval van afstandonderwys waar hierdie studente sin moet maak van wat aangebied word, dikwels sonder die ondersteuning van tutors. Die onderrigontwerpteorie van Realistiese Wiskundeonderwys (RWO) bied belowende moontlikhede om leertrajekte te ontwerp wat gebaseer is op werklike ondersoeke van hoe studente dink. Hierdie studie se fokus was om die RWO-gebaseerde teoretiese ontwerp se proses wat die Fundamentele Stelling van Calculus as voorbeeld gebruik, uit te toets. Krommesketsing was prominent in hierdie oefening. Die toepassing van RWO het vereis dat 'n leertrajek ontwikkel moet word terwyl aan die metodologiese vereistes van die ontwikkelingsondersoekbenadering getrou gebly word. In hierdie projek het die onderrigontwerper se konseptualisering en interpretasie van die afgeleide-integraalkonstruk onmiddellike implikasies gehad vir die studie. Die lyn van ondersoek was grootliks didakties van aard. Desnieteenstaande was die instruksionele ontwerpruimte voortdurend beding, afgebreek, herbou en uiteindelik verryk deur die bydraes van die bedrewe onderwysers en die betrokkenheid van die deelnemende studente. Die reeks ontwerpeksperimente het kennis blootgelê van hoe studente in hierdie veld redeneer met betrekking tot die volgende vier hoof areas: kwantifisering van verandering, krommesketsing, algemene wiskundige beredenering en die gebruik van simbole. Die primêre bydrae van hierdie navorsing is die dieper verstaan van die mate waarin RWO gebruik kan word as 'n instruksionele ontwerpteorie vir die beplanning en bekendstelling van 'n Calculus eenheid in afstandsonderrig.Dit is duidelik vanuit die studie dat suksesvolle aanneming van die RWO teorie afhanklik is van 'n aantal faktore: 'n noukeurige seleksie van die konsepte en wiskundige strukture wat aangebied moet word; 'n span van bedrewe wiskundiges en wiskunde vakdidaktici om die leeraktiwiteite na te vors, uit te toets en te ontwikkel; geleenthede vir studente-interaksies, en tyd en bronne vir effektiewe RWO aanpassing. Verdere toegespitsde navorsing hierop is nodig om die fase te bereik van die ontluiking van 'n lokale onderrigteorie oor die bekendstelling van die afgeleide-integraal verwantskap soos uitgedruk in terme van die Fundamentele Stelling van Calculus.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This study explored the diverse ways in which practitioners' roles manifest to develop pre-schoolers’ agency through learning for well-being in inner-city early childhood centres (ICECCs). Findings served as the foundation for a training programme for practitioners to develop pre-schoolers’ agency in South Africa. Various factors that have an impact on the development of pre-schoolers’ agency and ways in which preschoolers express agency were further explored through using the tool of pedagogical documentation. A conceptual framework was based on the Framework of Learning for Well-being, the Framework of Indigenous Well-being and the Reggio educational approach, which supports the notion that pre-schoolers can express themselves and influence their lifeworlds. Myself, three practitioners and nine pre-schoolers participated in the study. I made use of participatory action research (PAR) to generate qualitative data. The various data collection tools used were: Conversations with pre-schoolers; semi-structured interviews with practitioners; focus group interviews between myself and the practitioners; observations of circle time discussions; practitioners' open-ended questionnaires and self-reflective notes on fake Facebook pages; notes in my selfreflective journal; and documentation of pre-schoolers' four art projects. A manual thematic analysis of the data was done and feedback obtained during final interviews. Practitioners indicated the following insights into their practice during and upon completion of the research process: Discoveries of the capabilities of pre-schoolers to express agency; the need to ask more probing and open-ended questions; the importance of listening to pre-schoolers; an awareness of the diverse capabilities of preschoolers; and knowledge and understanding of the value of the tool of pedagogical documentation to make pre-schoolers' agency visible. Aspects that posed challenges were highlighted, such as lack of technology, time constraints, work load and concerns of parents over the academic performance of their children. Upon conclusion of the study the following recommendations were made: a new theme in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS); a module in Foundation Phase education on children's agency; a one-day workshop for practitioners to develop pre-schoolers' / Psychology of Education / Ph.D. (Psychology)