There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

The purpose of this study is to examine literature and thought in the field of elementary social studies curriculum, to establish criteria for determining the adequacy of a fourth-grade social studies program and to examine, analyze and evaluate the fourth-grade social studies programs of ten Texas public school systems in order to determine how effectively they meet these criteria.

The purpose of this study is to make an investigation of the place of the social studies in an integrating curriculum with the objective of determining their value and ways and means of using the social studies to achieve integrating individuals. Attention is directed to the need and nature of an integrating program, to the values of the social studies as an integrating agent, and to ways and means of using the social studies in this manner.

The problem of this study was a survey of social studies programs in Texas high schools during the 1964-65 academic year. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which the recommendations of the Texas Education Agency as outlined in Principles and Standards for Accrediting Elementary and Secondary Schools and Description of Approved Courses, Grades 7-12 had been followed and to obtain data pertaining to offerings, innovations, supervisory services and written courses of study.

The problem of this study was to determine the relationship between practices reported by elementary school teachers of social studies in selected Texas counties and practices recommended by national social studies education specialists, and college professors of elementary education in selected texas colleges and universities.

The Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) for all approved subjects is the result of changes brought to the curriculum that was introduced in 1997. The review of the previous curricula has resulted in the National Curriculum Statement for Grade R-12. The changes in the curriculum were inspired by the Constitution of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) which aims to “heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights” (DBE, 2011a, p. 1). The curriculum aims to ensure that children acquire and apply knowledge and skills in ways that are meaningful to their own lives. The National Curriculum Statement for Physical Sciences aimed to produce learners that are able to “Identify and solve problems and make decisions using critical and creative thinking; collect, analyse, organise and critically evaluate information and use science and technology effectively and critically showing responsibilities towards the environment and the health of others” (DBE, 2011a, p. 8). The aim of this study was to investigate the implementation of CAPS in the Physical Sciences in Grade 10 with particular emphasis on the use of practical work. Two secondary schools, both former Model C schools were used as research sites. Two Physical Sciences teachers and their respective learners participated. The research method used was a case study. The instrument used to collect data was an interview schedule and an observation schedule. Two teachers were interviewed using an interview schedule which consisted of open and closed ended questions. Classroom observation of the practical lessons was conducted with an observation schedule. The data obtained through these instruments was analysed using an interpretive approach. The findings of the research reveal that one school in the sample was not adequately resourced to conduct practical work. The outcome of this study would enable education officials to have an insight of challenges (e.g. lack of resources, larges class sizes, etc.), that are experienced by teachers in respect of the implementation of practical work in schools.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science Johannesburg, 22 February 2013 / Research suggests that effective teaching and learning of physical sciences for conceptual understanding involves link-making. Learners make connections between prior knowledge and new ideas and/or between ideas and experiences. Meanwhile the teacher mediates the process of meaning making for learners. My study examined how I mediated learner link-making between what they experienced during practical work and the concepts learnt in theory lessons. I wanted to understand how I help learners make links and explore ways of improving my mediation of link-making for my learners. The self-study research design was used for data collection and Scott, Mortimer & Ametller’s (2011) concept of pedagogical link-making to support knowledge building was used to analyse the data. My findings show that I drew on the full range of pedagogical link-making approaches to promote knowledge building. However, I did not draw equally on all the approaches. There are six approaches to pedagogical link-making to support knowledge building: making links between every-day and scientific ways of explaining ; making links between scientific concepts ; making links between scientific explanations and real world phenomena ; making links between modes of representation ; moving between different scales and levels of explanations and analogical link-making. In all the lessons I used two of the approaches, making links between every-day and scientific ways of explaining and making links between scientific concepts while the other four were used less often. I drew some insights from my practice which could be shared with other science teachers. For instance, in planning their lessons, science teachers should think about how they will make links for their learners between their practical activities and the science concepts covered in theory lessons. They need to think about the most appropriate analogies and examples that can help learners make successful links between observations and science content knowledge. Teachers should be aware of specific concepts to target for the link-making so as to promote deeper understanding of the concepts.

Based on the notion that philosophical assumptions and educational aims are important factors that gear educational processes, this study focuses on the ways in which teachers' assumptions and goals regarding citizenship influence their teaching of civics. The research of this topic is pursed based on a set of comparative analytic case studies that observe different ways in which conceptions of the notion of good citizenship manifest in three Israeli high school civics classrooms. This study draws from the research traditions of grounded theory, the use of ideal types, as well as the principles of the qualitative instrumental collective case study approach. This study's main finding is the identification of a stark disparity between the conceptions of citizenship that are promoted in each of the three cases, despite the a-priori similarities between them. This disparity results in the enactment of very different types of civics lessons as well as influences the goals, the relation to the curriculum standards, and the pedagogies implemented in these three settings. As a result of these findings, three ideal types of citizenship and civic education (CCE) are presented, reflecting these different approaches: (1) disciplined CCE; (2) participatory CCE; and (3) critical CCE. The importance of these findings is in the illumination of a civic education gap, relating to these differences. Following the scholarly discourse surrounding this topic, this study contributes to the understanding that not only is there a gap regarding the civic experiences and opportunities to which the students are exposed, but that the fundamental meaning of the term good citizenship is interpreted and promoted in a varying fashion. This focus, on the ways in which these different conceptions influence and reinforce the reality of the civic education gap, forges the connections between these two fields of study, a connection that yet has to been acknowledged in the literature. In fact, this civic education gap implies to the contextual factor of social inequality as it reflects in the classroom settings, in relation to this specific subject matter. An explanation for this gap is the central role that the civics teachers hold, in relation to their students' opinions, academic levels and socio-economic backgrounds. With the help of the theoretical concepts of civic abandonment and civic activity, which relate to the individual's civic identity in relation to the country in which s/he lives, this study documents ways in which teachers frame their civics lessons in congruence to their own perception of their students' civic orientations. In this manner this study points to the dangers of such a reality in which teachers choose to promote civic ideals that do not recognize the complexity and multiplicity of this topic. Based on these findings, a presentation of pedagogical strategies as well as a descriptive theoretical model of the civic education process will be brought forth, utilizing these different approaches to CCE. This presentation will potentially support teachers in designing holistic educational experiences that touch on a variety of CCE conceptions. This stands in contrast to the current reality in which such conceptions are dealt with as mutually exclusive. In this manner, this study promotes the belief that all students should have equitable access to the knowledge, values and dispositions that are crucial for any democratic citizen.

This dissertation study investigated how immigrant youth attending two different high schools for late-arrival immigrants in New York City constructed civic belonging by attending to their everyday enactments of citizenship across the contexts of school, neighborhood and home. Civic belonging refers to the embodied social practices by which immigrant youth cultivate social trust and construct an emotional connection to particular communities and places. In conducting this research, I utilized a critical visual research methodology, as well as interviews and focus groups. Data was collected from 10 immigrant youth from Guinea, the Gambia, Senegal, Yemen, Bangladesh and the Dominican Republic. My findings were that participants constructed civic belonging in school by creating social trust that bridged cultural, religious, linguistic, and ethnic differences. In their neighborhoods, their civic belonging was restricted by a politics of belonging that created distrust and misrecognition of their cultural and religious identities. Finally, my participants constructed civic belonging in relation to their understandings of home. Family relationships mediated their civic belonging by reinforcing home country ties. This study has implications for how public schools can better educate immigrant youth as citizens who build solidarity with diverse others and work towards a common good. This is critical in today’s world that is more connected through the movement of people, and yet, where many nation-states seek to limit the rights of immigrants to belong within their borders.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Johannesburg March 2017 / In South Africa there are eleven official languages and every citizen has a right to receive education in any of these languages. Nevertheless, the language of learning and teaching (LOLT) in most schools is either English or Afrikaans. Of the two languages English is more dominant because it is a global language and is preferred by parents. In a bid to embrace the call by UNSESCO (2007) which encourages science learning and teaching to be done in the mother tongue, South Africa implemented the teaching of science in indigenous languages in the lower grades in primary (1-3). Nonetheless, this endeavor has its merits and demerits. In South African schools most teachers and learners are English Second Language speakers. This study investigated the South African life sciences teachers’ use of science classroom language (technical and non-technical components) when teaching evolution to grade 12 learners in public schools. The primary objective of this study was to establish South Africa’s life sciences teachers’ awareness of the difficulty of the science classroom language towards suggesting strategies that they use to assist learners to better understand the science language. Three grade 12 life sciences teachers from two public schools in Johannesburg were observed and audio recorded three times while teaching evolution. A follow-up interview with each teacher was conducted to obtain clarity on language related issues that arose from the observations. As a result, the empirical data consisted of nine recorded lessons and accompanying field notes for each lesson as well as three recorded interviews. The interviews and the field notes were analysed using an interpretive approach whilst a strategy known as content analysis was used to analyse classroom observations so as to conclude on the teachers’ preferred approach to language use during teaching. From the findings, it can be suggested that South African life sciences teachers who participated in this study employed a variety of strategies to present technical terms to their learners but lacked explicit awareness of the difficulty of the science classroom language. / MT 2017