The goal of the study was twofold: firstly to investigate and describe how senior secondary school geography teachers were implementing enquiry-based learning through fieldwork. Secondly, to investigate and document how enquiry-based learning through fieldwork facilitated the development of action competence amongst learners in a geography classroom. In order to address the first goal, a survey questionnaire was utilised to generate descriptive data from a sample of seven geography teachers in the Hardap region of Namibia. Although teachers engaged learners with enquiry-based fieldwork learning activities it is suggested, based on the findings of data of this goal, that teachers face severe limitations in terms of integrating environmental learning into the geography curriculum. The main limitations of the teachers include: limited practical knowledge of and training in how to teach fieldwork skills; a lack of teaching resource materials; time constraints; heavy personal loads; and lack of school support for environmental education. In addressing the second goal an enquiry-based fieldwork learning unit was planned and implemented in the researcher’s classroom. Observation, focus group interviews, and audio records of learning interactions, were used as data generation methods for this cycle of the study. An indicator framework for identifying action competence in learners was constructed as a data analysis tool. In terms of the findings of goal two it is evident that enquiry-based learning through fieldwork facilitated the development of action competence amongst learners. Six overarching benefits of this type of learning were identified in this study, namely: - It empowered learners to develop contextual knowledge and understanding of issues that they investigated. - It facilitated commitment thus motivated learners to take indirect action. - It promoted social interaction and group cohesion amongst learners thus enhanced their decision-making ability for problem-solving and action taking. - It elicited emotional responses and a greater understanding of learners’ own and others’ attitudes and values towards issues. - It fostered critical thinking thus permitted learners to envisage a future based on their learning experiences. - It enabled learners to plan and take indirect action during the learning process. Based on the research findings, some lessons learned are presented in an attempt to contribute to the effective implementation of enquiry-based fieldwork at the classroom level.

This research investigated the educational orientation of teacher educators in colleges of education in Botswana whether pedagogic or andragogic, and how they influence their educational practice. The methods of investigation were, a literature study of belief systems, andragogy and pedagogy as well as the nature of educational orientation, a survey of the educational orientation of teacher educators in Botswana using a structured Educational Orientation Questionnaire (EOQ) adopted from Hadley (Quam, 1998) and a semi-structured group interview to a stratified random sample of student teachers at two of the colleges of education. The results showed that most teacher educators in colleges of education in Botswana had a pedagogical rather than an andragogical orientation. They predominantly use educator-centred rather student-centred teaching methods. / Educational Studies / M Ed. (Didactics)

Many students have difficulty of learning abstract and complex topic in chemistry. This study investigated how students develop their understanding of abstract and complex topics of chemistry with the aid of visualizing tools: animation, simulation and video. A particular focus of this investigation was to assess to what extent the uses of pedagogy based technology (PBT) is effective in learning chemistry. The combined effect of animation, simulation and video clips enable learning by doing and provide opportunity to explore the abstract and complex lessons of chemistry. The research was conducted with sequential embedded mixed research (quasi experimental and Explanatory) case study design. The experiment was carried out with second year chemistry students include 90(14 female and 76 male) students, 12 male chemistry lecturers and the college heads. The students were constituted 45 Control group and 45 Treatment groups. The groups were non-equivalent (convenient samples), suggesting that randomization was not possible as the students were in intact classes. To apply animation, simulation and video in supporting student-centered learning activities of electrochemistry for second year students flash and micro media player were used. The treatment group was trained for two weeks how to operate and use animation, simulation and video software. Pre and Post tests were administrated to the target groups. The effectiveness of PBT was also evaluated by administrating separate Schedule containing open and closed ended questions. The comments and ratings obtained from the learners‟ and lecturer insights provided the basis for the learning impact of the study. The result obtained from the vi experiment and responses of the schedule shows that PBT improves the performance of students. Therefore, to make the abstract and complex concepts of chemistry easy and clear Electrochemistry learning should be supported by animation simulation and video. An extended study may help to understand the multi sensory benefit of Pedagogy-Based-Technology. Thus, a possible extension to this study should cover a variety of universities and should aim at evaluating its effectiveness in various context and subjects‟. / Science and Technology Education / D. Phil. (Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (Chemistry Education))

The South African government has shown enormous commitment to the achievement of “Education for All” (EFA) through its policies premised on the right to basic education for all which is enshrined in the constitution. Central to the South African constitution, is a fundamental right of all citizens to basic education, equity, redress, and the improvement of quality of schooling. Further, pro-poor funding policies such as school fee exemptions, social grants and, most recently, the designation of 60% of all schools as ‘no fee’ schools, have made it possible for even the poorest learners to attend school. This has affirmed South Africa’s commitment to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. In light of Notwithstanding the progress made in South Africa in universalising education, there are concerns regarding learner access to quality education, especially in poor provinces such as the Eastern Cape where this study is situated. Thus, the purpose of this study is to further understanding of the interface between learners’ agency and access to education in two township public high schools in Makana District in the Eastern Cape Province. In doing so, the research addresses the current under-representation in the literature of the voices of learners about their experiences of access to education. Drawing on Margaret Archer’s social realist approach to the relationship between structure and agency, the study explores learner agency with the aim of understanding how learners exercise their agency as they struggle to negotiate and overcome difficult and challenging circumstances in order to access education. The data collection was carried out during the academic year 2011, using a qualitative case study approach. Multiple methods of data collection were used. First, data was collected through questionnaires administered to learners. This questionnaire asked for basic information about the schools (for example, subjects, resources and teachers ), parents ( their education, employment, qualification etc.) and learners’ aspirations (their role model; where they see themselves in 5 years; which university they would like to attend; and what they would like to become in future). Secondly, observation method was used to collect data that would inform an assessment of the school’s structure and cultural practices and the impact these have on learners’ access to education. The focus here was also on classroom interaction between learners and teachers, as well as classroom participation, participation in extra-mural activities and voluntary activities, and interaction with peers and others in a variety of school settings. Thirdly, interviews with learners, educators, principals, and parents were used to provide insight about how participants construct their social worlds. In this study the primary data was collected through semi-structured individual and focus group interview. And finally, document analysis was used to analyse the attendance and performance of learners on attendance registers. Findings from this research have enabled new themes and areas for reflection about learner agency to emerge. These themes reflect current and ongoing constraints and enablements towards learners’ educational experiences. In particular, themes such as the following have surfaced: learners changing their lives; the desire to succeed; shaping the future; the value of education; family pride; aspirations and careers. This study addressed these developments by examining agency as temporally located reflexive deliberations of learners upon their future goals and present social environment. This allowed for the identification of individuals’ future goals in relation to access to education and the strategies that they intend to pursue to achieve them, in relation to their personal and social contexts. The findings show the choices and decisions learners are prepared to make and the strategies they use as they engage with socio-cultural environments. Archer’s nuanced approach to agency and structure offers tools to help make sense of learners’ equally nuanced way of engaging with various social structures and making considered decisions about their social environment. Key findings of this research suggest that despite the constraining social structures in their homes, communities and schools, learners make decisions and choices that enable them to navigate social contexts to their advantage. Put differently, for learners, social structures provided the impetus for the projects they created, and to this extent enabled rather than constrained their courses of action.

The objective of this study was to understand how teacher educators in a Namibian college of education interpret and practice the learner-centred pedagogy underpinning the Basic Education Teachers Diploma (BETD) program. In order to achieve this objective, a case study approach was adopted, qualitative-interpretive in orientation and drawing upon interviews, naturalistic non-participant observation and document analysis. Bernstein's theory of pedagogy - in particular his notion ofrecontextualization - offered ideas and concepts that were used to generate and analyse data. The data indicated that, at the level of description, teacher educators interpreted leamercentred pedagogy as a pedagogic practice based on weak rules of regulative discourse, or a weak power relation between themselves and their student teachers. The weakening of the rules of regulative discourse and the waning of educator authority were indicated in the interview narratives, which evoked a pedagogic context characterized by a repositioning of the student teacher from the margins to the centre of the classroom, where he or she enjoyed a more active and visible pedagogic position. Contrary to the dis empowering dynamic within classroom practice under the apartheid dispensation, the repositioning of the student teacher suggested a shift of power towards him or her. Similarly, the identification of the teacher educator as afacilitator, which featured prominently in the interview narratives, further suggested a weakening or diminishing of the pedagogic authority of the teacher educator. With regard to rules pertaining to the instructional discourse, the data revealed an interpretation of leamer-centred pedagogy as a pedagogic practice based on strong framing over the selection of discourses, weak framing over pacing, and strong framing over sequencing and criteria for evaluation. When correlated with the interview data, the data generated through lesson observation and teacher educator prepared documents such as lesson plans revealed a disjuncture between teacher educators' ideas about leamer-centred pedagogy and their practice of it. Contrary to the interviews, lesson observation data revealed that teacher educators implemented leamer-centred pedagogy as a pedagogic practice based on strong internal framing over rules of the regulative discourse. Data further indicated strong internal framing over the selection, sequencing, pacing and evaluation. The study concluded that while some teacher educators could produce an accurate interpretation oflearner-centred pedagogy at the level of description, most of them did not do so at the level of practice. Findings revealed structural and personal-psychological factors that constrained teacher educators' recontextualization of the new pedagogy. A narrow understanding of leamercentred pedagogy that concentrated only on changing teacher educators' pedagogical approaches from teacher-centred to learner-centred, while ignoring structural and systematic factors, tended to dominate not only the interview narratives but also official texts. Learner-centred pedagogy was understood as a matter of changing from teachercentredness to leamer-centredness while frame factors, for instance regarding the selection, pacing or sequencing of discourses, still followed the traditional approach. The study recommends the adoption of a systematic and deliberate approach to address the multiplicity of factors involved in enabling teacher educators to interpret and implement leamer-centred pedagogy at the micro-level of their classrooms. / KMBT_363 / Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in

This phenomenological, qualitative study addressed student perceptions of their meaning-making process towards self-authorship in a self-designed gap year experience and was conducted in a public higher educational institution in the Southeast. Data was gathered through interviews from a purposeful sample of gap year program participants and program administrators. Emerging themes and categories were identified by coding and analyzing the interview data, such as continual reflection reinforces the value of individual meaning-making, self-expectations versus self-worth, the influence of societal expectations are minimized, and self-designed learning helps to solidify changes in self-authorship. The data showed a strong connection between multiple meaning-making contexts for students and an enhancement in their authorship, as well as multiple-identities. The findings may be useful in gap year program reflection and redesign, and provide implications for self-design in experiential learning opportunities and gap year outcomes.

This study explored the effectiveness of a student question creation process engaging students actively in self, peer, and instructor interaction in development of affective, cognitive, and meta-cognitive skills. Employing a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design assigning both treatment and control activities sequentially in an alternating pattern over a six week period, students' performance on exams as well as their perceptions of various aspects of the student question creation process were used to evaluate the effectiveness of student-created questions (SCQs) activities as a cognitive strategy and to identify factors contributing to the effectiveness of question creation activities on students' learning. Subjects of this study were high performing and highly motivated graduate students in an 8-week online biomedical statistics course, part of a specialized master's program designed for medical school preparation. Survey findings and focus groups strongly supported the student question creation process as a facilitator of higher order thinking. However, the relatively short study duration, comparison of student question creation with another competing method for facilitating learning (discussion board) and not a pure control group, and availability of a common study guide course with student-created questions on all course topics may have muted assessment of the full impact of the strategy on learning. Although practically difficult in an education environment, further research to assess fully the impact of the student question creation strategy is desirable especially if these confounding factors can be greatly minimized, if not eliminated.

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The knowledge-driven, network society is founded upon technology. Educators need to implement technology effectively into the three main pillars of education, namely teaching, learning and assessment. This would assist students to become independent, confident and motivated life-long, self-directed learners that can use technology effectively in an educational environment. It would also ensure that graduates are able to become change agents, transferring their knowledge, skills and values to others in their communities. Alternative assessment methods that are technology driven could enable both educators and students to become more effective in a network society. This study advocates the use of alternative assessment methods by using technology driven assessment tools for possible replacement of traditional, paper based and "one size fits all" assessment methods within the subject field of Theology. Document analysis was used in a broad sense to evaluate technology-based multimedia documents. Ten documents were identified and evaluated as possible alternatives for traditional assessment methods. Inter-rater reliability ensured that the investigation provided constant estimates and results. The SECTIONS model used for this evaluation provided opportunities to include criteria important for higher education, the use of technology and subject relevant information to ensure that the evaluation was done with a specific purpose and scope in mind; to find technology-based tools that can substitute traditional assessment tools in order to enhance effective education to students. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Open and Distance Learning)

This study analysed the learning environment of undergraduate medical and health sciences students of the School of Medicine University of Zambia who were studying at the Ridgeway Campus. Premised on the theory that learner’s perception of the learning environment determines approach to learning and learning outcome, the study utilized a descriptive, quantitative, and non-experimental design to articulate the issues that characterise the learning environment of the programmes. The aim was to provide framework based on these, and use it to propose a strategy for improving the learning environment of the School. The Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire was administered to 448 participants from year 2 to year 7 classes of medicine, pharmacy, and physiotherapy programmes. Total DREEM, subscale, and individual items’ scores were analysed statistically and compared by analysis of variance among the programmes. The issues determined formed the framework for strategy development, and strategic options were proposed based on evidence obtained from literature. With a global DREEM score of 119.3 ± 21.24 (59.7 %), the students perceived their learning environment as “more positive than negative.” One sample binomial test of hypothesis for categorical variables returned a p value <0.05, with a verdict to ‘reject the null hypothesis,’ thereby confirming a more positive than negative perception. Subscale scores also showed ‘more positive’ perception. There were no significant differences between scores from the different programmes when compared by Games Howell test, P> 0.05, thereby upholding the second hypothesis. Analysis of individual items revealed problems in six items, which were summarised into four strategic ssues: inadequate social support for stressed students, substandard teaching and mentoring, unpleasant accommodation, and inadequate physical facilities. The implications of the findings for theory and practice were discussed and strategic options proposed to address the issues. The study concludes that analysis of the learning environment of medical schools provides more insight for strategic planning and management. / Health Studies / D.Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)