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It is well established that both learning and teaching programming are difficult tasks. Difficulties often occur due to weak mental models and common misconceptions. This study proposes a method of teaching programming that both encourages high-fidelity mental models and attempts to minimise misconceptions in novice programmers, through the use of metaphors and manipulatives. The elements in ActionWorld with which the students interact are realizations of metaphors. By simple example, a variable has a metaphorical representation as a labelled box that can hold a value. The dissertation develops a set of metaphors which have several core requirements: metaphors should avoid causing misconceptions, they need to be high-fidelity so as to avoid failing when used with a new concept, students must be able to relate to them, and finally, they should be usable across multiple educational media. The learning style that ActionWorld supports is one which requires active participation from the student - the system acts as a foundation upon which students are encouraged to build their mental models. This teaching style is achieved by placing the student in the role of code interpreter, the code they need to interpret will not advance until they have demonstrated its meaning via use of the aforementioned metaphors. ActionWorld was developed using an iterative developmental process that consistently improved upon various aspects of the project through a continual evaluation-enhancement cycle. The primary outputs of this project include a unified set of high-fidelity metaphors, a virtual-machine API for use in similar future projects, and two metaphor-testing games. All of the aforementioned deliverables were tested using multiple quality-evaluation criteria, the results of which were consistently positive. ActionWorld and its constituent components contribute to the wide assortment of methods one might use to teach novice programmers.

Thesis (D.Ed.)--University of South Africa, 1993. / The study attempted to find the relation between independent learning and lecturing skills and their relative contribution to student achievement in Economics at technikons. South African tertiary educational institutions have been facing increasing student numbers which place enormous strain on available resources. To accommodate all students in the classroom is highly unlikely, therefore a logical and reasonable mode of learning would be a "self-regulating" or "autonomous" type. The literature survey concentrated on the nature and value of independent learning, while lecturing skills have been discussed on the basis of styles and effectiveness of lecturing and students' expectations thereof. The nature of Economics has been reflected upon on the basis of four key concepts, together with their implications for learning. A competency-based model of Economics has been suggested, with special emphasis on economic literacy. A questionnaire, based on the literature survey, covering the areas of independent learning, lecturing skills and the nature of Economics has been compiled and completed by 645 technikon students. A factor analysis has identified three factors, namely an independent learning ability, lecturing skills and the nature of Economics. High reliability coefficients were obtained for each of the three factors.

D. Litt. et Phil. (Curriculum Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Ph.D. / As technology has changed over the past few decades, the roles and job descriptions of finance specialists have evolved to place greater reliance on it. However, accounting education appears not to have kept pace with these changes, creating a deficit in the skills that accounting graduates require in the workplace, particularly in information and communication technology (ICT). The development of both ICT skills and knowledge is imperative and their integration into accounting education has been identified as adding value to both graduate and employer. The processes followed to address this deficit are key features of this study

M.Ed. (Subject Didactics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This research provided insights into the mathematical achievement of a cohort of tertiary mathematics students. The context for the study was an entry level mathematics course, set in an engineering programme at a tertiary institution, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). This study investigated the possibilities of providing a bridge between the assessment of students by means of tests scores and a taxonomy of mathematical objectives, on the one hand, and the critical analysis of student produced texts, on the other hand. This research revealed that even in cases of wrong solutions, participant members' responses were reasonable, meaningful, clear and logical. / South Africa

Knowledge of how different vocation-oriented groups of students respond to the classroom environment is a serious concern of an instructor in a first year college physics course -- especially those who accept the responsibility of facilitating the resolution of vocational choice determination. Knowledge about the nature of the instructor's class -- in terms of how they respond to various aspects of the teaching-learning situation -- has interpretative value in making decisions about special instructional provisions for the groups. This thesis was an attempt to provide information about the nature of the differences between vocation-oriented groups of students, in terms of selected dependent variables, important to the instructor of a first year college physics course. The data for the study was gathered from one class of a Physics 110 course offered at the University of British Columbia. Students in the class were divided into three groups based on vocational choice. Each of these groups were further subdivided in terms of the amount of high-school physics experience. Nineteen dependent variables were classified into three categories: (a) Antecedent -- Variables which provided information on a student's general academic ability, and his competence in Science subjects at the high-school level, (b) Cognitive -- Variables which provided information on student achievement during the year in Physics 110, and (c) Affective -- Variables providing information about a student's attitude towards concepts related to science in general and physics in particular. The data gathered was analysed first by a one-way multivariate analysis of variance. This analysis showed that there was a statistical significant difference between vocation-oriented group centroids on the dependent variables taken all at a time. The analysis was carried further to determine the nature of these group differences through a discriminant analysis. The discriminant analysis produced two significant discriminant functions which provided information on the variables that contributed most to differentiating between the groups along each function. The overall conclusion that was suggested is that only those students who were required to take just one year of college physics were clearly distinguished from the other vocation oriented groups. The major distinction between these groups being academic ability. Years of schooling in a subject area was also an important distinguishing factor for instructional purposes, but this factor did not discriminate between the various vocation-oriented groups. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate