The nurturing of critical thinking skills is one of the cornerstones of Outcomes Based Education (OBE). This study investigated to what extent teachers provide opportunities for the development of critical thinking skills in Grade 8 in Mathematics classrooms. A literature study was undertaken to highlight the importance and nature of the development of critical thinking skills in the Mathematics classroom, and to establish how critical thinking could be nurtured during the teaching, learning and assessment of Mathematics. Various teaching methods and assessment strategies, types of learning material, a variety of classroom activities and how to create a classroom conducive to the development of critical thinking skills were explored. The literature review provided the framework to design a questionnaire that was utilized to obtain the perceptions of Grade 8 Mathematics teachers and learners regarding the opportunities provided for the development of critical thinking skills in Mathematics classrooms. By means of quantitative, non-experimental descriptive research, the self constructed, closed-ended questionnaire was administered to a convenient sample of a purposively selected group of Mathematics teachers (n = 92) and learners (n = 204) in the Ekurhuleni District of Gauteng, South Africa. The triangulation of learner and teacher data revealed that teachers do have an understanding of the importance of critical thinking in the Mathematics classroom, but that their understanding is not always fully translated into practical opportunities for the development of critical thinking skills. It was revealed that teachers do make use of questioning and allow learners to communicate during problem-solving, which are important strategies for the development of critical thinking. However, it was evident that teachers appear to be inhibiting the development of critical thinking skills by relying heavily on the use of textbooks and transmission of knowledge during teaching, and seem not to acknowledge the merits of cooperative learning and real life experiences during the teaching and learning of Mathematics. The study is concluded with recommendations on how to nurture and improve critical thinking in the Mathematics classroom. / Thesis (M.Ed. (Learning and Teaching)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

It is of utmost importance for learners to master language in order to learn effectively at school. Problems in language development can cause learning problems that have negative results for the learner. Language consists mainly of the spoken language (listening and speaking), reading and writing. These three aspects of language form an integrated unit so that a problem with one will influence the others. Learners are initially taught in school to read and write. Learners should later be able to use acquired reading skills to learn, and acquired writing skills must be applied to reproduce that which has been learnt. If learners do not master the foregoing skills, their progress at school will be seriously handicapped. A further aggravating factor within the milieu of the South African education system is the complicated socio-political history of the country that created a large number of disadvantaged schools. A Report by the Ministerial Committee on Education in Disadvantaged Areas (2005:10, 43) emphasizes the needs and skills of learners; training, dedication and competencies of teachers; as well as the importance of instructional media in disadvantaged areas. In spite of the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement Grade R-9 (Schools) and Grade 10-12 (Schools), illiteracy is still a serious problem in South Africa. Because the basis of all reading and writing skills are laid in the Foundation Phase, it is necessary for drastic steps to be taken to ensure that learners will be able to read with comprehension in their first years at school. This research is aimed at proving the significant relationship between high frequency words and reading skills (measured by word recognition and reading comprehension) and also improving the reading skills of learners by the acquisition of high frequency words. An effort has also been made to meet the requirements of the core elements for good teaching/instruction. To achieve this objective, the focus of this study is binary. In the first phase the researcher determines if there is a significant relationship between the visual recognition of the high frequency words and reading skills (measured by visual word recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in the Foundation Phase (Grade 2). After completion of Phase 1 it was determined that there is a correlation between the visual recognition of high frequency words and the reading skills (measured by visual word recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in the Foundation Phase (Grade 2). After the successful completion of Phase 1 the focus shifts to the study of Phase 2. In Phase 2 the researcher makes a contribution to the instruction/teaching milieu and meets the requirements of the stated criteria to ensure good instruction/teaching as determined by the Report of the Ministerial Committee on Education in Disadvantaged Areas (2005:10, 43). This contribution is made through the designing of a reading instruction programme that is aimed at the improvement of reading skills (measured by visual word recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in the Foundation Phase. The focus of this Reading Instruction Programme is the acquisition of the first 100 high frequency words as they appear in Aucamp's list (1932: 79 - 80). The gathering/collection of data in both phases is characterised by the use of standardised tests. In Phase 1 use was made of descriptive statistics; Pearson's product moment correlations and Cohen's r-values; t-tests and Cohen's d-values; as well as one sample t-tests to analyse and interpret data. In Phase 2 pre- and post-tests were used. Statistical techniques used during the analysis reporting and interpretation of data in Phase 2 are descriptive statistics; Wilcoxon rank sum tests; one-way covariance analysis; Wilcoxon symmetry-tests, and Cohen's d-values. This study contributes to the education milieu when it proves that the instruction of high frequency words by means of this Reading Instruction Programme leads to the improvement of the reading skills (measured byword recognition and reading omprehension) of learners in Grade 3. The Reading Instruction Programme is based on a balanced reading approach in which the main components of reading integrated with high frequency words are instructed. This instruction is characterised among others by direct, explicit instruction; multi-sensory methods; the use of high quality instructional media; and the automatisation of high frequency words. The Reading Instruction Programme is based on the behaviouristic and cognitive learning theories as well as the transactional reading theory. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Clinicians and hospital administrators are increasingly challenged to achieve efficient evidence-based care. Clinical decision support (CDS) tools are being introduced into the clinical setting to facilitate the bridging of knowledge gaps at the point of care. Order sets are one of the tools used to facilitate this knowledge translation. Using the realist review methodology and a focus group of interview participants, this thesis explored retrospectively some of the causal relationships that lead to effective and successful order set adoption. Findings demonstrate the need for in-depth and regular review of context and order set adoption. Technology can offer some enhancements in the form of delivery tools, but it also introduces new and complex challenges for development and implementation. Ongoing software development is needed to improve delivery formats as well as incorporate effective tools to allow for efficient continuous quality improvement supports. / Graduate / 0769 / 0566 / hallsm.77@gmail.com

The UK Government has set the target of reducing CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050. Energy used by buildings is presently responsible for around half of C02 emissions in the UK. There are many established methods for reducing such emissions from building operation but these opportunities are not being seized to their full potential. One of these methods is the use of Alternative Energy Technologies (AETs) integrated into the built environment. Engineering consultants have a key role in the design of buildings, their energy consumption and the consideration of AETs. The objectives of this thesis are to explore the process of delivery of AETs in building projects, the key factors that influence the viability of these technologies and the capability of engineering consultants to increase their rate of uptake. While there are many published lists of incentives and restrictions to using these technologies, there are few reports of their impact in practical contexts. Project involvement provided evidence of significant variations in the drivers and barriers to using AETs, the design team perceptions and the approaches used for assessments. These insights were investigated in detail through participative research techniques. Initial focus groups led to the development of a structured interview programme administered in 2 phases. The first phase of interviews investigated the experiences of 41 participants representing a range of building project stakeholders. The second phase of interviews looks more closely at 24 relevant projects from the perspective of the engineering consultant, investigating the decision-making approaches used and the influence of factors throughout the design process in more detail. As a result a hierarchy of the importance of specific drivers and barriers to using AETs in building projects was established. It was found that there is a large amount of variation in their importance between projects. Despite this variation the emphasis for assessment methods is on financial terms, largely ignoring more qualitative concerns. This lack of suitable assessment methodologies along with a lack of education, motivation and case study information in the building industry are restricting the use of AETs in UK building projects. It is proposed that to address this, engineering consultants need to be better informed and need to develop and embrace more holistic technology assessment methods that account for qualitative and quantitative considerations.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

Dedication. Acknowledgements. Preface. Chapter 1: Introduction. Chapter 2: Green Business and Carbon Offsetting. Chapter 3A: Case Study. Chapter 3B: Interview. Chapter 4: Case Study. Chapter 5: Conclusion. Bibliography.

In 2006, Manitoba released a mandatory social studies curriculum for Grade 8 that included for the first time a section on world religions. It was released during a time when reasonable accommodation was being debated in various parts of Canada. This research explored the ways in which teachers in public schools in the city of Winnipeg dealt with teaching world religions within the climate of “reasonable accommodation” and charter challenges towards freedom of religion. Case study methodology with semi-structured interviews involving teachers included their experiences teaching about world religions. Results indicated teachers who teach about world religions require further information and feel there are personal, professional, and social factors that influence their ability to teach this subject as thoroughly as they would like. Implications for practice include: professional development in the area of world religions; resources for teachers; and government support. / February 2016

This thesis explores eight professionals’ views on the use of the multi-agency approach to assist young people involved in violent and offending behaviour. Parallel to this overall purpose, this thesis also examines the professionals’ views on possible risk factors for the involvement in such behaviour, and their perception of possible improvements to this particular approach. As a result of the policy changes during the 90’s, multi agency approaches became a popular way to deal with crime. In recent years, new frameworks and programs for multi-agency approaches have been introduced. Focus on a more streamlined multi-agency approach, as a way of targeting young people involved in violent and offending behavior, has been implemented by sharing information and working together across agencies for the benefit of children and young people. The method of this thesis applied semi-structured interviews, all of them with 13 prepared questions, to obtain the data necessary, and used snowball sampling to expand the network of informants. The results showed that most agencies saw benefits with the multi-agency approach primarily because of the way in which one can better obtain the needs of the child/youth and accommodate these on different levels thanks to the close interaction of the agencies. Moreover, the informants displayed a unified understanding of the underlying risk factors that might contribute to the involvement in violent or offending behaviour. Primarily, the informants addressed five risk factor themes: family, drugs and alcohol, gang culture and peer pressure, deprivation, and education. As for improvements, the informants saw the biggest need for such in the area of communication, not only between agencies, but also on a societal and political level where social issues must be addressed in policy making and resource funding.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:46:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SimoneKCM_DISSERT.pdf: 2562040 bytes, checksum: ebc4c3eec1374d9a4ce1ccd7066661e2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-20 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / In the new world order is notorious changes in social, ethical, economical and political aspects in the society, which reach incisively higher education, requiring a number of modifications and a new vision in nursing education, in order to meet the demands of the Unique Health System. Thus, the Higher Education Institutes (HEI) and teachers are invited to face new challenges and reflect on their practices, using pedagogical approaches and innovative methodologies to meet the requirements of a globalized society. This study has as an objective to analyze the perspective of teachers in what concern the pedagogical approaches used in nursing education and to identify pedagogical approaches utilized by teachers in nursing education. This is a field research of exploratory kind, descriptive, of quantitative approach. The search was conducted at the Department of Nursing of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte UFRN, based in the city of Natal. The population consisted of forty-six teachers. From this population was selected a sample of twenty teachers. Data collection occurred from August to September 2011, through the utilization of the technique of interview and questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed in two moments. In the first moment, was carried out the quantitative analysis that refers to the obtained data through the interview technique, methodological procedures were submitted to the content analysis proposed by Bardin. On the second moment, concerning the quantitative analysis of the questionnaires applied to the teachers and of the identification data, which were digitized and transferred to a spreadsheet electronic of Microsoft Excel XP, tabulated and organized into tables, containing their relative and absolute frequencies. It is worth mentioning that were respected the aspects of the CNS Resolution 196/96. With regard to the characteristics of research participants, 20% were male; with a degree of titration of 55% doctorates; regarding time of service there was a greater representation from 15 to 45 years, with 45%. The results showed that 90% of teachers who participated in the research have an appropriate understanding of non-critical pedagogical approaches, only 10% had an inadequate understanding. However, 70% of teachers, despite having an adequate understanding, reported difficulties when attempting to implement these pedagogies. Most teachers, with representability of 80% consider the non-critical pedagogies relevant in nursing education, as well as critical pedagogies, being represented by 95% of teachers. It was concluded that both critical and non-critical pedagogies are in teachers practice of undergraduate nursing education. It feels like a moment of transition, since the presence of new ways of teaching as a part of this educational context, with educational models that give value to scientific, ethical and personal aspects in the educational process. The research contains limitations, however highlights the contribution of new possibilities for action, reflection on the context of performance, maximizing the pedagogical skills necessary to conduct teaching process, in line with the new educational paradigm of higher education / No mundo hodierno s?o not?rias as mudan?as nos aspectos social, ?tico, econ?mico e pol?tico na sociedade, as quais atingem de modo incisivo, o ensino superior, exigindo uma s?rie de modifica??es e uma nova vis?o na forma??o de enfermeiros, a fim de atender as demandas do Sistema ?nico de Sa?de. Diante disso, as institui??es formadoras e os docentes s?o convidados a enfrentar os novos desafios e refletir sobre suas pr?ticas, a fim de favorecer uma maior flexibilidade e capacidade de articula??o, utilizando abordagens pedag?gicas e metodologias inovadoras, para fazer frente ?s exig?ncias de uma sociedade globalizada. O presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar a perspectiva do docente no que concernem as abordagens pedag?gicas utilizadas na forma??o de enfermeiros e identificar as abordagens pedag?gicas empregadas por docentes na forma??o de enfermeiros. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de campo do tipo explorat?ria, de abordagem quantitativa. A pesquisa foi realizada no Departamento de Enfermagem da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte UFRN, sediada na cidade de Natal, no estado do Rio Grande do Norte. A popula??o foi composta por cinquenta e tr?s docentes. Desta popula??o, foi selecionada uma amostra de vinte docentes que atuam na referida Institui??o. A coleta de dados ocorreu no per?odo de agosto a setembro de 2011, atrav?s da t?cnica de entrevista semi-estruturada e da utiliza??o de um question?rio. Os dados obtidos ser?o analisados individualmente, em dois momentos: No primeiro momento, a an?lise quantitativa referente aos dados obtidos por meio da t?cnica de entrevista, os quais foram submetidos aos procedimentos metodol?gicos da an?lise de conte?do proposta por Bardin. No segundo momento, an?lise quantitativa dos dados quantitativos coletados resultantes dos question?rios aplicados aos docentes e dos dados de identifica??o dos participantes, os quais foram transferidos para uma planilha eletr?nica do Microsoft Excel XP, com tabula??o e organiza??o em tabelas dos dados, contendo suas frequ?ncias relativas e absolutas. Vale salientar, que foram respeitados os aspectos presentes na Resolu??o CNS 196/96, a qual refere os aspectos ?ticos e legais da pesquisa envolvendo seres humanos. Os resultados mostram que 90% dos docentes participantes da pesquisa apresentam uma compreens?o adequada das abordagens pedag?gicas n?o cr?ticas, apenas 10% tinham um entendimento inadequado. Com rela??o ?s pedagogias cr?ticas, 80% dos participantes da pesquisa referiram uma compreens?o adequada. Por?m, 70% dos docentes, apesar de terem uma compreens?o adequada, relataram dificuldades durante a tentativa de implementa??o destas pedagogias. A maioria dos docentes, como representabilidade de 80%, consideram as pedagogias n?o cr?ticas relevantes na forma??o do enfermeiro, como tamb?m as pedagogias cr?ticas, sendo representada por 95% dos docentes. Com rela??o ?s caracter?sticas dos participantes da pesquisa, 20% eram representantes do sexo masculino; com grau de titula??o de 55% com doutorado; referente ao tempo de servi?o houve uma maior representatividade entre 15 a 45 anos, com 45%. Contudo, com vista a identificar as abordagens pedag?gicas que norteiam suas pr?ticas docentes na forma??o de enfermeiros da UFRN, revelou que tanto as pedagogias cr?ticas, quanto e as pedagogias n?o cr?ticas est?o presentes na pr?tica de docentes da gradua??o em enfermagem. Isso reflete um momento de transi??o, visto que a presen?a das novas formas de ensinar j? faz parte deste contexto educativo. Por fim, cabe ressaltar, a import?ncia compreender sobre modelos educacionais que valorizam os aspectos cient?ficos, ?ticos, pessoais no processo educativo. A pesquisa tem a pretens?o de proporcionar aos docentes a contribui??o de novas possibilidades de a??o no sentido de refletir sobre o contexto de atua??o, com compet?ncias pedag?gicas necess?rias para conduzir o processo de ensino, em conson?ncia com o novo paradigma pedag?gico do ensino superior

Authenticity issues and fraudulent practices regarding animal products are affecting consumer confidence. Verifying the description, composition, processing or origin of foods can be challenging. To explore British and Kurdish consumers’ perceptions of kebab meat products, focus groups and questionnaire surveys were applied. About 40% of participants in the UK tend to purchase fewer processed meats after the European horsemeat scandal. Issues raised by participants indicated their concerns about the declaration of species, meat content, and other ingredients incorporated in kebab and other meat products. Lack of consumer trust has been linked to authenticity issues. Reactions towards the addition of fat-replacing inulin were positive by more than half of respondents. A further study aimed to investigate the effect of commercial inulin (CI) and Jerusalem artichoke (JA) tubers as fat replacers on the eating quality and overall acceptability of kebabs. Inulin flour prepared from JA by a simple protocol presented advantages with about 10% higher cooking yield and overall acceptability when compared with CI. Levels of inulin as low as 0.5% were detected in meat products using enzymatic assay, which could be relevant to detect additives and enforce labelling requirements. The authenticity (origin and species) was investigated in fish samples from commercial markets in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). The declared fish species was checked using DNA barcoding with Cytochrome b region. A 10 % rate of mislabelling occurred only for wild common carp (Cyprinus carpio), with 9 out of 12 discovered to be the related species goldfish (Carassius auratus), which was deemed to be accidental rather than deliberate fraud. Such occurrences were from street markets and fishmongers, while none were from supermarkets. Wild and farmed common carp samples were not discriminated by DNA barcoding. Further fingerprinting using compositional profile and nearinfrared spectroscopy (NIRS) together with chemometric analysis aimed to predict composition and discriminate between wild and farmed common carp and species identity. NIRS-predictions of composition and some macrominerals of fish have a strong correlation with the references. NIRS with chemometric analysis is promising, but were not satisfactorily accurate for micro-minerals. Even with no clear solution from principal component analysis (PCA), NIRS-PCA may contribute to discriminating sample groups, but not for authentication when used alone. Having reliable techniques for authentication of food of animal origin may discourage deliberate replacement in retail, wholesale and international trade, and may contribute to reductions in food mislabelling, therefore protecting consumers from fraudulent practices.