Magister Educationis - MEd / The study employed a quasi-experimental design to determine the effect of DAIM on learners’ conceptions of lightning. The experimental group was taught using DAIM while the control group was taught the same content using TLM. Data was collected using the Science Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ), Beliefs about Lightning Questionnaire (BALQ), Conceptions of Lightning Questionnaire (COLQ) and Science Achievement Test on Lightning (SATOL) which was used to determine learners’ overall performance on the topic of electrostatics. The data was analysed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The findings of the study revealed that prior to the intervention (DAIM); the two groups of learners had both the scientific and the indigenous knowledge about lightning. A majority of the learners believed that lightning is caused by witches and traditional doctors. After being exposed to the DAIM most of the learners in the experimental group were found to have changed to the more scientific explanation of cause of lightning and protective measures against lightning. Few learners in the control were classified as possessing an equipollent worldview in terms of the CAT after the post tests. Some learners’ conceptions about lightning wavered between the scientific and traditional worldviews. The Science Attitude Questionnaire showed that both groups of learners had a positive attitude towards science. The findings also suggested that the inclusion of indigenous knowledge in science lessons promoted active participation from the learners, reinforced the learning of science because it promoted conceptual development and scientific literacy. The learners in the study also supported the integration of the scientific and the traditional worldviews about lightning. After the instruction, the learners in both groups seemed to still hold indigenous beliefs in relation to lightning. The post-test results showed that the DAIM group seemed to have been able to link the concept of lightning with electrostatics when they related lightning storms to electric discharge. The experimental group was found to be more elaborate in their explanations of the scientific nature of lightning than the control group which was not exposed to DAIM

Magister Educationis - MEd / This study investigated 1) the conceptions on capacitors held by a group teachers in the Western Cape; 2) the effect of a dialogical argumentation instructional model on the teachers’ conceptions on the capacitor; and 3) the teachers’ perceptions on the implementation of this instructional model. The theoretical framework of the study was based on Toulmin’s Argumentation Pattern (TAP) and Ogunniyi’s Contiguity Argumentation Theory (CAT). The objective was to retrain science teachers in their awareness and understanding of the Nature of Science and Indigenous Knowledge Systems thereby enhancing their ability and efficacy in integrating science and Indigenous Knowledge Systems. The study involved workshop activities that included the teachers’ Reflective Diary, interview sessions, and video-taped lesson observations. The study adopted a Case Study approach and the data was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings of the study showed that: 1) the teachers held varying conceptions of the capacitor; 2) the teachers’ conceptions of the capacitor improved after being exposed to the Dialogical Argumentation Instructional Model and 3) the teachers were dominantly in favour of the Dialogical Argumentation Instruction Model as a teaching method to be introduced at schools. The implications of the findings for school science and pedagogy were highlighted for closer observation.

<p>The study catered for empirical and metaphysical dimensions of science and IKS. The study employed a quasi-experimental design as well as a qualitative research design. Two cohorts of students from a fictitiously named &ldquo / Culture Secondary School&rdquo / have been used in this study. The list of instruments for data collection were as follows: Conceptions of Fermentation (COF) questionnaire which was used to elicit learners&rsquo / pre- and post-test conceptions of fermentation with special reference to traditional beer or &ldquo / Umqombothi&rdquo / , an Attitudes to Science (ATS) questionnaire which was used to find out the learners&rsquo / worldviews, a Science Achievement Test (SAT) which was used to assess the learners&rsquo / generalised knowledge of fermentation, a classroom observation schedule as well as a focus group interview schedule to gather additional qualitative data. All the instruments were in English with all technical and difficult terms in both English and isiXhosa (the learners&rsquo / home language). Both groups were exposed to Science/IKS-based lessons. The only difference between the two groups was that, the experimental group (E group) was exposed to a Dialogical Argumentation Teaching Model (DAIM) and the comparison group (C group) to a traditional teaching approach. The data gatherred were both analyzed in terms of qualitative and quantitative descriptions.</p>

This study was based on the Science and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Project (SIKSP) at the School of Science and Mathematics Education, University of the Western Cape. The project seeks to enhance educators’ understanding of and ability to implement a Science-IKS curriculum (Ogunniyi, 2007) through using the theoretical framework of argumentation (Toulmin Argument Pattern) to the extent that learners would value the significance of both worldviews. This study sought to find the effects of an Argumentation-Based Instruction on grade 10 learners’ understanding of the causes of pollution at a river site. Since the integration of Science and IKS are envisaged by Curriculum 2005 (C2005), two theoretical argumentation constructs have been used namely, Toulmin’s (1958) Argumentation Pattern (TAP) and Ogunniyi’s (1995) Contiguity Argumentation Theory (CAT).

La presente ricerca nasce con lo scopo di indagare la pertinenza del concetto di parola chiave in rapporto alla realizzazione delle dinamiche testuali. Questo concetto è presentato nella letteratura come uno strumento euristico, utilizzato per analizzare oggetti diversi, quali le culture, le società o i testi. Tuttavia emerge una certa discordanza nelle diverse caratterizzazioni delle parole chiave che impedisce di circoscrivere questa categoria di elementi linguistici e di definirne un metodo di individuazione. Dalla nostra indagine emerge che le funzioni delle parole chiave possono essere ricondotte alle metafore della chiave d'accesso , chiave d'interpretazione e chiave di volta . E' in particolare quest'ultima accezione quella più adeguata a descrivere la funzione svolta dalle parole chiave in rapporto alle dinamiche testuali. Esse si caratterizzano cioè per essere elementi linguistici che contribuiscono in maniera strategica a realizzare lo scopo comunicativo globale del testo, instaurando un legame particolarmente forte con il sapere condiviso tra mittente e destinatario. E' questo nesso che giustifica il loro ruolo centrale nella costruzione della strategia comunicativa del testo. Un'applicazione della definizione al testo argomentativo, nell'ultima parte della ricerca, precisa la funzione della parola chiave in relazione a una struttura testuale specifica. / The present research aims at analysing the concept of keyword in the context of textual analysis. In the literature keywords are mostly conceived of as tools useful to give insights into cultures, societies or texts. Nevertheless they are not univocally described and it is difficult to outline a precise method for their identification. In fact the methods proposed are highly subjective as keywords are mainly indicated as the results of previous interpretations conducted on the culture, society or text which is being analysed. In this research instead we are interested in the possibility of describing keywords as elements concurring in the construction of textual meaning. This presupposes the definition of the specific function played by keywords and a logical-semantic textual theory which allows analysing the structure of texts and the ways in which they realize their communicative goals. Congruity Theory is the theory which seemed to offer the most comprehensive methodology to analyse texts. Thanks to the theoretical tools offered by it, we define keywords as linguistic elements that play a strategic role in the realization of the text's global communicative aim. The last part of the research is devoted to the application of the definition to argumentative texts, showing in which ways keywords contribute in the realization of their persuasive goal. In relation to these texts the specific function of keywords appears to be that of giving arguments their persuasive power.

<p>The study catered for empirical and metaphysical dimensions of science and IKS. The study employed a quasi-experimental design as well as a qualitative research design. Two cohorts of students from a fictitiously named &ldquo / Culture Secondary School&rdquo / have been used in this study. The list of instruments for data collection were as follows: Conceptions of Fermentation (COF) questionnaire which was used to elicit learners&rsquo / pre- and post-test conceptions of fermentation with special reference to traditional beer or &ldquo / Umqombothi&rdquo / , an Attitudes to Science (ATS) questionnaire which was used to find out the learners&rsquo / worldviews, a Science Achievement Test (SAT) which was used to assess the learners&rsquo / generalised knowledge of fermentation, a classroom observation schedule as well as a focus group interview schedule to gather additional qualitative data. All the instruments were in English with all technical and difficult terms in both English and isiXhosa (the learners&rsquo / home language). Both groups were exposed to Science/IKS-based lessons. The only difference between the two groups was that, the experimental group (E group) was exposed to a Dialogical Argumentation Teaching Model (DAIM) and the comparison group (C group) to a traditional teaching approach. The data gatherred were both analyzed in terms of qualitative and quantitative descriptions.</p>

This study was based on the Science and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Project (SIKSP) at the School of Science and Mathematics Education, University of the Western Cape. The project seeks to enhance educators’ understanding of and ability to implement a Science-IKS curriculum (Ogunniyi, 2007) through using the theoretical framework of argumentation (Toulmin Argument Pattern) to the extent that learners would value the significance of both worldviews. This study sought to find the effects of an Argumentation-Based Instruction on grade 10 learners’ understanding of the causes of pollution at a river site. Since the integration of Science and IKS are envisaged by Curriculum 2005 (C2005), two theoretical argumentation constructs have been used namely, Toulmin’s (1958) Argumentation Pattern (TAP) and Ogunniyi’s (1995) Contiguity Argumentation Theory (CAT).

Magister Educationis - MEd (Mathematics and Science Education) / The study catered for empirical and metaphysical dimensions of science and IKS. The study employed a quasi-experimental design as well as a qualitative research design. Two cohorts of students from a fictitiously named Culture Secondary School have been used in this study. The list of instruments for data collection were as follows: Conceptions of Fermentation (COF) questionnaire which was used to elicit learnerss pre- and post-test conceptions of fermentation with special reference to traditional beer or Umqombothi an Attitudes to Science (ATS) questionnaire which was used to find out the learners' worldviews, a Science Achievement Test (SAT) which was used to assess the learners' generalised knowledge of fermentation, a classroom observation schedule as well as a focus group interview schedule to gather additional qualitative data. All the instruments were in English with all technical and difficult terms in both English and isiXhosa (the learners&rsquo; home language). Both groups were exposed to Science/IKS-based lessons. The only difference between the two groups was that, the experimental group (E group) was exposed to a Dialogical Argumentation Teaching Model (DAIM) and the comparison group (C group) to a traditional teaching approach. The data gathered were both analyzed in terms of qualitative and quantitative descriptions. / South Africa

Cette thèse traite de l’analyse théorique et l’application d’une nouvelle famille de jeux coopératifs, où la valeur de chaque coalition peut être calculée à partir des contributions des joueurs par un opérateur additif qui décrit comme les capacités individuelles interagissent au sein de groupes. Précisément, on introduit une grande classe de jeux, les Generalized Additive Games, qui embrasse plusieurs classes de jeux coopératifs dans la littérature, et en particulier de graph games, où un réseau décrit les restrictions des possibilités d’interaction entre les joueurs. Des propriétés et solutions pour cette classe de jeux sont étudiées, avec l’objectif de fournir des outils pour l’analyse de classes de jeux connues, ainsi que pour la construction de nouvelles classes de jeux avec des propriétés intéressantes d’un point de vue théorique. De plus, on introduit une classe de solutions pour les communication situations, où la formation d’un réseau est décrite par un mécanisme additif, et dans la dernière partie de cette thèse on présente des approches avec notre modèle à des problèmes réels modélisés par des graph games, dans les domaines de la théorie de l’argumentation et de la biomédecine. / This thesis deals with the theoretical analysis and the application of a new family of cooperative games, where the worth of each coalition can be computed from the contributions of single players via an additive operator describing how the individual abilities interact within groups. Specifically, we introduce a large class of games, namely the Generalized Additive Games, which encompasses several classes of cooperative games from the literature, and in particular of graph games, where a network describes the restriction of the interaction possibilities among players. Some properties and solutions of such class of games are studied, with the objective of providing useful tools for the analysis of known classes of games, as well as for the construction of new classes of games with interesting properties from a theoretic point of view. Moreover, we introduce a class of solution concepts for communication situations, where the formation of a network is described by means of an additive pattern, and in the last part of the thesis we present two approaches using our model to real-world problems described by graph games, in the fields of Argumentation Theory and Biomedicine.

In dieser Dissertation schlage ich eine neue Erklärung dafür vor, warum es in der antiken Philosophie eine tiefe Meinungsverschiedenheit in Bezug auf das menschliche Gute gab. Die Erklärung lautet, dass verschiedene Autoren verschiedene Auffassungen über die Kontexte und die Ziele von Argumenten über das menschliche Gute vertraten. Daraus ergab sich, dass sie nicht dieselben Argumente als gültig anerkannten und daher verschiedene Theorien über das Gute als plausibel erachteten. Die Texte, mit denen sich in erster Reihe beschäftigt wird, sind: Platons Gorgias und Philebos; Aristoteles’ Topik und Nikomachische Ethik, Senecas Epistulae Morales 82, 83, 87 und 120; Epikurs Brief an Menoikeus, Lukrez’ De Rerum Natura, Sextus’ Grundzüge der pyrrhonischen Skepsis. / In this dissertation, I suggest a new explanation for disagreement about the human good (I.e what makes a human life good) in ancient philosophy: namely, that differing understandings of argumentation contexts and goals shaped selection of argument schemes, which in turn influenced which theories of the good seemed plausible. The texts I primarily deal with are connections between Plato’s Gorgias and the Philebus, Aristotle’s Topics and the Nicomachean Ethics, Seneca’s EM 82, 83, 87 and 120, Epicurus’ Letter to Menoeceus and Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura, and Sextus’ Outlines of Skepticism.