published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Philosophy

To teach effectively, teachers rely on feedback from their students. But students often dislike conventional forms of feedback such as taking tests or answering questions in front of their peers. For my MFA thesis project, I have designed tools that k-12 educators can use to elicit formative feedback, even from quiet and reserved students and those who do not feel their feedback is of value. My overarching intent with these lowstakes, low-tech, inexpensive tools is to improve teaching and learning. By giving teachers tools that generate useful feedback in a way that is low-stakes for the students, all students are given a voice. Through this design process, I also developed some generalizable principles about the way in which good formative feedback can be elicited in learning environments. / text

In South Africa, January 2011 was characterised by above average rainfall which resulted in many provinces being flooded. On the 17th of January 2011, the government of South Africa declared the City of Tshwane a National Disaster Area. It is in the city of Tshwane where a hotel was flooded causing great damage and disruption to the lives of the hotel workers. Given the lack of existing research focusing on the social dimensions of natural disasters, this provided an opportunity to study the social impact of the flood on the community of hotel workers at a Pretoria hotel. Four sub-aims were set for the study, which involved an exploration of the strengths that were exhibited, discovered or developed as a result of the flood; investigating the subjective experiences in relation to the flood; exploring the interactional patterns and relationships of the hotel workers; as well as investigating how the leadership of the hotel impacted on the manner in which the hotel workers dealt with the flood. A qualitative methodology, guided by a social constructivist epistemology was adopted as basis for the study. Data was gathered by means of individual semi-structured interviews, semi-structured questionnaires, and a focus group interview with a number of employees at the hotel. The data was subjected to qualitative content and grounded theoretical analysis. Five main themes emerged from the analysis, which include: Emotional responses, which included negative emotions such as shock, fear, frustration and anger, as well as positive emotions such as happiness and appreciation; a variety of interactional patterns and relationships; increased cohesiveness; enhanced leadership, and the development of group resilience. / MA, Medical Sociology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

Since the establishment of the republic in 1923 there has never been a consensus over Turkey‘s national identity, either internally or externally. Westernization was a top-down project that fostered societal resistance from the outset and which received only partial recognition from the West itself. The end of the Cold War has further intensified the debates over Turkish identity both in Turkey itself and in the wider world. This thesis examines the implications of a complex and insecure identity for Turkey‘s political development and in particular its ability to develop an international role commensurate with its size and capabilities. In doing so, it demonstrates the connection between different notions of Turkish identity and foreign policy preferences whilst emphasising also the important role of the international institutional context (for example membership of NATO and the EU) in shaping the preferences of diverse state/societal actors within Turkey in the post-Cold War period. The focus in this regard is on the military, political parties and business/civil-society groups. The thesis engages recent debates between constructivists and rationalists and argues that a constructivist account of Turkish foreign policy is more helpful than a rationalist explanation, through the case studies of Turkey‘s relations with the EU, Greece and the Middle East in the post-Cold War period. It shows how rational actor assumptions operate within a constructivist context and aims to shed light on the relationship between identity, political interests and foreign policy. The thesis also demonstrates that an insecure identity is a barrier to pursue consistent foreign policy goals, thereby lending support to the view that a secure identity is a condition of developing a stable and influential role in the post-Cold War system.

Photomontage has more to do with film than with any other art form - they have in common the technique of montage. (Sergei Tretyakov) By considering that photomontage and film use the technique of cutting and gluing as dominant artistic device, and that montage, a technique unifying art and technology for the first time, emerged as a dominant artistic feature of the avantgarde, this thesis will explore the ideological and perceptual implications of its advent in avant-garde art and film. The technological advances of the beginning of the twentieth century, and particularly the advent of photography, allowed avantgarde artists to break free from traditional concepts of artistic production – they dispensed with the old criteria of uniqueness, originality, handicraft and personal style. At a time when many avant-garde artists abruptly ceased to paint, photomontage emerged as the privileged locus for a caesura with traditional art forms. Photomontage envisioned film aesthetics insofar as it combines and juxtaposes images of various perspectival planes and angles (Raoul Hausmann described his early photomontages as “motionless moving pictures”). A corresponding observation can be made on the use of montage in cinema, a technique which crucially underpins the illusion of movement created through the succession of photographic stills. The present thesis will investigate photomontage and film in order to examine the effect technological reproduction played in revolutionising artistic production, perception and ideology – where the technique and philosophy of montage was key.

This thesis examines the theory and practice of humanitarian intervention in the early post-Cold War era. Taking as its basis US policy towards Somalia, Rwanda and Haiti between 1992 and 1994, it develops a theory of humanitarian intervention based on constructivist and scientific realist principles. Using identity as the organising concept, the thesis examines the meta-theoretical precepts of constructivism and scientific realism, which are developed into a methodology for analysing questions of foreign policy. Incorporating critical insights from sequential path analysis, morphogenetic social analysis - the notion of a dynamic mutual constitution of structure and agency - and constructivist social theory, the case studies provide a useful new means of conceptualising humanitarian intervention as a foreign policy practice through an identity-driven analysis. The findings of the research shed much light on this practice and its future prospects. They also suggest new directions for a scientific realist/constructivist research agenda.

The 2007 revised mathematics curriculum in Ghana introduced many changes to the way mathematics should be taught and learned. However, before this research started in 2010, very little was known about how this subject is taught and learned. This study aims to investigate mathematics teachers’ teaching practices and students’ learning experiences in junior high schools (12-14 years) using a mixed methods design. The study’s conceptual framework is informed by two different, but interrelated theories: behaviourism and constructivism. Participants in the study were 24 mathematics teachers and 358 students from 12 schools. Semistructured questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data about participants’ perceptions, and classroom observations and interviews were used to collect qualitative data about actual classroom practices. The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS, STATSDIRECT and ORIGIN software and the qualitative data assessed using a thematic analysis approach. The key findings include: teachers and students espoused the belief that their teaching and learning practices are consistent with the principles and guidelines of the new mathematics curriculum. Teachers perceived teaching practices were complex as they contain both behaviourist and constructivist beliefs; however, their actual teaching practices were didactic. It also emerged that both teachers and students try to avoid making mistakes, despite the importance of correcting students’ misconceptions when promoting effective teaching and learning. The fact that peer influence is a key factor that shapes students’ learning was an important theme that emerged from the interview and the classroom observations. Students were only willing to participate in class discussions if they knew the correct answer, as they would be ridiculed by their peers for giving a wrong answer. The movement towards a more constructivist approach to teaching and learning, which is the prime objective of the new mathematics curriculum, occurred at a slower pace. Thus, a conceptual model for the teaching and learning of mathematics which advocates collaboration and partnership between teachers and students in the classroom is offered.

The purpose of this study was to observe weblogs in their natural setting and to investigate the nature of collective learning within the debt blogging community. How individuals who blog their experiences with getting out of debt use their weblogs as well as the role of the commenter in the debt blogging process were also researched. Four distinct literature pools were used to frame this study including the theory of social constructivism, the context of communities of practice, the problem of consumer debt, and the medium of blogging. Utilizing observational netnography, six weblogs were researched which were comprised of individuals or couples trying to get out of debt or who have recently achieved that goal. The primary data included weblog entries and comments from the inception of the weblog to the date of the IRB approval. In addition, “About Me” pages, blogrolls, personal widgets, hypertext links, static text, and the visual context of the weblogs were also included as part of the data. The findings are as follows: First, the analysis of the data revealed six main themes in regard to the nature of collective learning within the debt blogging community. These weblogs (1) distinguish levels of participation, (2) unify and commit participants, (3) remove barriers, (4) contribute to personal growth, (5) allow for personal navigation, and (6) inspire/help others. Many of these themes are founded in the communities of practice literature, but were expanded in this study to illustrate understanding in the context of a weblog as a virtual community of practice. Second, research findings indicate the main uses of debt blogs were to (1) document financial life, (2) articulate opinions, (3) reach out, (4) express self, (5) build communities, and (6) promote accountability. Each of these findings with the exception of promoting accountability has been found in the literature. Accountability has two distinct components – internal and external. The debt bloggers feel obligated to post due to their own internal sense of responsibility as well as external obligation to post due to their duty to the community. This may be unique to debt bloggers or to those who blog about a specific problem. Finally, the analysis of the data provided seven distinct roles of the commenter: (1) supporter, (2) challenger, (3) confirmer/mirror, (4) admirer, (5) seeker of information/advice, (6) provider of information/advice, and (7) connector of community. The research findings revealed insights to the complex interaction of bloggers and commenters and the technical difficulty with capturing the dynamic nature of weblogs.

This thesis addresses the use and inclusion of cross-cutting theme of personal and social education in the constructivist-oriented mathematics teaching. The thesis has two main objectives, to describe the scope for personal and social education in mathematics teaching and to suggest learning activities that show interlinking of these regions. The main section is being created by these activities. All have been tested in practice and subsequently evaluated.

TITLE: Understanding of Society by Czech Pre-school Children AUTHOR: Nikol Tomášková DEPARTMENT: Institute for Research and Development of Education SUPERVISOR: RNDr. Dominik Dvořák, Ph.D. ABSTRACT: The society's need to teach financial literacy to children of as early as pre-school age is ever increasing. Since there is number of methodologies currently being developed on this topic, the author considers crucial to explore a child's conception of socioeconomic phenomena associated with financial literacy before these guidelines are introduced in Czech nursery schools for practical use. In this thesis pre-school children's perception of such phenomena as profession, employment and associated financial flows, as well as the concept of poverty and wealth are being examined. Theoretical basis of this research uses certain principles of the constructivist model of development and education within the general framework of pre- school education. Our work has been also influenced by the ideas of J. Piaget and L. S. Vygotsky, in particular by those on children's thinking and thought processes. As a method to examine the above mentioned perceptions of children, an in-depth clinical interview has been used. The interview aimed to explore not only what knowledge of the selected socioeconomic phenomena the respondents...