Thesis (M.A.)(Mathematics Education) -- University of Limpopo, 2010. / Culture has become a household name in research circles mainly due to different interpretations that people come up with. How one defines it is relative to the discipline from which one is reasoning from. My engagement with literature in trying to define culture was limited to what happens in the mathematics classroom. What comes out as the operating definition in this study is that culture evolves. Classroom is about learning. As with culture, there are different interpretations of what it means. In this study my discussions on this issue were limited to those that use constructivism as a referent to learning. However, there are still a lot of debates within constructivism in terms of what it means to learn. My discussions were then confined to what it means to learn from a sociocultural perspective. From this perspective learning is accounted for on social and cultural processes. In contrast from a constructivist perspective the individual’s cognitive processes and the classroom culture are reflexively related. The evolving classroom culture does not exist apart from the teacher’s and students’ attempt to coordinate their individual activities (Cobb and Yackel, 1998). Initially the study was aimed at collaborating with an intermediate mathematics teacher in creating a constructivist classroom learning environment. However, the nature of data I had was such that I developed interest in what constitute enculturation process. I had moved between my classroom experiences and experiences with literature to establish what constitute enculturation process. The following constructs emerged as attributes of what enculturation process for both classroom and mathematics culture entails: language, learning, and negotiation of meaning. / N/A

The purpose of this study was to utilize the dual frameworks of Body-Centered Constructivism and Lived Religion to analyze the work of contemporary photojournalists and documentary photographers. Interviews were conducted with a targeted selection of professional and non-professional photojournalists whose experiences and work were relevant to the Body-Centered Constructivist framework. Informants were asked to comment on how physical factors including but not limited to new photographic technologies affected the use of their bodies while on assignment, their interpretation of stories, and their relationships with their subjects. Next, visual analyses of works of photojournalism were conducted using a Lived Religion framework. These works were selected based on their relevance to the research questions presented, namely how photojournalists approach the mundane in coverage of religious stories. An additional creative component operated as a case study for applying each framework to a work of visual journalism. Various media were employed based on relationships fostered between the media, the photographer’s body, and the subjects. Reflections and conclusions based on this project are included.

Magister Educationis - MEd / The purpose of this paper was to examine the use of the multiple representation approach as a teaching strategy to improve learners understanding of vectors in Grade 10 Physical Sciences. The study also wanted to consider the MR approach through the lens of the learners. A sample consisting of 45 Grade 10 learners from a total of 160 Grade 10 Physical Sciences learners participated in the study. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed. Learners were first given a pre-test to establish their initial understanding of vectors. This pre-test was followed by an intervention in the form of a lesson. The lesson was conducted in order to expose learners to learning through Multiple Representations. A post-test was then administered to determine the impact of the intervention. To gather and quantify the learners’ perceptions on the use of Multiple Representations in teaching and learning of vectors in Grade 10 Physical Sciences learners were given questionnaires to complete. The last step was interviewing of learners to triangulate the results from the three instruments. The study found that learners were struggling with understanding of vectors in their traditional chalk-and-talk lessons and their perceptions towards vectors were negative. The study also found that Multiple Representations can improve understanding and develop positive perception of learners towards the teaching and learning of vectors. This improvement occurs only if Multiple Representations is used correctly. The study further found out that when Multiple Representations is used improperly it limits deeper understanding by learners. A number of recommendations were made out of the findings of the study. Some of them were that multiple representations should be used when teaching vectors and that subject advisers and teachers should be developed on the proper use of multiple representations. The Physical Sciences textbooks must be designed to accommodate Multiple Representations.

Statistics show that “ethnic affiliation” and “disability”, under the discrimination law, with a margin constitute most of the discrimination reports made in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The purpose of this thesis is to describe how Östergötland's local media construct and maintain the image of people who are protected by law of discrimination. Our goal is to explain of how the media can have the power to influence society's general perception of these two groups. Through the social constructionism theory and the critical discourse analysis, we explain how general perceptions of these groups can lead to negative attitudes and discrimination. Through a critical discourse analysis and a qualitative text analysis of articles from Östgöta Correspondenten and Norrköpings Tidningar regarding these groups showed that people with disabilities were often presented as a "burden" of some kind and rarely described as "just” individuals but instead defined or biasedly nuanced based on their disability. People with foreign background were generalized and forced to represent a larger group. The topic of the articles were often negative, and it was common with dehumanization and objectification. The media, which is easily accessible as newspaper articles can generate in common "truths" that might collectively lead to social action. Our study result shows that media reflects a society, in which people with disability and foreign background are marginalized and placed outside the norm. That kind of categorization may likely lead to negative attitudes and exclusion for the affected groups.

This thesis looks at the way in which drama education constructs opportunities for learning. Constructivism and self-organising systems theory are used to further understand how individuals and societies construct their own learning. Important in this process is the self-conscious experience of the learner. The notion of being ‘in learning’ rather than outside of and observing the learning is central. This consciousness facilitates the creation of meaning, which plays a role in determining the manner in which further participation in learning occurs, hence further learning. This emphasises the process of learning over the product of learning. The function that language and emotion serve in this process also deserves consideration. This perspective upon process has a considerable impact upon the way in which learners make meaning and the way in which they approach learning. Questions surrounding a consciousness of participation bring the senses, the feelings, the emotions and other physical experience to the fore. They require that the learning of the body be experienced. Embodied learning is insufficiently acknowledged and theorised in drama education. Through bringing together constructivism, systems theory, drama education and contemporary performance theory this thesis argues for a greater recognition of the relationship between the body and learning. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Support teachers learning difficulties (STLD) have made a significant contribution to the provision of support for students experiencing learning difficulties and learning disabilities in Queensland state primary schools over almost forty years. During the 1990s with the implementation of an inclusive curriculum in schools, and in recent years, with changing systemic expectations of how academic performance might be improved, these teachers have increasingly participated in collaborative models with their classroom colleagues to provide for students experiencing various barriers to learning. This study focuses on the nature of exemplary practice as perceived through the eyes and voices of six exemplary STLD teachers. In keeping with this intent, a process of selecting the participants for in-depth study was instigated in a professional community of state primary STLD teachers located in a Brisbane education district to determine at the grass-roots what an exemplary STLD teacher might “look like”, and which six teachers in that community might contribute to the community‟s understanding of exemplary STLD teaching practice. These contributions are represented in six case studies, referred to as “portraits” and were co-constructed, that is through a dialogic process between the participant and me. Each portrait communicates an aspect of teaching practice and the experiential knowledge that underpins it. The term “exemplary” has been adopted consciously to denote “that serves as an example” (Harper, 2001) in contrast to the term “expert”, which frequently carries a technical connotation. A mixed methodology was adopted (Lincoln & Guba, 2003) in this qualitative study in anticipation of the need to draw upon various methods that in combination might assist in viewing, conceptualizing and harnessing the dynamic complexity expected to be evident in grassroots practice. First, various expressions of constructivism contributed, with the major influence being social constructivism to denote a “house” or a community of professionals in ongoing dialogue. 6 This provides the framework within which the study has been undertaken. Second, phenomenology, most particularly the work of Moustakas (1994) and van Manen (1990, 1994, 1995, 2007), is the primary source for the inspiration (van Manen) and the methods and tools (Moustakas) to explore the nature of their practice. Phenomenological approaches were adopted with the expectation they could assist in highlighting the essence of each individual‟s practice while allowing for the eliciting of experiential themes that are of importance to the professional community of STLD teachers. Finally, studies of practical teacher knowledge (Elbaz, 1983) in association with narrative inquiry (Connolly & Clandinin, 1988) have provided further insights into how the collective expression of these teachers might be displayed. The primary preoccupation of the portraits is the teachers‟ provision of support for individual students, and the nature and quality of the relationships enlisted in the service of making this provision. The teachers‟ transactions on behalf of these students are indicative of a raft of values, ideals, collaborative and communication skills which might be subsumed by the term relatedness, and the ability to see astutely the elements in various situations that need attentiveness. Their practice in action appears to be best encapsulated by Van Manen‟s (1995) term “pedagogical tact”, a term borrowed to capture the nature of the pedagogical relationships infused into their personal and professional selves. Three views of practice are provided to display and illuminate the nature of the six exemplary teachers‟ collective practice – View 1: “From the inside” which reveals the metaphors that inhabit their practice and the significance they have for their practice; View 2: “From the outside” which, through the vehicle of a narrative highlights a STLD teacher and a classroom teacher undertaking a collaborative process of providing for Dayne a student experiencing significant difficulties; View 3: “Thinking together” which provides an edited script elicited from a conversation of the participating exemplary STLD teachers. Collectively, the three views reveal what is at the heart of learning support for the six teachers. In addition, aspects of practical knowledge that are particularly pertinent to learning support practice are discussed. 7 Finally, the effectiveness of the methods adopted for the study is explored. First, the screening process successfully enabled the selection of participants who had developed their craft to a sophisticated degree enhanced by their own “personal signature” (Eisner, 1991). Second, the adoption of a combination of a social constructivist framework and phenomenological approaches provided appropriate vehicles to enable the construction of six portraits of practices that exemplified significant aspects of practice. Third, the difficulties of authenticating the portraits using a cohort of critical friends from the STLD community and forging links with the community are discussed. Finally, I raise the possibility of embedding the portraits in professional development contexts where early career STLD teachers may wish to reflect on their practice.

This thesis describes an analysis of science textbooks, eight years after the implementation of the Years 1-10 Queensland Science Syllabus, which suggested a move towards constructivist teaching in Queensland schools (QSSC 1999). The textbooks have been analysed for evidence of constructivism, and this has led to recommendations for writing better textbooks. This thesis has been written in five chapters. In Chapter 1, a review of literature develops a conceptual framework, which is the basis of this research. Chapter 2 describes the process used to develop its methodology, and Chapter 3 presents the results of this analysis. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss the findings of this research and its implications for textbook content and design. In the literature review the themes of constructivism and the nature of science and the use of textbooks by teachers are explored. It suggests that textbooks continue to be central to developing curriculum, that they are used as a reference and as an independent learning tool, rather than as a guide to enacting curriculum. It also shows constructivist teaching closely aligns with authentic science, that it moves school science closer to that practised by scientists, and that it can engender improvements in teaching practice and in student interest. The data from this research has been collected using an analytical grid developed from three successive trials, after the literature review showed no previously developed analytical grid was suitable. In this final version of the grid, Likert scales are used to observe four dimensions of constructivism in textbook activities: coherence (use knowledge and concepts in a range of contexts), student-centredness of inquiries, language used and analysis questions to practice making new knowledge claims. The unit of analysis was ecology chapters of four middle school science textbooks. The research questions asked in this study are as follows: • Is a constructivist approach discernable in the textbooks reviewed in terms of the four dimensions of constructivism identified in the literature review? • What elements of constructivism are readily identifiable, and therefore are easily included in textbooks? • What elements of constructivism are not discernable? The results of this research have been synthesised and show no textbook could be considered constructivist, although one textbook had inquiries that could be considered exemplary. Two of the textbooks had no claim to be constructivist because they lacked inquiries, and this is where students experience the methods of scientists and practise making knowledge claims.   Other conclusions of this research include the following: •All textbooks reviewed were deficient in at least one dimension of constructivism, and those with one inquiry cannot be constructivist; •Activities and contexts made textbooks more coherent; •Technical terms were reduced compared to what has been traditionally covered by textbooks, however technical terms are also essential to scientific literacy and need to be used appropriately; •Most methods of inquiries are prescribed, so they do not allow students to solve problems in their own relevant contexts; even in those textbooks with more inquiries; •There was little evidence of hypothetico-deductive reasoning in inquiries rather data collection and simple analysis were usually suggested. Guidelines for writing better textbooks have become apparent from this research. Coherent textbooks are inherently constructivist because they apply concepts across contexts, and have more inquiries. Inquiries with a rigorous, authentic hypothetico-deductive approach arise naturally when the methods, concepts and language of science are applied in contexts that students are likely to find relevant and interesting, and where real-life problems need to be solved. Adopting these recommendations could lead to textbooks being more centrally positioned in enacting curriculum than now, because they are more likely to be constructivist (and represent the best thinking in the field).

<p>When the Baltic States declared their independence in 1991, they did not become equal members of the international community in one day. Although the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union declared the end to the Cold War, ideas, beliefs, prejudices and discourses were much harder to trigger. The study addresses the issues of newly independent states, establishing themselves in the international community, analysing the processes of learning in the interaction with the other international actors. By combining Role theory and Constructivism the author develops a framework to understand the development and change of Baltic States role conceptions. How have Baltic states perceived their role in the Baltic Sea region during the period 1993-2002? How has the western discourse treated them? What role did the application for the EU membership play in the process? What have been the individual and group features of the Baltic States? The study attempts to answer these and other questions through thediscourse analysis of public speeches.</p>

<p>Mass movement of people over national borders constitutes the major feature of the today's world. Immigration and its implications are widely debated, whereby the term 'immigration', whenever appeared in a text, hardly ever refers to some unambigously defined concept. To deal with the question of immigration is, therefore, to be faced with a variety of definitions and connotations. The thesis constitutes an attempt to understand how the phenomenon of immigration is conceptualized in Swedish mass media debate, and explore the dynamics of the discourse over the last decade. To do so, the study develops a theoretical framework that takes a form of classification of different approaches to immigration, as formulated by major paradigms of international relations (liberal communitarianism, realism, idealism) and as developed within modern economic and cultural studies. Social construction of immigration and its implications for the nation-states serves as the organizing principle for the emerging classification, as social constructivism is adopted as the ontological standpoint of the thesis. The thesis then analyzes over 180 articles that deal with immigration and are published in the major Swedish daily newspapers, Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet in the years 1993 and 2002. The aim is to discover common patterns of the debate and link them to the concepts constituting the theoretical framework. The analysis shows that almost all concepts described in the theoretical section can be identified in the mass media discourse, which allows to conclude that the developed classification has proved appropriate for the analysis of the empirical material. The research concludes that, while concepts pointing towards self-interests as determining factors for formulating immigration policies are present in the studied mass media discourse, which is especially clear in 1993, the debate in general is strongly influenced by adherence to international solidarity and humanistic values as the basis for Swedish traditional foreign policy. Additionally, the study highlights the essential changes occured within the debate over the last decade, among which a shift from connecting immigration exclusively to refugee policies towards a more braod understanding of immigration as a consequence of globalization and as a realization of individual right to free movement can be considered the most central.</p>

<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>All students in the Swedish elementary school that do not reach the educational objectives in mathematics have a legal right to receive support in order to reach these objectives. An action plan shall be created, where it should be visible what supportive measures the student is given to reach the objectives. The purpose of our final thesis is to investigate how the action plan can contribute to the work with students that experience difficulties within mathematics.</p><p>The study is performed on 7-9^th grade schools, and the empirical material is gathered through reading of hundreds of action plans, observations, and interviews of students, teachers, remedial teachers and headmasters. The theoretical frame used is hermeneutics, constructivism and perspective on special education.</p><p>The result of the study is that action plans do play an important role in the work with students that experience difficulties within mathematics, but the quality of the programs seems to vary. Some action plans are clearly stated, contain tangible actions, both on individual as well as on a group level, that help the student in their learning, whereas other programs are unclear and aimed only at what the student himself should perform to reach the objectives, i.e. only on an individual level. The remedial teaching support is often categorical, they are assuming that the student is the owner of the problem, and the support is also given from that perspective. That means that the student is given support in the format of individual education by a remedial teacher or by education in a smaller group.</p>