There are three fundamentally different ideas about the nature of learning and the properties/nature of knowledge. These ideas include both a view of how learning occurs and also a view of what knowledge actually is. These three basic approaches are referred to as behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism. A basic understanding of the three theories is required to complete this tutorial. Refer to the references section in this tutorial for an overview of the differences between these theoretical approaches to learning and knowledge. In this interactive tutorial you will be presented with 25 characteristics of these three learning theories. Your goal will be to determine which of these characteristics refer to behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism.

This research represents a comparative analysis of the Bulgarian and Romanian European Integration in terms of corruption and media freedom. I argue that, however, both states have multiple common grounds to be analyzed together, as is done in the previous academic research, they take rather different paths after their accession in the European Union regarding their progress in fighting corruption and ensuring free media. I analyze why and how this happens through the theoretical lenses of Constructivism on the matters of identity formation, integration, and spread of values. I will present an overview of the IR academic discourse on the topic, then attempting to fill its lapses in the Analysis section. There, I utilize qualitative content analysis on official reports, issued by the European Commission within these 10 years framework of EU membership in order to investigate the research question. I am to interpret the information from these sources and present the four major aspects of the case, leading to the current situation.

The purpose of this study is to tell the story of lay trauma counsellors - how the work they do affects them, what helps them to cope and what hinders their coping. The epistemological framework of this study is constructivism. This study involved in-depth interviews with three lay trauma counsellors from different cultural backgrounds who counselled for a minimum of one year. Hermeneutics was the method used to analyse the data. The stories of participants were recounted through the researcher’s lens in the form of specific themes that emerged for individual participants. Recurring themes evident in the stories of all three participants were discussed and compared with the literature. The information gleaned could be valuable to organisations considering setting up lay trauma programmes, to those with established programmes, as well as to prospective and experienced lay counsellors. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Many learners find the study of introductory computer programming difficult. This is also true of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and we need an improved understanding of how they learn programming. After reviewing the constructivist approach to teaching and learning and investigating ADHD, this study explored strategies for constructive learning of introductory programming. The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Karplus learning cycle to teach introductory programming. This was done through qualitative research from an interpretive perspective. Action research techniques were employed and data analysed using grounded theory methods. Four major constructivist teaching categories emerged, all of which support the use of the Karplus cycle. It is concluded that the three-phase Karplus cycle can be used to assist these learners learn introductory programming. However, it needs to be understood more broadly and the middle phase broken into two subphases to ensure effective learning. / Mathematical Sciences / M. Sc. (Mathematical Sciences)

Research indicates that the number of individuals diagnosed with neurological, learning and psychiatric disorders has shown a sharp increase in recent years. An increasing acknowledgement of the importance of narratives and discourses in constructing social reality has stimulated much debate on the consequences of diagnosing individuals with such diagnostic labels. The aim of this study was to explore the ways in which such individuals construct meaning from their experiences of adapting to their diagnostic labels by reframing them as interpersonal metaphors. In service of this aim, a social constructionist epistemology was adopted and discourse analysis was used to analyse the results from three participants’ interview data. The results indicate that participants managed to construct meaning from their experiences with their diagnostic labels through a reframing process that serve to promote positive perceptions of self in relation to others. Furthermore, this meaning-construction process appears to be a reflective and interactional one, in that it relies on a negotiation of meanings between people in a retrospective fashion. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

In a globally interdependent world, teachers are charged with preparing learners for a complex, interactive world. This educational challenge requires teachers to develop learners with critical, creative and conceptual minds, while still teaching the required content. Therefore developing the individual learner's ability to construct personalised meaning for new concepts is a prerequisite for the classroom. So is the development of the learner's ability to solve increasingly complex problems in the learning area as well as in daily life. This revivefies the question of how to plan, structure and assess in order to accommodate these requirements while enhancing learner abilities and achiement. / Teacher Education / D.Ed. (Didactics)

Text in English / The purpose of this study is to tell the story around the roles of relationships in the world of depressed women. The epistemological framework of this study is constructivism. This study involved a series of in-depth interviews with three depressed women who had young children. Hermeneutics was the method used to analyse the data. The stories of the participants were recounted through the researcher's lens in the form of themes that emerged. The specific ways each participant tried to cope, and the emerging processes from the researcher's perspective as to what she believed was helpful or unhelpful to the participants, in addition to what the participants themselves regarded as helpful, was discussed. Recurring themes evident in the stories of all three participants were elucidated in the story of the stories. The information gained could serve as guidelines to those working with depressed people from a Western and an African context. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Text in Afrikaans / In this study a description of the development of meaningful alternative constructions has been provided. The development of meaningful alternative descriptions of a painful situation within which people find themselves could create the possibility of movement taking place. · The development of alternative descriptions was discussed by means of the following components of a therapeutic conversation: The therapist uses the different punctuations of the family in their description of the problem and takes complementary descriptions into consideration. (Punctuation/complementation.) In the description of alternative realities the therapist uses a language that creates hope for change. (Reframing.) The therapist listens to the family with respect and endeavours to hear the family's themes, to understand and to use them. (Language.) The therapist, by asking questions of which the answers facilitate further questions, accepts the responsibility to facilitate discussions that encourage participation in the therapeutic process. (Participation/questions leading to further questions.) The discussion was based on a constructivist approach. A case history was described to illustrate how meaningful alternative descriptions were developed in a therapeutic conversation. / In hierdie studie is 'n beskrywing van die ontwikkeling van betekenisvolle alternatiewe konstruksies gegee. Die ontwikkeling van alternatiewe beskrywings vir 'n pynlike situasie waarin mense hulle bevind kan die moontlikheid skep dat beweging plaasvind. Die ontwikkeling van alternatiewe beskrywings word bespreek aan die hand van die volgende vier komponente van 'n terapeutiese gesprek: Die terapeut gebruik die verskillende punktuasies van die gesin in hulle beskrywing van die probleem en neem komplementerende beskrywings in ag. (Punktuasielkomplementering.) In die beskrywing van alternatiewe realiteite gebruik die terapeut 'n taal wat die hoop op verandering skep. (Herformulering.) Die terapeut luister met respek na die gesin, en poog om die gesin se temas aan te hoor, te verstaan en te gebruik. (Taal.) Die terapeut neem, deur vrae te vra waarvan die antwoorde tot verdere vrae aanleiding gee, die verantwoordelikheid op hom om gesprekvoering te fasiliteer wat deelname aan die terapeutiese proses aanmoedig. (Deelname/vrae wat aanleiding gee tot verdere vrae.) Die bespreking is gebaseer op 'n konstruktivistiese benadering. 'n Gevallestudie word beskryf om te illustreer hoe betekenisvolle alternatiewe beskrywings in 'n terapeutiese gesprek ontwikkel is. / M.A. (Social Work)

This thesis constitutes a narrative description of the evolution of my therapeutic self during my training as a clinical psychologist. During the telling of this story, I review the ways in which I was perturbed by the mix between the various theories and the various contexts visited during the years of my post-graduate training. I have described and critically compared my responses to the following models: psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, first-order cybernetic, and secondorder cybernetic (covering the first, second and third movements). Throughout, I have attempted to track the development of a congruent, personal therapeutic self while simultaneously assuming that this self is constantly coming-into-being. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

The purpose of this study is to tell the story of lay trauma counsellors - how the work they do affects them, what helps them to cope and what hinders their coping. The epistemological framework of this study is constructivism. This study involved in-depth interviews with three lay trauma counsellors from different cultural backgrounds who counselled for a minimum of one year. Hermeneutics was the method used to analyse the data. The stories of participants were recounted through the researcher’s lens in the form of specific themes that emerged for individual participants. Recurring themes evident in the stories of all three participants were discussed and compared with the literature. The information gleaned could be valuable to organisations considering setting up lay trauma programmes, to those with established programmes, as well as to prospective and experienced lay counsellors. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)