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A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Educational Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2015. / This dissertation aims to use Appreciative Inquiry to evaluate a grief programme offered in primary schools. A qualitative technique was used to gain information from three groups of stakeholders within the grief programme, namely educators, facilitators and children. Three open-ended questions were asked to ascertain the value and benefits the grief programme held in the participants’ opinions. Participants were also asked to consider improvements which the programme co-ordinators should contemplate for future development. The results of the research will be circulated to all relevant stakeholders in the form of a written report and at a consultation. The final analysis indicated that the grief programme is held in high regard by all the participants. The following nine key themes were identified: healing, insight, relationships, growth, skills, support, enjoyment, collaboration, and value of the programme and enhanced efficacy of the grief programme. All three groups of stakeholders noted the positive outcomes that resulted from participation, both during and after, in the grief programme. Recommendations were also noted so that the programme could be propelled positively into the future as there is a dire need for programmes of this nature to be implemented in schools throughout South Africa.

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This paper presents an optimal method and a heuristic approach which aims at maximizing the profit when responding to a set of customer enquiries under limited capacity. The model takes into consideration the quantity of available-to-promise (ATP) which measures the capability to fill customer orders, along with enquiry quantity and product price. The optimal method and the heuristic approach are tested using ATP, product price and enquiry quantity each at their different levels. From the example conducted, it is found that (1) the optimal model can help to make appropriate decision for selecting a subset of enquiries, and (2) the heuristic approach can produce a result within 5% from the optimum achieved by optimal method for most parameter settings. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

In order for construction projects to be completed within the specified time limit while at the same time be financially sustainable it requires thorough preparation and an extensive planning. Most essential is the groundwork and the design that determines the project's progress. There are many aspects to consider in order to avoid inconveniences such as delay, litigation, unexpected cost etcetera. If mistakes are made in an early stage it is very likely that the error will follow the process and become an expensive correction cost towards the later part of the project. In other words, it is expensive to rectify defects later on. Many times more expensive than if the deficiencies can be found before the construction phase begins. It is up to the client to define what they want to have built. When the idea for a project has been brought to the client he/she must describe and explain the construction in detail. It is from these documents that contractors will base their tender in the hope of performing the contract. This basis is called for enquiry documents and includes specifications, blueprints and descriptions of the project. Inadequate enquiry documents may lead to major consequences. Consequences that often is easy to avoid through a detailed and thorough groundwork. That is unfortunately not the case in the construction industry today. This bachelor thesis is intended to analyse and identify the development of enquiry documents and investigate the common shortcomings. The work has been carried out for eleven weeks in collaboration with Skanska Sweden and creates an awareness and understanding of the enquiry documents value to the reader in the industry. The study also deals with procurement process, which is the stage where the enquiry documents plays its part. Common deficiencies in the enquiry documents will be presented as a conclusion combined with the flaws impact on project time and project cost. Finally, there are also suggestions on how common deficiencies can be avoided.

This qualitative study explores how knowledge and concepts of knowledge are experienced in an undergraduate teacher education course that employs a community of enquiry pedagogy. As designer and facilitator of the course I engaged students in enquiries and enquiry-based activities to learn about art. Using an action-research approach I made changes to the course design in response to how it played out. The art of the Constitutional Court of South Africa was the focus of our study and students developed structured and logical ‘frameworks’ for analysing artworks as well as playing with laterally extending concepts such as art, justice, equality and humanity. The findings suggest that the dialogical and embodied practice of a community of enquiry pedagogy strongly influenced my students’ and my own awareness of knowledge as a creative and experiential opening up and as a companion to the equally valuable experience of not knowing. Teaching within this epistemological framework demands democratic and reflexive pedagogies such as the community of enquiry.

Em 1921, o Conselho Nacional de Educação da Argentina aprovou a realização de um inquérito para compilar as tradições identificadas ao folclore nacional. A tarefa foi confiada a professores de milhares de escolas subordinadas ao órgão e localizadas, sobretudo, nas áreas rurais do país. Esse projeto relacionava-se às concepções de intelectuais identificados ao nacionalismo da chamada Geração do Centenário da Independência de 1910, preocupados em reafirmar a identidade nacional diante de um contexto de instabilidade social e de uma sociedade heterogênea, conformada por indígenas, imigrantes etc. Por meio da análise da documentação coletada no Território Nacional do Río Negro, antiga região de fronteira recém-incorporada como unidade político-administrativa do Estado, serão discutidos os alcances e limites desse projeto, tendo em vista os ideais nacionalistas, o contexto histórico nacional e local e as particularidades inerentes ao conceito de cultura popular, como as dinâmicas de circularidade. Desse modo, serão demonstradas as maneiras pelas quais os professores, enquanto intermediários culturais, atuaram nos espaços de negociação possíveis entre a proposta formal e a aplicação do inquérito, bem como a inserção da Encuesta na consolidação simbólica do Estado-nacional argentino. / In March 1921, the Argentinian National Education Council approved the realization of an enquiry that would collect national folklore traditions. That work was given to the teachers of the thousands schools under Council administration and located, substantially, at rural areas. The project was related to intellectuals conceptions aligned with so-called Independence Centenary Generation nationalism, dedicated to affirm national identity attributes in contrast to a context characterized by social instability and heterogeneous society, composed of native population, immigrants, etc. By means of analyzing documents collected on Río Negro National Territory, boundary region newly added as a federal unity, they will be discussed ranges and limits of the project, considering nationalistic ideals, national and regional historical contexts and particularities concerned to popular culture concept, like interrelationship dynamics for example. Thus it will be demonstrated how teachers, as passeurs culturels, acted on the negotiation margins between formal proposal and real enquiry application, as well as Encuesta insertion in symbolic consolidation of Argentinian nation state.

Em 1921, o Conselho Nacional de Educação da Argentina aprovou a realização de um inquérito para compilar as tradições identificadas ao folclore nacional. A tarefa foi confiada a professores de milhares de escolas subordinadas ao órgão e localizadas, sobretudo, nas áreas rurais do país. Esse projeto relacionava-se às concepções de intelectuais identificados ao nacionalismo da chamada Geração do Centenário da Independência de 1910, preocupados em reafirmar a identidade nacional diante de um contexto de instabilidade social e de uma sociedade heterogênea, conformada por indígenas, imigrantes etc. Por meio da análise da documentação coletada no Território Nacional do Río Negro, antiga região de fronteira recém-incorporada como unidade político-administrativa do Estado, serão discutidos os alcances e limites desse projeto, tendo em vista os ideais nacionalistas, o contexto histórico nacional e local e as particularidades inerentes ao conceito de cultura popular, como as dinâmicas de circularidade. Desse modo, serão demonstradas as maneiras pelas quais os professores, enquanto intermediários culturais, atuaram nos espaços de negociação possíveis entre a proposta formal e a aplicação do inquérito, bem como a inserção da Encuesta na consolidação simbólica do Estado-nacional argentino. / In March 1921, the Argentinian National Education Council approved the realization of an enquiry that would collect national folklore traditions. That work was given to the teachers of the thousands schools under Council administration and located, substantially, at rural areas. The project was related to intellectuals conceptions aligned with so-called Independence Centenary Generation nationalism, dedicated to affirm national identity attributes in contrast to a context characterized by social instability and heterogeneous society, composed of native population, immigrants, etc. By means of analyzing documents collected on Río Negro National Territory, boundary region newly added as a federal unity, they will be discussed ranges and limits of the project, considering nationalistic ideals, national and regional historical contexts and particularities concerned to popular culture concept, like interrelationship dynamics for example. Thus it will be demonstrated how teachers, as passeurs culturels, acted on the negotiation margins between formal proposal and real enquiry application, as well as Encuesta insertion in symbolic consolidation of Argentinian nation state.

At my workplace, a metropolitan, Catholic primary school, I made the observation that, when Inquiry Learning was offered to children, Creative Drama was rarely utilized as part of the program. Based on my experience as a drama teacher, I thought that students might benefit from, and would enjoy learning in this way. I sought to investigate the relationship between Creative Drama and Inquiry Learning, to explore how these two education methods might work together, and then to identify what the benefits of a program combining Creative Drama and Inquiry Learning might be to most students. Though there have been many studies on using drama for the purpose of inquiry, few studies have looked specifically at the relationship and characteristics of the two constructs and how they work together in a classroom setting. / The main question for research was: What is and could be the relationship between Creative Drama and Inquiry Learning? / My chosen methodology, Action Research, suited my study because I am a drama teacher. Its problem-solving nature, intention to bring change, and make improvement to practice, were all reasons for that choice. I employed Burns seven stages of Action Research (2000) and through this implemented a program where students inquired into a concept through Drama and presented their own devised performance to an audience. / The use of Creative Drama as a vehicle in Inquiry Learning was enjoyable, motivating and engaging for students. Both methods are collaborative and encourage students to wonder and discover. Together the two methods facilitate the development of students’ social, interpersonal and problem solving skills. There was evidence of enhanced higher order learning skills, as they were able to explore attitudes, perceptions, creativity and deep understandings. Immersion into a pretend world with imagined possibilities linked well and became interrelated with the factual information collected through inquiry. / This investigation supports the notion that Inquiry Learning and Creative Drama have much in common and the relationship between the two, when worked together, provides a valuable learning opportunity for most students. Students made improvements to their performance and social skills, enjoyed the learning experience and were rewarded with a tremendous feeling of success following their final performances.

For most Smaller Manufacturing Enterprises (SMEs), how to manage customer enquiries at the customer enquiry stage is of great importance to maintain the competitive advantage and secure future customer orders. A lack of co-ordination between marketing/sales and production at this stage often leads to confirmed orders being delivered later than promised and/or being produced at a loss. In the paper, the problems and the solutions for managing customer enquiries faced by many SMEs are addressed. A general process for dealing with customer enquiries at the customer enquiry stage and a corresponding DSS approach are presented in detailed. The SMEs would benefit from the proposed DSS in which the considerations of current material and production capacity are given to the customer enquiry management process. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)