A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Needs at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2015 / There is compelling evidence that parental involvement positively influences children‟s academic achievement. Its benefits occur across all socio-economic classes. This study sought to establish parental involvement in grade 7 learners‟ achievement in Empangeni in the uMhlathuze District, KwaZulu-Natal. The attribution theory was used not only to substantially explain the status of parental involvement in uMhlathuze District, but also to generate strategies to promote parents‟ participation in their children‟s school education. Open-ended questions for school management teams and for parents were used in this study covering three primary schools in three settings. Respondents were selected through the use of random sampling in the three schools (one rural school, one township school, and one multiracial school). A total of 75 participants were selected. This study confirms that parental involvement has an effect on learner performance. The empirical findings indicate that parental involvement alone is not sufficient in the achievement of learners. It can therefore be concluded that parental involvement alone does not lead to the improvement of learner achievement. There could be other factors associated with academic achievement such as learner motivation, Intelligent Quotient (IQ), Emotional Intelligence/Quotient (EQ) and teachers‟ support which could also be at play. It seemed to be the case that children coming from rural schools sometimes do not perform well because they lack facilities and infrastructure. However, no such research analysis has been undertaken to support or disprove this hypothesis. This study recommends further investigation as this can be another gap that needs attention from researchers in the field.

The integration of information technology (ICT) into primary classrooms is increasingly crucial for engaging and stimulating digital young learners who are in daily contact with technology. In 2005 Bahrain Ministry of Education started King Hamad Future Schools Project which aimed to adopt the interactive whiteboard (IWB) in all government schools. However, there has not yet been any study that investigates the utilization of this technology in English language teaching either in primary or in intermediate and secondary schools. This thesis studies the employment and effectiveness of IWB in teaching English vocabulary to 104 young learners and their attitude and perception towards its use in their learning. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected, through questionnaire, language tests and classroom observations. The questionnaire and the observation results indicated that IWB is highly rated and preferred by the participating young learners. Three themes emerged from observation. The first theme is the IWB impact on children as learners which entails its influence on the children’s interaction, their learning, and their behaviour; the second theme is the impact of IWB on pedagogy; this involves the use of IWB multimedia, its presentational mode of range, and the use of games. The third and final theme is the IWB’s interactional affordances that include the teachers and the pupils’ use and control of the interactive board and the IWB’s effects on the lesson’s space. The analysis of the vocabulary tests has shown a positive impact on the learning of English vocabulary which was reflected by the pupils’ test results. As the study was conducted in Bahrain and on limited number of young learners, its results are limited and cannot be generalised.

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an active learning approach (ALA) on the achievement of 11 th grade learners in Newton’s laws of motion, The case study was done in one school by comparing the achievement of learners in Newton’s laws of motion through an Active Learning Approach (ALA) with that of learners taught through Traditional Direct I nstruction (TDI) and to determine whether learners taught with ALA retained the material better than those taught with TDI. Two grade 11 classes in one school in the Queenstown District of the Eastern Cape were selected on their performance in two differen t tests and used as case study . The Force Concept Inventory was used to determine the achievements and retention of knowledge of the two groups. The effect of the active lear ning approach on the treatment group was also measured by ask ing each learner in t he group to complete a learner assessment of instruction form. The treatment group was also subjected to a classroom group interview. T he following information emerged from the study: i) Learners taught using the ALA achieved significantly better in FCI pos t - test than those taught with traditional direct instruction. ii) In the retention of knowledge test, the mean score of the learners taught using the ALA was 4.8% higher than those taught with TDI although insignificant. iii) Learners subjected to the ALA liked the instructional approach and as such put in extra time to learn. The findings suggest that the active learning approach had positive effect on the achievement of the Grade 11 learners and thus, can be adapted to enhance learning in the classroom. / Physics

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an active learning approach (ALA) on the achievement of 11 th grade learners in Newton’s laws of motion, The case study was done in one school by comparing the achievement of learners in Newton’s laws of motion through an Active Learning Approach (ALA) with that of learners taught through Traditional Direct I nstruction (TDI) and to determine whether learners taught with ALA retained the material better than those taught with TDI. Two grade 11 classes in one school in the Queenstown District of the Eastern Cape were selected on their performance in two differen t tests and used as case study . The Force Concept Inventory was used to determine the achievements and retention of knowledge of the two groups. The effect of the active lear ning approach on the treatment group was also measured by ask ing each learner in t he group to complete a learner assessment of instruction form. The treatment group was also subjected to a classroom group interview. T he following information emerged from the study: i) Learners taught using the ALA achieved significantly better in FCI pos t - test than those taught with traditional direct instruction. ii) In the retention of knowledge test, the mean score of the learners taught using the ALA was 4.8% higher than those taught with TDI although insignificant. iii) Learners subjected to the ALA liked the instructional approach and as such put in extra time to learn. The findings suggest that the active learning approach had positive effect on the achievement of the Grade 11 learners and thus, can be adapted to enhance learning in the classroom. / Physics