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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
11

A interpretação filosófica da mecânica quântica de Werner Heisenberg: ontologia matemática e a crise nos fundamentos da lógica clássica / The philosophical interpretation of quantum mechanics of Werner Heisenberg: mathematic ontology and crisis in the fondations of classic logic

Vinicius Carvalho da Silva 13 November 2012 (has links)
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Qual a Filosofia da Natureza que podemos inferir da Física Contemporânea? Para Werner Karl Heisenberg, prêmio Nobel de Física de 1932, a ontologia da Ciência Moderna, estruturada no materialismo, no mecanicismo e no determinismo já não pode servir de fundamento para a nova Física. Esta requer uma nova base ontológica, onde o antirrealismo, seguido de um formalismo puro, aparece como o princípio basilar de uma nova Filosofia Natural. Este trabalho visa investigar o pensamento filosófico, a ontologia antirrealista, formalista, a abordagem da tradição filosófica e da história da ciência de Werner Heisenberg e sua contribuição para a interpretação da mecânica quântica. / What is the Philosophy of Nature that we can infer from the Contemporary Physics? For Werner Karl Heisenberg, Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932, the ontology of modern science, based on materialism, mechanism and determinism may no longer be the basis for the new physics. This requires a new ontology_based, where anti-realism, followed by a pure formalism, appears as the basic principle of a new Philosophy of Nature. This study aims to investigate the philosophical thought, the anti-realist ontology, formalistic approach to the philosophical tradition and the history of science of Werner Heisenberg and his contribution to the interpretation of quantum mechanics.
12

A interpretação filosófica da mecânica quântica de Werner Heisenberg: ontologia matemática e a crise nos fundamentos da lógica clássica / The philosophical interpretation of quantum mechanics of Werner Heisenberg: mathematic ontology and crisis in the fondations of classic logic

Vinicius Carvalho da Silva 13 November 2012 (has links)
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Qual a Filosofia da Natureza que podemos inferir da Física Contemporânea? Para Werner Karl Heisenberg, prêmio Nobel de Física de 1932, a ontologia da Ciência Moderna, estruturada no materialismo, no mecanicismo e no determinismo já não pode servir de fundamento para a nova Física. Esta requer uma nova base ontológica, onde o antirrealismo, seguido de um formalismo puro, aparece como o princípio basilar de uma nova Filosofia Natural. Este trabalho visa investigar o pensamento filosófico, a ontologia antirrealista, formalista, a abordagem da tradição filosófica e da história da ciência de Werner Heisenberg e sua contribuição para a interpretação da mecânica quântica. / What is the Philosophy of Nature that we can infer from the Contemporary Physics? For Werner Karl Heisenberg, Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932, the ontology of modern science, based on materialism, mechanism and determinism may no longer be the basis for the new physics. This requires a new ontology_based, where anti-realism, followed by a pure formalism, appears as the basic principle of a new Philosophy of Nature. This study aims to investigate the philosophical thought, the anti-realist ontology, formalistic approach to the philosophical tradition and the history of science of Werner Heisenberg and his contribution to the interpretation of quantum mechanics.
13

[en] HERO AND MODERN SCIENCE: MYTHS THAT CONSTITUTE THE COLONIAL POLITICAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL HEGEMONY / [pt] HERÓI E CIÊNCIA MODERNA: MITOS QUE CONSTITUEM A HEGEMONIA POLÍTICA E EPISTEMOLÓGICA COLONIAL

06 May 2021 (has links)
[pt] O presente trabalho pretende discutir a relação entre uma narrativa que transforma o colonizador branco europeu em herói e o desenvolvimento da chamada ciência moderna como único meio legítimo (e universal) de se produzir conhecimento. Para isso, toma-se a jornada do herói descrita por Joseph Campbell (2007 [1949]) como uma narrativa exemplar, entendendo que o trabalho de Campbell a) toca a construção psicológica (inconsciente/subconsciente) deste personagem, a partir da psicanálise, e b) enquanto um acadêmico estadunidense, encontra-se no mesmo registro dos colonizadores do Norte global. Ainda, entende-se que tanto este herói quanto a ciência moderna são mitos inscritos na Modernidade, também entendida como um mito (Dussel, 1993), que por sua vez estaria diretamente associada à colonização ibérica na América – parte-se da descoberta da América (1492) como marco fundamental da Modernidade. Pretende-se desenvolver essa discussão à luz dos marcos teóricos pós-coloniais e descoloniais, entendendo que as semelhanças que os aproximam são mais importantes que suas diferenças – sendo a principal diferença o entendimento do marco colonial: para o primeiro, seria o pós-Iluminismo, enquanto que para o segundo seria a descoberta da América (Mignolo, 2000) –, compondo, assim, um pensamento crítico e declaradamente político, a despeito da ontologia ocidental, branca e pretensamente universal e neutra. Uma vez que se parte da ideia de que o herói, a ciência moderna e a Modernidade-colonialidade (Dussel, 1993) são co-constitutivos, estes três elementos são transversais neste trabalho, tangenciados pelas dimensões de raça e gênero, que evidenciam os mais violentos aspectos dos elementos analisados. / [en] This work aims at discussing the relation between a narrative that transforms the European colonizer into a hero and the development of de so-called modern science as the only legitimate (and universal) way of producing knowledge. To do so, I take the hero journey described by Joseph Campbell (2007 [1949]) as an exemplary narrative, understanding that Campbell s work a) touches the psychological (unconscious/subconscious) construction of the character, from a psychanalytic view, and b) as an American scholar, we find him in the same record as the global north colonizers. Furthermore, I understand that both this hero and the modern science are myths inscribed within Modernity, also understood as a myth (Dussel, 1993), which in turn would be directly associated with Iberian colonization of America – I depart from America s discovery (1942) as the fundamental benchmark of Modernity. I intend to develop this discussion in light of the post-colonial e decolonial theoretical framework, understanding that the similarities that approximate them are more important than the differences – being the most important difference the mark of the beginning of colonialism: for the former, it would be the after Enlightenment, whereas for the latter would be America s discovery (Mignolo, 2000) – composing, thus, a critical and professedly political thought, despite the Western ontology, that is white and allegedly universal and neutral. Once I depart from the idea that the hero, the modern science and the modernity-coloniality (Dussel, 1993) are co-constitutives, these three elements are transversal in this work, touched by the race and gender dimensions, which highlight the most violent aspect of the analyzed objects.
14

Francis Bacon's New Atlantis: The Quiet Revolution of Science, Religion, and Politics

Lowe, Evan M. 05 1900 (has links)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is recognized as a founder of the modern scientific project and a forerunner of the modern era of political thought. He advocated the development of an active science that would enable human beings to control nature in order to relieve man's estate. To accomplish this, Bacon argues that we must reconstruct all arts and sciences upon a more solid foundation. In reconstructing the arts and sciences, Bacon subtly changes the meaning of foundational religious, political, and scientific notions in order to better suit his project of progress. As the inheritors of his vision, turning to Bacon helps recover foundational considerations that have been forgotten as a result of his success. This dissertation approaches Bacon's thought through an analysis of his New Atlantis, a fable that envisions the completion of his project. I also turn to his other political, scientific, and religious works as appropriate to supply what is omitted in the fable. I find that although his revision of religious, scientific, and political foundations is conducted subtly they are nevertheless revolutionary, and essential for preparing the various outlooks that characterize the modern world.
15

Metafísica e mecanicismo na cosmologia cartesiana

Vanzella, Luiz Fernando January 2014 (has links)
Orientador: Prof. Dr. Paulo Tadeu da Silva / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ensino, História, Filosofia das Ciências e Matemática, 2014. / O presente texto aborda o papel de Deus na cosmologia cartesiana a partir das obras O Mundo, escrita entre os anos de 1629 e 1633, porém publicada apenas postumamente, e Princípios de Filosofia, cuja publicação foi em 1644. Ele começa apresentando, no primeiro capítulo, alguns eventos históricos que marcaram fortemente a vida pessoal e intelectual de René Descartes: as ideias gerais do copernicanismo e os episódios relacionados à perseguição e condenação de Galileu Galilei empreendidos pelo Santo Ofício. Em seguida, analisa-se o mundo mecânico proposto por Descartes, cujas engrenagens são a matéria e o movimento. Por fim, no terceiro capítulo, mostra-se como Descartes relacionou a ideia de Deus com as de matéria e movimento para culminar num "novo mundo", cujo funcionamento, embora seja análogo ao de uma máquina, tem sua única sustentação em Deus. / This paper aims to analyze the role of God in the cartesian cosmology based on René Descartes¿ writings Principles of Philosophy, which was published in 1644, and The World, written between 1629 and 1633, but published posthumously. The first chapter presents some historical events of René Descartes¿ personal and intellectual life, especially the general ideas of copernicanism and the episodes related to Galileo Galilei¿s prosecution and condemnation by the Hole Inquisition. After that, I analyze the mechanical world, proposed by Descartes, whose gears were matter and motion. To conclude, in the third chapter, it is demonstrated how Descartes related ideas about God with the previous matter and motion. This match culminates in the view of a "new world", which although it works like a machine, it is supported exclusively by God.
16

The Visual Formation Of Cartesian Subject In Modern Metaphysics: A Critique Of Cogito Philosophy

Ganioglu, Zafer 01 September 2006 (has links) (PDF)
This thesis scrutinizes modern metaphysics through a specific reading and critique of Cartesian Philosophy. In the study, the concepts of metaphysics, ideology, modernity, subject and modern science are re-examined in their relations among them and in that the peculiarity of modern metaphysics is attempted to be revealed. At the core of the thesis, Descartes&rsquo / understanding of subject is inquired to be modern subject, and its role in the transformations happened in Western world with the advent of modern age is studied. Also, the two main axes of the critique of subject, subject as substance and subject as effect, are questioned in their difference or similarity regarding in essence their matter of inquiry, by modeling the Cartesian Subject.
17

The relative impact of an argumentation-based instructional intervention programme on Grade 10 learners' conceptions of lightning and thunder

Moyo, Partson Virira January 2012 (has links)
<p><span style="font-size:12.0pt / line-height:150% / font-family: &quot / Times New Roman&quot / ,&quot / serif&quot / mso-bidi-font-family:&quot / Times New Roman&quot / mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi / mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">The basic premise of this study was that when a learner is confronted with two contradictory explanations of the same phenomenon, there is cognitive dissonance in the learner as the learner tries to determine which of the two explanations is correct. An argumentation-based instructional intervention programme (ABIIP) was created for and used on and by the Grade 10 learners in order to attempt to ameliorate this cognitive conflict. </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt / line-height:150% / font-family: &quot / Times New Roman&quot / ,&quot / serif&quot / mso-bidi-font-family:&quot / Times New Roman&quot / mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi">The purpose of this study was to determine the relative impact of that intervention programme on Grade 10 learners&rsquo / conceptions of lightning and thunder. The programme was designed to help learners to develop argumentative skills and use the acquired skills to negotiate and harmonise divergent and conflicting explanations of the nature of lightning and thunder that are propounded by different worldviews (Science and indigenous knowledge).</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt / line-height:150% / font-family: &quot / Times New Roman&quot / ,&quot / serif&quot / mso-bidi-font-family:&quot / Times New Roman&quot / mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi">The research design was primarily a case study of 16 Grade 10 learners of the Xhosa ethnic group at a high school in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The Xhosa people are a typical example of a people whose cultural values were undermined and whose voice was silenced by the colonisers and whose local knowledge has been repressed and replaced by forms of Western privileged knowledge and understandings but who remain, deeply and resolutely, steeped in their cultural values and practices, making them a classic example of a people who would battle to harmonise the indigenous and the scientific explanations of natural phenomena. The research instruments used were questionnaires which were administered to learners, educators, community leaders, indigenous knowledge holders and experts to solicit information on causes, dangers and prevention of lightning / individual and group activities as learners went through the lessons on both argumentation and on lightning / follow up interviews and discussions with learners individually or in groups to seek further clarification of the ideas the learners would have raised in their earlier responses to questionnaires or group discussions / guided and reflective essays by the learners to determine the learners&rsquo / levels of understanding of the major tenets of the two thought systems and the relationship between the two worldviews and to determine the qualitative gain, if any, that the learners got from the intervention programme / observation schedules used by the researcher during participant observation of group discussions and during the lessons on lightning / an achievement test on lightning / field notes used by the researcher for memoing observations and reflections as the research process proceeded / informal and serendipitous sources of information. <span style="font-size:12.0pt / line-height:150% / font-family: &quot / Times New Roman&quot / ,&quot / serif&quot / mso-bidi-font-family:&quot / Times New Roman&quot / mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi">The collected data were analysed, mostly, qualitatively. Frequencies, percentages and t-test values were used to express and analyse quantitative data. Aspects of several analytical frameworks that included Toulmin&rsquo / s Argumentation Pattern (TAP) [and its modified versions such as that of Leitao (2000) and that of Osborne et al (2004)] and Contiguity Argumentation Theory (CAT) were used to attach meaning to the collected data and to address the research questions.</span></span></p>
18

La conception de la modernité dans Holzwege de Heidegger

Dion, Jean-François 10 1900 (has links)
Ce mémoire portera sur le problème de la signification, dans la pensée de Heidegger, de la métaphysique moderne, à partir de la conception de l’histoire de l’être qu’il développe dans les années 1930. Plus précisément, nous nous baserons sur l’écrit Die Zeit des Weltbildes, que l’on retrouve dans le recueil nommé Holzwege, mais également, dans une moindre mesure, sur l’écrit Niezsches Wort « Gott ist tot » du même recueil. Nous commencerons par introduire le lecteur à l’idée qu’il se fait de la métaphysique en général dans son rapport à l’homme, et du nihilisme que constitue son histoire, lequel s’accentue à l’époque moderne. Nous rentournerons alors brièvement aux premiers commencements de la métaphysique, chez Parménide et Platon principalement, dans le but de dégager les aspects de la métaphysique moderne qui y ont trouvé leur source. C’est alors que nous entrerons dans le vif du sujet, en expliquant en quoi consiste l’inauguration de la métaphysique moderne chez Descartes qui, face à l’obligation religieuse, pose la confirmation autonome de la vérité qui trouve son lieu propre dans la conscience de soi. Il sera dès lors question de montrer précisément comment se fait cette confirmation par soi-même du vrai, au travers de certaines notions centrales de l’analyse heideggerienne : la pro-position, la présentation et la représentation, l’instauration, la production, l’obtention, la préhension et la compréhension, notamment. Nous analyserons ensuite le mouvement de la volonté du sujet qui sous-tend cette confirmation autonome du savoir jusqu’à son aboutissement chez des penseurs tels que Schopenhauer. Nous mettrons par le fait même en évidence le rapport fondamental, souligné par Heidegger, entre le sujet et son objet, l’homme moderne se soulèvant et se donnant lui-même le statut éminent de centre de référence de toute chose, rapportant à lui-même tout chose. Ce mémoire se terminera par l’analyse que fait Heidegger d’un phénomène propre à la modernité, et donc émanent de la métaphysique qui aura été examinée au préalable, soit la science moderne. Celle-ci constitue la voie privilégiée où l’homme moderne, après avoir sciemment pris position au centre du monde, peut « procéder » dans le monde comme dans son royaume, un monde qui se révèle alors comme étant essentiellement à sa disposition. La science, émanant selon Heidegger de la conception moderne de la vérité et de l’étant, se révèle alors non seulement comme une réalisation de la métaphysique qui aura été analysée dans les chapitres précédents, mais peut-être même comme le phénomène duquel Heidegger semble s’être inspiré pour développer son idée de la métaphysique moderne. / The present thesis explores the nature of the Heideggerian critique of Modern Times and of the metaphysics that constitutes their foundation, a critique that is based on the notion of the history of Being as conceived by Heidegger in the1930s. We will do so through a close reading of Die Zeit des Weltbildes, as well as of Nietzsches Wort « Gott ist tot », two essential writings found in the collection of texts called Holzwege. First, we will have a look at his idea of metaphysics in general, and of nihilism as the principle behind it’s history, of which we will then examine the first phases, leading to the emergence of Modern Times. At that point, we will explain of the nature of the inauguration of this era in Descartes’ philosophy, where he opposes the self-confirmation of truth by the human subject to religious obligation, a confirmation happening in self-consciousness. The modalities of this modern principle of knowledge will be examined, through key notions of Heidegger’s analysis: proposition, presentation, representation, production, objet, prehension, comprenhension, etc. After which a look at the human will as the main motor of this autonomous confirmation of truth, all through modern history up to philosophies such as that of Schopenhauer, is necessary to understand how Heidegger interprets this determination of truth in the light of the relation between man and his world. In his eyes, the Modern Times see man standing up to consciously assert himself as the center of reference of the whole world, bringing everything back to himself, therefore reducing ontology to anthropology. This paper will then, at the end of it’s path, take a close look at the way Heidegger interprets one of Modern Time’s main phenomena, originating according to him in modern metaphysics, that is to say modern science. It will reveal itself to be the privileged way by which man, after his positioning at the center of the world, proceeds through the world as his kingdom, all beings essentially being at his disposal. Modern science, this accomplishment of modern thought, almost seems to be the main inspiration from which he derives his theory concerning the essence of this thought.
19

Guerras nos mares do sul: a produção de uma monocultura marítima e os processos de resistência / Wars in the South Seas: The Production of a Maritime Monoculture and the Resistance Processes.

Moura, Gustavo Goulart Moreira 24 February 2014 (has links)
A pesca no estuário da Lagoa dos Patos é uma atividade em disputa. De um lado, as comunidades de pesca produzem seus territórios de pesca através dos seus respectivos Conhecimentos Ecológicos Tradicionais (CET) que embasam os diferentes modos de usos dos recursos pesqueiros, os sistemas de manejo de recursos pesqueiros tradicionais (MT). A atividade pesqueira no estuário da Lagoa dos Patos é anterior à colonização portuguesa sendo os CETs que embasam os MTs resultado de um hibridismo cultural entre indígenas, afro e luso-descendentes. De outro, o Estado Moderno implementa políticas públicas de manejo de recursos pesqueiros, sobretudo a partir da segunda metade da década de 1970, que resultam na implementação de um sistema de manejo de recursos pesqueiros moderno (MM), característico de um projeto colonial de dominação. Como resultado da implementação do MM, a pesca entra em colapso na primeira metade da década de 1970 e as indústrias pesqueiras decretam falência na década de 1980. Para solucionar a crise no setor pesqueiro, na segunda metade da década de 1990 cria-se o Fórum da Lagoa dos Patos (FLP) onde se formula a atual legislação que regulamenta a pesca no estuário da Lagoa dos Patos, a Instrução Normativa Conjunta de 2004 (INC 2004). A INC 2004 implementa um MM através da imposição de um calendário de pesca que se torna institucionalizado e, por isso, oficializado. O objetivo desta tese é descrever o processo de des-re territorialização das comunidades de pesca do estuário da Lagoa dos Patos gerado pelo Estado Moderno na implementação da INC 2004. Para atingir tal objetivo, foram utilizadas basicamente duas técnicas de pesquisa para coleta de dados do CET, que produz os territórios tradicionais, e dos conhecimentos, verdades e valores mobilizados na formulação da INC 2004: entrevistas e levantamento bibliográfico. A partir dos dados obtidos, foi necessário o desenvolvimento de uma proposta própria que se enquadra na perspectiva integradora de território: território como conhecimento. Segundo esta proposta, território é um espaço epistêmico produzido a partir do espaço. Com a tentativa de implementação da INC 2004, emerge um conflito ambiental territorial na produção de um espaço através do controle do uso de recursos pesqueiros no estuário da Lagoa dos Patos. O Estado Moderno, que exibe caráter colonial, opera estrategicamente sobre o espaço tentando forçar o curso da modernidade às comunidades de pesca na produção de um espaço epistêmico disciplinar. O resultado, se o Estado Moderno fosse bem sucedido em seu projeto de colonialismo cultural, seria um epistemicídio: a eliminação dos multiterritórios operados pelo CET com uma dinâmica multicalendárica em cada uma das comunidades de pesca artesanal do estuário e a sua substituição por um território operado por uma racionalidade ocidental com um ritmo mecânico através da imposição do Calendário Oficializado da INC 2004. As comunidades de pesca, por sua vez, resistem silenciosa e abertamente operando taticamente via CET na produção de espaços de R-existência. Surpreendentemente, em movimentos diagramáticos infinitos, ambos, Estado Moderno e comunidades de pesca, des-re-territorializam um ao outro. / Fishing in the estuary of Patos Lagoon is an activity in dispute. On the one hand, fishing communities produce their fishing territories through their respective Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), which grounds the different use modes of fishery resources, the traditional resource management systems (TM). The fishing activity in Patos Lagoon estuary is prior to the Portuguese colonization and the TEKs which ground TMs are a result of a cultural hybridity among indigenous, African and Portuguese descendants. On the other hand, especially from the second half of the 1970s, the modern State has been implementing policies for fishery management which have led to the establishment of a modern sciencebased resource management (SM), characteristic of a colonial project of domination. As a result, fishery collapsed in the first half of the 1970s and fishing industries filed bankruptcy in the 1980s. To solve the crisis in the fishery sector in the second half of the 1990s, Forum of Patos Lagoon (FLP) was created. It was at the Forum that the 2004 Normative Instruction (INC 2004), the current legislation which regulates fishing in the estuary of Patos Lagoon, was formulated. INC 2004 implements an SM by imposing a fishing calendar that becomes institutionalized and, therefore, officialized. The objective of this thesis is to describe the process of de-reterritorialization in the fishing communities of the estuary of the Patos Lagoon which was generated by the Modern State when it implemented INC 2004. To achieve this goal, data on TEK were obtained through open and semi-structured interviews and ethnoscientific bibliographic review. Data on knowledge, truths and values that support the formulation of INC 2004 were collected through open interviews held with researchers, who played a key role in mobilizing such intellectual resources and through bibliographic research on the four fisheries whose fishing periods are regulated by INC 2004. From the data obtained, it was necessary to develop our own proposal that fits the integrative perspective of territory: territory as knowledge. Under this proposal, the territory is an epistemic space originating from space. With the attempted implementation of INC 2004, an environmental territorial conflict has emerged in the production of space through the control of the use of fishery resources in the Patos Lagoon estuary. The Modern State, in a display of its colonial character, strategically operates upon space by trying to force the course of modernity on the fishing communities in the production of a disciplined epistemic space. The result, if the Modern State were successful in its project of cultural colonialism would be an epistemicide: the elimination of multi-territories operated by TEK with a multicalendaric dynamics in each of the artisanal fishing communities of the estuary and its replacement by a territory operated by Western rationality, with a mechanical rhythm through the imposition of the official calendar of INC 2004. Fishing communities, in turn, resist quietly and openly by operating tactically via TEK in the production of spaces of R-existence. Surprisingly, in diagrammatic infinite movements, both the Modern State and fishing communities de-reterritorialize one another.
20

The relative impact of an argumentation-based instructional intervention programme on Grade 10 learners' conceptions of lightning and thunder

Moyo, Partson Virira January 2012 (has links)
<p><span style="font-size:12.0pt / line-height:150% / font-family: &quot / Times New Roman&quot / ,&quot / serif&quot / mso-bidi-font-family:&quot / Times New Roman&quot / mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi / mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">The basic premise of this study was that when a learner is confronted with two contradictory explanations of the same phenomenon, there is cognitive dissonance in the learner as the learner tries to determine which of the two explanations is correct. An argumentation-based instructional intervention programme (ABIIP) was created for and used on and by the Grade 10 learners in order to attempt to ameliorate this cognitive conflict. </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt / line-height:150% / font-family: &quot / Times New Roman&quot / ,&quot / serif&quot / mso-bidi-font-family:&quot / Times New Roman&quot / mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi">The purpose of this study was to determine the relative impact of that intervention programme on Grade 10 learners&rsquo / conceptions of lightning and thunder. The programme was designed to help learners to develop argumentative skills and use the acquired skills to negotiate and harmonise divergent and conflicting explanations of the nature of lightning and thunder that are propounded by different worldviews (Science and indigenous knowledge).</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt / line-height:150% / font-family: &quot / Times New Roman&quot / ,&quot / serif&quot / mso-bidi-font-family:&quot / Times New Roman&quot / mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi">The research design was primarily a case study of 16 Grade 10 learners of the Xhosa ethnic group at a high school in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The Xhosa people are a typical example of a people whose cultural values were undermined and whose voice was silenced by the colonisers and whose local knowledge has been repressed and replaced by forms of Western privileged knowledge and understandings but who remain, deeply and resolutely, steeped in their cultural values and practices, making them a classic example of a people who would battle to harmonise the indigenous and the scientific explanations of natural phenomena. The research instruments used were questionnaires which were administered to learners, educators, community leaders, indigenous knowledge holders and experts to solicit information on causes, dangers and prevention of lightning / individual and group activities as learners went through the lessons on both argumentation and on lightning / follow up interviews and discussions with learners individually or in groups to seek further clarification of the ideas the learners would have raised in their earlier responses to questionnaires or group discussions / guided and reflective essays by the learners to determine the learners&rsquo / levels of understanding of the major tenets of the two thought systems and the relationship between the two worldviews and to determine the qualitative gain, if any, that the learners got from the intervention programme / observation schedules used by the researcher during participant observation of group discussions and during the lessons on lightning / an achievement test on lightning / field notes used by the researcher for memoing observations and reflections as the research process proceeded / informal and serendipitous sources of information. <span style="font-size:12.0pt / line-height:150% / font-family: &quot / Times New Roman&quot / ,&quot / serif&quot / mso-bidi-font-family:&quot / Times New Roman&quot / mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi">The collected data were analysed, mostly, qualitatively. Frequencies, percentages and t-test values were used to express and analyse quantitative data. Aspects of several analytical frameworks that included Toulmin&rsquo / s Argumentation Pattern (TAP) [and its modified versions such as that of Leitao (2000) and that of Osborne et al (2004)] and Contiguity Argumentation Theory (CAT) were used to attach meaning to the collected data and to address the research questions.</span></span></p>

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