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published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

M.Ed. / Man lives in a specific reality which directs a distinctive appeal towards him so that reality becomes accessible to him. Perception enables the composition of total impressions to form meaningful detail. Man's consciousness to achieve cannot perform if there is no mention of perception. This finding contains special significance for education, since it now becomes the task of the educator to build specimen structures for perception so that the developing character of perception is reflected in it. To make effective use of media in a class situation, general perception principles must be reflected in it, namely, that perception is relative, selective and organised, and are influenced by expectations. In the past, human communication was performed mainly verbally and through the written word, however, with media, new variations of communication and learning have become possible. It is, nevertheless, important to remember that the use of specific media should always be a method to achieve a field goal. Symbols and symbol systems are the most important characteristic of media that can make a contribution to education and learning. On account of different symbol systems exploited by modern media, the preceptor is enabled to perceive the environment in different ways and other cognitive processes are then involved with perception.

Impact investing is growing as a development approach to bring about positive social, environmental and economic impact for marginalized people in the developing world. But existing in a developed country like Canada, the Aboriginal communities are not getting enough attention due to lack of capacity, state dependency, state policies and negative perception among the stakeholders in the financial ecosystems. This thesis followed mixed methods participatory action research approach and had a deeper look on the present investment ecosystem and identified many barriers to investment for Aboriginal cooperative or social enterprise including negative stereotypes regarding Aboriginal communities impeding investing in cooperative or social enterprise. However, proper education, financial inclusion, awareness among stakeholders and engaging micro-investors in Aboriginal enterprises could improve the situation and develop opportunities for both the supply and demand side. / May 2016

This study presents results describing the impact on acquisition of teaching basic spatial concepts through both music and play. Testing involved preschool aged children from a local Head Start facility and the speech-language clinic of a local university. The study followed a pre-/post-test design. Interventions occurred in two days over the span of one week. After the post-test, it was determined that there was no statistical significance differentiating learning between the two presentation modes. Concept pairs targeted through both contexts improved in almost the same ratio. It was discovered, however, that through only a short period of intervention (two sessions of 15 minutes each), almost all children developed statistically significant growth on concepts taught through both modes. The results indicate that in a short period of time gains can be made when a lesson focuses entirely on concept pairs using either music or play. / Department of Speech Pathology & Audiology

M.Tech. (Diagnostic Radiography) / Radiology is a profession in crisis and worldwide statistics support this statement. By addressing the shortage of radiologists, this crisis could be alleviated. One possible solution is to train qualified radiographers in South Africa (SA) to adequately apply pattern recognition (PR) criteria to the appendicular skeletal system, a gap already identified by Williams, (2006, 2009). This training gap has been investigated on postgraduate level by means of two studies performed by Williams (2006:14) and Williams (2009:15). However, no studies could be found indicating that the gap in training has been investigated and addressed at undergraduate level. The aim of this study is therefore to compare the PR skills among 3rd year radiography students at UJ and CUT on plain radiographs of the skeletal system. Competency will be indicated by test results of 70% and above. The study will take the form of a sequential design within a mixed method approach. Since the researcher aims to utilize a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and aspires to elaborate on initial findings, this approach is deemed appropriate Results of this study were adequately supported by statistical analysis to conclude that the participants representing the two Universities were statistically similar allowing generalization of results to the population of undergraduate 3rd year radiography students in South Africa. The majority of participants (91.2%) have access to pathology radiographs compared to 72.1% with access to relevant textbooks with most participants utilizing available resources for study purposes. All lecturers are approachable by the participants and all identified PR teaching strategies are effective to a selected degree; Research revealed that South African undergraduate diagnostic radiography students are not able to accurately apply PR criteria at the end of their third year. There is therefore a need for more in-depth PR training in the South African undergraduate diagnostic radiography curriculum.

The research problem of this study was to determine the pretest and posttest cluster scores of high school students in a theater class as measured by the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale.

This thesis examines the perception of the city of Johannesburg through a participatory theatre pilot project titled “Breaths of Joburg”. It looks at how different stakeholders, such as the performance director, professional and student actors, as well as the writers who inspired the texts used as a basis for the theatre, the live audience as well as the social media audience perceived Johannesburg and whether their perceptions changed after experiencing the play. The texts were inspired by the writers’ desire for social change in the city of Johannesburg, however, this change was not perceived by the other stakeholders. As the play, which was initially intended for an adult audience, had to be adapted to a predominantly child audience due to the need for change of location, this influenced the storytelling and language used in the play. Arguably, this change contributed to the lack of perception change within the stakeholders. All stakeholders who were Johannesburg residents developed strong positive emotions for their city throughout the production of the play and the performances thereof due to their perception of authenticity and their pre-existing knowledge of the city. Their perceptions of the city, however, remained the same while live audience members who came from outside of Johannesburg did not perceive the city in the same way and reported a feeling of hesitation. Humorous and educational content within the play aided the performance director to transform the city of Johannesburg into a space for experiences and gathering meaning. While social media aided in promoting the play to a highly relevant pre-defined audience in and around Johannesburg, it did not actively aid in influencing the perceptions of its social media audience beyond measured metrics such as “likes” and “shares” on Facebook and Instagram.

While satellite-based remote sensing techniques are often used for studying and visualizing the urban heat island effect, they are limited in terms of resolution, view bias, and revisit times. In comparison, modern UAVs equipped with infrared sensors allow very fine-scale (cm) data to be collected over smaller areas and can provide the means for a full 3D thermal reconstruction over limited spatial extents. Irrespective of the data collection method, the thermal properties of cities are typically visually represented using color, although the choice of colormap varies widely. Previous cartographic research has demonstrated that colormap and other cartographic choices affect people's understanding. This research study examines the difference in map reading performance between satellite and drone-sourced thermal pseudo-color images for three map reading tasks, the impact of color map selection on map reading, and the potential benefits of adding shading to thermal maps using high-resolution digital surface models for improved interaction. Participants expressed a preference for the newly designed rainbow-style color map "turbo" and the FLIR "ironbow" colormap. However, user preferences were not strongly related to map reading performance, and differences were partly explained by the extra information afforded by multi-hue and shading-enhanced images. / Master of Science / While satellite-based remote sensing techniques are often used for studying and visualizing the urban heat island effect, they are limited in terms of resolution, view bias, and revisit times. In comparison, modern drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) equipped with infrared sensors allow very fine-scale (cm) data to be collected over smaller areas and can provide the means for a full 3D thermal reconstruction over a small area. Irrespective of the data collection method, the thermal properties of cities are typically visually represented using color, although the choice of colormap varies widely. Previous cartographic research has demonstrated that colormap and other cartographic choices affect people's understanding. This research study examines the difference in map reading performance between satellite and drone-sourced thermal pseudo-color images for three map reading tasks, the impact of color map selection on map reading, and the potential benefits of adding hillshade augmentation to thermal maps using high-resolution digital surface models for improved interaction. Participants expressed a preference for the newly designed rainbow-style color map "turbo" and the FLIR "ironbow" colormap. However, user preferences were not strongly related to map reading performance, and differences were partly explained by the extra information afforded by multi-hue and shading-enhanced images.

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / Although the learning disabled pupil has an average to above average intellectual ability, he does not perform accordingly. Not only does he reveal academic deficiencies, but social and emotional deficiencies are also part and parcel of his problem. Furthermore he experiences problems in meeting social demands that are made in his every day life. These deficiencies in his social abilities in turn imply an insufficient recognition of social demands. Research has shown that a learning disabled pupil's social perceptions are weaker than those of a normal pupil. Although the learning disabled pupil's academic short-coming are at first recognised by the teacher, his social problems are normally neither identified nor understood. The learning disabled child should .be assisted to acquire social skills. In this process the teacher could playa vital role. From previous studies, insight regarding the learning disabled pupil, has been gained. The etiology and manifestations of learning disabilities have been discussed and the characteristics of deficient social skills have also been scrutinised. The purpose of this research is to determine certain disorders regarding the social perceptions of a learning disabled child. Criteria as well as guidelines that a social-perceptual education programme should meet, are also suggested. The study was conducted with 60 learning disabled pupils forming the experimental group and 60 non-learning disabled pupils forming the control group. The "Coding of Emotional Responses Test" was used in this study. In this study it became apparent that the learning disabled pupils made significantly more errors than the control group (nonlearning disabled pupils). Therefore the learning disabled pupil experiences difficulty in interpreting non-verbal behaviour patterns such as facial expressions, body language and gestures correctly, as a result of his deficient social perceptions. Criteria programme research. and guidelines for a social-perceptual education have been determined as a result of this...