Made available in DSpace on 2014-11-10T11:09:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-02-20Bitstream added on 2014-11-10T11:57:54Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000791733.pdf: 4558526 bytes, checksum: 7c344c718d98fdde025ab8b69992752e (MD5) / O Preschool Language Assessment Instrument (PLAI-2) é um instrumento norte-americano desenvolvido para avaliar a linguagem falada de crianças em idade pré-escolar, sendo composto por 70 estímulos subdivididos igualmente em itens de linguagem receptiva e expressiva em suas diferentes habilidades: escolha, análise seletiva, análise perceptual e raciocínio. Este instrumento prevê duas formas de análise: a análise formal, que fornece uma estimativa global e parcial do desenvolvimento baseado no escore bruto; e a análise informal, que fornece informações quanto à adequação de respostas e comportamentos interferentes observados durante a avaliação. No Brasil, ainda é escassa a disponibilidade de instrumentos objetivos para avaliação da linguagem falada, principalmente na população pré-escolar. Portanto, o objetivo geral deste trabalho foi realizar a tradução e a adaptação para o Português do Brasil do instrumento PLAI-2, primeira etapa deste estudo. Ressalta-se que foram mantidos todos os itens testados, porém foi necessária a modificação da ordem em um item em virtude de a tradução literal apresentar um vocabulário muito formal para o contexto da linguagem infantil utilizada no Brasil e sugerida mudança de gravura em outro item. Assim, a tradução e adaptação realizadas atenderam às equivalências teórica, semântica e cultural. A segunda etapa consistiu em aplicar o teste PLAI-2, adaptado para o Português brasileiro, em 354 participantes com desenvolvimento típico de linguagem, de ambos os gêneros, com idade cronológica entre três anos e cinco anos e 11 meses, os quais foram divididos em três grupos, segundo a faixa etária, e cada grupo formado por 118 participantes. Os dados foram analisados por meio do pacote estatístico Statistical Package for Social Sciences em sua versão 21.0. Quando realizada a comparação por pares dos grupos, deduz-se que o procedimento utilizado... / The Preschool Language Assessment Instrument (PLAI-2) is an American tool developed to assist the assessment of spoken language of children in preschool, comprising 70 stimuli equally subdivided into receptive and expressive language items in their different abilities: choice, selective analysis, perceptual analysis and reasoning. This instrument provides two types of assessments: the formal assessment, which provides an overall and partial estimate of the development based on a gross score; and the informal assessment, which provides information regarding the adequacy of responses and interfering behaviors during assessment. In Brazil, the availability of objective instruments to assess spoken language is scarce, particularly for preschool population. Therefore, the overall purpose of this work was to translate and adapt to Brazilian Portuguese the PLAI-2 instrument in the first stage of this study. We highlight that all tested items were maintained, but changes were required in the order of an item, since the literal translation would create a rather formal vocabulary for the children’s language context used in Brazil, and a change of picture was suggested in another item. Thus, the translation and adaptation carried out complied with the theoretical, semantic and cultural equivalences. The second stage consisted of applying the PLAI-2 test adapted to Brazilian Portuguese, to the 354 participants with typical language development, of both genders, with chronological ages between three and five years and 11 months, divided into three groups according to the age group and each group made up of 118 participants. Data were assessed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 21.0. When the comparison was made by group pairs, we deducted that the procedure used was able to identify differences between the three age groups for most part of the variables of interest. The statistically significant difference found between the...

Made available in DSpace on 2014-11-10T11:09:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014Bitstream added on 2014-11-10T11:57:54Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000789304.pdf: 2998752 bytes, checksum: dea421378504df515fbd681fd616c17e (MD5) / Este estudo tem como objetivos traduzir e adaptar para a cultura brasileira o Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH), e investigar o desempenho dos escolares na adaptação brasileira do procedimento. A fim de alcançá-los, dividiu-se este estudo em duas fases, sendo a fase 01, voltada para a adaptação, e a fase 02, voltada para a investigação. O procedimento metodológico da fase 01, seguiu as etapas: (1) avaliação de equivalências conceitual e de itens, e (2) avaliação da equivalência semântica. Como resultado da primeira etapa (1), verificou-se que por meio de revisões bibliográficas e discussões com os integrantes do comitê de juízes, que os conceitos e os itens são equivalentes nas duas culturas (Britânica e Brasileira). Na etapa 2, foi realizada a adaptação de uma frase para um pangrama na língua portuguesa e definiu-se o uso da letra cursiva na tarefa “Escrita do alfabeto”. Verificou-se que a tradução foi válida e, portanto pôde-se elaborar a versão em português, a qual foi aplicada no estudo piloto com 32 escolares, sendo 4 para cada faixa etária estudada (de 9 a 16 anos), constatando-se fácil aplicabilidade, devido à aceitabilidade e a compreensão dos escolares nas tarefas propostas, não havendo necessidade de novos ajustes semânticos na versão adaptada do procedimento. A partir desses resultados, iniciou-se a fase 02, em que participaram 658 escolares de 05 escolas públicas, localizadas na cidade de Marília (SP) e região, que apresentavam idades entre 09 anos e 16 anos e 11 meses, divididos em oito grupos: 102 escolares no GI (09 anos), 99 no GII (10 anos), 86 no GIII (11 anos), 90 no GIV (12 anos), 87 no GV (13 anos), 68 no GVI (14 anos), 61 no GVII (15 anos) e 65 no GVIII (16 anos). A coleta foi realizada em grupos de 15 a 20 escolares, aplicando, em uma única sessão (de no máximo 50 minutos), as cinco tarefas do DASH. Os dados... / This study aimed to translate and adapt, for the Brazilian culture, the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH), and to investigate the performance of the students towards the Brazilian adaptation of the procedure. In order to achieve these goals, this study was divided into two steps: step 01 referring to adaptation and step 02 to investigation. The methodological procedure of step 01comprised: (1) Assessment of conceptual equivalence and items, and (2) assessment of semantic equivalence. As a result of step (1), it could be observed through bibliographic reviews and discussions with the members of the judgment committee, that the concepts referring to the items, were equivalent, for both cultures (British and Brazilian). In relation to step 2, it was realized the adaptation of one phrase, for the pangram in Portuguese language, and the employment of cursive handwriting, for the task “Alphabet writing”. The translation was validated and, therefore the Portuguese version was applied in a pilot study with 32 students; 4 students for each age group studied (9-16 years), confirming the easy applicability, due to the acceptability and comprehension of the students about the proposed tasks, without necessity of new semantic adjustments concerning the adapted version of the procedure. From these results, phase 02 was initiated, in which participated 658 students, of 05 publics schools, located in Marilia city (SP) and region, whose ages ranged from 09 to 16 years old and 11 months, and were divided into eight groups: 102 students in GI (09 years old), 99 in GII (10 years old), 86 in GIII (11 years old), 90 in GIV (12 years old), 87 in GV (13 years old), 68 in GVI (14 years old), 61 in GVII (15 years old) and 65 in GVIII (16 years old). Data collection was realized in groups, from 15 to 20 students, applying, in a single section (in maximum, 50 minutes), all five DASH tasks. Data were analyzed...

Thesis (MTech (Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2007 / Daar kan nie van leerders (wat geleer is wat om te leer, hoe om dit te leer, wanneer en waar om dit te leer) verwag word om skielik verantwoordelikheid vir hulle eie leer in ons moderne informasie-era te aanvaar nie. Die probleem is dat die leerders nie blootgestel of die geleentheid gebied word om hulle eie leer te bestuur nie. Daarom moet onderrigmateriaal verseker dat die leerders blootgestel word aan die geleentheid om hulle eie leer te bestuur. Deur die gebruik van bestaande onderrigmateriaal, wat nie selfgerigte leer (SGL) koester me, kan leerders geforseer word om afbanklike leerders te bly en nie te ontwikkel tot lewenslange en selfgerigte leerders (leerders wat bevoeg is om op hulle eie te kan leer) nie. Verder veroorsaak die gebruik van bestaande onderrigmateriaal deur opvoeders dat die unieke behoeftes van die leerders in 'n klas nie in ag geneem word nie en dat opvoedergerigte leer in plaas van selfgerigte leer bevorder en aangemoedig word. Die rede hiervoor is dat opvoeders, weens 'n gebrek aan kennis van SGL, nie van beter weet nie. Die betroubaarheid van selfgerigte leer word versterk wanneer die opvoeders en die skeppers van onderrigmateriaal 'n deeglike begrip en kennis van die SGL-proses het. Die primere doel van hierdie navorsing is om kriteria te ontwikkel, wat as 'n riglyn kan dien om onderrigmateriaal wat SGL koester te ontwikkel- dus materiaal wat rigting aan die leerders gee om hulle eie leer te bestuur. Die kriteria is gevorm na aanleiding van 'n literatuurstudie van bestaande navorsing oor SGL en kundiges se evaluering van die kriteria. Na aanleiding van die kundiges se kommentaar is onderrigmateriaal, wat SGL koester, ontwikkel en weer aan die kundiges vir evaluering voorgele.

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M. Ed.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / After suffering almost total collapse. Rwanda has made impressive post-genocide progress. Many children of school going age are now attending school, but regrettably, only half complete primary school. High numbers of orphans, disabled children and a growing number of children from child-headed households still suffer the consequences of the poverty inherited from the past. Health problems include HIV/Aids, STIs, malaria, tuberculosis, enteric diseases, mental health problems, hunger and malnutrition. Use of drugs and substance abuse, unwanted pregnancies, lack of support services, unavailability of teaching and learning materials, inflexible curricula and poor teaching methodologies also contribute to learning breakdown. It is against this background that this thesis was conducted to investigate the development of a health-promoting schools model to provide an appropriate strategy to address barriers to learning and to promote healthy development of school children in Rwanda. Two research questions were the focus of this research, first, how does a health-promoting schools model provide an appropriate strategy to address barriers to learning and to promote healthy development of school-aged children in Rwanda and second, what are the participants’ views on and understanding of the model and its potential use in their schools? A mixed methods research design that employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches was used. The study followed sequential implementation: Phase 1 was concerned with the identification of the components for the model. It was a case study of four schools, two rural schools and two urban schools in Kigali City. The sample included 60 teachers, pupils, principals and parents from schools and nine key informants who were policymakers from the Ministries of Education and Health and Social Welfare, line institutions and the UNICEF. Data collection strategies included focus group discussions, semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews, a transect walk and observations. Data analysis was through content analysis. Eight themes emerged out of the data: school leadership and management; school health policies; pupil wellbeing; school partnership with parents, families and local communities; school health services; factors affecting teaching and learning for all children; teacher wellbeing; and a healthy physical school environment. These themes became the components that informed the development of a health-promoting schools model. In Phase 2, the degree of understanding of this proposed model and its components were investigated in each school community.

The study focused on the impacts and challenges associated with the introduction of FCUBE with particular emphasis on the Capitation Grant and the School Feeding Programmes in the Ashiedu Keteke Sub-Metro of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Data was collected from Six Basic Schools in the Sub- Metro under Circuits 12 and 13. This study found out from the participants that the introduction of these policy options even though has improved enrolment and the quality of education is faced with a lot of obstacles and challenges such as access to school, shortage of teachers, economic and social cultural practices etc. It seems evident from the analysis in this study and observations that despite the achievements of government, there still are a number of children out of school in Ghana and being denied the right to education and therefore the goals of universal access to primary quality education cannot be achieved through the linear expansion of existing public schools system alone. One limitation was that the sample was quite small due to limited time and resources. The study contributes to the understanding of what the various education policies say and what really happens on the ground. It provides a foundation for further studies on a more extensive scale so as to get a broader picture of what the education sector really experience, as well providing guidance for the ministry to take actions that make it more friendly.

This study explores secondary school children’s constructions of care and support provided for ‘vulnerable’ schoolchildren in the age of HIV and AIDS. The study attempts to respond to the following two research questions: What are secondary school children’s constructions of care and support in a rural school context in the age of HIV and AIDS? How can the use of participatory arts-based research enable agency in the lives of ‘vulnerable’ secondary school children in a rural school context in the age of HIV and AIDS? The provision of care and support for ‘vulnerable’ school children is of key concern in South African schools since the number of ‘vulnerable’ children is rising because of the increase in the prevalence of HIV and AIDS, which renders many school children ‘vulnerable’. Schools are mandated by departmental policy to provide care and support to ‘vulnerable’ school children, but they are challenged in their implementation of this policy, which leaves ‘vulnerable’ school children inadequately cared for and supported. The input from school children is often not drawn upon, and this hampers the effectiveness of the provision of care and support. This qualitative study is positioned within a critical paradigm, and employs a participatory arts-based research methodology in its intention to take an approach based on the notion of research as intervention. Twenty Grade 11 male and female school children aged 16 to 21, from two secondary schools in the rural Vulindlela district in KwaZulu-Natal, were purposively selected, using inclusion criteria. The Life Orientation teachers assisted in identifying participants from the school register of ‘vulnerable’ schoolchildren. This did not mean that they were living with HIV or AIDS, but that they were ‘vulnerable’, and at risk of dropping out of school. The study made use of a multimodal approach of data generation with the school children, in which several visual methods, such as drawing, photovoice, and collage, as well as reflective free writing, were used in a participatory way as modes of inquiry, representation, and dissemination. The ethics of research with ‘vulnerable’ school children made the dictum, “do the most good” through the research important, and hence the use of the strategy of research as intervention. The data analysis involved two levels – that of the school children’s own analysis of their visual artifacts, and my overarching thematic analysis, using Tesch’s (1990) open coding. Informed by the theoretical frameworks of Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) bio-ecological systems theory and Giddens’s (1984) structuration theory, the findings show that care and support in schools is constructed as a reciprocal relationship, and they point to the importance of school children’s own agency in the provision of care and support. The findings show that school children construct themselves as both visible and invisible in relation to care and support in school, in that they receive care and support but are overlooked in terms of being able to offer input on how care and support should be provided. Furthermore, the findings indicate that school children perceive the school to be an environment that enables but also constrains the provision of care and support: the infrastructure, the safety and security, and the instructional spaces in the school do provide the basics for care and support, but the overt and covert discrimination by school children and teachers, the challenge of putting policies into practice, and the overall fragmented provision of care and support in the school are constraining. Another emerging finding from this study is that secondary school children construct themselves as being included in the strengthening of care and support in rural schools. The use of visual arts-based methods enabled the exploration of how ‘vulnerable’ school children construct care and support in a rural school; the findings also indicated how the use of visual arts-based research contributed to making a difference in the lives of ‘vulnerable’ school children: it was a joyful experience; it leveraged multiple literacies; it contributed to cooperation, collaboration, and collective construction of knowledge; and, in encouraging thought about the issue, it raised critical awareness of, and solutions to, providing care and support in the school. The findings also pointed out how the visual artifacts could be disseminated in the school, and how this could influence the well-being of the community. The findings have implications for how schools provide care and support for ‘vulnerable’ school children. The findings could be engaged with by schools and the Department of Basic Education as a tool to accomplish strengthening the provision of care and support in rural schools, so that care and support are socially and culturally embedded, and to inform policy making through an approach that can be described as being from the ground up.

The purpose of the study was to develop strategies for maintaining discipline among learners in secondary schools in Kenya in the post-caning era. More specifically, the objectives of this study were to: - Examine disciplinary strategies that are revealed in the relevant literature that will assist the Kenyan public secondary schools manage student discipline in the post-caning area; - Examnine the exsisting approaches to discipline that are being adopted by secondary schools in Kenya in the post-caning era; - Develop strategies for managing student discipline in public secondary schools in Kenya in the post-caning era.

M.Tech. (Homoeopathy) / Acute tonsillitis is inflammation of the tonsils, caused by a bacterial or viral infection. In most cases it is caused by a viral infection (Clarence & Sasaki, 2008), which is a common cause of upper respiratory tract infections in children (Baker et al., 2012). Tonsillitis is one of the most common causes of absenteeism in school children, which affects school performance (De Martino & Ballotti, 2007). Conventional treatment for viral tonsillitis include anti-inflammatory drugs, which does not actively treat the condition and may cause side effects (Clarence & Sasaki, 2008; Cocazza et al., 2001; Roxane & Nahata, 2006) such as bruising, skin rash, tinnitus, oedema, dyspepsia, depression, nervousness, insomnia, pruritis, visual disturbance, renal failure and gastrointestinal irritation which can result in bleeding (Rainsford, 2003; Scherer, 2012; Snyman, 2007). Tonzolyt® is a commercially available homoeopathic complex remedy indicated for both acute and chronic tonsillitis and sore throat. However, there is a lack of research to support its effectiveness (Herbaforce, 2010). The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of the homoeopathic complex Tonzolyt® on the symptoms of acute tonsillitis in black children attending a primary school in Gauteng. A Wong-Baker Face Pain Rating Scale measured pain intensity and a modified Semi-quantitative Basis Scale assessed changes in signs and symptoms of tonsillitis. This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled study conducted over six days with daily follow-up assessments. Thirty participants, aged 6-12 years, suffering from acute viral tonsillitis, were recruited from a primary school in Gauteng. Parents / guardians were informed about the study by means of a letter (Appendix H). Attached to the letter there was an information form (Appendix A), as well as a Participant Profile form (Appendix D) to fill in, and a consent form (Appendix B) to sign. Parents / guardians and teachers were requested to refer children who showed signs of tonsillitis to the researcher. The researcher was available on the school premises on...