published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Applied English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

Research suggests that the promotion of a student’s social development and connectedness can help reduce problematic behavior in schools. Connectedness, in this context, refers to an individual’s feeling of ‘belonging’ in a school as a valued and effective member. Connectedness can also apply to feelings on one’s self-image, family, and friends. The purpose of this study was to examine connectedness among Hong Kong primary school students in Years 5 and 6. The relationships among connectedness and time spent in leisure activities by students are also explored. Demographic data was collected from 421 students who responded to questionnaires concerning their time spent in leisure activities. The students also completed a Chinese version of the Hemingway Measure of Adolescent Connectedness. The subscales demonstrated satisfactory reliability and convergent validity. Findings from the study showed that in general girls are more emotionally connected to school than boys, especially to their teachers, whereas boys showed more connectedness to neighborhood. Data on boys revealed a positive correlation between connectedness to major social groups (parents, teachers and friends) and time spent on sports; but a negative correlation between connectedness to parents and teachers and time spent on computer games. Girls tended to show a more positive attitude about ‘present self’ when more time was spent on sports, but a negative connection with parents and teachers if more time was spent on computer games or extra-curricular activities. Implications for future research and implementation of guidance programmes in primary schools are discussed. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Transforming society towards following an environmentally sustainable path will not be easy because it means a fundamental shift in thinking, values and actions of all institutions, communities and individuals worldwide. Education is the key to ensure that future generations of South Africans will be able to deliver the society envisaged by our Constitution. The formative years of the Foundation Phase are an ideal place for environmental education (EE) to begin. The purpose of this study was to explore conceptions of EE held by educators in the Foundation Phase at a primary school in KwaZulu-Natal. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The problem of the study was to develop an instrument to measure achievement in social studies in the primary grades.

D.Phil. (Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Research Report submitted to the Wits School of Education, Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg In partial fulfilment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Science (Mathematics Education) Johannesburg, 2017 / South Africa’s performance in mathematics education is ranked amongst the world’s worst. This performance is not only alarming at an international level, but also nationally. Annual National Assessments (ANA) conducted by the Department of Education have showed that the level of mathematics across the foundation and intermediate phase is poor with a pronounced dip in performance at a Grade 4 level (Department of Basic Education, 2014). Multiplication and division are common challenging areas that contribute to this poor performance. This is concerning as mathematics is globally recognised as a key competence for providing access to higher education and developing a country’s society and economy. My study, aimed at exploring multiplicative reasoning with Grade 4 learners through structured problem solving, is focused on the learning of multiplication and division within the context of an intervention concentrated on developing learners’ ability to model multiplicative situations. Shifts in the use of models were investigated following a smallscale intervention in which different modelling approaches (particularly ratio modelling) were introduced and developed. A control group was used to determine the usefulness of the intervention. Questions which I sought to answer were: (a) what kinds of multiplicative reasoning (models) are Grade 4 learners using prior to intervention, (b) what changes, if any, are seen in overall performance, across the intervention and control group, in the post-test, and, (c) what kinds of differences in model use were associated with the shifts in performance? The main dataset comprised of 61 pre- and post-test scripts across three Grade 4 classes in a former Model C school in a Johannesburg district. A sample of 15 interviews were also conducted across the classes. Document analysis and transcription notes were used to analyse data with a Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) framework informing my analysis. Findings from my study reveal that prior to intervention, Grade 4 learners presented limited multiplicative models which were predominantly confined to traditional algorithms. After the small-scale intervention, learners used a broader range of models with an emerging take up of ratio models. The success rate associated with the models presented by learners also improved. Limited and/or no changes in model use and their respective success rates were seen in the control group suggesting that the intervention program was useful. These findings suggest that, as a future recommendation, it would be worthwhile to investigate the outcomes of running a similar intervention in less privileged settings. / MT 2018