Analysis of the contribution of socio-economic factors on poor academic performance of grade 12 learners: the case of Butterworth education district, Eastern Cape Province South Africa
- Authors: Lubisi, Anathi
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Performance standards -- South Africa Teacher effectiveness -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc (Sociology)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/18141 , vital:42236
- Description: The drive of this research project was to discover factors contributing to the poor academic performance of Grade 12 learners at two selected schools in the Butterworth Education District, Eastern Cape province South Africa. The participants were Grade 12 learners, Grade 12 teachers and parents of Grade 12 learners in both schools. Both schools are located in rural areas of Mnquma municipality under the Butterworth education district. The study used both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The motivation behind using triangulation was to decrease or offset the deficiency of a specific methodology and for deeper understanding of the discoveries of the study. Use of triangulation in this study was aimed at expanding the legitimacy, dependability and generalizability of the results of the study. The findings of the study revealed that the most determining factor that contributes to the poor academic performance of Grade 12 learners in the Butterworth Education District is the unavailability and inadequacy of instructional resources. This is the most critical school resource which the parents cannot afford to buy for their children. Both teachers and Grade 12 learners indicated that they do not have a school library or a community library. The majority of learners also indicated that they do not have enough textbooks in all subjects and their parents concurred that their children end up sharing textbooks with their peers. Furthermore, the three groups of participants agreed that learners do not have access to computers, and the school does not have a science lab for Grade 12 learners doing science. The core argument of this study is that a poor socio-economic background is a primary contributor to low academic performance of Grade 12 learners at the Butterworth Education District. The findings of this study support this thesis as they indicate that instructional resources are inadequate, a school or community library is vii non-existent, and there is not enough textbooks at the selected schools. With parents from low socio-economic background, the Butterworth community is also not in a position to supplement these insufficient instructional resources. This study utilized the cultural reproduction theory of Bourdieu (1977) to explore a system of education in industrialized communities and the way it works to illuminate class differences in academic performance and achievement of Grade 12 learners. The study made recommendations that should be put in place to improve the academic performance of Grade 12 learners in the Butterworth Education District. The most important of these recommendations is that government officials should provide educational resources (teaching and learning resources). Furthermore, the researcher suggest that for further research, it would be interesting to find out about learners that perform well, regardless of identified factors that cause other learners to perform poorly to help them improve their academic performance.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Lubisi, Anathi
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Performance standards -- South Africa Teacher effectiveness -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc (Sociology)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/18141 , vital:42236
- Description: The drive of this research project was to discover factors contributing to the poor academic performance of Grade 12 learners at two selected schools in the Butterworth Education District, Eastern Cape province South Africa. The participants were Grade 12 learners, Grade 12 teachers and parents of Grade 12 learners in both schools. Both schools are located in rural areas of Mnquma municipality under the Butterworth education district. The study used both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The motivation behind using triangulation was to decrease or offset the deficiency of a specific methodology and for deeper understanding of the discoveries of the study. Use of triangulation in this study was aimed at expanding the legitimacy, dependability and generalizability of the results of the study. The findings of the study revealed that the most determining factor that contributes to the poor academic performance of Grade 12 learners in the Butterworth Education District is the unavailability and inadequacy of instructional resources. This is the most critical school resource which the parents cannot afford to buy for their children. Both teachers and Grade 12 learners indicated that they do not have a school library or a community library. The majority of learners also indicated that they do not have enough textbooks in all subjects and their parents concurred that their children end up sharing textbooks with their peers. Furthermore, the three groups of participants agreed that learners do not have access to computers, and the school does not have a science lab for Grade 12 learners doing science. The core argument of this study is that a poor socio-economic background is a primary contributor to low academic performance of Grade 12 learners at the Butterworth Education District. The findings of this study support this thesis as they indicate that instructional resources are inadequate, a school or community library is vii non-existent, and there is not enough textbooks at the selected schools. With parents from low socio-economic background, the Butterworth community is also not in a position to supplement these insufficient instructional resources. This study utilized the cultural reproduction theory of Bourdieu (1977) to explore a system of education in industrialized communities and the way it works to illuminate class differences in academic performance and achievement of Grade 12 learners. The study made recommendations that should be put in place to improve the academic performance of Grade 12 learners in the Butterworth Education District. The most important of these recommendations is that government officials should provide educational resources (teaching and learning resources). Furthermore, the researcher suggest that for further research, it would be interesting to find out about learners that perform well, regardless of identified factors that cause other learners to perform poorly to help them improve their academic performance.
- Full Text:
A comparative study of the in vitro antidiabetic properties, cytotoxicity and mechanism of action of Albuca bracteata and Albuca setosa bulb extracts
- Authors: Odeyemi, Samuel Wale
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Medicinal plants Herbs -- Therapeutic use Diabetics -- Alternative treatment
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/3154 , vital:28327
- Description: The search for cheap, non toxic and readily available antidiabetic drugs has been a challenge for researchers and the pharmaceutical industries. Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease characterized by defects in the synthesis of insulin and/or insensitivity to the action of insulin at the target cells. The disease has been on the increase mostly in developing countries where large proportions of the population have little access to good medical care due to either accessibility or non availability of synthetic drugs. This has led to the use of medicinal plants to treat diabetes because it is safe, cheap and with few side effects. There is little scientific evidence on the dosages, active compounds, mechanisms of action and toxicity of these traditionally used plants. Two of the most frequently used plants; Albuca setosa and Albuca bracteata were investigated in this study. The qualitative analysis of different extractions of these plants revealed the presence of phenolics, alkaloids, tannins and saponins. The antioxidant properties of aqueous, acetone and methanollic extracts of Albuca setosa and Albuca bracteata were investigated using models such as Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2, 2’-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS), Ferric ion reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP), Nitric Oxide and Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). Both plants revealed inhibitions against DPPH in a concentration - dependent manner with Albuca setosa (0.330 mg/ml) showing higher activity than Albuca bracteata (0.647 mg/ml) determined from the IC50. The aqueous extract of Albuca setosa showed a higher inhibition against DPPH radical compared to the Albuca bracteata aqueous extract at all concentrations investigated. The isolated saponins from Albuca bracteata had a higher DPPH scavenging activity than the crude methanolic extract of the plant in a concentration - dependent manner but are significantly different from each other at 0.4, 0.6 and 1.0 mg/ml only. The IC50 of the saponins was also observed to be higher than the crude extracts and standards.The Albuca setosa aqueous extract showed a higher percentage inhibition of ABTS radicals than Albuca bracteata at all the concentrations investigated. Overall, the Albuca setosa aqueous extract (0.0809 mg/ml) showed maximum activity against ABTS radicals. The iron reducing power was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the methanolic extract of both plants compared to the aqueous counterpart. Overall, the Albuca bracteata aqueous extract (0.344 mg/ml) showed maximum activity as indicated by the IC50. The aqueous extracts of both plants also revealed percentage inhibitions in a concentration - dependent manner against NO2. The aqueous extract of Albuca bracteata bulb was more active against nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide inhibition. In this study, the cytotoxicity of the extracts was evaluated at a high dose of 100 μg/ml on Chang liver cells and determined using MTT, crystal violet, glucose consumption, lactate production and lactate dehydrogenase release and FRAP. The aqueous extracts of both Albuca setosa and Albuca bracteata were non-toxic on Chang liver cells at the concentrations investigated. The MTT revealed that the aqueous extract of Albuca setosa bulb had the optimum cell viability of 108.09 percent while the acetonic extract of Albuca bracteata showed the least cell viability (37.72 percent) compared with the control. The crystal violet test also revealed the acetone extract of Albuca bracteata to have the least percentage of cell viability at 31.47 percent, while the aqueous extract of Albuca setosa showed the maximum cell viability at 112.5 percent. The aqueous extracts of both plants showed higher percentage cell density on the second day of incubation from the proliferation assay. All the tested samples were observed to consume more glucose than the blank except for the methanollic and acetone extracts of Albuca bracteata bulb. The aqueous and methanolic extracts of Albuca setosa bulbs produced the highest lactate with 120.2 μg/ml and 113.7 μg/ml respectively. The acetone extracts of both Albuca setosa and Albuca bracteata revealed toxicity with a higher lactate dehydrogenase release compared to the control.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Odeyemi, Samuel Wale
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Medicinal plants Herbs -- Therapeutic use Diabetics -- Alternative treatment
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/3154 , vital:28327
- Description: The search for cheap, non toxic and readily available antidiabetic drugs has been a challenge for researchers and the pharmaceutical industries. Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease characterized by defects in the synthesis of insulin and/or insensitivity to the action of insulin at the target cells. The disease has been on the increase mostly in developing countries where large proportions of the population have little access to good medical care due to either accessibility or non availability of synthetic drugs. This has led to the use of medicinal plants to treat diabetes because it is safe, cheap and with few side effects. There is little scientific evidence on the dosages, active compounds, mechanisms of action and toxicity of these traditionally used plants. Two of the most frequently used plants; Albuca setosa and Albuca bracteata were investigated in this study. The qualitative analysis of different extractions of these plants revealed the presence of phenolics, alkaloids, tannins and saponins. The antioxidant properties of aqueous, acetone and methanollic extracts of Albuca setosa and Albuca bracteata were investigated using models such as Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2, 2’-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS), Ferric ion reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP), Nitric Oxide and Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). Both plants revealed inhibitions against DPPH in a concentration - dependent manner with Albuca setosa (0.330 mg/ml) showing higher activity than Albuca bracteata (0.647 mg/ml) determined from the IC50. The aqueous extract of Albuca setosa showed a higher inhibition against DPPH radical compared to the Albuca bracteata aqueous extract at all concentrations investigated. The isolated saponins from Albuca bracteata had a higher DPPH scavenging activity than the crude methanolic extract of the plant in a concentration - dependent manner but are significantly different from each other at 0.4, 0.6 and 1.0 mg/ml only. The IC50 of the saponins was also observed to be higher than the crude extracts and standards.The Albuca setosa aqueous extract showed a higher percentage inhibition of ABTS radicals than Albuca bracteata at all the concentrations investigated. Overall, the Albuca setosa aqueous extract (0.0809 mg/ml) showed maximum activity against ABTS radicals. The iron reducing power was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the methanolic extract of both plants compared to the aqueous counterpart. Overall, the Albuca bracteata aqueous extract (0.344 mg/ml) showed maximum activity as indicated by the IC50. The aqueous extracts of both plants also revealed percentage inhibitions in a concentration - dependent manner against NO2. The aqueous extract of Albuca bracteata bulb was more active against nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide inhibition. In this study, the cytotoxicity of the extracts was evaluated at a high dose of 100 μg/ml on Chang liver cells and determined using MTT, crystal violet, glucose consumption, lactate production and lactate dehydrogenase release and FRAP. The aqueous extracts of both Albuca setosa and Albuca bracteata were non-toxic on Chang liver cells at the concentrations investigated. The MTT revealed that the aqueous extract of Albuca setosa bulb had the optimum cell viability of 108.09 percent while the acetonic extract of Albuca bracteata showed the least cell viability (37.72 percent) compared with the control. The crystal violet test also revealed the acetone extract of Albuca bracteata to have the least percentage of cell viability at 31.47 percent, while the aqueous extract of Albuca setosa showed the maximum cell viability at 112.5 percent. The aqueous extracts of both plants showed higher percentage cell density on the second day of incubation from the proliferation assay. All the tested samples were observed to consume more glucose than the blank except for the methanollic and acetone extracts of Albuca bracteata bulb. The aqueous and methanolic extracts of Albuca setosa bulbs produced the highest lactate with 120.2 μg/ml and 113.7 μg/ml respectively. The acetone extracts of both Albuca setosa and Albuca bracteata revealed toxicity with a higher lactate dehydrogenase release compared to the control.
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Socio- educational experiences of black accounting III students who dropped out of the University of Fort Hare in 2009
- Authors: Morrison, Renee Fiona
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: College dropouts -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Education, Higher -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Universities and colleges -- South Africa --Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Ed
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/1906 , vital:27582
- Description: In South Africa there is an increasing concern regarding retention among Black students (who constitute the majority of the population) in general and in particular regarding the costs of student failure to both the students and for the institution. This thesis endeavours to obtain an understanding of the socio-educational experiences which led to Black Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting Students in 2009 dropping out of Accounting III at the University of Fort Hare. In a field in which much of the literature is quantitatively orientated, a phenomenological investigation offered a unique way of understanding the experiences of the students as it allowed their voices to be heard. Insights contained in the data were synthesised and integrated into a consistent description of the essential nature of the experience, the primary endeavour of the phenomenologist being to transform naïve experience into more explicitly detailed conceptual knowledge. The use of in-depth interviews with three students, all of whom had dropped out of Accounting III at UFH, allowed the researcher interaction on a personal level with people not viewed as experimental objects but as human subjects. The findings revealed that the students‘ social and educational background, together with the language of teaching and learning not being their mother tongue, caused students great difficulty. Interaction between lecturers and students and the subject content proved very challenging due to the language barrier. The introduction of General Accounting III in the same class as Accounting III in 2009 compounded the students‘ confusion and this ultimately led to students feeling demotivated. These findings contributed significantly to an understanding of why these three students dropped out of Accounting III in 2009, and at the same time provided an answer to the research question relating to how Black students who dropped out of the Accounting III programme in 2009, experienced the course.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Morrison, Renee Fiona
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: College dropouts -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Education, Higher -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Universities and colleges -- South Africa --Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Ed
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/1906 , vital:27582
- Description: In South Africa there is an increasing concern regarding retention among Black students (who constitute the majority of the population) in general and in particular regarding the costs of student failure to both the students and for the institution. This thesis endeavours to obtain an understanding of the socio-educational experiences which led to Black Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting Students in 2009 dropping out of Accounting III at the University of Fort Hare. In a field in which much of the literature is quantitatively orientated, a phenomenological investigation offered a unique way of understanding the experiences of the students as it allowed their voices to be heard. Insights contained in the data were synthesised and integrated into a consistent description of the essential nature of the experience, the primary endeavour of the phenomenologist being to transform naïve experience into more explicitly detailed conceptual knowledge. The use of in-depth interviews with three students, all of whom had dropped out of Accounting III at UFH, allowed the researcher interaction on a personal level with people not viewed as experimental objects but as human subjects. The findings revealed that the students‘ social and educational background, together with the language of teaching and learning not being their mother tongue, caused students great difficulty. Interaction between lecturers and students and the subject content proved very challenging due to the language barrier. The introduction of General Accounting III in the same class as Accounting III in 2009 compounded the students‘ confusion and this ultimately led to students feeling demotivated. These findings contributed significantly to an understanding of why these three students dropped out of Accounting III in 2009, and at the same time provided an answer to the research question relating to how Black students who dropped out of the Accounting III programme in 2009, experienced the course.
- Full Text:
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