An investigation into the low pass rate in science and mathematics in selected schools in the northern areas, Port Elizabeth
- Authors: Keble, Jo-Anne
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Secondary education - South Africa - Eastern Cape , School failure , Secondary education , Educational accountability
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8156 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1658 , Secondary education - South Africa - Eastern Cape
- Description: Mathematics and science are key areas of knowledge and competence for the development of an individual, and the social and economic development of South Africa in a globalising world. Since 1994, the new democratic government in South Africa has emphasised the centrality of mathematics and science as part of the human development strategy for South Africa. Performance in this area is one of the indicators of the health of the South African educational system. It makes an important contribution to the economy and has been a contributor to inequalities of access and income. The twenty-first century is characterised by exponential growth and rapid change, which will be mainly based on information technology. The major asset in any successful country as its inventiveness in science and technology, rather than its abundance of labour or its natural resources. Therefore, it is important that school education should prepare the youth in scientific and technological fields to cope with, and contribute to, the well-being of their country.athematics and science are key areas of knowledge and competence for the development of an individual, and the social and economic development of South Africa in a globalising world. Since 1994, the new democratic government in South Africa has emphasised the centrality of mathematics and science as part of the human development strategy for South Africa. Performance in this area is one of the indicators of the health of the South African educational system. It makes an important contribution to the economy and has been a contributor to inequalities of access and income. The twenty-first century is characterised by exponential growth and rapid change, which will be mainly based on information technology. The major asset in any successful country as its inventiveness in science and technology, rather than its abundance of labour or its natural resources. Therefore, it is important that school education should prepare the youth in scientific and technological fields to cope with, and contribute to, the well-being of their country.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Graphicacy and the third dimension: an investigation into the problem of poor performance in relief mapwork in South African secondary schools
- Authors: Burton, Michael St. John Whitehead
- Date: 1986
- Subjects: Graphicacy , Maps , Map reading , Visualisation , Geography , Secondary education , South Africa , Pupils , Learners , Teachers
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1358 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001424
- Description: Three-dimensional graphicacy is the part of map work that appears to be the most problematIcal. Bartz (1970) says that thinking and visualising in three-dimensional space is difficult enough, but trying to derive notions in three-dimensions, when you have only seen them as they are represented in distorted two-dimensional fashion, is even more difficult. Yet pupils of geography are required to learn such three-dimensional concepts from the two-dimensional distorted map presentations. The geography teacher has an important educational role to play in promoting graphicacy and Balchin (1965), who coined the term, felt that it should be an essential underpinning of an integrated education. The problem is that children perform badly, teachers are not successfully imparting three-dimensional graphicacy skills and as Board and Taylor (1977) indicate, for some time now it has been fashionable to dismiss maps as being irrelevant or useless in geographical research. This thesis attempts to analyse this reported malady, the problems are exposed and solutions offered. Investigation of the literature, with the aim of clarifying the problems involved, follows four leads. These are the part played by the map as a mode of communication, the physical processes involved in mapwork revealed by work in the realm of neurophysiology, the process of visualisation in the field of perception and psychology, and finally the stage of conceptual development of the mapworker. The state of affairs in South Africa is disclosed by an analysis of teacher-directed literature, of examination syllabuses, of text-book treatment of three-dimensional mapwork in South Africa and overseas, of past examination questions, and finally of teachers' views. Experimental exercises have been executed in an attempt to link the key findings of published research to the local scene. Conclusions are then drawn, and recommendations made for improving three-dimensional graphicacy in South African secondary schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1986
The role of the guidance teacher in preparing young people for personal and social life in Gazankulu
- Authors: Machimana, Albert
- Date: 1986
- Subjects: Counselling , Guidance , Life skills , Secondary education , Self concept , Gazankulu
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1381 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001447
- Description: In the modernising South African society, young people are faced with personal and social problems which make it very difficult for them to adjust positively to life in general. In the end they are frustrated in many situations in life because of their inability to cope with these problems. One of the major problems that the Blacks in South Africa are faced with is that of a poor self-concept. This is a major problem because any adjustment and behaviour in life is, to a large extent, influenced by the self-concept of the individual. This thesis aims at focusing attention on those social issues which play a major role in the development of the self-concept and the lives in general, of Black people in Gazankulu. It is also concerned with the role of the guidance teacher in preparing young people for a more satisfying life (Introduction, p. 1)
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1986