Integral to the Life Orientation curriculum is democracy and human right. This article contends that considering human rights cannot simply be a theoretical exercise as the implementation thereof affects lived human experience. Currently held narratives of lived experience need to be dialogically explored. Integrally linked to any such exploration is the identity of the explorer. It can be said that individuals are made to varying degrees by systems and networks of power in society, including dominant discourses. However, they also have the capacity, by exercising individual agency, to make themselves according to the way in which they respond to the intersections that shape identity, including ethnicity, culture, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation and so forth. This article seeks to explore teacher identity and, in particular, teacher religious identity, with a view to transformed Religion Education. The argument is made for Life Orientation teachers to negotiate their religious identity from a position of ‘religious identity paralysis’ or ‘religious identity paradox’ or even ‘religious identity flexibility’ to one of ‘religious identity transformation’. Both in-service and pre-service teachers participated in the studies informing this article.
{"title":"Teacher identity and Religion Education in Life Orientation","authors":"J. Jarvis","doi":"10.4102/td.v17i1.1076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/td.v17i1.1076","url":null,"abstract":"Integral to the Life Orientation curriculum is democracy and human right. This article contends that considering human rights cannot simply be a theoretical exercise as the implementation thereof affects lived human experience. Currently held narratives of lived experience need to be dialogically explored. Integrally linked to any such exploration is the identity of the explorer. It can be said that individuals are made to varying degrees by systems and networks of power in society, including dominant discourses. However, they also have the capacity, by exercising individual agency, to make themselves according to the way in which they respond to the intersections that shape identity, including ethnicity, culture, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation and so forth. This article seeks to explore teacher identity and, in particular, teacher religious identity, with a view to transformed Religion Education. The argument is made for Life Orientation teachers to negotiate their religious identity from a position of ‘religious identity paralysis’ or ‘religious identity paradox’ or even ‘religious identity flexibility’ to one of ‘religious identity transformation’. Both in-service and pre-service teachers participated in the studies informing this article.","PeriodicalId":43643,"journal":{"name":"TD-The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49029716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The relevance of Business Studies Education (BSE) at school and in higher education is undisputed, given the rising levels of youth unemployment and the need for an appropriate skill set for potential entrepreneurs. Although a relatively large corpus of general business education literature is available, the same does not necessarily apply to published research related specifically to business studies teaching and learning at school and in teacher education. The aim of this research was to explore the scope, similarities, differences and potential gaps in the teaching and learning of Business Studies within school and teacher education contexts. A meta-study methodology was applied in this study to provide a comprehensive review and synthesis of peer-reviewed research publications in business studies education. An overview of the challenges facing BSE within the South African context is provided. A framework encompassing situational, pedagogical, practical and disciplinary knowledge areas guided the analytical overview to underscore the limitations and particular points of focus of current and past research. In addition, the meta-study set out to establish the scope, similarities and differences of promising areas for future research. Findings suggest that BSE research remains limited, entrepreneurship is an important focus for research and that not enough research has been conducted about situational knowledge. Recommendations include the need to analyse the complexities of teacher education and training, to investigate and critique the theoretical foundations of business studies education and to evaluate the shifts in school curriculum policy, development and design.
{"title":"Exploring the scope of and gaps in the teaching and learning of Business Studies at school and teacher education levels","authors":"C. America, L. Skelly","doi":"10.4102/TD.V17I1.1040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/TD.V17I1.1040","url":null,"abstract":"The relevance of Business Studies Education (BSE) at school and in higher education is undisputed, given the rising levels of youth unemployment and the need for an appropriate skill set for potential entrepreneurs. Although a relatively large corpus of general business education literature is available, the same does not necessarily apply to published research related specifically to business studies teaching and learning at school and in teacher education. The aim of this research was to explore the scope, similarities, differences and potential gaps in the teaching and learning of Business Studies within school and teacher education contexts. A meta-study methodology was applied in this study to provide a comprehensive review and synthesis of peer-reviewed research publications in business studies education. An overview of the challenges facing BSE within the South African context is provided. A framework encompassing situational, pedagogical, practical and disciplinary knowledge areas guided the analytical overview to underscore the limitations and particular points of focus of current and past research. In addition, the meta-study set out to establish the scope, similarities and differences of promising areas for future research. Findings suggest that BSE research remains limited, entrepreneurship is an important focus for research and that not enough research has been conducted about situational knowledge. Recommendations include the need to analyse the complexities of teacher education and training, to investigate and critique the theoretical foundations of business studies education and to evaluate the shifts in school curriculum policy, development and design.","PeriodicalId":43643,"journal":{"name":"TD-The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47843392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
H. Patrick, E. Khalema, O. A. Abiolu, E. Ijatuyi, R. Abiolu
The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and its crippling effects exacerbate many people’s vulnerability to food security across the world, including Africa. This article offers an explorative discourse on the implication of COVID-19 pandemic for South Africa’s food and livelihood security in the face of climate change. Using a scoping desktop review method, the article aims to provoke research and policy action and discourse on the subject matter. The article explores pre-and post-COVID-19 vulnerabilities in South Africa. It acknowledges the impact of climate change on food security and the situation of food security in South Africa pre-and post-COVID-19 pandemic. It then provides policy recommendations and expected outcomes to reconfigure the agricultural sector in the new sociopolitical and economic order necessitated by the pandemic. The article argues that reducing the stress posed by COVID-19 will require collaborative efforts and systemic thinking by stakeholders across all quarters. This will proffer workable solutions to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food and livelihood options of rural dwellers in South Africa and their interconnectedness with the impact of climate change.
{"title":"South Africa’s multiple vulnerabilities, food security and livelihood options in the COVID-19 new order: An annotation","authors":"H. Patrick, E. Khalema, O. A. Abiolu, E. Ijatuyi, R. Abiolu","doi":"10.4102/td.v17i1.1037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/td.v17i1.1037","url":null,"abstract":"The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and its crippling effects exacerbate many people’s vulnerability to food security across the world, including Africa. This article offers an explorative discourse on the implication of COVID-19 pandemic for South Africa’s food and livelihood security in the face of climate change. Using a scoping desktop review method, the article aims to provoke research and policy action and discourse on the subject matter. The article explores pre-and post-COVID-19 vulnerabilities in South Africa. It acknowledges the impact of climate change on food security and the situation of food security in South Africa pre-and post-COVID-19 pandemic. It then provides policy recommendations and expected outcomes to reconfigure the agricultural sector in the new sociopolitical and economic order necessitated by the pandemic. The article argues that reducing the stress posed by COVID-19 will require collaborative efforts and systemic thinking by stakeholders across all quarters. This will proffer workable solutions to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food and livelihood options of rural dwellers in South Africa and their interconnectedness with the impact of climate change.","PeriodicalId":43643,"journal":{"name":"TD-The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46960723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Background: In every human organisation, there is bound to be conflict of ideas because everyone wants his or her viewpoint to take precedent over others. There are those who want to be on top of every situation irrespective of those involved or the issue at stake. However, a proactive bureaucratic leadership should be able to find a way out of these quagmires. Aim: Within the framework of the strategic elite theory, this article examines the nexus between bureaucratic conflict and public interest in Africa, as well as challenges confronting bureaucracy in the pursuit of public interest with specific reference to Nigeria. Method: This article adopts a qualitative approach and is descriptive in nature, with the researcher setting out to illustrate the association that exists between the dependent and independent variables. Authoritative scholarly sources were reviewed during a desktop study. The purpose was to identify the relevant publications and apply them in the research. Results: This article argues that whilst conflict generally is an inevitable outcome of human interactions. However, conflict is more common in a bureaucratic organisation where issues of power and influence are always a source of contention amongst the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Therefore, resolving the basis for the existence of the MDAs that will ultimately inculcate in the bureaucrats a new worldview. Conclusion: It therefore, concludes that there should be countervailing forces to put the bureaucracy on check. This includes: strengthening interest groups, the pursuit of institutionalism, ethical reorientation in the public service, amongst other measures. However, to achieve this, requires a critical mass of men and women of integrity, doggedly and ruggedly committed to Africa’s project and ready to subsume their personal interests under that of the national interests.
{"title":"Examining the interface between bureaucratic conflict and public interest in Africa","authors":"C. J. Igbokwe-Ibeto","doi":"10.4102/td.v17i1.874","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/td.v17i1.874","url":null,"abstract":"Background: In every human organisation, there is bound to be conflict of ideas because everyone wants his or her viewpoint to take precedent over others. There are those who want to be on top of every situation irrespective of those involved or the issue at stake. However, a proactive bureaucratic leadership should be able to find a way out of these quagmires. Aim: Within the framework of the strategic elite theory, this article examines the nexus between bureaucratic conflict and public interest in Africa, as well as challenges confronting bureaucracy in the pursuit of public interest with specific reference to Nigeria. Method: This article adopts a qualitative approach and is descriptive in nature, with the researcher setting out to illustrate the association that exists between the dependent and independent variables. Authoritative scholarly sources were reviewed during a desktop study. The purpose was to identify the relevant publications and apply them in the research. Results: This article argues that whilst conflict generally is an inevitable outcome of human interactions. However, conflict is more common in a bureaucratic organisation where issues of power and influence are always a source of contention amongst the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Therefore, resolving the basis for the existence of the MDAs that will ultimately inculcate in the bureaucrats a new worldview. Conclusion: It therefore, concludes that there should be countervailing forces to put the bureaucracy on check. This includes: strengthening interest groups, the pursuit of institutionalism, ethical reorientation in the public service, amongst other measures. However, to achieve this, requires a critical mass of men and women of integrity, doggedly and ruggedly committed to Africa’s project and ready to subsume their personal interests under that of the national interests.","PeriodicalId":43643,"journal":{"name":"TD-The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42129039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article presents a teaching–learning strategy that has been employed in recent small-scale research projects at a South African higher education institution, and more specifically, in the School of Education. Bachelor of Education Honours students enrolled for a module entitled Contemporary Issues in Life Orientation participated in the studies in 2017 and 2018. The introduction of empathetic-reflective-dialogical re-storying as a teaching–learning strategy created a space for these male and female students to explore their self-dialogue in relation to their understandings and lived experiences of human rights issues, and in this case, gender inequality. This teaching–learning strategy created the opportunity for pre-service teachers to become agents of their own learning as they considered entrenched beliefs and worldviews and co-constructed (re-storied) previously held narratives. By sharing their self-narratives in a community in conversation and then in a community in dialogue with their ‘other’, the possibility existed for creating new knowledges. This strategy, serving a decolonisation agenda, adopts a transdisciplinary approach. It encourages reflection and reflexivity that can transform technicist classroom practice into potentially transformative classroom praxis.
{"title":"Empathetic-reflective-dialogical re-storying: A teaching–learning strategy for life orientation","authors":"J. Jarvis","doi":"10.4102/td.v17i1.1077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/td.v17i1.1077","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents a teaching–learning strategy that has been employed in recent small-scale research projects at a South African higher education institution, and more specifically, in the School of Education. Bachelor of Education Honours students enrolled for a module entitled Contemporary Issues in Life Orientation participated in the studies in 2017 and 2018. The introduction of empathetic-reflective-dialogical re-storying as a teaching–learning strategy created a space for these male and female students to explore their self-dialogue in relation to their understandings and lived experiences of human rights issues, and in this case, gender inequality. This teaching–learning strategy created the opportunity for pre-service teachers to become agents of their own learning as they considered entrenched beliefs and worldviews and co-constructed (re-storied) previously held narratives. By sharing their self-narratives in a community in conversation and then in a community in dialogue with their ‘other’, the possibility existed for creating new knowledges. This strategy, serving a decolonisation agenda, adopts a transdisciplinary approach. It encourages reflection and reflexivity that can transform technicist classroom practice into potentially transformative classroom praxis.","PeriodicalId":43643,"journal":{"name":"TD-The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48303554","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
An important role in socialising first-year students into universities is initiating them into different conventions of academic writing. Support programmes, such as writing centres, have been established in several South African universities to help students with this objective and the broader issue of academic literacy. The assumption is that such interventions bridge the articulation gap between basic and higher education phases and expedite academic success. This article draws from a larger PhD study that explored nursing students’ experiences of developing their academic writing skills at the writing centre. The focus of this article is on understanding first-year nursing students’ experiences of learning academic writing through the integrated writing interventions of language and discipline practices at a writing centre based at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). These students were regarded as relevant because their curriculum incorporates a more structured academic writing component with the writing centre. The study adopted the Academic Literacies Model (ALM), which fosters a social view of academic writing and advocates for integrated support to the teaching and learning of academic writing. Guided by the qualitative constructivist paradigm, phenomenography was adopted as a research methodology. Data were analysed according to phenomenographic categories. Whilst the study uncovered various factors influencing the development of academic writing amongst the target population, there was a clear need for shifting from interdisciplinary (at least two disciplines) to a transdisciplinary (more than two disciplines) academic literacy approach to students’ learning experiences. As such, the article recommends the intentional inclusion of various stakeholders (writing centre practitioners, discipline lecturers, clinical and academic support staff) to mitigate students’ writing challenges and develop sustainable and relevant academic literacy practices.
{"title":"Cross-disciplinary synergy: First-year students’ experiences of learning academic writing through integrated writing support at a University of Technology","authors":"N. Khumalo, S. Reddy","doi":"10.4102/td.v17i1.1038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/td.v17i1.1038","url":null,"abstract":"An important role in socialising first-year students into universities is initiating them into different conventions of academic writing. Support programmes, such as writing centres, have been established in several South African universities to help students with this objective and the broader issue of academic literacy. The assumption is that such interventions bridge the articulation gap between basic and higher education phases and expedite academic success. This article draws from a larger PhD study that explored nursing students’ experiences of developing their academic writing skills at the writing centre. The focus of this article is on understanding first-year nursing students’ experiences of learning academic writing through the integrated writing interventions of language and discipline practices at a writing centre based at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). These students were regarded as relevant because their curriculum incorporates a more structured academic writing component with the writing centre. The study adopted the Academic Literacies Model (ALM), which fosters a social view of academic writing and advocates for integrated support to the teaching and learning of academic writing. Guided by the qualitative constructivist paradigm, phenomenography was adopted as a research methodology. Data were analysed according to phenomenographic categories. Whilst the study uncovered various factors influencing the development of academic writing amongst the target population, there was a clear need for shifting from interdisciplinary (at least two disciplines) to a transdisciplinary (more than two disciplines) academic literacy approach to students’ learning experiences. As such, the article recommends the intentional inclusion of various stakeholders (writing centre practitioners, discipline lecturers, clinical and academic support staff) to mitigate students’ writing challenges and develop sustainable and relevant academic literacy practices.","PeriodicalId":43643,"journal":{"name":"TD-The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43041178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The avoidance of a conflict of interest within private and public institutions is closely associated with good corporate governance. This study departed from the question of whether a conflict of interest is possible within a non-decision-making institutional committee. For this purpose, a high-level non-decision-making committee within a South African public higher education institution was selected as a case study. This article reports on an exploratory qualitative study consisting of qualitative content analysis of the constituting and operational documents of this committee, as well as on a study of the perceptions and lived experiences of the selected committee. It was found that the selected committee was established to be a high-level consultative body for the executive management committee of the university on decisions of strategic operational nature. This committee does not have any decision-making duties. Conflict of interest is perceived by committee members in terms of either the explicit or the hidden agenda metaphor. According to the explicit agenda metaphor, a conflict of interest within a non-decision-making committee is not possible, whilst the hidden agenda metaphor holds that a conflict of interest is the reality of members’ lived experiences. This article provides a comparison of the two perspectives according to three defining attributes of the concept and shows a need for a logical and principled definition of the concept ‘conflict of interest’ within the context of higher education and the public sector at large.
{"title":"Conflict of interest: The case of a non-decision-making committee at a South African public higher education institution","authors":"J. Wessels, E. Sadler","doi":"10.4102/td.v17i1.878","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/td.v17i1.878","url":null,"abstract":"The avoidance of a conflict of interest within private and public institutions is closely associated with good corporate governance. This study departed from the question of whether a conflict of interest is possible within a non-decision-making institutional committee. For this purpose, a high-level non-decision-making committee within a South African public higher education institution was selected as a case study. This article reports on an exploratory qualitative study consisting of qualitative content analysis of the constituting and operational documents of this committee, as well as on a study of the perceptions and lived experiences of the selected committee. It was found that the selected committee was established to be a high-level consultative body for the executive management committee of the university on decisions of strategic operational nature. This committee does not have any decision-making duties. Conflict of interest is perceived by committee members in terms of either the explicit or the hidden agenda metaphor. According to the explicit agenda metaphor, a conflict of interest within a non-decision-making committee is not possible, whilst the hidden agenda metaphor holds that a conflict of interest is the reality of members’ lived experiences. This article provides a comparison of the two perspectives according to three defining attributes of the concept and shows a need for a logical and principled definition of the concept ‘conflict of interest’ within the context of higher education and the public sector at large.","PeriodicalId":43643,"journal":{"name":"TD-The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43297540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
South African classrooms were highly diversified. The problem, however, was that although democracy has been a critical characteristic of South Africa for over two decades, it is still a very vague concept to many. A teacher who truly understood democracy knew that it was not just about freedom of self, rather the freedom of all, treating others humanely and with kindness. Making power a variable accessible by all was the only way to which diversities can be ameliorated. Observation and personal experiences showed that there were discriminations of many kinds in some high schools. Therefore, to address these maladies, the importance of democracy in diversity must not be jettisoned because they work hand-in-hand. Ubuntu philosophy was used as a theoretical framework, whilst transformative paradigm piloted the study. Participatory research (PR) was adopted as a research design to enable the people student-teachers to jointly participate in this research. Observation and reflections were used to collect data within the high schools in the Free State province of South Africa. Thomas and Harden’s three steps of thematic analysis was used to analyse data and the result show that language, cultural and personal relativism, learning impairment and comprehensibility were the dominant challenges faced in diversity management in schools. On the other hand, inculcation of classroom relationships and a sense of belonging, training and retraining of teachers and students were found to be perfect solutions that can nip these problems in the bud. The present study, therefore, concluded that the value of teachers’ and students’ development towards diversity management must be addressed.
{"title":"Managing diversity in schools: The place of democratic education and ubuntuism in South Africa","authors":"B. Omodan, O. Ige","doi":"10.4102/TD.V17I1.854","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/TD.V17I1.854","url":null,"abstract":"South African classrooms were highly diversified. The problem, however, was that although democracy has been a critical characteristic of South Africa for over two decades, it is still a very vague concept to many. A teacher who truly understood democracy knew that it was not just about freedom of self, rather the freedom of all, treating others humanely and with kindness. Making power a variable accessible by all was the only way to which diversities can be ameliorated. Observation and personal experiences showed that there were discriminations of many kinds in some high schools. Therefore, to address these maladies, the importance of democracy in diversity must not be jettisoned because they work hand-in-hand. Ubuntu philosophy was used as a theoretical framework, whilst transformative paradigm piloted the study. Participatory research (PR) was adopted as a research design to enable the people student-teachers to jointly participate in this research. Observation and reflections were used to collect data within the high schools in the Free State province of South Africa. Thomas and Harden’s three steps of thematic analysis was used to analyse data and the result show that language, cultural and personal relativism, learning impairment and comprehensibility were the dominant challenges faced in diversity management in schools. On the other hand, inculcation of classroom relationships and a sense of belonging, training and retraining of teachers and students were found to be perfect solutions that can nip these problems in the bud. The present study, therefore, concluded that the value of teachers’ and students’ development towards diversity management must be addressed.","PeriodicalId":43643,"journal":{"name":"TD-The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45761483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The world is presently facing a myriad of environmental challenges. One way to address these challenges is through the development of cognitive abilities to analyse environmental issues and respond to them appropriately. There are a number of approaches used in education processes to develop the cognitive abilities of students; one of them is the use of conceptual or reasoning cartoons. This article reports on an exploratory study of the quality of pre-service teachers’ cognitive abilities in the analysis of three conceptual cartoons depicting real environmental challenges. The study was interpretivist in nature and followed a case study design. The participants were a convenient sample of students ( n = 32) at year level three, at a Southern African residential university, doing a Life Science’s teaching methods module. Students were required to analyse three environmental cartoons which they had not previously seen or discussed. The responses were coded according to the basic analytical steps of critical thinking and analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results showed that most responses were framed as descriptions of the cartoon rather than higher order analytical thinking; most students were unable to follow a sequence of analytical thinking; presentation of cognition was textual; and most pre-service teachers’ responses were phrased in a way that made it seem as if they were not part of the environmental issue. It is recommended that Life Sciences’ methodology pre-service teachers be categorically developed in analytical thinking of environmental issues, as they have a crucial role to play as future citizens.
{"title":"Exploring the quality of pre-service teachers’ critical analysis of cartoons within environmental contexts in the Life Sciences","authors":"Rajendran P. Pillay, S. Govender","doi":"10.4102/TD.V17I1.863","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/TD.V17I1.863","url":null,"abstract":"The world is presently facing a myriad of environmental challenges. One way to address these challenges is through the development of cognitive abilities to analyse environmental issues and respond to them appropriately. There are a number of approaches used in education processes to develop the cognitive abilities of students; one of them is the use of conceptual or reasoning cartoons. This article reports on an exploratory study of the quality of pre-service teachers’ cognitive abilities in the analysis of three conceptual cartoons depicting real environmental challenges. The study was interpretivist in nature and followed a case study design. The participants were a convenient sample of students ( n = 32) at year level three, at a Southern African residential university, doing a Life Science’s teaching methods module. Students were required to analyse three environmental cartoons which they had not previously seen or discussed. The responses were coded according to the basic analytical steps of critical thinking and analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results showed that most responses were framed as descriptions of the cartoon rather than higher order analytical thinking; most students were unable to follow a sequence of analytical thinking; presentation of cognition was textual; and most pre-service teachers’ responses were phrased in a way that made it seem as if they were not part of the environmental issue. It is recommended that Life Sciences’ methodology pre-service teachers be categorically developed in analytical thinking of environmental issues, as they have a crucial role to play as future citizens.","PeriodicalId":43643,"journal":{"name":"TD-The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42178523","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Social science research is focussed mainly on societal concerns and human dynamics. In scholarly domains such as Public Administration, theory is commonly regarded as the backbone of studies, but the why, where and how dimensions of theory in the research process are generally ill-defined. The purpose of this article is to reflect on the use of theory as value-adding catalyst in the research process. Following a literature review based on an interpretivist paradigm, this article aims to enlighten the systematic application of theory in the research process. It is evident that theory’s application is based on its unique nature and the aims, nature and type of research. Theory can either inform or structure the research process. This function of theory has significant implications for the research design, methodology, as well as methods and data collection. Understanding the role and significance of theory can definitely enhance the scientific rigour of research and the ability of social science researchers, especially postgraduate students. Such insight may help to ensure that these researchers are capacitated to utilise theory adequately and apply it suitably within the research process. The construction of new knowledge through theory building is critical for social science disciplines to reach maturity.
{"title":"The judicious use of theory in social science research","authors":"Gerrit van der Waldt","doi":"10.4102/TD.V17I1.1039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/TD.V17I1.1039","url":null,"abstract":"Social science research is focussed mainly on societal concerns and human dynamics. In scholarly domains such as Public Administration, theory is commonly regarded as the backbone of studies, but the why, where and how dimensions of theory in the research process are generally ill-defined. The purpose of this article is to reflect on the use of theory as value-adding catalyst in the research process. Following a literature review based on an interpretivist paradigm, this article aims to enlighten the systematic application of theory in the research process. It is evident that theory’s application is based on its unique nature and the aims, nature and type of research. Theory can either inform or structure the research process. This function of theory has significant implications for the research design, methodology, as well as methods and data collection. Understanding the role and significance of theory can definitely enhance the scientific rigour of research and the ability of social science researchers, especially postgraduate students. Such insight may help to ensure that these researchers are capacitated to utilise theory adequately and apply it suitably within the research process. The construction of new knowledge through theory building is critical for social science disciplines to reach maturity.","PeriodicalId":43643,"journal":{"name":"TD-The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46272633","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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