Three educational scenarios for the future : lessons from the sociology of knowledge

This review draws on social realist approaches in the sociology of knowledge and in light of them constructs three scenarios for the future of education in the next decades. The primary focus of the review is on one of the most crucial questions facing educational policy makers- the relationship between school and everyday or common sense knowledge. The different possibilities for how the school/nonschool knowledge boundaries might be approached are expressed in three scenarios - 'boundaries as given', 'a boundary-less world’ and the idea of ‘boundary maintenance as a condition for boundary crossing’. The educational implications of each are explored and the review makes the case for the third scenario. The factors likely to make one or other scenario dominate educational policy in the next 20-30 years are also considered

Picking up the pace: Variation in the structure and organisation of learning school mathematics

What is it about curriculum and pedagogy that really makes the difference to pupil learning?1 Do particular pedagogic features matter in teaching learners thematics? Or is it rather the range of factors associated with making mathematics available to learners for learning? What makes the real difference: pedagogic style or opportunity to learn? The paper discusses why it is plausible to study opportunity to learn (OTL) in South Africa. It outlines some of the methods used to operationalise particular dimensions of OTL and measure variation in the structure and organization of school mathematics. Data are presented on the mathematics knowledge made available to low SES grade 5 and 6 learners in the first three terms of 2003 in terms of content complexity and across grade developmental complexity. The effects of this availability on learning will be reported on in future papers

Instructional technologies in social science instructions in South Africa

This is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication of the article: Computers & Education. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Computers & Education, VOL 53, 2009, DOI: 10.1016/j.compedu.2009.02.001.This study describes the results of a survey and a description of instructional technologies in place in the social sciences in South African Universities. Lecturers in the social sciences reported a well-established practice of information and communication technologies (ICTs) use for general purposes (although frequent use tended to be for email and searching the Internet). They had a high self-efficacy in terms of using ICTs both generally and for teaching and learning, and a high enthusiasm for the use of ICTs for teaching and learning. Half the lecturers had started using ICTs recently with the introduction of learning management systems (LMSs) whereas the other half had established practices that preceded the mainstreaming of LMSs across universities. Only about a quarter of the respondents felt able to develop and update ICTs themselves which indicates that support is a necessary part of teaching with technology. In terms of different types of use the focus was on putting content on the web and course administration. Use of ICTs for teaching of skills (whether information literacy, problem solving or critical thinking) was infrequent. There were different types of ICT use across the different sub-disciplines. Lecturers reported factors which constrained their use of ICTs for teaching and learning, such as inadequate technology, pedagogical issues (e.g. plagiarism), and students opting out of lectures when materials were available online. It is argued that user studies in are relevant to the future delivery of educational material, in terms of removing barriers to use and targeting training and supportive activities

The relationship between personality preferences, self-esteem and emotional competence

The relationship between leaders’ personality preferences, self-esteem and emotional competence is the focus of this article. A study was conducted to analyse the responses of a sample of 107 South African leaders in the manufacturing industry to measures of the three constructs. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the Culturefree Self-esteem Inventories for Adults (CFSEI-AD), and the 360° Emotional Competency Profiler (ECP) were administered. Positive relationships were found between the three constructs. The self-esteem construct appeared to be a more reliable predictor of emotional competence than the MBTI personality preferences. The findings of the study make an important contribution to the expanding body of knowledge concerned with the evaluation of personality variables that influence the effectiveness of leaders

Splitting hairs : a sociological approach to educational knowledge

Bibliography: p. 189-214.This thesis represents a series of investigations into the sociological study of symbolic forms. It seeks to address the question as to whether, in the informational or knowledge society of late modernity, all symbolic forms are necessarily isomorphic, or whether they will correspond with the new form of the division of labour and will therefore differ in form and social distribution. The symbolic forms examined here are those integrally involved in the production and reproduction of educational knowledge, that is, the curriculum, pedagogy, and educational research for policy. In each of the chapters of the thesis a debate is staged between the former and the latter position, and each chapter attempts to show that the former position, in order to make the argument, collapses certain distinctions which I argue are not only essential to make, but more importantly, whose collapse will have unfortunate and sometimes pernicious effects especially for learners of the working class. This thesis is thus a series of explorations into the need for certain distinctions, into the nature of symbolic distinction; that is, into the nature and need of the boundary

Amplitude and frequency modulation control of sound production in a mechanical model of the avian syrinx

Birdsong has developed into one of the important models for motor control of learned behaviour and shows many parallels with speech acquisition in humans. However, there are several experimental limitations to studying the vocal organ – the syrinx – in vivo. The multidisciplinary approach of combining experimental data and mathematical modelling has greatly improved the understanding of neural control and peripheral motor dynamics of sound generation in birds. Here, we present a simple mechanical model of the syrinx that facilitates detailed study of vibrations and sound production. Our model resembles the `starling resistor', a collapsible tube model, and consists of a tube with a single membrane in its casing, suspended in an external pressure chamber and driven by various pressure patterns. With this design, we can separately control `bronchial' pressure and tension in the oscillating membrane and generate a wide variety of `syllables' with simple sweeps of the control parameters. We show that the membrane exhibits high frequency, self-sustained oscillations in the audio range (>600 Hz fundamental frequency) using laser Doppler vibrometry, and systematically explore the conditions for sound production of the model in its control space. The fundamental frequency of the sound increases with tension in three membranes with different stiffness and mass. The lower-bound fundamental frequency increases with membrane mass. The membrane vibrations are strongly coupled to the resonance properties of the distal tube, most likely because of its reflective properties to sound waves. Our model is a gross simplification of the complex morphology found in birds, and more closely resembles mathematical models of the syrinx. Our results confirm several assumptions underlying existing mathematical models in a complex geometr

Volhoubaarheid van die kommersiële benutting van inheemse dekriet (Thamnochortus insignis) in die Suid-Kaap

Thamnochortus insignis (Albertinia thatching reed) is a restio specie which is endemic in the narrow (20 km wide) coastal dune veld, from the Gouritz River in the east to the Breede River in the west (120 km). The area within this belt, where this reed is the dominant restio, covers 65 500 hectares. The culms of the reed is harvested as a natural product from the veld and used as thatch on roofs of houses. The traditional use has been as roofing material in Cape Dutch architecture. At this time, thatch roofs are regarded as a luxury commodity and are used in prestigious residential areas and also eco-friendly housing developments. The first section of the research project was based on a Delphi technique questionnaire completed first by 37 and secondly by 10 stakeholders in the industry. This group of growers, contract harvesters, crop agents and thatchers represented 80 percent percent of the estimated 2005 harvest and 87 percent of the estimated farm gate crop value. The thatching reed industry is the main agricultural enterprise situated in the coastal dune veld of the Southern Cape, i.e. 55 percent of total Gross Product Value generated by the survey respondents. The second section is based on an analysis of experimental harvest plots (50 m2), selected at random (4 replications per site) in the 2 x 3 different production systems, i.e. traditional harvest from natural veld, harvest from veld which had been subjected to mechanical injury ("sleep") and harvest from established orchard-type lands. Harvest data was collected at each site in terms of the following components, i.e. number of harvestable tussocks, circumference of tussocks and number of reed bundles (minimum circumference 210 mm, minimum length 1,2 m). The gross income per site was calculated on the basis of R1,80 per bundle (2006-price level). Economic analysis (Gross Margin above selected costs) indicates that plant density (reed tussocks/ha) is a critical factor, in order to offset the establishment cost of R2 100/ha in established lands, which is not incurred in the other two production systems. Economic returns from the first planted lands (2 100 and 2 900 plants/ha) averaged R7 666/ha against R8 781/ha for the mechanical-injury plants. However, at a density of 5 000 plants/ha, the projected Gross Margin increases to R15 765/ha. The use of mechanicalinjury and natural vegetation production systems both interfere with biodiversity and raise major concerns with regard to sustainability of the sensitive coastal dune fynbos. ANOVA-analysis of the data indicates a highly significant difference (p = 0,01) for all sites and production systems. Statistical analysis of averages indicates that mechanical injury treatment results in a significant increase in the number of tussocks, when compared to established and natural veld, respectively. The variance in the circumference of tussocks was greatest in natural veld (55 to 71 percent) and mechanical injury (54 to 61 percent). Tussocks harvested from established plantings reflected the least level of variance (28 to 38 percent). The larger reed tussocks in the established lands produced more bundles of marketable reed (8 200/ha) than the mechanical-injury (7 625/ha) and natural veld (3 450/ha) respectively. Establishment of T. insignis plantlets in an "orchard" system at spacings of 2 m x 1 m on previous winter cereal lands or old pastures, is shown to meet all the requirements within a sustainable production system, i.e. viability, productivity, environmental-friendly, risk management and social acceptance. Furthermore, the quality of the yield was in line with the proposed grading standard for thatching reed, i.e. minimum circumference 210 mm, minimum length 1,2 m and less than 6,5 percent grey culm content

Carbon­yl(N-nitroso-N-oxido-1-naphtylamine-κ2 O,O′)(triphenyl­phosphine-κP)rhodium(I) acetone solvate

The title compound, [Rh(C10H7N2O2)(C18H15P)(CO)]·(CH3)2CO, is the second structural report of a metal complex formed with the O,O′-C10H7N2O2 (neocupferrate) ligand. In the crystal structure, the metal centre is surrounded by one carbonyl ligand, one triphenyl­phosphine ligand and the bidentate neocupferrate ligand, forming a distorted square-planar RhCO2P coordination set which is best illustrated by the small O—Rh—O bite angle of 77.74 (10)°. There are no classical hydrogen-bond inter­actions observed for this complex

Immunomodulation by maternal autoantibodies of the fetal serotoninergic 5-HT4 receptor and its consequences in early BALB/c mouse embryonic development

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The presence of functional 5-HT₄receptors in human and its involvement in neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE) have prompted us to study the receptor expression and role during embryogenesis. Earlier we managed to demonstrate that female BALB/c mice immunized against the second extracellular loop (SEL) of the 5-HT₄receptor gave birth to pups with heart block. To explain this phenomenon we investigated the expression of 5-HT₄receptors during mouse embryogenesis. At the same time we looked whether the consequence of 5-HT₄receptor immunomodulation observed earlier is in relation to receptor expression.</p> <p>We studied the expression of 5-HT₄receptor at the mRNA level and its two isoforms 5-HT_4(a)and 5-HT_4(d)at the protein level in embryos from BALB/c mice, at 8^th, 12^th, 18^thgestation days (GD) and 1 day post natal (DPN). Simultaneously the receptor activity was inhibited by rising antibodies, in female mice against SEL of the receptor. The mice were mated and embryos were collected at 8^th, 12^th, 18^thGD and 1 DPN.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>5-HT₄receptor mRNA increased in brain from 12^thGD to 1 DPN. Its expression gradually decreased in heart and disappeared at birth. This was consistent with expression of the receptor isoforms 5-HT_{4(a) and (d)}. Abnormalities like decreased number of embryos, growth delay, spina bifida and sinus arrhythmia from 12^thGD were documented in pups of mice showing anti-5-HT₄receptor antibodies.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>serotoninergic 5-HT₄receptor plays an important role in mouse foetal development. In BALB/c mice there is a direct relation between the expression of receptor and the deleterious effect of maternal anti-5-HT₄receptor autoantibodies in early embryogenesis.</p