Comparison of educational facilitation approaches for Grade R English Additional Language learning in rural Mpumalanga

The Early Childhood Development Manager in Mpumalanga is faced with the problem of providing evidence-based guidance of the best facilitation approach in the Grade R context. An investigation on the effect of   facilitation, i.e. play-based or formal instruction, on Grade R performance scores in English Additional Language (EAL) learning was conducted.  Literature findings attest to formal learning contributing to better   performance scores than play-based learning, yet most rural schools in Mpumalanga use the play-based approach. The English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards assessment tool is reported to have no cultural bias and was used to collect the data. The tool assessed learners’ listening and speaking skills in EAL. A quantitative methodology was followed, using a static two-group comparison design. Participants in the two groups were matched according to age and all had a similar exposure period to EAL learning, a rural upbringing, poverty level, and all were mainstream  learners. Inter-rater reliability was obtained since two raters assessed learners’ proficiency in EAL skills. A one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to analyse the data. It was found that the formal based approach contributed to better EAL scores when compared to the play-based  approach. Implications for practice are discussed.Keywords: EAL learning; ELP standards assessment tool; formal  instruction;Grade R facilitation; learners’ first language; play-based approach

A network approach to studying research programmes : mobilizing and coordinating public responses to HIV/AIDS

Based on the analysis of the Medical and Public Health Research programme (Commission of the European Communities), the paper shows how new scientific communities are created in response to the HIV/AIDS problem. We analyze how actors are mobilized (three mobilization modes : public impetus, scientists'initiative, scientists' initiative with public networking) and how their work is coordinated. We defend the hypothesis that these new scientific communities are flexible cooperation networks. In the case of AIDS research, there are only a limited number of network types (the data collection structure, the forum, the thematic partition with harmonization of research practices, the starred around a central facility). The coordination of these scientific cooperative networks passes through fixed and circulating intermediaries. The management of these intermediaries is a major activity for involved actors. thus, our aim is not to study the wider social context, but to analyze networking in response to policy initiatives. (Résumé d'auteur

Axial cyclic loading of piles in low to medium density chalk

Comprehensive field investigations into the axial cyclic loading behaviour of open-steel pipe piles driven and aged in low-to-medium density chalk identify the conditions under which behaviour is stable, unstable or metastable. Post-cycling monotonic tests confirmed that stable cycling enhanced pile capacity marginally, while unstable cases suffered potentially large losses of shaft capacity. Metastable conditions led to intermediate outcomes. The patterns by which axial deflections grew under cyclic loading varied systematically with the normalised loading parameters and could be captured by simple fitting expressions. Cyclic stiffnesses also varied with loading conditions, with the highest operational shear stiffnesses falling far below the in-situ seismic test values. The monotonic and cyclic axial responses of the test piles were controlled by the behaviour of, and conditions within, the reconsolidated, de-structured, chalk putty annuli formed around pile shafts during driving. Fibre-optic strain gauges identified progressive failure from the pile tip upwards. Large factors of safety were required for piles to survive repetitive loading under high-level, two-way, conditions involving low mean loads, while low amplitude one-way cycling had little impact. A simple ‘global’ prediction procedure employing interface shear and cyclic triaxial tests is shown to provide broadly representative predictions for field behaviour