Secondary social science teacher training in Papua New Guinea and secondary social studies teacher training in New Zealand : a comparative study : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Education at Massey University

This thesis is presented in a form of a report on a comparative documentary survey of secondary social science teacher training in Papua New Guinea and secondary social studies teacher training in New Zealand. But because of the complexity of the field, the study has encompassed a number of related areas. The thesis is organized into five chapters. Chapter one introduces the nature of study. Chapter two presents the descriptive information on education and the secondary social science teacher training in Papua New Guinea. Chapter three follows a similar pattern to chapter one but focuses on New Zealand and on secondary social studies teacher training at Auckland in particular. Taken together, these chapters investigate such issues as, firstly, who goes to school and for how long. Secondly, they investigate the background information of the staff and students of the teachers college. Thirdly, these chapters examine the college curricula, how and why they are organized in that manner. In general, these two chapters set the scene and provide the background information as the basis for discussion in chapter four. In chapter four there is an analysis and comparison of education and social science teacher training in Papua New Guinea, and education and social studies teacher training in New Zealand. In doing so, the chapter reveals some of the significant weaknesses of secondary social science teacher training in Papua New Guinea. The final chapter is devoted to making general conclusions and some suggestions for further studies for Papua New Guinea on the basis of the weaknesses identified in chapter four

Love, Will, and the Intellectual Ascents

Augustine’s accounts of his so-called mystical experiences in conf. 7.10.16, 17.23, and 9.10.24 are puzzling. The primary problem is that, although in all three accounts he claims to have seen “that which is,” we have no satisfactory account of what “that which is” is supposed to be. I shall be arguing that, contrary to a common interpretation, Augustine’s intellectual “seeing” of “being” in Books 7 and 9 was not a vision of the Christian God as a whole, nor of one of the divine persons, each of whom is equally God, according to Augustine. This becomes clear when we attend to the fact that Augustine is appropriating a specific meaning of “that which is” or “being” used by Plotinus in his account of the lover of Beauty. This resolution, however, leads to a second question. Is there anything distinctively Christian about any, or all, of Augustine’s ascents? On the one hand, it would be odd if there were not, given that the Confessions are addressed to the Christian God. On the other hand, upon close inspection we find that the allegedly specific “Christian” characteristics that modern commentators have identified in the ascents of conf. 7 and 9 also occur in the Neoplatonists. I will argue that there is in fact one important difference between Augustine and the Neoplatonists here that has not been pointed out in these prior interpretations

Social-ecological resilience in organic and non-organic cocoa farming systems in the Yungas of Bolivia

Cocoa based small scale agriculture is the basic livelihood of most farming families in the region of Alto Beni in the Bolivian Andes. Cocoa cultivation is affected by climate change impacts, soil degradation, pests and plant diseases, and insecure cocoa prices. From a sustainable development point of view, cocoa farms need thus to become more resilient. Resilience refers to the ability within a farming system to reduce the sensitivity to stress factors while maintaining productivity, the capacity for self-organisation, to learn, and to adapt to change. Resilience can be subdivided in the three features buffer capacity, self-organisation, and adaptive capacity. This study addresses differences in resilience of organic and non-organic cocoa farms, and the most important features that influence social-ecological resilience in cocoa farming systems. Indicators for resilience were defined in a transdisciplinary process with local experts and cocoa farmers in a workshop and focus groups. Indicators for buffer capacity were tree diversity, crop diversity, and the diversity of income sources of the farming family. Indicators for self-organisation were the interaction with farmers’ organisations, their subsistence level, cocoa yields, and the annual family income. Adaptive capacity was assessed by inquiring the number of courses on cocoa cultivation family members had participated in, and the number of information sources they had. We interviewed 52 certified and non-certified households and conducted an in-depth participant observation with 15 households from the sample. It resulted that organic farms in the research area were more diversified (tree species in cocoa plots: 4.4 vs. 1.9, crop diversity: 8.4 vs. 6.7 crop varieties on cocoa farms), and had higher cocoa yields (506 kg ha−1 yr−1 vs. 335.8 kg ha−1 yr−1, both without external inputs). Annual family income was significantly higher on organic farms with 7530.2 vs. 6044.4 USD. Organic farmers had participated in more courses on cocoa cultivation which may be the main reason for the better performance of their farms. We conclude that resilience building was enhanced by local organisations that organise organic certification and go further than basic organic certification principles by providing extension services, tree seedlings, capacity building, and certain social insurances

Conceptual structure of the symptoms of adult ADHD according to the DSM-IV and retrospective Wender-Utah criteria

Adult Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) and retrospective childhood Wender-Utah ADHD criteria are implemented in self-report measures to assess adult ADHD and its required onset in childhood. Yet their dimensional structure and relationship to adult ADHD depressivity is still at debate. Therefore, both aspects were investigated, applying two respective German instruments (ADHD-Self-Report [ADHD-SR] and Wender Utah Rating Scale-German [WURS-G]) to two student samples.ADHD-SR and WURS-G dimensions were identified by nonlinear confirmatory factor analyses, and their interrelations and relationship with adult depressivity were identified by structural equation modeling. Adult ADHD-SR symptoms were organized into inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, and WURS-G symptoms were organized into inattention/hyperactivity, affect lability, depressivity, and conduct problems. Yet only the first two WURS factors directly affected adult ADHD facets, though childhood depressivity influenced them indirectly via adult depressivity. Only criteria of the first two WURS factors can be considered valid childhood ADHD indicators. Thus, only they should be used as an aid in the retrospective assessment of ADHD symptoms. (author's abstract