scholarly journals A DESCRIPTION OF VISUAL LITERACY AMONG THIRD YEAR BIOCHEMISTRY STUDENTS

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 486-495
Author(s):  
Lindelani Mnguni
Keyword(s):  
Content Knowledge ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Visual Literacy ◽  
Spatial Perception ◽  
Spatial Abilities ◽  
Aptitude Test ◽  
Visual Models ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
The University

The use of visual models in teaching, learning and research has increased. Consequently, students have to develop various new competencies including visual literacy in order to learn efficiently. However, visual literacy among biochemistry students is not well documented. Using quantitative research methodology, the current research was aimed at determining visual literacy among biochemistry students. The participants were 74 purposefully selected third year undergraduate biochemistry students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The data were collected using a Senior Aptitude test and BioVisual Literacy test. The results show that students performed well in the sub-sections of the Senior Aptitude test including patterns test and spatial perception 2D test. They had difficulties with non-verbal reasoning with figures and spatial visualization 3D tests, as well as with the BioVisual Literacy tests. The results suggest that students generally have poor visual literacy, which could affect their ability to comprehend content knowledge in biochemistry. Keywords: biochemistry, biovisual literacy, senior aptitude, visual literacy, visuo-spatial abilities.

scholarly journals Exploring the complexities of describing foundation phase teachers’ professional knowledge base

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Bertram ◽  
Iben Christiansen ◽  
Tabitha Mukeredzi
Keyword(s):  
Pedagogical Content Knowledge ◽  
Content Knowledge ◽  
Professional Knowledge ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Barriers To Learning ◽  
Pedagogical Content ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Grade 3 ◽  
Written Test ◽  
The University

The purpose of this paper is to engage with the complexities of describing teachers’ professional knowledge and eventually also their learning through written tests. The bigger research aim is to describe what knowledge foundation phase teachers acquired during their two years of study towards the Advanced Certificate of Teaching (ACT). We designed a written test to investigate the professional knowledge that teachers bring with them when they enrol for the ACT, with the aim of comparing their responses to the same test two years later, when they had completed the programme. The questionnaire included questions on teachers’ content knowledge; their pedagogical content knowledge (in particular, teachers’ knowledge about learner misconceptions, stages of learning, and ways of engaging these in making teaching decisions); and their personal knowledge (such as their beliefs about how children learn and barriers to learning). It spanned the fields of literacy in English and isiZulu, numeracy, and general pedagogy. Eighty-six foundation phase teachers enrolled for the ACT at the University of KwaZulu-Natal completed the questionnaire, and their responses pointed us to further methodological issues. We discuss the assumptions behind the design of the test/questionnaire, the difficulties in formulating relevant questions, and the problems of ‘accessing’ specific elements of teacher knowledge through this type of instrument. Our process shows the difficulties both in constructing questions and in coding the responses, in particular concerning the pedagogical content knowledge component for teachers from Grade R to Grade 3.

scholarly journals On not taking language inequality for granted: Hymesian traces in ethnographic monitoring of South Africa’s multilingual language policy

Multilingua ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (5-6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy H. Hornberger
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
South African ◽  
Program Implementation ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Current Implementation ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
The University ◽  
South African Higher Education

AbstractSouth African higher education is at a critical juncture in the implementation of South Africa’s multilingual language policy promoting institutional status for nine African languages, English, and Afrikaans. South African scholars, not content merely to comment from the sidelines on the policy, its promise, and challenges, have also engaged in implementation efforts. This article explores two such initiatives, both focusing on the use of African languages in higher education institutions where English is already established as the medium of instruction, and both undertaken with explicit goals of righting South Africa’s longstanding social injustices. I collaborated with colleagues at the University of Limpopo and the University of KwaZulu-Natal to assess current implementation and identify next steps and strategies for achieving truly multilingual teaching, learning, and research at their institutions. Taking up Hymes’ (1980) call for ethnographic monitoring of bilingual education, I sought in each case to jointly describe and analyze current communicative conduct, uncover emergent patterns and meanings in program implementation, and evaluate program and policy in terms of social meanings. I argue that ethnographic monitoring in education offers one means toward

The functions of the National Archives of South Africa regarding universities’ records and archives

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nkholedzeni Sidney Netshakhuma
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
The South ◽  
Content Type ◽  
National Archives ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
The University

Purpose This paper aims to assess the functions of the National Archives of South Africa regarding universities’ records and archives by comparing the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and the University of Venda’s (Univen) implementation of the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa Act, No. 43 of 1996 (NARSSA) provisions 11 and 13, with the view of recommending best practice. Design/methodology/approach The quantitative research methodology was adopted. The data collection tool was a questionnaire completed by 34 heads of divisions, departments and units from the Wits and Univen, supplemented by a document review. Thus, the study population comprised universities’ heads of divisions, departments and units. Findings The National Archives of South Africa is not playing a role in providing advice to universities on how to manage their records and archives to fulfil their teaching, learning and research mandate, protect them from litigation and preserve their corporate memory such as records with national and international significance. Most of the respondents were not aware of the NARSSA provision 11 on the custody and preservation of records, and provision 13 on the management of public records. NARSSA lacks provision specifically for the management of university records. NARSSA appears vague about the management of university records, as it does not explain the legal definition of university records. Research limitations/implications This is a comparative case study limited to Wits and Univen. The shortcoming of this study is that the author did not provide relevant and detailed information for the article reader to fully understand the functions of the NARSSA provisions 11 and 13 regarding university records and archives at Wits and Univen, respectively. Practical implications The study recommends the South Africa legislature to review the NARSSA regarding records and archives’ role in the university. The researcher’s view is that reviewing existing NARSSA provisions 11 and 13 would provide universities with the responsibility of managing some of their national and international records. This might improve the management of records and this, in turn, would enhance the preservation of records. Originality/value This paper appears to be the first to review the functions of the National Archives of South Africa regarding the South African university’s records and archives.

What you see is what you learn? The role of visual model comprehension for academic success in chemistry

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 804-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Dickmann ◽  
Maria Opfermann ◽  
Elmar Dammann ◽  
Martin Lang ◽  
Stefan Rumann
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Content Knowledge ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Case Scenario ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Visual Model ◽  
Visual Models ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
The University

Visualizations and visual models are of substantial importance for science learning (Harrison and Treagust, 2000), and it seems impossible to study chemistry without visualizations. More specifically, the combination of visualizations with text is especially beneficial for learning when dual coding is fostered (Mayer, 2014). However, at the same time, comprehending the visualizations and visual models appears to be rather difficult for learners (e.g., Johnstone, 2000). This may be one reason for the difficulties students experience especially during the university entry phase, which in a worst-case-scenario can result in high university drop-out rates as they are currently found in science-related study courses (Chen, 2013). In this regard, our study investigates, how the ability to handle and learn with visualizations – which we call visual model comprehension – relates to academic success at the beginning of chemistry studies. To do so, we collected the data of 275 chemistry-freshmen during their first university year. Our results show that visual model comprehension is a key factor for students to be successful in chemistry courses. For instance, visual model comprehension is able to predict exam grades in introductory chemistry courses as well as general chemistry content knowledge. Furthermore, our analyses point out that visual model comprehension acts as a mediator for the relation between prior knowledge and (acquired) content knowledge in chemistry studies. Given this obvious importance of visual model comprehension, our findings could give valuable insights regarding approaches to foster chemistry comprehension and learning especially for students at the beginning of their academic career.

scholarly journals تعليم البلاغة من خلال الأساليب البلاغية لأحاديث أدب الطالبين لترقية مهارة الكتابة على طلبة قسم اللغة العربية وأدبها بجامعة سونن أمبيل الإسلامية الحكومية سورابايا

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-130
Author(s):  
Mufaizah Mufaizah
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Teaching Style ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Writing Skill ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
The University

Writing is a kind of important skills. Moreover, writing skill is one of the main objectives in learning foreign language. However, students’ skill is still lowgrade in this writing skill. The condition of this lowgrade is not caused by the difficulty of foreign language writing but it is caused of the ineffective and unsupportive teaching tools and teaching media. The purposes of this study are: 1) to train the university students in developing of writing using simple and pleased sentences and also systematic structure. 2) to assist the university students in revision, editing, and correcting the articles. 3) to improve the university students’ skill in Arabic writing skill. This study applied qualitative and quantitative research especially experimental research in writing skill during teaching learning process using al-Asalib al-Balaghiyyah media. This teaching style consists of 4 levels. They are planning, action, observation, and reflection. Research data are from lecturers’ and university students’ activities during teaching learning process of writing skill and the university students’ articles of Arabic Classes Special Program in Islamic State University of Sunan Ampel, Surabaya especially semester 2, Class E and F.

scholarly journals THE PORTFOLIO OF EVIDENCE IN THE COMPETENCY-BASED EDUCATIONAL MODEL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GUANAJUATO

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Guadalupe Arredondo-Hidalgo ◽  
◽  
Diana del Consuelo Caldera González ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Learning Process ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Evaluation Tool ◽  
Educational Model ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Competency Based ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Method Of Evaluation ◽  
The University ◽  
Model C

In a teaching-learning process, it is essential that the evaluation is summative and formative, from an analytical and holistic basis so that the process is comprehensive and integrates the work that the student has developed throughout the course, for example, a portfolio of evidence. Van der Schaaf and Stokking (2008) state that a portfolio of evidence integrates elements that must be related to each other, in order to be considered valid and reliable to evaluate the teaching-learning process, the elements are: a) the teacher model, b) the task model, c) the scoring model and d) the interpretation model. The objective of this research is to analyze the use of the portfolio of evidence as an evaluation tool within the teaching-learning process, for the Competency-Based Educational Model of the University of Guanajuato. This is a quantitative research with descriptive scope. A 22-item questionnaire was used considering the instrument developed by Romero and Crisol (2011) called "Opinion, satisfaction, usefulness and feelings of students about the use of the portfolio in learning and self-evaluation". The instrument was applied to a sample of 183 students of the Bachelor's Degree in International Commerce of the Economic-Administrative Sciences Division of the University of Guanajuato, distributed in four different Learning Units. The results indicate that students consider important the use of the portfolio of evidence as part of their teaching-learning process. In the part of satisfaction, usefulness and feelings, the students consider that the use of the portfolio is very important as a pertinent and adequate tool, and it is considered useful for learning, since besides serving as reinforcement, it implies a free and creative exercise. As conclusions of the study, the importance of the portfolio of evidence as a method of evaluation in accordance with the Educational Model by Competencies of the University of Guanajuato, which has also been well received at least by the sample of this study, is manifested. As future lines of research, it is expected to expand the sample to other careers and learning units to verify the applicability of the results of the study.

Positive And Supportive Teacher Student Relationship

Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 2665-2673
Author(s):  
Parmanand Tripathi
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Student Relationships ◽  
Teacher Student Relationships ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Teacher Student Relationship ◽  
Student Relationship ◽  
The University

Every teacher must realize that he/she needs to be highly motivated, committed, passionate, and optimistic towards his/her students as well as his/her teaching in order to create a positive and productive impact on the students and their learning outcomes. It is a proven fact that teachers who are sincere, caring, approachable, supportive and inspiring can easily enable their students to become enthusiastic, successful and creative learners. John Hattie, a proponent of Evidence Based Quantitative Research Methodologies on the Influences on Student achievement, who is also a Professor of Education and Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia, has noted in his study that a harmonious classroom can assist with the development of creativity as well as reduce anxiety levels amongst students. In my opinion, the primary objective of all effective and conscious teachers should be to promote a safe and healthy learning environment wherein students will feel confident, comfortable, happy and accepted. Time and again, I am convinced of the fact that only effective and conscious teachers understand, acknowledge and therefore, appreciate the significance of creating a rapport and bonding with their students for providing an education that is positive, productive and progressive. When teachers display a positive and congenial attitude towards their students, they not only make them ‘learn better, faster and deeper’ but make them self-confident and self-reliant too. Building positive, supportive, cooperative and mutually strong teacher-student relationships is the key to create a welcoming, healthy and conducive learning space in which students are enabled to thrive, prosper and go on to become what they are meant to be in life. And it is only by forging and nurturing a strong and positive relationship with their students, can teachers create a healthy and conducive learning atmosphere wherein students feel welcome, accepted, respected, loved and cared for, wherein learning becomes fun and joy. Conscious and committed teachers promote the art of positive parenting in every classroom and in every school to enable the students to become confident learners by willingly and happily shouldering the responsibility of being their ‘second parents’.When teachers teach with passion, display positive attitude towards their students and their success, and show genuine care for them, the students reciprocate with respect for their teachers, interest and love for their learning.

scholarly journals How does the grade obtained at school for English and Mathematics affect the probability of graduation at a university?

Pythagoras ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Murray
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Mathematical Literacy ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The University ◽  
Better Than

Over half of all students enrolling at a particular university in KwaZulu-Natal fail to complete a degree. This article is wanting to determine to what extent the marks they obtain for English and Mathematics at school impact on their probability of graduation at this university. In addressing this problem, other student specific factors associated with their gender, race and the type of school they have attended need also to be properly accounted for. To provide answers for this study, the performance of 24 392 students enrolling at the university over the period 2004 to 2012 was followed until they graduated or dropped out from their studies. A structural equation model was fitted because it allows one to separate a direct effect from that of an indirect effect. Gender, race and school background were found to be very significant with males, Black Africans and students coming from a less privileged school background having a smaller probability associated with eventually graduating from this university. Males tend to perform better than females in Mathematics, with females performing better males in English. More importantly, however, a single percentage point increase in one’s mark for English increases the probability associated with graduating from this university far more than would be the case if their Mathematics mark were to increase by a single percentage point. In the light of these mediated results, perhaps this university should be directing their efforts more towards improving the English (rather than mathematical) literacy of students entering the university.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document