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Curriculum leadership and support for enhanced economics curriculum implementation
Get PDFJournal article published in African Perspectives of Research in Teaching and Learning Journal Issue 1, Volume 8, 2024This study aims to report on the nature of curriculum leadership and support provided to Economics teachers by departmental heads in order to enhance Economics curriculum implementation within Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) theoretical framework. Underpinned by an interpretive paradigm, the study adopted a qualitative case study approach. The study employed purposive sampling to select participants n=6, three departmental heads, and three Economics teachers based on their experience,
knowledge, and understanding of the phenomenon under research. Data were generated through semistructured interviews and were analysed using thematic analysis. The study revealed that departmental heads were providing curriculum leadership and support through moderation of assessment tasks, monitoring the assessment feedback provided to learners, observing teachers’ lessons and providing
feedback to teachers on how to better their lesson delivery, interpreting policy documents, and providing resources. However, the study also revealed that some departmental heads were not providing leadership and support in subject content matter and setting of assessments as they were not competent themselves. The study recommends continuous departmental heads-initiated training so that they are able to provide teachers with meaningful curriculum leadership and support to enhance Economics curriculum implementation
Towards breaking linguistic imperialism in teaching and learning in South African universities : a decolonial perspective
Get PDFJournal article published in African Perspectives of Research in Teaching and Learning Journal Issue 3, Volume 8, 2024 Special IssueThe elevation of English as the primary language of teaching and learning in South African higher education institutions defies the South African constitutional and other statutory obligations and their aspirations to promote the development of African languages as intellectual languages for teaching, learning and research. Thus, English hegemony must be teased out as part of the decolonial agenda that seeks to introduce pedagogical practices which break the coloniality of language and linguistic barriers to epistemic access to higher education. This conceptual paper problematised linguistic imperialism in South African universities and the hegemony of English over African languages. It employed decolonial tools to theorise the challenges and opportunities to negotiating a multilingual, Afrocentric approach to a democratised pedagogy in South African higher education. It concludes that deep introspection and complicated conversations are required on the intersectionality of decolonisation, multilingual pedagogical practices, and the English hegemony, which, in turn could map some way forward for the transformation of the self as a stakeholder, and the system at large as transformative tools. This, if consistently adhered to, could promote epistemic access in the teaching and learning of students, especially those who use English as an additional language in the predominantly English medium policy driven higher education contexts
Leadership for effective teaching and learning: the effective application of educational connoisseurship in the eyes of Masvingo District School
Get PDFJournal article published in African Perspectives of Research in Teaching and Learning Journal Issue 1, Volume 8, 2024Craft competence by school leadership in the application of supervision theories is the engine that propels quality implementation of syllabuses by teachers in schools. The study sought to investigate the effective application of connoisseurship supervision theory by school leaders in Masvingo district, Zimbabwe. This
was a qualitative study which aimed at interpolating into the effective use of connoisseurship supervision
in Zimbabwean schools. The case study design was employed with semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions used as the main data generation tools. The school leaders who had a workshop were
conveniently sampled then purposive sampling was employed to get information rich cases of school leaders who were holders of a Master of Education degree in Educational Management to participate in the study. The major findings of the study were that connoisseurship helps to describe and evaluate ongoing processes and events in the classroom, it helps school leaders to see the breadth and depth of qualities of work, helps in the examination of a plan and helps in increasing understanding of the classroom activities. Connoisseurship also helps in the analysis of pedagogical methods and their
relevance over and above helping the school leader to recognise the missing elements in the teaching and learning process. The study concluded that school leaders have theoretical knowledge of connoisseurship supervision but they do not put that into practice. The study therefore recommended a series of workshops and training sessions on the practical application of connoisseurship supervision in schools to improve the quality of instruction
Assessing student motivation in an involuntary online learning environment
Get PDFJournal article published in African Perspectives of Research in Teaching and Learning Journal
Issue 2, Volume 8, 2024Studies show that motivation to engage in learning activities may be more important for students studying in an online environment than for students in a face-to-face setting. A large number of studies successfully validated John Keller’s ARCS model of motivation with its domains of attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction. The present study employs the Course Interest Survey (CIS) based on the ARCS model and uses quantitative analyses, namely a principal component analysis and descriptive statistics to identify motivational problems in undergraduate tax students who were subject to emergency remote teaching. The study further explores which motivational domain shows the strongest association with these students’ overall motivation to engage in online learning activities using a multiple logistic regression. The population consisted of third year students in an undergraduate accounting qualification at a South African Higher Education Institution. Results show that student attention proves to be the most problematic domain of motivation, while relevance appears to be highly rated. Attention may have suffered because of conditions such as a lack of a quiet place to study and internet connectivity issues. The domain which showed the strongest association with overall motivation is satisfaction. This is a positive outcome, indicating that most students enjoyed the experience and believed that they acquired useful knowledge and skills. The authors recommend that educators pay special attention to the relevance of a subject in students’ everyday lives and future career goals as a strategy for keeping students motivated
Profile of mob justice victim fatalities admitted at Polokwane Forensic Pathology Laboratory Limpopo Province
Get PDFThesis (M. Med. (Forensic Pathology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2024Introduction and background: Community-based assault is a phenomenon practiced
worldwide and it contributes to the rise in unnatural deaths due to violence.
Aim: The study aimed to profile fatal mob justice victim cases admitted at the Polokwane
Forensic Pathology Services Laboratory, Limpopo Province.
Method: A cross-sectional descriptive quantitative study was conducted using sample
size of 141 community assault death victims that were selected using consecutive
sampling of community assault deaths admitted to Polokwane Forensic Pathology
Services laboratory over a period of 5 years.
Results: The study revealed that black male adults residing in townships suffered fatal
mob justice. The main causes of death included multiple injuries, head injuries and severe
soft tissue injuries.
Conclusion: The profile of community assault deaths identified was similar to that of
reviewed literature
Assessing and analysing the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the effectiveness of public participation :a case study of Polokwane Local Municipality
Get PDFThesis (MPAM.) -- University of Limpopo, 2024The study presents findings that emanated from assessing and analysing
the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the effectiveness of public
participation using Polokwane Local Municipality as a case study. The study
argues for the empowerment of communities with knowledge on the
available mechanism to fulfil the dream of a culture of participation. This is
to increase prospects of a unified perception towards the value of public
participation in improving local governance. Local governance
accountability can be gauged by the extent to which they practice public
participation in decision-making in addressing the challenges of the day.
This is done by putting or encouraging community participation in the
processes that would help address the challenges of the day, including the
Integrated Development Plan (IDP) processes. The study applied a mixed methods design and a combination of thematic data analysis and Microsoft
Excel (spreadsheet) to analyse the data gathered. Structured
questionnaires were distributed to respective community members in the
selected community: Ga Dikgale. Furthermore, face-to-face interviews were
conducted with the Polokwane municipal officials responsible for the IDP,
the municipal manager, and the IDP manager.
The findings of the study showed that public participation during the
COVID-19 pandemic was viewed as one of the ways of enabling interaction
between local government and citizens through social media platforms.
However, citizens faced challenges in the process of public participation,
and that impacted their level of public participation. It should, therefore, be
borne in mind that to improve local governance, it is necessary to look at
the extent to which communities are engaged in the processes of improving
local governance. Participation of communities in the development planning
of their communities can thus help improve local governanc
Design, synthesis and molecular modelling studies of ARYL substituted 2-(4-(Sulfonyl)Styryl) quinazolin-4(3h)-one as potential anticancer agents
Get PDFThesis (M.Sc.(Chemistry)) -- University of Limpopo, 2024In this study, we aimed to synthesize styryl-dihydroquinazolinone derivatives for biological
evaluation against cancer. The target compounds were achieved through Iodination of 2-
aminobenzamide to yield 5-iodo-2-aminobenzamide 75, followed by a nucleophilic acetyl
substitution reaction, to result in 2-aceto-5-iodobenzamide 76. This was then followed by base
mediated cyclization reaction of 77 under reflux conditions forming 6-iodo-2-methylquinazolin-
(3H)-one 78. A series of substituted-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde derivatives were sulphonated using
alkyl and aryl sulfonylchloride derivatives to afford derivatives 79a-r. Amongst them compound
79a, 79b, 79j, 79k were used as substrates for the base mediated Aldol condensation reaction
with 6-iodo-2-methylquinazolin-4(3H)-one 78, resulting in the formation of the (E)-4-(2-(6-iodo 4-oxo-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-2-yl)vinyl)-2-sulfonates 80a-d. Application of compounds 80a-d to
Suzuki coupling reaction using arylboronic acids under inert conditions afforded novel (E)-4-(2-
(6-aryl-4-oxo-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-2-yl)vinyl)-2-sulfonates 81a-e. The synthesized compounds
were characterized by a combination of techniques that included nuclear magnetic resonance
spectroscopy (1H and 13C NMR), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and mass spectrometry (MS). X-ray
analyses were carried out for three sulfonated benzaldehydes 79a, 79b, and 79k. Compound
79a crystalized in a monoclinic crystal system and 79b and 79k in a triclinic crystal system,
respectively with space groups P-1 and P21/n respectively. The intermolecular interactions of
crystal structures 79a and 79b were further analysed using the Hirshfeld surface analysis. The
surface volume and area for 79a (244.26 ų and 236.92 Ų, respectively) is lower than 79b
(322.51 ų and 303.35 Ų, respectively). A comparison of compound 79a (globularity value of 0.798) relative to 79b (globularity value of 0.750) shows it is higher, meaning it is less spherical. Furthermore, the synthesized compounds were tested for anti-proliferative activity against the breast cancer cells (MCF-7), cervical cancer (HeLa), lung (A549) and human embryonic kidney
cells (HEK293-T) using curcumin and camptothecin as a positive control in a MTT cell viability
analysis. Compounds 79 a-r were also tested for antioxidative activity using DPPH assay with
ascorbic acid as a reference standard. From the preliminary tests, the most active compound,
80c showed 30% cell viability when compared with curcumin 90% cell viability at 100 µM against
MCF-7. Compound 80b and 80c and 81e had the most activity against the HeLa cells with a
percentage viability of 50%, 51%, and 55% respectively, compared to curcumin at 90%.
Compound 80b and 81e resulted in similar %viability of 40% against the HEK293-T cells at 100
µM but the 80b would be most preferred since adhering to ADMET properties. Compounds 79a 79i were also tested for %viability but with camptothecin as a control. Compound 79i was found
to be most active with the IC50 value of 0.042 100 µM compared to camptothecin of an IC50 value
of 6.32 100 µM. Thereafter compounds 79a-79i were tested for antioxidant activity using the
DPPH assay, compounds 79d, 79e, 79f, 79h and 79i have been found to have more scavenging
activity (IC50 = 0.29 µM, 0.67 µM, 0.0273 µM and 0.0617 µM) than ascorbic acid (IC50 = 5.87 ±
0.88 µM) and showed strong peroxidase interactions (-7.219 Kcal/mol., -7.087 Kcal/mol., -7.648 Kcal/mol., -7.330 Kcal/mol., and -7.671 Kcal/mol). Perioxidase docking was conducted to
elucidate their efficiency of compound 79a-79i, they demonstrated significantly higher binding affinities (ΔG = -5.4 to -8.1 kcal/mol) compared to benzimidazole (ΔG = -5.3 kcal/mol),
underscoring their promising potencies. Among these, molecules 79d, 79e, 79h, and 79i
displayed particularly strong attachments within the protein binding pockets, interacting with hydrophobic residues such as VAL 916, LEU 889, and VAL 899, akin to the binding pattern observed with benzimidazole. The most active inhibitors of peroxidase were found to be compounds 79h and 79i. Compound 79h formed strong O---H interactions with both hydrophilic
xix
(ARG 48, PRO 145, HIS 175, LYS 179, THR 234, TYR 187) and hydrophobic (PHE 147)
residues, while compound 79i interacted with hydrophilic residues (ARG 48, PRO 145, LYS 179) and one π-π interaction with hydrophobic residue (PHE 191). Compounds 79d and 79e showed the same inhibitory activity, but also differed in their binding energies of -7.087 Kcal/mol. and -7.219 Kcal/molNational Research Foundation (NRF
The prospects of international relations in Africa in the Covid-19 era : an analysis of sustainable development and trade integration
Get PDFThesis (Ph.D. (International Politics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2024International relations play an important role in tackling global challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on international relations, creating uncertainty that diplomacy should closely monitor. The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on Africa's economy and development has raised doubts about the continent's potential for rapid trade integration and sustainable development in a global context. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to provide a comprehensive overview of the prospects for international relations in Africa in the COVID-19 era, with a focus on sustainable development and trade integration. The study's research methodology was qualitative, utilizing both primary and secondary data collection methods as well as an exploratory design. Semi-structured interview questions were used to collect data during the interview process. In addition, the study made use of secondary data, which included gathering relevant publications from the library online database, examining the patterns and growth trajectories of research projects, and assessing the optimistic and pessimistic post-COVID-19 perceptions. Thus, the chapter is the outcome of a careful and exhaustive review of the literature on breaking the discussion of COVID-19, especially in relation to trade and related sustainable topics. Modernization theory serves as the theoretical foundation for the research. The AfCFTA emerged as a focal point for argument, offering insights that could prove beneficial in the process of restructuring Africa's economy and promoting sustainable development. Beyond the opportunities and challenges presented by the AfCFTA, the study identified key counter-solutions that should be prioritised for Africa's post-pandemic strategies for trade integration and sustainable development. These strategies can help Africa play a more constructive role in global restructuring and regional integration. Some of the study findings suggest that transparency among politicians, as well as integrity and honesty, should be considered important variables in any African economy in order to achieve strong trade integration and permanent development. Further research is needed, however, to determine how nationalism may impede the advancement of intra-African trade and the role of international migration when addressing AfCFTA.National Research Fund (NRF
Perceptions held by traditional health practitioners regarding patients'use traditional mental health services in Burgersfort, Sekhukhune District, Limpopo Province, South Africa
Get PDFThesis (M.A. (Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2024Empirical research highlights that black Africans continue to rely on the traditional
health care system despite governments failing to regulate the sector. Located within the
interpretivist paradigm and using the hermeneutic phenomenological design, the study
explored perceptions held by Traditional Health Practitioners (THPs) on the use of their
services by mental health patients. The study was undertaken in the Sekhukhune District,
Burgersfort area. Participating practitioners were selected using the purposive and snowball
sampling strategies. The sample consisted of ten Diviner THPs. Data were collected using
semi-structured interviews and analysed through Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis
(IPA).
Themes pertaining to the demographic and clinical profiles of patients that are serviced
by THPs were generated. Factors that hinder and/or promote the use of traditional health care
services by mental health care users also emerged and are presented in line with the
Theoretical Domains framework (TDF). Out of the fourteen (14) TDF domains, only eleven
were supported by the findings, and these included Domain 2: Limitations associated with
mainstream mental health care services; Domain 3: Social/professional role and identity;
Domain 4: Dishonesty about spiritual healing capabilities and skills; Domain 7: Reinforcement;
Domain 8: Determining individual life direction; Domain 9: Use of effective natural medications;
Domain 10: Memory, attention, and decision processes; Domain 11: Environmental context
and resources; Domain 12: Social influence; Domain 13: Emotions, and (k) Domain 14:
Behavioural regulation. Service use enabling factors varied from showing great interpersonal
skills, low costs of services, efficiency of natural herbs, maintenance of hygiene by healers,
and alignment between the healer-patient belief systems. In contrast, service use disabling
factors included the perceived rise in spiritual charlatans and the lack of integrity by some
THPs, consequently leading to the public’s lack of trust in healers and their methods. The
findings imply that ethical practice and collaborative efforts between healers are imperatives
for attracting mental health users. Theoretical, interventional, and policy-related implications
are suggestedNational Research Foundation (NRF
Adoption and willingness to pay for agriculture e-commerce market services : case study of fresh produce smallholder farmers in Gauteng Province , South Africa
Get PDFThesis (M. Agricultural Management (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2024The process of buying and selling agricultural goods and services on the e-commerce is a phenomenon that is experiencing an increment and is also becoming a common place for conducting business. The e-commerce has become valuable for the growth of businesses in almost all sectors of the economy and agriculture is no exception. However, despite the obvious potential of new technology-based interventions and innovation in the agricultural sector, there is still inadequate research on agriculture e-commerce in South Africa.
The aim of the study was to gain an understanding of the adoption, willingness to pay for agriculture e-commerce platform services and factors influencing the willingness to adopt agriculture e-commerce. The study was conducted in three municipalities in the Gauteng province, namely, City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, and Sedibeng District Municipality. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 120 fresh produce smallholder farmers. The collected data was captured on Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 28. Several analytical tools were employed to run the analysis. For instance, descriptive statistics was used to identify and describe the socio-economic characteristics of fresh produce smallholder farmers. The Binary Logistics Regression model was employed in the study to identify factors affecting the willingness to adopt agriculture e-commerce platform among the sampled farmers. The findings of the study infer that male fresh produce smallholder farmers are most likely to adopt agriculture e-commerce than their counterparts. Furthermore, the study found that farmers who are aware of agriculture e-commerce, had access to market information from a certain source and whose main occupation is farming were more likely to adopt and to be willing to pay for agriculture e-commerce platform services. The results of the study revealed that 69% of sampled farmers were willing to adopt agriculture e-commerce while those who were not willing to adopt was 31%. From the results of willingness to adopt agriculture e-commerce the study further established whether the sampled fresh produce smallholder farmers had already adopted agriculture e-commerce, either the farmers sold their produce or had bought agricultural inputs on the e-commerce platform. The results indicate that, 59% of sampled farmers already sold their produce or had bought agricultural inputs on the e-commerce platform and 41% had never sold their produce or bought any agricultural input on the e-commerce platform. The study further revealed that 79% of farmers who were willing to adopt agriculture e-commerce were also willing to pay a premium to access such services and only 21% were not willing to pay a premium. Although the farmers were willing to pay for agriculture e-commerce platform services, the study found that farmers were only willing to pay low premiums (less than 10% premiums). The Binary Logistics Regression model results indicated that gender was significant at 10% significance level and had a negative relationship with willingness to adopt agriculture e-commerce. Furthermore, marital status, occupation, source of market information, source of transport, and willingness to pay for e-commerce platform services were found to be statistically significant at 10% significance level and had a positive relationship with willingness to adopt agriculture e-commerce platform. Moreover, agriculture e-commerce awareness was found to have a positive statistically significant influence on the willingness to adopt agriculture e-commerce platform at 5% significance level. Based on the findings, the study recommends that there should be an improvement on the dissemination of market information through extension services so that farmers will have access to reliable market information, dissemination of market information through social media by relevant stakeholders to enable access to reliable market information as most farmers get their market information on social media platforms. Furthermore, the study recommends the provision of reliable subsidised transport that can be used by a group of farmers in their respective areas at a fixed fee. Lastly, the regulation of agricultural trading on the social commerce (social media platforms)