University Botswana Journals
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Prediction of animal population dynamics with a focus on smallholder pig breeding establishments
Get PDFBotswana government has made efforts to diversify agriculture and pig production has been identified as one avenue toachieve this diversification in the livestock industry. It is important that farmers are encouraged to raise pigs for thepurposes of creation of employment, supply of essential animal protein and consequently poverty alleviation. AGovernment owned Pig Nucleus Farm was therefore established at Sebele to provide good quality parent breeding stockfor farmers. Farmers have used financial support offered by programmes such as the Financial Assistance Policy, CitizenEntrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) and Young Farmers Fund to venture into pig production. Theseentrepreneurs require accurate production data to guide their investments in terms of expected pig numbers that wouldcreate viable business. Pig numbers were monitored for 5, 10, 15 and 30 sow unit farms over a period of 30 weeks. Pignumbers were plotted against time and a unique mathematical equation was generated for each farm size by fitting a lineof best fit in the data and selecting the equation for the line with the highest coefficient of determination. In all cases of 5,15 and 30 sow unit farms, unique second order polynomial equations predicted the number of pigs on the farm with acoefficient of determination, R2 = 0.805, 0.958 and 0.964 respectively. The 10 sow unit farm was predicted using a linearequation with a coefficient of determination, R2 = 0.916. These mathematical equations for prediction of pig numbers aredeemed accurate because the coefficient of determination is at least 80.5 % and some going as high as 0.964, meaningthat the prediction model can explain at least 80.5 % of the variability
DOMESTICATION OF CARTAGENA PROTOCOL IN BOTSWANA
Get PDFGenetically modified (GM) plants are currently grown in many countries in the world. These crops offer advantages such as improved nutrient composition, and resistance against viruses, fungi, bacteria and insects. However despite the advantages that such crops offer, major concerns relating to their use are voiced: potential toxicity to humans and environmental impact. To safe guard against these possible adverse effects, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB) was negotiated under Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1995 and adopted in Montreal, Canada in January, 2000. The CPB was developed to address issues relating to the trans-boundary movement of Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) that may have adverse effect on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. Botswana government has developed the Draft National Biosafety Framework in partnership with United Nations Environmental Programme- Global Environment Facility (UNEP-GEF). The goal is to conserve and use the natural resources sustainably and protect the human health. To date the National Biosafety Policy has been approved. In this paper we report the activities that have been undertaken to domesticate Cartagena Protocol in Botswana
A CASE FOR A DUAL EDUCATION SYSTEM IN BOTSWANA
Get PDFThe Faculty of Humanities of the University of Botswana put forth a task force to look into challenges facing the Faculty. The challenges are multiple. My argument in this submission is that it is urgent to assess the whole education system and make it fit for the integrating, globalising world. The aims would be to move away from a theory based education system to one that combines theory and practice and tailor it to job markets. I argue that the Swiss education system would be a good template
TEACHERS AND STUDENTS VIEWS PERTAINING TO THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF SCHOOL GEOMETRY IN BOTSWANA JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Get PDFGeometry is one of the mathematical strands offered in school mathematics. Through the learning of geometry concepts students develop problem solving skills and become critical thinkers. Unfortunately performance on geometry questions by Botswana students is not good as shown by their performance in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2003, 2007 and 2011. Good performance in geometry is very crucial because it is linked to other mathematical content and is a foundation of many science based careers. Mathematics teachers need to have the appropriate content and pedagogy in teaching geometry concepts. By so doing they will be able to explain the geometry concepts and select appropriate teaching methods. The use of dynamic geometry has been found to increase students’ understanding of geometric concepts by making them ‘less abstract’. Thus it should be incorporated in the teaching and learning of geometry concepts. This study sought to explore the challenges that teachers and students encounter in the teaching and learning of geometry concepts. Data was collected from form 3 students (n=198) and mathematics teachers (n=18). The data was collected using questionnaires (closed and open questions) and focus group interviews. The data from the closed questions was analyzed using SPSS and reported as frequencies. As for the interview questions they were analyzed by searching for common responses from the respondents which led to the development of themes. The results of the analyzed data indicate that indeed there are challenges faced by both teachers and students. They include shortage of resources and application of pedagogical content knowledge. The study recommends, in addition to others, that teacher training in the colleges of education should increase geometry content knowledge and incorporate use of dynamic geometry software
A CASE REPORT OF AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO HARNESSING HUMAN RESOURCES AT A NURSING SCHOOL IN BOTSWANA
Get PDFThe paper aims at sharing how human resources limitation drove collaborative teaching at an international level. In 2012, shortage of manpower in face-to face teaching prompted the nursing school to harness human resources outside the country to teach through an on-line mode. A gentlemen’s agreement was made with a vising Pharmacist from the USA to offer the course online as a community service gesture. The USA team consisted of five pharmacists while the Botswana team consisted of the head of school, a faculty member, and a clinical pharmacologist. The course offering was limited to exchange of written materials between students and the facilitators through e-mails. Interactive platforms were not possible as the facilitators could not access the university’s learning/teaching tools. Five (5) students completed the course and passed; and all have since graduated. The course evaluation from both the facilitators’ and the students’ perspectives revealed both benefits and challenges
EMPLOYING MULTI-MODALITY IN A HEALTH COMMUNICATION CLASSROOM: TOWARDS A PARTICIPATORY APPROACH TO LEARNING
Get PDFInformed by social constructivism, this paper explores how an eclectic framework, participatory communication and multimodality can be utilized in a health communication classroom. This methodological approach engages a socio-semiotic framework that enables investigation of multimodal resources that are utilized in the design of health promotion texts. It does this through a critical analysis of a poster from a private hospital as an exemplar text, and Vygotsky’s scaffolding to initiate motivation, critical thinking and peer collaboration in a health communication classroom. Following the analysis, the paper recommends employment of pedagogical processes to facilitate empowerment of students, effective working relationships and effective team and interpersonal skills
THE STUDY OF TERROR, TERRORISE, TERRORISM, TERRORIST IN TWO NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS
Get PDFThis article studies words which cluster around or are found in the company of terror, terrorise, terrorism, and terrorists in two Nigerian online newspapers retrieved around the Nigerian elections of 2011. The aim is to get a better understanding of the term terrorism by studying its collocates as well as the collocates of its related terms terror, terrorise and terrorist. The study does not examine the political or ideological motives, the causes or goals of terrorism. Instead, it appeals to concordance analysis as well as Mutual Information (MI) measures as primary approaches of word association analysis. The results of the studyreveal that words such as kidnapping, armed robbery, assassination, oppression, killing, and heinous crimes are found in close proximity with terrorism.
Keywords: Mutual Information (MI), concordance, terrorism, collocation, corpus, collocate
MANAGING LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE THROUGH DUAL LANGUAGE PROGRAMS IN CALIFORNIA
Get PDFFormulation of language policy is one of the tools for managing linguistic diversity in education and society in multilingual contexts. California is resident to 213 of the 325 languages spoken in the United States of America (USA), and yet had enforced assimilationist, English only policies until recently. This paper is a review of research on bilingual education policy and practice in the USA. The aim of the paper was to discover the types of bilingual education in operation. Which types were perceived to be successful in providing literacy skills for academic purposes? What success factors and challenges are faced in implementing the program, and what lessons other multilingual and assimilationist policy countries like Botswana may learn from the California experience? The Dual Language Program (DLP) was the most popular and preferred program. In order to gain practical insights on this program, classroom observations were undertaken in two schools in Northridge. Lessons were videotaped and analysed to find out how the program operated, the skills that were being instilled, the teaching methods, and the assessment standards used by teachers. Interviews were conducted with teachers, school administrators, an official and two parents. The paper concludes that while California had English only policies, litigation on language use in schools provided space for bilingual education programs. The DLP promotes biliteracy, bilingualism, and multiculturalism. It also enhances academic performance and fosters an appreciation for cultural diversity, which is necessary for nation building. There are a few lessons for Botswana as a multilingual country with achievement gaps between linguistic groups.
Keywords: diversity, bilingual education, Botswana, dual language, illiteracy
NON-RACIAL CASTING IN AFRICAN THEATRE AND CINEMA
Get PDFRacial and non-racial casting in theatre and cinema has become a widely, and sometimes hotly discussed issue in European and North American performance. The debates are fuelled by the increasing popularity of experimental, post-colonial and inter-cultural performance. However, there has been little such debate in Africa, even though there are many examples of performances which play with cross-racial conventions and stereotyping. This paper interrogates indigenous traditions of non–racial casting, the influence of popular European forms such as minstrelsy, and problems of casting in the realistic tradition of African theatreand cinema. The dialectic of all these traditions impacts on identities in post-colonial and post-apartheid performance. The article uses analytic tools of theatre and performance theory to interrogate the casting practices and principles.
Keywords: non-racial casting, creative resistance, blackface, African theatre, stylized performance
TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE BUSINESS PERCEPTIONS OF PLANNING IN BOTSWANA
Get PDFThere have been persistent criticisms that the planning system is failing to deliver timely decisions and determine planning applications in a sound manner. There is a widespread view amongst stakeholders that the planning system is far less efficient, with the consequent delays and uncertainties seen as disincentives to investors and developers. What is the nature and extent of this problem? What is the basis of these business perceptions of planning? This issue calls into question the economic value of planning. The paper explores the importance of improving the efficiency of the planning system through reducing unnecessary complexity in policy, plan-making and development control. The paper is premised on the supposition that choices planners make are fundamentally about questions of right and wrong, and good and bad. But the ill-defined quality of the problems which confront planners and the multiple interests affected lead to tensions and dilemmas as to the most appropriate choice of actions or values to endorse. Moreover, obligations and actions that are required are likely to be influenced by changing contextual circumstances. The paper therefore hopes to contribute to the debate of the planning system ability to deliver outcomes with regard to economic growth and productivity