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An exploration of the design and development of a semi-integrated curriculum for a mathematical literacy course offered in a B-Ed. programme at a South African university.
Get PDFDoctor of Philosophy in Education Studies. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood 2016.An exploration of the design and development of a Semi-Integrated Curriculum conceptualized for the Mathematical Literacy module, offered as part of the Bachelor of Education course, was conducted at the University of Zululand, South Africa. The research focussed on exploring the feasibility and sustainability of integrating various curriculum elements, namely: context, content, and a set of predetermined essential skills and concepts. The research further explored the effectiveness of consolidating essential skills and concepts prior to the introduction of context-based problems. The appropriate level at which those elements should be integrated was also investigated. Another significant objective of the study was to explore the extent to which Higher Order Thinking Skills could be developed and sustained by a curricular innovation such as the Semi-Integrated Curriculum.
The mathematical-literacy-related competency levels attained at school by first-year students in the Faculty of Education and reinforced by the first-year university mathematical literacy module, were of concern to the faculty. A need for significantly improving the mathematical literacy competency levels of students across majors was therefore the principal rationale of this research. Non-science major students made up a large portion of the Faculty of Education’s student population. Ensuring a satisfactory level of mathematical literacy in the student teachers across the faculty was thus imperative.
Based on a qualitative research paradigm, this research used a case-study research method that involved a single case study with multiple units of analysis. The research was guided by the overarching research question related to the design and development of a Semi-Integrated Curriculum, the answer to which was constructed by the five sub-questions that were simultaneously answered. Ten student participants were selected from the first-year mathematical literacy student cohort. These students were taken through a series of specially designed mathematical literacy teaching and learning sessions. The content matter taught was designed according to the Semi-Integrated Curriculum format. A pre-test administered prior to the contact sessions and a post-test administered after the contact sessions indicated levels of attainment and the influence the curricular intervention had had on the participants’ mathematical performance. The post-test also incorporated tasks that were designed to measure the levels of attainment of Higher Order Thinking Skills. Data collected included semi-structured interviews with the
participants conducted before and after the contact sessions; and an interview with the Head of Department. Sources of data collected also included informal working of participants gathered during contact sessions, curriculum materials published by the faculty, and relevant literature. Examination, test and assignment papers were also analysed to assess the level at which the current curriculum functioned and to explore the improvements needed.
Excerpts from transcripts of interviews and faculty curriculum documents were thematically analysed to determine initial categories which were later reduced to themes and concepts. The analysis focussed on deriving a broad understanding of the purpose with which the mathematical literacy course currently functioned, and possible changes in the formulation the purpose itself. The analysis also focussed on the formulation of a set of aspects that characterized the Semi-Integrated Curriculum. The influence of Higher Order Thinking Skills and their sustainability were also aspects that were scrutinised. The effect of a Semi-Integrated Curriculum on the development of mathematical-literacy-related competencies and Higher Order Thinking Skills were explored, in accordance with the conceptual framework that envisaged significant levels of attainment in such aspects of learning. Pre-test and post-test scripts were also analysed to ascertain the levels of attainment of mathematical literacy competencies, and the extent to which Higher Order Thinking Skills were fostered and sustained.
The results indicated that a focussed curricular intervention such as the Semi-Integrated Curriculum does have an effect on the general mathematical-literacy-related competencies. However, major changes in the levels of attainment could not be established. The development and sustainability of Higher Order Thinking Skills were also noticed at a relatively low level despite instances of satisfactory performances from participants that were noteworthy. However, significant changes in the approach to learning and the influence that a curricular focus on Higher Order Thinking Skills can have on learning were remarkable. Participants developed noticeable positive changes in their mathematical learning approach that placed a heavy emphasis on conceptual mastery as opposed to procedural focus; which in turn led to changes in the attainment of Higher Order Thinking Skills. The significance of this research is, therefore, that curricular interventions focussing on consolidation of Essential Skills and Concepts prior to the introduction of context-based problems, in a mathematical literacy context, underpinned by an emphasis on Higher Order Thinking Skills, do produce positive changes in mathematical literacy competencies
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
Author Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902
No full textIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Spirit Truth -- 2. From Absorption to Theatricality and Back Again -- 3. "I Will Build a New Present" -- 4. Sons as Authors -- 5. Fathers as Publishers -- 6. The Daughter as Author -- 7. Lovers as Authors -- 8. At Sea with the Family -- 9. Yellow News, Yellow Stories -- 10. The Return Home -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About Jay WilliamsIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
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