Faculty of Humanities

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Browsing Faculty of Humanities by Type "Dissertation"

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    An exploration of social challenges encountered by learners in Mohlakeng Schools in Rand-west municipality in Gauteng province of South Africa.
    (2023) Mokoena, Prudence Onkarabile
    There are countless social challenges in South African schools, such as poverty, violence, homeless, teen parenting, substance abuse, child abuse and youth suicide, which complicate learners’ efforts to learning. This study explored and described the social challenges that affect selected learners and their academic performance in Mohlakeng School in Rand-west municipality, Gauteng, South Africa. The study was positioned within an interpretivist paradigm using the qualitative research approach. The sample was fifteen (15) grade 11 and 12 learners from School in Mohlakeng and they were selected using non-probability purposive sampling. Data was collected using semi-structured telephonic interviews via an interview guide and analysed using the thematic data analysis method. Key findings in relation to the social challenges that learners experience that have an impact on their academic performance included academic challenges at school and unpleasant home circumstances. In terms of the coping strategies that learners adopted, the study found that learners did not have the necessary resources to cope, while others adopted various coping mechanisms. The key findings in terms of the support needs of learners were that 8 out of 15 learners needed extra academic support, 2 out of 15 learners thought about future prospects to deal with their social challenges, while for one participant it was important to mend family relationships and receive support from family. In terms of support, 9 out of 15 learners received support from families, while the other six participants did not receive support. These findings have implications for social work practice, the department of education, policy formation as well as future research.
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    Investigating interactions between machines: a case study using facial expression recognition and virtual avatars
    (2022) van Rooyen, Keenan Halliday
    Computer vision is a field of artificial intelligence which revolves around enabling machines to derive meaningful information from visual inputs (Zafeiriou, Zhang, and Zhang, 2015: 1). Researchers have shown a focused interest on using computer vision to develop a machine which can both interpret and classify human behaviour, movements, and emotions through only visual information (Zafeiriou et al., 2015: 2). What was found through a literature review was that there is a gap in knowledge in computer vision for studies which do not rely heavily on human analysis. The presented research study aimed to work towards filling this gap by investigating an interaction between the goals of computer vision through using virtual avatars from the Animaze library to imitate human emotional expressions that were then analysed by FaceReader’s expression recognition component. This study created a machine-based interaction which analysed how changes of the facial features on a virtual avatar could alter the analysis of a computer vision program interpreting emotional expressions in the face. The results of this experiment were separated into three sections to answer three guiding research questions and to provide a wider scope of analysis. An analysis of FaceReader’s results presented several findings surrounding computer vision and virtual avatar interactions, with the most notable finding being that even slight changes in the shape and size of facial features on a virtual avatar can produce vastly different emotional expression readings. It was also found that it is possible to influence FaceReader’s expression analysis to produce higher, or lower, intensity averages of the emotional expressions through the use of specific facial features. Overall, the presented research found information that one could argue was already proven for human facial recognition, but value was provided in this research being potentially used as a steppingstone towards further development in the use of facial recognition on virtual avatars.
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    Natural Sciences teachers' views on Indigenous Knowledge and How to use it in teaching and learning in South African Classrooms
    (2022) Raphothe, Paseka Nimrod
    South Africa underwent much curricular change during Apartheid and post-Apartheid. The quality of education provided for black people was the worst during Apartheid; the education they received catered only for menial labour. However, the need to provide quality education to all strata of society took precedence when South Africa became a democratic state in 1994. Moreover, the need to respect different worldviews and knowledge systems from different societies came into focus at this time. Thus, post-Apartheid, revisions to the curriculum led to the current Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), which mandates that teachers include Indigenous Knowledge (IK) in their teaching and learning of Science. Investigations are required to understand the level of guidance teachers receive on integrating IK into their teaching. The following documents were analysed for this study to examine the guidance provided to teachers CAPS, Annual Teaching Plan (ATP), and the Pacesetter. Three teachers were surveyed to explore their views as well. The focus in this study was grades 8 and 9 Natural Sciences teachers. The study aimed to explore ways in which teachers could integrate IK in their teaching and learning of science to make science more accessible to their learners. The research took a qualitative case study approach and used theoretical frameworks as the lens. Aikenhead and Jegede’s border crossing, Vygotsky's Social constructivism, specifically the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), and Piaget's Cognitive constructivism (a process of accommodation and assimilation). Data was collected using questionnaires and followed up with semi-structured interviews. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse data and develop themes that helped answer the research questions. Findings in this study indicated some misalignment between the different curriculum documents used by teachers with regards to IK. However, the study indicated 3 that teachers are integrating IK into their teaching, as mandated by the CAPS. Some teachers use their experiences learned in the communities they grew up in and integrated that knowledge in their teaching and learner discussion in a Science classroom. This study documents examples used by teachers in their integration of IK into their classroom practice and, therefore, can provide a resource for teacher development in this area. Moreover, documentation of these practical examples of IK integration into classroom practice can be helpful to teachers who seek to facilitate the students’ access to science concepts taught in Natural Sciences.