3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Students' motivations and actions when they learn mathematics using CAS : a study using an activity theory approach.(2012-02-29) Periasamy, JeevasundarieI explore students‟ motivations towards using Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) in learning mathematics, their associated actions and the relationship between their motivations and actions. Leontiev‟s (1978) philosophy of needs, motives and goals provides a powerful theory within which to understand students‟ motivations and actions in a learning context mediated by tools, thus the study is located within the framework of Leontiev‟s activity theory. It draws particularly on his notions of activity, actions and operations, as well as on Western motivational concepts of achievement goal theory and expectancy-value theory. Specifically, the notions of mastery approach goal-orientations, performance approach goal-orientations and social goal-orientations are examined, as are task value components (comprising „importance‟ of task, intrinsic reasons and extrinsic utility value). I also discuss indexes of motivation, which comprise choice of tasks, effort and persistence. An important theoretical contribution of this thesis lies in the elaboration of the aforementioned Western motivational constructs to the activity theoretical construct of motives. The latter conception comprises three groupings: self-related, cognitive and social motives, as postulated by the activity theorist Lompscher (1999). Set within the qualitative research paradigm, this study utilises case study methodology. Methods of data collection include four interviews for each of the three participants, observations of the participants during two problem-solving sessions, and consequent computer screen analyses of these sessions. The mathematical problems involved the numerical solutions of differential equations using MATLAB. The participants were students studying towards vocational (diploma) qualifications in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at a comprehensive university in South Africa. My research illustrates the relationship between the expressed needs, motives and goals of the individuals regarding their involvement in the activity of using MATLAB in mathematical learning within a third semester, Mathematics 3 service course.Item A socio-cultural case study of a primary school system in Venda, South Africa.(2008-12-22T09:38:02Z) Muthivhi, Azwihangwisi EdwardThe present study examines the relationship between the practices of schooling and classroom teaching and learning on the one hand and learners’ cognitive development and functioning on the other. The study uses innovative system of ideas in developmental and educational psychology, originally formulated by Lev Vygotsky to investigate the interrelations between learning, instruction and development. Carried out in a rapidly changing socio-cultural context of Venda, South Africa, the study examines the realities of schooling practices that exhibit both continuity with the past practices of society and some profound transformations that together lead to a multi-dimensional and a complex picture of cognitive development in learners. By examining the relations between the cultural practices of schooling and its socio-historical context on the one hand, and the consequent psychological process on the other hand, the present study offers an opportunity for exploring processes that may be more opaque in relatively stable socio-cultural contexts of schooling. The observations on the history of schooling in South Africa in general, and in Venda in particular, support the theoretical formulation that particular practices of schooling, themselves originating from and continuing larger social-historical processes, represent contexts in which learning and development take place and are shaped. The empirical investigations revealed that even the socio-cultural contexts of schooling characterized by strong ruptures, such as in South Africa, nonetheless carry on some vestiges of their past practices that affect today’s learning and development of learners. The study concludes, extending the prevailing theoretical formulation, that the social and cultural setting of schooling in Venda is multifaceted; manifesting xvi. instances of indigenous practices, the traditions of past missionary practices, as well as the traditions of the past, apartheid schooling. By taking into account these socio-cultural influences, the study provides crucial insights into the regularities of cognitive and conceptual developmental processes taking place in conditions of rapid social change in the course of the schooling of today’s children in Venda. The study furthers our understanding about the regularities of the socio-cultural and historical processes of schooling in conditions of rapid social change, and concludes by proposing ways of improving contemporary educational practice in South Africa, grounded in sound psychological knowledge and research about school transformation and classroom teaching and learning improvement.