School of Education

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Start date: 2000End date: 2019Author: search.filters.author.Van der Merwe, Clinton David

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Map literacy and spatial cognition challenges for student geography teachers in South Africa
    (2016) Larangeira, Rhoda; Van der Merwe, Clinton David
    South African geography student teachers should master map skills to teach map work effectively in their future classrooms. Spatial cognition, prior learning of map skills and map interpretation at secondary school-level are highlighted as being important in furthering map literacy, which is required by geography student teachers. A mixed-method research framework investigated the causes of map literacy difficulties experienced by first year geography student teachers. Lecturers who train prospective teachers should be aware of the conceptual and/or skills based difficulties associated with poor map literacy amongst their own students in order to address these problems. This paper outlines problems experienced by first year geography student teachers associated with their own acquisition and understanding of map work. Furthermore, it argues that without deeper comprehensive development of their own map work content knowledge, the geography student teachers’ ability to teach map skills effectively will be adversely affected.
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    Tourist guides’ perceptions of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa.
    (2016) Van der Merwe, Clinton David
    Heritage tourism is a fast growing niche of cultural tourism worldwide. In Africa, several countries, including South Africa, place great emphasis on the growth of heritage tourism because of its potential for local economic development. Cultural and heritage tourism are being advocated as an important niche within the South African economy. This paper explores the perceptions of cultural heritage tourist guides in South Africa towards heritage tourism, it is argued that the country’s National Department of Tourism must improve the poor governance and poor management of South African heritage assets, and enhance the preservation, transformation and segmented marketing of South Africa’s cultural assets (at all levels of government) in order to sustain and grow cultural tourism in the future.
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    Heritage tourists’ experiences of ‘struggle heritage’ at Liliesleaf Farm Museum and the Hector Pieterson Memorial & Museum South Africa.
    (2016) Masilo, Hope; Van der Merwe, Clinton David; ; ;
    Heritage tourism has emerged as an important part of tourism growth in the new South Africa, with a growing interest in ‘struggle heritage’. Heritage tourism contributes significantly in demonstrating the diverse cultural offerings that the country has to offer. Struggle heritage is one of the elements within this niche of cultural tourism, which attract tourists to visit South African museums. Using a mixed methods approach of quantitative and qualitative data, this paper explored a comparative study of the motivations, experiences and understanding of heritage amongst 100 local tourists at Liliesleaf Farm Museum (50 respondents) and the Hector Pieterson Memorial & Museum (50 respondents), both based in Johannesburg, South Africa. This research adds to the debates on how people perceive heritage and how important heritage is to them. The findings suggest that South Africans desire to visit heritage sites but due to the unavailability of information and inadequate communication between museum marketers, local authorities and the public, local tourists are less likely to visit these heritage sites. Overall, this paper suggests that although creating memorable and unique visitor experiences is essential, being in regular contact with repeat and prospective visitors is paramount for the growth and sustainability of the museum and the continued dialogue of ‘the struggle’, as well as the development and advancement of heritage tourism in South Africa.
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    Battlefields tourism: The status of heritage tourism in Dundee, South Africa
    (2014) Van der Merwe, Clinton David
    Heritage tourism is a significant contemporary facet of tourism in many developing countries. This paper analyses the economic opportunities for battlefield-heritage tourism in South Africa by examining the battlefields route within KwaZulu-Natal. Through structured interviews with stakeholders and structured questionnaires with visitors and local residents, this research explores the understanding of heritage tourism as well as perceptions of its influence on the physical landscape and gauges the importance of this form of tourism as a driver for local economic development in South Africa. Dundee, a small coal-mining town in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa – where several battlefields are found, is used as a case study. The study demonstrates that several issues need to be addressed if this niche of cultural and heritage tourism is to be a sustainable and responsible form of tourism in South Africa.