Mathematics achievement is core to South Africa's readiness for digital innovation, yet current pass rates in this subject are below the global average. Simply attributing mathematics performance to intelligence does not fully account for the multifaceted reality of achievement in the subject. The current study investigated the value of both…

This article explores the use of the AutoScholar Advisor System (Auto-Ad) to provide useful learning support analytics for self-mediated student academic support. The study is part of a pilot project for enhancing student success in a four-year undergraduate degree (BEd) programme. Adopting students' self-authorship as an organising framework and…

A concern in engineering education is students adopting a 'recognise and reproduce' approach to problem solving. In this study, an assignment was conceived and analysed through Legitimation Code Theory -- which allows for visualisation of students' thinking, and to illuminate how students construct knowledge in open-ended problem solving. The…

This qualitative study explored and described South African students' experiences and perceptions regarding academic success. Focus group participants related academic success not only to achievement, but also to goal attainment, feelings of satisfaction, and the application of new skills. Academically successful students were associated with…

Exploring students' habits of using WhatsApp is important: such introspection helps students to reflect, and improve their actions. Habits are subconscious thoughts that drive students, for example, to use WhatsApp, even without concentrating on their learning actions. Habits are formed after students have repeated the same action. Twelve…

Resilience can be viewed as successful adaptation despite challenging or threatening circumstances (e.g. poverty). This article reports on an investigation of which the primary aim was to establish how additional educational support enhances adolescents' resilience and academic performance. A quantitative approach was followed using two schools.…

Since 1994, there has been a doubling in the enrolment of students in South Africa's public universities. Students, especially first-generation students, face numerous challenges that may impact their subjective perceptions of their well-being. In a milieu of high levels of suicide and depression amongst South Africa's student population, the…

Several studies have emphasised the importance of addressing social and emotional factors in facilitating adjustment to tertiary education. This article describes the Skills for Success in Science programme at the University of Cape Town. The broad aims were life skills development and improved adjustment which are assumed to underpin academic…

A study evaluated a four-year undergraduate curriculum in occupational therapy based on the idea that qualitative differences in the way students approach learning, transferred to the group level, can help diagnose structural defects in a curriculum. Results and methodology are discussed. (Author/MSE)

The study compared gifted achievers (N=50) and underachievers (N=50) with each other and with average ability achievers and underachievers. Subjects were obtained from the total standard 10 Afrikaans speaking cohort in the Orange Free State (Republic of South Africa). Ability/achievement discrepancy scores were calculated for the entire cohort,…

To improve throughput rates in higher education it is important to investigate ways in which instruction can be made more effective when students have to use language(s) that are not their home or primary language. At the University of Stellenbosch, as is the case elsewhere in South Africa, a language policy and implementation plan was formulated…

This article presents the results of a recent investigation at the University of South Africa that attempted to identify the post-enrolment factors that lecturers and students see as having important influences on students' success in undergraduate Business Studies courses. Data were gathered from students enrolled in all years of the BCom degree…

A study using 10 University of South Africa education graduates investigated how students experience two very different textbooks. Results suggest that the students' personal circumstances dictated their approaches to instructional texts. Other factors included English language proficiency; textual features (advance organizers, visual aids,…