PGIHS Annual Research Congress
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- ItemA comparative study of curricula based on plato’s republic and the pirivena system in sri lanka(University of Peradeniya, 2017-03-21) Pushpakumara, S.K.NCurriculum is a fundamental element in an effective teaching and learning process. The design, the aim, objectives and Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) of any curriculum reflect the philosophy of the education system of a country and they also need to comply with the socio-political and socio-cultural requirements of a nation. Plato was a recognized Greek philosopher and educationist in western education. Plato proposes an outline of a curriculum for an educational system in the Republic where the goal is to produce able citizens who are responsible for their community. But, Plato’s system was never implemented. The education system of Sri Lanka on the other hand, developed from antiquity aiming at educating mainly the Buddhist monks in monasteries. The Pirivena education also follows a curriculum that reflects the development of an education system that was native to ancient Sri Lanka. The curriculum proposed by Plato in his Republic, and the curriculum in the Pirivena system of education naturally adhere to the basic needs of their societies. Scholarly attention was laid on studying the Platonic system of education and its influence on the modern education in the west. Even various aspects of the Pirivena system of education have grabbed scholarly attention. Yet, no attempts were made to undertake a comparative study on the two curricular proposed in this study. The objective of this paper is to examine the content of the two curricula and their aims, objectives and Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) in order to understand the rationale and diverse circumstances that may have led to fashion the content, aims, objectives and the ILOs of their respective curricula. The study paid close attention to Plato's Republic along with commentaries on this work and secondary literature as appropriate. In studying Pirivena curricula, Pirivena Education Act of 1979, inscriptions and secondary literature were used besides visiting selected pirivenas in order to use the information in their archives and libraries. The gathered information on Plato's curriculum and Pirivena curriculum were studied closely and independently with an analytical mind prior to comparing and contrasting them. The two curricula contain some similar subject content such as literature and mathematics. In certain cases, the course content and methods are different from each other. But interestingly whether the course content is similar or not the concepts, aims, objectives and ILOs behind including those courses appear identical in the two systems of education because the course contents of these curricula attempted to comply with their socio-political and socio-cultural requirements.
- ItemDecoding non-verbal cues of emotion communication as a key determinant of peer standing(University of Peradeniya, 2018-04-03) Siraj, F.Zaadha; Usoof, RamilaFriendships are often considered as necessary indicators of healthy social adjustment. It does not simply fulfill our affiliation needs as human beings, but friendships also act as a key determinant of self-esteem, confidence, positive attitudes and social competence. Many studies have explored the important role of verbal language in facilitating social interactions. This study is an attempt to determine the extent to which the preschoolers’ ability to understand non-verbal cues of emotion communication has an impact on their ability to form friendship networks. The correlational/ experimental research approach was utilized to design this study. A sample of 60 preschoolers aged 4-5 years were selected using stratified sampling method with informed consent from a parent/ guardian; the sample consisted of 30 girls and 30 boys. The participants’ ability to understand visual and auditory cues of emotion communication was explored by exposing them individually to photographs and voice recordings of the six basic emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust and subsequently examining how many out of these visual and auditory cues of emotion the participant can correctly identify. Following this, a two-way measure was carried out to determine the number of friends each participant had: for an individual to be considered as a friend, both the participant and the individual were required to name each other as friends. This step was carried out individually for each participant in private due to ethical considerations. The data collected through these steps were then analyzed using a correlation test and a regression test. The analysis revealed a significant correlation between the two variables (r =1,p <0.01.), indicating that the ability to understand non-verbal cues of emotion communication both visual and auditory has an immense impact on the preschooler’s ability to form friendship networks. Comparatively, the ability to comprehend the auditory cues of emotion communication was more predictive of the number of friends one has than the visual cues. The regression analysis for the visual cues (β = .789, t = 4.11, p < 0.0001) and auditory cues (β =1.345, t =7.49, p < 0.0001) also revealed a significant regression, meaning that the better the capacity to understand facial expressions and vocal tones is, the more friends one had. Therefore, it could be inferred that accurately perceiving these non-verbal cues play a key role in deciding an individual’s social interactions and relationships. Thus, the study concludes that understanding the non-verbal cues of emotion communication as one of the crucial factors that shapes social adjustment and social competence among preschoolers.
- ItemThe process of sense perception and existence: an analytical study on early Buddhist doctrines(University of Peradeniya, 2018-04-03) Ven. Dhammanisanthi, EkalaSense perception bears the meaning of knowledge or perception that obtained based on organs such as the eye, ear, nose, tongue and body. A clear analysis on the process of sense cognition is given in the Madhupiṇḍikasutta of the Majjhimanikāya. This sutta explains that proliferation is the final stage of sense cognition. This could also be defined as spreading out of subjective concepts. The generation of such proliferations is dependent on sense perception, which is a major topic in Buddhist epistemology, and soteriology. This study seeks to understand how sense perception occurs and what relationship could be seen between sense perception and existence. This is a textual analytical study of the Pali canon and commentaries as primary sources, and recent academic publications as secondary sources. There are separate appropriate objectives that inter-connect with sense bases of perception. Only the eye can grasp visuals while the ear grasps sound. Of all the sense bases, the mind is primary. Accordingly, when all the sense bases are concerned, according to the suttas, the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body are introduced as exterior sense bases, and the mind as a spirited sense base. Based on the feelings generated by sense bases the mind leads in creating wholesome and unwholesome ideas generating a sense of pleasure (sukha), un-pleasure (dukkha) and equanimity (upekkhā). This process functions via sense bases as emotions and motivations. What is emphasized here is the fact that defilements are generated due to activities with the concept of self along with the combination of sense bases and the objectives. Hence, spreading what is unwholesome paves the way for the extension of the cycle of rebirths. The state without any unwholesome cravings, views and conceit is Nibbāna. Non-accumulation of determination, not having affection and sense are the characteristics of it.
- ItemA comparative study on bilingual education: lessons for Sri Lanka(University of Peradeniya, 2018-04-03) Nanayakkara, P.K.Bilingual Education Programme (BEP) is being implemented in Sri Lankan schools for nearly two decades and still faces challenges because of the absence of an explicit policy. Three cabinet decisions and 12 circulars are the only elements of an uncompleted policy framework of BEP. Hence, this paper compares Sri Lankan BEP with three other countries namely USA, Canada and Malaysia which differ from each other by purposes, perspectives and contexts in order to identify strengths and weaknesses of the local programme which will be helpful in shaping up an explicit BE policy. In this document survey, both printed and electronic documents such as international research papers, reports, cabinet decisions, circulars, journal articles etc. were reviewed. Data was gathered through skimming, reading and re – reading. Content and thematic analysis were used to analyze data and categorized under four dimensions; purpose, type, policies and strategies and expected outcome of the program. Comparison was done in developing a rubric. According to the analysis, USA absorbs children of migrants in to the mainstream with assimilation purpose to minimize issues like dropouts and aggressive behavior as English is the only medium of instruction in the mainstream. Hence, types of BEP in the USA mostly transitional though maintenance and two way bilingual programmes can also be seen. Despite being different types, these programmes always promote subtractive bilingualism where the ultimate result is to replace first the language (L1) of the minority child by the second language (L2). Canada introduced the French immersion model evolved in a context of inequalities of social and language factors between French and English speaking people. Thus, social and economic factors caused the Canadian BEP with two languages similarly powerful at the international level. In such a situation in which one language supports the other language, the outcome is additive bilingualism. Malaysia and Sri Lanka having developmental models also possess additive bilingualism but with different perspectives: both countries use English as an international language in order to promote biliteracy. Hence, lessons learnt are twofold: policy and implementation based. BE model and related policies of a country are mainly decided by the purpose together with socio economic and cultural factors entwined with power play between L2 and English as a lingua franca. It is also learnt that strong foundation of L1 supports additive bilingualism and biliteracy. At the implementation level, system readiness like materials, competent teachers and training are the success factors. However, political will stands as the uppermost factor for the sustainability of the programme.
- ItemExchange rate policy and its impact on foreign trade: A case study of Sri Lanka(University of Peradeniya, 2018-04-03) Pusparasa, A.Sri Lanka was one of the first countries to engage in a continuous and extensive economic liberalization process in the South Asian region commencing from 1977. Exchange rate reform and trade reform are main elements of the liberalization process. Since then, the data of exchange rate, import and export show an unstable trend. Hence, this study focuses on examining the impact of exchange rate policy on foreign trade of Sri Lanka using time series data over the period of 1977-2016. The data was collected from the annual reports of Central Bank of Sri Lanka and World Development Indicator (WDI) data base. This study operationalizes import and export as a function of exchange rate, money supply, consumer price index and real gross domestic product. ADF, PP and KPSS unit root test was conducted to test the order of integration. Lag length selection criteria such as AIC, SIC, LR, FPE, HQIC are utilized to select the optimum lag length that can be included in the model. The co-integration test was conducted using the Johansen approach to test the co-integrating relationship and long run relationship between variables. Error correction model (ECM) and Vector auto regression (VAR) were utilized to investigate the short run relationship between the variables. And also, the ECM test was adopted to examine the long run adjustment of the model. Moreover, the Granger causality test was performed to investigate the causal relationship between variables. All the unit root test approaches confirmed that first difference of log variables is stationary. The Johansen co-integration test detected positive relationship between export and exchange rate in the long run. And also, the Vector error correction results emphasized that independent and managed floating exchange rate regimes have a significant positive impact on export. Additionally, VAR test confirms that there is a negative relationship between import and exchange rates. The Granger causality test identified that there is unidirectional causal relationship between exchange rate and export. This study confirms that the exchange rate has significant impact on export in the long-run and that the exchange rate has a significant impact on import in the short-run. Therefore, the Sri Lankan government can use exchange rate as a policy tool to both promote export and to maintain a restriction on import.
- ItemThe emergence of the early Indian Buddhist schools:dīpavamsa and vasumitra’s treatise(University of Peradeniya, 2018-04-03) Len, C. BeeDuring the time of the Buddha, the Saṅgha was united as one group. Nevertheless, about a hundred years after the demise of the Buddha, the initial schism emerged which divided the Saṅgha into two branches, the Sthaviravāda and the Mahāsaṃghika. It marks a defining moment in the history of Buddhism. Later, there were a number of subdivisions that emerged from both Sthaviravāda and Mahāsaṃghika. Nikāya Buddhism refers to the Early Indian Buddhist Schools. The period of emergence of the 18 or 20 Early Indian Buddhist Schools happened in about 100 to 350 years after the demise of the Buddha. All of the Early Indian Buddhist schools ceased to exist except Theravāda Buddhism. Some Buddhist texts have mentioned the classification of the Early Buddhist Schools but Dīpavaṃsa and Vasumitra represent the Southern tradition of Sthaviravāda and Northern tradition of Sarvāstivāda. Therefore, the researcher selected Dīpavaṃsa, “Chronicle of the Island", dated 3ʳᵈ to 4ᵗʰ Century A.C and Vasumitra’s treatise (异部宗轮論) translated by Ven. Xuan Zang (602-664 A.C.), to trace the emergence of Early Indian Buddhist Schools. This research has two goals:(1) identifying the initial schism and the nature of dispute which led to the emergence of 18 or 20 early Indian Buddhist Schools; (2) identifying the convergence and divergence between the Dīpavaṃsa and Vasumitra’s Treatise on the emergence of the Early Indian Buddhist Schools. This research mainly depends on Buddhist literature and other relevant Buddhist sources. The study shows that Theravāda emphasizes the importance of Vinaya whereas Sarvāstivāda emphasizes the importance of Dharma. Both Dīpavaṃsa and Vasumitra’s Treatise mention different initial schematic reason of the Saṅgha and due to different natures and disputes there emerged 18 to 20 Early Indian Buddhist Schools. Both texts the Dīpavaṃsa of the Theravāda, and Vasumitra’s treatise of Sarvāstivāda record the historical moment of the emergence of 18 to 20 Early Indian Buddhist Schools. Even though both Schools, the Theravāda and Sarvāstivāda, are the subdivisions of Sthaviravāda, they have recorded the facts in different ways; the researcher hypothesizes that the reason for this maybe because Theravāda emphasizes the importance of Vinaya whereas Sarvāstivāda emphasizes the importance of Dharma.