The debate on how students of different abilities should be organised and taught is probably as old as the introduction of formal schooling. It has generated a lot of debate in the past and continues to do so in the present millennium. This debate has invariably divided the world of educational research into two distinct camps. On one hand are proponents of ability grouping who claim that this grouping approach creates homogeneity which make it possible to tailor teaching to individual needs and thus raise achievement. On the other hand, are the exponents of mixed-ability grouping, who argue that ability grouping denies equality of educational opportunities to many young people, limiting their life chances and increasing social segregation. However, there is an emerging trend which posits that teachers should view students' mixed-abilities as an asset, which if properly exploited can result in effective instruction for the benefit of all students regardless of their many individual differences. This emanates from the realisation that there are different types of intelligences, and that it is not always possible for an individual student to posses all the types of intelligences. Therefore, students from diverse backgrounds, endowed with multiple intelligences, can help one another understand the content better as they will perceive the content from their diverse experiential backgrounds. This qualitative study concerned itself with investigating how mixed-ability grouping can be optimised for effective instruction at the junior secondary school level in Botswana. The study made use of literature study, focus groups, follow-up interviews and lesson observations. Major findings were that teachers are not optimising mixed-ability grouping for effective instruction. Instead, teachers have problems in teaching mixed-ability classes, with most of their teaching being teacher-centred. However, teachers can optimise mixed-ability grouping through the use of student-centred instructional strategies such as cooperative learning, small-group instruction, peer teaching and student research. Gifted students could be catered for through curriculum compaction, enrichment and extension work, while mentally challenged students could be offered remedial work. These cited teaching strategies are differential and they make use of the diverse abilities found in mixed-ability classes. / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Didactics)

Teachers use student grouping to reduce the complexities of the classroom. Grouping has been credited with making behavior more predictable, improving interpersonal skills, and making instruction easier by increasing homogeneity. Research suggests that teachers' grouping decisions are influenced by characteristics of the student, the teacher, the task, and the environment. Research on grouping has centered on elementary classes, with little investigation of secondary classes. The purpose of this study was to describe the influences on secondary laboratory teachers' grouping decisions in a naturally occurring secondary school setting.

University of British Columbia between high school achievement, as represented by grade twelve results, and university performance, as represented by first year standing. The aim of the work was to provide counsellors, both at the University of British Columbia and in the secondary schools of this province with predictive information for use in counselling. The high school variables used were letter grade average, percentage average, standing at first attempt, recommendation, number of Departmental examinations written, and major subjects taken. The criterion of university performance used was first year standing in April. A sample of 737 students was chosen from the Faculty of Arts and Science during the academic year of 1957-58. The students chosen had completed their final year in a public high school in British Columbia, were not repeating any first year university courses, and had had an uninterrupted secondary education. They had registered for at least fifteen units of course work, which included English 100-101, Mathematics 100 or 101, a foreign language, a science, and an elective. Results of this study can therefore be used adequately only with students of comparable high school background and with similar freshman programmes. Literature relevant to the areas investigated in this study was reviewed. By use of the Chi-Square technique and of a method of partitioning Chi-Square, it was determined whether the difference in freshman performance was significant among the students grouped according to the various high school variables, and where the difference lay. Contingency coefficients were calculated to show the degree of relationship between the variables and the criterion. Most of the results of the investigation were in agreement with those reported by other authors who had conducted similar studies. It was found that there is a high positive relationship between freshman standing and grade twelve average, whether letter grade or percentage, that students who complete University Entrance standing at first attempt perform at a higher level at university than students who are required to make more than one attempt, that recommended students are better academic risks than non-recommended students, and that students who are required to write three or more Departmental examinations are more likely to fail at university than students who write just one or two examinations. Contrary to most studies, and agreeing rather with the exceptions, it was found that there is some relationship between major subjects taken in high school and freshman standing. Students who have included in their high school programmes Mathematics, Science, English, and Social Studies as majors are less likely to fail at university than students who take Mathematics and Science majors but omit English and Social Studies majors. Students who have taken a high school foreigh language major are more successful in first year university than those who omit a foreign language major. A word of caution was included regarding the impossibility of perfect prediction for all students owing to the unreliability of marks, to individual differences, and to personal problems, adjustment and growth. Within the specified limitations of the results, the study indicated that high school achievement could be used effectively in prediction of performance at university. A number of suggestions for further study were mentioned, the most strongly recommended of which were a study of the possibility of using a prediction formula including both high school achievement records and aptitude test results, and an investigation of capable students who do not proceed to university. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate the relationships between academic aptitude and academic achievement in reading and arithmetic at the seventh and the eighth grade levels in the city schools of Modesto, California, (2) to discuss the discovered relationships in terms of policies developed by the school system to meet the particular needs of mentally superior children, and (3) to suggest some possible means of modification of the curriculum in view of the discovered relationships between academic aptitude and academic achievement in reading and arithmetic.

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The question of ability grouping in education has achieved prominence, especially in recent years. Much of the emphasis placed on grouping students according to ability rather than chronological age is a product of modern times and progressive education. Although not accepted by all educators, there is a definite movement toward such a procedure in public schools today. It is held by the advocates of ability grouping that students will benefit more in a situation where they proceed at a rate prescribed by their ability rather than a hypothetical average or norm. Several well-controlled studies (3, 33, 44) have shown that in situations where students are grouped homogeneously according to respective ability there is an increase in achievement. All of these studies have compared performance and achievement under both systems of grouping and have showed that the homogeneously grouped students benefit more than students in a social promotion situation. The stand taken by the advocates of ability grouping is therefore expressed in terms of achievement and academic advantages. This, for the most part, comprises the reason for preference over traditional social promotion. The argument against ability grouping is based primarily on social injustice to the student. Although this argument finds little support in terms of well-controlled research and empirical evidence, several articles (5, 17, 54) illustrate why many educators oppose ability grouping on the basis of social injustice. There is little disagreement as to the merits of such a procedure in terms of student achievement, however. The concern lies rather in pupil adjustment in situations where he learns at a rate prescribed by his ability among only those possessing similar ability. Theoretically, this places students in all of the ability levels in restricted environments which in turn limits social interaction. If students do not learn to adjust to diverse social situations in the school and during these critical years of development, where and when will they learn? This is a major question raised by those who oppose ability grouping. The possibility that ability grouping might not only inhibit adjustment in social situations, but also have a negative effect upon the self concept of students is also characteristic of this argument. An example of this would be the slow learner who is placed in a group which proceeds at a slower rate than that of others his age. This student recognizes that his performance and ability are inferior to those students in other groups. It is possible that in such a situation the student might acquire feelings of inferiority which may persist and develop into more serious emotional disorders later. This, the opposition to ability grouping would maintain, is of major concern.

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It is well established that musicians deviate substantially from regular timing in music performance, and numerous studies have sought to characterize the origin of different expressive deviations. However, this work has thus far been limited by the necessity of analyzing renditions produced by highly-trained adult musicians, which precludes the opportunity to ask questions about how development and formal experience might affect expressive timing. In the present dissertation, I introduce a new paradigm for examining musical production in non-expert participants, the musical dwell time paradigm. In Chapters 2 and 3, I show that musically untrained adults and children as young as three years pause on phrase-final chords when self-pacing through chord sequences, mirroring the phenomenon of phrase-final lengthening that has been reported in expert music performance. I additionally demonstrate that by four years of age, this lengthening can be elicited by harmonic cues when other cues to phrase boundaries (metrical regularity and melodic contour) are controlled for. In Chapter 4, I show that when communicating different emotions through music, nonmusicians use expressive cues in a way that is highly consistent with expert musicians, and that there is striking similarity across participants despite a wide range of musical training. Finally, in Chapter 5, I demonstrate that children as young as 5 years olds’ performances mirror adults’ in their use of timing and loudness cues, and that their renditions become more adult-like by 7 years. Altogether, these findings corroborate previous claims that musically untrained adults are “listening experts” with substantial musical knowledge, extend these results to show that in performance musically untrained adults use timing and loudness similarly as expert musicians to delineate phrases and express emotions, and show that some elements are in place by early childhood. Overall, the musical dwell time paradigm offers a new, highly flexible method for examining musical production in participants with a wide variety of musical training. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Musicians often deviate from the durations notated in their musical score, slowing and speeding over the course of a performance. In the absence of deviations, music sounds mechanical or computerized rather than expressive. Studies of performances by highly-trained musicians have identified patterns in the way these duration changes are implemented, but no previous research has investigated whether formal musical experiences and development contribute to these patterns. I developed a simple music production apparatus that enables musically untrained adults and children to perform music. I asked participants to “perform” chord sequences under different conditions and measured the amount of time they spent on each chord. I uncovered how young children and untrained adults use timing deviations to delineate musical phrase groups and to communicate musical emotions. Overall, my work offers a new way to examine expressive timing patterns and suggest that formal training alone does not fully account for these patterns.