An adequate understanding of the nature of science (NOS) has become increasingly important for science teachers in South Africa as comprehensive curricular reforms over the past decade include promoting informed understandings of the ontological and epistemological bases of scientific knowledge and the methods of science. The main objective of this study was to explore the NOS understandings held by a sample of science teachers in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Data were generated via questionnaires (n=136), semi-structured interviews (n=31), and classroom observations (n=8). The teacher interviews, which were informed by the questionnaire data, enabled further interrogation of the teachers’ philosophical positions. Their classroom practices were examined within the framework of these philosophical positions and the requirements of the new curriculum. The effect of implicit and explicit instruction in NOS on these teachers’ beliefs and classroom activities was also considered. A mixed-method approach informed by positivist and interpretivist perspectives was used for the collection and analysis of the data. The data suggests that explicit instruction in NOS resulted in more informed conceptions of science and the scientific enterprise, and that these conceptions were reflected, to a degree, in their classroom behaviours. However, it was noted that the teachers in this study often held philosophically eclectic views of the nature of scientific knowledge and how scientists develop ideas. Similarly, the South African National Curriculum Statement portrays science in contrasting ways, i.e. often within a modern/realist framework, but in other instances within postmodern/relativistic understandings (particularly in terms of indigenous knowledge systems). As such, an approach which aims at providing a firm foundation for understanding NOS ideas within a modern/realist perspective before emphasising the postmodern/relativist aspects of the scientific enterprise is suggested for teacher training and curriculum development.

The Thesis deals with possibility of teaching ethics. It explores philosophy of education and ethics. Basic question is whether it is even reasonable to teach ethics. Thesis also reflects the essence and nature of upbringing and education. In final chapter the thesis comes to synthesis of philosophy of education and ethics. Points of focus from previous chapters are merged together and author tries to show a path with elementary starting points. Author concludes that ethics can be taught by philosophical discussion, thinking and by combined discovery of theoretical philosophy. Ethics that grows from philosophical thinking and thinking process itself may develop the ability of students to pose important questions and deeply reflect ethical issues. They establish ethical outlook and inner understanding. They aim for uplifting the listeners, to shake their human psyche, to stir unrest in their souls. Goal of teachers of this subject is to challenge current certanties. Teachers have the possiblity to teach their students to think philosophically by introducing them to philosophical thinking, where thinking is defined as "Thinking in bigger picture". Keywords Ethics, Ethical Education, Philosophy of Education, Philosophy, Education, Philosophical Reflection, Ethical Dimension of Teaching

Recent studies on human cognition have presented credible evidence that learners are not tabula rasa as previously conceived by traditional theorists, rather they enter new lessons with some preconceptions, most of which are resistant to change in spite of teachers' efforts to assuage them. As such the challenges confronting science educators and educational psychologists are to understand the nature of learners' preconceptions, designing and implement appropriate instructional interventions that would enable the learners become aware of and reconcile their conceptions that are inconsistent with accepted views of science. Several perspectives have been advocated on how learners' preconceptions can be modified through instructions. While traditional theorists subscribe to substitution of inaccurate conceptions with accurate ones, the constructivists identify with giving the learners autonomy to inquire and re-evaluate their own ideas. The former has been confronted with widespread criticism and is becoming less and less tenable. This research identifies with the latter. Conceptual change entails restructuring of ideas. It is a cognitive process that involves change in attitude toward learning. Based on the theoretical assumption that learning is facilitated through teaching that give the learners autonomy search to new ideas, verify them, and restructure existing ideas, I developed a model of conceptual change from where I deduced the four sub variables of the conceptual change that this study explored. The sub variables include formulation of ideas, search for new ideas, review of meaning, and transfer of knowledge. My assumption was that conceptual change can be facilitated through instructions that engage learners in experiences relevant to the four sub variables that I have mentioned. This conceptual framework served as my reference point for the designing of the Constructivist Teaching Model that consists of four instructional phases. Judging that I was resident and working in Seychelles as a teacher trainer at a time I developed the Constructivist Teaching Model, I chose to implement and evaluate it first in Seychelles. Hence this study is titled `The implementation and evaluation of a constructivist intervention in secondary school science teaching in Seychelles'. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the constructivist teaching model as an intervention to facilitate conceptual change. Basically, there are two main aims of this study. First, to investigate to what extent the constructivist teaching model facilitates conceptual change. Secondly, to investigate if the paradigms shift from the traditional method to the constructivist method of science teaching is welcomed in Seychelles. This study was carried out in two phases Pretest and Evaluation. Pretest was aimed at identifying the weaknesses of the initial version of my model of constructivist teaching with a view to eliminate those weaknesses to further strengthen the model. In a nutshell pretest was a step taken to enhance the validity of the model. Evaluation on the other hand was aimed at making a judgment whether a difference actually exists between the learners that received constructivist instruction and those that received traditional lecture instruction in terms of the four sub variables of conceptual change. To enable for this judgment necessitated an experiment. The experiment was conducted with a total of six secondary schools selected from the ten secondary schools on the island. The participants included 178 learners, 6 science teachers and 8 independent persons. The learners were constituted into three Bands; 1, 2 and 3. Each Band consisted of a Control group and an Experimental group. Altogether six groups were formed, with 3 Control groups and 3 Experimental groups. There were 59 learners in Band 1, comprising of 29 learners in the Control group and 30 learners in the Experimental group; Band 2 comprised a Control group of 25 learners and an Experimental group of 28 learners; and Band 3 consisted of 33 learners in each group. The learners in Band 1 were used for pretest that lasted for five week. The learners in Bands 2 and 3 were used in the evaluation that lasted for thirteen weeks. The groups were non-equivalent, suggesting that randomisation was not possible as the learners were in intact classes. Learners in the experimental groups received constructivist instruction while their counterparts in the control groups received traditional lecture instruction. Both groups were exposed to the same experimental conditions except in the methods of teaching. Data was collected through teacher interviews, independent observation, measurement of learners' achievement, and analysis of documents. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analysed on the basis of content or meaning of the information given by the respondents. Following the design of this study the performance and achievements of learners that received constructivist instruction were compared with their counterparts who received traditional instruction. Guiding this study are two main assumptions. The first is the assumption of equality of the variance, and the second is the assumption of normality of the distribution. The results of Levene's test of equality of variances indicated a violation of the assumption of homogeneity of the variances of TI and CI groups while the results of test of skewness and kurtosis give the indication of normality of distribution of scores in both groups. The results of descriptive statistics analysis showed that the learners who received constructivist instruction performed better than the learners that received traditional instruction in terms of formulation of ideas, search for new ideas, review of meaning, and transfer of knowledge. The results of inferential statistics showed that the difference in the means of the two groups on each of the sub variables of conceptual change is significant. This evidence indicates that my model of constructivist teaching produced an effect measuring 0.86 and a power of 0.85 based on Cohen's Blueprint, and a reliability of 0.72 based on Cronbach's test of internal consistency. Besides statistical evidence, analysis of the opinions of science teachers who implemented the Constructivist Teaching Model in their respective classes and the independent persons who observed teaching and learning in both the experimental and control groups showed a preference for the constructivist approach over the traditional approach. On the grounds of the evidence gathered through observation and measurement this study concludes that the constructivist approach to science teaching is more effective than traditional lecture approach in facilitating the ability of secondary school learners in Seychelles to reconstruct ideas. This study also found that science educationists in Seychelles welcome the paradigm shift from the traditional approach to the constructivist approach. / Educational Studies / D. Educ. (Psychology of Education)

蘇子 = The teaching beliefs of pre-primary school teachers in Hong Kong : case studies / So Gabriel. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2004. / 參考文獻 (p. 290-306). / 中英文摘要. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Su Zi = The teaching beliefs of pre-primary school teachers in Hong Kong : case studies / So Gabriel. / Zhong Ying wen zhai yao. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2004. / Can kao wen xian (p. 290-306).

Analisar as possibilidades de superação das manifestações do fracasso escolar na atividade pedagógica a partir da mediação do conhecimento teórico-filosófico no ensino da Filosofia é parte de uma pesquisa que se fundamenta nos pressupostos teórico-metodológicos da Teoria Histórico-Cultural. O fracasso escolar, apresentado como fenômeno sociopolítico, produzido no seio da instituição delegada oficialmente para promover o ensino e a aprendizagem, a escola, é referendado por várias teorias na sociedade de classes. Nesse sentido, o pressuposto da presente pesquisa é que o fracasso escolar tem por expressão substancial a ausência da apropriação do conhecimento teórico pelos escolares e que isso os afasta de sua atividade enquanto estudantes. Segundo essa constatação, é engendrada a necessidade de promover no contexto escolar o oposto, a objetivação do ensino por meio da mediação do conhecimento teórico-filosófico na atividade pedagógica. A pesquisa de campo é organizada a partir dos pressupostos do experimento didático que se constitui como procedimento metodológico cuja finalidade é produzir e executar na realidade escolar um ensino sistematizado para impulsionar o desenvolvimento dos sujeitos que integram a atividade pedagógica. O plano de ensino elaborado para o experimento didático e executado no interior da escola, na sala de aula, tem como sujeitos a própria pesquisadora, enquanto professora de Filosofia da rede pública de ensino do Estado de São Paulo, e 32 estudantes, jovens de uma turma da terceira série do Ensino Médio. Os dados foram estudados a partir dos elementos de análise e das vivências produzidas no experimento didático, identificados como episódios de ensino, a saber: 1. Da Admiração ao Conhecimento Teórico-Filosófico; 2. A Apropriação da Linguagem para a Emancipação Humana; 3. Consciência Filosófica e Consciência Crítica; 4. O Socioafetivo como Constituinte do Coletivo na Atividade Pedagógica; 5. Como o Filosofar é Sair da Caverna; 6. O Poder do Conhecimento para o Domínio da Conduta; 7. O Trabalho Coletivo como Expressão do Socioafetivo na Atividade Pedagógica; e 8. A Atividade de Estudo como Instrumento de Saída da Caverna. Os resultados indicam que é possível notar a alteração no desenvolvimento dos estudantes quando, no processo de mediação dos signos e símbolos culturais dados na Filosofia, estes passam a organizar meios para a atividade que lhes é atribuída, a atividade de estudo, na integração com a atividade que lhes é própria, a comunicação íntima pessoal, a fim de (re)qualificar sua relação com o conhecimento teórico. A transformação da consciência dos estudantes é evidenciada como expressão da qualidade da atividade que executam. Para impulsionar o desenvolvimento psicológico dos estudantes, tal atividade deve estar vinculada a um ensino intencionalmente direcionado para a transformação da consciência, de forma a impactar os aspectos subjetivos e objetivos das funções psicológicas superiores e conduzir os estudantes para a generacidade humana. / The current research aims to analyze some actions to overcome school failure manifestations on pedagogical activity through the mediation of theoretical and philosophical in teaching Philosophy. In that sense, the research is based on methodologies of Cultural-historical Theory. School failure is a sociopolitical issue in which the school, the official institution responsible for education, is still endorsed by several theories in class society (e.g.: a system that benefits the stronger groups while the weaker ones struggle). At that point, the current study considers that school failure is mainly related to the students lack of theoretical knowledge. Taking that educational background into account, it is consequently necessary to rethink the horizon of learning practices through a theoretical and philosophical approach. The field research is based on specific educational principles whose methodology is systematizing strategies in order encourage students during the pedagogical activity. The learning plan for the didactic experiment in the classrooms was implemented by the researcher (Philosophy teacher in public high schools in the state of Sao Paulo) with her 32 high school students. The following data were analyzed in this educational project and were also identified as learning events: 1. From Appreciation to the Theoretical-Philosophical Knowledge; 2. The Language Acquisition for Human Emancipation; 3. Philosophical Awareness and Critical Awareness; 4. The Socio-Affective and the idea of Group/Collectiveness in Pedagogical Activity; 5. How philosophizing is Coming out of our Caves; 6. The Power of Knowledge for the Code of Conduct; 7. The Group Activity as a Socio-Affective Expression; 8. The Study as a Useful Tool to Come out of the Cave. Final results revealed a notable change in the students interaction, since the mediation of signs and cultural symbols in Philosophy classes allowed them [the students] to improve the intimate communication and the theoretical knowledge as well. In consequence, the quality of the students activities certifies that transformation of consciousness. In order to stimulate their psychological development, the activity was driven towards the subjective and objective aspects of higher mental functions, also leading students to human generalities.

Recent studies on human cognition have presented credible evidence that learners are not tabula rasa as previously conceived by traditional theorists, rather they enter new lessons with some preconceptions, most of which are resistant to change in spite of teachers' efforts to assuage them. As such the challenges confronting science educators and educational psychologists are to understand the nature of learners' preconceptions, designing and implement appropriate instructional interventions that would enable the learners become aware of and reconcile their conceptions that are inconsistent with accepted views of science. Several perspectives have been advocated on how learners' preconceptions can be modified through instructions. While traditional theorists subscribe to substitution of inaccurate conceptions with accurate ones, the constructivists identify with giving the learners autonomy to inquire and re-evaluate their own ideas. The former has been confronted with widespread criticism and is becoming less and less tenable. This research identifies with the latter. Conceptual change entails restructuring of ideas. It is a cognitive process that involves change in attitude toward learning. Based on the theoretical assumption that learning is facilitated through teaching that give the learners autonomy search to new ideas, verify them, and restructure existing ideas, I developed a model of conceptual change from where I deduced the four sub variables of the conceptual change that this study explored. The sub variables include formulation of ideas, search for new ideas, review of meaning, and transfer of knowledge. My assumption was that conceptual change can be facilitated through instructions that engage learners in experiences relevant to the four sub variables that I have mentioned. This conceptual framework served as my reference point for the designing of the Constructivist Teaching Model that consists of four instructional phases. Judging that I was resident and working in Seychelles as a teacher trainer at a time I developed the Constructivist Teaching Model, I chose to implement and evaluate it first in Seychelles. Hence this study is titled `The implementation and evaluation of a constructivist intervention in secondary school science teaching in Seychelles'. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the constructivist teaching model as an intervention to facilitate conceptual change. Basically, there are two main aims of this study. First, to investigate to what extent the constructivist teaching model facilitates conceptual change. Secondly, to investigate if the paradigms shift from the traditional method to the constructivist method of science teaching is welcomed in Seychelles. This study was carried out in two phases Pretest and Evaluation. Pretest was aimed at identifying the weaknesses of the initial version of my model of constructivist teaching with a view to eliminate those weaknesses to further strengthen the model. In a nutshell pretest was a step taken to enhance the validity of the model. Evaluation on the other hand was aimed at making a judgment whether a difference actually exists between the learners that received constructivist instruction and those that received traditional lecture instruction in terms of the four sub variables of conceptual change. To enable for this judgment necessitated an experiment. The experiment was conducted with a total of six secondary schools selected from the ten secondary schools on the island. The participants included 178 learners, 6 science teachers and 8 independent persons. The learners were constituted into three Bands; 1, 2 and 3. Each Band consisted of a Control group and an Experimental group. Altogether six groups were formed, with 3 Control groups and 3 Experimental groups. There were 59 learners in Band 1, comprising of 29 learners in the Control group and 30 learners in the Experimental group; Band 2 comprised a Control group of 25 learners and an Experimental group of 28 learners; and Band 3 consisted of 33 learners in each group. The learners in Band 1 were used for pretest that lasted for five week. The learners in Bands 2 and 3 were used in the evaluation that lasted for thirteen weeks. The groups were non-equivalent, suggesting that randomisation was not possible as the learners were in intact classes. Learners in the experimental groups received constructivist instruction while their counterparts in the control groups received traditional lecture instruction. Both groups were exposed to the same experimental conditions except in the methods of teaching. Data was collected through teacher interviews, independent observation, measurement of learners' achievement, and analysis of documents. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analysed on the basis of content or meaning of the information given by the respondents. Following the design of this study the performance and achievements of learners that received constructivist instruction were compared with their counterparts who received traditional instruction. Guiding this study are two main assumptions. The first is the assumption of equality of the variance, and the second is the assumption of normality of the distribution. The results of Levene's test of equality of variances indicated a violation of the assumption of homogeneity of the variances of TI and CI groups while the results of test of skewness and kurtosis give the indication of normality of distribution of scores in both groups. The results of descriptive statistics analysis showed that the learners who received constructivist instruction performed better than the learners that received traditional instruction in terms of formulation of ideas, search for new ideas, review of meaning, and transfer of knowledge. The results of inferential statistics showed that the difference in the means of the two groups on each of the sub variables of conceptual change is significant. This evidence indicates that my model of constructivist teaching produced an effect measuring 0.86 and a power of 0.85 based on Cohen's Blueprint, and a reliability of 0.72 based on Cronbach's test of internal consistency. Besides statistical evidence, analysis of the opinions of science teachers who implemented the Constructivist Teaching Model in their respective classes and the independent persons who observed teaching and learning in both the experimental and control groups showed a preference for the constructivist approach over the traditional approach. On the grounds of the evidence gathered through observation and measurement this study concludes that the constructivist approach to science teaching is more effective than traditional lecture approach in facilitating the ability of secondary school learners in Seychelles to reconstruct ideas. This study also found that science educationists in Seychelles welcome the paradigm shift from the traditional approach to the constructivist approach. / Educational Studies / D. Educ. (Psychology of Education)

Analisar as possibilidades de superação das manifestações do fracasso escolar na atividade pedagógica a partir da mediação do conhecimento teórico-filosófico no ensino da Filosofia é parte de uma pesquisa que se fundamenta nos pressupostos teórico-metodológicos da Teoria Histórico-Cultural. O fracasso escolar, apresentado como fenômeno sociopolítico, produzido no seio da instituição delegada oficialmente para promover o ensino e a aprendizagem, a escola, é referendado por várias teorias na sociedade de classes. Nesse sentido, o pressuposto da presente pesquisa é que o fracasso escolar tem por expressão substancial a ausência da apropriação do conhecimento teórico pelos escolares e que isso os afasta de sua atividade enquanto estudantes. Segundo essa constatação, é engendrada a necessidade de promover no contexto escolar o oposto, a objetivação do ensino por meio da mediação do conhecimento teórico-filosófico na atividade pedagógica. A pesquisa de campo é organizada a partir dos pressupostos do experimento didático que se constitui como procedimento metodológico cuja finalidade é produzir e executar na realidade escolar um ensino sistematizado para impulsionar o desenvolvimento dos sujeitos que integram a atividade pedagógica. O plano de ensino elaborado para o experimento didático e executado no interior da escola, na sala de aula, tem como sujeitos a própria pesquisadora, enquanto professora de Filosofia da rede pública de ensino do Estado de São Paulo, e 32 estudantes, jovens de uma turma da terceira série do Ensino Médio. Os dados foram estudados a partir dos elementos de análise e das vivências produzidas no experimento didático, identificados como episódios de ensino, a saber: 1. Da Admiração ao Conhecimento Teórico-Filosófico; 2. A Apropriação da Linguagem para a Emancipação Humana; 3. Consciência Filosófica e Consciência Crítica; 4. O Socioafetivo como Constituinte do Coletivo na Atividade Pedagógica; 5. Como o Filosofar é Sair da Caverna; 6. O Poder do Conhecimento para o Domínio da Conduta; 7. O Trabalho Coletivo como Expressão do Socioafetivo na Atividade Pedagógica; e 8. A Atividade de Estudo como Instrumento de Saída da Caverna. Os resultados indicam que é possível notar a alteração no desenvolvimento dos estudantes quando, no processo de mediação dos signos e símbolos culturais dados na Filosofia, estes passam a organizar meios para a atividade que lhes é atribuída, a atividade de estudo, na integração com a atividade que lhes é própria, a comunicação íntima pessoal, a fim de (re)qualificar sua relação com o conhecimento teórico. A transformação da consciência dos estudantes é evidenciada como expressão da qualidade da atividade que executam. Para impulsionar o desenvolvimento psicológico dos estudantes, tal atividade deve estar vinculada a um ensino intencionalmente direcionado para a transformação da consciência, de forma a impactar os aspectos subjetivos e objetivos das funções psicológicas superiores e conduzir os estudantes para a generacidade humana. / The current research aims to analyze some actions to overcome school failure manifestations on pedagogical activity through the mediation of theoretical and philosophical in teaching Philosophy. In that sense, the research is based on methodologies of Cultural-historical Theory. School failure is a sociopolitical issue in which the school, the official institution responsible for education, is still endorsed by several theories in class society (e.g.: a system that benefits the stronger groups while the weaker ones struggle). At that point, the current study considers that school failure is mainly related to the students lack of theoretical knowledge. Taking that educational background into account, it is consequently necessary to rethink the horizon of learning practices through a theoretical and philosophical approach. The field research is based on specific educational principles whose methodology is systematizing strategies in order encourage students during the pedagogical activity. The learning plan for the didactic experiment in the classrooms was implemented by the researcher (Philosophy teacher in public high schools in the state of Sao Paulo) with her 32 high school students. The following data were analyzed in this educational project and were also identified as learning events: 1. From Appreciation to the Theoretical-Philosophical Knowledge; 2. The Language Acquisition for Human Emancipation; 3. Philosophical Awareness and Critical Awareness; 4. The Socio-Affective and the idea of Group/Collectiveness in Pedagogical Activity; 5. How philosophizing is Coming out of our Caves; 6. The Power of Knowledge for the Code of Conduct; 7. The Group Activity as a Socio-Affective Expression; 8. The Study as a Useful Tool to Come out of the Cave. Final results revealed a notable change in the students interaction, since the mediation of signs and cultural symbols in Philosophy classes allowed them [the students] to improve the intimate communication and the theoretical knowledge as well. In consequence, the quality of the students activities certifies that transformation of consciousness. In order to stimulate their psychological development, the activity was driven towards the subjective and objective aspects of higher mental functions, also leading students to human generalities.