No description available.

No description available.

This research describes an investigation of the correctness and speed of response that dyslexic children and matched controls perform on mathematical calculations involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The participants were 120 boys divided into three age bands ranging from 9:5 - 11:4, 11:5 - 13:4 and 13:5 - 15:4 years of age of whom 60 were dyslexic and 60 non-dyslexic. Two sets of 144 multiplication sums, two sets of 75 addition and 75 subtraction sums and one set of 144 division sums were presented. In the case of multiplication and division, the numbers ranged from 1 to 12; in the case of addition and subtraction two separate effects were examined, viz. sums involving high and low addends / subtrahends in combination with sums that did and did not cross the ten barrier. Results showed that dyslexics in all age bands took longer and made fewer correct responses than non-dyslexics on all four mathematical operations. The performance of the younger dyslexics was differentially disadvantaged when compared to non-dyslexics and older dyslexics on speed and correctness. The dyslexics performed less well when no obvious algorithm was available to them and when answering questions that involved crossing the ten barrier. The dyslexics were less able, in all age bands, than non-dyslexics to respond instantaneously. The overall trend with both groups was an increase in scores with age; however on some occasions the dyslexics in the old age band did not perform as well as those in the middle-age band suggesting practice and automaticity effects. The order of difficulty (from greatest to least) of the four mathematical operations for dyslexics, as judged by number of correct responses was: division, subtraction, multiplication and addition. For the non-dyslexics this was: subtraction, division, multiplication and addition. For speed the order for both the dyslexics and non-dyslexics was: subtraction, addition, division and multiplication.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Examinations in England and Wales were a nineteenth -century invention closely connected to the ongoing development of a more modern and meritocratic society. The first examinations in secondary schools began during the 1850s. The middle of the century also saw active movements to improve the position of women in society and to secure better education for the poor of both sexes. Against this background of change, the thesis draws together a variety of sources in order to analyse the educational, social and economic significance of the development of examinations for girls from different social classes between 1860 and 1902. There are two major recurring themes within the thesis. First, the relevance of orthodox perceptions of appropriate future roles in society according to social rank and gender that led to different education provision both between middle-class and working-class children, and between boys and girls. Second, that in spite of such disadvantages some girls achieved success in examinations benefiting them, within a limited framework, educationally, socially and economically. Reflecting these major themes, which can be defined as objective structures on one hand and subjective action on the other, thesis data is analysed, in five central substantive chapters, within a gender history methodology allied to the `thinking tools' of the social theorist Pierre Bourdieu. Gender history methodology acknowledges the way in which gendered identities contribute to unequal power structures in society, while recognising women's strengths and individuality. Bourdieu questions how stratified systems of hierarchy and domination in society persist and are reproduced while arguing against an apparent determinism by emphasising that individuals have a role in defining their futures. The examinations specifically discussed within the thesis include those of the Universities of Cambridge, London and Oxford, the College of Preceptors, the Department of Science and Art, the Society of Arts and the City and Guilds of London Institute. The consequences of the examinations under the Revised Code of 1862 for working-class children in elementary schools are also analysed.

The purpose of the study was to examine the teaching behaviours of Hong Kong physical education students teachers. Thirty-two local pre-service and in-service student teachers were videotaped teaching two ball games lessons in their own schools or in the allocated schools during their final practicum. Each videotaped lesson was coded using the Physical Education Teacher Assessment Instrument (PETAI). Data generated by the PETAI were comprehensively described and comparison was made between the two groups' behaviour categories by employing the independent t-test. Results indicated that the in-service group had significantly higher percentages of response presentation and total teacher instructional time than the pre-service group did, whilst the pre-service group spent significantly higher percentages of time in planned presentation, equipment management, activities organization, behaviour management and overall management time than did the in-service group. Six pre-service and in-service student teachers were randomly selected to participate in the second phase of the study. They were observed teaching two ball games lessons and were invited to take part in two pre-lesson interviews and two post-lesson stimulated recall sessions. Qualitative data were collected through lesson observation and interviews. Constant comparison and analytic induction were used to organize and categorize the data. Results showed that there were similarities and differences in teaching behaviours, teaching strategies and decision making during different stages of teaching between the two groups of subjects. Although the two groups of subjects held similar teaching beliefs and perceptions about physical education, they appeared to possess different teachers' knowledge of teaching. It was likely that the different teaching experience in physical education between the two groups accounted for the differences in their teaching behaviours. Findings of the present study hold implications for the preparation of physical education teachers.

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This is a case study of a program of native speaker part-time EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers in a junior college in Japan. It has grown out of a curiosity to ascertain how the teachers have formed and continue to maintain a coordinated program in what would seem to be a disadvantageous national context where as part-time foreign teachers they are expected to do little more than just teach a few classes of mainly oral English. This study investigates the organizational culture the teachers have formed for themselves within their staffroom, and looks at the implications of this for part-time teachers in such an environment. More specifically, the study highlights that central to the program is an interactive decision-making function engaged in by all the teachers which has not only created but also continually enables an identifiable staffroom culture. This organizational culture is contingent on college and staffroom conditions, program affordances such as shared class logs and curriculum sharing, and on the interactive decision-making itself. It is postulated that the contingencies formed in this created and continually creating shared world not only offer the teachers a proficient way to work in their severely time-constricted environment, but also provide them with fertile ground for the self-regulation of a thus created zone of covert staffroom ‘on-the-job’ teacher development.