The main organising feature of Chinese characters is the structure of ideophonetic compound characters. In this structure, two components are identified: a semantic radical and a phonological component, which provide essential information for meaning category and pronunciation. Recent research has shown that knowledge of this structure is involved in the reading and writing processes of Chinese readers. This study investigated children's knowledge of the structure in their learning of novel characters. A structualist model of learning was proposed in this study: learners learn the structure, which underlies the Chinese characters and apply this knowledge generally to new characters with the same structure. This hypothesis was tested using a learning paradigm where 480 children, in grades 2-5 (aged 7-10) in Taiwan were asked to learn pseudo characters in a series of experiments. In Studies 2 and 3, the children were given two types of pseudocharacters, sensible (which followed the structure of ideophonetic characters) and nonsensical (which violated the structure). The effect of visual complexity of the stimuli was controlled. The results showed that the children in all four grade levels learned sensible stimuli significantly better than nonsensical ones. In Studies 4 and 5, the children were given the pseudocharacters that embedded different degree of regularity in relation to the semantic and phonological aspects of the structure of ideophonetic compounds. The regularity was defined as two levels of semantic transparency (transparent vs. opaque) and two levels of phonological regularity (regular vs. irregular). The results showed that the children learned significantly more semantic radicals when those radicals provided transparent semantic information than when they were opaque. The children also learned more phonological components when those components were regular than when they were irregular. With the two regular phonological principles, by derivation and by analogy, there was no difference between the two types of principles in children's learning. These findings were independent of the response modes in the experiments: this was true both when the children were asked to write down the characters they had learned and to identify the characters and read them. It is concluded that children use the knowledge about the main structure underlying the Chinese writing system in learning new characters. The semantic radicals and phonological components both play a significant role in children's knowledge of ideophonetic characters. The children use the phonological principles of both derivation and analogy equally well in their learning of new characters.

Educators have discovered that adolescents commonly hold misconceptions in science which interfere with future learning and are difficult to eradicate. However, although early informal learning experiences have been suggested as the source of these ideas, the process by which young children develop both sound knowledge and misconceptions in science has not been elucidated. This research, which is exploratory in nature, is a study of the development of just one concept in young children in the hope that some apparently contradictory evidence can be reconciled. The empirical enquiry was conducted in two parts: 1. A cross-sectional design was employed with thirty children at each age of four, six, and eight. Semi-structured individual interviews probed children's knowledge of food-related factual items and their understanding that people depend upon plants either directly or indirectly for their food.2. A qualitative enquiry was engaged to discover the experiences of young children, both inside and outside school, which might contribute to their knowledge about the origin of food. Children’s responses indicate an increase in factual knowledge with age. Although this can be linked primarily to their practical experiences, video film and adult explanation rather than books played their part as well. The children themselves frequently mentioned family-based experiences as the source of their knowledge. There was no significant correlation between factual knowledge and understanding, indicating the possible existence of an intervening process linking the two. On many occasions the younger children made statements which could inadvertently mislead the questioner to underestimate the extent of their knowledge. However, early signs of a scientific misconception which is known to cause problems for adolescent learners were found. This was not the result of faulty information provided by adults and could easily be overlooked. Insight from recent developments in cognitive science can help both to explain these findings and also in the design of improved pedagogic strategies.

This is a case study conducted at East Clark Elementary School. East Clark is located in the inner city of Cleveland, Ohio, USA. In the study an Action Team explored a way to incorporate ballet and creative movement into the regular classroom of three, second grade classrooms. It was funded by ICARE, a grantor that supports integrated arts curriculum endeavors. The funding granted was for four years, contingent upon successful completion of a pilot project. This thesis investigates the implementation and results of the pilot project. Using the concept of metamorphosis as the subject unit, the art, classroom, and guest dance teacher worked as a team to conduct science, reading, and literacy classes. Students and teachers attended performances of the Cleveland San Jose Ballet Company's production of Swan Lake, and two dancers from the company performed at East Clark with the students. Drawing upon E. D. Hirsch's theory of Cultural Literacy, area corporations were invited to participate in the project with the students. The study utilizes a project journal, interviews of the Action Team, and exploration of current research to both analyze the results and to place the issue of arts education in a wider context. America is a young democracy, and the drive to explore new frontiersimpacts on how democracy and capitalism are realized in the culture. While there is room for creativity, the place allotted to the arts is limited. For a democracy to thrive, its citizens must develop shared metaphors and experiences. One of the concerns about the inner city is the risk of is enfranchisement from the mainstream. While sub-cultures will exist in cultures, they can become divisive if populations become too estranged. We found that by using a multiple-intelligences teaching approach and community interaction, a rich, contextual environment was created. Feelings of empowerment and self-esteem began to emerge. Motivation to learn improved. Students retained the materials they had learned more than six months later. An unexpected result was that the Special Education students excelled to the point of leading the rest of the class in movement exercises and participation in the performance. Ultimately, systemic change of an educational setting w i l l require that the teachers change. Students pass through the system, but the teachers remain. The project proved motivating to the teachers who felt that they had each changed in some way. In the end, the recommended improvement from the teachers was their desire to incorporate the integrated arts curriculum approach school-wide.

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This study sets out to understand repeated procrastinating behaviours which may become detrimental to effective teaching, learning and assessment. The five case studies were conducted in a local authority primary school over a period of two years when the children were in Key Stage 1, aged five, six and seven years. The focus of this study was the possible detrimental effects of procrastinating behaviours in curriculum learning, through assigned tasks. Behaviours were observed and interviews conducted to reach a understanding of the tasks from the child’s perspective. The teacher’s perspective of the behaviours within the wide context of the assigned task was interrogated through social constructivist theories of leaming. The communicative process, by which co-participants in a task come to understand that task, was examined in light of the observed procrastinating behaviours. Within this process the influence of pupil learning identities, the use of power and questioning were particularly salient. The case studies suggest, in keeping with the author’s view, that procrastinating behaviours do have a detrimental effect on curriculum teaching, learning and assessment. It would appear that in the course of procrastinating, task objectives may be: ongoingly altered by the learners to confirm existing skills and knowledge, rejected by the learner in favour of alternative interests or progressively dfferentiated by the teacher in order to engage the learner, narrowing the opportunities for shared control of learning. It would seem that these behaviours have much to do with the active interpretation of tasks against the socio-cultural background of what passes as classroom knowledge and becomes classroom culture. It is likely that procrastinating behaviours may be reduced in conditions that allow learning to be ‘scaffolded’ in the social constructivist sense, that value discourse as a means of learning from each other and that share power and control of learning. The study proposes strategies which practitioners might find useful in identifying and reducing the incidence of procrastinating behaviours. These strategies are all concerned with the promotion of discourse in teaching, learning and assessment. They relate to task organisation and management, the construction of classroom culture and the learner’s role in approaching tasks. Through each of the strategies, the community in which the learners find themselves, has a role to play. This proposes a shift from individualism and differentiation to teaching with the goal of full participation.

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This thesis attempts to draw together two distinct perspectives on literacy acquisition, an educational perspective and a psychological perspective. Written English has a complex orthography that has motivated academics since the 15th century to devise 'definitive' teaching methods. Throughout much of the 20th century two influential and mutually exclusive teaching approaches dominated literacy acquisition, i.e. ~whole language' and 'phonics'. Recently, empirical psychological investigation has opened a new debate into the cognitive underpinning required for successful literacy acquisition. A developmental psychological approach argues that literacy development should capitalise on children's naturally developing phonological awareness that generally progresses from large units of sound such as rhyme and syllables to small units of sound, such as phonemes. Conversely, an instructional psychological approach proposes that, irrespective of children's naturally developing ability, it is the phoneme and its correspondence with its visual counterpart, the grapheme, that needs to be brought to children's attention from the earliest stages of learning about written language. It will be argued from an educational perspective, that the whole language approach is sub-optimal for induction into an alphabetic script and most phonics approaches take too long to be effective, are too decontextualised, or require too much apparatus. In line with the small unit approach in psychology, it is proposed that the starting point for literacy acquisition is to focus pre-literate children's attention on the 44 English grapheme-phoneme correspondences that can be blended and segmented into phonetically pronounceable words. This proposal was investigated in an intervention study over a period of 8 weeks for 10 minutes a day, in a whole early-years class setting and an error free entertaining environment. Results showed that this significantly improved initial literacy acquisition for less advantaged children, suggesting that an early induction into the alphabetic principle provides children with "a framework for setting up a written language recognition and production system sufficient to drive the development of a self-teaching mechanism" (Share, 1995; Stuart, 2000). The practical implications of this finding have particular significance for the NLS, which proposes a later start and a two-year structured programme of phonics teaching.

Since 1990 the Education for All (EFA) movement has acted as a worldwide commitment to the delivery of primary education as a basic human right. Reducing inequalities in terms of school access and academic achievement became a major concern in developing countries where education reforms were inspired by the EFA initiative. This was the case in Kenya and Mauritius, although evidence from the SACMEQ I (1995) and II (2000) survey studies reveals that these two countries presented the highest incidence of private tuition in the southern and eastern Africa region. In turn, such findings raise concern because they appeared to challenge the EFA objectives of quality and equality. The aim of the present thesis is to examine the phenomenon of private tuition in relation to the provision of primary education of good quality to all pupils (EFA initiative) in Kenya and Mauritius. Drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s theory on the ecology of human development the micro, meso and macro systems are examined as the three levels of the ecological environment of private tuition. In this way, attention was focussed on two critical points: (a) the position of parents in relation to the provision of paid extra lessons and (b) the potential tensions between the different ecological levels regarding the notion of educational equality put forward by EFA (the macro level), the national educational policies implemented for primary school (meso level) and the pupils’ school context (micro level). Survey data from Grade 6 pupils who participated in the SACMEQ III (2007) study reveals that paid extra lessons are delivered inside public (government) schools by pupils’ school teachers outside official hours. In addition, interviews with a sample of sixty parents reveal that in Kenya, private tuition is perceived not only as an important academic support but also as a safe environment where pupils are supervised by responsible adults, whereas in Mauritius private tuition is perceived as crucial for academic advancement. In conclusion, it was found that in both countries private tuition represents an integral component within their mainstream education systems.

Children grow up surrounded by numerals reflecting various uses of number. In their primary school years they are expected to grasp arithmetical symbols and use measuring devices. While much research on number development has examined children's understanding of numerical concepts and principles, little has investigated their understanding of these symbols. This thesis examines studies of understanding and use of number symbols in a range of contexts and for a variety of purposes. It reports several studies on the use of numerals by children aged between 3 and 5 years in Nursery settings in England, Japan and Sweden and their understanding of the meanings of these symbols. 167 children were observed and interviewed individually in the course of participating in a range of practical activities; the activities were designed for the study and considered to be appropriate and interesting for young children. The results are discussed in terms of how they complement existing theories of number development and their relevance to early years mathematics education.

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