The thesis discusses about the teacher's concept of teaching at teachers first grade of primary school and the possibilities of its transformation. In the theoretical part was to summarize the findings about which folders contains how the teacher's concept of teaching forms and which factors may cause changes in the teacher's concept of teaching. The aim of the empirical part of this thesis was to find out what the concepts of teaching have selected respondents. A partial aim of this study was to determine how the teacher's concept shaped and which factors affect the possible changes in the teacher's concept of teaching. Keywords: concept of teaching,teacher's concept properties, function of teaching concept, reflection, changes in the teaching concept, teacher, first grade of elementary school

This study is centred on transformation towards sustainable living. It investigated how global education prepares learners to live a sustainable lifestyle. To explore this area, the concept of sustainability, global education and transformative learning were critically examined, with a view to finding their relationships. Literature on sustainability, transformative learning and global education were reviewed to find out how their relationships impact on international students learning about sustainable living. The focus of the thesis is on environmental sustainability, especially through management of anthropogenic factors. The mixed methods research, involving the collection of quantitative and qualitative data was employed for the study. Quantitative data collection was done using survey instruments while qualitative data collection was through face-to-face interview of research participants. Each set of data was collected and analysed separately. The outcomes of the analysis of the two sets of data were integrated at the stage of discussion of findings. The aim of the study was to find out whether global education transforms learners towards sustainable living. Findings from the study showed that global education field transforms students towards sustainable living. Evidence from the study suggests that global education help students to acquire the skills and knowledge required for living sustainably. Also, the actions and behaviours of international students were found to be influenced more towards sustainable lifestyle than those from the host country. The degree of transformation students experience was measured by attitude change, intention to change and actions of students toward the environment. This study contributed to the conceptual understanding of the relationship between global education and transformation of learners towards sustainable living. It made both theoretical and practical contribution to knowledge. The findings from the study will be of benefit to different impact groups. These groups include business organisations, policy makers in government, educational institutions, and individuals.

The purposes of this study were to ascertain the relationship between the treatment and creativity post-test gains with independent variables of sex, grade, group, and Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills total battery scores. Major conclusions include the following. 1. Girls appear to benefit more than boys from the Multiple Talent Approach to Teaching. 2. Fifth grade students appear to benefit more than third grade students from the Multiple Talent Approach to Teaching. 3. The creativity test score gains favoring the experimental students seem to justify the conclusion that it is potentially possible to enhance creative thinking through a teaching process.

RESUMÉ V ANGLICKÉM JAZYCE The diploma thesis is focused on parts of speech in the Czech language in the lower primary school. Its aim is to chart it on the general level, to introduce their definition, their historical background and the selection into the word-classes. The theoretical section introduces the parts of speech as the common part of the language. It describes them on basis of the syntactic, semantic and morphological division. That is needed for concrete introduction and realisation of the individual parts of speech. For each word class there is also briefly showed how they are presented in contemporary Czech language textbooks for the lower primary school. The practical part focuses on introduction of new methods of teaching parts of speech mainly through games and unconventional tools. The games contain rules, time management, tools and number of pupils involved. Furthermore., there are the interviews with the teachers of the concrete lower primary school who had got to test the games and tools and summarizes their opinions. KEY WORDS parts of speech, teaching, the lower primary school, unconventional approach to teaching, games, unconventional tools

The main purpose of this workshop is to focus upon a complementary approach to the study of, and the investigation into, concepts related to Geometry- Space Strand. It ought to benefit educators especially those who prepare teachers for the primary/elementary schools. Participants in this workshop will initially learn the skills needed in Pop-Up Engineering to produce ‘hole’ 3- D paper models which illustrate some particular geometric concepts. The process of the construction of these models allows for building imagery, testing predictions, arousing and satisfying curiosity, connecting to Geometric concepts and most of all motivating and holding interest. It is envisaged that this approach to the teaching and learning of geometric concepts will provide grounds for discussion, enrichment, exploration, clarification of and ownership of ideas, and cross curriculum integration. It has the potential to reduce the apparent difficulty students experience with the study of geometric concepts.

The existing curriculum for piano lessons in West Malaysia is over-reliant on the syllabi of foreign examination boards resulting in a fragmentary curriculum which denies the student access to a wider range of musical experiences. The aim of the study was to identify and suggest solutions to problems by analysing the teaching approaches of piano teachers and to determine if there are elements which are lacking in the lessons. It also aimed to provide solutions by establishing a theoretical framework for effective piano teaching with optimal lesson plans. This study made use of mixed methods research design. A cross-sectional survey was conducted and data collection was by self-structured questionnaires. In addition, interviews were conducted for the qualitative component of this study. Twenty-five piano teachers with between one to twenty years of teaching experience were randomly selected to participate in the survey. A further fifteen interviews were conducted with teachers who were selected from the participants of the survey by purposive sampling. Interpretative phenomenology analysis was used to analyse the interviews in an effort to gain a better understanding of the nature and quality of the piano teaching in West Malaysia. The study finds that having piano examinations with regularity, usually on a yearly basis, has largely dominated the curriculum with examination requirements and has resulted in several elements being missing or absent in a typical lesson. Hence the situation is clearly not ideal as lessons are too examination oriented. Furthermore, students are generally not exposed to sufficient opportunities to display their skills and musical achievements. These findings suggest that Western classical piano music can be taught more effectively in West Malaysia if teachers re-think their approach to teaching in terms of planning for an optimal lesson. This would involve having both long-term and short–term goals in which a variety of strategies and important elements are incorporated seamlessly using the “simultaneous learning” approach advocated by Harris, Crozier and Ley. / Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Music / unrestricted

The main purpose of this workshop is to focus upon a complementary approach to the study of, and the investigation into, concepts related to Geometry- Space Strand. It ought to benefit educators especially those who prepare teachers for the primary/elementary schools. Participants in this workshop will initially learn the skills needed in Pop-Up Engineering to produce ‘hole’ 3- D paper models which illustrate some particular geometric concepts. The process of the construction of these models allows for building imagery, testing predictions, arousing and satisfying curiosity, connecting to Geometric concepts and most of all motivating and holding interest. It is envisaged that this approach to the teaching and learning of geometric concepts will provide grounds for discussion, enrichment, exploration, clarification of and ownership of ideas, and cross curriculum integration. It has the potential to reduce the apparent difficulty students experience with the study of geometric concepts.

The study explored instructors' conceptions of teaching and their teaching practices in four Ethiopian universities in the light of the existing calls for the employment of student-centred approach to teaching in higher education in Ethiopia. The study was grounded on the assumption that instructors are unlikely to adopt student-centred approach to teaching unless their conceptions of teaching are developed and/or unless the teaching environment is supportive. To address the objective of the study, data were collected using a mixed methods research design using a sequential exploratory strategy. Based on this strategy, data were obtained first qualitatively from 20 instructors through interviews and classroom observations and then quantitatively from 160 instructors and 170 students through questionnaires. The data from the interviews and the classroom observations were analysed qualitatively using a phenomenographic approach and content analysis respectively whereas the data from the questionnaires were analysed statistically using SPSS. From this, frequencies, mean scores and percentages were computed in order to summarise and interpret responses. In addition, independent samples test and one-way ANOVA were applied to examine the differences in conceptions of and approaches to teaching among instructors. Furthermore, Pearson correlation coefficient was applied to examine the relationship between instructors‟ conceptions of teaching and their teaching practices. From the results, it was found that instructors‟ conceptions of teaching in the four universities incline towards the student-centred conception of teaching though there were also instructors whose conceptions of teaching were the traditional teacher-centred. Regarding teaching practices, although the instructors claimed that their teaching practices were student-centred, the results of the study appear to suggest that meaningful instructional practices were still under the influence of the traditional conception of teaching. In addition, numerous factors were found to be impeding the proper implementation of student-centred instruction including the background of the students, the instructors‟ obsession with lecturing and lack of enabling environment. Based on the findings, teaching improvement programs that develop instructors‟ conceptions of teaching were suggested. Furthermore, a supportive environment that enables instructors to translate their changed conceptions of teaching into their teaching practices was recommended. Finally, recommendations for further studies were provided. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

The study explored instructors' conceptions of teaching and their teaching practices in four Ethiopian universities in the light of the existing calls for the employment of student-centred approach to teaching in higher education in Ethiopia. The study was grounded on the assumption that instructors are unlikely to adopt student-centred approach to teaching unless their conceptions of teaching are developed and/or unless the teaching environment is supportive. To address the objective of the study, data were collected using a mixed methods research design using a sequential exploratory strategy. Based on this strategy, data were obtained first qualitatively from 20 instructors through interviews and classroom observations and then quantitatively from 160 instructors and 170 students through questionnaires. The data from the interviews and the classroom observations were analysed qualitatively using a phenomenographic approach and content analysis respectively whereas the data from the questionnaires were analysed statistically using SPSS. From this, frequencies, mean scores and percentages were computed in order to summarise and interpret responses. In addition, independent samples test and one-way ANOVA were applied to examine the differences in conceptions of and approaches to teaching among instructors. Furthermore, Pearson correlation coefficient was applied to examine the relationship between instructors‟ conceptions of teaching and their teaching practices. From the results, it was found that instructors‟ conceptions of teaching in the four universities incline towards the student-centred conception of teaching though there were also instructors whose conceptions of teaching were the traditional teacher-centred. Regarding teaching practices, although the instructors claimed that their teaching practices were student-centred, the results of the study appear to suggest that meaningful instructional practices were still under the influence of the traditional conception of teaching. In addition, numerous factors were found to be impeding the proper implementation of student-centred instruction including the background of the students, the instructors‟ obsession with lecturing and lack of enabling environment. Based on the findings, teaching improvement programs that develop instructors‟ conceptions of teaching were suggested. Furthermore, a supportive environment that enables instructors to translate their changed conceptions of teaching into their teaching practices was recommended. Finally, recommendations for further studies were provided. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

The aim of this study was to determine the possible successes and pitfalls in implementing a process to accelerate learning and raise learner performance through a multiple intelligence approach. A study of the theory of Multiple Intelligences was conducted which also implied a thorough study of the physiology of the brain, how it learns and how it should be utilised in the classroom. A case study was conducted amongst the learners and teachers of a specific school to determine their ability, willingness to change and their performance in the application of Multiple Intelligences in the classroom. The challenges associated with the implementation of the MI approach were established through different methods. It was found that teachers have much more difficulty in adapting to a new teaching approach than the learners. Time constraints, constant monitoring and support, teacher training, teachers' attitude to change, big classes, a lack of resources and teacher resistance added to the reality which policy makers have to consider in implementing a new approach. / EDUCATIONAL STUDIES / MED (DIDACTICS)