M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. / Statistics show an increase in the number of cases of abused and neglected children handled by the Child Protection Unit. These particular statistics indicate only the number of reported cases, which according to Lewis (1999) and Starke (1995) should be tripled to estimate the true number of children being abused every day. Action research was selected for this study to assist the parents and the children in extending their understanding of their situation and thus resolve problems that confront them. A high percentage of parents are aware that abuse and neglect exists in their relationships; they are also aware that behavioural problems may be exhibited by their children as a result of exposure to abuse and neglect. There is a growing need for counselling, guidance and support amongst the youth to be assertive, and be safe in their contexts. The psycho-education programme was based on the model of psychoeducation. Psycho-education as an alternative does not focus on sick or abnormal behaviour but rather has as its core a preventative focus-training in skills to solve problems now and in the future. During group work the children were trained to collectively experience, explore and communicate their feelings, and to learn alternative ways of dealing with abuse and neglect in their different contexts. The programme's effectiveness was evaluated. All the children acquired prevention concepts after the exposure to the programme. Fifty six percent of the parents observed some improvement in their children's behaviour, and eighty percent of the children reported that they were still afraid to talk to their parents about issues of discipline, for example corporal punishment.

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract.

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The main purposes of this thesis are to investigate the difference between the written English of deaf children and the written English of hearing children and to make recommendations on how to improve the writing of deaf children. In order to achieve this goal, both quantitative and qualitative research was done. The comparison of the writing of deaf and hearing children relies on quantitative research while the recommendations are based on qualitative analysis. The dissertation is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter discusses the problem, the significance of the research, the purpose of the study, the background to the problem and the theoretical framework. This chapter indicates the prevalence of deafness worldwide and in South Africa and its negative impact on the writing abilities of children. The second chapter provides a literature review on the theory behind reading and writing, with specific emphasis on emergent literacy and its relevance to the language acquisition and print language learning of deaf children. Another aspect of this chapter is the effect of different aspects of deafness on language acquisition and learning. The chapter also highlights the challenges for deaf children in South Africa and debates regarding the language of instruction that should be used to teach deaf children writing/reading, as well as arguments concerning bottom-up, top-down, and interactive approaches to writing. The third chapter provides the overall philosophical framework for the quantitative and qualitative research as well as the methodology used for the qualitative research. This is followed by the results of the quantitative research and a discussion of these results in Chapter 4. The fifth chapter is in the form of a second literature review that contains recommendations for improving the writing of deaf children. Following this, in Chapter 6, is a discussion of some of the theory behind interview interaction, as well as an analysis of how to develop a valid study. The researcher also sets out the interview structure. The seventh chapter contains a discussion of the findings of the interview to see if they confirm the findings in Chapter 5, as well as overall conclusions about assisting deaf children with their writing, a reflection on the study as a whole and suggestions for future research. This study argues that in order for deaf children in South Africa to develop their writing, immediate government assistance is necessary in order to implement countrywide newborn hearing screening, followed by medical and/or language-based ii intervention to minimise the impact of deafness on the language and writing abilities of deaf children. This is an essential foundation from which parents and teachers can build and play a key role in helping their children reach age-appropriate levels of written English.

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Psychological research suggests that Ritalin reduces the rate of maladaptive behaviors in hyperactive children but does not improve their academic performance. Teachers, however, often assert that writing skills and other graphic work are improved by Ritalin. Twenty elementary school children who had been diagnosed as hyperactive and who were taking Ritalin were tested using WISC-R coding, WISC-R block design, and Bender Gestalt. Ten of the subjects were assigned to a group which was first tested when the children were off Ritalin and subsequently tested when they were on Ritalin. The sequence was reversed for the remaining ten. This procedure was designed to counterbalance the effect of practice. Direct difference t-tests indicated that there were no differences between groups regarding any of the three dependent measures. Thus, results indicate that the popular conceptions among educators regarding the efficacy of Ritalin for improving visual-motor efficiency is open to serious question.

This paper deals with actual experiences of elementary school children in Bay County who were socially handicapped by emotional upsets which they were not able to overcome alone. For the greater part these children were in overcrowded classrooms and had to be helped by the teacher as frustrations became evident. It is the purpose of the writer to show how emotional disturbances contributed to the social maladjustment of the children whose cases will be discussed in this paper. / "July 3, 1950." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science under Plan II." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-71).

This case study explored the ways that aspects of a high school blended learning program (pseudonym: BL High) encourage or discourage personalization. For K-12 learners a major concern exists in the increasingly rigid dominion of the programmatic over the personal, which leaves many students disengaged and disconnected. Having expanded the ways in which students can interact with curriculum and teachers, 21st-century technology introduces new conditions that may, or may not, encourage personalization instead of standardized, efficiency-based policies and practices.In response to digital technology’s possible impact on education, this study documents student and teacher experiences as evidence of the ways in which personalization is encouraged or discouraged. Personalization was approached generally as a matter of context and power, such that factors shaping the learning process could be altered and that each learner could make decisions about those factors. Through the participation of nine students and three teachers, data were collected in interviews, photographs, and program and course documents. Findings showed that personalization at BL High was a complex matter that occurred through a collection of factors and a series of decisions. That collection of factors allowed students to engage in learning in and out of school while also supporting connections to school peers and teachers. The collection of factors was labeled the PATH model of personalization and was conjunctively defined as the overlap of program, agency, time, and help. Overarching findings were threefold: (a) the learning process at school involved far less flexibility in content and assignments than anticipated, (b) that limited flexibility coincided with student learning and agency that extended to personal passions beyond the school program, and (c) flexible timing existed as a double-edged sword, providing students with the opportunity to structure their use of time and pursue passions of their choosing but also leaving them at risk of time management challenges and stalled academic progress. Implications are discussed for researchers, teachers and school leaders, and the field of gifted education.