abstract: Employing narrative ways of inquiry, this study interrogated how a reform action--legal banning corporal punishment in schools, which was intentionally introduced into Taiwanese society by advocates as a social movement strategy at a time when the incidence rate of school corporal punishment was high--could contribute to ending educators' use of corporal punishment. From the narratives of the teachers who believed in corporal punishment, we see how the school system itself contributed to passing, mostly without educators' consciousness of doing so, from one generation to another, a punitive mind that deems punishment a necessity and humans to be incapable of self-regulation without extrinsic force. It is this punitive way of thinking, deeply rooted in Taiwanese culture that was challenged by the legal ban. The transformation of the punitive mind requires a psychological subject-object perspective move that allows the mind to break the identification with a previously built teacher identity submitting to coercive authority. Alternative values, beliefs, and ideas--particularly the caring, trusting, respectful and persuasive approaches to interpersonal relationship--must be brought into personal experiences in order to transform the punitive mind. However, the availability of alternatives does not guarantee transformation, nor does a pure logical reasoning of the alternatives make true transformation to happen. Transformation was discovered to happen in those moments, either in narrative critical reflection or in action, when the mind sees those stories of others or themselves that were once familiar but can be realized, interpreted, retold, or recreated if using a new set of assumptions and perspectives. The effects of the legal ban were mixed. It contributed to the decline of the most well-recognized form of corporal punishment--hitting students by sticks--and offered teachers who disbelieve corporal punishment, previously questioned and crowed out by their colleagues who hit, a strong backup to justify their opposition to sticks. And the ban created opportunities for teacher to learn alternatives. Nevertheless, because the wrongdoing-punishment disciplinary framework still dominates school campuses, the ban also led to the increase or creation of new forms of coercive and humiliating measures that could not be constrained by this legal ban. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Psychology 2013

abstract: Teaching evolution has been shown to be a challenge for faculty, in both K-12 and postsecondary education. Many of these challenges stem from perceived conflicts not only between religion and evolution, but also faculty beliefs about religion, it's compatibility with evolutionary theory, and it's proper role in classroom curriculum. Studies suggest that if educators engage with students' religious beliefs and identity, this may help students have positive attitudes towards evolution. The aim of this study was to reveal attitudes and beliefs professors have about addressing religion and providing religious scientist role models to students when teaching evolution. 15 semi-structured interviews of tenured biology professors were conducted at a large Midwestern universiy regarding their beliefs, experiences, and strategies teaching evolution and particularly, their willingness to address religion in a class section on evolution. Following a qualitative analysis of transcripts, professors did not agree on whether or not it is their job to help students accept evolution (although the majority said it is not), nor did they agree on a definition of "acceptance of evolution". Professors are willing to engage in students' religious beliefs, if this would help their students accept evolution. Finally, professors perceived many challenges to engaging students' religious beliefs in a science classroom such as the appropriateness of the material for a science class, large class sizes, and time constraints. Given the results of this study, the author concludes that instructors must come to a consensus about their goals as biology educators as well as what "acceptance of evolution" means, before they can realistically apply the engagement of student's religious beliefs and identity as an educational strategy. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Biology 2014

The main purpose of the present study is to investigate whether learning and ways of understanding subject content and structure differ between successful and less successful students—i.e. in terms of their grade point average—in upper secondary school. A second issue is whether different subjects and disciplines—i.e. science on the one hand and humanities/social sciences on the other—make different demands on students. Data were gathered through interviews with a total of 36 students in two classes at two periods of their schooling. Additional data were gathered from interviews with teachers in the two classes and a sample of the tests given to the classes. Both classes receive instruction in science as well as humanities/social sciences but in one class (N) the emphasis is on science whereas in the other (S) the emphasis is on humanities/social sciences. A common characteristic of successful students is that they adjust to the teacher’s way of structuring the subject by means of a deep approach and a pronounced cue-seeking. They also play a dominant role in classroom communication. Less successful students more frequently use a surface or procedural approach to learning, are less sensitive for cues, do not adjust to the structure of subjects as presented by the teachers and do not participate to the same extent in classroom communication. The characteristics for successful students are very stable over time. As for the less successful students, there is a difference between N- and S-students. A majority of the S-students who use a surface approach in the first year change towards a deep approach later in their schooling, whereas the procedural approach of N-students is stable. It is concluded that the stability shown by the successful students can be explained in that their deep approach reflects their understanding that subject structure may vary and cue-seeking for these students signifies an awareness of and subsequent adjustment to the particular structure presented by the teachers. By understanding the structure according to teachers’ intentions, successful students are able to participate in classroom communication, eventually establishing a joint discourse. The differences between a change of learning for S- and N-students could be interpreted in light of differences in subject structure and instruction between subjects. In humanities/social sciences, classroom communication and the presentation of alternative interpretations of subject matter play a prominent role in instruction, and students who initially use a surface approach might get guidance to alternative ways of understanding the subject matter and subject structure. In the science subjects in the N-programme, the presentation of alternative interpretations is not  as common. These subjects also have a hierarchical structure, and understanding the basic fundamentals is a prerequisite for understanding later topics. For the students who initially use a surface approach in these hierarchically ordered subjects, learning becomes a matter of memorising more and more disconnected facts in what might seem to be disjointed courses.

Doctor Educationis / This study looks at the effect of a cross-cultural instructional approach on the learners’ conceptions of lightning and attitude towards science. It explored Basotho conceptions of lightning and thunder under the following themes: nature of lightning, protection against lightning, animalistic/humanistic behaviour of lighting and nature of wounds inflicted by lightning.

Mental models for scientific learning are often defined as, "cognitive tools situated between experiments and theories" (Duschl & Grandy, 2012). In learning, these cognitive tools are used to not only take in new information, but to help problem solve in new contexts. Nancy Nersessian (2008) describes a mental model as being [loosely] characterized as a representation of a system with interactive parts with representations of those interactions. Models can be qualitative, quantitative, and/or simulative (mental, physical, computational)" (p. 63). If conceptual parts used by the students in science education are inaccurate, then the resulting model will not be useful. Students in college general chemistry courses are presented with multiple abstract topics and often struggle to fit these parts into complete models. This is especially true for topics that are founded on quantum concepts, such as atomic structure and molecular bonding taught in college general chemistry. The objectives of this study were focused on how students use visual tools introduced during instruction to reason with atomic and molecular structure, what misconceptions may be associated with these visual tools, and how visual modeling skills may be taught to support students' use of visual tools for reasoning. The research questions for this study follow from Gilbert's (2008) theory that experts use multiple representations when reasoning and modeling a system, and Kozma and Russell's (2005) theory of representational competence levels. This study finds that as students developed greater command of their understanding of abstract quantum concepts, they spontaneously provided additional representations to describe their more sophisticated models of atomic and molecular structure during interviews. This suggests that when visual modeling with multiple representations is taught, along with the limitations of the representations, it can assist students in the development of models for reasoning about abstract topics such as atomic and molecular structure. There is further gain if students’ difficulties with these representations are targeted through the use additional instruction such as a workbook that requires the students to exercise their visual modeling skills.

The aim of this study was to quantitatively measure refutation text's power for conceptual change while qualitatively discovering students' preference of refutation or expository text structures. This study also sought to examine if religious interest levels predict conceptual change. Participants for this study were 9th, 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade seminary students from the private religious educational system of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The study was conducted in two sessions. Session 1 involved pretesting, interventions, and posttesting. Session 2 involved delayed posttesting and participant interviews. Results were predominately measured quantitatively with some qualitative interview analysis added to enrich the study. This research study provides insight into the refutation text effects in LDS religious education. Results of the study showed significant differences in conceptual change between participants reading refutation texts and those reading expository texts. In every case, the refutation text group performed higher on posttests than did the expository group. Results also showed participant preference toward refutation text structures. Furthermore, the study found significant correlations that verify topic interest as a possible predictor of conceptual change. Insights are valuable in aiding curriculum developers in implementing effective ways to teach doctrinal principles by utilizing refutation text interventions. The advantages of this research study add to educational research and identify areas for improvement and exploration in further research. This study of refutation text effects in religious education also broadens researchers' understanding of refutation text's power for conceptual change in subjects outside of K-12 science. Results of this study are of interest to researchers, teachers, curriculum writers, and LDS seminary teachers and administrators.

This study investigated three pre-service elementary teachers' understanding of fractions and fraction multiplication and division. The motivation for this study was lack of conceptual understanding of fractions and fraction multiplication and division. Pre-service elementary teachers were chosen because teachers are the conduit of information for their students. The subjects were followed through the fractions unit in a mathematics methods course for pre-service elementary teachers at Brigham Young University. Each subject volunteered to participate and were interviewed and videotaped throughout the study, and they also provided copies of all work done in the fractions unit in the course. The data is presented as three case studies, each beginning with a discussion of the subject's math history and prior understanding of fractions. Then the case studies discuss the subject's change in understanding of fractions, fraction multiplication, and fraction division. Finally, at the end of each case study, a discussion of the subject's conceptual understanding is discussed. Each participant showed a deepened conceptual understanding of fractions, fraction multiplication, and fraction division. The subjects' prior knowledge of fractions and fraction multiplication and division did affect their growth of understanding. Each participant had unique levels of growth and inhibitors to growth of understanding. At the times of most growth of understanding, the subjects' inhibitors of growth were also the most evident.

Students of all ages host a wide variety of scientifically inaccurate ideas and conceptions about everyday astronomical phenomena, such as the seasons, the moon phases, and gravity. The field of Astronomy Education Research has over the last decade experienced an accelerating growth, although the majority of studies have been conducted in the USA. In this work, the 9th grade students of a typical Swedish school were surveyed by means of a questionnaire in order to probe their conceptual understanding of several key concepts in astronomy. In the end, the number of respondents amassed to a total of 90. The results were analyzed with a constructivist approach in light of conceptual change theory and phenomenological primitives. In conjunction to this a postmodern view of the problem in question is presented. The compiled numbers were compared to the results of American high school students found in the large database of A Private Universe Project. The two samples were found to display only minor differences. Most notably, only around one in ten Swedish students could correctly account for the origin of the seasons, and only a very small percentage could point out the true distance-relation between the Earth and the Moon. In addition, approximately half of the students did not know the reason for why the Moon changes phase, and one in every four or five students believes there are stars between the planets in the Solar system. An analysis of the student sample was also made after separating out students who will obtain further education in astronomy in upper secondary school. With only one exception, no differences between the groups were found, suggesting that the misconceptions treated in this survey are present among all groups of students up to a certain educational level. However, in the group not intending to study more astronomy an astonishing 72 % had incorrect beliefs regarding the day/night cycle, indicating a possible fundamental lack of conceptual understanding about one of the most everyday astronomy-related concepts.

Det är vanligt att elever har vardagsföreställningar om naturvetenskapliga processer. Dessa föreställningar skiljer sig oftast från de naturvetenskapliga teorierna. Vardagsföreställningar betraktas som ett hinder för elevers lärande och därför bör vardagstänkandet beaktas. I denna studie har jag utforskat högstadieelevers tankar och föreställningar kring syror. Jag har undersökt om dessa elevföreställningar ändras efter genomförd undervisningssekvens om syror och i så fall på vilka sätt de ändras. Undersökningsmetoden jag använde var enkätmetoden. Enkäter bestående av öppna frågor delades ut till högstadieelever i en kommunal grundskola i Sverige före och efter genomförd undervisningssekvens. Resultatet visar att eleverna har många vardagsföreställningar kring begreppet syror. Dessa föreställningar förändras efter genomförd kemiundervisningssekvens. Elevernas vardagsföreställningar ersätts inte av de vetenskapliga, vilket överensstämmer med tidigare forskningsstudier. Vardagstankar har visat sig svåra att förändra. Den här studien upplyser om att skolans naturvetenskapliga undervisning ständigt bör utvecklas med hänsyn till eleversvardagsföreställningar och med fokus på elevernas lärande.

I denna ämnesdidaktiska studie undersöker jag om elevers förståelse av dels begreppet hållbar utveckling, dels begreppen miljömässig, social och ekonomisk hållbarhet, förändras, hur de förändras och varför, genom undervisning i företagsekonomi, undervisning som i sin tur baseras på variationsteori. Syftet med studien är att bidra med ökad kunskap om vad som påverkar att förståelsen för begreppen förändras när de studeras i ämnet företagsekonomi. Metoden är en kvalitativ textanalys där 41 gymnasieelevers skriftliga svar i ett förtest respektive ett eftertest har kartlagts och analyserats. Resultatet visar att efter undervisningen har förståelsen för begreppen förändrats, för vissa elever från vardaglig till hybridförståelse, för andra från hybridförståelse till disciplinär ämnesförståelse och för ytterligare andra från vardagsförståelse till disciplinär ämnesförståelse. I diskussionen beskriver jag förändringen som assimilation eller ackommodation samt utifrån begreppsbildningsteori där elevers intresse och attityd inför begreppen, bakgrundskunskap och motivationsfaktorer samt egna mål att lära i ämnet lyfts fram som förklaringar till förändrad förståelse. Slutsatsen är att både förförståelse, det vill säga i vilken förståelsekategori eleverna befinner sig innan undervisningen, och deras inställning till begreppen, påverkar om och hur förståelse förändras och fördjupas.