We are living in a conceptual world which we build through both informal and systematic interaction. Concepts enable us to simplify and organize our environment and communicate efficiently with others. The learning of concepts is represented by a general idea, usually expressed by a word, which represent a class or group of things or actions having certain characteristics in common, is a matter of central concern for designing effective instructional conditions in the school setting. Thus, concept attainment is a cornerstone of social studies to help students to make informed and reasonable decisions and therefore is a fundamental and challenging aspect of social studies content. Previous studies had not focused specifically on concept questions and nonconcept questions. The purpose of this study is to determine whether 8th, 10th, and 11th grade students perform better on social studies questions which were classified as concept questions compared to questions which were classified as nonconcept questions. This study also attempts to identify the relationship between correct answers on concept questions and students' demographics. This study used a non-experimental descriptive, correlational, and causal-comparative research designs. This study used secondary data analysis, which involves a re-analysis of data collected for another study or purpose. The data for this study was gathered from Texas Education Agency, for all students who took the Spring 2006 and Spring 2009 version of the Grade 8, Grade 10, and Grade 11 Social Studies TAKS Tests. A statistical significant difference was found between the percentage of correct concept question and nonconcept questions. Students had higher achievement on nonconcept questions than concept questions. The researcher compared students' correct answers for concept questions between years, the result indicated that students scored higher on concept questions in 2009 than 2006. Also, there was a significant difference between male students and female students. Male students had a higher mean of concept questions than female students. In addition, Grade 11 had a higher mean on concept questions than Grade 10 and Grade 8. The researcher found significant differences among ethnicity. Asian students and White students scored better on concept question than other ethnic groups. The researcher also examined the correlation between concept questions and nonconcept questions. The result indicated that there was a significant positive high correlation between choosing correct answers for concept question and nonconcept questions. Last, native speaker students had a higher achievement on concept questions than ESL students.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1974. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

A natureza humana é fascinante. Do ponto de vista educacional, o movimento humano nasce a partir de relações baseadas em compromisso. Entretanto, o compromisso educacional tem raízes em instituições dotadas de uma rigidez estrutural significativa em seus valores e práticas. Talvez essas raízes sejam parte da explicação quanto à falibilidade elevada destas instituições face às novas formas de se pensar o permanente fluxo humano. Este fluxo, por natureza indomável, atualmente se encontra potencializado pela adoção de artefatos digitais que dão às pessoas múltiplas possibilidades de individuação. Talvez seja um erro persistir na reprodução de modelos educacionais inflexíveis, onde não haja a possibilidade de exercício da liberdade intencional. Nesta tese, buscamos identificar possíveis relações intencionais latentes que regem os compromissos educacionais porventura existentes nos processos de ensino e aprendizagem baseados em e-Learning. Concebemos princípios de Trajetórias Conceituais de Aprendizagem Intencionais (TCAIs), através das quais se torna possível registrar ações e inferir graus de Intencionalidade Pedagógica Docente (IPD) e Intencionalidade de Aprendizagem Discente (IAD). Um Indicador do Grau de Intencionalidade (IGI) e outro, denominado Indicador do Grau de Convergência Discente (IGCD) foram propostos. Através da conjunção de ambos se torna possível avaliar o grau de proximidade entre a IPD e a IAD, estas que são inerentemente subjacentes às estruturas das Trajetória Conceitual de Aprendizagem (TCA) produzidas durante os processos de ensino e de aprendizagem. O IGI mensura o viés intencional de uma Trajetória Conceitual de Aprendizagem, enquanto o IGCD permite avaliar o grau de compromisso normativo do discente em relação à proposta educacional em fluxo. / Human nature is fascinating. We are endowed with intentional capabilities that keep us in constant flux, leaving behind us evident traces of our passage. From an educational point of view, the human movement comes from commitment-based relationships. However, the educational commitment is rooted in institutions with significant structural rigidities in its values and practices. Maybe these roots could be a part of the explanation for the high unreliability of these institutions faced with new ways of thinking about the permanent human flow. This flow, of untamed nature, is currently enhanced by the adoption of digital artifacts that give people multiple possibilities of individuation. It may be an error persist in those inflexible educational models, where there is no the possibility of exercising the intentional freedom. In this thesis, we seek to identify potential latent intentional relationships governing educational commitments that would may exist in the processes of teaching and learning based on e-Learning. We design principles for Intentional Conceptual Learning trajectories (ICLTs), through which it becomes possible to record actions and infer degrees of Teacher’s Pedagogical Intentionality (TPI) and Student's Learning Intentionality (SLI). An Intentionality Degree Indicator (IDI) and the other, called the Student’s Convergence Level Indicator (SCLI) was proposed. Through the conjunction of both is possible assess the degree of proximity between the TPI and the SLI, these that are inherently underpinning to ICLTs structures produced during the learning and teaching processes. The IDI measures the intentionality bias from Conceptual Learning trajectories, while SCLI allows evaluating normative commitment degree of the students for the educational proposal in flux.

Abstract Since the establishment of World Wide Web in 1989, the life cycle of knowledge has been greatly shortened, which forces people to be more efficient in the creation, value-adding, update, exchange and use of knowledge. Thus, how to ¡§digitalize¡¨ and ¡§itemize¡¨ knowledge and the learning contents to form a more efficient knowledge cycle has become a crucial concern for one¡¦s competitiveness. Facing the new era of high-speed info, the traditional teaching approach has failed to meet the requirements of the ever-changing learning environment. Therefore, both the design and method of teaching should be changed in a great way in order to keep up with the ongoing development of the entire environment. We have to re-evaluate both the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet¡¦s influences on teaching, and develop a corresponding design module and assessment method, instead of merely digitalizing the traditional teaching materials, or just leaving it alone. If the learning contents could achieve the goal of being Reusable, Accessible, Durable, Interoperable and Adaptable, 50 ~ 80% of expense on developing new teaching materials will be saved. As a result, the main emphasis of this study lies on developing an Object-based E-learning Instructional Design Model which is adaptable to the itemization of conceptual learning. It will discuss the feasibility and effect of employing different multi-media and Example & Enquiry Strategy in the design of Internet Teaching Material Design. This study utilized Teaching Experiment Design, Pre- and Post- experiment, questionnaire assessment in gathering necessary information, which is concluded as below: 1. Teaching materials designed according to the Object-based E-learning Instructional Design Model is easier to understand, interest-provoking, and is adaptable to changes made along side with current events. 2. No significant difference shows among different media platforms of teaching materials generated under Object-based E-learning Instructional Design Model. 3. The ¡§simulation¡¨ method in ¡§Example & Enquiry Strategy¡¨ performed better effect than ¡§instructional games¡¨on the ¡§satisfaction of example & enquiry¡¨. Those who had experienced interaction and enquiry strategy have better learning grades than those who had not. 4.Personal traits and contents of teaching materials have remarkable interference with the learning effect of Object-based E-learning Materials. Keywords¡GObject-based¡BE-learning¡BInstructional Design¡BConceptual Learning¡BTeaching Achievement

A natureza humana é fascinante. Do ponto de vista educacional, o movimento humano nasce a partir de relações baseadas em compromisso. Entretanto, o compromisso educacional tem raízes em instituições dotadas de uma rigidez estrutural significativa em seus valores e práticas. Talvez essas raízes sejam parte da explicação quanto à falibilidade elevada destas instituições face às novas formas de se pensar o permanente fluxo humano. Este fluxo, por natureza indomável, atualmente se encontra potencializado pela adoção de artefatos digitais que dão às pessoas múltiplas possibilidades de individuação. Talvez seja um erro persistir na reprodução de modelos educacionais inflexíveis, onde não haja a possibilidade de exercício da liberdade intencional. Nesta tese, buscamos identificar possíveis relações intencionais latentes que regem os compromissos educacionais porventura existentes nos processos de ensino e aprendizagem baseados em e-Learning. Concebemos princípios de Trajetórias Conceituais de Aprendizagem Intencionais (TCAIs), através das quais se torna possível registrar ações e inferir graus de Intencionalidade Pedagógica Docente (IPD) e Intencionalidade de Aprendizagem Discente (IAD). Um Indicador do Grau de Intencionalidade (IGI) e outro, denominado Indicador do Grau de Convergência Discente (IGCD) foram propostos. Através da conjunção de ambos se torna possível avaliar o grau de proximidade entre a IPD e a IAD, estas que são inerentemente subjacentes às estruturas das Trajetória Conceitual de Aprendizagem (TCA) produzidas durante os processos de ensino e de aprendizagem. O IGI mensura o viés intencional de uma Trajetória Conceitual de Aprendizagem, enquanto o IGCD permite avaliar o grau de compromisso normativo do discente em relação à proposta educacional em fluxo. / Human nature is fascinating. We are endowed with intentional capabilities that keep us in constant flux, leaving behind us evident traces of our passage. From an educational point of view, the human movement comes from commitment-based relationships. However, the educational commitment is rooted in institutions with significant structural rigidities in its values and practices. Maybe these roots could be a part of the explanation for the high unreliability of these institutions faced with new ways of thinking about the permanent human flow. This flow, of untamed nature, is currently enhanced by the adoption of digital artifacts that give people multiple possibilities of individuation. It may be an error persist in those inflexible educational models, where there is no the possibility of exercising the intentional freedom. In this thesis, we seek to identify potential latent intentional relationships governing educational commitments that would may exist in the processes of teaching and learning based on e-Learning. We design principles for Intentional Conceptual Learning trajectories (ICLTs), through which it becomes possible to record actions and infer degrees of Teacher’s Pedagogical Intentionality (TPI) and Student's Learning Intentionality (SLI). An Intentionality Degree Indicator (IDI) and the other, called the Student’s Convergence Level Indicator (SCLI) was proposed. Through the conjunction of both is possible assess the degree of proximity between the TPI and the SLI, these that are inherently underpinning to ICLTs structures produced during the learning and teaching processes. The IDI measures the intentionality bias from Conceptual Learning trajectories, while SCLI allows evaluating normative commitment degree of the students for the educational proposal in flux.

A natureza humana é fascinante. Do ponto de vista educacional, o movimento humano nasce a partir de relações baseadas em compromisso. Entretanto, o compromisso educacional tem raízes em instituições dotadas de uma rigidez estrutural significativa em seus valores e práticas. Talvez essas raízes sejam parte da explicação quanto à falibilidade elevada destas instituições face às novas formas de se pensar o permanente fluxo humano. Este fluxo, por natureza indomável, atualmente se encontra potencializado pela adoção de artefatos digitais que dão às pessoas múltiplas possibilidades de individuação. Talvez seja um erro persistir na reprodução de modelos educacionais inflexíveis, onde não haja a possibilidade de exercício da liberdade intencional. Nesta tese, buscamos identificar possíveis relações intencionais latentes que regem os compromissos educacionais porventura existentes nos processos de ensino e aprendizagem baseados em e-Learning. Concebemos princípios de Trajetórias Conceituais de Aprendizagem Intencionais (TCAIs), através das quais se torna possível registrar ações e inferir graus de Intencionalidade Pedagógica Docente (IPD) e Intencionalidade de Aprendizagem Discente (IAD). Um Indicador do Grau de Intencionalidade (IGI) e outro, denominado Indicador do Grau de Convergência Discente (IGCD) foram propostos. Através da conjunção de ambos se torna possível avaliar o grau de proximidade entre a IPD e a IAD, estas que são inerentemente subjacentes às estruturas das Trajetória Conceitual de Aprendizagem (TCA) produzidas durante os processos de ensino e de aprendizagem. O IGI mensura o viés intencional de uma Trajetória Conceitual de Aprendizagem, enquanto o IGCD permite avaliar o grau de compromisso normativo do discente em relação à proposta educacional em fluxo. / Human nature is fascinating. We are endowed with intentional capabilities that keep us in constant flux, leaving behind us evident traces of our passage. From an educational point of view, the human movement comes from commitment-based relationships. However, the educational commitment is rooted in institutions with significant structural rigidities in its values and practices. Maybe these roots could be a part of the explanation for the high unreliability of these institutions faced with new ways of thinking about the permanent human flow. This flow, of untamed nature, is currently enhanced by the adoption of digital artifacts that give people multiple possibilities of individuation. It may be an error persist in those inflexible educational models, where there is no the possibility of exercising the intentional freedom. In this thesis, we seek to identify potential latent intentional relationships governing educational commitments that would may exist in the processes of teaching and learning based on e-Learning. We design principles for Intentional Conceptual Learning trajectories (ICLTs), through which it becomes possible to record actions and infer degrees of Teacher’s Pedagogical Intentionality (TPI) and Student's Learning Intentionality (SLI). An Intentionality Degree Indicator (IDI) and the other, called the Student’s Convergence Level Indicator (SCLI) was proposed. Through the conjunction of both is possible assess the degree of proximity between the TPI and the SLI, these that are inherently underpinning to ICLTs structures produced during the learning and teaching processes. The IDI measures the intentionality bias from Conceptual Learning trajectories, while SCLI allows evaluating normative commitment degree of the students for the educational proposal in flux.

Yes

School and learning readiness are continually being placed under the spotlight in an attempt to protect the grade 1 learner from possible learning failures, since unsuccessful learning experiences have negative effects even on a person's adult life. A factor that plays a significant role in the current teaching situation in the RSA is the fact that many grade 1 leamers are not instructed in their mother tongue and that they are not familiar with the concepts which are used in the language of learning and teaching. Another important factor is the fact that since 2004 learners may enrol as grade 1 learners at primary schools if they are five and a half years old and did not attend a grade R class. In this study the problems experienced by grade 1 leamers in primary schools since the implementation of Outcomes-based Education in the RSA in 1998, were determined by means of a pilot study. It was followed up by a literature study on the brain and factors that influence the working of the brain among young learners, as well as learning and factors that cannot only promote learning among this age group, but also disadvantage it. The literature was also consulted to look at stimulation of the child's development in the early development stage (0-9 years). As cross control for the study, the influence of the implementation of the RNCS was determined by means of a Likert-type questionnaire that was sent to grade1 teachers. As a result of factors that were identified from the above-named literature study and from the information acquired from the pilot project and Likert-type questionnaire, a conceptual stimulation programme for multicultural grade 1 classes was developed to provide in the shortcomings that currently occur among grade 1 learners. The Aptitude Test for School beginners (ASB), a standarised school readiness test of the HSRC, was used as a measuring instrument to acquire a differentiated image in a scientific way of the grade 1 learners (n = 39) for the purpose of this study. Thereafter, the learners were divided into an experimental and a control group. The conceptual stimulation programme was presented to the experimental group for ten consecutive weeks. The AS6 test was then conducted again with all the grade 1 learners involved. Both the first and final tests were marked according to the prescribed marking keys, interpreted according to the norm tables and statistically processed. The pre and post test scores of the two groups were compared and the experimental group improved in all 8 sections of the test battery, namely perception, spatial, reasoning, numerical, Gestalt, co-ordination , memory and verbal comprehension. In each of these categories there was an increase of d = 0.5 and more which according to Cohen's d-values, can be regarded as practically meaningful. The above-mentioned results indicate that the effective presentation of a conceptual stimulation programme to a group of multicultural grade 1 learners provides positive results and that the didactical methods used during the presentation can be recommended to grade 1 teachers in the current multicultural schools in the RSA. The programme can serve as a prototype to adress the shortcomings identified in the practise (questionnaires) and the literature study. Keywords for indexing are: stimulation programme, schoolreadiness, schoolreadiness programme, cognitive development, learning theories, conceptual learning, brain development. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

It is no unknown fact that South African learners underachieve in mathematics. Due to the fact that the quality of mathematics teaching is one possible factor that has an influence on learners' mathematics achievement, there are valid reasons questioning the conceptual mathematical knowledge of mathematics teachers. In order to facilitate conceptual understanding teachers themselves must possess profound mathematical knowledge. Apart from the influence of a teacher's knowledge for teaching, teachers' attitudes and beliefs play a meaningful role in the way they teach mathematics. The deficient nature of prospective and practising teachers' knowledge of school mathematics, as well as their attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics has serious implications for the training of prospective mathematics teachers. Literature reveals that a technologically enhanced environment can improve the conceptual learning of prospective mathematics teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of a dynamic technologically enhanced environment on the attitudes and beliefs, as well as the conceptualisation of prospective mathematics teachers regarding the function concept. In this study, prospective teachers were exposed to Geometer's Sketchpad®, a dynamic software programme providing a powerful learning context that promotes the investigation of algebraic relationships. In order to answer the research question, an explanatory mixed method design was used. In the quantitative part of the study, the Study Orientation Questionnaire in Mathematics and a function test were administered to prospective teachers. In the latter, conceptualisation of the function concept was measured in terms of four competence components, namely interpretation, modelling, translation and reification. In the qualitative part of the investigation semi-structured and task-based interviews were held with a group of prospective teachers. Analysis of the results revealed that the dynamic technologically enhanced environment did not contribute to an improvement of the prospective teachers' attitudes and beliefs. In fact, these decreased visibly. Regarding their conceptualisation, only the reification component showed a practically significant improvement. It therefore appears as if prospective teachers are not being prepared to benefit from the dynamic technologically enhanced environment. A model is proposed for the effective use of such a learning environment. The model involves that diagnostic assessment be made of prospective teachers' basic knowledge of the function concept, their study habits, their attitudes and beliefs with respect to mathematics, as well as their mathematics anxiety. The second component comprises recommendations made to prospective teachers as a result of the diagnostic assessment, as well as continuous support being offered as an integrated part of the mathematics module. Support is offered with respect to cognitive and meta-cognitive skills, affective factors and the creation of an advantageous technologically enhanced learning environment. Despite the restricted value of generalisation of the findings from this study, I still recommend the expansion, refining and implementation of the model so that prospective mathematics teachers can effectively benefit from a technologically enhanced environment. Key words for indexing: mathematics education, mathematics teacher education, teacher knowledge, prospective mathematics teachers, function concept, conceptual learning, tertiary education. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.