Orientador: Rosely Palermo Brenelli / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-25T13:18:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Oliveira_PatriciaMariade_M.pdf: 1356718 bytes, checksum: f6a1d53970aa485deb74d0f2d07a9b4c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: A presente pesquisa, fundamentada na Teoria da Epistemologia Genética de Jean Piaget quanto aos conceitos de interação social, tem como objetivo verificar a influência da interação social na elaboração de condutas no jogo de regras Quoridor em alunos do Ensino Fundamental I de diferentes idades e níveis de escolaridade. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa que busca caracterizar os níveis de conduta apresentados no jogo pelos alunos estudados e compará-los em duas situações de jogo: individual e grupal. Foram selecionados para esta pesquisa 39 alunos, que frequentaram as classes de 1º, 3º e 5º anos, sendo 13 alunos de cada ano escolar de uma escola particular estabelecida no município de Campinas, interior do Estado de São Paulo. Dos 13 alunos de cada ano escolar, foram sorteados 4 para participar da situação individual (N=12) e 9 para a situação grupal (N=27). A situação grupal se constituiu em nove grupos distintos, sendo três compostos por alunos da mesma classe e seis grupos compostos por alunos de diferentes classes, havendo predominância de um desses, na proporção de dois participantes da mesma classe. A coleta de dados foi realizada na própria escola em três encontros que tiveram duração média de 40 minutos cada um e se caracterizaram em: 1º encontro, três partidas para a aprendizagem do jogo, 2º encontro, três partidas com apresentação de situações-problema e 3º encontro, duas partidas do jogo. Para a análise dos dados foram considerados três níveis de condutas de jogo que apresentam as características fundamentais dos procedimentos empregados pelos participantes quanto à Compreensão das Regras, Antecipação e Construção de Estratégias. A análise estatística dos resultados obtidos apontou que não foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre as situações individual e grupal para a compreensão (p-valor=0,304), antecipação (p-valor=0,114), estratégias (p-valor=0,260) e pontuação (p-valor=0,200). Foi utilizado o teste não paramétrico de Mann-Whitney nas comparações. O teste não paramétrico de Kruskall-Wallis seguido do procedimento de comparações múltiplas de Dunn revelou que na conduta de Compreensão das Regras do jogo, a pontuação dos alunos do 3º ano na situação individual foi superior comparado ao 1º ano (p-valor=0,036) e 5º ano (p-valor=0,082) e dos alunos do 5º ano em situação grupal foi superior comparado ao 1º ano (p-valor=0,002); na conduta de Antecipação, a pontuação em situação individual foi superior para o 5º ano comparado com o 1º ano (p-valor=0,026) e 3º ano (p-valor=0,057) e na situação grupal a pontuação também foi significativamente superior para o 5º ano em relação ao 1º ano (p-valor=0,002) e 3º ano (p-valor=0,047) e na conduta de Construção de Estratégias, a pontuação do 3º ano foi superior comparado com o 1º ano (p-valor=0,039) na situação individual e superior para o 5º ano comparado com o 1º ano (p-valor=0,002) e 3º ano comparado com o 1º ano (p-valor=0,049) na situação grupal. A análise qualitativa realizada possibilitou apontar que para alguns sujeitos da pesquisa a situação grupal favoreceu a melhor compreensão do jogo Quoridor por possibilitar a ocorrência do conflito sócio cognitivo e provocar a construção de condutas mais eficientes à partir da interação social. O uso do jogo de regras constitui uma situação de desafio em que o sujeito é solicitado a agir, quando há uma perturbação sentida por ele, que ao ser compensada, resulta em progresso / Abstract: This current research, based on the Theory of Genetic Epistemology by Jean Piaget on the concepts of social interaction, has as its goal the verification of the influence of social interaction on the elaboration of conducts in the game of rules Quoridor in elementary school students from different ages and levels of schooling. This is a qualitative study that seeks to characterize the levels of conduct presented in the game by the students studied and compare them in two situations on game: individual and group. There were selected for this study 39 students that have attended classes in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades of school, being 13 students from each school year in a private school established in the city of Campinas, in the state of São Paulo. Of the 13 students from each school year, 4 were selected to participate in the individual game situation (N=12) and 9 were selected to participate in the group situation (N=27). The group situation is constituted in nine distinct groups, being three of them composed by students from the same class and six of them composed by students from different classes; there being the predominance of one of these, in the proportion to two participants of the same class. The data collection was performed in the same school on three moments that had average duration of 40 minutes each and characterized themselves in: 1st moment, three game matches so as to learn the game; 2nd moment, three game matches with the presentation of the problem situations; and 3rd moment, two game matches. For the data analysis there were considered three levels of game conducts that feature the fundamental characteristics of the procedures used by the participants on the Comprehension of Rules, Anticipation and Construction of Strategies. The statistical analysis of the results obtained has pointed that there weren¿t any significant differences between the individual and the group situations for the comprehension (p-value=0,304), anticipation (p-value=0,114), strategies (p-value=0,260) and punctuation (p-value=0,200). The nonparametric Mann-Whitney test was used for the comparisons. The nonparametric Kruskall-Wallis test followed by the multiple comparisons procedure of Dunn revealed that in the conduct of Comprehension of the Rules of the game, the punctuation of the students of the 3rd grade on the individual situation was superior compared to the 1st grade (p-value=0,026) and 5th grade (p-value=0,082) and the 5th grade students in group situation was superior compared to the 1st grade (p-value=0,002); in the conduct of Anticipation, the punctuation in individual situation was superior for the 5th grade compared to the 1st grade (p-value=0,026) and 3rd grade (p-value=0,057) and in the group situation the punctuation was also significantly superior for the 5th year when compared to the 1st year (p-value=0,002) and 3rd year (p-value=0,047) and in the conduct of Construction of Strategies, the punctuation of the 3rd grade was superior compared to the 1st grade (p-value=0,039) in the individual situation and superior for the 5th grade compared to the 1st grade (p-value=0,002) and 3rd grade compared to the 1st grade (p-value=0,049) in the group situation. The used qualitative analysis allowed to point out that for some subjects of the research the group situation favored the best comprehension of the game Quoridor by allowing the occurrence of social cognitive conflicts and causing the construction of more efficient conducts from the social interaction. The use of the game of rules constitutes a challenging situation in which the subject is asked to act when there is a disturbance felt by him, that being compensated to, results in progress / Mestrado / Psicologia Educacional / Mestra em Educação

D.Phil. / The research problematised the learning of mathematics in South African high schools in a Pedagogical Content Knowledge context. The researcher established that while at best, teachers may command mathematics content knowledge, or pedagogic knowledge, that command proves insufficient in leveraging the learning of mathematics and differentiation. Teachers' awareness of their learners' errors and misconceptions on a mathematics topic is critical in developing appropriate pedagogical content knowledge. The researcher argues that the study of learner errors in mathematics affords educators critical knowledge of the learners' Zones of Proximal Development. The space where learners experience misconceptions as they attempt to assign meaning to new mathematical ideas to which they may or may not have obtained semiotic mediation. In their Zones of Proximal Development learners may harbour concept images that are incompetition with established mathematical knowledge.Educators need to study and understand those concept images (amateur or alternative conceptions), and how learners come to have them, if they are to help learners learn mathematics better. Besides the socio-cultural v1ew, the study presumed that the misconceptions formed by learners in mathematicsmay also beexplained within a constructivist perspective of learning. The constructivist perspective of learning assumes that learners interpret new knowledge on the basis of the knowledge they already have. However, some of the knowledge that learners construct though meaningful to them may be full of misconceptions. This may occur through overgeneralisation of prior knowledge to new situations. The researcher presumed that the ideas that learners have of particular mathematical concepts were concept images they construct. Though some of the concept images may be deficient or defective from a mathematics expert's point of view, they are still used by the learners to learn new mathematics concepts and to solve mathematics problems. The lack of success in mathematics that results in the application of erratic concept images ultimately leads to unsuccessful learning of mathematics with the danger of snowballing if there are no practicable interventions. Differentiation is a new topic in the South African mathematics curriculum and most teachers and learners have registered problems in teaching and learning it. Hence it was imperative to do research on this topic from an angle of learner errors on that topic. The significance of the study is that this research isolated the differentiation learner errors and misconceptions that teachers can focus on for the improvement of learning and achievement in the topic of introductory differentiation. The research focused on the nature of errors and misconceptions learners have on introductory differentiation as exhibited in their 2008 examination scripts. It sought to identify, categorise (form a database) and discuss the errors and their conceptual links. A typology of errors and misconceptions in introductory calculus was constructed. The study mainly used qualitative methods to collect and analyse data. Content analysis techniques were used to analyse the data on the basis of a conceptual framework of mathematics and calculus errors obtained from literature. One thousand Grade 12, Mathematics Paper 1 examination scripts from learners of both sexes emanating from diverse social backgrounds provided data for the study. The unit of analysis was students' errors in written responses to differentiation examination items.

M.Ed. / The aim of the study is to assess the response of distance education students to constructivist based texts and to recommend criteria for the writing of distance education study guides. The research includes a literature review which discusses constructivist theory, distance education theory and the implications of combining the two in the instructional design of study guides. The theory is then put into practice in the design of three texts, each emphasising a different aspect of constructivism. Data on the participants' responses were collected by means of video tapes, direct observation and audiotaped interviews. The main findings of the research are: the participants had unique learning styles, their weaknesses lay in the metacognitive areas and their strengths in problem solving, and the students appeared to be in a state of transition from a surface learning approach to a deep one. The conclusion to the research suggests criteria which the researcher feels are important to instructional design in distance education. The criteria are based on the need for distance education students to construct meaning for themselves. They include ways of using constructivist skills to develop greater autonomy in the learning process, for example methods and techniques to facilitate metacognitive skills. The criteria suggest that the introduction of distance education students to constructivist learning should be a gradual process These criteria will be instrumental in assisting writers of study guides to facilitate construction of meaning and independent, critical thinking in students.

The purpose of this study was to explore how teachers’ practice either supports or constrains learners’ conceptual understanding. The study is structured within an interpretive paradigm. The research takes the form of a case study and focused on the teaching practice of two purposefully selected teachers who had been identified as being effective/successful practitioners. The data was collected in two stages. In the first stage, qualitative data was collected by video recording six classroom lessons, three for each of the two participating teachers. In stage 2, participating teachers were individually interviewed. In these interviews the two participating teachers were asked to reflect on their classroom practice, through a process of stimulated recall, where their actions seemed to either support or constrain the development of learners’ conceptual understanding. The study identified a number of elements of the two teachers’ practice that related to the development of learners’ conceptual understanding in the classroom. These include building on learners’ prior knowledge, the use of concrete manipulatives, questioning that promotes critical thinking, and the use of multiple representations and connections. The study also identified elements of the two teachers’ practice that had the potential to constrain the development of learners’ conceptual understanding. These include the lack of opportunities for co-operative or peer-oriented learning, the absence of questioning that leads to discussion, and a scarcity of activities that build mathematical concepts through hands-on engagement. The study highlights the need for supporting teachers and helping them strengthen their practice with regard to those activities that support the development of conceptual understanding in their learners.

This study investigates the possible effects that construction play (in the forms of guided play and guided play with exploratory talk) using the ‘6 Bricks’ approach has on the development of learners’ visual perception and reasoning abilities. The intervention, which aimed at developing visual perception, required the participating teachers to use the ‘6 Bricks’ approach three times a week over a period of six months. The sub-set of teachers in the intervention group who were also expected to facilitate discussion to promote reasoning abilities were tasked with additional ‘6 Bricks with exploratory talk’ activities once a week spread over ten weeks during the intervention period. The study followed an explanatory sequential mixed-method design with pre-post-testing using comparison and experimental groups to generate both quantitative and qualitative data. The sample included Grade 2 teachers and their learners in five purposively selected schools in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Quantitative data were generated via pre-post-analysis of two tests, namely, the Visual Perceptual Aspects Test (VPAT) and Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM) test. Statistically significant improvements were found in the experimental group’s pooled VPAT subtest scores as opposed to only three for the comparison group’s VPAT subtest scores. Statistically significant improvements in mean scores were achieved by some schools in the exploratory talk experimental group for the RCPM test. Qualitative data, obtained from teacher record sheets, researcher’s observations and semi-structured, open-ended teacher interviews were triangulated against the quantitative data. The findings, when considered in light of the literature, suggest that the ‘6 Bricks’ approach can contribute to the development of learners’ visual perception. In the instances when using the ‘6 Bricks’ approach with exploratory talk was implemented successfully, improvements in learners’ reasoning abilities were observed.

Children have prior knowledge, or mini-theories about science topics presented at school before being formally taught that is constructed from their everyday experiences. Teachers generally do not take this knowledge into consideration in the planning of science units and are often confused about why their students fail to learn. Hewson (1983) suggests that students will experience conceptual change only if it is intelligible, plausible, and fruitful and that prior knowledge, which is often an alternate conception of a scientific idea, must be challenged or clarified. Schon (1984) claims that teachers need to reflect on their actions in order to understand their own as well as their students' "constructed worlds". He suggests that teachers, when they reflect, become their own researchers. This case study examines how I, a teacher/researcher, adopted a constructlvlst perspective towards teaching a unit in magnetism and how the students responded. Vignettes of selected Incidents tell the story of the difficulties that my students had learning some of the concepts of magnetism and how I reacted to the knowledge that they were having difficulty. The unit in magnetism was taught to my class of thirty-two students (10/11 year olds) at an elementary school in a community in British Columbia using a constructivlst teaching sequence developed by Driver (1986).The lessons in magnetism were video-taped and both the students and I kept a journal. To elicit students' ideas about magnetism a diagnostic test was given at the beginning of the unit. A continuing record of students' ideas was kept throughout the study and at the end a post diagnostic test was given to see which, if any, alternate conceptions persisted. It was found that teaching with a constructivist approach had its' difficulties. Reflecting, for myself and my students, took practice and taking students' ideas Into consideration, both in the planning and teaching stages, may have taken more time than many teachers have available. However, the knowledge that I gained about my students' beliefs, through the process of reflecting, was valuable in planning lessons that both challenged and clarified the students' alternate conceptions. Teachers are recommended to take their students' ideas into consideration in lesson planning and to use activities that will encourage conceptual change. However, teachers should consider the time factor and the difficulties in reflecting before using a constructivist approach in teaching science. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

M.Ed. / The grade 12 Physical Sciences students of 2008 were the first group of South African students to write a National Senior Certificate (NSC) on the new outcomes-based education (OBE) curriculum – the National Curriculum Statement (NCS). Society scrutinised the performance of students in this high stake examination. The outcome was disappointing: 71,3% of the students achieved a mark of less than 40%, and 45% of the group achieved a mark of less than 30%. Concern amongst the educational community, specifically the Department of Education (DOE), initiated a request for research into the possible causes of the poor performance by students in this examination. There are many factors that affect the performance of students, including the misconceptions held by students regarding subject content. This study aims to contribute knowledge about the common misconceptions held by science students regarding Physics. It also investigates the performance of students in explanation-type questions and what explanation-types reveal about student misconceptions. The research design for this study is a content analysis which was carried out qualitatively in two phases. In the primary phase, a sample of student examination scripts was analysed. During the secondary phase, interviews were conducted with grade 12 Physical Sciences students and teachers from one school. The findings of this study are that the following misconceptions are commonly held by students: • Heavier objects exert more force on lighter objects during a collision; • Total external resistance decreases when an external resistor, connected in parallel, is removed; • Energy is lost in certain situations; • A split-ring is found in an AC generator; • The voltage increases when appliances are added to a multi-plug.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of constructivist methods on student learning in an undergraduate art appreciation class. Three constructivist learning activities were designed and implemented in an undergraduate art appreciation course for non-art majors at Mississippi College. Through these constructivist learning activities, students were involved in their learning throughout the semester in realistic art roles in which they worked as curators, Web page designers, and artists. Six subjects were selected to participate in this case study. Subject data was collected through three methods: interviews with subjects at three points during the semester, student documents produced during the three activities, and a field journal of observations made during the activities. The multiple data sources were triangulated to reveal nine patterns of learning. The data evidence that constructivism results in a deeper understanding of art and art processes than in a typical art appreciation course in which learners are merely passive recipients of knowledge. This was not only indicated by the nine patterns of learning which emerged from the data, but also in the students' awareness and regulating of their cognitive processes. Although the research provided an in-depth understanding of this case and should not represent or be generalized to the entire population of art appreciation students, the results of this study suggest that art appreciation instructors have an opportunity to facilitate high levels of student thinking and encourage metacognitive skills through constructivist methods such as the ones used in this study.

Orientador: Telma Pileggi Vinha / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-28T02:39:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Oliveira_MarianaTavaresAlmeida_M.pdf: 3188232 bytes, checksum: 62b64446609d90d4732d3e1509537252 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: Fundamentado na teoria piagetiana, este trabalho se constitui de um estudo qualitativo e quantitativo que tem como objetivos identificar as causas, as estratégias empregadas e as finalizações dos conflitos vividos entre alunos de 13 e 14 anos. A amostra foi constituída por 63 alunos do oitavo ano de duas escolas públicas estaduais do Ensino Fundamental II de uma cidade do interior paulista, escolhidas por conveniência. Os dados foram coletados por meio de 27 sessões de observação das interações sociais dos adolescentes, em diferentes momentos da rotina escolar, contabilizando um total de 108 horas, sendo encerradas por saturação. Os resultados das observações indicaram que as principais causas que geraram conflitos nos alunos de 13 e 14 anos foram a provocação e a reação ao comportamento perturbador. As estratégias de resolução mais frequentemente utilizadas foram as unilaterais e o abandono foi a finalização mais comum para as desavenças observadas. A contribuição do estudo foi, portanto, o detalhamento das evoluções da compreensão e da vivência dos conflitos interpessoais, oferecendo subsídios para o planejamento de intervenções mais afinadas com as necessidades próprias de cada faixa etária, favorecendo o desenvolvimento de estratégias de resolução de conflitos mais cooperativas / Abstract: Characterized as a qualitative and quantitative study and grounded in Piaget's theory, this study aimed to identify the causes, the strategies employed and the outcomes of conflicts experienced between 13 and 14 year old students. The set consisted of 63 eighth grade students from two elementary public schools in São Paulo State/Brazil, chosen at convenience. Data were collected through 27 sessions of observation of social interactions of adolescents, at various situations of school routine, accounting for a total of 108 hours, being closed by saturation. The results of observations indicated that the main causes that led to conflicts among 13 and 14 year old students were teasing and reaction to annoying behavior. Resolution strategies more frequently used were unilateral and abandonment was the most common outcome for the observed disagreements. The contribution of the study was, therefore, to detail the developments in the understanding and in the experience of interpersonal conflicts, providing support for the planning of interventions more in line with the needs of each age group, favoring the development of conflict resolution strategies more cooperative / Mestrado / Psicologia Educacional / Mestra em Educação

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / In post - apartheid South Africa, a lack of adequate financial and physical resources in historically disadvantaged public schools is a major barrier to effective teaching and learning. Schools in the rural South Africa are part of communities and therefore can be seen as microcosms of societal conditions. The national Ministry of Basic Education has a responsibility to provide a necessary educational infrastructure to all public schools. Other relevant stakeholders such as the community and businesses need to assist the government to supplement the delivery of educational infrastructure. It is against this background that the study undertakes to assess the delivery of educational infrastructure that will lead to service delivery improvement. Some of the considered focused areas in the study include the demographics of the schools, the condition of the school infrastructure and the legislative frameworks that serve to support educational infrastructure. Literature on various forms has been reviewed in order to understand the regulatory framework upon which the delivery of educational infrastructure is based. The study used the qualitative method to investigate the delivery of educational infrastructure. The main findings indicated that educational infrastructure in rural schools is generally poor and there is a shortage of physical resources in schools. It is clear in this regard that current processes are hampering the Department of Basic Education to improve service delivery in public schools especially those that are in rural areas. vi KEYWORDS  Department of Basic Education in Limpopo Province  Educational infrastructure  Assessment  Physical resources  Public schools  Service delivery  Teaching and learning