<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> <p align="left">The aim of the study was to investigate the nature of biology practical work and associated discourses in two Namibian secondary schools. The purposive sample consisted of three biology teachers and 36 grade 11 students who enrolled for NSSC Higher- and Ordinary-level biology in 2004 and 2005. The study adopted a descriptive and an in-depth qualitative design involving the use of interviews and observation schedules (Video Observation Quoting Schedules-VOQS). The quality of VOQS instruments were established through a panel of independent experts who critically assessed the quality of the items and later discussed to reach consensus. Their rating of the items helped in the establishment of interrater reliability.</p> </font></font></p>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> <p align="left">The aim of the study was to investigate the nature of biology practical work and associated discourses in two Namibian secondary schools. The purposive sample consisted of three biology teachers and 36 grade 11 students who enrolled for NSSC Higher- and Ordinary-level biology in 2004 and 2005. The study adopted a descriptive and an in-depth qualitative design involving the use of interviews and observation schedules (Video Observation Quoting Schedules-VOQS). The quality of VOQS instruments were established through a panel of independent experts who critically assessed the quality of the items and later discussed to reach consensus. Their rating of the items helped in the establishment of interrater reliability.</p> </font></font></p>

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The aim of the study was to investigate the nature of biology practical work and associated discourses in two Namibian secondary schools. The purposive sample consisted of three biology teachers and 36 grade 11 students who enrolled for NSSC Higher- and Ordinary-level biology in 2004 and 2005. The study adopted a descriptive and an in-depth qualitative design involving the use of interviews and observation schedules (Video Observation Quoting Schedules-VOQS). The quality of VOQS instruments were established through a panel of independent experts who critically assessed the quality of the items and later discussed to reach consensus. Their rating of the items helped in the establishment of interrater reliability.

The diploma thesis on the subject of Project education in a littleclass school raises a research question: Does the inclusion of a project education in a littleclass school help to develop pupils key competencies? The aim is to describe, analyse and evaluate the use of project education at the primary level of a littleclass school. In here project education is understood as one of the possibilities of realising educational content, which is defined by the Framework Educational Program for elementary education. The thesis is divided into two parts - theoretical and practical. The theoretical part is based on the transformation of the Czech education after 1989. It points out the humanisation program of school reform and constructivist approaches in teaching. It deals with the characteristics of project education, typologies and phases of the project. It familiarises itself with the specifics of a littleclass school and with the possibility of incorporating project education into this type of school. It points out the positives, but maybe even the dificulties of project education. The practical part deals with the realization and reflection of several projects in the littleclass school with regard to the specifics of this type of establishment. On the basis of the analysis, it tries to assess whether...

The thesis deals with the process of construction of mathematical knowledge of an individual and a group of pupils. At the outset, some concepts are discussed which belong to the theoretical background of our research (knowledge construction process and its mechanism, typology of mathematical knowledge, character of a mathematical structure, constructivist approaches to the teaching of mathematics, creative teaching, action research). Some results of selected local and foreign research focusing on constructivist approaches and action research in mathematics education are given. The methodology mainly consists of teaching experiments which can, to a certain extent, be seen as cycles of cooperative action research. The target group consists of pupils of lower secondary grammar school. The data gathered through traditional methods of qualitative research (participation observation, audio and videorecordings, pupils' artefacts, notes of an external observer, etc.) were analysed using the techniques of grounded theory. The research has generated results of three types: (1) The categories of individual and group constructions in mathematics have been described in depth including their dimensions (the measures of the teacher's influence on the construction, of the pupils' cooperation, of pupils' formal acceptance...