This study examined the use of discovery learning in science and how it affects students' academic performance as well as their self-efficacy in science. It also used a diagnostic tool to identify students' misconceptions about processes in the water cycle and where the misconceptions originated. While the study showed that the treatment group had a statistically significant greater academic gain from the pre-test to the post- test than did the no-treatment comparison group, from a teachers view point the gain would not be enough to benefit a student's performance on high stakes tests. Because the study was able to identify eight common misconceptions, it suggests that the misconceptions that students possess are difficult to uproot even using teaching methods that have been proven successful. / CITE/Mathematics and Science Education

Since the introduction of the American Academy of Pediatrics Back to Sleep Campaign infants have not met the recommendation to “incorporate supervised, awake “prone play” in their infant’s daily routine to support motor development and minimize the risk of plagiocephaly”. Interventions are needed to increase infants’ tolerance for prone position and prone playtime to reduce the risk of plagiocephaly and motor delays. Associative learning is the ability to understand causal relationship between events. Operant conditioning is a form of associative learning that occurs by associating a behavior with positive or negative consequences. Operant conditions has been utilized to encourage behaviors such as kicking, reaching and sucking in infants by associating these behaviors with positive reinforcement. This dissertation is a compilation of three papers that each represent a study used to investigate a potential play based interventions to encourage prone motor skills in infants. The first paper describes a series of experiment used to develop the Prone Play Activity Center (PPAC) and experimental protocols used in the other studies. The purpose of the second study was to determine the feasibility of a clinical trial comparing usual care (low tech) to a high-tech intervention based on the principles of operant conditioning to increase tolerance for prone and improve prone motor skills. Ten infants participated in the study where parents of infants in the high tech intervention group (n=5) used the PPAC for 3 weeks to practice prone play. Findings from this study suggested the proposed intervention is feasible with some modifications for a future large-scale clinical trial. The purpose of the third study evaluated the ability of 3-6 months old infants to demonstrate AL in prone and remember the association learned a day later. Findings from this study suggested that a majority of infants demonstrated AL in prone with poor retention of the association, 24 hours later. Taken together these 3 papers provide preliminary evidence that a clinical trial of an intervention is feasible and that associative learning could be used to reinforce specific prone motor behaviors in the majority of infants.

A Study of the Effect of Cognitive Styles Learning Approaches on Identifying English Clause Tasks Lieu, Pin-huei Abstract The main purpose of this study intended to discuss the effect of Field Independent subjects(FIs), Field Dependent subjects (FDs) of junior high school using Discovery, Rule Learning approaches on identifying English clauses task. The questions explored here were: 1.How did FIs and FDs differently perform on identifying English clauses tasks. 2.How did Discovery and Rule learning approaches differently perform on identifying English clauses tasks. 3.How did FIs / FDs and Discovery/Rule learning approaches create interactive effect on identifying English clauses tasks. The study used experimental research method. The subjects were 90 third grade students of junior high school. According to the scores of Embedded Figures Test students were divided into FI and FD. Then depending on the scores of the prior test on identifying English clauses task, FIs and FDs match with two group to accept Discovery and Rule learning approaches , and each one was composed of 10 students. The instruments was ¡§ Embedded Figures Test¡¨ , ¡§self-made that clauses test ,¡¨and the information acquired was dealt with statistical testing through 2*2 ANOVA .The results indicated as followings. 1.An interactive effect of cognitive style and learning approaches were found through ANOVA. FIs using Discovery learning performed better than using Rule learning ,and FDs using Rule learning performed better using Discovery learning .In sum ,FIs appropriately use Discovery learning approach and FDs appropriately use Rule learning approach on identifying English clauses task. 2.Cognitive style lives up significantly different level .FIs performed better than those of FDs. 3.No overall difference were found between Discovery and Rule learning approach. Finally the study discussed the above results in more detail ,and provided suggestions and references of research concerning teaching of English clauses .

The aim of this study is to explore the perceptions of Mathematics teachers using Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as educational tool in their classrooms. This study focuses on the Mathematics teachers’ 21st century-oriented pedagogical practices that propagate learning outcomes that are considered essential for all learners to prosper in this ever-changing and demanding information society. The learning competencies considered are termed lifelong competencies as they transcend the classroom and school environment and can thus be used to solve authentic problems in day-to-day life. The development of these learning competencies, especially by using ICT, has become vital in equipping learners with the necessary skills to become confident citizens in this globalised world. The role the teacher plays is increasingly acknowledged as having a major impact on this process. An essential assumption of this study is that learning activities facilitated by teachers utilising ICT efficiently and effectively as an educational tool have the potential of enhancing the quality of learning competencies. Moreover, as the role of the teacher in these activities is highly important, the teacher’s characteristics and background have the potential to determine the overall success of the learners. Using the underlying principles of Activity Theory and the conceptual framework of SITES 2006 this study investigates the relationship between these three components, i.e. ICT integration, learning competencies, and teacher background and characteristics. The intricate relationships that exist among these three components are investigated in this study in the context of Mathematics education. This is a secondary data analysis study that utilises data from the SITES 2006 South African Mathematics teachers’ questionnaire. Only Mathematics teachers who indicated using ICT as an educational tool in the discovery of Mathematics principles and concepts were considered. Using Spearman’s correlation coefficient, the data was analysed to determine the strength of the relationships among the variables. Findings of the study suggest that certain teacher characteristics do indeed influence the probability of teachers developing certain learning competencies in learners. Moreover, the findings indicate that a number of the learning competencies investigated in this study are not as readily attained as others. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2013 / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

Thesis (M. Ed.) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of guided discovery instructional strategy on the grade 9 learners’ performance in chemical reactions. Secondly, to determine the effect of guided discovery instructional strategy on gender (boy and girl). The quantitative, descriptive and inferential research was conducted to determine if there were any differences between the performance of learners taught using Guided discovery and learners taught using direct instruction. Data collection was done using pre-test and post-test. Two groups of learners participated in the study. The experimental group (n = 40) was taught through Guided discovery. The second was Control Group (n = 35) taught through direct instruction. The findings reveal that guided discovery instructional strategy resulted in better performance of learners in science than direct instruction. Learners expressed an increased interest, motivation and self-efficacy after being exposed to guided discovery. Therefore, the study recommends that teachers need to move learners from dependent direct instruction to more independent learning through guided instruction. KEY TERMS Guided discovery learning, performance, learner

This thesis explores the dynamic field of motion skill acquisition and uses discovery learning as means for learning motions. Differences are discussed between a virtual game environment and a real environment and how this can relate to motion skill acquisition. By testing different instructions for a created serious game, this thesis aims at exploring if there are significant differences in gameplay and motion skill acquisition. Respondents were exposed to different instructions before playing a game based on motion skill. In-game time was measured in order to understand if the time results could be affected with different types of instructions, furthermore, if no instructions regarding motion skill could be beneficial. Results indicate that no instructions lead to greater in-game time as well as tendency for showing greater fondness for the game controls.

This research is primarily concerned with the on-going development of the secondary mathematics curriculum in The Bahamas. In order to determine whether pupils assimilated mathematical ideas into a schematic structure, and could retrieve and use them as final behaviours outlined in the syllabuses, data from two diagnostic tests administered to pupils of 13+ and 15+ years respectively, were analysed. For the former age range, 377 pupils completed an Objective Test containing 50 items and for the latter age range 241 pupils attempted a Choice-Type Test with the instruction to choose any 10 of the total of 14 questions [continued]…

One type of instruction that is of particular interest in STEM education is instruction that actively engages students in inquiry and discovery. The author develops an operational definition of instruction for discovery learning (IDL) that adopts some of the fundamental commonalities among many reform-oriented instructional frameworks such as inquiry-based and project-based instruction. Four teachers—who received their bachelor’s degree in mathematics and teacher certification from the same undergraduate teacher-preparation program—and their Algebra I classes were observed with the focus on how particular features of IDL were being implemented in their classrooms. To gain further perspective on classroom practices and interactions, student surveys were administered to a total of 142 students and each teacher was interviewed. The student surveys focused on student orientations toward IDL, attitudes toward mathematics, and their perspective of IDL implementation in their class. Student survey data was analyzed through ANOVA, post hoc tests were used to identify significant pair-wise differences between teachers for which the ANOVA identified significance, and a factor analysis was used to evaluate the component loadings for the survey questions. The surveys revealed significant differences between perceived activities in the classes (p<0.05), but did not show very significant differences between student orientations toward IDL. All four teachers expressed familiarity with and commitment to reform-oriented frameworks such as inquiry-based and project-based instruction, and certainly experienced inquiry-based learning as students themselves in their undergraduate program. However, only one teacher—the one teaching in a New Tech high school that was structured on the framework of project-based instruction (PBI)—showed consistent differences in both student perspectives of IDL and observed implementation of IDL. The author discusses the levels at which these teachers implemented IDL, the differences among student perceptions across the classes, teacher orientations toward mathematics and learning, and the importance of a supportive school culture and administration in order to fully implement IDL and influence both student and teacher orientations toward reform-oriented pedagogy. / text

Child road safety education is one of the special aims for the comprehensive school. The education is one of the strategies of the traffic safety. Pedestrians are the most vulnerable category of traffic participants. Lithuania distinguishes by the biggest number of injuries of the pedestrians during accidents among other European countries. Considering the fact that formal obeying to the road traffic rules doesn’t guarantee the safety of the pedestrians, the most dangerous place for the pedestrian is the zebra crossing. Safe pedestrian traffic on the motor roads even formally obeying the Road Traffic Rules requires certain competence of road safety. People – pedestrians, their abilities to move safely in the dangerous environment of the motor road traffic are the most important factor in securing the safety of pedestrians. As demonstrated by the experience of other European countries safe traffic education programs that are being implemented in development practice are characterized by low efficiency when the change of the pupils’ behaviour in a real street is thought as the effectiveness of the education. The subject of the present dissertation is the development of child pedestrian road safety competence in the primary school. The goal of the dissertation is to reveal the situation of development of child road safety competence, to disclose the assumptions for road safety education in the primary school and their improvement, to interpret these assumptions theoretically... [to full text]

In today’s world of rapid technological development one cannot deny the importance of collaborative writing systems. Besides many advantages of a collaborative writing system the major one is to allow its end users to work in collaboration with each other without having to physically meet. In the past various researches has been carried out for the usability evaluation of collaborative writing systems using the think aloud protocol method however there is no study conducted on the comparison of different usability evaluation methods in the context of collaborative writing systems. In this thesis work the authors have tried to find the limitations and capabilities of think aloud protocol and co-discovery learning methods in the context of a collaborative writing system called ZOHO, as well as the usability evaluation of ZOHO using think aloud protocol and co-discovery learning methods. The authors found various usability errors in ZOHO. Apart from this the authors also observed the two usability evaluation methods when they were used for usability evaluation of ZOHO. The authors found that both the methods have its’ own benefits and drawbacks. While the co-discovery learning method was fast enough, it was expensive in terms of human resource. On the other hand think aloud protocol method was slow to perform but there was less human resource used. Both the usability methods found almost the same usability errors. / In this thesis work the primary objective was to figure out the limitations and capabilities of think aloud protocol and co-discovery learning methods in the context of ZOHO; a collaborative writing system. Apart from this the secondary objective of this thesis was to conduct the usability evaluation of ZOHO and to find out what makes ZOHO ineffective, inefficient and unsatisfactory. The authors carried out usability tests on ZOHO using the think aloud protocol and co-discovery learning methods. After the tests results’ analysis the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction level of ZOHO was figured in section 7.2.1, 7.2.2 and 7.2.3 while the usability problems that make ZOHO ineffective, inefficient and unsatisfactory are discussed in section 7.2.4 of this thesis. Apart from the usability of ZOHO, the authors were also able to identify strong and weak points of the think aloud protocol and co-discovery learning methods when used for the usability evaluation of a collaborative writing system. They found that think aloud protocol testing is better if the evaluator is cost cautious or if he is looking for a detailed usability problems but does not cares about the time taken by the test. However if the evaluator cares about the test time and he cares less about the cost in terms of participants required for the test then he should use the co-discovery method for testing a collaborative writing system.