This study of laboratory based instruction at higher secondary school level was an attempt to gain some insight into the effectiveness of three laboratory instruction methods: cooperative group instruction method, individualised instruction method and lecture demonstration method on biology achievement and retention. A Randomised subjects, Pre-test Post-test Comparative Methods Design was applied. Three groups of students from a year 11 class in Pakistan conducted experiments using the different laboratory instruction methods. Pre-tests, achievement tests after the experiments and retention tests one month later were administered. Results showed no significant difference between the groups on total achievement and retention, nor was there any significant difference on knowledge and comprehension test scores or skills performance. Future research investigating a similar problem is suggested / Master of Education (Hons)

This study of laboratory based instruction at higher secondary school level was an attempt to gain some insight into the effectiveness of three laboratory instruction methods: cooperative group instruction method, individualised instruction method and lecture demonstration method on biology achievement and retention. A Randomised subjects, Pre-test Post-test Comparative Methods Design was applied. Three groups of students from a year 11 class in Pakistan conducted experiments using the different laboratory instruction methods. Pre-tests, achievement tests after the experiments and retention tests one month later were administered. Results showed no significant difference between the groups on total achievement and retention, nor was there any significant difference on knowledge and comprehension test scores or skills performance. Future research investigating a similar problem is suggested / Master of Education (Hons)

The aim of the thesis is to investigate how teaching devices, with focus on ICT use are regarded in education. I make comparison with teaching without technical devices, but emphasize the teaching with such devices. I address questions concerning what technical devices are used and in which way these devices may enhance the education process. In addition, in which way the devices influence power and communication. The methods indicate a deductive-abductive approach, observations, interviews, and questionnaires. The theoretical framework focuses, Linguistics, Pedagogy, cognition, and Informatics. The results-part is built up on two cases – one concerning teaching with technical devices, the other concerning teaching without those devices. The results imply that the schools of Sweden use computers and Internet in a very ‘common’ way. However, there are intentions to use cell phones with software to assist the teaching. By this approach, that would be possible to add an additional time to the lectures since the pupils and teachers can work outside the classroom. One problem with technical devices is named ‘noise’, which are things in between the ‘useful’ (technical) devices and issues around that can decrease the learning process. In addition; if the goal is to have a symmetrical relationship between teacher and pupil, it may be difficult without taking carefully account on the (technical) device in use, and perhaps regard them as cognitive tools. From what I found, the tools are not regarded as cognitive.

Instructional practices in mathematics courses at two-year colleges include lecture as the predominant instructional form in 78% of two-year colleges, with class sizes averaging about 26 students (AACC, 2005). The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) indicates that there is a need for change in the practices of mathematics teachers because students are not being served well by the traditional pedagogical approaches (Burrill & Hollweg, 2003). The standards-based reform movement has had a positive impact on pedagogy but there are ongoing issues of alignment of teaching strategies to more student-centered practices (Barrington, 2004). This study examined the standards-based teaching practices of college mathematics faculty in the first two years to answer the research questions: What alignment exists between two-year college mathematics instructor’s knowledge and the instructional standards published by the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges in Beyond Crossroads? What are the components that characterize the instructional practices of two-year college instructors? What relationship exists between the alignment of Two-Year College mathematics faculty instructional practices with Beyond Crossroads? An interpretative qualitative methodology with an embedded survey was applied to examine how the American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges standards are currently being aligned with instruction in the first two years of college. An analysis of the data revealed that standards-based teaching strengthens instructor delivery and accommodates diverse learning styles. Mathematics faculty use technology as a teaching tool and use a variety of student-centered activities to engage students to help them make meaningful connections. Findings from the study suggest there exist a strong relationship between the American Mathematical Association of Two Year College standards and instructor practice in the first two years. The findings indicate that mathematics faculty struggled in changing their instructional practice to meet the needs of their students. Furthermore, findings suggest that those invested in the mathematics education in the first two years constantly adjust their teaching through professional development opportunities. Additionally, mathematics faculty modified the curriculum to customize their instruction to align with standards-based teaching practices as their knowledge and awareness of standards develops as a professional.

Due to the development of the broadband Internet access and advanced learning technology, online synchronous teaching with teachers and students located at many different countries becomes feasible nowadays. Online international teaching not only enhances the varieties of teaching environments but also arouses learners to generate multiple thoughts through interacting with foreign instructors and classmates without living their own countries. However, online international teaching is a more complex educational environment, the cross-cultural differences and the characteristic of computer-mediated communication result that a single instructor would not be possible to handle all the matters in an online synchronous classroom. In the past, international instructors employed teaching assistants to reduce problems of cultural differences. This idea can be applied to online international teaching, a group of instructors can form a teaching team which includes different nations¡¦ instructors, teaching assistants and technicians such that the problems caused by the cross-cultural communication and challenges of information technology can be reduced. Online international team teaching is a brand new teaching environment, there are few researches being done in this kind of teaching environment so far. Therefore, this study wants to explore the components and the important criteria for online international team teaching. The case we adopted for this study was an online international team teaching course called ¡§Business English and Communication¡¨ offered by the MIS department of NSYSU. This research used participant observation and in depth interview to get primary data, and then use the phenomenology to analyze the secondary data which extracted from course discussion boards. The research findings are three main components and 17 criteria in total for online international team teaching. The three main components are ¡§online international teaching¡¨, ¡§online collaboration by teaching team¡¨ and ¡§interacting instruments¡¨. ¡§Online international teaching¡¨ includes 6 criteria offering guidelines for international teaching. ¡§Online collaboration by teaching team¡¨ includes 5 criteria offering suggestions for international collaboration. And ¡§interacting instruments¡¨ includes 3 criteria related to the interacting instruments of online international team teaching course. The last 3 criteria are for the common intersection of the three main components. We also proposed suitable suggestions from three different aspects, teaching aspect, material/ system aspect and learning aspect for researchers to do further study and for instructors to better teach online international team teaching courses.

<p>The aim of the thesis is to investigate how teaching devices, with focus on ICT use are regarded in education. I make comparison with teaching without technical devices, but emphasize the teaching with such devices. I address questions concerning what technical devices are used and in which way these devices may enhance the education process. In addition, in which way the devices influence power and communication.</p><p>The methods indicate a deductive-abductive approach, observations, interviews, and questionnaires. The theoretical framework focuses, Linguistics, Pedagogy, cognition, and Informatics. The results-part is built up on two cases – one concerning teaching with technical devices, the other concerning teaching without those devices. The results imply that the schools of Sweden use computers and Internet in a very ‘common’ way. However, there are intentions to use cell phones with software to assist the teaching. By this approach, that would be possible to add an additional time to the lectures since the pupils and teachers can work outside the classroom. One problem with technical devices is named ‘noise’, which are things in between the ‘useful’ (technical) devices and issues around that can decrease the learning process. In addition; if the goal is to have a symmetrical relationship between teacher and pupil, it may be difficult without taking carefully account on the (technical) device in use, and perhaps regard them as cognitive tools. From what I found, the tools are not regarded as cognitive.</p>

This work set out to investigate two questions: 1) what is the state of qualitative understanding of magnetism at various stages of expertise? 2) What approaches to problem-solving are used across the spectrum of expertise? I studied three groups: ten novices (university students who had completed one introductory course in electricity and magnetism), ten experts-in-training (upper division and graduate students) and 11 experts (physics professors and researchers). Data collection involved structured interviews during which participants solved a series of non-standard problems in magnetism while thinking out loud. The problems were designed to test for conceptual understanding. The interviews were audio taped, transcribed, and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. None of the novices and only a few of the experts in training showed a strong understanding of inductance, magnetic energy, and magnetic pressure; and for the most part they tended not to approach problems visually. Novices frequently described gist memories of demonstrations, text book problems, and rules (heuristics). However, these fragmentary mental models were not complete enough to allow them to reason productively. Experts-in-training were able to solve problems that the novices were not able to solve, many times simply because they had greater recall of the material, and therefore more confidence in their facts. Much of their thinking was concrete, based on mentally manipulating objects. Three, however, exhibited traits of experts, albeit not consistently. The experts solved most of the problems in ways that were both effective and efficient. Part of the efficiency derived from their ability to visualize and thus reason in terms of field lines. / text

A review of literature concerning teaching-learning media and the factors that influence the choice of teaching-learning media was conducted, in order to establish which teaching-learning media teachers are using to present a lesson, especially in OBE. The classification of teaching-learning media by different media specialists was looked into, before it was applied in a Biology lesson. The plant cell and animal cell sketches were used as examples to draw up transparencies, overlay-transparencies and to build models. An empirical investigation was undertaken to investigate which teaching-learning media teachers are using and why they are using certain teaching-learning media. It also investigated the role teaching-learning media plays in presenting a lesson and what can be done to help teachers to use more effective teaching-learning media in teaching Biology as part of Natural Science in the senior phase of OBE. According to the investigation teachers seem to stay with the traditional teaching-learning media, such as the chalkboard and textbook, for they are easily available, user-friendly and cost saving. However, there is a need that more courses should be offered, where teachers can be trained how to use certain teaching-learning media and how to create their own teaching-learning media. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

A review of literature concerning teaching-learning media and the factors that influence the choice of teaching-learning media was conducted, in order to establish which teaching-learning media teachers are using to present a lesson, especially in OBE. The classification of teaching-learning media by different media specialists was looked into, before it was applied in a Biology lesson. The plant cell and animal cell sketches were used as examples to draw up transparencies, overlay-transparencies and to build models. An empirical investigation was undertaken to investigate which teaching-learning media teachers are using and why they are using certain teaching-learning media. It also investigated the role teaching-learning media plays in presenting a lesson and what can be done to help teachers to use more effective teaching-learning media in teaching Biology as part of Natural Science in the senior phase of OBE. According to the investigation teachers seem to stay with the traditional teaching-learning media, such as the chalkboard and textbook, for they are easily available, user-friendly and cost saving. However, there is a need that more courses should be offered, where teachers can be trained how to use certain teaching-learning media and how to create their own teaching-learning media. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-63). Also available on the World Wide Web.