University teaching and learning experiences which are characterized as unsatisfactory by many faculty and students can be more precisely defined as manifestations of poorly developed higher order thinking skills. Two hypotheses relevant to this problem are explored in this thesis. The first is that it is possible to use the characteristics of good and poor problem solvers documented in the literature as a productive way of recognizing and understanding the learning problems experienced by many university students. The second hypothesis is that the integration of the characteristics of effective problem solvers into a framework of general problem solving heuristics is a practical and effective strategy to move students along a continuum to better developed higher order thinking skills within the broader context of knowledge acquisition. The teaching strategy developed from the literature and illustrated in a case study, is designed to capitalize on the scholarship of faculty often underutilized in their teaching, by encouraging faculty to be more self-conscious in making process skills explicit in a way that is meaningful to their students. As demonstrated in the case study, it is a strategy which utilizes teaching opportunities and data sources available in the classroom situation. The results of the case study indicated that, in this case: (1) characteristics of good and poor problem solvers were observable in the classroom situation; (2) faculty could learn and use the strategy effectively in the context of discipline teaching; (3) the strategy did not seriously restrict the amount of content to be taught; (4) students did acquire skills specific to the strategy implemented; and (5) that particular areas of concern for further applications were encouraging students to actively engage in process tasks, to have more confidence in their use of reasoning as a tool and to place more emphasis on the cognitive skill of evaluation.

Many curriculum innovations introduced into schools have experienced implementation failure. From this seminal condition emerged a problem for investigation. There has been a dearth of information in the research literature on the problem of implementation, and conceptualization on the nature of this educational phenomenon is in a neophyte and disturbing state. Consequently education has a need for cogent and pervasive speculations relative to curriculum implementation. It is this need that gave rise to the purpose of the study---the formulation of a comprehensive, theoretical explanation for the process of curriculum implementation. The study did not engage in the production of empirical facts about implementation. Instead what was developed was a framework, or theoretical model, for making intelligible the facts already available. The central foundation or data base for the theoretical model was the descriptive data procured from twenty-five research studies on implementation. Additional evidence was drawn from numerous ancillary studies when further explication and elaboration was necessary to support or extend generalizations and categories emerging from the analysis of the central, descriptive data. The methodology was labelled as an interpretative-theoretical type. The methodology consisted of four fundamental, interdependent, sequenced but distinct phases. Phase one, or exploration, established the general purpose, research direction, and definitional limits of the study. The second phase was one of description. This phase required a descriptive, enumeration of twenty-five curriculum implementation studies. This, in turn, produced the foundational data base of the study. Phase three, or categorization, produced the essential and necessary categories of the curriculum implementation process. These categories emerged through abstractions and generalizations from the descriptive data base, and were supported and extended by additional evidence derived from ancillary implementation studies. The fourth stage of the study was the construction of a theoretical model that would represent the meaning of curriculum implementation. In order to accomplish this purpose, the theoretical model provided explications for the following research questions: (1) What are the component elements of curriculum implementation? (2) What is the purpose of curriculum implementation? (3) Who are the curriculum implementation actors? (4) How does implementation occur? The study concluded that the curriculum implementation process is composed of four necessary categories of essential elements; three elements of substance and one element of process. The three substantive categories were the curriculum, the user, and the organization. Each element was determined to have a particular characteristic nature relative to curriculum implementation, and each to have a particular function to perform in the process of realizing implementation goals. The process category was identified as one of planning. This was a planning process for action, or more specifically instructional action, and was characterized by the mutual interaction of the three categories of substantive curriculum implementation elements.

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

Literature indicates that sex role stereotyping in the sexuality education classroom is a pervasive problem in three primary areas: sexual responsibility, sexual orientation and sexual purpose. According to the literature, girls are portrayed as potential victims, with near exclusive sexual responsibility for controlling boys who are irresponsible and sexually aggressive (Rury, 1987). Regarding sexual orientation, queer relationships are ignored and heterosexual relationships are emphasized (Fine, 1988; Lenskyj, 1990). Discussions of sexual purpose (the reasons for sexual relationships) focus almost exclusively on reproduction, and not pleasure, particularly for women (Fine, 1988; Greenberg and Campbell, 1987). However, studies are outdated and few focus on actual classroom practices of teachers. This study explores how sexuality education in three Ontario classrooms aligns with literature on sex role stereotyping. Data from classroom observations, interviews and documents are analyzed using qualitative methods. Findings indicate that the teaching practices reflected a more complex picture than literature on sexuality education suggests. Although stereotypes were reinforced, surprisingly, there were several occasions when the teachers also challenged sex role stereotypes. This study identifies obstacles to gender equitable teaching practices and makes recommendations for research, teacher practice, policy and theory.

Dans le but d'elucider la dynamique de l'apprentissage de groupe, nous analysons la resolution de probleme en termes de strategies et d'accomplissement en situation. Les strategies sont observees au cours de la resolution d'un probleme creatif complexe et peu defini, et des notes de nature biographique sont prises sur le contexte d'implantation et d'experience de ces strategies. Nous proposons une definition originale des strategies de resolution de probleme. Les strategies sont definies comme un ensemble de choix reflexifs et regulateurs etablis en connexion avec le contexte de la tache et en coherence avec des buts sociaux. Ces choix sont operes dans chaque groupe d'apprentissage en accord avec un regulateur different: pair, stagiaire, ou expert. Ces regulateurs se preparent, interviennent en un discours pedagogique dont des extraits sont analyses, et reflechissent a voix haute apres l'action sur ses implications. L'objectif general de la recherche est de determiner par des moyens quantitatifs et qualitatifs quelles strategies d'apprentissage, lors de la resolution d'un probleme en groupe, sont reliees a la reussite de la tache et aux progres des eleves: (a) Determiner la relation entre l'organisation observee dans des groupes regules par une enseignante experte, une novice ou un pair, et la reussite d'une tache verbale complexe sur le plan des savoirs, des procedures, et de l'experience; (b) Decrire le traitement de l'information dans la resolution du probleme pose dans chaque groupe en indiquant le role des informations issues de l'environnement de la tache, des modeles de situation interiorises par les eleves, des dispositions et des buts sociaux-affectifs; (c) Interpreter les resultats en termes d'optimalisation de l'apprentissage en groupe. Le probleme analyse consiste a enregistrer, en groupe, un message original et creatif sur un repondeur telephonique (message sortant). Pendant l'experimentation, la regulation dans la resolution de probleme porte sur plusieurs episodes strategiques: ecouter ou lire les consignes, reflechir, planifier, explorer, appliquer et verifier. L'ensemble du processus d'apprentissage est influence par des situations particulieres: experience anterieure, implicite ou explicite, modeles de situation (maniere dont les enfants se representent ce qu'ils font), biographies individuelles et de groupe. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.