Necessary Images examines the need for a teaching strategy that meets the demands critical pedagogue, Peter McLaren outlines in his recent books regarding the diverse student population. In meeting these needs, physical image work is implemented, abstracting techniques developed by theatre theoretician Augusto Boal and educator Nancy King. As images are created by students representing an issue or topic, students create, concentrate, follow directions, work collaboratively, and make decisions. All these skills lead to critical thinking and rehearsing ways to cope with life situations in the best way possible for each student. Necessary Images is designed to be implemented as a teaching tool, supplementing existing teaching strategies in any discipline for engaging students in the learning process by connecting real life experience to the curriculum.

There is a need in the United States for a philosophical change in education. Students schooled in the traditional manner of direct instruction are not graduating high school with adequate preparation to enter college or the work force. To change this trend, teachers must consider using methods other than direct instruction. This thesis presents one possible method: active learning. For information to be most useful to students, it must be made relevant. Active learning places emphasis on meaning making and the entire process of learning which encourages students to find connections with the material. In active learning, students become learners as well as learned in a subject, a step beyond direct instruction. Presented is a model for all of curriculum, a refinement of active learning for high school Shakespeare including example lessons.

In this study, I examined high school students' level of engagement by exploring the relationship between students' phenomenological perceptions of fairness and their levels of engagement. This involved collecting and analyzing data based upon engagement and fairness scales that were created by a research team. Data were descriptively analyzed and factored to identify potentially distinct dimensions of fairness and engagement. Analysis included a correlation of four dimensions of fairness and five dimensions of engagement. Fairness and engagement were significantly related in almost all dimensions. One distinct finding was that "personal" perceptions of fairness were more correlated with engagement than other dimensions of fairness. When personal fairness was partialled out of the correlation, other dimensions of fairness failed to relate significantly with engagement. This suggests that personal experience of fairness has a more significant and salient affect on levels of engagement than any other identified dimension of fairness.

<p> The Program for International Assessment tested students in mathematics from 41 countries and found that students in the United States ranked in the lowest percentile. This struggle with math among youth in the United States prompted this quasi-experimental quantitative study about using interactive technology to engage and motivate 9^th grade students in an Algebra classroom. The theoretical basis of this study was a constructivist perspective, using the Piagetian concept of action as an intellect builder. A convenience sample of 76 students was divided into 4 groups: Group 1, the control group, used no technology and consisted of 21 students; Group 2 used the TI Nspires calculators and consisted of 17 students; Group 3 used the TI Nspire calculators with the TI Navigator and consisted of 20 students; and Group 4 used the TI Nspire calculators, the TI Navigator, and the clickers. The participants were given 45 instructional classes that covered a 9-week period. All groups took the Motivated Strategy for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness test (STAAR) before and after the treatment of interactive technologies. A paired <i>t</i> test and a factorial repeated ANOVA were conducted, revealing no significant effect for the MSLQ based on the use of technology. However, the use of technology with the STAAR did show a significant difference in test scores for 2 treatment groups: Group 3, which used the calculator and the TI navigator; and Group 4, which used the calculator, the TI navigator, and the clickers. These results support the use of additional technology that is needed in the mathematics classroom to support the use of the calculators. </p>

<p> In this qualitative study, I sought to open a space where previously marginalized fifth and sixth graders - those identified for remedial reading classes - could become agents of their own reading. Rather than using mandated or scripted reading programs, I co-created an apprentice program with my intermediate students by which they became teachers of reading to first graders. My teacher-researcher stance allowed me to explore agentic acts among the students involved and identify classroom conditions which supported school-productive literacy. </p><p> The Apprentice-Teaching Project drew on sociocultural perspectives of literacy, apprenticeship theory, and a view of agency which connects students' agentic actions with the various identities they enacted. Data, including field notes, audio and video recordings, and student work, were analyzed using a combination of thematic and narrative methods. </p><p> In their roles as apprentice-teachers, participants learned new Discourses and remade their identities from school-identified "struggling" readers to Readers and Teachers, thereby joining the "literacy club." In general they exerted school-productive agency when confronted with difficult reading tasks, rather than remaining marginalized from school literacy communities. </p><p> I argue that students marginalized by the teaching practices fostered by recent educational policy initiatives are best served by knowledgeable, professional teachers who are free to create <i>responsive curricula </i> in light of needs observed among students. I further argue that the educational community needs to examine the ways we have approached the teaching of metacognitive reading strategies. The apprentice-teachers did not take up these strategies as tools to deepen their understanding; instead, they perceived the strategies as "tasks" to be done after reading. Furthermore, to foster <i>engaged reading</i>, this study demonstrated the efficacy of a curriculum that provides students with <i>voice</i> and <i> choice</i> in selecting texts and <i>socially-interactive environments </i> in which to construct meanings around those texts.</p>

<p> In 2007 Pioneer High School, a public school in Whittier, California changed the sequence of its science courses from the Traditional Biology-Chemistry-Physics (B-C-P) to Biology-Physics-Chemistry (B-P-C), or "Physics Second." The California Standards Tests (CSTs) scores in Physics and Chemistry from 2004-2012 were used to determine if there were any effects of the Physics Second sequencing on student achievement in those courses. The data was also used to determine whether the Physics Second sequence had an effect on performance in Physics and Chemistry based on gender.</p><p> Independent <i>t</i> tests and chi-square analysis of the data determined an improvement in student performance in Chemistry but not Physics. The 2x2 Factorial ANOVA analysis revealed that in Physics male students performed better on the CSTs than their female peers. In Chemistry, it was noted that male and female students performed equally well. Neither finding was a result ofthe change to the "Physics Second" sequencing.</p>

The study analyzed the relationship between cultural affinity and language dominance of Arab minority students participating in bilingual/bicultural education programs. The hypotheses tested were: (1) Arabic dominant Arab students would not exhibit a greater affinity for the Arab culture than for the American culture. (2) English dominant Arab students would not exhibit a greater affinity for the American culture than for the Arab culture. (3) Bilingual students would not exhibit an equal affinity for both the Arab and the American culture. / A major undertaking of the study was the modification and the adaptation of the Cultural Affinity Scale to the Arab culture, which was later used to assess cultural affinity. To assess language dominance, the Basic Inventory of Natural Language was used. The subjects for the study were 72 Arab minority students enrolled in fourth through eighth grade bilingual/bicultural classes in Wayne County School District in Detroit, Michigan. / The results of the study failed to confirm the relationship, if any, between the cultural affinity and the language dominance of Arab students in bilingual education programs. Regardless of their language dominance, the subjects demonstrated a consistent expression of their biculturalism. The fact that all the subjects were enrolled in bilingual/bicultural classes may be a significant factor in the explanation of the results. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-02, Section: A, page: 0352. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

Since the introduction of video games, youngsters have felt attracted to them. Youngsters spend many hours playing computer-generated games. / The purpose of this study was to determine the elements that make computer-generated games very attractive as well as the ones that are not attractive to the students and to develop a descriptive model that examines the relationship between the strategies the students used when playing video games and their cognitive styles. / The research investigated the use of two probabilistic video games (The Factory and Tetris) and two deterministic ones (Super Mario Brothers III and OutNumbered). The participants were four sixth grade girls. They were observed and video taped while playing video games. Also, they took two tests: Flags Test, for spatial visualization and GEFT for field dependence/independence. / A relationship was found between field dependence/independent cognitive style and the way the informants played games that have some kind of disembedding, like Tetris and The Factory. Also, there was a close relationship between the way the participants played video games that contain spatial-visualization components and their scores on the Flags Test scores. / This research found nine (9) elements the youngsters were attracted to in video game playing. Those nine elements were: (1) the active control the children have over the task they are doing, (2) a scoring system to provide an instant feedback, (3) attractive graphics, (4) sense of adventure, (5) continuous action, (6) absence of school-like environment, (7) the presence of a character with which to identify, (8) the absence of right answers, and (9) challenging situations every time they play. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-07, Section: A, page: 1807. / Major Professor: Janice Flake. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

Calls for reform in the way that calculus is taught stress the importance of instruction focused on graphic as well as analytic representations of functions and derivatives. The value of calculus lies in its potential to reduce complex problems to simple rules and procedures. However, students taught only rules and procedures often emerge from calculus classrooms without the ability to analyze graphs and lack an understanding of the conceptual foundations of the slope of a tangent line. Study based solely on analytic representations of functions and their derivatives often produces only procedural understanding. / In this study, two undergraduate calculus students were confronted with graphic representations for functions and their derivatives and asked to produce graphs that represented their images--their unique internal representations. Their attempts to provide external representations of their images provided the data for the study. The purposes of the study are two-fold: (1) to contrast the different mathematical understandings of these two students that have been revealed as a result of analyses of their graphic constructs for the derivative function and (2) to present the consequences of an instructional strategy based on graphic representation for functions and derivatives. / The study demonstrates that graphic instructional representations for functions and their derivatives, and students' concomitant images, have the potential for producing a richer understanding than that achieved by analytic study alone. Stimulated by graphic instructional representations, students form and can utilize mental images to construct understanding of the calculus derivative and to demonstrate their unique internal mathematical representations. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-07, Section: A, page: 1859. / Major Professor: Kenneth L. Shaw. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

A review of the existing literature for the teaching of conducting indicated that many authors chose not to incorporate the development of score reading skills in their methodology, even though most conducting authorities recommended some form of score study. The purpose of this study was to create a method whereby fundamental conducting gestures could be taught in direct correlation to existing music literature. / Studies in error detection indicated most conducting students can not work directly from a full conductor's score. Materials from music appreciation and music theory text books as well as existing examples from conducting text books were consulted to develop an approach for presenting the score in a miniaturized format. / Results of a limited pilot study indicated that students found the miniaturized score was significantly effective in teaching them to identify and prepare conducting gestures. Using suggestions from the pilot study, 24 musical examples of diverse musical styles and historical periods were selected for presenting fundamental conducting skills. These musical examples were placed into 28 figures representing miniaturized scores of the actual music. Each miniaturized score was followed by a series of musical and gestural considerations for the conductor to study in preparing to conduct the musical example. / While the format of miniaturized scores met with success in a limited setting, a summative evaluation should be completed to determine the lasting impact of this curriculum design. The ability of students to transfer score miniaturization to other musical styles not found in this text should also be evaluated. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-09, Section: A, page: 2636. / Major Professor: Andre Thomas. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.