In this study, the researcher sought to understand why teachers of Physical Sciences participate in the South African 'Eskom Expo for Young Scientists'. This was analysed in terms of the educational significance that they perceive the science fair to offer, what sustains their participation over a long period of time, and the extent to which Expo participation provides an opportunity for professional development. The educational significance of the Expo was established in terms of its contribution to the Professional Identity of teachers, and was related to the roles (organiser, mentor and judge) of participation in science fairs. The sampling employed in the study was both purposive and convenience-based in nature. Only schools participating regularly (at least five times in the past ten years) in the long running (since 1980) of the 'Expo for Young Scientists' (Northern Gauteng Region) were selected. Five urban public high schools and ten teachers of the school subject "Physical Sciences" were identified to participate in this study. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with two teachers from each school in this QUAL-quan research approach. The interview transcripts were subjected to a thematic analysis, where after the points raised by the teachers were clustered into categories and related to sub-themes and themes according to the educational significance for teachers, the benefits and drawbacks for learners, teachers' Professional Identity, and reasons for sustained participation. Many researchers regard science fairs as one of the better ways to enhance science education. Globally, science fairs have been taking place for more than 30 years and are thought to have educational value for both science teachers and learners. These science fairs provide a context for the development and application of scientific investigation and research skills. This research employed the model of Beijaard, Meijer and Verloop (2004) to characterise teachers' Professional Identity (professional knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, norms and values, and emotions). The researcher also employed Ajzen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behaviour to understand why teachers take part and sustain their involvement in the Expo, be it at school or regional level. The major focus was thus on the benefits for teachers as perceived by them, with some contextualisation of the educational benefits and potential drawbacks for learners, while the literature to date has largely reported on the benefits for learners. This study has found that expos provide sustainable educational significance in terms of professional development for teachers, and enhance aspects of their Professional Identity, such as contributing to pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, as well as scientific procedural and declarative or factual knowledge. Their self-efficacy beliefs are strengthened, positive attitudes are developed, and strategies of inquiry based learning and effective methodological instructions in science education, which contributes to their teaching. Learners gain knowledge of science through reading and investigations, and also learn more of the nature of science. Teachers' values (and those of their schools) are reflected when their emotions are lifted in sharing learners' achievements in the science Expo. Teachers learn both from their engagement with learners, but also through networking opportunities with fellow teachers. The consequent enhancement of Professional Identity contributes to the sustainability of their participation in the Expo. Although this research focused on teachers of Physical Sciences, learners in the Expo are guided on projects ranging from biology and environmental sciences, engineering and design, information technology to psychology, and various social sciences beyond the physical sciences. The teachers who guide the subjects related to these fields possibly have similar experiences, thus extending investigations to such teachers would surely provide a richer set of insights. Teachers who do not sustain their participation did not form part of the research, but their experiences and perceptions were included to further enrich the nature of the findings. It is recommended that the opportunity for professional development that is provided by teachers' participation in such school level investigation science fairs be acknowledged and promoted by schools and fair organisers. They can do this by continuing to extend the range of teachers who are encouraged to be involved in such science fairs. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted

This study investigated the effect of inquiry-based instruction in technical undergraduate education. Specifically, the effect was measured along two dimensions: 1) the effect on student learning and, 2) student attitude towards subject matter. The researcher designed an inquiry-based instructional approach to encourage interaction between teacher and students and to help students take more responsibility for their learning. Three technical undergraduate classes participated in the study. Each class was divided into experimental and control groups. For the experimental group, a twice-a-week traditional lecture was replaced with a once-a-week inquiry-based question and answer session. Students in the control group were taught as normal, by a traditional style lecture. Students in the experimental group were expected to use the extra hour, gained by meeting only once once-a-week, to study and prepare. Both groups were administered pre- and post- tests to determine the learning that took place during the experimental intervention. Pre- and post- surveys were also administered to assess the effect of the inquiry-based instruction on student attitude. Additionally, scores from student exams, professor surveys, and researcher observations were used to collect data and understand the effect of the instructional approach. The findings suggest that inquiry-based learning in technical classes can have a positive effect on learning and attitude.

No description available.

Explores the implementation of inquiry into the science classroom and presents a model for incrementally changing the traditional (behavioralist) instruction found in the science class to inquiry-based (constructivist) instructional strategies.

Proposes a new model for teaching inquiry and critical thinking in the middle school science classroom. This model will assist students in learning the evidence for evolution for themselves, as well as assisting them in developing skills in critical thinking and inquiry. The objective of this model is to create a more scientifically literate student body who can go on to pursue an even greater understanding of the nature of science.

Making the transition from calculus to advanced calculus/real analysis can be challenging for undergraduate students. Part of this challenge lies in the shift in the focus of student activity, from a focus on algorithms and computational techniques to activities focused around definitions, theorems, and proofs. The goal of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) is to support students in making this transition by building on and formalizing their informal knowledge. There are a growing number of projects in this vein at the undergraduate level, in the areas of abstract algebra (TAAFU: Larsen, 2013; Larsen & Lockwood, 2013), differential equations (IO-DE: Rasmussen & Kwon, 2007), geometry (Zandieh & Rasmussen, 2010), and linear algebra (IOLA: Wawro, et al., 2012). This project represents the first steps in a similar RME-based, inquiry-oriented instructional design project aimed at advanced calculus. The results of this project are presented as three journal articles. In the first article I describe the development of a local instructional theory (LIT) for supporting the reinvention of formal conceptions of sequence convergence, the completeness property of the real numbers, and continuity of real functions. This LIT was inspired by Cauchy's proof of the Intermediate Value Theorem, and has been developed and refined using the instructional design heuristics of RME through the course of two teaching experiments. I found that a proof of the Intermediate Value Theorem was a powerful context for supporting the reinvention of a number of the core concepts of advanced calculus. The second article reports on two students' reinventions of formal conceptions of sequence convergence and the completeness property of the real numbers in the context of developing a proof of the Intermediate Value Theorem (IVT). Over the course of ten, hour-long sessions I worked with two students in a clinical setting, as these students collaborated on a sequence of tasks designed to support them in producing a proof of the IVT. Along the way, these students conjectured and developed a proof of the Monotone Convergence Theorem. Through this development I found that student conceptions of completeness were based on the geometric representation of the real numbers as a number line, and that the development of formal conceptions of sequence convergence and completeness were inextricably intertwined and supported one another in powerful ways. The third and final article takes the findings from the two aforementioned papers and translates them for use in an advanced calculus classroom. Specifically, Cauchy's proof of the Intermediate Value Theorem is used as an inspiration and touchstone for developing some of the core concepts of advanced calculus/real analysis: namely, sequence convergence, the completeness property of the real numbers, and continuous functions. These are presented as a succession of student investigations, within the context of students developing their own formal proof of the Intermediate Value Theorem.

My research measured completion and retention of procedural learning tasks, and declarative and procedural components of engagement in indoor and outdoor settings. Instructor-assisted Self-Directed Learning and Non-instructor-assisted Self-Directed Learning were implemented in the context of an Experiential Learning approach. Experimental covariates included student-specific variables such as background and experience, and environment-specific variables such as temperature, and humidity. AIC model averaging was used to identify the best-fitting mixed GLM models. Neither location, nor pedagogic method, proved to be a significant predictor of the probability that a student would complete the most complex of the procedural learning tasks, and the percent of students completing this task was not significantly higher in outdoor groups than in indoor groups. Neither location nor pedagogic method was a significant predictor of retention of procedural knowledge or engagement with learning materials. The level of voluntary collaboration was higher in outdoor groups than in indoor groups. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This essay presents an ecocritical reading of water imagery in selected poems by Carol AnnDuffy, with focus on Duffy’s personified water-voices, how water illuminates history, andDuffy’s metaphor of language as water. After a consideration of the problematics of teachingpoetry in the EFL classroom, the essay concludes that Duffy’s poetry holds potential forstudents to develop environmental literacy, both in content and in form.

In the US, an estimated 25% of four-year college students and up to 80% of community college students suffer from a moderate to high degree of mathematics anxiety (MA) (Chang & Beilock, 2016). Many scholars have noted that mathematics anxiety can be regarded as a significant factor in determining a student's achievement and mathematics related jobs. In the existing literature body, many researchers noted that MA may stem from teaching methods that are more conventional and rule-bounded such as lecture-style classroom models. On the other hand, MA can be mitigated by inquiry-based learning classroom models where students construct knowledge through inquiry, communication, critical thinking, and group work. However, the current literature has not built the connection between different teaching styles and students' individual differences with respect to MA. The individual differences are associated with the personality of the learner, learning styles, learning speed, and needs and interests of the learner. Depending on a student's learning style and a compatible teaching style, the student may actively participate in their own learning with less mathematics anxiety. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the influence of different teaching styles on MA, when interacted with Kolb’s and Gregorc’s (1984) four different learning and thinking styles. The research questions investigated in this study are: 1) What is the difference between a lecture classroom model (LCM) and an inquiry-based learning classroom model (IBL) on students’ mathematics anxiety levels over a fifteen-week semester of a college-level remedial mathematics course?; 2) What is the difference between a lecture classroom model (LCM) and an inquiry-based learning classroom model (IBL) on mathematics anxiety levels for students with different learning and thinking styles (as defined by Kolb’s and Gregorc’s learning styles) over a fifteen-week semester?; and 3) What aspects of instructional approaches (LCM and IBL) do students with different learning and thinking styles report as being related to mathematics anxiety? The abbreviated version of the mathematics anxiety rating scale (A-MARS), Kolb’s learning styles inventory, Gregorc’s thinking styles, and Written questionnaire were used to measure students’ MA levels and identify their learning and thinking styles. The results provided evidence that IBL instruction is beneficial for the students with MA, especially with mathematics test anxiety and mathematics course anxiety. Only numerical task anxiety was not significant. Thus, student-centered learning pedagogies turned out to be an effective and engaging method for lowering MA. However, there was no evidence to support the overall relationship between the constructs of learning and thinking styles and MA levels, above and beyond the instructional approaches. Classifying students according to learning and thinking styles did not influence students’ MA levels in this study over the 15 academic weeks. Moreover, after a 15 academic weeks, students in both LCM and IBL classes responded positively to key components of LCM and IBL classroom models. This implies that both LCM and IBL approaches still are important models regardless of students’ MA levels.

With rapid development of information technologies, especially the Internet technology, people can communicate more flexibly via various media, in which knowledge can be also shared. In gaining knowledge through the Internet, either digital content retrieval or inter-personal interaction, learning activities conducted on the Web are getting popular. This research has two main objectives. One is to develop incentive mechanisms to enhance the quantity and quality of information shared through peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. The other objective is to implement and evaluate the proposed mechanisms for inquiry-based learning on P2P networks. The pricing-like incentive mechanism is embedded on each peer to determine the price to share a document, to issue a question, and respond to a question. Through experiments, this study evaluates the effects on mitigating the free-riding problems and exchanging information through the P2P network. The results show the effectiveness of the incentive mechanisms for inquiry-based learning on P2P networks.