This study examined the mathematical thinking of English learners as they were taught mathematics vocabulary through research-based methods. Four English learners served as focus students. After administering a pre-performance assessment, I taught a 10-lesson unit on fractions. I taught mathematics vocabulary through the use of a mathematics word wall, think-pair-shares, graphic organizers, journal entries, and picture dictionaries. The four focus students were audio recorded to capture their spoken discourse. Student work was collected to capture written discourse. Over the course of the unit, the four focus students used the mathematics vocabulary words that were taught explicitly. The focus students gained both procedural and conceptual knowledge of fractions during this unit. Students also expressed elevated confidence in their mathematics abilities.

Student achievement and motivation to learn physics is highly valued in many industrialized countries including the United States and Japan. Science education curricula in these countries emphasize the importance and encourage classroom teachers to use an inquiry approach. This dissertation investigated high school students? motivational orientations and their understanding of physics concepts in a context of inquiry-based instruction. The goals were to explore the patterns of instructional effects on motivation and learning in each country and to examine cultural differences and similarities. Participants consisted of 108 students (55 females, 53 males) and 9 physics teachers in the United States and 616 students (203 females and 413 males) and 11 physics teachers in Japan. Students were administered (a) Force Concept Inventory measuring physics conceptual understanding and (b) Attitudes about Science Questionnaire measuring student motivational orientations. Teachers were given a survey regarding their use of inquiry teaching practices and background information. Additionally, three teachers in each country were interviewed and observed in their classrooms. For the data analysis, two-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) methods were used to examine individual student differences (i.e., learning, motivation, and gender) within each classroom (i.e., inquiry-based teaching, teaching experience, and class size) in the U.S. and Japan, separately. Descriptive statistical analyses were also conducted. The results indicated that there was a cultural similarity in that current teaching practices had minimal influence on conceptual understanding as well as motivation of high school students between the U.S. and Japan. In contrast, cultural differences were observed in classroom structures and instructional approaches. Furthermore, this study revealed gender inequity in Japanese students? conceptual understanding and self-efficacy. Limitations of the study, as well as implications for high school physics teachers are discussed. Future research in this line could explore students? use of cognitive strategies to overcome misconceptions in Western and Eastern cultures. Also, exploring the best practices in changing student misconceptions and promoting motivation across cultures would enrich our understanding and current teaching practices.

Please read the abstract in the section, 00front, of this document / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Humanities Education / DPhil / Unrestricted

O reconhecimento da importância da natureza social da ciência trouxe novas perspectivas também para a pesquisa em ensino de ciências. Nesse processo, ganharam evidência os estudos que analisam as práticas sociais pelas quais os conhecimentos são produzidos e legitimados em sala de aula. Dentro desse contexto de pesquisa, o presente trabalho tem por objetivo compreender de que formas a participação do professor no discurso contribui para a obtenção de seus objetivos em aulas investigativas. Para tanto, desenhou-se uma pesquisa exploratória, com abordagem qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso, pela qual foi analisada a implementação de uma Sequência de Ensino Investigativa (SEI) que versava sobre a dualidade onda-partícula do elétron. O estudo se desenvolveu com base na análise de aulas gravadas em vídeo. Tal análise levou em consideração os propósitos e pressupostos teóricos identificados em entrevistas efetuadas com o professor, antes e após as aulas, e a análise documental do material instrucional da SEI. A partir do cruzamento destes pressupostos com nossos referenciais teóricos, desenvolvemos e propusemos uma ferramenta para análise composta por três dimensões. Tais dimensões, dos Conteúdos, Didática e Epistêmica, foram elaboradas de forma a explicitar o papel estrutural de elementos do discurso do professor. A partir da análise das aulas podemos concluir que, no decorrer de uma aula investigativa, a forma de participação do professor varia em função do papel que determinado conteúdo exerce na estrutura da atividade. Em situações em que os conteúdos assumiam função de contexto ou subsídio, prevalece o professor como agente didático e, em situações em que visava trabalhar conteúdos relacionados a práticas investigativas, há um predomínio do professor como agente epistêmico. / The recognition of the importance of the social nature of science has also brought new perspectives to research in science education. In this process, studies that analyze the social practices by which knowledge is produced and legitimized in the classroom have gained evidence. Within this context of research, the present work aims to understand in what ways the teacher participation in the discourse contributes to the achievement of his objectives in inquiry classes. For that, an exploratory research, of a qualitative nature, of the case study type was designed, through which the implementation of an Inquiry Teaching Sequence (SEI) was analyzed, which dealt with the wave-particle duality of the electron. The study was developed based on the analysis of lessons taped in video. This analysis took into account the theoretical purposes and assumptions identified in interviews conducted with the teacher, before and after classes, and the document analysis of the instructional material of the SEI. From the cross-analysis of these assumptions with our theoretical references, we developed and proposed an analytical system composed of three dimensions. These dimensions content, didactic and epistemic, were elaborated in order to identify the role of the teacher\'s objectives in relation to the structure of the research proposal with a participation of the same nonepistemic discourse. From the analysis of the classes, we conclude that in the course of an investigative class, the ways the teacher participates varies according to the role that certain content plays in the structure of the activity. In situations where content assumed a context or subsidy function, the teacher prevails as a didactic agent and, in situations where it was intended to work on content related to practices; there is a predominance of the teacher as an epistemic agent.

The aim of this work is to prepare an educational program with the elements of inquiry teaching (BOV) and at the same time to make sure whether the suggested activities from the point of view of the aims of teaching natural science at the 1 grade of the basic school are effective. This thesis shows some possibilities how to work out with this method and how to incorporate it to the process of teaching. As a purpose - built example there were used topics connected with the physiology of plants. Different teaching methods appropriate for the realization of BOV in the frame of the Educational program with respect to the relevant content of the textbooks of natural science are applied here. The thesis was dealt within the bounds of the project GA JU č. 065/2010/S a GA JU č. 078/2013/S

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:05:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 PaulaBO_DISSERT.pdf: 2811881 bytes, checksum: 6bed5e9f4e661648ada9bf97521c6b56 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-07-31 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Normally initial teacher training has not been sufficient to provide all the tools for an updated and efficient teaching practice. It is presented here one of the ways of working the completion of the initial training through a course of continuing education. This course is based on inquiry teaching which is considered an important teaching strategy for science education. This kind of teaching enables improvement of students reasoning and cognitive skills, the cooperation among them, the understanding of the nature of scientific work, and the motivation to think about the relationship between science, technology, society and environment. For this dissertation a course of continuing education based on this approach was followed in order to evaluate which contributions it can bring to the teaching practice. The course was followed based on three stages: on the first there was a questionnaire and an informal interview; next it happened through participant observation with audio and visual aid; the third stage happened through semi structured interview. The collected information was analyzed based on Content Analysis. An inquiry teaching pedagogical material was produced for the course including some examples and applications of this approach. The aim of the material is that it can be a support for the teachers after de course. The results allowed seeing that the course was very useful, different from the traditional and the teachers that put the approach to use found it to be very positive. Thus it can be said that some of the teachers who participated will try again to apply it, try to contextualize more the teaching situations with the students day to day life, as well make them more active and critic. We can also gather from the study, that the inquiry teaching is a very different tool from what the teacher was taught and is accustomed to use and the theoretical comprehension, acceptance and practice change is a complicated process and demands time / Normalmente a forma??o inicial n?o tem sido suficiente para proporcionar todas as ferramentas para uma pr?tica docente atualizada e eficaz. Aqui se apresenta uma das maneiras de se trabalhar a complementa??o da forma??o inicial: um curso de forma??o continuada. Neste curso trabalha-se o ensino por investiga??o que vem sendo considerado como uma importante estrat?gia did?tica para realizar o ensino de ci?ncias. Essa perspectiva de ensino possibilita: o aprimoramento do racioc?nio e das habilidades cognitivas dos alunos, a coopera??o entre eles, a compreens?o da natureza do trabalho cient?fico e o pensamento nas rela??es ci?ncia, tecnologia, sociedade e ambiente. Para essa disserta??o se busca caracterizar quais contribui??es um curso de forma??o continuada, baseado no ensino por investiga??o, traz para a pr?tica de ensino. Para tal foi acompanhado o desenvolvimento dos professores durante e ap?s o curso. O acompanhamento ocorreu em tr?s etapas: a primeira com a aplica??o de um question?rio e uma entrevista informal; a seguinte por meio da observa??o participativa do curso com aux?lio audiovisual; a terceira com uma entrevista semiestruturada. O material coletado foi analisado com base na An?lise de Conte?do. Para os professores cursistas foi produzido um material did?tico com base na pesquisa bibliogr?fica sobre o ensino por investiga??o. Ele apresenta uma fundamenta??o do ensino por investiga??o incluindo tamb?m alguns exemplos e aplica??es dessa abordagem, para que possa servir de ponto de apoio para os professores ap?s o curso. Com a an?lise dos resultados, percebeu-se que o curso foi tido como muito proveitoso, diferente do tradicional e os que aplicaram obtiveram resultados muito positivos com seus alunos. Assim acredita-se que alguns docentes que participaram da forma??o tentar?o aplicar novamente uma atividade investigativa, procurar?o contextualizar mais as situa??es de ensino com o cotidiano do aluno, bem como torn?-lo mais ativo e cr?tico. Al?m disso, conclui-se que o ensino por investiga??o ? uma ferramenta did?tica bastante diferente do que o docente foi apresentado na sua forma??o e utiliza no dia a dia, assim a compreens?o do embasamento te?rico, a aceita??o e mudan?a da pr?tica docente para aplica??o de uma aula investigativa ? um processo que demanda um esfor?o adicional por parte do professor

O reconhecimento da importância da natureza social da ciência trouxe novas perspectivas também para a pesquisa em ensino de ciências. Nesse processo, ganharam evidência os estudos que analisam as práticas sociais pelas quais os conhecimentos são produzidos e legitimados em sala de aula. Dentro desse contexto de pesquisa, o presente trabalho tem por objetivo compreender de que formas a participação do professor no discurso contribui para a obtenção de seus objetivos em aulas investigativas. Para tanto, desenhou-se uma pesquisa exploratória, com abordagem qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso, pela qual foi analisada a implementação de uma Sequência de Ensino Investigativa (SEI) que versava sobre a dualidade onda-partícula do elétron. O estudo se desenvolveu com base na análise de aulas gravadas em vídeo. Tal análise levou em consideração os propósitos e pressupostos teóricos identificados em entrevistas efetuadas com o professor, antes e após as aulas, e a análise documental do material instrucional da SEI. A partir do cruzamento destes pressupostos com nossos referenciais teóricos, desenvolvemos e propusemos uma ferramenta para análise composta por três dimensões. Tais dimensões, dos Conteúdos, Didática e Epistêmica, foram elaboradas de forma a explicitar o papel estrutural de elementos do discurso do professor. A partir da análise das aulas podemos concluir que, no decorrer de uma aula investigativa, a forma de participação do professor varia em função do papel que determinado conteúdo exerce na estrutura da atividade. Em situações em que os conteúdos assumiam função de contexto ou subsídio, prevalece o professor como agente didático e, em situações em que visava trabalhar conteúdos relacionados a práticas investigativas, há um predomínio do professor como agente epistêmico. / The recognition of the importance of the social nature of science has also brought new perspectives to research in science education. In this process, studies that analyze the social practices by which knowledge is produced and legitimized in the classroom have gained evidence. Within this context of research, the present work aims to understand in what ways the teacher participation in the discourse contributes to the achievement of his objectives in inquiry classes. For that, an exploratory research, of a qualitative nature, of the case study type was designed, through which the implementation of an Inquiry Teaching Sequence (SEI) was analyzed, which dealt with the wave-particle duality of the electron. The study was developed based on the analysis of lessons taped in video. This analysis took into account the theoretical purposes and assumptions identified in interviews conducted with the teacher, before and after classes, and the document analysis of the instructional material of the SEI. From the cross-analysis of these assumptions with our theoretical references, we developed and proposed an analytical system composed of three dimensions. These dimensions content, didactic and epistemic, were elaborated in order to identify the role of the teacher\'s objectives in relation to the structure of the research proposal with a participation of the same nonepistemic discourse. From the analysis of the classes, we conclude that in the course of an investigative class, the ways the teacher participates varies according to the role that certain content plays in the structure of the activity. In situations where content assumed a context or subsidy function, the teacher prevails as a didactic agent and, in situations where it was intended to work on content related to practices; there is a predominance of the teacher as an epistemic agent.

No description available.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Physics / Dean Zollman / As part of a collaborative study of the science preparation of elementary school teachers, we investigated the quality of students’ reasoning and explored the relationship between sophistication of reasoning and the degree to which the courses were considered inquiry oriented. To probe students’ reasoning, we developed open-ended written content questions with the distinguishing feature of applying recently learned concepts in a new context. We devised a protocol for developing written content questions that provided a common structure for probing and classifying students’ sophistication level of reasoning. In designing our protocol, we considered several distinct criteria, and classified students’ responses based on their performance for each criterion. First, we classified concepts into three types: Descriptive, Hypothetical, and Theoretical and categorized the abstraction levels of the responses in terms of the types of concepts and the inter-relationship between the concepts. Second, we devised a rubric based on Bloom’s revised taxonomy with seven traits (both knowledge types and cognitive processes) and a defined set of criteria to evaluate each trait. Along with analyzing students’ reasoning, we visited universities and observed the courses in which the students were enrolled. We used the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) to rank the courses with respect to characteristics that are valued for the inquiry courses. We conducted logistic regression for a sample of 18 courses with about 900 students and reported the results for performing logistic regression to estimate the relationship between traits of reasoning and RTOP score. In addition, we analyzed conceptual structure of students’ responses, based on conceptual classification schemes, and clustered students’ responses into six categories. We derived regression model, to estimate the relationship between the sophistication of the categories of conceptual structure and RTOP scores. However, the outcome variable with six categories required a more complicated regression model, known as multinomial logistic regression, generalized from binary logistic regression. With the large amount of collected data, we found that the likelihood of the higher cognitive processes were in favor of classes with higher measures on inquiry. However, the usage of more abstract concepts with higher order conceptual structures was less prevalent in higher RTOP courses.

The National Senior Certificate Diagnostic Reports for the 2014 and 2015 National Senior Certificate Examinations for the subject Physical Sciences reported that many candidates lacked understanding of basic concepts in the subject. Most basic concepts are introduced and taught to learners as early as grade 10. Grade 10 provides learners with the foundation required to build a more intricate, and critical understanding of science. Critically, teachers have to drive this process. The nature of the experiences of the teachers would therefore be of primary influence during classroom practices to assist these learners. Teachers have to provide meaningful learning. Teacher experiences are derived from professional development, beliefs and subject content knowledge. This was a qualitative study which made use of a case study design. It involved three cases from one of the districts of the Kwa-Zulu Natal Department of Education, South Africa. Data was collected using multimethod strategies and analysed using the typology approach. This study was guided by the following main research questions: What are the nature of the experiences of teachers in implementing the Physical Science curriculum in a grade 10 class? The study sought to answer the following sub-questions, how does teacher knowledge influence classroom practice in the implementation of grade 10 Physical Sciences curriculum? What is the nature of the professional development received by the grade Physical Sciences teacher? and What are the teacher’s beliefs with regard teaching and learning of Physical Sciences in a grade 10 class? The findings of the study revealed that the status quo of traditional teaching of Physical Sciences still exists in the grade 10 classroom practices of teachers. Teacher generally displayed some good subject matter knowledge. A lack of professional development for grade 10 Physical Sciences teachers’ negatively impacted on classroom practices of the teacher. Teacher beliefs had major influence on classroom practices of the teacher. This study recommends teachers have to undergo meaningful, ongoing professional development to assist them improve their classroom practice skills. A Model of Intensive Professional Development is recommended for teachers in the South African Classroom. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)