Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 135-140).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-140). Also available in print.

This narrative study examines using a real life simulated problem base learning activity during education of clinical staff, which is expected to design and develop clinically correct electronic charting systems. Expertise in healthcare does not readily transcend to the realm of manipulating software to collect patient data that is pertinent to the care of patients. To gain the expertise, troubleshooting abilities and knowledge required to maintain their clinical system, each participant in this study has gone through the RLSPBL activity. Education in the corporate world must be effective and efficient while providing a good return on the educational investment. Corporate education must use material contextually similar to a workplace, and the techniques for education must provide both near and far transfer of the material. Ten individuals (eight clinical, two non-clinical) who work across the United States were interviewed; their reflections on their career as a clinical interface designer are told here. The participants varied in their age, educational background, and current work responsibility and computer experience. Their insights revealed four major themes which summarize their stories: problem-based learning, collaboration, hands-on activities and the use of a real-life simulated problem-based learning activity.The clinical environment requires patient safety as a paramount parameter in building a clinical charting system. Up to the moment information along with trending capabilities is critical to a clinician caring for a patient. Adhering to best practices and maintaining an efficient data entry system must seamlessly blend technology into the clinician's practice. An understanding of the education of individuals who have created such charting systems is presented here in hopes that what these participants have found to be significant can be shared with others in similar situations.

The popularity of rock-climbing is continuously increasing. However, little research is available on the pedagogy of rock-climbing. Student climbing self-efficacy and the learning activities and instructional strategies used were monitored throughout a five-month long high school rock-climbing program. The baseline rock-climbing experience of consenting participants (n = 26) ranged from novice to the junior competitive level. This case study of a single class of 30 students included both quantitative and qualitative data sources. Data collection methods included: (a) questionnaires, (b) observations of the learning environment, (c) individual reflection journals, (d) focus group interviews, and (e) a course outline. Quantitative analysis revealed no significant change in the self-efficacy scores of participants. Qualitative analysis provided insight into: (a) the type of learning environment conducive to improving climbing self-efficacy, (b) the influence of the sources of self-efficacy, and (c) the activities that were more efficient for developing student climbing self-efficacy. This study explored how sources of self-efficacy can be translated into learning activities and instructional strategies for rock-climbing programs. Learning activities and instructional strategies should be meaningful, diversified, individualized, progressively challenging, and take place in a safe and collaborative environment. A future study may investigate the effect of participation in climbing programs on motivations to pursue climbing independently. / Graduate / 0523 / 0575 / 0633

There are many recognised forms of teacher professional development ranging from simply reflecting on a lesson recently taught to enrolling in a formal course at university. This study set out to examine the perceived effectiveness of one mode of professional development, a spaced learning activity(SLA). The SLA was selected for a number of reasons. Firstly, current government economic and industrial policy includes an emphasis on the training and retraining of the Australian workforce as an economic necessity. Within this policy, teacher professional development is considered to improve the quality of teaching and to raise professionalism. Secondly, the literature in the area suggests that professional development activities have the potential to improve the quality of teaching by enhancing teachers' knowledge and skills. Thirdly, an SLA appeared to incorporate many characteristics of effective professional development which are identified in the literature, for example, allowing time for critical reflection and for internalising concepts. This study sought to determine the effectiveness of an SLA as a training strategy and in enhancing teachers' knowledge, beliefs, classroom practice and students' learning outcomes and also to identify characteristics of an SLA which assisted and inhibited its effectiveness. Perceived costs and benefits of participation to the individual teacher were also evaluated.. The study was carried out at Marist College, Canberra , a Y7-12 single sex secondary school with an enrolment of approximately 1100 boys. The study involved twenty five teachers who participated voluntarily in a pilot collegial group programme at the school during 1993. The term "collegial group" is used for a small group of professionals who meet on a regular basis to learn together and to support one another in their on-going professional development. Adie (1988:4) explains that collegial groups are designed to assist in supporting, learning, problem solving, planning and performing. The twenty five volunteers were divided into three groups. Each group determined its own 'focus1 and met on an average of five occasions over six months, for meetings ranging from two to four hours. The foci selected by each group were: Increasing student motivation Increasing student responsibility for learning. Excellence in Teaching course. Meetings usually provided an opportunity for individual feedback on teaching changes tried, some input on the focus area, discussion of its practicality and a commitment to try something new and to report back at the next meeting. Some groups also included discussion of specific teaching and learning 'problems', where the group would offer solutions. A variety of data collection techniques were employed in the study. A questionnaire was conducted before the programme commenced to ascertain participants' expectations and concerns about the programme and anticipated effects of participation on their teaching knowledge, beliefs and practice and on their students' learning outcomes. A questionnaire was also administered at the end of the programme. The post-study questionnaire sought participants' perceptions about how well their expectations for the programme had been met, any differences participation had made to their teaching knowledge, beliefs and practice, and to their students' learning outcomes and whether these differences constituted improvements. Further questions covered: the benefits and costs to individuals of participation in the programme; the benefits participants perceived that other non-participatory colleagues could derive from a future programme; and the perceived value of the activity as a mode of professional development. The questionnaire also included a table covering organisational factors of the programme and elicited participants' responses about the degree to which each assisted and inhibited progress. In addition to the questionnaires, structured interviews were conducted with the participants after the completion of the programme asking similar questions about their perceptions of its success. Analysis of a variety of data collected through pre and post-programme questionnaires as well as interviews clearly indicates that this mode of delivery was perceived by the participants to be an effective form of professional development from the perspective of changing teaching knowledge, beliefs and practice, and as a refocussing or confirming activity by providing stimulus to an individual's professional development. Further data collected support the organisational characteristics of this SLA and provide some suggestions for changes. Finally, the findings clearly show that the benefits to individuals of participation are perceived to outweigh the costs, further supporting the effectiveness of this mode of professional development.

The purpose of this study was to explore an elementary mathematics teacher&rsquo / s pedagogical reasoning on selection of learning activities. For this purpose, a teacher&rsquo / s decisions and judgments while selecting activities for her mathematics lessons were examined. Qualitative case study was performed where / data was collected in the spring semester of 2008-2009 and in the fall semester of 2009-2010 academic year. The case of the study was a teacher who was known by using activities in her mathematics lessons. Results revealed that the teacher had two main groups of considerations in her pedagogical reasoning on selection of activities. The first group is considering how activities will affect students&rsquo / learning and the second group is considering how to organize her teaching. Considering how activities will affect students&rsquo / learning is related to characteristics of the tasks within the activities, students&rsquo / understanding concepts: their conceptions and misconceptions, and student motivation. On the other hand, considering activities in organization of activities is related to objectives of the lesson, lesson flow, purposes of the activities / time use for an activity, sources and materials to be used in the activities.

This mixed-methods single case study explored how outcome-based instructional design can be used to incorporate social software into an existing e-learning course. Pre-service teachers enrolled in a teacher education program at a Canadian university volunteered to participate in a study where social software was incorporated into a foundations course to facilitate digital literacy development, social objects production, and reflection on how these experiences connect to future teaching practice. The instructional design process was guided by a conceptual framework and informed by W(e)Learn, a well-tested e-learning design and evaluation framework. The quantitative and qualitative data were collected from the instructional designer’s journal, participant surveys, course records and interviews. Findings provided a comprehensive view of the effectiveness of outcome-based instructional design. In general, participants achieved the expected learning outcomes for this study. There were also unexpected outcomes. For example, some learners created a virtual community of practice. Some learners had an influence on their in-service teacher’s use of social software in teaching and learning. The findings supported the literature that states an outcome-based instructional design approach can facilitate learning. The findings also revealed why participants used social software in their teaching (e.g. awareness, usefulness, and school environment). In addition, these findings can inform school board policy with regard to supporting the use of social software in teaching and learning. The integration of qualitative and quantitative findings revealed convergence and divergence between the two types of data. In addition the findings informed directions for further research, including the relationship between learners’ satisfaction and learning experiences as well as the achievement of learning outcomes. The corroboration of data also identified specific effective and iii imperfect areas of the instructional design strategies, which, in turn, informed the revision of the conceptual framework for outcome-based instructional design. This study found W(e)learn to be effective in guiding outcome-based instructional design and analyzing the achievement of expected learning outcomes. The study also contributes to theory by recommending the inclusion of two new elements into W(e)learn. Painstakingly recording the instructional design process in a journal resulted in documented practical information and lessons learned that may guide and benefit instructional designers and educators who want to incorporate software into their learning activities.

The aim of the research reported in this licentiate thesis was to create an environment that could support students’ learning about logarithms. To develop such a learning environment, Davydov’s ‘learning activity’ was used as a theoretical framework for the design. A new tool was created, that was used by the students to unfold and single out some of the unique properties of logarithms when solving different learning tasks. The construction of the model was inspired by Napiers original idea from 1614, i.e. exactly 400 years ago, by using two number lines; one arithmetic (i.e. based on addition) and one geometric (i.e. based on multiplication). The research approach used was learning study where teachers and researcher worked collaboratively in an iterative process to refine the research lesson. The study was conducted in six groups with six teachers in upper secondary school in a major city in Sweden. The sample comprised about 150 students and data were collected by filming lessons and by interviews with some of the students. The data were analysed using an analytic framework derived from ‘learning activity’ and the results show what supports, but also what does not support, the creation of an environment for supporting students’ learning of logarithms. The results from the study are related to former research regarding instrumental/procedural vis-à-vis relational/conceptual understanding and also about research about students’ ‘errors and misconceptions’. It is argued that the formal definition of logarithms, y = 10x <-> x = lgy (y > 0), should not be used to introduce the concept, instead a new way is proposed. One conclusion is that it is possible to reconstruct logarithms without using the definition as a tool. The results from the analysed lessons show how students looked for ways to solve learning tasks using the new tool. The definition and the identities regarding logarithms appear as bi-products of the students learning activity. When analysing students actions, they rarely over-generalised mathematical rules, e.g. used the distributive law, or separated log-expressions, e.g. adding log expressions part by part, that seemed to be an issue according to former research.

Lärandet i matematik styrs av elevens motivation till ämnet. Syftet med studien är att ta reda på vilka olika faktorer i undervisningen som kan påverka elevens motivation inom ämnet matematik. För att skapa en forskningsöversikt har en systematisk litteraturstudie genomförts för att utveckla och presentera en fördjupning i de teman som blivit synliga. Två tydliga teman växte fram, Spel och Undervisningsfaktorer och det är dessa teman som undersökts för att finna vilka faktorer som kan påverka elevens motivation. Resultatet av studien visar att lärarens undervisning och hur den genomförs, har en betydande roll för hur eleven kommer finna och utveckla sin motivation till matematik. Aktiv undervisning visar sig vara en avgörande faktor till hur elevens motivation ter sig till matematiken. Pedagogiska spel i matematiken visar sig även ha en positiv inverkan på elever med inlärningssvårigheter, men lämpar sig väl för alla elever. / The teaching in mathematics is influenced by the student's motivation to mathematics. The main purpose of this study is to find factors in the teacher´s methods that can have an effect on the pupil´s motivation in mathematics. In order to create a research overview, a systematic literature study has been conducted, to then later on, deepen the topics that have become visible. Two themes were clearly emerged, Games and Activities and Teaching factors, and these themes were examined to find out which factors can affect the pupil´s motivation. The result of the study shows that the teacher´s methods and how they are implemented, has a significant role in how the pupils will find and experience motivation for math. Active teaching proves to be an important factor for the student's motivation and how it appears in the mathematical subject. The result also shows that educational games in maths education have a positive impact on all pupils, and especially for pupils with learning disabilities.

Orientador: Anna Regina Lanner de Moura / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-11T15:19:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cunha_MichelineRiscallahKanaanda_D.pdf: 1207918 bytes, checksum: 70d5bcc5203e208f4ece330bcf23f380 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Esta pesquisa constitui-se num estudo de caráter qualitativo das elaborações, de professores do nível fundamental, relacionadas ao conceito de medida. Foram assumidos como referência teórica para este estudo os autores como Kopnin (1978), Davýdov (1982), Kosik (2002), Leontiev (1989). Para a elaboração das atividades de ensino foram considerados os autores: Caraça (2003), Leontiev(1983), Aleksandrov (1988), Ribnikov (1987), Dantzig (1970), Hogben (1970), Lanner de Moura( 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003) e Moura (1998,2000,2001) e Lima & Moisés (1998). As atividades enfocaram os nexos conceituais da medida como: qualidade-quantidade, grandeza, discreto-contínuo e unidade que se supõe aprofundar o conceito além de seus aspectos perceptíveis, tendo por pressuposto serem esses temas necessários para o desenvolvimento do pensamento e linguagem da medida. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida, durante 12 aulas, do semestre letivo de um Curso de Pedagogia, do período noturno, na cidade de Campinas. Os dados resultaram da transcrição de atividades de ensino, dos portfólios elaborados pelos professores e do registro do pesquisador que atuou como professor no período da pesquisa. A análise dos dados é feita tendo por referência os nexos conceituais da medida sobre as elaborações feitas pelas professoras, focalizando suas características empírico-teóricas segundo os autores de referência. Os resultados indicam o progresso nas elaborações com características empíricas inicias para características teóricas do aspecto prático da medida, ao término das atividades. Este estudo pretende fornecer contribuições para a reflexão dos professores sobre o ensino de medida nos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental / Abstract: This research constitutes itself to a study of qualitative character of the elaborations of professors of the fundamental levels, related to the concept of measurement. The assumption of certain theoretical references for this study came from authors such as Kopnin (1978), Davydov (1982), Kosik (2002), Leontiev (1989). For the elaboration of teaching activities, the consideration of authors like: Caraça (2003), Leontiev(1983), Aleksandrov (1988), Ribnikov (1987), Dantzig (1970), Hogben (1970), Lanner de Moura (1995, 2001,2002,2003) and Moura (1998,2000,2001) and Lima & Moisés (1998) were dispensed. These activities enforced the conceptual connections of measurement such as: quality vs. quantity, size, discretion vs. continuity and unity which is going to deepen the concept beyond the aspects perceptible to students, having these assumptions will be necessary in order to develop the process of thought and language of measurement. This research was developed during five classes, within the academic semester of a nocturnal class on pedagogy within the city of Campinas. The data resulted in the transcription of teaching activities, the portfolios elaborated by professors and the recording of the researcher who acted as teacher during this period of research. The analysis of the data was done having as reference the connected concepts of measurement about the elaborations done by the professors focusing on the characteristics of empirical-theoretical though second to the authors stated above. The results point towards the progress of elaboration with characteristics initially empirical for the characteristics theories with aspects on the practice of measurement, in terms of the activities. This study is meant to establish a contribution to the reflections of professors on the subject of teaching measurement in the initial years of the initial studies / Doutorado / Educação Matematica / Doutor em Educação