This study investigated South Africa’s secondary school teachers’ understandings of the nature of science (NOS) in relation to their instructional practices. The participants were three Grade 10 Physical Science teachers conveniently selected from three schools in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Teacher understandings of the nature of science were elicited through semi-structured interviews. The core questions for the interviews were adapted from the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire (VNOS) – Form C developed by Abd-El-Khalick, Lederman, Bell and Schwartz (2002). The nature of science tenets explored were: what is science?: the role and purpose of experiments in science: the difference between scientific theories and laws in science and how scientists settle scientific disputes. Teacher instructional practices were ascertained through semi-structured interviews and lesson observations. The results were analyzed using a combination of typological analysis and interpretive analysis. These results show that on the selected NOS tenets, the sampled teachers hold a mixture of naïve and sophisticated understandings. These understandings are, however, largely naïve. It was found that the teachers only teach about NOS implicitly. None of the teachers was found to explicitly teach about the NOS. It also came out that the teachers were experiencing difficulties in both interpreting and implementation of Learning Outcome 3 of South Africa’s new science curriculum. It is concluded that the interaction between teachers’ NOS understandings and their instructional practices occurs without the teachers being aware of it, i.e. unconsciously. Recommendations for teaching, curriculum implementation and future research are suggested.

The problem in this study is to find what the graduates of Sandcreek Township High School, in Decatur County, Indiana, did vocationally after they graduated; whether they followed their vocational choices in high school; how well they felt the school curriculum met their needs; and which particular qualities they felt were most important in their teachers.

As the learning outcomes movement gains strength, the need to effectively measure learning outcomes becomes more important. This study looked at the effectiveness of self-reported mastery in measuring learning outcomes by examining the correlations between (a) self-reported mastery, (b) self-reported gains, and (c) objective measures of learning outcomes. The objective measures of learning outcomes were final exams for two classes, Calculus (consisting of two forms) and Statistics. The self-reported mastery and self-reported gains items were taken from the pilot student ratings form and the old student ratings form. A total of 848 undergraduate students completed the final exam and the two student ratings forms. The summed total of the self-reported mastery items correlated at a medium strength with objective measures of learning outcomes (Calculus Form A: r = .436; Calculus Form B: r = .361; Statistics: r = .416). The relationship between self-reported gains and objective measures of learning outcomes was weaker than that of self-reported mastery and objective measures of learning outcomes (a difference of .276 for Calculus Form A, .138 for Calculus Form B, .110 for Statistics). The relationship between self-reported gains and self-reported mastery was stronger than the other two relationships (Calculus Form A: r = .473, Calculus Form B: r = .500, Statistics: r = .628). A confirmatory factor analysis produced even stronger relationships between the three latent variables, including differences between the two forms of the Calculus exam. Self-reported mastery may be more effective at measuring objective measures of learning outcomes than self-reported gains, but self-reported mastery cannot completely serve as a proxy for objective measures of learning outcomes. Administrators or researchers measuring learning outcomes on a large scale may benefit by administering self-reported mastery items instead of self-reported gains items.

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This study investigated the relationship between the proportion of coursework students complete in an online format absent traditional classroom interaction and their expected score on a standardized, content-driven achievement test, holding constant other factors expected to influence test scores, including demographic variables, major, and prior academic performance. The study's sample involved 817 undergraduate business majors at a small, specialized, private, not-for-profit U.S. institution of higher education and their performance on Educational Testing Service's Major Field Test in Business (MFT-B). Students in the sample chose course-by-course to take either a hybrid format that involved regular classroom meetings supplemented by online learning or an entirely asynchronous online course involving no face-to-face interaction. Learning outcomes, syllabi, assessments, duration and the pool of instructors were the same in both formats. This investigation was motivated by the changing role of distance education in higher education and the increasing fungibility of credits earned at a distance and those earned in a traditional, classroom-based context. The use of the MFT-B was motivated by the growing emphasis on student learning outcomes assessment and mounting demands for "accountability" in higher education. An ordinary least squares regression modeling MFT-B score as a function of proportion of credits completed at a distance, GPA, major, transfer credits, completion time, age, gender and ethnicity found proportion of study at a distance to have a strongly significant (p<.001), positive impact on expected MFT-B score. A logistic regression of likelihood of graduation as a function of those same variables found a strongly significant (p<.001) negative impact of study at a distance on retention to graduation. / Educational Administration

There has been an increasing growth in the use of technology resources in traditional classroom styled higher education courses. This growth has received with both optimism and criticism. One of the issues critics have posed is that the use of technology resources does little, if anything, to improve student learning. As a result, this research examined if the use of technology contributes to student learning outcomes and student engagement activities, above and beyond student demographic variables. Specifically, this study investigated if the use of computer mediated conferencing (CMC) tools (i.e., email and electronic discussion boards) and computer aided instructional (CAI) resources (i.e., use of the computer and the Internet) contribute to student learning. Included in the sample were 2000 college students, which were randomly drawn from the 2003 College Student Experience Questionnaire database. The survey included 53 Likert scale items with reliability ranges from .78 to .88 on each of the composite scales. For the data analysis, eight multiple regressions were conducted on student learning outcomes and student learning engagement. Student learning outcomes included four composite scales, measuring students' personal and social development, general education gains, intellectual development, science and technology gains, and vocational preparation. The student engagement scale was comprised of three composite scales, which included faculty interactions, social, political and scientific discussions, and diversity and social interactions. The findings revealed that the use of technology resources does contribute to student learning, above and beyond student's background variables. The model inclusive of technology variables explained 4% to 7% of the gains in student learning, while student background variables contributed .03% to 2% of the gains. The findings suggest incorporating the use of technology can aid students in the learning process, though the effect size was fairly modest in most cases. The use of computer mediated conferencing and computer assisted learning tools should be used in combination with traditional classroom instructions to have the best effects. / Ph. D.

Professional preparation is important for individuals in any profession, as well as the profession itself. It is one of the hallmarks of any profession. Many sets of standards for the curriculum of student affairs preparation programs have been promoted throughout the years. Most recently the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) published a set of standards that outline areas of competency for student affairs professionals. The purpose of this study was to measure the degree to which recent graduates of student affairs preparation programs reported learning about the important foundational elements of the profession. I examined learning based on standards for student affairs preparation programs defined by CAS and compared amounts of reported learning from alumni based on the programs' adherence to the CAS standards (compliant v. non-compliant). To that end, I administered a 67 item questionnaire to recent graduates from student affairs preparation programs. The findings of the present study reveal that a majority of alumni from student affairs preparation programs report having a clear understanding of 57 of 60 identified foundational learning outcomes. Additionally, there was no statistically significant difference between reported learning of alumni from CAS compliant and non-compliant programs based on these foundational learning outcomes on 58 of the 60 items. Data suggest that alumni from CAS compliant programs are more likely to feel confidence in their preparation in 48 of the 60 outcomes presented in the survey. Additionally, the results indicated that alumni from non-compliant programs were more likely to report higher levels of learning based on involvement theory and understanding the level of data a variable in quantitative analysis. / Master of Arts