This thesis investigates and analyses the level of challenge for able students in an 11-18 Academy. It is addressed from my position as the Principal of the case study Academy and a novice researcher. Eight teachers who formed the Teaching and Learning group within the Academy participated in the study, as part of a community of practice with an interest in the issue addressed and the research process. The study focused on concerns arising from Learning Walks and Ofsted feedback about the perceived lack of challenge for able students. Using a three layer action research methodology, the views and practices of staff and students about challenge in ILTs (Independent Learning Tasks) were explored. An initial brainstorming activity was followed by questionnaires, lesson observations and focus group sessions with a sample of 100 students (Years 7, 9, 10 and 11). At the close of the first layer of research, data analysis revealed a range of levels of challenge in different subject areas, and from these a Year 10 Geography group was selected, with the support of the teacher. The second action research layer involved the Geography teacher and 15 Geography students who had identified a lack of challenge in their ILTs. This shifted the focus of the research to consider the cognitive challenge incorporated into tasks, focusing on thinking skills and questioning techniques. The third and final action research layer resulted in a newly developed, collaboratively-constructed ‘student friendly’ thinking skills analysis which provided powerful and formative insights to ‘label’ challenge. The teacher responded reflexively to the outcomes by trying out a redeveloped approach to ILTs (homework) and questioning techniques within the Academy. The findings from this investigation suggest that, cognitively challenging, problem-solving tasks, co-constructed with students to include opportunities for Socratic questioning provide for greater challenge in the classroom. Finally, the benefits to be gained from establishing a research community where the Principal is the lead researcher, include an increased emphasis on staff as change agents and the critical contribution of student voice in pursuit of challenging teaching and learning.

The nurturing of critical thinking skills is one of the cornerstones of Outcomes Based Education (OBE). This study investigated to what extent teachers create classroom climates that nurture the development of critical thinking abilities. A literature study was undertaken to highlight the importance and nature of the development of critical thinking skills, and to establish the relationship between classroom climate and the development of critical thinking abilities. The use of teaching methods and strategies, learning activities, questioning techniques, the role of the teacher and the role of the learner during teaching and learning in the classroom were explored. The literature review provided the conceptual framework for the study, as well as the framework for designing a questionnaire that was utilized to obtain the perceptions of teachers and learners regarding the opportunities provided by teachers for the development of critical thinking abilities in the classroom. By means of quantitative, non-experimental descriptive survey research, a self-constructed questionnaire was administrated to a convenient sample of a purposively selected group of Grade 9 and Grade 11 teachers (n=241) and learners (n=403) in the Sedibeng West District of the Gauteng Department of Education. The triangulation of learner and teacher data revealed differences and similarities in opinion related to the classroom climates that teachers create for nurturing critical thinking. In essence, the data revealed that teachers are, to some extent, creating classroom climates that nurture critical thinking through their choice of teaching methods and strategies, questioning techniques and the learning activities that they choose. However, the responses did not convincingly indicate to the researcher that the nurturing of critical thinking skills takes place on a regular and frequent basis. According to the learner responses, it appeared that teaching and learning methods and strategies that promote interactive learning, are underutilized by the teachers. This study is concluded with recommendations to teachers on how to create classroom climates that promote the development of critical thinking skills. Key words: cognition, cognitive development, critical thinking, classroom climate, teaching methods and strategies, learning activities, questioning techniques. / M.Ed., North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010

Children with autism often exhibit deficits in question-asking. This study replicated and extended Williams, Donley, and Keller.s (2000) training package: a modeling and reinforcement procedure to teach the use of 3 different questions about hidden objects. Two boys, aged 13 and 12, with primary diagnoses of autism, participated. A multiple baseline design across questions was used. Both children learned to ask all three questions: .What.s that?. .Can I see (item name)?. and .Can I have (item name)?. Question-asking generalized to novel locations, people, and stimulus materials with minimal additional training. These results support the efficacy of this training package as an efficient way to teach children with autism to ask questions about objects in their environment.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Socratic questioning, an approach that builds critical thinking skills and fosters learning by constructing new knowledge, was an effective tool for improving student perceptions of the writing process. The main research question that was examined in this study was: How can Socratic questioning improve students' perceptions of writing and the writing process? Qualitative research methods were used as a framework for the design of this study as well as purposeful student sampling, triangulation of three data sources, and an extensive coding process. Findings from the study support that Socratic questioning can positively impact students: the first major finding was that student perceptions of the writing process improved, and the second major finding was that student perceptions of their own identities as writers improved as well. After the study, students found that being an effective writer was possible and that evaluation of one's writing was a vital part of becoming a better writer. Most importantly, after participating in this study, students believed themselves to be writers.

This investigation is concerned with determining the value, if any, of certain curiosity constructs and thought skill experiences upon "raw score" responses of black sixth grade pupils to selected standardized and experimenter made tests. The major purpose of this study is to determine whether the curiosity levels of black children will be increased and if gains will be made in reading comprehension and responses when selected questioning procedures are used. The study is confined to teacher-directed instructional situations where pupils are engaged in reading acts.

The thesis deals with the interpretation of the 'soul care' theme supplemented by the considerations falling within the educational philosophy. The author of the thesis puts forvard three crucial questions as set in the introduction: What is the 'soul care' and what does it include? What would be the possibilities of getting back to this concept in the current times and would this be possible indeed? What role performs the school within the concept of 'soulcare' and what is the teacher's role? The thesis is divided in three parts denoting the comprehension of the concept of the soul in the Ancient times, in the New Age, within Patočka's concept of history and life movements and questioning, dialogue and discovering the sole origin as properties which are vitally important for the soul movement. The 'soul care' is also closely connected with the phenomenon of freedom as the freedom towards something which helps to found us and to form us. The necessity of the 'soul care' update has been gradually occuring and the primary role in such course of education belongs to school as the main contributory.

Title: The popularity of the sport among the general public in relations to its presentation on TV Objectives: The aim of this thesis is to determine the popularity of the sport among the general public and to compare it with its presentation on TV. The popularity and viewership of the sport is determined by questioning the public. To conduct interviews with experts on sports broadcasters from television, explaining views of sport news provided on public and commercial televisions. Final results were compared with the results of observation presentation of the sport in sport news in the thesis of Trnková (2014). The results allowed to propose recommendations which will be for use in marketing, sports and media organisations. The results will only imply a certain degree of scientific contribution. Methods: The market research of this thesis has consisted of quantitative and qualitative methods. An electronic questionnaire published on the server Vyplňto.cz, helped gather results from the public. Interviews were carried out in-depth including electronic questioning via e-mail correspondence. The theoretical part is based on the analysis of documents. Results: Sport is very popular within the Czech population in its active and passive form. Based on research carried out, men are more interested in...

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Curriculum and Instruction / Socorro Herrera / The primary purpose of this study was to explore ways in which teachers can increase their second language (L2) learners’ reading comprehension through constructing situation models. The author incorporated theoretical frameworks, including the situation model theory (Kintsch, 1998/2007), the event index model (Zwaan & Radvansky, 1998), and the linguistic threshold hypothesis (Clark, 1980; Aldersen, 1984; Carrell, 1991). As an educational intervention, a set of adjunct questions were asked during reading to elicit readers’ explanations of causality and intentionality to promote coherent comprehension. A total of 117 L2 readers’ ability to make appropriate inferences based on situation models was assessed through both quantitative (experimental-control design) and qualitative (think-aloud) methods. This experimental study examined the effect of explaining to target situation models, while also looking at the relationship between the readers’ inferential ability and their L2 proficiency. In addition to the main effects of the intervention and L2 proficiency, the interaction between the intervention and L2 proficiency were discussed as results of the quantitative analysis. Also discussed was the nature of the L2 readers’ responses to adjunct questions, which were designed to measure the quality of their explanations based on the underlying situations in the text that they were reading. This study extended existing research on situation model-level comprehension to L2 literacy, which has not previously been well studied. This made the study theoretically interesting as well as highly applicable to L2 reading instruction. The main findings of this study were: (1) there was a strong effect of question types (inferential vs. non-inferential questions) with greater accuracy overall for non-inferential questions, (2) there was a suggestive trend of question type interacting with L2 proficiency, such that higher proficiency participants showed little difference between question types, (3) there was no statistically significant main effect of the adjunct question manipulation on accuracy, and (4) there was a trend suggesting an interaction between experimental condition and L2 proficiency, with higher proficiency participants showing a somewhat larger effect of the adjunct question manipulation. Additionally, both quantitative and qualitative data trended in the direction consistent with the linguistic threshold hypothesis.

O objetivo central da pesquisa consiste em pensar sobre a relação da educação com a verdade. A partir da pergunta qual a relação da educação com a verdade?, buscando menos uma única resposta e mais a abertura de possibilidades de reflexão para o campo da educação, considerando que tal pergunta se dirige ao cerne do embate que se apresenta nesse campo, configurado como um jogo entre a espiritualidade e a racionalidade. Questões sobre a finalidade da educação, sobre a pertinência da técnica ou da formação para a cidadania, por exemplo, ilustram a atualidade desse jogo de oposição que parece estar vinculado a tal relação. Para tanto, espera-se ir além dos estudos das teorias pedagógicas e da analítica da verdade, para confrontar essa relação na história, a partir dos estudos de Michel Foucault, especialmente analisados em seus cursos no Collège de France na década de 1980. Toma-se a relação da educação com a verdade a partir de três referentes: a interrogação, o saber e a técnica. Elementos referentes identificados nos estudos de Michel Foucault e Jacques Lacan sobre a verdade, pensadores tomados em suas diferenças irreconciliáveis, mas numa posição que qualifica ambos na inauguração de um modo de pensar sobre a verdade e que permite, a partir desses três elementos, obter uma perspectiva de análise que favorece a identificação dos modos de relação da educação com a verdade, desde a Antiguidade até a Modernidade. / This research aims at reflecting upon the correlation between education and the truth. Starting from the question What is the correlation between education and the truth?, instead of a unique answer, a wider range of possibilities in terms of reflection upon the educational field is expected, bearing in mind that such question is addressed to what concerns the conflicts in this field, configured as a game between spirituality and rationality. Questions regarding the aim of education, the relevance of the technique or the education for citizenship for instance, illustrate the current situation of this opposition game which seems to be connected to such correlation. Therefore, this research aims at going beyond the studies of pedagogical theories and the analytics of the truth, in order to confront this correlation in history, based on the studies of Michel Foucault, especially analyzed in his courses at College de France in the 1980s.The correlation between education and the truth can be interpreted in three possibilities: questioning, knowledge and technique. Different elements identified in the studies of Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan regarding the truth, thinkers taken in by their irreconcilable differences, but in a position that qualifies both in the inauguration of a new way of thinking about the truth and which makes it possible, starting from these three elements, to obtain an analysis perspective which favors the identification of the correlation between education and the truth, from antiquity to modernity.

Com as recentes modificações na conjuntura social mundial, a educação brasileira foi chamada a responder a novos desafios. Nesse contexto, o currículo cultural da Educação Física, inspirado nas teorias pós-críticas, emerge como uma alternativa às propostas curriculares totalizantes, mostrando-se disposto a colaborar na formação do cidadão crítico e na construção de uma sociedade mais democrática e sensível às diferenças. Tendo por objetivo analisar junto a um grupo de professores(as) que atuam nessa perspectiva como tecem as ações didáticas de tematização e problematização, bem como as possibilidades de potencialização para novas tessituras, a presente pesquisa de enfoque qualitativo, entrelaçou os seguintes dispositivos de produção de dados: grupos de discussão, observações participantes e entrevistas. As análises realizadas mediante a hermenêutica crítica revelaram que a tematização das práticas corporais constitui-se em importante estratégia de política cultural, criando efeitos contra-hegemônicos no currículo escolar. No currículo cultural da Educação Física, os conteúdos de ensino não são definidos a priori no planejamento uma vez que decorrem da relação dialógica entre os sujeitos participantes do processo pedagógico. A partir de elementos disparadores e elementos provocadores, a problematização tece a tematização, permitindo que o currículo em ação assuma um caráter rizomático. Quanto mais se problematiza, maiores são as chances da tematização manter-se atenta ao processo de fixação simbólica, dada a intensificação da circulação dos discursos sobre as práticas corporais e seus representantes. Sob essas circunstâncias, a ação didática do(a) professor(a) é continuamente (re)centralizada, colocada em devir. Enquanto vetor que intenciona a desconstrução, a problematização permite ampliar as possibilidades de significação; suspender os regimes de verdade com que os significados operam nas diferentes épocas e contextos; atualizar a relação do sujeito consigo próprio e com o mundo, potencializando a produção de novos problemas e conceitos. Entretanto, em determinados momentos, as problematizações não enveredam para exercícios arquegenealógicos das práticas corporais, ou mesmo, chegam a apartar-se dos acontecimentos referentes às manifestações tematizadas e da voz do sujeito subjugado. Reconhecemos que as investidas contra-hegemônicas da proposta cultural da Educação Física não escapam das marcas deixadas pela maquinaria escolar. Nesse contexto, para que as diferenças possam afirmar-se, a artistagem do currículo exige que os(as) professores(as) enfrentem e se posicionem politicamente ante as inúmeras redes de força que se estabelecem nas escolas e na sociedade mais ampla e que, por vezes, tensionam ao fechamento em identidades hegemônicas. / With the recent changes in the world social conjuncture, the Brazilian education has been called to answer to new challenges. In this context, the cultural curriculum of physical education, inspired by the post-critical theories, emerges as an alternative to the totalizing curricular proposals, we are willing to collaborate in the formation of critical citizens and to build a more democratic society and responsive to differences. The goal is to analyze with a group of teachers who work in this perspective as they weave the didactic actions of theming and questioning, as well as the possibilities of empowerment for new tessituras. This qualitative approach research twined to the following data output devices: discussion groups, participant observation and interviews. The analyzes carried out by the hermeneutic criticism revealed that the theming of corporal practices constitutes an important cultural policy strategy, creating effects counterhegemonic in the school curriculum. In the cultural curriculum of physical education, the teaching contents are not defined a priori planning as result of dialogical relationship between the subjects participating in the educational process. From \"triggers elements\" and \"provocative elements,\" the questioning weaves theming, allowing the curriculum in action takes on a rhizomatic character. The more you problematize, the greater the chances of theming remain attentive to symbolic setting process, given the intensification of the movement of discourse on bodily practices and their representatives. Under these circumstances, didactic actions of teachers are continually (re)centered, put on becoming. While vector intends deconstruction, the strategy allows us to expand the possibilities of signification; suspends the regimes of truth in which the meanings operate on different times and contexts; update the subject\'s relationship with himself and the world, increasing the production of new problems and concepts. However, at certain times, the problematizations do not follow to arche/genealogical exercises of corporal practices, or even come to be apart from the events related to the themed events and the voice of the subjugated subject. We recognize that counter-hegemonic thrusts of cultural proposal of physical education cannot escape from the marks left by the school machinery. In this context, in order to the differences to be able to assert themselves, the curriculum acting requires facing teachers who position themselves politically against the several power networks that are established in schools and in the wider society and sometimes tensioning to close in hegemonic identities.