The purpose of this research was to examine the possible associations between the perceived classroom environment of high school students, the level of mathematics anxiety that they possess, and their attitudes towards mathematics. This marks the first time that these three fields of research have been simultaneously combined. Data were gathered from 745 high school mathematics students in 34 classes in high schools in the Southern California area using three instruments: the What is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) learning environment survey created by Fraser, McRobbie, and Fisher (1996), an updated version of Plake and Parker's (1982) Revised Mathematics Anxiety Ratings Scale WRS), and a mathematics version of selected scales from Fraser's (1981) Test of Science-Related Attitudes (TOSRA). This revised attitude instrument was called the Test of Mathematics-Related Attitudes (TOMRA). Using statistical methods, the three instruments were checked for internal consistency reliability, factor structure, and discriminant validity. The RMARS and WIHIC were both found to exhibit good reliability and factorial validity in mathematics classrooms in Southern California, while the TOMRA yielded two scales of the four a priori scales, Enjoyment of Mathematics Lessons and Normality of Mathematicians, which met reliability and factorial validity standards. Within-class gender differences were analysed using paired t-tests combined with a modified Bonferroni procedure and effect sizes. Between- student gender difference were investigated using MANOVA. Simple correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed to identify possible associations between the learning environment and anxiety/attitudes scales. Qualitative data were collected from interviews and inductive analysis was performed in order to refute or corroborate the quantitative findings. / Significant within-class gender differences were found in four areas of the learning environment (Student Cohesiveness, Task Orientation, Cooperation, and Equity), but no gender differences in attitudes were found. All four learning environment areas were perceived in a more favourable light by females than by males. Individual gender differences were similar, with a significant difference also being found in Teacher Support, as well as both types of mathematics anxiety, namely, Learning Mathematics Anxiety and Mathematics Evaluation Anxiety. In order to carefully identify the relationships between the classroom learning environment and mathematics anxiety, analyses were conducted for both factors of mathematics anxiety. While no association between the learning environment and Mathematics Evaluation Anxiety was found, there were significant associations between Learning Mathematics Anxiety and three areas of the learning environment: Student Cohesiveness, Task Orientation, and Investigation. Significant associations between the Normality of Mathematicians attitude scale and the learning environment scales Equity and Involvement were identified, while three areas of the learning environment (Investigation, Task Orientation, and Cooperation) had a significant relationship with Enjoyment of Mathematics Lessons. Qualitative data analyses confirmed relationships between anxiety, attitudes, and classroom learning environments. The data also suggest that the structure of the mathematical content is linked with the level of anxiety that high school students feel.

Research suggests that the transition to adolescence and secondary school can be challenging and potentially disruptive to adolescent functioning. Large-scale studies on the effectiveness of peer support programs are currently lacking and those that have been conducted are compromised by methodological problems. The primary purpose of this research was to 1/ identify psychometrically sound measurement instruments for use with secondary school students; 2/ test the impact of the peer support program on espoused program outcomes and other aspects of students' psychological well-being and adjustment to the secondary schooling context; 3/ extend previous research by examining the effects of serving as a peer support leader on leadership ability and other psychological constructs; and 4/ identify students' perceptions of the impact, strengths and weaknesses of the program in order to further strengthen peer support intervention design. The findings have important implications for the provision of programs and techniques employed to address students' problems following the transition to adolescence and secondary school. In particular, they suggest that peer support programs have the potential to make a significant contribution to schools' efforts to orchestrate positive outcomes, not only for early adolescents, but also for older students who implement the program / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis explores the perceptions and experiences of twenty four Year 9 students from two schools in New Zealand who had participated in the Secondary Numeracy Project. The two schools were in their first year of SNP at the time of data collection. The main focus was on four areas of mathematics learning: group work, equipment, communication and teachers. Data was collected mainly by using semi-structured and clinical interviews. Findings revealed that equipment was particularly important and were used more frequently by students in Low ability group. Students liked using equipment, working in groups and sharing multiple solutions. However, communication was not used much as a means of making sense of mathematics in these classrooms. Furthermore the students' responses depended on the ability groups. These findings complemented the work of other researchers who have explored students' perspectives at the primary level. These findings suggest that the SNP would be more successful if students were explicitly taught good communication and cooperative learning skills.

The research investigates the personal development benefits to students of involvement in a particular extracurricular activity (student theatre). It examines aspects of student personal development that are promoted by involvement in this extracurricular activity and discusses factors within the activity that encourage or promote these results. It does this through its focus on participants’ perceptions of what happens in the group, in terms of personal development and events and actions that affected that personal development. The extracurricular theatrical activity that is the focus of this study takes place annually in a regional Catholic co-educational secondary college in Victoria, Australia. It is a multi-age activity that involves students from Years 7 – 12. Participation is open to all students and the activity is non-competitive. A detailed review of the literature covering the areas of extracurricular activity, adolescent development and resilience is provided. The research is underpinned by an holistic enactivist world-view and makes use of the constant comparison methodology of grounded theory to analyse the data it obtains. The theoretical justification for this position is provided. The data were obtained through semi-structured or guided interviews with long term participants in the activity. The participants included students, ex-students, teachers and parents. The participants’ perspectives of the personal development that occurred through involvement in the extracurricular activity were revealed through their voices, and were examined as they described and reflected upon their experiences. The interconnectedness of the personal development benefits and the factors that enable them are highlighted. Conclusions about the significance of an increased awareness of the complex inter-relatedness of the events that subscribe to the enhancement of personal development are offered. Theory related to the elements that contribute to the development of an environment that facilitates personal development benefits is developed.

In Australia, traditionally a wide range of measures have been used to identify academically successful schools. The mix of these measures has varied from state to state. But recently, added to this mix, and perhaps becoming the most influential factor, has been the examination results of senior students. These have become far more available to the prospective parents and governing bodies. They are used to gauge the ranking of the school, and to whether parents can expect their children to gain entry into the more prestigious tertiary programs available. But these scores are also being used to rank staff, and in turn, the ‘quality’ of staff becomes yet another factor in identifying an academically successful school. In other words, the notion of high stakes testing is gaining wide spread use across all forms of schooling in Australia, including State, Independent and Catholic schools. This thesis is about teachers in academically successful Christian Brothers’ schools. It is an interpretive study that seeks to understand how these teachers respond to this form of assessment: high stakes testing. Their responses include emotional responses, how they change their teaching style and how they feel about teaching in Christian Brothers’ schools striving for academic success. In this research I interviewed teachers and administrators at three academically successful Christian Brothers’ schools in three different states in Australia. I developed three cases from these interviews and document searches, one drawn from each school, that indicate the range of issues that emerged, for them, as teachers in academically successful Christian Brothers’ schools. The specific use of high stakes testing was found to be very different in each of the schools. One school used high stakes testing as an accountability measure for staff, another used it as an accountability measure for students, and the third had no history of using high stakes testing. The study concludes that academic excellence can be achieved in Christian Brothers’ schools whilst remaining faithful to the ethos that underpins these schools: the Charism of Edmund Rice. Significant factors in the determination of the successful implementation of high stakes testing in these schools were found to be: the effect of senior management; influence of the media; the influence of culture; and changing culture and the nature of the schools. The thesis concludes with a blueprint for a hypothetical Christian Brothers’ school to follow that may lead to academic success.

Research suggests that the transition to adolescence and secondary school can be challenging and potentially disruptive to adolescent functioning. Large-scale studies on the effectiveness of peer support programs are currently lacking and those that have been conducted are compromised by methodological problems. The primary purpose of this research was to 1/ identify psychometrically sound measurement instruments for use with secondary school students; 2/ test the impact of the peer support program on espoused program outcomes and other aspects of students' psychological well-being and adjustment to the secondary schooling context; 3/ extend previous research by examining the effects of serving as a peer support leader on leadership ability and other psychological constructs; and 4/ identify students' perceptions of the impact, strengths and weaknesses of the program in order to further strengthen peer support intervention design. The findings have important implications for the provision of programs and techniques employed to address students' problems following the transition to adolescence and secondary school. In particular, they suggest that peer support programs have the potential to make a significant contribution to schools' efforts to orchestrate positive outcomes, not only for early adolescents, but also for older students who implement the program / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1984. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

<p>Abstract</p><p>This thesis explores how secondary schoolteachers in Swedish, prioritise from the Swedish language history materials. The study includes interviews with two Swedish teachers and inquiries with students in two classes at the social science programme (third year). The student literature that is used has been analysed and the teaching is compared with the Swedish central teaching plan. The results show that the students are weak in placing language at different historical time periods and make conclusions of this. The results from both the inquiries and teaching contents disclose a general weakness as it comes to Swedish language history. The interviews points at the standardizing attitude towards the subject, from the teachers influence the size and the depth of teaching the students get in Swedish language history.</p>

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