The purpose of the study was to investigate the efficacy of a 'Reading Recovery' or an 'Extra Lesson' program in comparison to no intervention for children having difficulty reading in their second year at school. 'Reading Recovery' is an intervention program developed by Marie Clay to assist children who are showing signs of having difficulty learning to read after the first year at school. 'Reading Recovery' uses a whole language approach. The assumption is that given a second chance in a 1:1 structured learning environment, with a trained Reading Recovery teacher, the child will learn to read at an age appropriate level. The 'Extra Lesson' intervention is based on the paradigm of Rudolf Steiner's concept of education, which is a holistic developmental approach. The assumption is that there is a relationship between learning and development in the first seven years of the child's life. The 'Extra Lesson' assessment tests for and identifies developmental difficulties within the first seven years of the child's life and skills testing clarifies if the child has any significant learning difficulty. The 'Extra Lesson' intervention is a 1:1 program, based on a holistic developmental perspective of Rudolf Steiner, to work with the child's difficulties. The efficacy of both interventions was evaluated by using a case study design with embedded forms of analysis and a pre-test post-test non equivalent control group quasi-experimental design to measure the changes in the children's reading skills, processing speed, short term auditory memory and awareness of body geography. Follow up tests were administered 10 months after the post-tests. Case studies have been used to present the data collated for individual subjects and graphs were used for the analysis of group data. All the subjects showed an improvement in reading skills from the pre to the post-test. At follow up all the subjects tested continued to show an improvement in reading skills. Both interventions were shown to affect the subjects reading skills. A comparison of groups showed a slight measurable difference between the 'Reading Recovery', 'Extra Lesson' and Control group, with the 'Extra Lesson' showing a slightly larger improvement in sight word recognition. The treatment and Control groups' Writing Vocabulary increased from the pre to the post-test. The 'Reading Recovery' and Control groups' Writing Vocabulary decreased and the Extra Lesson group continued to improve at follow up. All the groups showed an improvement in short term auditory memory at the post-test and the Control and 'Extra lesson' groups continued to increase slightly at follow up and the 'Reading Recovery' group remained relatively constant. All the groups had relatively constant scores on Processing Speed from the pre to the post- test and at follow up. Neither intervention showed a measurable effect on Processing Speed. All the groups showed an improvement in graphical representation of body geography at the post-test and at follow up. The 'Extra Lesson' group showed the largest improvement at the post-test and long-term. The 'Extra Lesson' intervention had a positive and measurable effect on graphical representation of body geography after the intervention and long-term.

魯道夫•史坦納（Rudolf Steiner，1861-1925）是十九世紀的歐洲哲學家，創立「人智學」學說，主要探求人類本質的了解與拓展，並透過教育使人發展成為均衡協調的全人。本論文研究重點為其幼兒教育思想，主要採取歷史研究法及詮釋學方法對Steiner的思想進行解讀，一方面閱讀Steiner的著作，在作品與自身的視野中進行對話，以期達到視域的交融，另一方面，佐以相關文獻，試圖透過第三者的角度，對Steiner思想的闡明，產生更加深化的作用。嘗試探討的焦點如下： （一） 探討Steiner生平及思想之淵源，以了解其教育思想的基礎。 （二）闡釋Steiner的兒童圖像，了解兒童所具有的本質。 （三）詮釋並分析Steiner全人教育之理想，以及教師應面對之任務。 （四）詮釋並說明Steiner幼兒教育的構想與實施的途徑。 （五）綜合上述研究結果，探究其教育思想對現今幼兒教育的啟示。 第一章為研究動機與方法之說明。第二章主要介紹Steiner之生平，並闡明其思想淵源來自「歌德」、「尼采」、「基督學說」、「輪迴思想」的影響。第三章則勾勒出Steiner所持兒童圖像，說明兒童具有「完整人」、「自由人」、「自主者」、「氣質協調者」之本質，再探究教育上的培養之道。第四章先探討Steiner所面對的教育危機，並分析其教育開展的目標為「精神與心靈的發展與調和」、「培養自我了解與表現的能力」、「道德理想與社會意識的喚醒」、「知識與技能的均衡培養」，其教育開展的原則為依「意志」、「情感」、「思考」的原則循序進行。另外，教師需了解自身與學生的氣質，成為主動的世界建構者、並作一位心靈的藝術家。第五章探討Steiner在幼兒教育方面的構想，幼稚園中需提供幼兒遊戲、美育、生命體驗的活動，以喚醒幼兒的生命活力，培養其成為均衡發展的全人。第六章闡述對Steiner幼兒教育思想的評論，並提出對我國現今幼兒教育的啟示，以及對個人的啟發。 從Steiner的教育理念言之，教育是為了培養人成為具有堅強的意志力、豐富敏銳的情感，以及能清晰思考的全人，在幼兒教育時期，主要透過模仿的方式進行教育，並發展幼兒的個體性，著重身體、精神、心靈的均衡諧調。 第一章 緒論 一、研究動機、問題與目的………………………………1 二、名詞界定………………………………………………7 三、研究方法與流程………………………………………8 四、研究範圍與限制………………………………………10 第二章 Steiner之生平與思想淵源 第一節 生平………………………………………………13 第二節 思想淵源…………………………………………18 一、歌德…………………………………………18 二、尼采…………………………………………26 三、基督學說……………………………………33 四、輪迴思想……………………………………37 第三節 對教育的影響與貢獻……………………………41 第三章 兒童圖像 第一節 完整人……………………………………………47 一、人類構成的四部份…………………………49 二、人類發展的三階段…………………………53 第二節 自由人……………………………………………57 一、自由與教育…………………………………57 二、自由人的發展………………………………60 第三節 自主者……………………………………………65 一、自主與模仿…………………………………65 二、自主者的啟發………………………………67 第四節 氣質調和者………………………………………70 一、兒童的氣質…………………………………71 二、氣質的教育…………………………………79 第四章 全人教育理想 第一節 教育的危機………………………………………89 一、人性異化的危機……………………………90 二、學習窄化的危機……………………………92 第二節 教育的開展………………………………………96 一、教育的目的…………………………………96 二、教育的原則…………………………………103 第三節 教師的任務………………………………………110 一、掌握自身與學生的氣質……………………111 二、成為主動的世界建構者……………………113 三、作一位心靈藝術家…………………………114 第五章 幼兒教育的構想 第一節 遊戲的驅力………………………………………121 一、遊戲即教育…………………………………122 二、遊戲與創造…………………………………126 三、幼稚園的遊戲………………………………126 第二節 藝術的感動………………………………………130 一、生活中的美感經驗…………………………130 二、美育活動的作用……………………………131 三、美育課程……………………………………133 第三節 生命的體驗………………………………………142 一、人與大自然、世界…………………………142 二、人與他人……………………………………143 三、體驗的活動…………………………………144 第六章 結論 第一節 回顧與評論………………………………………149 第二節 對現今幼兒教育的啟示…………………………156 第三節 對個人的啟發……………………………………167 參考書目…………………………………………………170 附錄………………………………………………………176

This study is a critical analysis of Waldorf teacher education in Australia. Beginning with an exposition of the central tenets of Rudolf Steiner's philosophy and educational theory, and his lectures to teachers, the author identifies what he sees as the requirements and characteristics of an ideal Waldorf teacher education program. The study next investigates the development of Waldorf teacher education provision in Australia, and surveys a wide cross-section of teachers and teacher educators in Australian Waldorf schools, to ascertain the type of preparation they received or have contributed to, and elicit their views as to its strengths and weaknesses. These findings are then critically analysed, making comparisons with Waldorf teacher education programs in other countries. The feasibility and implications of including a Waldorf course in a main-stream teacher education Faculty in Australian universities are discussed, in relation to current prevailing government policies regarding schooling and the values and emphases which these impose upon state university courses. The study concludes with proposals for change and improvement in Waldorf teacher education provision in Australia to make Waldorf teachers better prepared to educate Australian children for the 21st century, still in keeping with the essential values of Steiner education. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Graduate School of Education, 1999.

This thesis presents and develops a theory of self-reduction. This process is used to map instances of combinatorial optimisation problems onto smaller, more easily solvable instances in such a way that a solution of the former can be readily re-constructed, without loss of information or quality, from a solution of the latter. Self-reduction rules are surveyed for the Graph Colouring Problem, the Maximum Clique Problem, the Steiner Problem in Graphs, the Bin Packing Problem and the Set Covering Problem. This thesis introduces the problem of determining the maximum sequence of self-reductions on a given structure, and shows how the theory of confluence can be adapted from term re-writing to solve this problem by identifying rule sets for which all maximal reduction sequences are equivalent. Such confluence results are given for a number of reduction rules on problems on discrete systems. In contrast, NP-hardness results are also presented for some reduction rules. A probabilistic analysis of self-reductions on graphs is performed, showing that the expected number of self-reductions on a graph tends to zero as the order of the graph tends to infinity. An empirical study is performed comparing the performance of self-reduction, graph decomposition and direct methods of solving the Graph Colouring and Set Covering Problems. The results show that self-reduction is a potentially valuable, but sometimes erratic, method of finding exact solutions to combinatorial problems.

The Diameter-Constrained Minimum Spanning Tree Problem seeks a least cost spanning tree subject to a (diameter) bound imposed on the number of edges in the tree between any node pair. A traditional multicommodity flow model with a commodity for every pair of nodes was unable to solve a 20-node and 100-edge problem after one week of computation. We formulate the problem as a directed tree from a selected central node or a selected central edge. Our model simultaneously finds a central node or a central edge and uses it as the source for the commodities in a directed multicommodity flow model with hop constraints. The new model has been able to solve the 20-node, 100-edge instance to optimality after less than four seconds. We also present model enhancements when the diameter bound is odd (these situations are more difficult). We show that the linear programming relaxation of the best formulations discussed in this paper always give an optimal integer solution for two special, polynomially-solvable cases of the problem. We also examine the Diameter Constrained Minimum Steiner Tree problem. We present computational experience in solving problem instances with up to 100 nodes and 1000 edges. The largest model contains more than 250,000 integer variables and more than 125,000 constraints.

We consider combinatorial t-design problems as discrete optimization problems. Our motivation is that only a few studies have been done on the use of exact optimization techniques in designs, and that classical methods in design theory have still left many open existence questions. Roughly defined, t-designs are pairs of discrete sets that are related following some strict properties of size, balance, and replication. These highly structured relationships provide optimal solutions to a variety of problems in computer science like error-correcting codes, secure communications, network interconnection, design of hardware; and are applicable to other areas like statistics, scheduling, games, among others. We give a new approach to combinatorial t-designs that is useful in constructing t-designs by polyhedral methods. The first contribution of our work is a new result of equivalence of t-design problems with a graph theory problem. This equivalence leads to a novel integer programming formulation for t-designs, which we call GDP. We analyze the polyhedral properties of GDP and conclude, among other results, the associated polyhedron dimension. We generate new classes of valid inequalities to aim at approximating this integer program by a linear program that has the same optimal solution. Some new classes of valid inequalities are generated as Chv´atal-Gomory cuts, other classes are generated by graph complements and combinatorial arguments, and others are generated by the use of incidence substructures in a t-design. In particular, we found a class of valid inequalities that we call stable-set class that represents an alternative graph equivalence for the problem of finding a t-design. We analyze and give results on the strength of these new classes of valid inequalities. We propose a separation problem and give its integer programming formulation as a maximum (or minimum) edge-weight biclique subgraph problem. We implement a pure cutting-plane algorithm using one of the stronger classes of valid inequalities derived. Several instances of t-designs were solved efficiently by this algorithm at the root node of the search tree. Also, we implement a branch-and-cut algorithm and solve several instances of 2-designs trying different base formulations. Computational results are included.

Compared to conventional Steiner tree signal net routing, non-tree topology is often superior in many aspects including timing performance, tolerance to open faults and variations. In nano-scale VLSI designs, interconnect delay is a performance bottleneck and variation effects are increasingly problematic. Therefore the advantages of non-tree topology are particularly appealing for timing critical net routings in nano-scale VLSI designs. We propose Steiner network construction heuristics which can generate either tree or non-tree of signal net with different slack wirelength tradeoffs, and handle both long path and short path constraints. Extensive experiments in different scenarios show that our heuristics usually improve timing slack by hundreds of pico seconds compared to traditional tree approaches while increasing only slightly in wirelength. These results show that our algorithm is a very promising approach for timing critical net routings.

The aim of this study is to generate new knowledge of the educationalpractice of a pre-school and of how it may contribute to the understandingof doing gender. The ethnographic study examines the place and practiceof a Steiner Waldorf pre-school, and it focuses specifically on materiality,age, spirituality and the intentions of the pre-school teachers. Fieldworkhas been conducted for a period of one and a half years in one pre-school.The methods used are mainly participant observation and interviews withthe pre-school teachers. The results highlight the importance of the materialand spatial dimensions of the pre-school for the constitution of children’sgender. The concepts of performativity and ritualization have beenused as the main analytical tools. The study draws on the scope of theseconcepts as understood by Judith Butler and Catherine Bell. On the basis of the analysis of the empirical material, a theoretical concept,situated decoding of gender, is suggested. It is argued that what atfirst glance can be interpreted as a ‘female universe’, turns out to be a placewhere gender is made non-relevant through an unintentional, yet powerfulongoing process of naturalization. The situated decoding of gender is madepossible because of certain features in this pre-school. Firstly, a repetitivestructure characterizing educational practice has been observed. This isbased on a principle of rhythm reciprocally related to the alternations betweencontinuity and change. Secondly, there is a clear spatial and materialdemarcation that the study argues makes the pre-school an enclosed space,in the sense of being a place of nurturing and protection, where the boundariesbetween home and pre-school are maintained. Thirdly, the performativeforce of the ritualized preschool practices further enhances the decodingof gender. The ritualization highlights and supports the spiritual dimensionin the pedagogy, which sidelines the doing of gender. Fourthly, theteachers contributed to the decoding of gender through the consistency oftheir everyday actions.

Compared to conventional Steiner tree signal net routing, non-tree topology is often superior in many aspects including timing performance, tolerance to open faults and variations. In nano-scale VLSI designs, interconnect delay is a performance bottleneck and variation effects are increasingly problematic. Therefore the advantages of non-tree topology are particularly appealing for timing critical net routings in nano-scale VLSI designs. We propose Steiner network construction heuristics which can generate either tree or non-tree of signal net with different slack wirelength tradeoffs, and handle both long path and short path constraints. Extensive experiments in different scenarios show that our heuristics usually improve timing slack by hundreds of pico seconds compared to traditional tree approaches while increasing only slightly in wirelength. These results show that our algorithm is a very promising approach for timing critical net routings.

L'objet de cette thèse est de modéliser et d'étudier des structures d'irrigation telles les nervures des feuilles, réseau sanguin, poumons,etc. Un modèle généralisant le problème de Gilbert Steiner est introduit ; on étudie alors les propriétés d'existence, de stabilité et régularité. Des algorithmes sont alors proposés pour la simulation.