ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an active learning approach (ALA) on the achievement of 11 th grade learners in Newton’s laws of motion, The case study was done in one school by comparing the achievement of learners in Newton’s laws of motion through an Active Learning Approach (ALA) with that of learners taught through Traditional Direct I nstruction (TDI) and to determine whether learners taught with ALA retained the material better than those taught with TDI. Two grade 11 classes in one school in the Queenstown District of the Eastern Cape were selected on their performance in two differen t tests and used as case study . The Force Concept Inventory was used to determine the achievements and retention of knowledge of the two groups. The effect of the active lear ning approach on the treatment group was also measured by ask ing each learner in t he group to complete a learner assessment of instruction form. The treatment group was also subjected to a classroom group interview. T he following information emerged from the study: i) Learners taught using the ALA achieved significantly better in FCI pos t - test than those taught with traditional direct instruction. ii) In the retention of knowledge test, the mean score of the learners taught using the ALA was 4.8% higher than those taught with TDI although insignificant. iii) Learners subjected to the ALA liked the instructional approach and as such put in extra time to learn. The findings suggest that the active learning approach had positive effect on the achievement of the Grade 11 learners and thus, can be adapted to enhance learning in the classroom. / Physics

The aim of this study is to examine (from a didactic perspective) how two social studies teachers who work in two different elementary schools, grade three, pursue their oral instructions with subject terms. We have selected these four following questions as main evaluation points throughout the study, basing our conclusion upon the information composed from the answers: Which of the five “conceptions of high order thinking” do the teachers value as the purpose for the teaching content? How do the teachers in their use of notions relate to the needs of second language students and how do they reflect on it? How do the teachers use subject-specific notions in their teachings practices? How are students given the opportunity to use, communicate and integrate around notions and how are the teachers reflecting on it? In this study we applied two types of qualitative methods. Six observations combined with interviews in the form of four short unstructured interviews and an in-depth interview with each teacher. Previous research shows that great linguistic skills are a common factor for success in all subjects. Our investigation has been made from a sociocultural theory that promotes learning through interaction with others as well as by receiving support from the teacher, through scaffolding. Our result indicates, in conclusion that the number of second language learners in the class has an impact on how actively the teachers work to concretize abstract notions. The student population determines how they in teaching practices use notions. Social issues also decided how the teachers gave students room to use notions. For teacher no. 2 who worked in an environment where the second language students were a majority, a second language perspective was an obvious matter, whereas teacher no. 1 considered it to be a management issue and a collective responsibility.

Learning and assessment are inextricably intertwined, since assessment not only measures learning, but future learning is also dependent on assessment. The purpose of this two phase sequential mixed-methods study was to examine the interplay between informal and formal assessment in Grade 9 EFAL classrooms in order to gain a better understanding of teachers’ assessment practises. Argued from a constructivist point of view, the study endorses continuous assessment (CASS), which balances informal and formal assessment. In order to direct the study towards the stated purpose, the researcher embarked on a literature study to contextualise English as First Additional Language against the background of educational developments in South Africa since 1994 and to examine assessment of English First Additional Language in an OBE framework. The literature study was followed by an empirical study. By applying a sequential mixed-methods research design, 66 conveniently sampled EFAL teachers in the Johannesburg-North District of the Gauteng Department of Education participated in the quantitative phase of the empirical study. By means of a survey as strategy of inquiry, these teachers completed a questionnaire. Six randomly selected teachers from the initial sample participated in the qualitative phase of the empirical study which followed a case study strategy of inquiry and consisted of individual interviews and observations. The empirical research findings revealed that the sampled teachers experienced the official Departmental documents as regulatory, overwhelming and ambiguous and that they gave more attention to formal assessment than informal assessment. Due to this emphasis on formal assessment, the teachers felt uncertain about the purposes of informal assessment which, as a consequence, was considered as less important than formal assessment. A preference of conventional assessment methods was also disclosed which implied that the sampled teachers were not willing to experiment with alternative assessment methods. In conclusion, the researcher discovered that although CASS was implemented in the sampled teachers’ classrooms, learner-centred teaching founded on constructivism with the aim of encouraging scaffolding, was not high on the teachers’ teaching agendas. / MEd (Learning and Teaching), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if the implementation of an intervention involving teachers' use of children's literature, related storybook manipulatives, and a scaffolding (LMS) approach to learning would improve preschool children's mathematics test scores. Additionally, the LMS approach was examined to determine whether teachers' perceptions of their effectiveness in mathematics instruction changed from the beginning to the end of the study. The subjects of the study included 60 preschool-aged children and six teachers from two child care centers. The preschool teachers participated in either a control or experimental condition (the LMS approach) in their daily mathematics instruction with their preschool children. The researcher tested the children using the Test of Early Mathematics Ability and an abbreviated version of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. The study was based on two main research questions. The first question asked if there was a difference in the Test of Early Mathematics Ability total posttest scores between children in the literature-manipulatives-scaffolding intervention group and children in the control group after assuring equivalency of the two groups. The second question addressed if preschool teachers believed they were more effective in their mathematics instruction after implementing the LMS approach with young children. The answer to the first research question was that there was no statistically significant difference in the Test of Early Mathematics Ability total posttest scores between children in the literature-manipulatives-scaffolding group and children in the control group. However, the answer to the second question was that preschool teachers believed they were more effective in their mathematics instruction after implementing the LMS approach with young children. Recommendations for future research on early childhood mathematics include the investigation of preschool children's ability, achievement, and interest in mathematics; teachers' use of mathematics scaffolding techniques; and longitudinal mathematics interventions beginning during the preschool years.

Antalet andraspråkselever i den svenska skolan har idag ökat, vilket innebär att undervisningen behöver anpassas till de nya förutsättningarna. Den här litteraturstudiens syfte är att undersöka andraspråkselevers läs- och skrivutveckling och hur lärare genom multimodala arbetssätt kan stötta denna i ämnet svenska i årskurs 1 – 3. Resultatet i den här studien visar att lärarens stöttning har en avgörande betydelse vid andraspråkselevers utveckling och att det är viktigt att lärare har kunskaper om hur andraspråkselever lär. I studien redovisas även framgångsrika exempel på hur lärare kan stötta andraspråkselever genom att arbeta multimodalt. / <p>Svenska</p>

Abstract This study examines the approaches used by teachers to motivate their pupils to read and investigates what underlying factors they claim may explain why pupils feel no motivation to read. The study was conducted from the perspective of five active teachers, with data collection by interview. The study found that the interviewed teachers use psychological support as well as structured teaching such as reading aloud and book talks, along with a varied range of methods, to motivate their pupils to read. The interviewed teachers state that there must be motivation if a pupil is to become a good reader, and it is very important that pupils receive support from adults, both at home and in school. According to the teachers, pupils lose motivation if they are given texts that are too difficult for them to understand, or if other stimuli motivate them more than reading does. The attitude of parents or guardians to reading is also emphasized as significant for motivation, and hence for pupils’ reading development.

Syftet med studien är att få kunskap om hur lärare kan stödja elever, i årskurs 1–8, till meningsskapande samtal om naturvetenskapliga begrepp. För att undersöka detta har kvalitativa observationer och intervjuer genomförts med sex lärare på tre olika skolor i södra delen av Norge. De kvalitativa metoderna har använts för att få en djupare förståelse för hur lärarna organiserar den naturvetenskapliga undervisningen. Den insamlade data från observationerna och intervjuerna har utgått från studiens syfte och frågeställningar för att sedan analyserats med hjälp av en innehållsanalys där olika teman har identifierats. Studiens resultat visar att samtliga lärare utgår från eller tar in elevernas egna erfarenheter i den naturvetenskapliga undervisningen. Hur lärarna gör detta samt i vilken grad varierar. Studien visar även på vikten av samtal i naturvetenskapsundervisningen för att lärare ska kunna bekräfta elevernas kommentarer och idéer med naturvetenskapliga begrepp. För att föra meningsskapande samtal tillsammans med eleverna visar studien att lärarna använder frågor och olika så kallade medierande resurser. Genom en variation av dessa medierande resurser samt arbetssätt visar några av studiens lärare resultat på innehållsrik undervisning. En slutsats som dras av studien är att när lärarna organiserar undervisning på ett sätt som fångar upp elevernas vardagliga erfarenheter och synliggör naturvetenskapliga begrepp främjas meningsskapande. / <p>NO</p>

Syftet med studien var att belysa begreppet pedagogiskt ledarskap utifrån rektorers och lärares beskrivningar samt att bidra med kunskap om vilka stödstrukturer som används i utövandet av pedagogiskt ledarskap. I studien har lärandeteorier utifrån Vygotskijs (1999) teori om den proximala utvecklingszonen (ZPD) och Bruners begrepp Scaffolding (stödstrukturer) sammanförts med beskrivningar av hur pedagogiskt ledarskap utövas. Intervjuer genomfördes med rektorer och lärare på tre olika skolor om pedagogiskt ledarskap och stödstrukturer. Utifrån ett socialkonstruktivistiskt perspektiv samt med hjälp av diskursanalys har resultaten analyserats. Resultaten visade att rektorer och lärare beskriver pedagogiskt ledarskap och stödstrukturer olika. Rektorer delegerar det som i studien definieras som direkt pedagogiskt ledarskap till olika personalkategorier som förstelärare, specialpedagoger, biträdande rektorer och arbetslagsledare medan det som i studien definieras som indirekt pedagogiskt ledarskap i högre utsträckning utövas av rektorerna. De intervjuade lärarna efterfrågar rektorer som kombinerar ett direkt och indirekt pedagogiskt ledarskap. En slutsats som kan dras utifrån studiens resultat visar att stödstrukturer är ett fruktbart begrepp som kan användas för att beskriva hur rektor kan organisera verksamheten tillsammans med lärare samt vilket stöd rektorer och lärare får i denna.

Extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) modulate cellular activities in response to extracellular stimuli and play important biological roles. Thus, perturbed kinase pathways induce pathological conditions, such as tumor development. Rit, a novel member of the Ras family GTPases, activase ERK6, and its over-expression confers tumorigenicity. We hypothesized the presence of scaffolding molecules specific to ERK6, similar to other known MAP kinases. We performed yeast two-hybrid assays using ERK6 as bait, and Scribble was identified as a binding partner. Scribble contains 16 LRR domains and four PDZ domains. We performed immunoprecipitation (IP) assays and discovered ERK2 as another binding partner. Surprisingly, no interaction was observed with the highly homologous MAP kinase, ERK1. No other representative kinases showed binding capabilities with Scribble. IP data confirmed that both ERK2 and ERK6 bind to Scribble through its LRR and PDZ domains. Deletion of ten aminoi acids from the C-terminus of ERK2 and ERK6 abolished these interactions. In vitro kinase assays indicated the kinase suppressing ability of Scribble. Focus formation assays were performed with RitQ79L and H-RasV12 as constitutive activators of ERK6 and ERK2, respectively, in the presence of Scribble. Results confirmed the role of Scribble as a tumor suppressor.

It is widely recognised that parents play an important role in children’s emotional and intellectual development, including their success at school. Recently, there has been a growing awareness of the potential of parents to support and enhance children’s English foreign language learning, especially since English learning resources are easily accessible through electronic media. In appreciation of this, there has been an increased interest in recent years in finding ways to harness parental potential through the creation of home-school partnerships in many parts of the world, including in the field of teaching English as an additional language. An important point of departure for developing effective home-school dialogues is an informed understanding of what parents are already doing to support their children’s learning, as an awareness of this can help schools and governments provide parents with targeted input to assist and improve their efforts. However, to date, this remains under researched. Of the limited research that has been undertaken, very little has examined parental efforts to support their children’s learning at home in non-western settings, and research into parental support for children’s foreign language learning is virtually non-existent. In order to address this research gap, the study reported in this thesis examines parental support for young children’s foreign language learning in Saudi Arabia with respect to English T.V. viewing. Drawing upon Vygotsky’s concepts of mediation and the ZPD, it aims to examine the extent and the ways in which parents currently mediate their children’s viewing of English T.V. programmes in Saudi Arabia, the factors which impact on their mediation practices, and how this is seen to contribute to their children’s experience of English language learning. The study is comprised two stages. The first stage entails the distribution of a questionnaire to 500 parents of children aged 6-8, who are currently learning English in a number of private schools in Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia in order to gain a global overview of parental perspectives on mediation. This is followed by stage 2, which aims to examine the features and quality of parent-child mediational dialogues. This is achieved by collecting recordings of the dialogues of two parent-child dyads watching DVDs of English T.V. programmes over a four-week period as well as interviewing parents and their children on the experience. The results of the study show that parents believe in the importance and value of supporting their children’s learning (both in general and with regard to their EFL learning). Moreover, they show that they are actively engaged in trying to do so. However, they also highlight a number of ways in which their mediational practices could be improved so that these are less directive and more responsive to their children’s learning needs and growing ability to self-regulate. More broadly, they highlight the need to engage with the complexity of parental mediation as an activity system in discussions of the quality of mediational practice. That is, to understand that parental efforts to mediate need to be considered alongside task, sociocultural setting and, most importantly, the child’s engagement with parental efforts. A number of implications are drawn from the results of the study. Chief among these is that research into parental mediation should look at the inter-relationship between the different elements of the parental mediational system identified and that this provides richer in-depth understandings of parental efforts to support their children than are currently available from those who seek to understand this merely as parental scaffolding. In addition, it is argued that the picture this in-depth analysis revealed provides valuable information which can be used to inform the need for home-school partnerships and the support parents need to make sure they engage in these effectively in settings such as Saudi Arabia where there is currently little appreciation of the importance of parental involvement and the concept of home school partnerships remains in its infancy. In line with the emphasis on the complex multidimensional understanding of mediation as activity as illustrated by the results of the study, it is argued that efforts to promote parental involvement should primarily focus on how parents can help promote quality learning experiences for their children.