The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the use of a programmed instruction booklet, as the basic instructional material, could be considered as more appropriate for limited learners than traditional teaching methods. An attempt was made to measure the success that limited learners have in attaining general science concepts through programmed instruction. The study collected evidence to show if there was any significant difference between normal learners and limited learners in academic science achievement (as measured by pre-test and post-test results), when taught using this methodology. The investigation provided evidence to support increased development and use of programmed materials for modified and regular science classrooms. To assess the achievement in general science concepts, an author-developed examination was implemented as a pre-test and later as a post-test following the experimental treatment. The mean scores in achievement were calculated for distinct groups thus enabling a comparison of gains in achievement. A non-equivalent control group with a fixed effects factorial design was used in the investigation. The fixed effects analysis of covariance, using the pre-test as the covariate, permitted the separate analysis of learning ability, methods of instruction and a two-way interaction between these variables. The analysis of covariance produced significant differences for the two main effects. In terms of learning ability normal learners achieved higher than limited learners and the difference was significant at the 0.05 level. For the methods of instruction, students using programmed instruction scored significantly higher than those students taught with the traditional approach. Since there was a significant difference for programmed instruction and no interaction between learning ability and instruction mode, it follows that programmed instruction was better for both groups of students. The results of the study are that both limited and normal learners were more successful, in terms of acquisition of science knowledge, with programmed instruction than with traditional teaching in terms of post-test mean achievement scores. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study is to explore and document the nature of children's participation in elementary school science in British Columbia, Canada. Using an ethnographic approach, extensive fieldnotes provide the foundation addressing the question "What is the activity of science in an elementary school?" Although current science curriculum documents continue to cast science at school as a possible mirror of science in the 'real' world, this is a thesis about elementary school science and a community of inquiry that evolves at school. Instead of separating process and content, this thesis emphasizes their co-emergence. Drawing upon sociocultural and enactivist perspectives, the focus is on learning and context, learner and content as they co-evolve. This study was conducted in one elementary class at the intermediate level (Grade 6/7) across one school year. The teacher and I collaborated to plan and teach science with a focus on creating opportunities for children to participate. Children embarked on three extensive science adventures with their teacher, working in teams of four or five and learning as a community of inquiry. Using audio taped records of children's and the teacher's comments, children's creations, as well as my fieldnotes, I construct a narrative of one year of school science. Researcher, children, and teacher describe what it means to participate in a diversity of ways and, if we wish to understand how children learn science it is important to listen. Data analysis reveals the importance of contexts for participation in elementary school science. In particular, I identify "spaces of inquiry" that afforded students diverse opportunities to participate with science content in a community of inquiry. They are generative spaces, rehearsal spaces, and performative spaces. Spaces of inquiry are important because they provide an alternative way to think about learning and teaching science, they provide opportunities for designing collaborative group work, and they challenge educators to consider children's contributions to their science learning. Overall, this ethnographic study illustrates a dynamic interdependence of learners and their environment in this open-ended, creative adventure in and through school science. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Clinical interviews to explore children's beliefs about the concept of force were carried out with 32 children (18 boys, 14 girls), whose ages ranged from 6 to 14 years. Three tasks were used to investigate their beliefs about the action of a force, action and reaction, equilibrium of forces, and composition of forces. A conceptual profile was constructed on the aspects of force covered in the tasks. This conceptual profile was then used to categorize the children's beliefs which were uncovered in the interviews. It was found that the interview methodology was a feasible approach for an exploratory and descriptive study of students' beliefs about a particular concept and that the children in the sample had a set of typical a priori beliefs about force which they used to account for the different experimental situations. This set of beliefs was subsequently categorized in three levels of abstraction to bring to light the possible patterns of these beliefs. The children's ideas found in the study and the categorization of these into levels of abstraction could be useful for the curriculum developer and particularly for the teacher in planning teaching strategies. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

by Terrie L. Kielborn / Typescript / Ph. D. Florida State University 2001 / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 227-238)

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