This study examined how a multimedia-based cognitive tool (MCT) facilitates novices' conceptual understanding of object-oriented programming (OOP). The tool used in this study was CSNüb, a game template created in Adobe Flash. The MCT design framework guided CSNüb's design. The MCT design framework was synthesized from literature on constructivist, multimedia, and motivation learning theories and computer-based cognitive tool design principles. Students worked with CSNüb to develop a simple role-playing game (RPG). Through clinical interviews and process tracing methods, it was found that CSNüb affected novice computer science students' conceptual understanding of OOP through five cognitive processes and factors: cognitive disequilibrium evoked through multimedia-based feedback, exploring for resources that scaffold understanding, changing the level of awareness of the "bigger picture" and ability for higher-level thinking, and consistent refinement of solutions and mental models within the problem space. The five cognitive processes and factors were found to be the result of three levels of interaction with CSNüb. At the Tool Level, students received conflicting information, generally through multimedia-based feedback from the CSNüb, which placed students in states of disequilibrium. At the Interaction Level, students interacted with the CSNüb to resolve their disequilibrium through exploring resources within the tool and refining their solution. They were able to experiment and test out their understanding on OOP. At the Cognitive Level, students used the resources as cognitive scaffolds found through exploration, which in turn, increased the degree of awareness and influenced the level at which they understood the object-oriented system. The five cognitive processes and factors through the three levels of interaction were formed into one model--the MCT Interaction Model (MCTIM)--as a general explanation for how MCTs, such as CSNüb, affects novice students' conceptual understanding. / text

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published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Education

It is the objective of this paper to present the facts concerning the current status of Canadian women in science, to review the theories which have been put forth to explain gender disparities in science participation, to outline the findings of research in the area of gender and science, and to suggest ways in which science teachers could respond to these research findings. / 79 p. ; 28 cm.

This study strove to establish how science teacher educators (lecturers) at three universities in a province in South Africa responded to curriculum changes related to C2005 and higher education. The following critical question is posed: How have science teacher educators in PRESET education responded to curriculum changes proposed for the Natural Sciences Learning Area of Curriculum 2005, the Norms and Standards of Educators, and modularization in the Higher Education curriculum? The framing of the study from 1996 to 2002 relates to the introduction of C2005 in schools in 1997 which coincided with curriculum changes in higher education prescribed by the NQF. The curriculum change process has to be seen in the context of developments during and after the demise of apartheid in South Africa. Responses of science teacher educators to post-apartheid educational policy developments driven by the NQF form the basis of this research. The production of data for the study occurred during 2001 and 2002. It involved an interpretive cross-case study of 11 science teacher educators' responses to the curriculum change process. The science teacher educators were selected from three universities in a province in South Africa. They had to be involved with preparation of student science teachers during PRESET for the Natural Sciences Learning Area of C2005. Data was obtained through a semi-structured interview schedule and an observation schedule. A document analysis was also conducted in the study. Qualitative data were first analysed qualitatively and represented at three leve ls of analysis. Stories of curriculum change experienced by three individuals were also presented as a second level of analysis. The theoretical frame that informed the methodology and analysis was developed in the context of a pre- and post-apartheid educational offering in South Africa. It operates in an interpretive and critical paradigm of research that includes change theories and other theories that can be used to account for ways in which science teacher educators have changed in response to C2005 and the NQF. These theories work together. Among them are those classified as Traditional Change, Adaptive Change and Advanced Change. Other theories such as theories in action and a theory of academic change were also used as a means to understand change in academic and other settings. Constructivism as a learning theory was included in the theoretical frame since science teacher educators are expected to use the theory as a rationale for the new curriculum. It is therefore an essential component of the theoretical frame in interpreting such change. Also significant is the role of situated cognition in enabling professional learn ing communities to make meaning of curriculum change and to act accordingly. Argyris' theory of organizational learning, the Concerns-Based Adoption Model, Complexity Theory and Systemic Reform also contribute to the development of the theoretical frame used to contextualize and interpret the data. The data analysis showed that the science teacher educators had made a more concerted effort to incorporated changes related to C200S into their curriculum materials and their actual teaching than the NQF's bureaucratic exercise related to modularization and the NSE. They were better able to account for their actions in terms of C200S than for modularization. This had occurred despite them not being bureaucratically accountable to the schools. The role of the new school curriculum as a major influence on change among the science teacher educators goes beyond the complexity associated with the change process. The influence of personal factors related to a moral response to school change (C2005) resulted in the science teacher educators making changes that were major and vastly different from their responses to the NQF's bureaucratically driven higher education changes. The responses of the science teacher educators to curriculum change shows that professional accountability does not flourish under bureaucratic control as displayed by demands of the NQF for modularization. The changes made by the science teacher educators was also vastly different from the responses of practising teachers to C200S. They made a concerted effort to change and there was no evidence of implementation failure compared to the practising teachers in terms of C2005. My research outcomes, therefore, have contradicted the standard findings of School Improvement research which alludes to the difficulties associated with teacher change, and the needs for long term systemic approaches related to large scale reform - where institutional management, external support, internal support, rewards and punishments work together. In the three universities in my study, such arrangements were loose couplings at best. But feelings of professional and moral responsibility in the direction of school-related change (C200S) were high for individuals and groups. Personal, social and professional interests were more obvious drivers of change than institutional interests and career interests. On the basis of the above, my research has suggested the following which serve as a positive contribution to theory pertaining to curriculum change: Much change theory developed in the context of schools does not apply to Teacher Education, because professionalism and education are primary concerns for science teacher educators: they chose to do their job well. Accountability is not only - or even mainly - about the institution and institutional monitoring systems. It is about professionalism and relationships within institutions and outside them. In this case, the responsibility the science teacher educators felt to schools, science teachers and their communities were much more powerful influences than responsibilities they felt to the reforms indicated in modularization and NSE. The professional imperative is not bureaucratically controlled. It flourishes in the absence of pressures related to forced compliance. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

Reading lies at the centre of Science Foundation Programme (SFP) students' struggle for access to the very support that such programmes offer in preparation for undergraduate study. It is a skill that is generally not sufficiently improved over an initial year of university study because, apart from being underdeveloped in previous educational and life experiences, it is not explicitly developed at tertiary level where students are generally expected to process extended texts independently in a limited time period. This study not only probes the background literacy experiences of UKZN (PMB) SFP students, but also measures the reading ability, in terms of reading comprehension, rate, and receptive non-technical academic vocabulary, with which the majority begin their studies. To better understand why many SFP students struggle with their academic reading and find prescribed science texts inaccessible, student feedback on reading difficulties and reasons for not attempting homework reading is also considered. In response to such data from the 2005 cohort of about 180 students, a means of supporting or "scaffolding" student reading was investigated. This involved preparing an experimental group of students for independent reading by initially "talking them through" an overview of the text in commonsense terms so that even the weakest readers could begin the reading process with some understanding of the extended text that had been assigned. The other half of the student cohort made up a control group who were merely instructed to read the text for homework. Overall comprehension of experimental and control groups was tested, and questionnaires about reading difficulty administered. The effect, on reading rate, of using a paraphrased version of a text was also investigated by dividing students into an experimental group to read such a version and a control group to read the original. Reading rate was measured again at the end of the year, in comparison with a mainstream sample, for potential progress. Findings suggest that SFP students are largely under-prepared academic readers who are more likely to read a prescribed text, and this with comprehension, when initially talked through a commonsense paraphrase. It is hoped that provision of such scaffolding over the course of the foundation year will develop students' confidence to attempt reading the texts assigned to them so as to become more practiced academic readers, and thus better prepared for mainstream study. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

In engineering technology and other scientific-based education, lab-based courses play a crucial role (Ma & Nickerson, 2006). Even though laboratory experience in student learning is crucial, it faces some problems. Due to insufficient laboratory conditions that lead to overcrowding and inability to view demonstrations, the effectiveness of hands on experience declines (Tiwari & Singh, 2011; Tuysuz, 2010). Considering the limitations that constrain lab experience, investigating and implementing alternatives to enhance pedagogical laboratory based learning becomes inevitable. This study investigates multimedia enhanced pedagogical teaching methods for delivering laboratory instruction to students. The purpose of this study was to improve pedagogical laboratory based learning. First, this study implemented a multimedia enhanced pedagogical laboratory based instructional method. Second, this study evaluated the impact of multimedia enhanced instructional method on student learning outcomes to assess improvement in pedagogical laboratory based learning. To evaluate the impact of multimedia enhanced instructional method on student learning outcomes, a student population was subjected to 1) traditional laboratory lecture and 2) video lecture. This study used two different assessment techniques to evaluate the instructional methods 1) surveys and 2) quizzes. The use of these different assessment techniques achieved two purposes. First, the surveys allowed the study to receive students’ evaluation on the lecture in order to compare the two types of instructional methods. Second, the quizzes allowed measuring the students’ understanding of the demonstrations in order to evaluate the impact of multimedia enhanced instructional method on pedagogical laboratory based learning. Survey results revealed that based on overall evaluations, students prefer traditional lectures in comparison to video lectures in terms of level of interest and engagement. Furthermore, quiz results revealed that multimedia enhanced instructional methods do not have an impact on pedagogical laboratory based learning.