<p> This dissertation presents findings from a qualitative case study of three English teachers representing varying levels of comfort with technology and years of teaching experience at St. Patrick Catholic High School. This research was motivated by two questions: (1) What are three literacy educators&rsquo; perceptions of a multimodal tablet initiative at a Catholic High School? (2) How is information regarding the use of iPad technology for literacy disseminated to three High School English teachers within a Catholic School system? Data was collected over a twelve-week period during the first academic year of implementation of a school-based multimodal tablet (iPad) initiative. Implementation during this time period was limited to students in their first and second year of high school. Under the direction of the initiative, teachers were tasked with utilizing the iPad as part of their daily instruction. Moreover, three Apps were highlighted for explicit use for uploading assignments and sharing content with students. Additionally, all textbooks utilized were in digital format. Data collected includes: artifacts, observations, interviews, and reflective field notes. Findings from this research indicate that all participants had positive perceptions of the tablet initiative and its promise for the future of the school and effect on student achievement. They felt, however, many areas that would support the effective implementation of the initiative were overlooked in lieu of the school remaining overly focused on maintaining its competitive edge against neighboring private schools. In essence, the school&rsquo;s leadership utilized the iPads like &ldquo;pixie dust&rdquo;- sprinkling them around campus and hoping for an increase in achievement and digital citizenship among students without providing appropriate support and guidance for the teaching staff. Furthermore, the teachers believed the device presented new difficulties within the classroom dynamic including struggles with classroom management, academic honesty, and networking. The path of dissemination for information was convoluted with leadership members often verbally presenting conflicting expectations and information. While promising, the initiative lacked clearly articulated expectations for how teachers should integrate the device in their classrooms. Information related to the initiative was most often disseminated verbally via faculty meetings, but also uploaded within the school&rsquo;s digital communication system. This digital drive was overly crowded with documents and lacked organization making locating information tedious and challenging. Given the pilot status of this implementation, the administrators did not present fully developed evaluative procedures or expectations for iPad integration creating uncertainty for teachers. These findings offer insight into the need for meaningful and individualized professional development opportunities for teachers that focus on deep interactions with multimodal capabilities prior to the onset of any initiative aiming to integrate iPad technology. Additionally, a clear path of dissemination in which expectations are written, explicit, and correlated with evaluative procedures would likely reduce confusion among teachers. Aligning the goals from all leadership members in an effort to create consistency among the information shared with staff is critical to implementing a technology initiative effectively. </p>

This is a study of teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions regarding sex education in two countries, Taiwan and England. It is a mixed method comparative study of four schools, two in each country. Interviews, focus groups and surveys were undertaken in these schools during the 2007/08 academic year. There were approximately 2100 participants - all year eight pupils (aged between 12 and 14) and volunteering teachers/coordinators. It was found that sex education was taught within all four participating schools and was consistently recognised as a valuable part of the curriculum. Two distinct approaches to sex education were found in the two countries. Perceptions of sex education were consistent across both schools in Taiwan and a key reason for this was that sex education had developed through a top-down policy. There was more variation between the two schools in England reflecting more flexible policies. The strengths and weaknesses of these two approaches are discussed along with the influence of stakeholders such as policy makers and governors/ coordinators. Biographic factors such as age and gender are also explored. The two phenomena (consistent and variable sex education) uncovered in this study are further explored within a descriptive model.

This study examined the perceptions of and responses to conflict of pupils and teachers in secondary schools in England and Denmark. It also examined the responses of schools to pupil conflicts and whether pupils and teachers found these measures to be effective in addressing and/or managing such conflicts. The inquiry into perceptions and responses involved questionnaires, interviews, classroom observations and documentary data collection instruments. There were a total of 347 pupil respondents (approximately 11-16 years old) and 34 teacher respondents across four schools. The results yielded significant perceptual differences both within the individual countries and cross-culturally. In the two English schools there were significant differences amongst pupil and teacher perceptions of conflict. There were also significant differences amongst pupil perceptions and responses to conflict crossculturally. More English pupils defined conflict and identified pupil conflicts in their schools as fighting, while the majority of Danish pupils both defined and identified pupil conflicts as verbal. However, for the most part there was more consistency in responses amongst pupils and teachers in Denmark than in England. Cultural and educational differences could be two contributing factors that played a role in the differences in perceptions of, and responses to, conflict amongst respondents in England and Denmark. For example, the Danish system administers a class teacher system where the class teacher not only spends several years with the same pupils but also takes on the role of pastoral carer. Moreover, it was found that while all four schools in this study had anti-bullying policies, none had policies pertaining specifically to the management of conflict. This was potentially an area of concern as pupils described conflicts that were beyond the scope of bullying.

Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Creative writing forms an essential part of the English language learning area in any curriculum. The expression of knowledge and ideas through writing is an integral part of the communication process; however, some learners struggle to express their thoughts and ideas in creative writing tasks. As such, this thesis strives to discover how creativity can be stimulated in order to assist learners in their written expression. Drama techniques, stimulation activities and other multi-literacy resources have been employed to try and understand the discovering and ‘finding creativity’ process through creative writing, journaling and performance in the drama classroom. The research utilises the action research methodology, employing participant observations, semi-structured interviews and reflective classroom discussions. It also uses the creative writing journals of the learners in an attempt to investigate how drama techniques can stimulate creativity for the creative writing process. The units of analysis in this case study are 13 grade 9 learners at a private school in the Western Cape, South Africa. The analysis of the data collected reveals that by utilising drama techniques, along with other stimuli and resources, in the classroom the process of creative writing become less troublesome and more enjoyable for both learners and teacher-researcher alike. Another finding is that the open, free and flexible atmosphere, which is created in the classroom assists learners not only with the development of their written expression, but also with verbal expression. The learners learn how to express their creative thoughts and ideas, about the world they live in, in a respectful, sensitive and empathetic manner. The creative writing programs have proved to be more than just tools to improve writing competence, but also have equipped learners with the tools to become creative, thinking citizens. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kreatiewe skryfwerk vorm ‘n essensiële deel van die Engelse leerarea in enige kurrikulum. Die uitdrukking van kennis en idees deur die skryfproses vorm ‘n integrale deel van die kommunikasieproses, maar sommige leerders vind dit uitdagend om aan hulle gedagtes en idees in kreatiewe skryftake uiting te gee. Met hierdie tesis beoog ek om dus om te ontdek hoe kreatiwiteit gestimuleer kan word om leerders met hulle geskrewe uitdrukkings vermoë te ondersteun. Dramategnieke, stimulerende aktiwiteite en ander meerdoelige geletterdheidshulpbronne is gebruik om te probeer verstaan hoe die ontdekking van die kreatiwiteitsproses deur kreatiewe skryf, joernaalinskrywings en opvoerings in die dramaklas, kan plaasvind. Hierdie studie het die aksienavorsingsmetodologie gevolg, waar deelnemende waarneming, semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude en reflektiewe klaskamergesprekke, asook die kreatiewe skryfjoernale van die leerders, gebruik is om te ondersoek in hoe ‘n mate dramategnieke kreatiwiteit vir die kreatiewe skryfproses kan stimuleer. Die studie is op 13 graad 9-leerders wat by ‘n privaatskool in die Wes-Kaap, onderrig word. Die analise van die versamelde data openbaar dat, wanneer dramategnieke in samewerking met ander stimulus en hulpbronne gebruik word, dit die kreatiewe skryfproses vergemaklik en dit meer genotvol vir beide die leerders en die onderwyser-navorser word. Nog ‘n bevinding toon dat die oop, vry en inskiklike atmosfeer, wat in die klaskamer geskep word, nie net die leerders in die ontwikkeling van hul geskrewe uitdrukking bygestaan het nie, maar ook met hul verbale uitdrukkingsvermoë. Die leerders het geleer hoe om hul kreatiewe gedagtes en idees oor hul individuele wêrelde in ‘n respekvolle, sensitiewe en empatiese manier uit te druk. Die kreatiewe skryfprogram blyk veel meer as bloot ‘n hulpbron te wees om die skryfvermoëns van die leerders te verbeter. Dit het hulle ook toegerus om kreatiewe, denkende landburgers te word.

The phrases like ‘scientific thinking’, ‘scientific method’ and ‘scientific attitude’ are all widely used and frequently appear in school curriculum guides but the meaning of such phrases is much less clear. In addition, there is little about how such skills might be taught or assessed. In the light of this, this thesis is a study which focusses on several related areas: the meaning of scientific thinking will be explored and the features of scientific thinking which make it uniquely different from other kinds of thinking will be analysed, set in the context of what is known about how conceptual learning takes place; the measurement of scientific thinking skills will be attempted and ways by which scientific thinking can be taught in the context of physics will be developed. There are two possible hypotheses which arise in this study: genuine scientific thinking is not accessible until learners have matured developmentally and have sufficient experience of the sciences. The way the sciences are taught will encourage or hinder the development of such skills. The empirical work was conducted in three stages to explore these hypotheses. Overall, 1838 students were involved in the study. The first experimental study was carried out with students (boys and girls) aged 15-18 from various schools in the Emirates and seeks to explore the extent to which they are thinking scientifically as well as making several other measurements of their abilities and attitudes. A test for measuring scientific thinking, based on physics, was developed and used along with an established test of working memory capacity, known to be a rate determining factor in much learning. In addition, a test to measure understanding of ideas in physics was constructed and used and the national examination marks for these students in the three sciences and mathematics were considered. It was found that the test of scientific thinking, the test of understanding physics and the national examination marks measured very different outcomes which are likely to be: scientific thinking, understanding and recall, respectively. In the second stage, some of the measurements completed in the first stage were repeated to confirm the outcomes. However, the main part was the development and use of five teaching units which, together, aimed to teach the key skills which had been defined as scientific thinking. The success of this was measured by using the same test of scientific thinking and comparing the outcomes to those obtained in the previous experiment. In addition, the results from the use of two of the items in the test of scientific thinking were compared to the outcomes compared in a previous study (using the same items) which had been based on large samples of younger students (aged 12-15). A survey was also used to see how the students saw themselves in relation to their study in physics. It was found that the use of the units had improved scientific thinking significantly with the younger two groups (age 15-16 and 16-17) but no improvement was observed with the oldest group (age 17-18). It was also found that the older groups of students were significantly better in the skills measured by the items used by the previous study when compared with younger students. The outcomes of the survey showed that their self-perceptions related poorly to their abilities in thinking scientifically while the interests of boys and girls were remarkably similar, suggesting that physics could appeal equally to both genders. In addition, there is clear evidence that all students want their studies in physics to relate to the real issues of life which are important for them and that boys are less willing to memorise than girls. The third phase employed the academic game known as Eloosis (which is considered to be an excellent model of scientific thinking) with three groups: one group had completed studies in one or more of the sciences and were about to leave school; one group were studying for a degree in an arts subject and were unlikely to have had much experience in the sciences; the third group had all graduated in a science discipline recently. While all groups played the game excellently, the group who had little or no science background did not appreciate the significance of the game as it illustrated the way science works in exploring the world around while both the senior school students and the science graduates, without prompting, could express a clear conception of the way science works although the graduate group, understandably, used more sophisticated language. The overall conclusions are that the test of scientific thinking certainly measures something completely different from the other measurements and, linked to the outcomes of the academic game, it does appear that it measured something close to scientific thinking. If this is true, then such thinking can be taught but is not accessible to those younger than aged about 15-16. All of this is consistent with the type of observations made by Piaget many decades ago and suggests that any attempts to develop scientific thinking with young adolescents will be unlikely to be successful. However, with older adolescents, for the skills to develop, there needs to be some teaching of this way of thinking. With the very large sample sizes and good cross-section of the population, there is reasonable confidence that the conclusions are generalisable and can inform future practice.

<p>There were dual purposes of this qualitative phenomenological study. The first purpose was to describe and compare the goals, design, implementation, and outcomes of college counseling programs in college preparatory charter high schools in Los Angeles as experienced and shared by high school college counselors. The second purpose was to explore what college preparatory charter high school college counselors perceive to be the most important components in a charter high school college-going culture to assist underrepresented students with access to college and preparation to persist in higher education. This phenomenological study utilized interviews to collect data. The one-on-one interviews were with college counselors at Los Angeles college-preparatory charter high schools where at least 60% of students are from underrepresented backgrounds. The 9 interview questions were developed to learn about the goals, design, implementation, and outcomes of college counseling programs at the participants? high schools. The questions were also designed to learn about what counselors perceive as important components in a college-going culture to help underrepresented students access and persist in higher education. The study yielded 5 conclusions. First, students and families from underrepresented backgrounds rely on their schools to inform them about the college preparation process. Second, parental involvement helps hold students academically accountable and helps them pursue higher education. Third, individualized academic advising is critical for student success. Fourth, charter high schools provide insight to address student-to-counselor ratios, which influence the quality of high school college counseling programs. Lastly, students? ability to adapt and navigate changes in academic rigor, social environment, and academic community impacts their college access and persistence. The study yielded 4 recommendations. First, states, districts, and schools are encouraged to continue to address student-to-counselor ratios to enable personalized college counseling that students need. Second, it is advised that counselors have conversations about college in collaboration with parents. Third, it is recommended that schools provide opportunities via their college counseling programs to expose students to individuals from different backgrounds and to different environments. Finally, it is suggested that high schools challenge students academically to help them prepare for the academic rigor of higher education.

To teach effectively, teachers rely on feedback from their students. But students often dislike conventional forms of feedback such as taking tests or answering questions in front of their peers. For my MFA thesis project, I have designed tools that k-12 educators can use to elicit formative feedback, even from quiet and reserved students and those who do not feel their feedback is of value. My overarching intent with these lowstakes, low-tech, inexpensive tools is to improve teaching and learning. By giving teachers tools that generate useful feedback in a way that is low-stakes for the students, all students are given a voice. Through this design process, I also developed some generalizable principles about the way in which good formative feedback can be elicited in learning environments. / text

It is commonly agreed that learning with understanding is more desirable than learning by rote. Understanding is described in terms of the way information is represented and structured in the memory. A mathematical idea or procedure or fact is understood if it is a part of an internal network, and the degree of understanding is determined by the number and the strength of the connections between ideas. When a student learns a piece of mathematical knowledge without making connections with items in his or her existing networks of internal knowledge, he or she is learning without understanding. Learning with understanding has progressively been elevated to one of the most important goals for all learners in all subjects. However, the realisation of this goal has been problematic, especially in the domain of mathematics where there are marked difficulties in learning and understanding. The experience of working with learners who do not do well in mathematics suggests that much of the problem is that learners are required to spend so much time in mathematics lessons engaged in tasks which seek to give them competence in mathematical procedures. This leaves inadequate time for gaining understanding or seeking how the procedures can be applied in life. Much of the satisfaction inherent in learning is that of understanding: making connections, relating the symbols of mathematics to real situations, seeing how things fit together, and articulating the patterns and relationships which are fundamental to our number system and number operations. Other factors include attitudes towards mathematics, working memory capacity, extent of field dependency, curriculum approaches, the classroom climate and assessment. In this study, attitudes, working memory capacity and extent of field dependency will be considered. The work will be underpinned by an information processing model for learning. A mathematics curriculum framework released by the US National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 2000) offers a research-based description of what is involved for students to learn mathematics with understanding. The approach is based on “how learners learn, not on “how to teach”, and it should enable mathematics teachers to see mathematics from the standpoint of the learner as he progresses through the various stages of cognitive development. The focus in the present study is to try to find out what aspects of the process of teaching and learning seem to be important in enabling students to grow, develop and achieve. The attention here is on the learner and the nature of the learning process. What is known about learning and memory is reviewed while the literature on specific areas of difficulty in learning mathematics is summarised. Some likely explanations for these difficulties are discussed. Attitudes and how they are measured are then discussed and there is a brief section of learner characteristics, with special emphasis on field dependency as this characteristic seems to be of importance in learning mathematics. The study is set in schools in Nigeria and England but the aim is not to make comparisons. Several types of measurement are made with students: working memory capacity and extent of field dependency are measured using well-established tests (digit span backward test and the hidden figure test). Performance in mathematics is obtained from tests and examinations used in the various schools, standardised as appropriate. Surveys and interviews are also used to probe perceptions, attitudes and aspects of difficulties. Throughout, large samples were employed in the data collection with the overall aim of obtaining a clear picture about the nature and the influence of attitudes, working memory capacity and extent of field dependency in relation to learning, and to see how this was related to mathematics achievement as measured by formal examination. The study starts by focussing on gaining an overview of the nature of the problems and relating these to student perception and attitudes as well as working memory capacity. At that stage, the focus moves more towards extent of field dependency, seen as one way by which the fixed and limited working memory capacity can be used more efficiently. Data analysis was in form of comparison and correlation although there are also much descriptive data. Some very clear patterns and trends were observable. Students are consistently positive towards the more cognitive elements of attitude to mathematics (mathematics is important; lessons are essential). However, they are more negative towards the more affective elements like enjoyment, satisfaction and interest. Thus, they are very realistic about the value of mathematics but find their experiences of learning it much more daunting. Attitudes towards the learning of mathematics change with age. As students grow older, the belief that mathematics is interesting and relevant to them is weakened, although many still think positively about the importance of mathematics. Loss of interest in mathematics may well be related to an inability to grasp what is required and the oft-stated problem that it is difficult trying to take in too much information and selecting what is important. These and other features probably relate to working memory overload, with field dependency skills area being important. The study identified clearly the topics which were perceived as most difficult at various ages. These topics involved ideas and concepts where many things had to be handled cognitively at the same time, thus placing high demands on the limited working memory capacity. As expected, working memory capacity and mathematics achievement relate strongly while extent of field dependency also relates strongly to performance. Performance in mathematics is best for those who are more field-independent. It was found that extent of field dependency grew with age. Thus, as students grow older (at least between 12 and about 17), they tend to become more field-independent. It was also found that girls tend to be more field-independent than boys, perhaps reflecting maturity or their greater commitment and attention to details to undertake their work with care during the years of adolescence. The outcomes of the findings are interpreted in terms of an information processing model. It is argued that curriculum design, teaching approaches and assessment which are consistent with the known limitations of the working memory must be considered during the learning process. There is also discussion of the importance of learning for understanding and the problem of seeking to achieve this while gaining mastery in procedural skills in the light of limited working memory capacity. It is also argued that positive attitudes towards the learning in mathematics must not only be related to the problem of limited working memory capacity but also to ways to develop increased field independence as well as seeing mathematics as a subject to be understood and capable of being applied usefully.

Recent public debates over the place of religious education in the curriculum have focused attention on the threshold status of the subject. While the subject makes claims to an academic standing equal to others in the humanities, for many years its status in the curriculum has relied on a multiplicity of claims as to the effectiveness of religious education in preparing young people for life in a multicultural society. Beginning with an appreciation of the factors which have influenced policymakers and key theorists, this thesis traces the conflicts and controversies in the definition of the subject. Approaches to religious truth claims and cultural practices in the curriculum are evaluated with reference to prominent public critiques of the subject. Although these approaches are neither exhaustive nor exclusive, they form the basis of anxieties about the place of religious education in the curriculum. These anxieties are located within a broader crisis of multiculturalism and anxieties about the role of values in an increasingly performative and examination-driven educational environment. Employing an ethnographic paradigm, a series of in-depth case studies were carried out in secondary schools in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England in 2009, with particular emphasis on students between the ages of 14 and 16. In the course of these case studies, two strands of data analysis emerged, with findings clustered around 10 key themes. A linguistic approach at times takes priority within the analytical framework, while other data lends itself to multimodal analysis, providing rich contextualisation for the linguistic encounters. Focusing on four case studies, some key pedagogical approaches relating to the ways in which religious education deals with religious and cultural commitment and diversity are examined in detail. This analysis, drawing on theological and pedagogical theories, provides a richly contextualised series of findings relating to the spiritual, social and affective dimensions of religious education, in critical sites where identities and truth claims are highly valued and highly contested. The depth and authenticity called for in these contexts go beyond performative and examination-driven approaches, requiring a robust sense of teachers’ professional values and identity. Key strengths emerge in observed practice which are not reflected in pedagogical literature. The empirical findings have relevance to public debate about the aims, practices and models of effectiveness in British RE.

Post-secondary education is an aspiration for many students; however, students with intellectual disabilities are provided few opportunities to pursue this dream. Current practices in the Ontario system of education frequently segregate and exclude students with intellectual disabilities from participation in the educational opportunities that are provided to non-disabled students. These educational practices ultimately limit opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities, and as such, fail to provide sufficient credentials to these students so they can participate in post-secondary education or employment. In recent years, alternative routes through post-secondary education across Canada, and in Ontario, have been emerging for students with intellectual disabilities. Yet, these opportunities are not enshrined in government policies or post-secondary practice, and are only provided at the discretion of a handful of post-secondary institutions across Ontario. The purpose of this study is to provide an understanding of the inclusive post-secondary education experience from the perspectives of students who were participating in inclusive college programs in Ontario. Seven participants were recruited from two colleges in Ontario that provide an inclusive post-secondary experience for students with intellectual disabilities. Through a disability studies framework, a qualitative phenomenological methodology was employed in this study to empower the participants to share their stories and hear their voices. Three in-depth individual interviews using photo-elicitation were used to invite participants to offer a rich, detailed, first-person account of their experiences in inclusive post-secondary education. Each participant’s unique story of their college experience is highlighted as a Student Portrait. The main themes that emerged from the participants combined experiences were academic growth and development, interpersonal relationships and social networks, career development and employment potential, and self-determination. Findings from this study provide evidence of the positive outcomes of participation in post-secondary education for students with intellectual disabilities, including an anticipated positive impact that would extend well into the futures of each participant. This study highlights the need for post-secondary education reform to increase such opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-06 10:23:21.317