published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

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This manuscript incorporates recent proposals for enhancing the learning of mathematics by developing authentic statistics instruction and assessment for eighth grade students based on a cognitive apprenticeship approach. The goal of instruction was for small groups to create statistics projects that addressed a meaningful research question. To ensure that criteria for assessing such performance were understood, groups were assigned to two treatments--library of exemplars and text--which differed in the degree to which criteria were explicit. The effectiveness of elaborating on criteria through examples (i.e., library) or text (i.e., text) for enhancing learning was examined. Both treatments demonstrated significant performance gains from pretest to posttest. However, students' understanding of representative sampling was significantly better as a result of receiving the library treatment than the text treatment. Making criteria more elaborate through examples of performance can thus enhance students' understanding of more abstract statistical concepts such as sampling.

This instructional unit has concerned itself with a few aspects of statistics which can be mastered by eighth grade students who are average or above average in the area of mathematics. Topics included in this unit are collecting and organizing data; correlation; meaning and usefulness of the mean, mode, and median; and the idea of randomness.The class gathered its own data for use in most of the ten lessons contained in this unit. Some activities included were the gathering of information to formulate a description of the "average" student, an experiment with rolling- a die to illustrate the average as a central tendency, and an experiment with penlight batteries to provide students with an opportunity to see how manufacturers can use statistics in rating their products. Calculators were used in computing the mean value for a given set of data.

This study was designed to address the need for learning opportunities that enable adolescents to become producers and critics of statistics. The producer/critic model (Palinscar & Brown, 1984) was adapted to the context of statistical investigation where questions are formulated and data are subsequently collected, analyzed, and represented to address this question (Graham, 1987). In the producer phase learners design, conduct, and present a group investigation to peers. In the critic phase, groups evaluate investigations produced by unknown peers which are presented in a computer-based learning environment, Critiquing Statistics (CS). The critic phase served as the intervention and was expected to yield three positive outcomes: (1) sophisticated statistical reasoning; (2) a strong understanding of statistical investigation; and (3) a close alignment of evaluations between learners and experts due to successful internalization of criteria. However, the effects of the intervention were also expected to be mediated by the types of questions investigated and the nature of group collaborations. These outcomes were assessed by comparing groups that participated in the critic phase (intervention) with those that did not (control). Investigations produced and evaluated from the first to the second producer phase provided the basis for this comparison. Six groups of three students participated in the study. The descriptive analyses yielded mixed results. As expected, the types of questions investigated and the nature of group collaborations interacted with reasoning and understanding. These two factors accounted for the quantity and quality of reasoning that were higher initially in the control than in the intervention. How groups defined the task based on their questions explained the larger amount of understanding initially found in the intervention compared to the control. However, the intervention's effect was to enhance the quality of understanding on more aspects

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Tam Ha-ting. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-106). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Declaration --- p.2 / Acknowledgement --- p.3 / Abstract --- p.4 / 本文摘要 --- p.5 / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.8 / Chapter §1.1 --- The role of examination in the Hong Kong education system / Chapter §1.2 --- Examination-oriented approach and teaching / Chapter §1.3 --- Examination-oriented approach and learning / Chapter §1.4 --- Cross-cultural comparisons / Chapter §1.5 --- Evolution and impact of learning theories / Chapter §1.6 --- The layout of this thesis / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Behavioral and cognitive approaches to learning --- p.15 / Chapter §2.1 --- Introduction / Chapter §2.2 --- Behavioral approach / Chapter §2.3 --- Ivan. Pavlov: Classical conditioning / Chapter §2.4 --- B. F. Skinner: Operant conditioning / Chapter §2.5 --- Components of behavioral learning / Chapter 2.5.1 --- The role of consequences / Chapter 2.5.2 --- Schedule of reinforcements / Chapter 2.5.3 --- Shaping / Chapter 2.5.4 --- Stimulus control / Chapter §2.6 --- The impact of behavioral approach to teaching and learning / Chapter §2.7 --- Evaluation of behavior approach / Chapter §2.8 --- Rise of cognitive psychology / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Constructivism --- p.35 / Chapter §3.1 --- Nature of knowledge / Chapter §3.2 --- The acquisition of knowledge / Chapter §3.3 --- Constructivist view of learning / Chapter §3.4 --- Piaget and constructivism / Chapter §3.5 --- The impact of constructivism on teaching and learning / Chapter §3.6 --- Evaluation of constructivism / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Constructivist approach to statistics learning --- p.62 / Chapter §4.1 --- Constructivist approach to science learning / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Physics instruction / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Mathematics instruction / Chapter §4.2 --- Constructivism and ill-structured discipline / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Nature of ill-structured domain: Conceptual complexity and across-case irregularity / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Statistics as an ill-structured discipline / Chapter 4.2.3 --- "Example: Statistics in sociology, 1950 -2000" / Chapter 4.2.4 --- Constructivism based teaching strategies in ill-structured domain / Chapter §4.3 --- Development of on-line teaching / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Multiple representation of information / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Interactive between users and the information / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Case study --- p.83 / Chapter §5.1 --- Description of workshop / Chapter §5.2 --- Features of workshop / Chapter §5.3 --- Evaluation / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Conclusions --- p.91 / Bibliography --- p.93

This study explored the completion rates (the number of years a student takes to complete a degree) of graduates at the University of the Western Cape. Differences between students who finished their studies in the prescribed time of three years and those who took longer than the prescribed time was highlighted.

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