The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to determine the study skills of college freshmen.

The problem of this study was to test the effects of teaching selected study skills and reading, writing, and listening skills as a specific course of study for ninth grade students. To study this problem, the performance of students enrolled in a study skills and reading, writing, and listening skills course was compared to that of a comparable group of ninth graders, electing the course but not permitted to take it, on the basis of performance as measured by mean gain on alternate forms of the Spitzer Study Skills Test and on the Sequential Test of Educational Progress--Reading-Writing-Listening.

The study is concerned with post-observation feedback and its role as an instigator of teacher learning and change. It investigates two kinds of feedback: corrective and confirmatory and explores how each kind of feedback may have contributed to the learning of a group of student teachers. It also investigates the ways in which these teachers have experienced changes in behaviour and changes in cognition. It adopts a qualitative approach to research, making use of case studies. It brings an additional perspective to the literature on change by examining changes in teacher persona, as reported by the student teachers themselves. It introduces and discusses two new concepts that emerged from the research reported in the study: convergent change and divergent change. It argues that certain kinds of feedback seem to be more facilitative of convergent change while some others seem to lead to change that is characterised as being more divergent. It considers the implications which the findings may have for teacher educators.

The educational provision for pupils with autism and severe learning difficulties (SLD) in Thailand has struggled. Families and institutions have attempted to seek an alternative pedagogy to improve children’s quality of life. This thesis introduces Intensive Interaction, developed by Nind and Hewett (1994, 2005) in the UK and from the western culture, as a new pedagogy to foster the fundamental communication of Thai pupils with autism and SLD. There is a lack of understanding regarding the application of knowledge of how the western intervention would be perceived by practitioners in different cultures. The deep understanding of practitioners’ perceptions has facilitated a rethink of educational curriculum development and action to expand the work of Intensive Interaction within the East’s pedagogy. This research explored the perceptions of teaching pre-verbal pupils with autism and SLD, focusing on factors influencing the application of Intensive Interaction in Thai culture. The research addressed the question of how Thai teachers perceive Intensive Interaction as an approach to working with pupils with autism and SLD in the Thai context. In addition, it addressed which key factors in Thai culture influence the adoption of the Intensive Interaction. A two-day Intensive Interaction training course was carried out in Thailand to recruit the participants, and follow-up workshops were arranged for teachers’ practice development. Eleven participating teachers (ten women and one man) were drawn from two special education settings and one mainstream school in the northeast region of Thailand. A hermeneutic phenomenological perspective informed by the philosophical tenets of Heidegger (1962) was used to explore the Intensive Interaction experiences of teachers. Qualitative data were gathered in the form of four in-depth semi-structured interviews from each teacher: the first − before the use of Intensive Interaction with pupils, and the second to fourth − during the Intensive Interaction implementation. Two focus groups of teacher participants were conducted after the end of the Intensive Interaction teaching programme with pupils. Both interviews were in Thai and later transcribed, with some parts being translated into English. Active participant observation was recorded in a field note and research diary throughout the period of data collection to contribute to interpretation and analysis. Thematic analysis methods were developed from the hermeneutic and phenomenological philosophy of Gadamer (1989) and the analysis process was adapted from Titchen and colleagues (1993; 2003) as practical guidance. The analysis of the teachers’ perceptions captured the significance of the Intensive Interaction implementation in a new cultural context, their perceptions of the benefit and challenging aspects of the new pedagogy and the importance of cultural values to the new teaching practice. Key themes from analysis of the interviews revealed that all teachers perceived Intensive Interaction as a worthwhile approach not only for a positive outcome for pupils, but also for an increased sense of professionalism and confidence for teachers. The data also revealed challenges to its implementation in the Thai culture. These included the role of the Thai teacher, the traditional Thai rigour of controlled-based teaching methods which derive from behavioural principles, the components of Thai culture characterised by a hierarchical structure for interaction and the role of the teacher as a second mother. These fundamentals have made the implementation of a child-focused approach more challenging for Thais. The implications for practice include rethinking education for future pre-verbal pupils with autism and SLD, in which social-communicative abilities are included as a priority in their educational curriculum. Policies for skills training and knowledge development in the areas of child-centred education are required. The policy maker has to formally address the fundamental philosophy and beliefs about the nature of knowledge and how children learn that are embedded in the preparation course for pre-service special education teachers. This needs to provide them with the appreciation of other educational philosophies and to reposition Thai cultural challenges to a child-focused approach. These approaches are urgently required to enable teacher educators to effectively provide a teacher-training course that shifts practice in line with the education reform intended by the current Thai government.

Reflexivity has had a long standing presence in professional education and therapy practice. In family therapy our knowledge about reflexivity has largely been produced through its application in practice. This is reflected in its multiple forms, described in the literature as therapeutic reflexivity, self reflexivity, relational reflexivity, group reflexivity, reflexive loops, recursiveness, self- reflection, self-awareness, reflexive competence, personal development, organizational reflexivity and cultural reflexivity. The practice context for conceptualising reflexivity fixes taken for granted knowledge as theory. This research constructs a history of reflexivity which draws upon narratives from diverse contexts across time and relationships, and weaves these together to examine discourses of influence which have led educationalists, practitioners, researchers and authors to construct reflexivity in many different ways. The influence and implications of these reflexivity discourses for practice and education are explored using a social constructionist approach to knowledge creation. A reflexive research design and methodology generates relational and dialogical contexts for constructing new knowledge about reflexivity and at the same time makes the processes of constructing this reflexive mode transparent. The question: ‘How is reflexivity constructed in family therapy education?’ is examined within a collaborative community constituted between educators and students. As we coordinate our polyvocality, episodes of transcendent storytelling and transformative dialogical moments are distinguished in which new knowledge emerges between participants. Using CMM heuristics, these transformative episodes are laminated to make visible the dialogical process of knowledge production. Different ‘forms’ of reflexivity are reconstructed as artefacts of conversations in relational contexts over time, shifting the discourse from looking at multiple reflexivity ‘forms’ towards ‘reflexive looking’. ‘Reflexive Dialogues’ transform positioning and offer new horizons which scaffold resourcefulness, including transfering relational practices from therapy to research and education. ‘Reflexive Dialogues’ transform hierarchical power and colonizing knowledge creation in research, therapy and education and invite empowering and collaborative relationships in which we produce knowledge together. ‘Reflexive looking’ affords theoretical pluralism and local coordination of multiple reflexivity discourses. This produces new knowledge and transforms relationships through scaffolding connected learning, engaged pedagogy and coordination of horizons between research, practice and educational communities.

This thesis evaluates the experiences of a Maltese school that decided to embrace the philosophy of inclusion. It provides a synthesis of knowledge about the processes of inclusive education, derived from the experience of the main stakeholders in the school. The main research question being: “What changes does the implementation of the Social Model of Disability that focuses on abilities and skills rather than labelling and deficit have on a school population?” Specifically, the study investigated: · The practices within the school that enable inclusion. · The experience of students, students’ parents, teachers, learning support assistants (LSAs) and administrators. · Whether or not, and if so, how disabled students are participating, active members of the school. · The effect of inclusion on the school community/culture. A case study approach is used in order to evaluate this school’s process of inclusion and its ramifications on stakeholders. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used, along with a triangulation of questionnaires, focus groups, semi-structure interviews and observations. A thematic analysis supported by descriptive statistics was used within an interpretative approach of hermeneutic phenomenology. This research contributes theory to the following three areas in: 1. Offering a different model for an inclusive school. 2. The use of innovative structures in school management. 3. The changes brought about by valuing the education of disabled students. The findings show a general positive attitude towards inclusive education and suggest that inclusive education heightens the awareness of each interrelated aspect of the school as a community, challenges stereotypes, and promotes contextually relevant research. The work concludes with a series of possible future directions for research and a critical reflection that is needed to help educators achieve progress towards philosophical and practical ideals of a socially and academically just education.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Traditionally, classroom testing is utilized and viewed as a way to measure students’ knowledge of material. However, research has shown that test taking also enhances long-term learning and retention of material, a phenomenon known as the testing effect. Across settings, research has found that compared to rereading or repeated reviewing, repeated testing leads to poorer performance on immediate tests, but stronger long-term learning of material on delayed tests. These results have been produced with various materials, such as prose passages, word-pair associates, and educational materials such as textbook chapters. However, the testing effect has not been examined in relation to student-generated materials, such as lecture notes. Lecture notetaking is widely embraced in postsecondary education. Both taking and reviewing notes have significant benefits on students’ academic and test performance. However, it is a complex cognitive task, which often results in students taking poor or incomplete notes and thus, limiting the benefits of notetaking and note review. There are many interventions to support students in taking better notes, but there is limited research on the effectiveness of the types of strategies used to review notes. This dissertation examined the effects of different note reviewing strategies on test performance: repeated review, self-testing, and rewriting. In two experiments, 69 and 117 undergraduate students watched a recorded lecture while taking notes. Students then studied the notes through the use of repeated review (reread), self-testing (repeated recall), or rewriting before taking either an immediate or delayed final multiple-choice test on the materials. The independent variables included study method (repeated review/reread vs. self-testing/repeated recall vs. rewriting) and time of test (immediate vs. delayed). The delayed variables included total test score, memory item performance, and inference item performance. Due to attrition in participants in Study 1, only study method was analyzed. Results of these studies did not find a testing effect. There was only a significant main effect of study method on the total test and inference items in Study 1, in which the repeated review group performed significantly better on the immediate test than the self-testing and the rewriting groups. There was no significant main effect of study method for Study 2. Instead, there was a significant main effect of time across the three dependent variables. Students performed significantly better on the immediate test than the delayed test. There was no significant study method x time of test interaction. These studies also examined whether quality and quantity of students’ notes had an effect on test performance. Three covariates were examined: note themes, number of propositions, and number of main ideas. In Study 1, number of propositions and number of main ideas were significantly related to all dependent variables. In Study 2, the results were mixed. Number of propositions and main ideas were significantly related to total test performance and memory items, but not inference items. However, for number of main ideas, there was a trend that approached conventional significance for inference items. Results also examined the effects of the notes taken during the study trials on test performance. In Study 1, the number of propositions recalled by students in the self-testing group was predictive of performance only on the total test score. The number of main ideas and propositions generated by students in the rewriting group were not significantly related to test performance. Results were similarly mixed in Study 2. Number of propositions and main ideas recalled by students in the self-testing group were not significantly related to test performance. In contrast, number of main ideas included in students’ notes in the rewriting group was related to performance on memory items and the total test items. Future research should continue to explore the testing effect in conjunction with note taking.

Background/purpose: This thesis investigates the factors that have been influential in either promoting or impeding the establishment and sustainability of clinical legal education in Zimbabwe (Mkwebu, 2015; 2016). Previous work on clinical legal education in other jurisdictions suggest that clinical programmes within law schools can help law students gain practical lawyering skills essential for legal practice. Literature suggests that law clinics have the potential to provide a platform upon which indigent members of the community can access free legal advice. However, the cost of running clinical programmes has been found, amongst others, to be the most influential factor inhibiting the creation and expansion of clinical legal education. Prior to this doctoral study, there had never been any comprehensive study carried out to investigate clinical activity in Zimbabwe. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that, amongst other factors, the resource-intensive nature of clinical legal education is the highly influential factor in the establishment and sustainability of clinical programmes within law schools. Research methodology: The researcher adopted a systematic search strategy through the review question: What factors have been influential in the establishment and sustainability of clinical legal education? The search strategy undertaken between January 2014 and April 2014 resulted in the selection of a batch of 91 journal articles. Articles were analysed using a grounded theory coding system that identified several factors as having been influential in the establishment and sustainability of clinical programmes in other jurisdictions. To gain theoretical sensitivity in the field, the various factors identified from literature generated questions for exploration during fieldwork. Fieldwork commenced in Zimbabwe in May 2015 and lasted for three weeks. The legal aid clinic at Case A has a complement of five members of staff and they all participated in an audio-taped interview process. Transcripts were analysed using grounded theory. Results and Discussion: An analysis of the selected clinical scholarship identified 20 influential factors. Grounded in the data collected from Zimbabwe were 25 factors that have been influential in either promoting or inhibiting the expansion of clinical legal education at Case A. In general, the identified factors were broadly similar to the various factors identified from the systematic review undertaken before fieldwork commenced. However, the differential impact of factors in the Zimbabwean context was revealed, suggesting a more complex model. Conclusions: Firstly, the research findings support the notion that a systematic review is a method with benefits and could be used effectively in the field. Secondly, establishment and sustainability factors have been identified from the systematic review and from the data collected in Zimbabwe. Thirdly, the importance of the local context in the operation of these factors has been verified. Fourthly, sustainability is fragile and the researcher offers a series of recommendations drawn from literature. Developing receptivity to ideas from other interested stakeholders may be helped by adopting a robust institution-stakeholder partnership that fosters collaboration of ideas for sustainability as a framework.

Several studies indicate that more than half of all college freshmen are not prepared to read and analyze college-level texts. The problem of college reading becomes more formidable when it comes to community college students, who often enter college with socio-linguistic factors that pose challenges to literacy learning. Historically, interventions have consisted of developmental, or remedial, courses after which students are expected to demonstrate college-level literacy. While extensive studies have been conducted on the efficacy of remedial programs in community colleges, few studies have examined how students navigate texts in courses that presuppose proficiency in reading. This grounded theory study investigated ways in which students in an introductory chemistry course at a community college in New York City navigated texts. It documented and analyzed both the students’ beliefs and decisions in the chemistry classroom and outside-of-school spaces as well as the professor’s perspectives of the students. The findings revealed that the notion of literacy reaches beyond the text (Moje, 1996; Rosenblatt, 1988); literacy and intertextuality necessitate the consideration of disciplinary context, instruction, and a larger sociocultural context of the reader. Because of the constantly evolving nature of literacy in context, the findings highlight a need to rethink literacy instruction in the college classroom.