The purpose of the study was to determine whether item format significantly affected scores on a mathematics achievement test. A forty-two item test was constructed and cast in both multiple-choice and constructed-response formats. The items were chosen in such a way that in each of three content domains, Computation, Application, and Algebra, there were seven items at each of two difficulty levels. The two tests were then administered on separate occasions to a sample of 213 Grade 7 students from a suburban/ rural community in British Columbia, Canada. The data gathered was analysed according to a repeated measures analysis of variance procedure using item format and item difficulty as trial factors and using student ability and gender as grouping factors. Item format did have a significant (p < 0.05) effect on test score. In all domains multiple-choice scores were higher than constructed-response scores. The multiple-choice scores were also transformed using the traditional correction for guessing procedure and analysed. Multiple-choice scores were still significantly higher in two of the three domains, Application and Algebra. There were significant omnibus F-statistics obtained for a number of interactions for both corrected and uncorrected data but there were significant Tetrad differences (p < 0.10) only for interactions involving format and difficulty. The results indicate that students score higher on a multiple-choice form of a mathematics achievement test than on a constructed-response form, and therefore the two scores cannot be considered equal or interchangeable. However, because of the lack of interactions involving format, the two scores may be considered equivalent in the sense that they rank students in the same manner and that the intervals between scores may be interpretable in the same manner under both formats. Therefore, although the traditional correction for chance formula is not sufficient to remove differences between multiple-choice and constructed-response scores, it may be possible to derive an empirical scoring formula which would equate the two types of scores on a particular test. / Education, Faculty 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

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This project addresses the need for more authentic multicultural curriculm in the elementary schools within California, specifically concerning Native Americans in Alaska Natives. This projects supports the need to include Alaska Natives in the California History/Social Science curriculum for fifth grade.

This project is aimed at helping children in elementary grades 1-6 develop a deep awareness of and empathy for the environment through children's fictional literature. This project takes a selection of children's books that encourage feelings of love, respect, and concern for the environment, and pairs them with an array of activities that put children more in touch with our planet and its problems. This combination of shared stories and related activities may be influential in developing environmental sensitivity in young children.

The purpose of this project was to develop a series of three lesson plans based on children's environmental literature and journaling to be used in an outdoor environment and correlated to California State Science and English Language Arts Standards for the sixth grade.