To meet the affective and cognitive needs of adolescents and to choose appropriate teaching strategies it is necessary for teachers to be able to diagnose these needs. This feasibility study investigates the Developmental Assessment Paradigm (DA) as a tool to enable teachers to diagnose their students' cognitive and affective levels. The paradigm is based on the model of Developmental Assessment created by Ivey (1986) and researched by Rigazio-DiGilio (1989), Bradford Ivey (1990) and Gonclaves (1988). Ivey's research demonstrated that counselors could learn to use DA effectively. A Pilot Study (Brodhead, 1988) found that it was possible, using DA, to identify different levels of cognitive and affective development within the dialogue of a sample of high school classrooms. This feasibility study evolved from these previous studies. The dissertation discusses the need for the diagnosis of developmental levels, it introduces developmental assessment as a diagnostic tool and describes the results of the pilot study and the design and results of the feasibility study. The review of the literature in Chapter II supports both the need for teachers to be able to diagnose their students' developmental levels and the potential of this diagnostic ability to enable teachers to choose effective and appropriate teaching techniques. To this end, the review develops a working definition of "effective schools" and "effective teachers", and examines paradigms that identify and define interpersonal skills. A small group of teachers participated in two training sessions, one week apart. Data from pre- and post-tests showed significant improvement in the participants' ability to recognize DA levels in sample statements of high school students' dialogue. On their evaluation forms, the participants expressed their belief in the value of DA as a diagnostic technique and suggested strategies for implementation in their classrooms. Discussion during the sessions indicated they were able to identify DA levels using transcribed dialogue from their own classrooms. The results of this study indicated that these teachers were able to significantly improve their ability to recognize levels of DA in samples of students' dialogue and in dialogue from their own classrooms. Further study with a larger sample was recommended.

The purpose of this study was to determine the fourteen pre-service mathematics teachers&rsquo / beliefs about mathematics and teaching and learning of mathematics, and their expectations and acquisitions of the Five Year Integrated Program in the Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education at Gazi University, Turkey, and the development in their beliefs during the last three semesters of the program. The data were collected through four longitudinal interviews from each participant. Data collection process began at the beginning of the spring semester of the 2002&ndash / 2003 academic year and ended at the end of spring semester of the 2003&ndash / 2004 academic year. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim to produce a complete record of the interviewees&rsquo / conversation. The findings that were gathered from analyses of individual interviews show that pre-service teachers came to teacher education programs with some beliefs about mathematics, and teaching and learning of it. The interviews have provided evidence that pre-service teachers seemed to develop some new beliefs about mathematics during the first 3.5 years of program, and that the courses of the last 1.5 years of the program improved and consolidated pre-service teachers&rsquo / attitudes towards and beliefs about mathematics, and beliefs about the teaching and learning of mathematics. The research findings lead to the conclusion that OFD406, OFD408, OFD509 and OFD501 courses were perceived as the most effective courses and OFD402, OFD410 and OFD507 courses were considered as the least effective courses of the program.

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In the information era, e-learning is considered as one of the means to increase the global competitiveness of a nation. Before e-learning is largely implemented in education system, it is important to assess the e-learning readiness of a society. However, previous research always focus on measuring the e-learning readiness of commercial organisations and tertiary institutions, leaving a huge research gap on the use and readiness of e-learning in primary and secondary schools. This thesis developed a model for identifying e-learning readiness levels of teachers in Hong Kong schools, with the aim of creating a general model which could be transferred to other countries which are less developed than Hong Kong, yet which all share common Asian cultures. This was a multi-stage research project, incorporating model building and empirical testing of a model based on the existing academic literature, through questionnaire surveys to both in-service and pre-service teachers triangulated by series of in-depth interviews.