No description available.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

Not available / text

This study examines 797 Taiwanese pre-service early childhood teachers' diversity beliefs using the Personal and Professional Beliefs about Diversity Scales (PPBD). The purposes of this study are to: (a) validate the diversity belief's instrument, (b) investigate the relationship between diversity beliefs in both personal and professional contexts, (c) examine the group differences in diversity beliefs between pre-service teachers based on their demographic background, school characteristics, and cross-cultural experiences, (d) explore the influential determinants of diversity beliefs in the personal and professional contexts, and (f) identify the types of training early childhood pre-service teachers need regarding multicultural education in early childhood. The results indicate that (a) the professional context of PPBD is not robust to use in population outside the U.S. and needed to modify by adding more items based on current diversity literature and the cultural context in Taiwan, (b) school characteristics are the major contributors that foster pre-service teachers' diversity beliefs in both contexts, (c) school location is the most influential factor for the dependent variable of personal beliefs while experience of studying in another city and students' major become the salient factors for the professional beliefs about diversity, (d) the type of educational philosophy is contributing factor of predicting diversity beliefs in both personal and professional contexts. It echoes the multicultural education approaches advocated by Sleeter and Grant (2003), which say that the most important component of multicultural education involves an entire school and touches all areas including students, teachers, staff, and administrators.

The purpose of this study was to explore factors which influence Taiwanese vocational teachers' participation in program evaluations, use of evaluative results and, in turn, program improvement. Twelve Taiwanese public vocational high school teachers were interviewed during February and March 1992. To confirm the responses of the teachers, 12 school administrators and ten external evaluators were also interviewed. The literature indicates that teachers' participation in evaluation may be influenced by their self-esteem, perceived qualification of evaluators, the quality of the evaluation methods, and their subculture. These concepts are applicable but from a somewhat different perspective in Taiwan. Teachers do not seem to feel that they are active participants in evaluations and that evaluations may have little consequence to what they do. Current evaluation practices and purposes appear to be quite different than those described in official documents. These differences seem to be inevitable because of the cultural determinants of "saving face," "reciprocal obligation," and maintaining "social harmony." Evaluations appear ritualistic and ineffective as means to engage teachers in improving the quality of vocational evaluation on a systematic and sustained basis. Based on the findings, it was proposed that alternative evaluation methodologies should be employed. For short-term improvement, the evaluations should begin with teachers. Teachers need materials, help from experienced and expert teachers, training, and time to fulfill their evaluation responsibilities. Teachers would collect and analyze information and then use it to improve their instruction. Selected information would then be passed up to administrators and ultimately to the Ministry of Education. For long-term improvement, the principles and techniques of Total Quality Management should be applied to assure the quality of vocational education programs in Taiwan. / Graduation date: 1993

Not available / text

Not available

No description available.

This exploratory investigation aimed to identify preservice science teachers' conceptions of the nature of science (NOS), and worldviews that represent their culturally dependent beliefs about the world, in the context of Taiwan. The interrelationships between the responses elicited from both the assessments of NOS understandings and worldviews were examined. Participants included 54 third-year students enrolled in the departments of science education and mathematics education at a teachers college. Their worldviews and NOS conceptions were tabulated by two questionnaires and 14 of them were purposefully selected to participate follow-up interviews. The woridview questionnaire contained five open-ended items, of which each examines one of the worldview domains in Kearney's model (1984). The NOS questionnaire consisting of nine open-ended questions was developed, specifically addressing cultural characteristics, to assess participants' views on the development of scientific knowledge. An anthropocentric-moderate continuum emerged to describe participants' views of the humanity's relationship with Nature. It was found that participants with informed NOS conceptions were more likely to emphasize harmony with Nature, recognize the limitations of scientific knowledge, and accept the idea that science involves subjective and cultural components. On the other hand, participants who provided a pragmatic perspective of Nature seemed to possess narrow views about the scientific enterprises by describing science as close to technology and as a materialistic benefit. Authoritarianism was also a noticeable cultural trait hindering some participants from reflecting on the values inherent to the development of scientific knowledge, and also prohibiting them from searching empirical evidence to solve problems. It was found that there were differences between science education and mathematics education majors in their worldviews and NOS understandings. The results in this study not only depict a group of nonwestern preservice teachers' woridviews, but also reveal the interplay between their sociocultural beliefs and NOS conceptions. People with different worldviews may have differing views about science. The study calls for the consideration of incorporating sociocultural perspectives in science instruction and the need for introducing contemporary conceptions of the NOS to science learners. / Graduation date: 2003

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education