published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Teachers must have specific knowledge of a subject and how to teach it to promote learning in their students (also known as pedagogical content knowledge). Research has shown that project-based curriculum can be an effective way for teachers to leverage this knowledge into deeper student understanding and application readiness, but observations about when and how this happens in the classroom have not been adequately documented. In this study we will explore teaching and learning in a middle-school boat-building curriculum focused on real-world application of math concepts. The boat-building program took place over one week, included seven students, and was taught by three teachers. The teaching phase of this study examined how the three boat-building teachers applied their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) through a participant observation case study. The three teachers had diverse training and teaching backgrounds. At the completion of the course these teachers were interviewed on their prior teaching experiences and training to determine how they acquired their pedagogical content knowledge. The learning part of this study involved a pre- and post-test application task completed by the students. After all students completed the application task, each was interviewed to see what, if any, knowledge or approach these teachers used had an impact on the ability of the students to do the task. Analysis of the pre-post assessments showed that students were not able to make statistically significant gains over the one week of instruction. However, students did note many aspects of instruction that they thought helped them. Additionally, students showed gains in assessing importance of geometry in design, the vocabulary associated with scale, geometry, and woodworking, and creating context for prior instruction. For the teachers, higher scores on the PCK rubric did align with a greater amount of experience teaching. Also, the two more experienced teachers influenced each other and the third teacher regarding student learning and instructional approach.

M.Ed. (Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Ed. / As a curriculum initiative Technology Education is in its infancy in South Africa. It has only recently, in 1996, been introduced as a compulsory area of learning in the school curriculum. Technology Education with its particular elements of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values is conceptually different from anything previously taught in the school curriculum. The appropriateness of methodology is of fundamental importance to the success of the subject/learning area and probably represents the most significant factor in the effectiveness of its delivery. It is clear that current approaches to learning and instruction are not geared towards the attainment of the desired outcomes in Technology Education. For example, the opportunities for knowledge construction through engagement in the cognitive processes of critical and creative thinking, decision-making problem solving and designing are overshadowed by traditional approaches to curriculum delivery. This is compounded by the fact that no instructional models, which exemplify appropriate instructional practice in Technology Education exist currently in South Africa. The aim of this study was to design and implement an instructional programme in the learning area Technology at a College of Education, and based on the findings, generate a prospective instructional model which would exemplify appropriate instructional practice and at the same time contribute towards the attainment of the desired outcomes in Technology Education. The qualitative research paradigm, using the contextual case study design was considered the most acceptable research strategy for a project of this nature. A group of 20 second year learners was observed around specific tasks comprising the programme. Data was gathered using a variety of methods, viz. direct observation, questionnaires and interviews to gauge firstly, how the learners had experienced the programme, and secondly, how the teacher educator experienced the programme. From the study it appeared that exposure to the instructional programme proved to be an empowering educational experience for both learners and teacher educator alike. In addition to widening the scope and providing opportunities both inside and outside the classroom, the programme appeared to have provided entrepreneurial opportunities for the participants of the programme. Although the instructional programme catered for knowledge construction using a variety of approaches (both behaviourist and constructivist) the most significant gain for learners seemed to have emanated from both group discussion and group work. Although it cannot be stated conclusively that cognitive development had taken place, positive interdependence, shared responsibility, social skills and enhanced learning were evident. The findings of the research provided the foundation for the design and development of an instructional model in Technology Education.

With more and more focus on accountability, algebra achievement has become a major focus of math curriculum developers. In many states, students are expected to pass standardized Algebra achievement tests in order to satisfy graduation requirements. The purpose of this study was to identify teacher qualities and teaching qualities linked to teacher effectiveness in 7th-grade Algebra I Honors. This study examined two aspects of teachers, teacher quality and teaching quality. Teacher quality refers to the characteristics that teachers possess and teaching quality refers to what teachers do in the classroom to foster student learning. For this study, teacher quality included teacher professional preparation characteristics and teacher knowledge. Also, aspects of teaching quality that promote conceptual understanding in Algebra were examined. The difference between more and less effective teachers in this study lies in teaching quality, what teachers do in the classroom, as opposed to teacher quality, what those teachers bring with them to the classroom. The findings of this study indicate that elements of teaching quality are more indicative of teacher effectiveness than elements of teacher quality among teachers in the study. Although there was some evidence of a relationship between elements of teacher quality and teacher effectiveness, there were clear differences in teaching quality among more effective and less effective teachers in this study. / by Barbara Perez. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

當前中國大陸新課程改革進入深化階段，教師專業發展政策將校本教研作為一種策略，試圖基於原有學校教研組開展校本教研，幫助教師學習以推進教學變革。借助組織學習的分析框架（4I）及組織知識轉化的理論，本研究對上海市基礎教育學校中的六個教研組內的教師學習展開實證研究，呈現出以下一些研究發現。 / 首先，中國大陸的學校組織具有嚴緊-鬆散耦合系統的特徵。學校教研組是自上而下硬造的教師同事合作關係。教研組中教師的學習本質上是組織制度化學習。但透過參與組內教研活動，教師獲得不同的社會性學習經驗。其間，教師的學習及轉變是循環往覆的過程，不斷在改變和維持現狀之間進退徘徊。 / 其次，教研組內教師透過不同的學習活動，轉化和建構了較為豐富的個體知識，最為豐富的本土知識，較少的集體知識及系統知識。豐富的本土知識建構意味著在實踐中，大部分中國教師透過校本教研開展學習的實質在於維持現有教學實踐及規範。 / 進一步探索影響教師學習的因素發現，教師個人因素、群體的人際互動因素、教研組特質及校外政策均不同程度上影響其學習成效，但學校校長和教研組長的領導力策略對組內教師學習成效的影響較為關鍵。 / 以上研究發現揭示出中國教師校本教研學習過程與成效的特徵，追溯其間教師的學習過程及成效，學校教研組內教師的學習經驗呈現出四種類型（patterns），分別是（I）已成型的學習活動-利用性學習；（II）探索中的學習活動-利用性學習；（III）已成型的學習活動-探索性學習；（IV）探索中的學習活動-探索性學習。 / 此外，學校教研組這種特殊建制時刻影響著教師的學習及變革。在中國大陸學校教育體制中，教研組保障了特定時期內國家教育及變革政策要求自上而下進行傳播和擴散；但如果缺乏對於教學變革實質和發展過程的足夠關注，期待教師透過校本教研持續學習以實現變革的政策策略可能落空。借助校本教研變傳統教研組爲教師專業學習社群（PLC）的政策設想，尚與現實存在一定距離。 / School-based teacher professional development has been regarded as one of the mechanisms that support teacher learning and promote school reform. In the process of New Curriculum Reform in China, in addition to a range of school-based learning activities, such as mentoring programs, collective lesson preparation, and action research, school-based Teaching Research Groups(TRGs) have been widely enacted in schools in order to enhance teachers’ collaboration and learning and promote school change and improvement. This study, informed by Crossan et al.’s (1999) 4I organizational learning framework and organizational knowledge theories, explores what and how teachers learn from participating in TRGs in China. 51 participants, including teachers, teacher leaders and school principals were involved in the study. By collecting data from interviews, field observation as well as some relevant documents, this study generates three major findings as follows: / Firstly, the teachers participated in different school-based learning activities through TRGs. Mentoring programs, lesson observations supported intuiting process; collective lesson preparation, open lessons, meetings, instructional technology trainings supported interpreting process; action research in some TRGs supported integrating and institutionalizing process. While the forms of school-based learning activities were structured as the institutionalized practice in TRGs, the process, content and quality of these activities varied across different TRGs with varying impacts on teachers’ learning. / Secondly, the teachers in TRGs constructed different types of knowledge through engaging in school-based learning activities. For instance, they constructed self-knowledge through modelling and observing from intuiting process; they built up strong local knowledge through sharing, negotiating and experimenting from interpreting process; they developed weak collective knowledge through exploring and joint sense-making from interpreting to integrating processes; and they also formed limited system knowledge through disseminating and reifying from interpreting, integrating to institutionalizing processes. / Thirdly, the participants’ learning in TRGs was shaped by individual factors, interpersonal relationship in groups, and school management. Particularly, school leadership strategies proved to be the most influential factor in their learning. Findings further illustrate that school leadership strategies which could balance the bureaucratic and professional conflict within the TRGs could provide more professional resource and autonomy for teachers in exploring and developing new practices. However, in some cases, school leaders tended to adopt bureaucratic leadership strategies (instead of professional leadership strategies), which constrained teachers’ further learning and made them repeat developed practice over time. / This study concludes that Chinese teachers in TRGs mainly experienced exploitation learning, with only few of them experiencing exploration learning. Four patterns of teachers’ learning can be identified, including: (I) Developed school-based learning activities- exploitation; (II) Developing school-based learning activities-exploitation; (III) Developed school-based learning activities-exploration; (IV) Developing school-based learning activities-exploration. While only a few teachers in TRGs groups experimented and developed new collective knowledge, representing pattern (III) and (IV) learning, a large amount of teachers in TRGs were forced to internalize and tune the developed practice, representing pattern (I) and (II) learning. Therefore, although it was the contrived TRGs’ structure that helped teachers take up their work as routines in new work contexts, it did not move teachers beyond its ritual practice to meaningful joint work for changes and reform take place. It is thus necessary for school leaders and educational administrators to promote boundary-crossing learning with balanced school leadership strategies which may improve school-based teachers’ learning and promote change over time. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 張晓蕾. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 288-302). / Abstracts also in English. / Zhang Xiaolei.

by Tse Kin-shing. / Thesis (M.A.Ed.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-91). / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.i / ABSTRACT --- p.iii / TABLE OF CONTENT --- p.v / LIST OF TABLES --- p.viii / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.ix / Chapter CHAPTER 1： --- INTRODUCTION / Background of the Study --- p.1 / The Problem --- p.6 / Purpose of the Study --- p.6 / Significance of the Study --- p.7 / Chapter CHAPTER 2: --- REVIEW OF LITERATURE / Holland's Theory of Vocational Choice --- p.10 / The Four Assumptions --- p.10 / The Six Environment and Personality Types --- p.11 / The Hexagon Model --- p.15 / Consistency --- p.17 / Congruency --- p.19 / Differentiation --- p.22 / Instruments for Measuring Personality --- p.23 / The Relationship between Teaching Performance and Congruency --- p.27 / Literature Related to Teaching Practice --- p.31 / Teaching Practice --- p.31 / The Length of Teaching Practice --- p.32 / Teaching Performance --- p.34 / Defining the Criteria of Performance --- p.36 / Factors Influence Teaching Performance --- p.40 / Evaluating Teaching Performance --- p.42 / Definition of Terms --- p.44 / Student Teacher --- p.44 / Teaching Practice --- p.45 / Teaching Performance --- p.46 / Attitudes --- p.47 / The Different Levels of Congruency --- p.48 / Chapter CHAPTER 3： --- METHODOLOGY / Method --- p.50 / Sample --- p.50 / Procedure --- p.51 / Variables --- p.53 / Null Hypotheses --- p.54 / Data Analysis --- p.54 / Chapter CHAPTER 4： --- RESULTS / Sample --- p.56 / Inter-Judge Reliability --- p.58 / Attitude Questionnaire --- p.60 / Scaling the Scores of Teaching Performance --- p.63 / Analysis of Variance on the Teaching Performance --- p.65 / Analysis of Variance on Attitude towards Teaching --- p.66 / Prediction on Teaching Performance --- p.68 / Chapter CHAPTER 5： --- "SUMMARY, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION" / Summary --- p.70 / Discussion --- p.73 / Limitation of the Study --- p.80 / Recommendation --- p.81 / REFERENCES --- p.84 / APPENDICES / Appendix I --- p.92 / Appendix II --- p.95 / Appendix III --- p.96 / Appendix IV --- p.97 / Appendix V --- p.101

Based upon the findings of the study, improvement measures are suggested, namely, government subsidies to help the kindergartens to mediate market forces, restructuring of the bureaucratic-authoritarian management in kindergartens, promotion of home-school partnerships, empowerment of teachers through nurturing their pedagogical competence, and reformation of the philosophical underpinnings of teacher training. / The call for professionalism in kindergarten education has been an important educational issue over the past several decades in Hong Kong. Official expectations have been published to guide the services of kindergarten education and to supervise teachers' pedagogical practice. Kindergarten education services that are child centred and play based, and that practise integrated learning to nourish children's holistic and balanced development are advocated. However, Quality Assurance Inspection reports have shown that kindergarten teaching and learning is still teacher directed. Young children are passive recipients of knowledge. The services run counter to the progressive motives of the 2000 Education Reform in nurturing young children to be active and self-motivated life-long learners. Driven by the interest to study the practice-expectation gap, the present study sought to observe kindergarten teachers' classroom practice, investigate their pedagogical decision making, and reveal the complexities underpinning their pedagogical roles which, to an extent, emerged from the practice-expectation gap. / The data analysis suggests that the teacher informants' pedagogical decision making and practice were shaped by a number of intervening forces. These forces can be categorised into (a) the personal variables of the teacher informants in terms of their personal beliefs and values towards kindergarten education, (b) the contextual variables of school management structure and administrative arrangements within which the teacher informants delivered their teaching and fostered the children's learning, (c) the societal variables of parental expectations of the kindergarten education of their young children, and (d) the professional variables of the teacher training programmes and their training effectiveness that nurtured the teacher informants' pedagogical competence. Each of these variables represents a unique array of interferences for the teacher informants, and when drawn together, the combination of influences that thus emerges illustrates the complexities within which the teacher informants made their pedagogical decisions. Consequently, the pedagogical practices of teachers were pushed and pulled by these intervening forces, causing deviation from the Official Expectations. / The present study, framed by in a qualitative research design, employed on-site observations and teacher interviews, together with official document analysis and training curriculum document analysis. The wealth of data and information collected revealed that a practice-expectation gap does exist. / Fung, Kit Ho. / "December 2007." / Adviser: Chi-Chung Lam. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: A, page: 3023. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 405-462). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

The purpose of the study was to analyze the perceptions of teacher trainees, first and second year practicing teachers, college educators, and public school administrators regarding the effectiveness of the undergraduate teacher preparation programs at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana; and Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan. The analysis of the programs may possibly be applied to teacher preparation programs in Sierra Leone, West Africa.In the study an attempt was made to discover new concepts and practices and potential approaches that would strengthen the undergraduate teacher preparation programs at Ball State University and Western Michigan University. To secure evidence concerning the existing conditions, the following population was randomly selected.(a) Two hundred teacher trainees, two hundred first and second year practicing teachers, fifty-five college educators, and fifty-five public school administrators from Ball State University.(b) Two hundred teacher trainees, two hundred first and second year practicing teachers, fifty college educators, and fifty public school administrators from Western Michigan University.The questionnaire method for obtaining data was determined to be the proper technique and some direct observation of each program was also made. The sampling included every third person in all four main groups. Based on the number of returned and usable questionnaires,(a) the perceptions of one hundred and sixty-five teacher trainees, one hundred first and second year practicing teachers, fifty-one college educators, and fifty-four public school administrators from Ball State University were tabulated, computed, described and analyzed.(b) the perceptions of seventy-nine teacher trainees, forty-eight first and second year practicing teachers, twenty-two college educators and eighteen public school administrators from Western Michigan University were tabulated, computed, described and analyzed.Significant variables also included sex, professional experience, and teaching/administrative positions.The results of the findings revealed that despite the varied expectations of what constitutes an effective teacher preparation program, a high degree of consensus was obtained among the respondents that most of the activities and practices carried out at Ball State University and Western Michigan University were effective. In most instances, the respondents indicated the items as outstanding and/or above average.Supportive and favorable remarks were expressed for specific programs such as special education programs for the handicapped and the disabled; the TOD programs; the multi-cultural programs; and the adult and continuing education program at Ball State University.Based on the findings of the study the following conclusions were made:1. The instructional programs in terms of the curricular content and instructional strategies or modules were effective.2. The supervisory and other related activities such as classroom observation, testing, grading, communication patterns in the pre-student and student teaching in-service programs were effective.3. The personal relationship between the teaching staff and the students was effective.4. The college policies and administrative procedures were effective.5. The motivation, rewards, and sanctions provided forpersonal and institutional growth were effective.6. The evaluative process in terms of staff and studentratings was effective and consistent in general.7. The total evaluative program in terms of the mechanisms of adaptability and flexibility was effective.8. The teaching, research and public services providedwere effective.Areas of concern that may need some examination were general studies; micro-teaching and laboratory experience; student advising in the area of course selection; the selection process in the pre-student and student teaching stages; activities relating to sensitivity/group dynamics; understanding the relationship with the opposite sexes; learning and respecting other cultures; student involvement in the selection of courses; and, communication patterns between college staff, students and teaching staff and the administrative staff.

Understanding nature of science (NOS) is an important learning objective of the science curricula in many countries. However, research shows that there is a large gap between the curriculum emphasis and classroom practice. There have been calls for more studies on how teachers can be better prepared for teaching NOS. This study examines what teachers have learned, how they have learned it and the factors affecting their learning in a teacher professional development (TPD) programme to prepare them to teach NOS. The study was conducted in 2008-10, when the new Hong Kong Senior Secondary Biology curriculum, with its emphasis on NOS, was introduced. Three of the 18 teachers participating in the programme were chosen for in-depth case studies to illuminate their process of learning to teach NOS. Over a 20-month period, the teachers worked collaboratively to learn how to teach NOS in study group settings. Initially, the teachers were given curriculum materials designed for the explicit and reflective teaching of NOS. They selected, adapted and refined the curriculum materials to suit their own students. They then taught NOS to their students using the modified curriculum materials in their classroom, and the lessons were videotaped. These videos were later shared and analyzed collaboratively in study group meetings and workshops. To monitor their learning, the teachers were asked to complete reflection tasks and follow-up interviews after participating in each of the TPD activities, including the trial teaching of NOS in their own classroom, reflecting on the lesson, reflecting on the lesson video, and discussing the lesson video with their peers. Using an interpretive approach, other data sources, including field notes from classroom observations, transcripts of teacher discussions in meetings and workshops, and interviews with individual teachers before and after the programme on their confidence and concerns about NOS teaching, were also collected for triangulation purposes, and for the production of individual case reports for each teacher. It was found that the teachers had improved their NOS knowledge, NOS teaching skills, confidence as well as intention to teach NOS after participating in the programme. The process of learning to teach NOS can be characterized as lengthy, recursive and closely embedded in authentic classroom practices. Four major factors related to the TPD programme were identified as contributory to teachers’ learning to teach NOS. They are: (1) the formation of a community of practice with a shared goal to improve NOS teaching, (2) the provision of educative curriculum resources for explicit and reflective teaching of NOS, (3) first-hand experience of teaching NOS in authentic classroom settings, and (4) video-based discussions on NOS teaching in meetings and workshops. Based on the findings, an emergent model of effective use of video for learning to teach NOS was also proposed. The implications of the findings on the design of effective TPD programmes for learning to teach NOS were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy