Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Diane McGrath / The goal of this study was to explore the use of interdisciplinary PBL projects for teaching mathematical concepts according to NCTM (2000) goals for mathematics instruction. This study sought to answer the question: what are the teaching issues and evidence of student learning of mathematical concepts over a series of three interdisciplinary PBL projects involving STELLA™ modeling software which are designed to engage students, integrate technology, and provide a context for learning mathematics based on the 5 NCTM (2000) goals? HyperStudio™ was used as a communication tool with which students built artifacts of understanding. This study was a naturalistic case study employing videotaped observations, interviews, student-peer reviews and student generated artifacts of learning as data sources. Data were categorized into two variable clusters: Teaching and Learning. Implementation issues for three computer-based PBL simulations are discussed. Themes that emerged from analysis of the data are grouped into teaching themes and learning themes. Themes relating to teaching include the struggle to form a community of learners, relevancy of the simulations to middle school students, need for group-worthy projects, helping students balance creativity and content, lesson adaptation, and critical review and student reflection on constructive feedback. Findings of the study suggest the students were able to meet a majority of the expected content goals. Themes relating to learning include the struggle to find a balance between creativity and content, ownership and control, engagement with the simulations, and students’ ability to think and express themselves mathematically. Recommendations are made for teachers who wish to implement PBL, simulations, and similar teaching strategies and for researchers who are studying similar learning environments.

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This quantitative study examines to what extent online games motivates students. It is based on a quantitative method such as a questionaire where students and teachers have answered questions about which teaching methods that motivate student the most. The study shows that onlinegames motivate children, especially boys. However, they do not motivate them more than learning by doing experiments and pracitical work, such as arts and craft. Moreover, the study shows that the teachers are aware of what kind of teaching that motivates the students the most and also that the teachers in general play an important part in order for the students to feel motivated in the classroom. The conclusion of this study is that teaching using a veriaty of methods where students can connect the information they learn to their own reality and envoriment is the kind of teching that motivates them the most.

M.Ed. / This dissertation is about the instructional approaches used by teachers to teach Grade 11 quadratic equations, errors learners made and misconceptions they possessed. The main topics that I had focused on were solving quadratic equations by factoring, completing a square and using quadratic formula. The intention was to observe teachers’ teaching approaches in quadratic equations and diagnosed types of errors learners displayed and misconceptions they possessed in quadratic equations. Literature review had served as a secondary source of information that was relied upon for the research study. Sources such as scholarly books, government documents, dissertations, professional journals and electronic resources were used to gather the information pertinent to the research topic. Review was also done on how teachers teach quadratic equations, learners’ learning of quadratic equations and teachers teach and learners learn mathematics. This study is action research under qualitative research paradigm in which the information collected was analyzed through thick description and not statistically. Pre-test, self and post test evaluation methods are discussed of quadratic equations by factorization, completing a square and using quadratic formula. Learners were tested on factoring, completing a square and using quadratic formula. In addition to the learners’ class exercises and home work, these scripts were also analysed for errors and misconceptions. Collected data is presented that helped to address errors and misconceptions learners displayed in solving quadratic equations and teachers’ teaching methods and approaches. Data was collected from schools in the neighborhood and the school I was attached as a mathematics teacher. In all schools, five teachers’ three lessons were observed which added up to a total of fifteen. All five teachers were interviewed as well as five learners in each school. Interviews were analyzed by comparing what their teaching approaches with the types of learners’ errors and misconceptions. In classroom observations, Indicator Evaluation Form adopted from Luneta (2006) was used to collect data as well as analyzing it. Questionnaires were prepared for both teachers and learners for interviews.

The Master's Thesis deals with activating teaching methods and their application as a suitable tool for higher efficiency of education of economic subjects. There are mentioned main advantages of application of these methods in the education process. The analytical part is concerned with the results of the survey among students and teachers of a particular business academy. The aim of this survey was to find out to what extent the activation of students in the subject "Economy" is emphasized. The survey includes comparison of efficiency of traditional frontal education and education performed with use of activating teaching methods. Recommendations for improvement of education of subject "Economy" are stated in the conclusion.

The problem was to survey and collect ideas on the use of improvisation as a teaching and learning tool in elementary piano instruction and to prescribe activities and exercises for second through fourth grade piano classes. These areas were examined: philosophies and theories influencing traditional instruction, effects of creative keyboard activities on children's musical development, specific teaching strategies using improvisation, evaluative procedures, and suitability of materials for young children. Data collected from published and unpublished materials were classified, and presented concerning the feasibility of using keyboard improvisation with early elementary children. It was found that suitable improvisational exercises allow the child to organize his perceptions into the basic concepts of music. Recommendations for teachers and researchers were made.

Abstract: Introduction- Human activities has resulted in degradation of quality of environment, social life, and economic gains, bringing to life the challenges of sustainability. In order to reduce degradations, a solution encircling sustainability is required. The solution must bring economic viability, social equity, and environmental protection. One of the many solutions can be creation of sustainable enterprises, also the concept of sustainable entrepreneurship is catching the pace worldwide. But who can attain sustainable entrepreneurship is still a question Engineers can connect technology to the market and can create products which are sustainable (Alexa et al., 2020) seems to be right choice. Hence educating engineers can be effective to achieve sustainable entrepreneurship. Purpose and research question- Sustainable entrepreneurship is a relatively nascent field. Even though, engineers seem to be right choice to train, there is not sufficient information on the literature regarding the skills necessary to promote sustainable entrepreneurship. Besides, the universities are not aware of the methods that helps in developing these skills. Even though many authors focus on sustainable entrepreneurship, it is not quite explained in terms of engineering. This gap needs to be bridged by determining relevant engineering skills that promote sustainable entrepreneurship in future engineering students and discover few teaching methods and learning approaches that facilitate in developing these skills and thus answer the research question “What engineering skills are important to promote sustainable entrepreneurship in master education and what methods facilitate the developing of these skills”   Methodology- In order to answer the research question, a qualitative study was carried out with a deductive approach. Also, the nature of the research is exploratory. In addition to this, interviews were conducted with program directors from four Swedish universities to gain deeper understandings from their perspectives regarding the engineering skills required to promote sustainable entrepreneurship and the methods to facilitate its development.    Findings- From the insights of the participants it is found that many skills are interrelated to each other; meaning, development of one skill results in improvement of another. Also, many teaching and learning methods were found out from the interviews that facilitate in the development of these skills. Besides, it was found that the participants did not consider the development of all the skills identified in the literature in accordance with their program. But majority of these skills were considered to be relevant to promote sustainable entrepreneurship. Conclusions- It is seen that engineering skills from multiple disciplines seems to coincide especially when sustainability is a common goal. It is evident from the literature, primary and the secondary data that these skills are important to be developed in engineering students in the perspective of sustainable entrepreneurship. Also, this study has many implications for program directors, future researches, teaching professionals and master’s students as well.

This thesis deals with activation teaching methods used during biology classes at lower secondary school. The thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. The first part deals with curricular documents and its relationships to activation methods, to a goal of elementary education and to a goal of activation teaching and above all to a characteristics of individual activation methods. The second part describes a selected topic of food chains. At the beginning, there is an enumeration of selected food chains from eight different environments. Furthermore, a suggestion for a teaching method, which complements the list of food chains, is presented here, as well as drawings of images, which have been created specifically for the purpose of the thesis. As a component of the second part of the thesis, there is an evaluation of a form, which has been presented to children electronically, since the suggested teaching method has not been practicable as a consequence of closed schools in the second half of the school year due to the coronavirus epidemic. The goal of this thesis is to prepare and to test a selected teaching class on the topic of a food chain and drawings of images, which might serve as a teaching material for current as well as future teachers. KEYWORDS active learning, activation...

This diploma thesis is focused on the silk production of invertebrates. The aim of the work is to systematically introduce important species and describe the purpose of their silk production. The ability to produce silk is widespread in many insect families. The production of proteinaceous fibers also occurs in arachnids and (in the form of byssus threads) also in mollusks. The Domestic Silk Moth (Bombyx mori) is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. Hence, an integral part of the thesis focuses on Domestic Silk Moth. In this thesis all developmental stages of Silk Moth (from an egg to an adult) are described. In the past, efforts to breed silkworms also appeared in the Czech lands. Therefore, a short chapter of the thesis is devoted to the history of sericulture. Furthermore, this thesis describes methods of rearing silkworm larvae. For students of Natural Sciences and Biology, it is crucial to be in touch with live objects. Because the silkworm rearing is quite simple, it is possible to incorporate this topic to the school projects about holometabolous insects. The practical part of this thesis contains schedule of practical exercise about silk moths. And in final section of practical part, worksheets for lower-secondary students are presented. Keywords: silkworm...

The problem under consideration was a study of student achievement and attitude by utilising two methods of teaching the American government course in a metropolitan junior college.