Recent studies on human cognition have presented credible evidence that learners are not tabula rasa as previously conceived by traditional theorists, rather they enter new lessons with some preconceptions, most of which are resistant to change in spite of teachers' efforts to assuage them. As such the challenges confronting science educators and educational psychologists are to understand the nature of learners' preconceptions, designing and implement appropriate instructional interventions that would enable the learners become aware of and reconcile their conceptions that are inconsistent with accepted views of science. Several perspectives have been advocated on how learners' preconceptions can be modified through instructions. While traditional theorists subscribe to substitution of inaccurate conceptions with accurate ones, the constructivists identify with giving the learners autonomy to inquire and re-evaluate their own ideas. The former has been confronted with widespread criticism and is becoming less and less tenable. This research identifies with the latter. Conceptual change entails restructuring of ideas. It is a cognitive process that involves change in attitude toward learning. Based on the theoretical assumption that learning is facilitated through teaching that give the learners autonomy search to new ideas, verify them, and restructure existing ideas, I developed a model of conceptual change from where I deduced the four sub variables of the conceptual change that this study explored. The sub variables include formulation of ideas, search for new ideas, review of meaning, and transfer of knowledge. My assumption was that conceptual change can be facilitated through instructions that engage learners in experiences relevant to the four sub variables that I have mentioned. This conceptual framework served as my reference point for the designing of the Constructivist Teaching Model that consists of four instructional phases. Judging that I was resident and working in Seychelles as a teacher trainer at a time I developed the Constructivist Teaching Model, I chose to implement and evaluate it first in Seychelles. Hence this study is titled `The implementation and evaluation of a constructivist intervention in secondary school science teaching in Seychelles'. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the constructivist teaching model as an intervention to facilitate conceptual change. Basically, there are two main aims of this study. First, to investigate to what extent the constructivist teaching model facilitates conceptual change. Secondly, to investigate if the paradigms shift from the traditional method to the constructivist method of science teaching is welcomed in Seychelles. This study was carried out in two phases Pretest and Evaluation. Pretest was aimed at identifying the weaknesses of the initial version of my model of constructivist teaching with a view to eliminate those weaknesses to further strengthen the model. In a nutshell pretest was a step taken to enhance the validity of the model. Evaluation on the other hand was aimed at making a judgment whether a difference actually exists between the learners that received constructivist instruction and those that received traditional lecture instruction in terms of the four sub variables of conceptual change. To enable for this judgment necessitated an experiment. The experiment was conducted with a total of six secondary schools selected from the ten secondary schools on the island. The participants included 178 learners, 6 science teachers and 8 independent persons. The learners were constituted into three Bands; 1, 2 and 3. Each Band consisted of a Control group and an Experimental group. Altogether six groups were formed, with 3 Control groups and 3 Experimental groups. There were 59 learners in Band 1, comprising of 29 learners in the Control group and 30 learners in the Experimental group; Band 2 comprised a Control group of 25 learners and an Experimental group of 28 learners; and Band 3 consisted of 33 learners in each group. The learners in Band 1 were used for pretest that lasted for five week. The learners in Bands 2 and 3 were used in the evaluation that lasted for thirteen weeks. The groups were non-equivalent, suggesting that randomisation was not possible as the learners were in intact classes. Learners in the experimental groups received constructivist instruction while their counterparts in the control groups received traditional lecture instruction. Both groups were exposed to the same experimental conditions except in the methods of teaching. Data was collected through teacher interviews, independent observation, measurement of learners' achievement, and analysis of documents. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analysed on the basis of content or meaning of the information given by the respondents. Following the design of this study the performance and achievements of learners that received constructivist instruction were compared with their counterparts who received traditional instruction. Guiding this study are two main assumptions. The first is the assumption of equality of the variance, and the second is the assumption of normality of the distribution. The results of Levene's test of equality of variances indicated a violation of the assumption of homogeneity of the variances of TI and CI groups while the results of test of skewness and kurtosis give the indication of normality of distribution of scores in both groups. The results of descriptive statistics analysis showed that the learners who received constructivist instruction performed better than the learners that received traditional instruction in terms of formulation of ideas, search for new ideas, review of meaning, and transfer of knowledge. The results of inferential statistics showed that the difference in the means of the two groups on each of the sub variables of conceptual change is significant. This evidence indicates that my model of constructivist teaching produced an effect measuring 0.86 and a power of 0.85 based on Cohen's Blueprint, and a reliability of 0.72 based on Cronbach's test of internal consistency. Besides statistical evidence, analysis of the opinions of science teachers who implemented the Constructivist Teaching Model in their respective classes and the independent persons who observed teaching and learning in both the experimental and control groups showed a preference for the constructivist approach over the traditional approach. On the grounds of the evidence gathered through observation and measurement this study concludes that the constructivist approach to science teaching is more effective than traditional lecture approach in facilitating the ability of secondary school learners in Seychelles to reconstruct ideas. This study also found that science educationists in Seychelles welcome the paradigm shift from the traditional approach to the constructivist approach. / Educational Studies / D. Educ. (Psychology of Education)

Recent studies on human cognition have presented credible evidence that learners are not tabula rasa as previously conceived by traditional theorists, rather they enter new lessons with some preconceptions, most of which are resistant to change in spite of teachers' efforts to assuage them. As such the challenges confronting science educators and educational psychologists are to understand the nature of learners' preconceptions, designing and implement appropriate instructional interventions that would enable the learners become aware of and reconcile their conceptions that are inconsistent with accepted views of science. Several perspectives have been advocated on how learners' preconceptions can be modified through instructions. While traditional theorists subscribe to substitution of inaccurate conceptions with accurate ones, the constructivists identify with giving the learners autonomy to inquire and re-evaluate their own ideas. The former has been confronted with widespread criticism and is becoming less and less tenable. This research identifies with the latter. Conceptual change entails restructuring of ideas. It is a cognitive process that involves change in attitude toward learning. Based on the theoretical assumption that learning is facilitated through teaching that give the learners autonomy search to new ideas, verify them, and restructure existing ideas, I developed a model of conceptual change from where I deduced the four sub variables of the conceptual change that this study explored. The sub variables include formulation of ideas, search for new ideas, review of meaning, and transfer of knowledge. My assumption was that conceptual change can be facilitated through instructions that engage learners in experiences relevant to the four sub variables that I have mentioned. This conceptual framework served as my reference point for the designing of the Constructivist Teaching Model that consists of four instructional phases. Judging that I was resident and working in Seychelles as a teacher trainer at a time I developed the Constructivist Teaching Model, I chose to implement and evaluate it first in Seychelles. Hence this study is titled `The implementation and evaluation of a constructivist intervention in secondary school science teaching in Seychelles'. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the constructivist teaching model as an intervention to facilitate conceptual change. Basically, there are two main aims of this study. First, to investigate to what extent the constructivist teaching model facilitates conceptual change. Secondly, to investigate if the paradigms shift from the traditional method to the constructivist method of science teaching is welcomed in Seychelles. This study was carried out in two phases Pretest and Evaluation. Pretest was aimed at identifying the weaknesses of the initial version of my model of constructivist teaching with a view to eliminate those weaknesses to further strengthen the model. In a nutshell pretest was a step taken to enhance the validity of the model. Evaluation on the other hand was aimed at making a judgment whether a difference actually exists between the learners that received constructivist instruction and those that received traditional lecture instruction in terms of the four sub variables of conceptual change. To enable for this judgment necessitated an experiment. The experiment was conducted with a total of six secondary schools selected from the ten secondary schools on the island. The participants included 178 learners, 6 science teachers and 8 independent persons. The learners were constituted into three Bands; 1, 2 and 3. Each Band consisted of a Control group and an Experimental group. Altogether six groups were formed, with 3 Control groups and 3 Experimental groups. There were 59 learners in Band 1, comprising of 29 learners in the Control group and 30 learners in the Experimental group; Band 2 comprised a Control group of 25 learners and an Experimental group of 28 learners; and Band 3 consisted of 33 learners in each group. The learners in Band 1 were used for pretest that lasted for five week. The learners in Bands 2 and 3 were used in the evaluation that lasted for thirteen weeks. The groups were non-equivalent, suggesting that randomisation was not possible as the learners were in intact classes. Learners in the experimental groups received constructivist instruction while their counterparts in the control groups received traditional lecture instruction. Both groups were exposed to the same experimental conditions except in the methods of teaching. Data was collected through teacher interviews, independent observation, measurement of learners' achievement, and analysis of documents. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analysed on the basis of content or meaning of the information given by the respondents. Following the design of this study the performance and achievements of learners that received constructivist instruction were compared with their counterparts who received traditional instruction. Guiding this study are two main assumptions. The first is the assumption of equality of the variance, and the second is the assumption of normality of the distribution. The results of Levene's test of equality of variances indicated a violation of the assumption of homogeneity of the variances of TI and CI groups while the results of test of skewness and kurtosis give the indication of normality of distribution of scores in both groups. The results of descriptive statistics analysis showed that the learners who received constructivist instruction performed better than the learners that received traditional instruction in terms of formulation of ideas, search for new ideas, review of meaning, and transfer of knowledge. The results of inferential statistics showed that the difference in the means of the two groups on each of the sub variables of conceptual change is significant. This evidence indicates that my model of constructivist teaching produced an effect measuring 0.86 and a power of 0.85 based on Cohen's Blueprint, and a reliability of 0.72 based on Cronbach's test of internal consistency. Besides statistical evidence, analysis of the opinions of science teachers who implemented the Constructivist Teaching Model in their respective classes and the independent persons who observed teaching and learning in both the experimental and control groups showed a preference for the constructivist approach over the traditional approach. On the grounds of the evidence gathered through observation and measurement this study concludes that the constructivist approach to science teaching is more effective than traditional lecture approach in facilitating the ability of secondary school learners in Seychelles to reconstruct ideas. This study also found that science educationists in Seychelles welcome the paradigm shift from the traditional approach to the constructivist approach. / Educational Studies / D. Educ. (Psychology of Education)

This investigation opened with justification of the association of simulation and rhetoric found in the works of Bitzer, Bryant, Burke, and Nichols. It then focused on some advantages that association provides in the classroom: provides learning experiences for diverse groups, applies to problem solving, gives variety to lecture approach, develops social behavior, and increases awareness of alternatives. A list of simulation procedures was provided for specific rhetorical principles: cooperation/competition; decision making; reasoning; recall; perspective; negotiation; and goal setting. Existing, modified, and original games were included. Simulation with a college Interpersonal Communication class provided two case studies. Procedures, results, and evaluative feedback described degrees of effectiveness, and future application and research were also provided.

The subject of the thesis is to determine the use of educational games in teaching the Czech language in primary schools, and verify their effectiveness compared with other teaching methods. The work is divided into four parts. The first part is focused on the definition of basic concepts such as play, didactic game, teaching and motivational methods. The second part discusses the occurrence of didactic games in textbooks of Czech language with a focus on the subject matter of the structure of the word. The third part evaluates the results of a questionnaire survey among Czech language teachers in primary schools from the point of view of integration into the phase of the lesson, the reach educational objectives, frequency of using games, etc. The fourth section examines effectiveness of using didactic games in comparison with other teaching methods on the ground of an experiment realized in parallel classes in the fourth grade in teaching the theory of word structure.

Les enquêtes internationales montrent qu’en France, les élèves issus de milieux défavorisés ont moins de chances de réussir à l’école que les autres. Or, des données probantes attestent que l’enseignement socioconstructiviste utilisé majoritairement dans les classes françaises n’est pas celui qui donne les meilleurs résultats. A contrario, l’enseignement explicite est porteur auprès des élèves en difficulté scolaire. Cette recherche a pour objectif de comparer l’efficacité de l’enseignement explicite et de l’enseignement socioconstructiviste en mathématiques, auprès d’enfants scolarisés en éducation prioritaire. Elle est réalisée en France (Martinique), dans des classes de CE1, CM1, CM2 situées en éducation prioritaire où les performances des élèves sont faibles en mathématiques. L’hypothèse testée est la suivante : lorsqu’un professeur enseigne une notion mathématique, les résultats des élèves sont meilleurs s’il utilise un enseignement explicite plutôt que s’il utilise un enseignement socioconstructiviste ou usuel. Cette prédiction est testée dans trois études qui ciblent respectivement la technique opératoire de la soustraction en CE1, la technique opératoire de la division en CM1 et la notion d’aire en CM2. Les résultats obtenus révèlent que tous les élèves progressent. Toutefois, ceux des classes ayant reçu un enseignement explicite obtiennent des performances supérieures à ceux des classes ayant reçu un enseignement socioconstructiviste ou usuel. Enfin, les résultats indiquent que l’enseignement explicite est globalement plus efficace pour les élèves moyens à risque ou en difficulté. / International surveys show that in France, students from disadvantaged social backgrounds are much less likely to succeed at school than others students. However, evidence from studies on the effectiveness of teaching methods shows that the socioconstructivist pedagogies mainly used in the French classrooms do not give the best results. On the contrary, explicit teaching is particularly effective for students with learning difficulties. The work carried out in this present thesis aims to compare the effectiveness of explicit teaching and socioconstructivist teaching with students enrolled in priority education networks, in mathematics. This research is carried out in France (Martinique), in elementary school classes of schools from the priority education networks, where overall students’ performance is low in mathematics. The hypothesis tested is the following: when a teacher teaches a specific mathematical notion, students' results are better if he or she uses explicit instruction rather than socioconstructivist or usual instruction. This prediction is being tested in three studies that respectively focus on learning the partitioning technique of subtraction in second grade class, on learning the technique of the division in fourth grade class and on learning the concept of area in fifth grade class. The results show that all students do progress. But, the students in classes that have received explicit instruction outperform students in classes that have received socioconstructivist or usual instruction. Finally, the results indicate that explicit instruction is generally more effective for underachieving students or in difficulty.

Analisando o maior exame de acesso ao ensino superior de nosso país, o ENEM, percebe-se que as dimensões do quantitativo de inscritos e importância para os programas educacionais e de acesso as instituições de ensino superior, são surpreendentemente notáveis, tornando-se na segunda maior avaliação do mundo. Desta análise percebemos uma relação das provas de Matemática com a Modelagem Matemática, principalmente na Matriz de Referência do ENEM, permitindo assim um comparativo com as etapas da então denominada Modelação Matemática, ou seja, a Modelagem Matemática usada como metodologia de ensino da Matemática. As etapas da Modelação Matemática são identificadas nas questões de Matemática do ENEM através de inúmeros exemplos de questões resolvidas de edições anteriores. A Modelação Matemática é apresentada como método de ensino e aprendizagem para a resolução das questões de Matemática do ENEM. / Analyzing the greatest exam of access to higher education in our country, ENEM, it was noticed that its dimension, concerning the number of enrollment and importance to educational programs and to the access to higher education institutions, is surprisingly remarkable, making it the second-highest evaluation in the world. From this analysis, we perceive a relation between Mathematics esams and the Mathematical Modeling, mainly on ENEM’s the former reference, thus allowing a comparison of the steps of the so-called Mathematical Molding, that is, the Mathematical Modeling used as a methodology of the teaching of Mathematics. The stages of Mathematical Molding are identified on ENEM’s Mathematics questions through numerous examples of solved questions from previous editions. The Mathematical Molding is presented as a teaching-learning method, which is not necessarily the same as a method or technique for solving ENEM Mathematics questions.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:29:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marly Aparecida Fernandes 1.pdf: 560944 bytes, checksum: b39b1a9f932ac8780bbed37d33d92b8b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003-09-05 / Both aims of this study were achieved with the help of graduation students on Psycology Graduation Course, who had attended to psychopathology classes, which were: to identify and to discuss their social culture and psychic representations of the psychopathologic object related to thinking capacity; to investigate the perception of psychopathologic object in the construction of the knowledge ou psychopathology. As a psychopathogy teacher on psychology, the analysis of the texts written by the students had provided the acess to this experiment. This study, however, had chracterized as a documented qualitative research with the help of a participant researcher.The data were obtained through these texts which described about a theme on psychopathology, based on both, a direct and indirect experience. From a scientific frame for the preparation of the paper, the student developed the report in a free choice process of the theme and its apex, experience, approach and references. It was analysed the reports of three diferent groups of students who were attending the classes on psychopathology subject during the previous years of 1999, 2000 and 2002. The descreptive analysis of the texts set and the content analysis of seven (7) of them, selected at random, which were performed having as a conceptual basement the psycoanalitic constructs.The results had shown that the psychic and social culture representations of the student, before the psychopatology object, had influenced her thinking capacity triggering a strong emotional experience, where the writing considered as a transitional space and as an author s space and a creative appropriation had facilitated the learning teaching process and it had revealed that the perception of the psychopatolic object had occurred in two levels: one quite superficial, characterized by a defensive and not associated shape, which had given advantage once to a cognitive sphere and afterwards an emotional sphere and another quite deeper, chracterized by an integrated way of the construction of the knowledge. It was considered as a creative appropriation, then, this second level of perception which had posed the student as an author of these sense searching. / Com graduandos do Curso de Forma??o de Psic?logos que cursam a disciplina psicopatologia o objetivo desse estudo foi identificar e discutir as suas representa??es ps?quicas e s?cio-culturais do objeto psicopatol?gico e a vincula??o destas com a capacidade de pensar e investigar a apreens?o do objeto psicopatol?gico na constru??o do conhecimento em psicopatologia. O acesso a essa experi?ncia foi a partir do lugar de docente analisando textos escritos pelos alunos na disciplina psicopatologia no curso de psicologia. Este estudo portanto, caracteriza-se como uma pesquisa documental com pesquisador participante. Os dados foram obtidos atrav?s de textos escritos pelos alunos sobre um tema de psicopatologia, baseado em uma experi?ncia direta ou indireta.A partir de um enquadre cient?fico para elabora??o de artigo, o aluno desenvolveu o texto num processo de livre escolha do tema, pessoa focalizada, experi?ncia, , abordagem e refer?ncias. Foram usados os textos produzidos por um grupo de alunos de tr?s classes diferentes que cursaram a disciplina no ano de 1999, 2000 e 2002. Foram realizadas uma an?lise descritiva do conjunto de textos e an?lise de conte?do de sete textos selecionados aleatoriamente..As an?lises realizadas seguiram os pressupostos da pesquisa qualitativa , tendo como base conceitual os constructos psicanal?ticos. Os resultados apontam que as representa??es ps?quicas e s?cio-culturais do aluno diante do objeto psicopatol?gico influenciam a sua capacidade de pensar desencadeando uma experi?ncia emocional intensa onde a escrita, considerada como um espa?o transicional, favoreceu o processo de ensino aprendizagem e revelou que a apreens?o do objeto psicopatol?gico ocorreu em dois n?veis: um n?vel mais superficial caracterizado por uma forma defensiva ou dissociada que privilegiou ou a esfera cognitiva ou a emocional e um n?vel mais profundo caracterizado por uma forma integrada de constru??o do conhecimento que aliou a experi?ncia emocional e a esfera cognitiva como forma de aproxima??o, apreens?o e comunica??o do objeto psicopatol?gico. Considerou-se como apropria??o criativa esse segundo n?vel de apreens?o.

Thesis (M.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2004. / Title from title page of source document (viewed on April 23, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-113).

The submitted diploma thesis deals with the use of activating methods in foreign language tuition. The thesis aims at finding out which teaching and activating methods are used by teachers in foreign language tuition most often, and what the advantages and disadvantages of activating methods are. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with activity and creativity in lessons and with teaching methods. The research part of the thesis is based on questionnaire survey that foreign language teachers took part in. The survey results contribute to the finding which teaching methods are employed to teach foreign languages at primary and secondary schools at present.

My Master?s thesis will be dealing with a field trip into the Parliament of the Czech Republic as a part of civics lessons in the 6th to the 9th grade of a primary school. It emphasises the meaning of field trips, their organization and it describes possible difficulties which the organizer can get into. The first part focuses on a political system in the Czech Republic with emphasis on general power division in the land. Its aim is to monitor the evolution of legislative power in Czech lands in the 20th century. The second part deals with a teaching method of a field trip as a progressive teaching method which has been out of interest of pedagogy and didactics. In the third part the emphasis is put on the preparation, accomplishment and consequent evaluation of the field trips into the Parliament of the Czech Republic in a form of a case study. It gives instructions for their organisation and mentions basic data about the running of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. It also analyses how much the field trip can supplement theoretical knowledge of the pupils gained in the civics lessons. The aim is to deal with the experience from a direct contact with the observed reality from the point of view of the 6th to the 9th grade primary school pupils. Diploma thesis can be used as a methodical tool for pedagogues of civics lessons to organise field trips into the Parliament of the Czech Republic.