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Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / Contains one part in Tigrigna. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Against the background of education reforms, this study was conducted to determine what can be learnt from using lesson study as professional development strategy in Eritrea. The core problem discussed in the study is that the instigators of successive education reforms in Eritrea expected teachers to shift their teaching from more teacher focused to student-centred approaches with little or no support provided to them. This implies that teachers in Eritrean need effective and sustainable support systems that enable them to implement the reform initiatives. In this study, the researcher uses lesson study as a strategy that could provide teacher development experiences to teachers in Eritrea that are different from the traditional one-shot varieties such as workshops, short-term orientations and training of trainer programmes which are often normally provided by the official programmes. Lesson study is a well-established classroom-based activity in which teachers systematically examine their teaching by collaboratively planning, teaching, observing, revising and re-teaching lessons. Several successes with lesson study have been reported in research in Japan, where it has been used extensively, as well as elsewhere. However, no study on teacher professional development has been conducted using lesson study as a strategy within the Eritrean context. This study is an interpretive qualitative case study that explores the effects of lesson study on science teachers’ learning and classroom practice in selected middle schools of Eritrea. It involved twenty one participants – fifteen science teachers, three school directors and three pedagogic heads for a duration of one year. Data were generated through questionnaires, semi-structured focus group interviews, observations, documents for generating research lesson events, video-recordings and photographs. The findings show that participation in lesson study cycles that were extended over a period of time was effective in enhancing the learning of teachers and changing the way they teach science in their classrooms resulting in enhanced students confidence, participation and learning. Evidence reported in this study also indicates that lesson study made a contribution to minimising teacher isolation by bringing teachers together to collaborate and share professional ideas and experiences. Moreover, the findings show the existence of a direct relationship between teachers’ interest in teacher development initiatives and the interest that the school leadership shows in such initiatives and in the extent of support they provide to the participating teachers. Though participants reported receiving benefits from lesson study, they were constrained by a lack of time, curriculum overload, large class-size, teachers’ poor living conditions, lack of suitable space, shortage of resources, students’ poor English proficiency, newness of the process and students’ negligence. This study has also contributed to extending the body of knowledge on lesson study. Finally, it is hoped that the findings of this study may be used as a guiding framework for future teacher development initiatives in the education sector or other professional development programmes in Eritrea. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is teen die agtergrond van onderwyshervormings in Eritrea onderneem om te bepaal wat uit die gebruik van lesstudie as strategie vir die professionele ontwikkeling van Eritrese opvoeders geleer kon word. Die kernprobleem van die studie is dat die opeenvolgende onderwyshervormings in Eritrea vereis dat onderwysers hulle onderrigbenadering van opvoedergerigte na meer studentegerigte metodes verander, sonder dat hulle enige noemenswaardige ondersteuning ontvang. Dit impliseer dat daardie onderwysers ’n doeltreffende en volhoubare ondersteuningstelsel nodig het om die hervormingsinisiatiewe in werking te stel. Met die lesstudiestrategie wat in hierdie navorsing gebruik is, is onderwysers in Eritrea blootgestel aan ander ontwikkelingservarings as die tradisionele eenmalige weergawes, wat gewoonlik in die vorm van werksessies, korttermynoriënterings en opleier-opleidingsprogramme plaasvind. Lesstudie is ’n gevestigde klaskamergebaseerde aktiwiteit waarin onderwysers hulle eie onderrig stelselmatig ondersoek deur lesse in samewerking met kollegas te beplan, aan te bied, waar te neem, te hersien en weer aan te bied. Verskeie suksesse met lesstudie is al aangemeld in navorsing in Japan, waar dit op groot skaal gebruik word, sowel as elders. Tog is geen studie oor die professionele ontwikkeling van onderwysers in Eritrese verband al met behulp van lesstudie as ’n strategie uitgevoer nie. Die metodologie vir die navorsing was ’n vertolkende kwalitatiewe gevallestudie wat ondersoek ingestel het na die uitwerking van lesstudie op wetenskaponderwysers se leer- en klaskamerpraktyk in uitgesoekte middelbare skole in Eritrea. Die 21 respondente – 15 wetenskaponderwysers, drie skooldirekteure en drie onderrighoofde – is vir ’n jaar by die studie betrek. Data is deur middel van vraelyste, semigestruktureerde fokusgroeponderhoude, waarnemings, dokumente vir die skep van navorsingslesgebeure, video-opnames en foto’s ingesamel. Die bevindinge toon dat deelname aan lesstudiesiklusse oor ’n langer tydperk onderwysers se leerpraktyk doeltreffend versterk en hulle wetenskaponderrig in die klas verander het. Dit het verhoogde vertroue, deelname en leer onder studente tot gevolg gehad. Bewyse wat in hierdie studie aangemeld is, toon ook dat lesstudie onderwyser-isolasie help beperk het deur onderwysers bymekaar te bring om saam te werk en professionele idees en ervarings uit te ruil. Daarbenewens dui die bevindinge op ’n regstreekse verband tussen onderwysers se belangstelling in inisiatiewe vir hulle eie ontwikkeling en die skoolleiers se klaarblyklike belangstelling in, en ondersteuning vir, onderwysers en hulle professionele ontwikkeling. Hoewel deelnemers by lesstudie baat gevind het, is hulle aan bande gelê deur tydsbeperkinge, ’n oorvol kurrikulum, groot klasse, swak lewensomstandighede, ’n tekort aan geskikte ruimte, te min hulpbronne, swak vaardigheid in Engels onder studente, die nuutheid van die proses en studente se agtelosigheid. Hierdie studie dra by tot die uitbreiding van die beskikbare kennis oor lesstudie. Die bevindinge sal hopelik as ’n raamwerk kan dien om toekomstige inisiatiewe vir opvoederontwikkeling in die onderwyssektor sowel as in ander programme vir professionele ontwikkeling in Eritrea te rig.

O trabalho apresenta uma análise e descrição, do tipo estudo de caso, das estratégias enunciativas utilizadas por duas futuras professoras de física que implementaram uma sequência didática sobre tópicos de Mecânica Quântica. As aulas foram estruturadas como aulas invertidas, em que se utilizou o peer instruction (instrução pelos colegas) como metodologia ativa, e fizeram parte de um minicurso de 8 horas de duração dirigido a alunos do Ensino Médio. O minicurso foi realizado por professores em formação do Curso de Licenciatura em Ciências Exatas, do Instituto de Física da USP de São Carlos, bolsistas do projeto PIBID/CAPES no ano de 2013. A análise das estratégias enunciativas foi feita utilizando-se da ferramenta analítica proposta por Mortimer e Scott (2003) levando em conta um conjunto de modos de comunicação. O objetivo é caracterizar o discurso de professoras em um contexto de inovação curricular utilizando uma metodologia ativa de aprendizagem. As intenções e intervenções dos professores, a abordagem comunicativa estabelecida em sala de aula, os padrões e os conteúdos das interações foram analisados. Os resultados apontam que as futuras professoras utilizaram abordagens interativas dialógicas e de autoridade para mediar a discussão entre os pares e que nenhuma das abordagens é superior a outra para realizar as mediações em sala de aula. As abordagens interativas dialógicas foram usadas com um padrão de interação do tipo I-R-F (iniciação-resposta e feedback), as abordagens de autoridade foram usadas com padrões de interação do tipo I-R-A (iniciação- reposta- avaliação). Foram identificados três momentos na instrução pelos colegas de ambas futuras professoras: o compartilhamento de alternativas, a discussão das ideias e o fechamento das discussões. Esses estágios foram relacionados as intenções e intervenções estabelecidas pelas futuras professora. A abordagem interativa dialógica na aplicação da instrução pelos colegas se mostrou mais adequada que outras abordagens. O trabalho visa contribuir para o avanço das pesquisas na formação de professores em um contexto de inovação curricular ampliando interpretações dos mecanismos e processos envolvidos na formação inicial de professores de Física, quando estes trabalham com metodologias interativas de ensino, em particular, o método de Instrução pelos Colegas (Peer Instruction). / This thesis presents an analysis and description of the case study type, the declared strategies used by two future physics teachers who implemented a teaching sequence on topics of Quantum Mechanics. The classes were structured as flipped classroom, which used the peer instruction as active methodology, and took part in a short course of eight hours\' duration aimed at high school students. The short course was held for teachers in training of Sciences Degree Course of the Institute of Physics of São Carlos, fellows PIBID project / CAPES in 2013. The analysis of the declared strategies was performed using the analytical tool proposed by Mortimer and Scott (2003) taking into account a range of modes of communication. The goal is to characterize the speech of teachers in a curriculum innovation context using an active learning methodology. The tool analyzed the intentions and activities of the teachers, the communicative approach set out in the classroom, the patterns and the interactions content. The results show that future teachers used dialogical and interactive approaches authority to mediate the argument between the couple and that neither approach is superior to another to conduct mediations in the classroom. Dialogical interactive approaches were used with a pattern of interaction type IRF (initiation-answer and feedback), the authority of approaches were used with IRE kind of interaction patterns (initiation- answer- evaluation). Three moments in education by peers of both future teachers were identified: alternative sharing, discussion of ideas and the closure of the discussions. These stages were related intentions and interventions established by future teachers. The dialogic interactive approach to education application by colleagues was more appropriate than other approaches. This work aims to contribute to the advancement of research in teacher education in a curriculum innovation context expanding interpretations of the mechanisms and processes involved in the initial formation of physics teachers when they work with interactive teaching methodologies, in particular, the peer instruction.

This qualitative dissertation explores the perceptions of how and why teachers might integrate technology to support their goals of equity and inclusion with a group of teachers who identify as culturally responsive in their pedagogy and describe themselves as fluent in the use of technology in school. Teachers working with students of diverse backgrounds were chosen purposively using an "extreme case sampling" method in order to interview experienced and pedagogically aligned participants. Drawing on in-depth interviews, a review of class artifacts and documents, and a focus group, this study provides critical insights into how self-identified culturally relevant teachers use technology. Discussion of the findings focused on two areas. The first examined how the unique affordances of technology lend themselves as a critical resource for teachers engaged in culturally responsive pedagogy. The second looked at how the self-directed approach of participant teachers led them to seek learning opportunities through informal means, in particular with peers they saw as aligned with their own thoughtful practice in service of their beliefs and values for equity and inclusion. Participants provided evidence that technology can be an active dimension of their work toward equity and inclusion. Thus, this research expands upon existing literature on pedagogical practice in both technology in education and diverse classrooms.

O trabalho apresenta uma análise e descrição, do tipo estudo de caso, das estratégias enunciativas utilizadas por duas futuras professoras de física que implementaram uma sequência didática sobre tópicos de Mecânica Quântica. As aulas foram estruturadas como aulas invertidas, em que se utilizou o peer instruction (instrução pelos colegas) como metodologia ativa, e fizeram parte de um minicurso de 8 horas de duração dirigido a alunos do Ensino Médio. O minicurso foi realizado por professores em formação do Curso de Licenciatura em Ciências Exatas, do Instituto de Física da USP de São Carlos, bolsistas do projeto PIBID/CAPES no ano de 2013. A análise das estratégias enunciativas foi feita utilizando-se da ferramenta analítica proposta por Mortimer e Scott (2003) levando em conta um conjunto de modos de comunicação. O objetivo é caracterizar o discurso de professoras em um contexto de inovação curricular utilizando uma metodologia ativa de aprendizagem. As intenções e intervenções dos professores, a abordagem comunicativa estabelecida em sala de aula, os padrões e os conteúdos das interações foram analisados. Os resultados apontam que as futuras professoras utilizaram abordagens interativas dialógicas e de autoridade para mediar a discussão entre os pares e que nenhuma das abordagens é superior a outra para realizar as mediações em sala de aula. As abordagens interativas dialógicas foram usadas com um padrão de interação do tipo I-R-F (iniciação-resposta e feedback), as abordagens de autoridade foram usadas com padrões de interação do tipo I-R-A (iniciação- reposta- avaliação). Foram identificados três momentos na instrução pelos colegas de ambas futuras professoras: o compartilhamento de alternativas, a discussão das ideias e o fechamento das discussões. Esses estágios foram relacionados as intenções e intervenções estabelecidas pelas futuras professora. A abordagem interativa dialógica na aplicação da instrução pelos colegas se mostrou mais adequada que outras abordagens. O trabalho visa contribuir para o avanço das pesquisas na formação de professores em um contexto de inovação curricular ampliando interpretações dos mecanismos e processos envolvidos na formação inicial de professores de Física, quando estes trabalham com metodologias interativas de ensino, em particular, o método de Instrução pelos Colegas (Peer Instruction). / This thesis presents an analysis and description of the case study type, the declared strategies used by two future physics teachers who implemented a teaching sequence on topics of Quantum Mechanics. The classes were structured as flipped classroom, which used the peer instruction as active methodology, and took part in a short course of eight hours\' duration aimed at high school students. The short course was held for teachers in training of Sciences Degree Course of the Institute of Physics of São Carlos, fellows PIBID project / CAPES in 2013. The analysis of the declared strategies was performed using the analytical tool proposed by Mortimer and Scott (2003) taking into account a range of modes of communication. The goal is to characterize the speech of teachers in a curriculum innovation context using an active learning methodology. The tool analyzed the intentions and activities of the teachers, the communicative approach set out in the classroom, the patterns and the interactions content. The results show that future teachers used dialogical and interactive approaches authority to mediate the argument between the couple and that neither approach is superior to another to conduct mediations in the classroom. Dialogical interactive approaches were used with a pattern of interaction type IRF (initiation-answer and feedback), the authority of approaches were used with IRE kind of interaction patterns (initiation- answer- evaluation). Three moments in education by peers of both future teachers were identified: alternative sharing, discussion of ideas and the closure of the discussions. These stages were related intentions and interventions established by future teachers. The dialogic interactive approach to education application by colleagues was more appropriate than other approaches. This work aims to contribute to the advancement of research in teacher education in a curriculum innovation context expanding interpretations of the mechanisms and processes involved in the initial formation of physics teachers when they work with interactive teaching methodologies, in particular, the peer instruction.

Educational research has established a positive influence of learning the nature of science (NOS) on teachers’ practice when an explicit reflective approach to instruction is employed (Abd-El-Khalick, 2001; Abd-El-Khalick & Akerson, 2004; Akerson, Abd-El-Khalick, & Lederman, 2000; Duschl & Grandy, 2013; Lederman, 2007; Pintrich, Marx, & Boyle, 1993; Schwartz & Crawford, 2004). Additionally, research focused on the utility of teaching teachers neuroscience has indicated a positive connection between learning neuroscience in professional development settings and effective classroom practice (Dubinsky, Roehrig, & Varma, 2013; Roehrig, Michlin, Schmitt, MacNabb, & Dubinsky, 2012). Therefore, this study hypothesizes that there is an important connection between neuroscience and teachers’ conceptions of NOS, in that neuroscience can be used as a tool to better understand the complex NOS, and that this understanding has connections to classroom practice. This study presents an approach for NOS instruction that utilizes a situated approach for teaching NOS in addition to using “catalytic groups” to push forward the discussions about the potential connections that could be made between neuroscience and NOS. The goal of this study was to explore the potential relationship between neuroscience and NOS as a method for better understanding the complex NOS and define that relationship more clearly. Additionally, the study was designed to measure the effectiveness of the alternative design approach for situated NOS instruction. This novel design approach consisted of the use of ‘catalytic groups’, or small groups that met outside of class time, whose conversations guided the conceptual changes for students in the larger class setting. A mixed-methods analysis was utilized to investigate how the 17 participants in this study interacted over the course of the four weeks, how their understandings of NOS and their attitudes and beliefs toward integrating neuroscience and NOS change over time into one cohesive understanding of NOS. Additionally, a case study was conducted that provided deeper insight into participant interactions during the four-week course. Evidence collected in this study included Likert surveys, open-ended reflection reports, observations, a researcher journal, and transcriptions of catalytic group settings. Using a theoretical framework of conceptual change, a number of findings were realized from the evidence collected. These findings are presented in the form of a manuscript approach to the dissertation, where each Results chapter is presented as a single, separate research paper that is appropriate for formal publication. These two separate manuscripts use conceptual change as the theoretical framework for data analysis. Chapter 4 presents the mixed-methods analysis of all 17 participants in the study and Chapter 5 presents a mixed-methods, case study approach of three participants. Based on the evidence in Chapter 4, three major findings were realized: (1) previous exposure to NOS may help students to apply the abstract tenets of NOS to a scientific context, (2) the use of neuroscience as a situated approach for NOS instruction was particularly effective for areas of neuroscience most closely related to teachers’ practice, and (3) added time for critical reflection and small-group discourse impacted the perceived importance of NOS on daily classroom practice. The three findings provide evidence for a meaningful re-design of the novel instructional approach used in this study for further implementation in NOS instruction, with an emphasis on utilizing small-group discussion settings for students to reflect on their changing understandings of NOS in relation to teacher pedagogy. Based on the evidence in Chapter 5, three main findings are reported: (1) the degree of appropriateness of neuroscience for contextualized NOS instruction may be varied based on students’ perceived intelligibility of neuroscience, (2) when context-specific NOS instruction is utilized, it is imperative that students connect the specific context used for instruction to their own scientific knowledge and experiences, and (3) when students are learning NOS, those learning opportunities must have perceived value and relevance to the professional development of students. The findings from this study provide evidence of the usefulness of integrating neuroscience and NOS in the quest to better understand how students comprehend the nature of the scientific discipline. In this study, neuroscience was particularly useful because of its character as a ‘contemporary science story’, where the tenets of NOS are explicit and easy to see. Areas of future research are also explored, with suggestions on the use of neuroscience to teach the complex NOS. Three common themes describe the findings from each of the Results chapters that comprise this study. First, neuroscience can prove as a useful scientific context for NOS instruction even when students are not necessarily familiar with neuroscience content. However, this usefulness depends on students’ ability to connect neuroscience to classroom practice and/or to their own science disciplinary focus. Second, critical reflection proved to be an important aspect of NOS instruction, as it allowed students to reflect on their own understandings of NOS with a focus on how those understandings have changed over time. Last, the catalytic groups that define the alternative model for NOS instruction that was used in this study positively impacted NOS learning. These groups impacted students’ ability to synthesize neuroscience with NOS into a cohesive understanding of NOS at a general level. These findings leave a variety of implications for future NOS instruction in addition to suggestions for the future use of the instructional approach presented in this study. Those implications include the use of more catalytic groups for NOS instruction, where all students are engaged in small-group discussions that inform future NOS instruction, and more targeted metacognitive strategies for NOS instruction, where specific strategies are employed to allow all learners to develop a ‘deep processing’ orientation toward NOS.

This case study documents three Socratic seminars in a Basic English class in a community college in an urban center in northeast United States. Specifically, the study examines the presence and absence of dialogue in these three Socratic seminars. The researcher employed qualitative methods to address the following questions: (1) What are the characteristic features and affordances of the discourse that takes place in a Socratic seminar conducted within a community college Basic English class for nine enrolled students in that class who participated regularly in an assigned Socratic seminar? (2) How do these nine students perceive and describe their experience of the discourse of the Socratic seminar in which they participated? Examining her data through the lens of a socio-cultural theory perspective, this research found that students effectively employ many of the criteria of dialogue. Students described their previous experiences of classroom discussion and their more recent experiences of Socratic seminar. This investigation suggests that Socratic seminar provided opportunities for dialogue and meaningful interaction for these students of Basic English.

In 2 experiments I used a delayed multiple probe design to test the effects of teaching students to vocally segment the component phonemes after listening to composite words on the emergence of untaught textual responses, spelling responses, and vocal phoneme blends. All participants were kindergarten students and had been selected because they could textually respond to and write graphemes but did not learn textual responses and spelling responses for words from instruction. There were 2 phases in Experiment I. In Experiment I, Phase 1, I examined the effect of teaching 3 students to vocally segment the component phonemes in a five-word subset of phonemically transparent Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) words on the emergence of (a) textual responses, (b) dictated written spelling responses (c) vocally blending the component phonemes into a composite word, and (d) vocally segmenting the component phonemes from untaught composite words. During the vocal phoneme segmentation intervention participants were vocally presented with a composite word and were taught to vocally segment and produce each component phoneme separately in the same sequential order as the component word (e.g., cat...c...a...t). Results showed that derived relations emerged across all topographies after learning to vocally segment the phonemes in 2 sets of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. In Phase 2, I used the same response topographies as Phase 1 using a set of 20 consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant (CCVC) words. All 3 participants demonstrated errors in which they did not include a fourth phoneme (e.g., spelling stop as sop). Results showed that learning to vocally segment a 5-word set of CCVC words established the essential stimulus control for correctly responding to CCVC words. Experiment II was a systematic replication (Sidman, 1960) of Experiment I, Phase 1, which included extra measures of learning and experimental control. Five participants acquired untaught derived relations after learning to vocally segment the component phonemes in composite CVC words. The participants in Experiment II required between 2 and 3 instructional sets before demonstrating derived learning. An additional measure showed that the rate of learning for textual responses increased across all participants after the intervention. Results also showed that verbal operants learned before the intervention joined with the newly acquired spelling repertoire for some participants after the intervention. The results from both experiments demonstrated that children who can identify phonemes and graphemes, but do not learn to textually respond and spell from instruction will acquire those skills as a function of learning the relationship between composite words and the component phonemes through vocal phoneme segmentation.

<p>The aim of this essay is to investigate how writing is taught in upper secondary school as well as what kind of writing is taught, the teachers’ attitudes towards writing and how written production is assessed. I am interested to see if teachers use different methods both when it comes to teaching and grading writing.</p><p>My research is based on recorded interviews with four upper secondary school teachers from two different schools. The teachers were interviewed on their planning, executing and grading of writing within English A and B. I have also carried out extensive reading of earlier research in order to get a complete background.</p><p>The result shows that all four teachers believe that writing is an important part of language learning and they all enjoy teaching it. The main focus is put on the formal aspects of writing, in order to prepare students for the national tests. Only one of the four teachers feel that creative writing is the best way to learn a second language. All teachers go through the formal rules of writing with the entire class before giving them an assignment. The biggest difference between the different teachers is the marking and final grading of the written production, where one teacher does not grade assignments at all and another has developed her own scale.</p>

In this paper the so-called Generation Y and its impact on education and counseling is examined. The shared experiences of this group of individuals are identified, which contribute to the defining characteristics of this generation. The implications of these characteristics for the learning styles of Gen Yers are discussed. Recent research has shown that Gen Y differs from previous generations in several ways. Most importantly, Gen Y students have developed a different brain structure, which processes and uses information in a way that is radically different from previous generations (Abram, 2007; Black, 2010; Doidge, 2008; Prensky, 2001a,b,c; & Oblinger, 2003). In this paper the inevitable consequences suffered when schools do not specifically address Gen Y’s unique learning styles are explored and outlined. Further, ways in which school counselors and student advocates can address the needs of these students to give them all of the skills they need to succeed in school are examined. / text