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The understanding 16 - 18 year old chemistry students have of basic chemical ideas was probed in a longitudinal study using a test paper comprising twenty-three diagnostic questions. The students were attending schools and colleges in the UK and had chosen to study chemistry beyond the age of 16. They responded to questions investigating their ideas about the differences between elements, compounds and mixtures, the conservation of mass in chemical reactions, chemical changes and chemical bonding. Aspects of stoichiometry, thermodynamics, equilibria and rates of reaction were also featured. Students' responses were collected three times: at the beginning, in the middle and towards the end of their Advanced ('A') level courses. The written data was supported by interviews with selected students carried out after the first and second surveys. The first survey (of 399 students) established a baseline against which students' progress could be gauged. Some had poorly developed particle ideas. Others did not conserve mass in chemical reactions, or confused mass and density. Many showed poor understanding about acids, combustion and dissolving. Although respondents knew about single and double bonds, many seemed unaware that covalent bonds involve electrons being shared. They found ionic bonds difficult to describe. Students did not know that energy is released when bonds form. Two further surveys of 320 students were carried out. 250 students followed the Salters' Advanced Chemistry (SAC) course which adopts a context-led approach. Their understanding of most chemical ideas probed changed by the third stage, although some weaknesses were still apparent. The changes in responses observed in 70 non-Salters and a sub-sample of 70 SAC students suggest that different approaches produce some similar effects. The findings indicate that A level courses should include strategies for teaching basic chemical ideas and highlights areas for further development of SAC.

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The ambitions of the teacher to fully prepare engineering students for the working environment are usually limited by the length of the lecture course. Consequently, few opportunities exist in the learning process for the student to gain experience in both design and design-optimisation. This document describes a suite of integrated personal computer based programmes designed to illustrate many important aspects of gas turbine component design and overall performance estimation for use both inside and outside the classroom. Accordingly, the objectives of the programmes are to provide a broad understanding of the whole engine and its major components by enabling the following: o a rapid and in depth method for the assessment of design point, off design and deteriorated performance principles for a wide range of gas turbine types and applications. a demonstration of the needs and implications of performance compromise arising from design constraints. a demonstration of how the design and performance limitations imposed by one component influence others. a demonstration of the design compromises required by the interactions between the disciplines of aerodynamics, thermodynamics and mechanical integrity. O O O When used in conjunction with a programme of lectures, tutorials, case studies, and computer based workshops, the new software enables a rapid and in depth understanding of gas turbine performance and component design. ln addition, the programme suite has extensive general application to gas turbine overall performance assessment and to the preliminary design of compressors and turbines.

The aim of this study is to investigate how the pre-service teacher education programme in Malaysian Teacher Training Colleges inculcates the skills of reflective teaching in prospective teachers. This aim is pursued by examining the perceptions of teacher educators, co-operating teachers, student teachers and newly qualified teachers from three Teacher Training Colleges in Peninsular Malaysia. A combination ~f qualitative and quantitative research methods was used. These are questionnaires, interviews and document analysis. Different sets ~f questionnaires and interviews were used with all the four groups of participants. The thesis consists of three parts. Part One (Chapters 1 to 5), deals with the literature on reflective practice and highlights how the notion of reflective teaching has become popular in pre-service teacher education programmes in English speaking countries and elsewhere. Part Two (Chapters 6 to 10), describes the research methodology of the study and examines the research data in order to answer some specific questions concerning the way in which preservice teacher education in Malaysia inculcates the skills of reflective teaching and the way in which Malaysian student teachers develop reflective teaching skills during their initial training. In Part Three (Chapters 11-12), several impediments to nurturing reflective teaching skills in student teachers are identified and some recommendations for improving the pre-service teacher programme so as to successfully nurture reflective teaching skills in student teachers are made. Briefly, these are to: (i) develop a programme to stimulate an attitude of inquiry and reflection in student teachers; (ii) ensure that present methods (micro teaching, 'Kerja Kursus Secara Projek' (KKSP), journal writing and clinical supervision) are geared more explicitly to inculcating reflective teaching skills; (iii) encourage teacher educators as well as co-operating teachers to be reflective practitioners; (iv) strengthen the triadic relationship (student teachers - teacher educators - co-operating teachers) in order to promote reflective teaching effectively; (v) introduce action research as a formal way of developing reflection, (vi) promote and sustain critical reflection among teachers and educators. In general terms, the research indicates that the Malaysian pre-service teacher education programme would more effectively foster reflective teaching if various agencies work in a more integrated way. These agencies are: the Teacher Education Division of the Ministry of Education (which acts as a source of directives); the school (which provides a place for teaching practice); the teacher educators and co-operating teachers (who mediate the reflective teaching processes); the initial training institutions (which provide the source of inculcating action research, and fostering reflective attitudes amongst student teachers). It is necessary for all of these agencies to complement and supplement each other if the aim of nurturing reflective teaching skills in Malaysian student teachers is to be successfully achieved.

This thesis explores the relationship between the level of entry requirements and subsequent student attainment on Occupational Therapy degree programmes. It questions the justification for the continued rise in the level of entry qualifications since the early 1990s. It also considers whether students' personal qualities should be seen as equally important when considering entry to a vocational programme. The thesis begins With a review of the evoiution of Occupational Therapy as a profession and considers the development of training courses from diploma through to degree validation. A range of literature is discussed in relation to the role of qualifications in education and training including degrees in the training of professionals and issues of professional competence. An empirical investigation, using quantitative and qualitative methods was conducted of the relationship between entry requirements and student attainment at an English university where an Occupational Therapy degree programme has been placed since 1991. A questionnaire survey provided details of the students' entry qualifications which were then considered alongside evidence of students' progress and attainment during the programme and their final degree classification. Interviews were conducted with lecturers at the university and employers of the new graduates. The findings of this thesis did not find any academic rationale to support the rise in entry qualifications. Rather, the results indicate that had the entry standards been strictly adhered to, a high percentage of students would not have been eligible to train. Furthermore, the thesis establishes that more importance should be given to the role of interviewing prospective students.

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The present study attempts to demonstrate both mediated facilitation and interference in the learning and retention of single lists of paired-associates under conditions analogous to the standard retroaction paradigms. Conditions for intra-list facilitation (Positive Condition) are established by pairing identical responses with pairs of associatively related stimuli (Lists A-B/A’-B). Conditions for intra-list interference (Negative Condition) are established by pairing different responses with pairs of associatively related stimuli (List; A-B/A’-C). Two experiments were conducted. In Experiment I, homogeneous lists of eight paired-associates with pairs of stimulus terms having three degrees of associative relatedness were used. The three degrees of associative relatedness were: (1) first associates, (2) second associates, and (3) a non- related or List-Control level. This resulted in a 3 x 2 factorial experiment: two conditions (Positive and Negative) by three degrees of stimulus pair relatedness. In Experiment I, seventy-two undergraduate females received one study- trial and six learning trials. All subjects (Ss) returned forty-eight hours later and received ten recall trials and then relearned the lists to a criterion of one errorless trial. The Immediate-Recall Method for estimating the level of original learning was used in Experiment I. In Experiment II, eighty undergraduate males received the same procedures as Ss in Experiment I, except that five learning trials were administered so that the Projection Method for estimating the level of original learning used in Experiment II could be compared directly with the Immediate-Recall Method employed in Experiment I. In Experiment II, only the first association Positive and first association Negative Conditions were used. Facilitation and interference were demonstrated in the learning of A-B/A’-B and A-B/A’-C lists, respectively. Degree of association was not an effective factor in the production of either facilitation or interference. The effectiveness of experimental manipulations was further demonstrated by the finding that S-R pairs which appeared in the lists of the Positive Conditions were learned significantly faster than identical S-R pairs which appeared in the lists of the Negative Conditions. A direct index of mediated interference was provided by the greater than chance frequency of predicted errors (i.e., in List A-B/A’-C, predicted errors are of the type A-C or A’-B) found in the learning of the lists of the Negative Conditions. The experimental manipulations responsible for facilitation and interference in the learning of the lists did not affect retention of the lists. Recall was high in all conditions of both experiments. Relearning to a criterion of one errorless trial did result in significantly faster relearning in the Positive Conditions of both experiments. Significant differences in relearning were not obtained when relearning to the level of original learning was the criterion. An analysis of original learning, recall and relearning in terms of the Two-Stage analysis of verbal learning indicated that the primary focus of facilitation and interference was the second or associative stage of learning. Comparisons of the Immediate-Recall and Projection methods showed that the two methods resulted in almost identical estimates of original learning. The mediation hypothesis of intra-list transfer is discussed and compared with the stimulus-generalisation hypothesis of transfer effects. The mediational-linking hypothesis is presented as the most adequate explanation of intra-list interference. The common-concept hypothesis is offered as the most adequate explanation of intra-list facilitation in the present study. / This thesis was digitized as part of a project begun in 2014 to increase the number of Duke psychology theses available online. The digitization project was spearheaded by Ciara Healy.

This investigation was designed to explore the relationship between pupils' cognitive level of development and their response to design and technology curriculum. The purposes of the investigation were to (a) analyse the cognitive level of the pupils, (b) analyse the cognitive demands of design and technology in the National Curriculum, (c) develop a series of cognitively based questions dealing with design and technology, (d) determine whether pupils respond successfully to design and technology that was appropriately matched to their cognitive level of development. To accomplish these goals, pupils from schools across two inner London Boroughs were selected. The investigator selected and analysed design and technology in the National Curriculum using a design and technology taxonomy developed for the investigation. The taxonomy was designed using a Piagetian-type framework and modelled after the taxonomy developed by Shayer and Adey. The investigator developed practical tasks and some written questions that were administered to the pupils. All responses to the investigator's practical tasks and written questions were recorded and analysed using not only the Structure of Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) Response taxonomy, but also developmentally. Data from Piaget's test of formal reasoning was collected and compared to the pupil's performance in design and technology tasks. The results indicated that (a) analysing pupil's responses to questions that were cognitively rated provided a developmental sequence of the characteristics of the different cognitive levels. (b) pupils will respond to questions that are matched to their cognitive level of development. (c) the pupil's cognitive level of development and not the age of the student are related to hislher mean cognitive level of response. (d) in predicting a pupil's mean cognitive level, the most significant variables will be the mean cognitive level of the question and the pupil's design and technology achievement. (e) a taxonomy for estimating the level of thinking demanded by design and technology can be developed. (f) pupils in the early years tended to repeat actions (operation) illogically, then become increasingly logical (systematically) as they progress through the years. (g) technological thinking judged from the tests administered, involves factors that include 'general ability (intelligence)" 'perceptual analysis (spatial ability)', 'function/structure', 'practical ability', 'systematic/logical thinking', and 'science reasoning'. Curriculum implications for the development of design and technology curriculum, teaching and in-service training are drawn.

This thesis examines the role of distance education in teacher professional development in the Caribbean. It does so through a case study of the University of Sheffield's collaborations with regional partners to provide courses at Certificate, Diploma and Masters level. The thesis critically reviews the origins and development of this programme in the context of educational policy and practice in Trinidad and Tobago and explores the subsequent 'caribbeanisation' of the programme. The research, which examines the underlying philosophy that has been driving the programme since its inception, is informed by a close reading of Freire and recognition of the importance of understanding and respecting the cultural inheritance and practices of the learners. Though the research is located within the Caribbean, consideration is given to the effects of globalisation on the education systems of small island developing states and how world classifications are constructed in a manner which tie these countries into states of dependency. Particular attention is given in the thesis to the nature of education collaborations within the settings of developing countries and their role in challenging the cultures of silence which envelop the relationship between developed and developing countries. The thesis argues that distance education is primarily about 'education' and less about 'distance' and that the hidden curriculum is as powerful in this context as it is in a traditional face-to-face University environment.