This thesis aims to examine students&rsquo / attitudes towards brain-based applications in the English Composition II course. For this purpose, a case study was carried out with a group of 23 first year students at the Department of Foreign Language Education at Middle East Technical University in the second half of the 2002-2003 academic year. After receiving writing training with a brain-based methodology for ten weeks, the students were given an attitude questionnaire which aimed at identifying their attitudes towards brain-based applications in the course. One week later, the iv researcher also conducted interviews with 10 of the 23 students separately to investigate students&rsquo / attitudes towards brain-based applications in the course further. The analysis of the data collected through the attitude questionnaire indicated that 93 % of the students showed significant positive attitudes towards the brain-based applications, while only 1 % of the students had negative attitudes towards the brain-based applications. The analysis of the results of the interviews also revealed that all students had positive feelings about the brain-based applications. Accordingly, the results indicated taking this composition course resulted in highly positive feelings such as confidence, relaxation, or being valued in the students. All students found writing meaningful and relevant to themselves. They stated to have acquired various skills during the course such as writing skills, computer skills, teaching skills, emotional intelligence, and an awareness of needs. They found these useful and meaningful for their lives in general, as students, and as teachers as part of their future profession.

This Participatory Action Research (PAR) project focused on “holistic learning” which includes “social” and “spiritual” learning and “whole-brained” learning. Broadly interpreting and applying the four-quadrant brain model of Herrmann (1994), and other models of the brain, my study seeks to understand whether, to what extent and how learning can be advanced by deliberately employing holistic learning strategies to narrow the gap between theory and practice, between left-brain and right-brain learning, and between cognition and emotion. I introduced tri-dimensional (3-D) practice as the combination of using holistic learning strategies in cooperative learning groups within spiritual learning environments. The site of this PAR study was the network of cooperative learning groups in Mozambique within the educational system of the Church of the Nazarene. Facilitators were trained to use six specific “holistic learning strategies”: group discussions of various types, praxis (as reflection-dialogue-action), teamwork, rehearsing integrity, singing-for-learning and classical spiritual disciplines within cooperative learning groups, also a holistic learning strategy. These aspects are typical of the widely used model of Theological Education by Extension (TEE), refined in this study. According to data gathered in a large hybrid survey, 97% of the 595 respondents to this question responded favourably in terms of the skills of these facilitators even though the average number of years of their formal schooling, 7.7, would normally be considered “minimal”. The study generates findings to support the position that holistic learning strategies enhance the quality of adult learning, at least in settings like those in Mozambique in which the facilitation of learning was 1) bilingual (Portuguese and maternal language), 2) focused on learners who are leaders-in-training, 3) deliberate in spiritual content and ambient, and 4) conducted by minimally-schooled facilitators in cooperative learning groups. The findings, from the responses recorded in qualitative phases of the research, corroborated by descriptive statistics, indicate that the efficacy of holistic learning strategies is related to certain modes of mental activity like whole-making, categorising, and others. This PAR project was conducted within an original research framework, Arboric Research, which takes into account the dynamic, fluid and organic nature of human systems, recognising that infrastructures in which the research takes place are different at the end of the study than at the beginning, like observing the “sap” within a growing grapevine or a tree. / Thesis (PhD (Curriculum Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

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Over the past three decades, the development of religious education in Australia has been largely shaped by catechetical and curriculum approaches to teaching and learning. To date, little emphasis has been placed on the pedagogical dimension of religious education. The purpose of this research project is to explore the manner in which ‘brain-based’ learning theory contributes to pedagogical development in primary religious education. The project utilises an action research methodology combining concept mapping, the application of ‘brain-based’ teaching strategies and focus group dialogue with diocesan Religious Education Coordinators (RECs). The insights derived contribute to the formulation and validation of an appropriate pedagogical model for primary religious education, entitled the ‘DEEP Framework’. The model reflects an integration of insights from brain-based theory with nuances from the contemporary Australian religious education literature. The project identifies four key, interactive principles that are crucial to pedagogical development in religious education, namely: Discernment, Enrichment, Engagement and Participation. It also recognises a fifth principle, ‘an orientation towards wholeness’, as significant in combining the various pedagogical principles into a coherent whole. The DEEP framework enables teachers to more successfully select and evaluate appropriate, interconnecting teaching strategies within the religious education classroom. The framework underpins the pedagogical rationale of the recently developed Archdiocese of Hobart religious education program and forms the basis for the implementation of a coherent professional development program across the Archdiocese.

The present study examined if a conceptual change intervention would decrease pre-service teachers’ beliefs in four prevalent brain-based myths in education, including Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic (VAK) learning styles, Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory, left- or right-brained hemispheric dominance, and that humans only use 10% of their brains. Participants included 87 college students from one large, comprehensive university who were enrolled in an educational psychology course. All participants received the conceptual change intervention, which consisted of reading an article refuting the brain-based myths, submitting a paper showcasing evaluative thinking and reflection about the brain-based myths, and discussing cognitive development and the brain-based myths in class. All participants completed a measure of demographics and a pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test measuring their beliefs in each of the brain-based myths. Cochran’s Q Test revealed that there was a significant difference in the change of proportion of believers and non-believers between at least two of the tests. Results of McNemar’s Test indicate that there was a significant difference in the change of proportion from believers to non-believers from the pre-test to the post-test, but not from the post-test to the delayed post-test. The relevance of these findings to current research, the implications for teacher education programs, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Language teachers, including educators from all levels &ndash / from primary to college level &ndash / and teacher trainers have all agreed with the idea that it is impossible to consider language skills as independent from each other since each of them has a great contribution to the language itself as a whole system. However / it cannot be ignored that all language teachers have also agreed with the idea that reading is a skill that has its own significance, especially in foreign language education. What makes reading so unique is that it can be considered to be the door that is about to be opening to a new world in which the target language is spoken. In that sense, as an essential skill, reading, throughout the centuries, has also had its own keys that have been difficult to be unlocked even by the native speakers of English. This matter of fact brings the question to the light that what guardians are waiting in front of this castle door especially for foreign language students. Although many scholars claim that formal aspect of language, including syntactical and lexical features, stand as great challenge, they ignore the cultural significance of a language. The relationship between language, thought and culture shows that even formal aspects are affected by culture. This fact brings the importance of &lsquo / content schema&rsquo / as well as &lsquo / formal schema&rsquo / in reading to surface. However, now the question is that how it is possible to provide students with sufficient cultural background. As foreign language students are less likely to experience exposure to foreign culture when compared to second language learners, there is an urgent need to create a &lsquo / social context&rsquo / or &lsquo / second hand reality&rsquo / in Kovalik&rsquo / s terms in classroom settings. At this point, literature is believed to give her helping hand to FL students with her wide range of texts carrying a variety of formal aspect of language, but at the same time, a range of cultural components, and thus, constructing &lsquo / schema&rsquo / for them. Apart from this, what literature offers is examined in detail within the framework of brain-based learning principles. This paper tends to contribute to this controversial issue with a case study, which aims to illustrate that the use of literature in FL settings enhance language/cultural awareness. The result of the study showed that 1) literature is a useful source to teach the formal aspects of language such as grammar and vocabulary (language awareness) 2) literature contributes to students&rsquo / cultural awareness which is essential to have language awareness 3) literature is a brain-compatible source with various advantages over the other written materials. In accordance with what is mentioned above, this study has a direct aim to show how ELT and Literature can intrude the ancient walls of this castle when work interdisciplinary.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Jana Fallin / The purpose of this study was to test student achievement in the course of one semester while enrolled in an Aural Skills music classroom. The research used the framework from Caine and Caine’s 1991 Brain/Mind Learning Principles (later revised and republished in 2005 by Caine, Caine, McClintic and Klimek) and Jensen’s Brain-Compatible Teaching theory (1997). The research was completed at a mid-American university. Treatment classrooms taught using strategies to implement novelty, student engagement, and scaffolding success techniques based on a subset of Caine’s et al. Brain/Mind Learning Principles. The researcher used a quasi- experimental design with a treatment and control group, gathering quantitative pre-test/post-test data from student assessments before and after the implementation of the research-based brain- compatible strategies in the university Aural Skills classroom. The study followed four graduate teaching assistants who were new to collegiate teaching over the course of a semester; two were put in a training program and trained on how to create novelty, perpetuate student engagement, and build levels of success and two were left alone, to continue with a lecture style of teaching. At the end of the study, student test scores were examined to determine significance of the treatment. Results of this study are inconclusive, due to a methodology fail during the grading of the pre and post-tests. In the final chapter, preliminary findings indicate that academic gains were maintained within the control classes of Aural Skills I and III, and academic gains were maintained within the treatment class of Aural Skills II. The study is concluded with a discussion on methodological improvements necessary to provide reliable results within the bounds of educational research.

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