In NSW during the last decade there has been strong interest in promoting theories that espoused a naturalistic and wholistic approach to the teaching of reading and writing. One such theory is the Whole Language Approach to teaching reading and writing. The work of Brian Cambourne is integral to this approach and his theory is that the principles of how young children learn to become successful talkers can be applied to how children best learn to become successful readers and writers. This study was concerned with the teachers' perceptions of their classroom practice and whether these perceptions - relating to the teaching and evaluation/assessment of reading and writing - reflected a whole language approach or a non-whole language approach. The results of this study indicate that although teachers perceive that they predominantly favour classroom practices that are considered as whole language, they still employ some practices that are not considered to be whole language. Also, some perceptions of classroom practice indicate that not all whole language strategies are popular with teachers.

The major issue of this thesis is that for effective change in teachers' classroom practice to occur, multiple actions are required at different levels of participation, from federal and state education jurisdictions through to school communities and individual classroom teachers. The thesis supposition is that practical action factors in schools and the community can be found which meet the needs of the change. The history of attempts to achieve educational change through changed classroom practice is littered with a range of different approaches, usually one-off events. They have sometimes succeeded. Stakeholders, including parents, social pressure groups and particularly governments have increasing expectations of what it is that teachers can achieve in terms of their students' learning outcomes. The degree to which actual teaching practices are changed at the classroom level will depend on the degree to which teachers are able to manage and implement change. However, studies in the area of curriculum change reveal that the gap between policy and practice remains an ongoing concern. This thesis draws upon theory and applied research findings from the traditions of educational change, health education, models of change, evaluation and social science research methods. The purpose of this thesis is to identify and make comparisons in the practical action factors which enhance the capacity of teachers to change their classroom practice. These are investigated through a multiple case study consideration of the school context, the professional development inputs, and the classroom programs. The patterns of effective practical action in the research study would support the thesis supposition. A multiple case study-theory building approach was used to analyse the data from twelve school sites selected from the School Development in Health Education (SDHE) Project. Data analysis employed the technique of matrix displays, with several rounds of analysis in order to generate some significant factors related to teacher change. The results were considered for endorsement by an expert panel from the field in order to enhance confidence in the validity and the reliability of the research study. Results from first round of analysis in the multiple case study showed school team commitment, teachers' attitude to professional development and community cooperation to be important factors in educational change. The second round of analysis highlighted the importance of placing the teacher at the centre of change when planning professional development. Finally, the third round presents a summary of the factors emerging from the analyses in five major focus areas: professional development; principal leadership; school organisation and culture; school team; and system support. The importance of the relationships among these factors was recognised in their impact on teachers' abilities to make educational changes in their classrooms. The thesis has found that the professional decision-making and practice of teachers is value added by the actions of other players - professional development providers, school principals and education systems. Teachers' capacity to change is enhanced by appropriate school-based professional development, flexible school organisation, and the opportunity to work collaboratively in school teams. From the patterns emerging from the strong and weak clusters of cases the thesis is able to make conclusions about teachers' professional practice, professional development approaches, principal leadership, school organisation, education systems and the nature of change. This thesis shows that educational change requires multiple actions at different levels of participation. Finally, the thesis offers recommendations to the different players in the field: education systems, principals and professional development providers.

This study sought to address two connections that are fundamental to studies of science teaching and learning in classroom settings. The first one is the connection between classroom instruction and student learning outcomes, and the second one is the relationship between theoretical choice and analytical results. In this study, two theoretical perspectives were employed in parallel to examine a sequence of nine lessons on the topic of “Matter” in a Year 7 science classroom. These two theoretical perspectives are: Distributed Cognition (Hutchins, 1995) and Variation Theory (Marton and Tsui, 2004). The results of each analysis were compared and contrasted in an attempt to identify their similarities and differences in describing and explaining the classroom practice documented.The analyses from both theoretical lenses pointed to several issues underlying student difficulties identified in this classroom, including the problematic macroscopic-microscopic relationship, the lack of attention to “substance”, and the taken-for-granted temperature conditions. However, the two theoretical perspectives differed in their capacity to accommodate learning at different levels, to address the connection between instruction and learning, and to identify and advocate the likely benefits of particular instructional approaches. Distributed Cognition unfolded the connection between teaching and learning by a careful examination of social interactions and the utilization of artefacts in these interactions. It speculated learning occurring in different types of social configurations and interactions found in a science classroom (e.g. collaborative activities). From the perspective of Distributed Cognition, the inappropriate employment or coordination of resources was the key factor contributing to the limited success in establishing shared understanding among the participants in the classroom. Variation Theory explicitly modelled the connection between instruction and learning through the idea of patterns of variation, and it provided some general principles to evaluate the teaching of a specific topic. From the perspective of Variation Theory, it was the lack of appropriate variation in the key attributes of the object of learning that contributed to the limited success in developing student capability to make differentiations between critical and uncritical aspects of a scientific concept. But current applications of Variation Theory do not include learning occurring in the private domain of the classroom (e.g. student-student interaction) and are silent on the role of collaborative activity (e.g. group work) in learning.The juxtaposition of the parallel analyses showed that the two theories are complementary and mutually informing in their explanations of the documented classroom practice. But their assumptions about what constitutes learning and what contributes to that learning differed from each other. This study suggested that we should focus our attention on the identification of the contingencies of compatibilities in our efforts to combine or synthesize elements of different theories. In this study, the local combination of the results generated from the parallel analyses contributed to a more complete understanding of science learning as it occurred in the classroom.The findings of this study should inform science teaching, curriculum development, and instructional design of science classrooms. It also generated implications for research into science classrooms and suggested the need for the science education community to examine the role of theory and the relationship between theoretical choice and analytical results obtained through the employment of a particular theory.

This study sought to address two connections that are fundamental to studies of science teaching and learning in classroom settings. The first one is the connection between classroom instruction and student learning outcomes, and the second one is the relationship between theoretical choice and analytical results. In this study, two theoretical perspectives were employed in parallel to examine a sequence of nine lessons on the topic of “Matter” in a Year 7 science classroom. These two theoretical perspectives are: Distributed Cognition (Hutchins, 1995) and Variation Theory (Marton and Tsui, 2004). The results of each analysis were compared and contrasted in an attempt to identify their similarities and differences in describing and explaining the classroom practice documented.The analyses from both theoretical lenses pointed to several issues underlying student difficulties identified in this classroom, including the problematic macroscopic-microscopic relationship, the lack of attention to “substance”, and the taken-for-granted temperature conditions. However, the two theoretical perspectives differed in their capacity to accommodate learning at different levels, to address the connection between instruction and learning, and to identify and advocate the likely benefits of particular instructional approaches. Distributed Cognition unfolded the connection between teaching and learning by a careful examination of social interactions and the utilization of artefacts in these interactions. It speculated learning occurring in different types of social configurations and interactions found in a science classroom (e.g. collaborative activities). From the perspective of Distributed Cognition, the inappropriate employment or coordination of resources was the key factor contributing to the limited success in establishing shared understanding among the participants in the classroom. Variation Theory explicitly modelled the connection between instruction and learning through the idea of patterns of variation, and it provided some general principles to evaluate the teaching of a specific topic. From the perspective of Variation Theory, it was the lack of appropriate variation in the key attributes of the object of learning that contributed to the limited success in developing student capability to make differentiations between critical and uncritical aspects of a scientific concept. But current applications of Variation Theory do not include learning occurring in the private domain of the classroom (e.g. student-student interaction) and are silent on the role of collaborative activity (e.g. group work) in learning.The juxtaposition of the parallel analyses showed that the two theories are complementary and mutually informing in their explanations of the documented classroom practice. But their assumptions about what constitutes learning and what contributes to that learning differed from each other. This study suggested that we should focus our attention on the identification of the contingencies of compatibilities in our efforts to combine or synthesize elements of different theories. In this study, the local combination of the results generated from the parallel analyses contributed to a more complete understanding of science learning as it occurred in the classroom.The findings of this study should inform science teaching, curriculum development, and instructional design of science classrooms. It also generated implications for research into science classrooms and suggested the need for the science education community to examine the role of theory and the relationship between theoretical choice and analytical results obtained through the employment of a particular theory.

<p>Syftet med studien är att presentera ett urval av modeller för ledarskap och undersöka om dessa används i svenska klassrum. Modellerna är amerikanska och hämtade från forskningsområdet"Classroom Management", eller CM. Observationerna är gjorda vid fyra skolor och har ligger till grund för 6 intervjuer som gjorts. Lärares ledarskap är mycket komplext och enligt min observation det går inte att peka på att lärare konsekvent använder sig av en modell.</p>

<p>Ledarskap är en huvudfaktor i dagens samhälle och i skolan. Ledarskap handlar om hur läraren hanterar den socialpedagogiska situationen i klassrummet, d.v.s. lärarens sociala relation till klassen och elevernas relationer till varandra i undervisnings- och lärprocessen</p><p>Syftet med det arbetet är att undersöka idrottslärares syn på ledarskap i de åländska skolorna samt att undersöka vilka faktorer som kan påverka deras ledarskap.</p><p>Det som idrottslärarna anser vara goda ledaregenskaper hos en lärare är bland annat att de är trygga i sig själva som person, organiserade, målmedvetna och ärliga. De anser att faktorer som ekonomi, material, normer och tid kan påverka deras ledarskap och undervisning.</p><p>Ledarskap kan ofta vara krävande och som ledare kan du få ta itu med mycket problem som kan uppstå under vägen som till exempel konflikthantering. Att leda andra är roligt men också väldigt utmanande många gånger och framför allt ska man komma ihåg att det ger otroligt mycket tillbaka.</p><p><em> </em></p>

No description available.

The use of technology as an effective educational tool has been an elusive goal in the past. Specifically, previous attempts at using small personal computers in the classroom to aid students as collaborative and note-taking tools have been met with lukewarm responses. Many of these past attempts were hampered by inferior hardware and the lack of an efficient and user-friendly interface. With the recent introduction of Tablet PC products on the market, however, the limitations imposed on software developers for mobile computing systems have been dramatically lowered. We present a collaborative annotation system that allows students equipped with tablet computers to work cooperatively in either an ad-hoc or a structured wireless classroom setting. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Thesis (Ph.D. (English)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Tactile and proprioceptive input provided by weighted vests is thought to decrease sensory modulation dysfunction in children with autism. This study investigated behavioural and physiological effects of weighted vests for ten children with autism, ages 3 to 10, in a classroom setting. A single-case, ABCBC design was used where A =behavioural baseline without vest or heart rate monitor; B = unweighted vest and heart rate monitor; C = vest with 5-10% body weight and heart rate monitor. Observers, blinded to treatment condition, rated targeted behaviours for each participant through video taken during structured table-top activities typical of the classroom routine. Teachers, also blinded to treatment condition, rated each childs behaviour with the Conners Global Index following each phase of the study. Educational aides, not blinded to treatment condition, provided subjective feedback about the effects of the weighted vest for each participant. Heart rate was collected when participants wore the vest. Results were mixed regarding the effects of weighted vests for children with autism. Objective data provided evidence to support the use of weighted vests to decrease off-task behaviours with some, but not all, children with autism and sensory modulation dysfunction. Weighted vests did not decrease motoric stereotyped behaviours in any participant, but did decrease verbal stereotyped behaviours in one participant. Heart rate did not decrease with the weighted vest. Subjectively, all aides reported that weighted vests were effective in improving behaviours in all participants at least some of the time. All teachers and aides reported that weighted vests were appropriate modalities to use in the classroom and wanted to continue using weighted vests following the study. Although weighted vests may be an appropriate modality to include as a component of intervention with some children with autism, results were not strong or consistent across participants. The results do not support the use of weighted vests in isolation to improve classroom function in children with autism. / Rehabilitation Science