This study reports on technical program students’ approaches to solving open-ended problems during an introductory physics course in a Swedish upper secondary school. The study used case study methodology to investigate students’ activities in outdoor context. The findings come from observations and audio recordings of students solving three different open-ended problems. The results showed that the students had difficulties to formulate ‘solvable’ problems and to perform necessary ‘at home’ preparations to be able to solve the problems. Furthermore, students preferred to use a single solution method even though different solution methods were possible. This behavior can be attributed to their previous experience of solving practical problems in physics education. The result also indicated need of different levels of guidance to help the students in their problem solving process. A tentative conclusion can be made that open-ended problems have an educational potential for developing students’ understanding of scientific inquiry and problem solving strategies in the process of performing practical outdoor activities.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between teachers¡¦ leadership behavior of elementary school and classroom management effectiveness. The subjects were sixth grade students of public elementary school in Kaohsiung. This study used stratified random sampling; 928 questionnaires were taken back including 895 ones valid, at a ratio of 96.44%. This study adopted questionnaire survey, ¡§Teachers¡¦ Leadership Behavior Scale¡¨ and ¡§Classroom Management Effectiveness Scale¡¨ were used as instruments. The collected data were analyzed by t-test, One-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and stepwise multiple regression analysis. The conclusions of this study were as follows: 1. The present status of elementary school teachers¡¦ leadership behavior is over the average. They perform best on ¡§intellectual stimulation¡¨ and ¡§active management-by-exception ¡¨ but worst on ¡§passive management-by-exception¡¨. 2. The present status of elementary school teachers¡¦ performance on classroom management effectiveness is over the average. They perform best on ¡§teaching quality¡¨ but worst on ¡§class manners¡¨. 3.Better performance in teachers¡¦ leadership behavior was found for the ones who were female, 6 to 10 years of serving, and at schools with the scale under 24 classes. 4. Better performance in classroom management effectiveness was found for the ones who were female, 6 to 10 years of serving, at schools with the scale under 24 classes,and with the number of students between 21-30 in class. 5. The better is the teachers¡¦ leadership behavior, the more outstanding is their classroom management effectiveness. There exists the strongest correlation between ¡§individualized consideration¡¨ and ¡§classroom atmosphere¡¨. 6. Teachers¡¦ leadership behavior is crucial in enhancing classroom management effectiveness. The prediction capability of ¡§individualized care¡¨ for the whole classroom management effectiveness is the most significant.

College professors face many pressing challenges: staying current in their disciplines, becoming familiar with new technology, responding to national accountability issues, publishing scholarly research in their fields, and facilitating student learning in their classes. Teaching and learning are complex processes. Humor is a powerful instructional resource. The purpose of this study is to understand how and why college professors intentionally use humor in the classroom and what influence humor has on their teaching. This qualitative study focuses on ten college professors who have a reputation for using humor in their classrooms. I conducted semi-structured interviews with these faculty and made four classroom observations. The interview transcripts were coded and analyzed using the constant comparative method. Three major findings emerged from the research. First, humor, for these professors, is a constitutive part of their identities as teachers. The professors articulated the belief that their sense of humor and the ways they used humor in the classroom made them better teachers. Their teaching identities were created as they learned from their own teaching mentors, developed their personal teaching philosophies, and became confident enough to show their own personalities in their classrooms. The second finding was that these professors have constructed very student-centered, positive classroom climates. All of them recognized the benefits of humor for their students and were aware of the advantages of humor for the learning process and to foster bonds between students and teacher. They also said humor made their jobs as teachers more satisfying. They were also cognizant of appropriate and inappropriate uses of humor and were careful exactly how they used humor in their teaching. The final finding refers to how a professor may be viewed as a performer. These professors have constructed teaching identities that allow them to go into the classroom and present information often in a dramatic, striking manner. The teachers in this study have developed teaching methods that capture the students? attention, and the techniques often reflect theatrical styles or approaches that make them feel like performers.

The purpose of this research is to investigate teaching strategies and teaching reflections of an experienced elementary teacher in the mathematical classroom. This study explored the changing process of students¡¦ learning attitudes toward mathematics. This research adopted qualitative research methods as a main means of inquiry and used quantitative questionnaires as a supplement means of inquiry. Researcher had inquired by observations, in-depth interviews, video recordings, document data collections and the pre-post questionnaire survey during one semester. This research used triangulation methods, including methodological triangulation, data triangulation, and investigator triangulation. The research concludes as follows: 1.The experienced teacher delivered the class mainly by lectures and questions, and added other multi-teaching strategies in accordance to the contents of the courses. 2.The experienced teacher has specific steps in mathematical classes: help students calm down

This research aims at studying the relationship between the satisfaction on class cluster classroom reflected by teachers in elementary school and its management performance, the main purposes include: 1. To further investigation and study on the basic concept and related theories of class cluster classroom design with open space. 2. To understand the current status of class cluster classroom in Kao-ping area which adopts open space design and the class management performance run by teachers on the class cluster classroom which adopts open space design. 3. To study and analysis on the differences of the satisfaction and the class management performance of class cluster classroom, which adopts open space, reflected by teachers of different background variables. 4. To investigate the relationship and forecasting between the cluster classroom satisfaction and the class management performance reflected by teachers in the elementary school. 5. Suggestions will be proposed based on the study results so as to be used by teachers who practically operate and apply class cluster classroom of open space and by persons who are going to perform planning on school building of open space in the elementary school. ¡§Questionnaire survey¡¨ will be the main method used in this study, the sampled targets will be from all the teachers, who adopt open space in designing class cluster classroom, in the schools of Kaohsiung City, Kaohsiung County and Pingtung County; the number questionnaires are about 356 copies and a total of 310 effective questionnaires are recycled. The research tool in this study is self-developed ¡§A questionnaire on the relationship between class cluster classroom with open space design and the class management performance¡¨, statistical methods used include: descriptive statistical analysis, independent sample t test, single factor ANOVA (analysis on variance), Pearson product-moment correlation, stepwise multiple regression analysis, etc. The following conclusions are derived based on the results of this study: 1. Teachers have above-average evaluation on class cluster classroom with open space design. 2. Class cluster teachers in elementary schools have higher class management performance. 3. For teachers in Kaohisung city, teachers with part-time administrative duties, teachers in L shape class cluster module or teachers with 2 years (included) or below of teaching experiences in this school show higher satisfaction on the class cluster classroom adopting open space design. 4. For teachers in schools of Kaohsiung city, in schools of L shape and ¡§Arc¡¨ shape class cluster modules,all show better class management performance. 5. Class cluster classrooms adopting open space design is helpful in improving class management performance. 6. Among all background variables such as teacher¡¦s background, class cluster classroom adopting open space design, etc., ¡§city of school served¡¨ and ¡§accessory equipment and space¡¨ have the highest forecasting power on the class management performance of teachers. The researcher of this study would like to propose the following suggestions based on the findings and conclusions of this study: 1. To improve school space to drive the core engine of educational reform. 2. To need government¡¦s policy support to activate space function of campus. 3. To let the users to participate so as to inspire the idea of like-to-teach and like-to-learn. 4. To build appropriate space to inspire innovative momentum of teachers. 5. To take good use of space resource to realize class management synergy. 6. To continue research and evaluation and continue the dialogue between people and space. 7. Future research study: to include suggestions on research aims, tools and methods.

The Relationship Among Thematic Integrated Instruction, Classroom Climate, Grade, Parental Socioeconomic Status and Pupil¡¦s Technological Creativity Yi-shuan Wu Abstract The main objectives of this study were to explore (a) the effects of grade and parental socioeconomic status (SES) on pupil¡¦s technological creativity; and (b) the relationships among thematic integrated instruction, classroom climate, and pupil¡¦s technological creativity. The participants included 635 third and fourth graders from four elementary schools in Taipei and Kaohsiung City. The employed instruments were The Test of Technological Creativity, The Questionnaire of Thematic Integrated instruction, two subscales from The Inventory of School Factors to the Development of Technological Creativity, and Two-factor Index of Socioeconomic Status. The employed analysis methods were Descriptives, MANOVA, Canonical Correlation, and Multiple Stepwise Regression. The main findings in this study were as follows: 1. The fourth graders outperformed the third graders on the test of technological creativity. 2. Parental socioeconomic status had positive influences on their children¡¦s performance of technological creativity. 3. The degree of teachers¡¦ implement of thematic integrated instruction had significant effects on their pupils¡¦ technological creativity. 4. A constructive classroom climate pertaining to the improvement of creativity had significant effects on pupils¡¦ technological creativity. 5. The degree of implementing thematic integrated instruction did not have significant effects on the building of constructive classroom climate pertaining to pupils¡¦ improvement of technological creativity. 6. Grade, parental SES, thematic integrated instruction, and constructive classroom climate could effectively predict pupils¡¦ technological creativity. Finally, the author proposed some suggestions for educational authorities, teachers, and future research.

The purpose of this study was to explore ESL teachers’ perceptions and use of classroom-based reading assessments. The research questions underpinning this study were: 1) What types of classroom-based reading assessments are used in ESL classrooms and how are they used? 2) What are ESL teachers’ perceptions regarding the function and effectiveness of classroom-based reading assessments? 3) What and how do external factors influence ESL teachers’ use of classroom-based reading assessments? 4) What and how do internal factors influence ESL teachers’ use of classroom-based reading assessments? The participants of this study were six middle school ESL teachers and seven elementary school ESL teachers. Data consisted of interviews with the participating ESL teachers, classroom observations, and assessment materials. The finding of this study indicated that there were three kinds of classroombased reading assessments commonly used by ESL teachers in the classrooms: tests, observation, and using writing to assess reading. These classroom-based reading assessments served ESL teachers in two ways: helping teachers make decisions about individual students and helping teachers make decisions about instruction. In addition, classroom-based reading assessments were viewed as effective instructional instruments. ESL teachers highly valued classroom-based reading assessments, considered them accurate and valuable, and thought these assessments could provide great help to the daily teaching of reading. Students, statewide mandated standardized tests, and districts were three major forces that influenced this assessment process. Four conclusions can be drawn from this study. First, classroom-based reading assessments played a central role in ESL teachers’ teaching and assessing of reading. Second, ESL teachers highly valued classroom-based reading assessments, considering them valuable, accurate, and efficient. Compared to statewide mandated standardized testing, ESL teachers preferred classroom-based reading assessments. Third, ESL teachers’ use of classroom-based reading assessments was largely under the control of districts or school authorities and there were many disagreements on the ways of assessing reading of ESL students between teachers and the districts or schools. Finally, statewide mandated standardized testing had distorted ESL teachers’ use of classroom-based reading assessments in practice.

This research aims to construct a brand-new teaching and learning environment called Transportable Digital Learning Center (TDLC) which contains three important features: mobility, ready-made and self-contained features. TDLC is constructed for providing learning opportunities to (a) people in disaster areas with a temporary teaching and learning environment before their reconstructions finished; (b) people in undeveloped countries who do not have learning opportunities due to the lack of financial resources; (c) people in geographically isolated places like deserts or high mountain areas who do not have learning opportunities due to the isolation of their geographic locations. The mobility feature means that it can be transported to different geographic locations easily; The ready-made feature means that all the components of a TDLC such as access point, TDLC Server, power supply, Tablet PCs and charging devices used to provide a teaching and learning environment are all equipped inside the TDLC in advance; Self-contained feature means that it is unnecessary to provide it with any other resources like network connections and electricity to sustain its operation. Therefore, once a TDLC has been transported to its destination, it can be used to conduct teaching and learning activities immediately. In this paper, we describe the overall concepts, main components, system design and implementation, and teaching & learning activity design of TDLC. We also conducted an experimental English Situated Learning activity to evaluate the effects of using TDLC in the teaching and learning activity. Finally, some future research topics of TDLC are proposed.

<p>Vi har under vår verksamhetsförlagda del av vår lärarutbildning observerat att många lärare haft stora problem med att komma tillrätta med elevers bristande sociala kompetens. I samtal med lärare, mentorer, elever men också med människor utanför skolan har vi blivit uppmärksammade på det faktum att samtliga önskar att skolans lärandemiljö skall präglas av lugn och trygghet och att grunden för detta bygger på ett gemensamt socialt förhållningssätt.</p><p>Denna internationella dokumentstudie har på ett komparativt sätt studerat de nationella och lokala styrdokumenten vid en engelsk och en svensk skola med utgångspunkt från elever motsvarande år 4 - 9. Avsikten har varit att försöka belysa eventuella likheter och olikheter när det gäller skolornas arbete med disciplinära frågor. Uppsatsen har samtidigt haft som syfte att visa om det finns ett samband mellan respektive länders styrdokument och de etablerade lärteorier som finns.</p><p>Inom respektive skola i studien är det rektorn som har ansvaret för att upprätta och säkerställa efterlevandet av de nationella och lokala styrdokumenten. Vad som bl. a. skiljer sig i uppdraget är att en rektor i en svensk skola får sina direktiv från det svenska Skolverket, i förlängningen kommunens barn- och ungdomsnämnd medan en engelsk rektor får sina direktiv från The Governing body – skolstyrelsen. De båda ländernas styrdokument vilar på en demokratisk grund och skall förmedla gemensamma grundläggande värden för respektive land.</p><p>I de styrdokument vi analyserat kan vi se att uppbyggandet av ett gemensamt förhållningssätt har sin utgångspunkt i olika former av belönings- och bestraffningssystem i England medan det i Sverige har sin utgångspunkt i föreställningen om utveckling och lärande i interaktion.</p>

<p>Detta examensarbetes syfte är att klarlägga de formella krav som ställs på lärares klassrumsledarskap, att belysa sådana faktorer som lärare själva kan påverka för att uppnå ett gott ledarskap i klassrumssituationen samt att diskutera huruvida dessa krav och faktorer är förenliga med varandra. Ett ramfaktorteoretiskt resonemang utgör teoretisk grund för vad lärare kan påverka i sitt ledarskap och en teoretisk tolkning av begreppet classroom management utgör definition av begreppet klassrumsledarskap. Examensarbetet är en textbaserad, komparativ undersökning, utförd med kvalitativ, hermeneutisk metod. Efter en inledande litteraturgranskning har en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av läroplanstexter genomförts för att klarlägga styrdokumentens krav på lärares klassrumsledarskap. En forskningsöversikt beträffande begreppet klassrumsledarskap har genomförts med målsättningen att åstadkomma allmängiltiga generalisationer och söka praktiska tillämpningar inom området. Slutligen har en jämförelse mellan styrdokumentens krav och forskningsöversiktens resultat gjorts som underlag för en diskussion kring huruvida dessa är förenliga med varandra. Jämförelsen visar att en sådan förenlighet i allt väsentligt föreligger. Diskussionen lyfter bland annat fram vikten av en större medvetenhet avseende gruppdynamiska processer och att skolan i större utsträckning borde använda sig av konjunktiva grupparbeten som arbetsform.</p>