The aim of this investigation was to predict the extent of curriculum implementation in early childhood education from several variables defined as (1) school related factors, (2) teacher demographics, (3) teaching beliefs, and (4) teacher self-efficacy beliefs. A total of 308 early childhood teachers employed in public schools in the central districts of Ankara, Turkey, selected through cluster sampling, composed the sample of this study. Data were collected with the instrument including Curriculum Implementation Scale, Turkish Version of the Teachers&rsquo / Sense of Efficacy Scale, Teacher Beliefs Survey, and Personal Information Form. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to provide evidence for validity and reliability of the scales. Two separate hierarchical multiple regression analyses were, moreover, employed at the alpha level of .025 to answer research questions. The results overall demonstrated that teacher self-efficacy and teaching beliefs significantly predicted the extent early childhood teachers implemented current curriculum as regards content selection and learning process, while teacher demographics were only significant for the extent of curriculum implementation regarding learning process. On the other hand, school related factors did not contribute to the extent of curriculum implementation for both content selection and learning process. In particular, constructivist teaching beliefs and teacher efficacy beliefs for student engagement and instructional strategies explained the extent of curriculum implementation regarding content selection. Considering the implementation of learning process, teachers&rsquo / years of experience was, moreover, found to be a significant predictor along with constructivist teaching beliefs and teacher efficacy beliefs for student engagement and instructional strategies.

The purpose of this study was to discover, document, and describe the salient actions, events, beliefs, attitudes, social structures and processes related to professional learning conversations from the perspective of nine assistant principals (APs). The participants were elementary, middle and high school APs, three at each level. Using a modified critical incident technique through participant written response and two in depth interviews with each respondent, this study investigated the lived experiences of these APs related to the practice of professional learning conversations in their schools. The research questions focused on: (1) the participants' beliefs and attitudes about professional learning conversations, (2) their roles in facilitating these conversations, (3) their ability to identify elements of trust within the groups of teachers with whom they work and (4) their roles in building trust. The research literature is clear that teacher collaboration is a key factor in professional growth and self-efficacy, yet often the structure of the school day, a negative emotional environment, and a culture of teacher isolation prohibit meaningful teacher collaboration. Although faced with many obligations and directives, school administrators have considerable influence over the organizational structure within their individual schools. Furthermore, assistant principals often become the face of administration within their schools as they directly supervise teachers and APs are less studied than students, teacher or principals. How these individuals perceive and value professional learning conversations will likely impact the level of collaboration at their individual schools. The findings of this study indicate that professional learning conversations for teacher growth were more prevalent at the elementary school level, that trust may be more difficult to cultivate at the middle and high schools, and that protocols as structures for facilitating conversations and building trust were not widely in use. A better understanding of the opportunities and barriers schools face related to professional learning conversations as well as a better understanding of the dynamics of trust will assist district and school administrators to engage in a problem solving process for better collaboration. Ultimately, administrators have an opportunity and a responsibility to touch the hearts and minds of the individuals on the front line of the work - the teachers in the classrooms working with students. Without teacher confidence, hope, optimism, resilience and self-efficacy, no amount of financial incentive, cajoling, or sanction will improve student learning.

In August and September of 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast with damages estimated at $85 billion. Hurricane Katrina was so devastating that the number of lives lost and injuries sustained is still being calculated. Hurricane Rita, which made landfall in the southwestern part of the Louisiana just a few weeks after Katrina, did not cause as much damage as Katrina but was devastating nonetheless. In both cases, two Louisiana community colleges, Nunez Community College and SOWELA Technical Community College, were damaged to the point that many doubted that either college would have a future. Both community colleges, however, continued classes and are in operation today. This study examines the actions of the institutional leadership at Nunez Community College and SOWELA Technical Community College in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used to conduct case studies on each college. A substantive theory emerged from the findings explaining the resiliency of both institutions. / text

Based on the narratives of young people this research explores the rise in youth violence in Kenya's secondary school system and wider society and the potential for peacebuilding to address youth violence. Of particular concern is the gradual change in the profiles, patterns and intensity of the conflict, as evidenced by the increase in the number of youth militias. This increase is often attributed to unemployment and poverty - yet, to date, no systematic research has been produced on the extent to which the youth participation in violence occurs through choice or coercion, or indeed both. Worryingly, a significant number of young people involved in this violence are secondary school students. The findings of this research indicate that despite responses to youth violence in the school and wider Kenyan society, the violence is unabated. Notably, approaches continue to be top-down, generic, superficial and ineffectual. By marginalising the narratives of the youth who participate in and/or observe the violence, current institutional policies and approaches are decontextualised - from both the particular and the wider Kenyan context. This leaves intact the root causes of the violence. This research raises important questions concerning generic, top-down, quick-fix, outmoded cultural paradigms, hierarchical and questionable homogeneous pedagogical approaches to peacebuilding in both the schools and wider Kenyan context. In attempt to address these deficiencies the research seeks to find out approaches to peacebuilding and the Kenyan education systems that can respond to youth violence. This research proffers three key dimensions that can be incorporated in order to ensure effective and sustainable peace: experiences, worldviews and attitudes of the actors. The research, which utilises a constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006), was conducted in fourteen secondary schools in Nairobi and the Rift Valley provinces - two provinces that have been at the centre of youth violence and militia activities. These provinces were also selected in order to reflect the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic character, and the different types of schools in Kenya.

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> <p align="left">The aim of the study was to investigate the nature of biology practical work and associated discourses in two Namibian secondary schools. The purposive sample consisted of three biology teachers and 36 grade 11 students who enrolled for NSSC Higher- and Ordinary-level biology in 2004 and 2005. The study adopted a descriptive and an in-depth qualitative design involving the use of interviews and observation schedules (Video Observation Quoting Schedules-VOQS). The quality of VOQS instruments were established through a panel of independent experts who critically assessed the quality of the items and later discussed to reach consensus. Their rating of the items helped in the establishment of interrater reliability.</p> </font></font></p>

Framed by Social Constructivist theories of learning, this project employed a descriptive case study approach to investigate the types of social and verbal interactions that occurred as four Reading Recovery teachers worked with their respective students to devise and record a brief message during the 10-12 minute writing section of a Reading Recovery lesson. Data was collected over a period of two months and each teacher was observed working with the same student on two separate occasions. The conversations that transpired were audiotaped and transcribed and the cognitive and affective dimensions of the teachers’ communications were specifically examined. Findings indicate that effective teaching interactions more often arose when the teachers continually endeavored to understand the meanings behind their students’ words and actions. When teachers considered their students’ perspectives, when they gave them cognitive space to think, speak, and act, and when they designed literacy activities that centered on children’s demonstrated understandings, they ensured their students’ continued motivation thereby fostering cognitive development.

Konzeptuelle Modelle sind zur Gestaltung und Steuerung von Informationssystemen ein akzeptiertes und weit verbreitetes Instrument. Sie werden sowohl zur Gestaltung der Organisationsstruktur als auch zur Entwicklung der unterstützenden IT-Systeme verwendet. Für diesen Aufgabenbereich existiert eine hohe Nachfrage nach externer Unterstützung, da spezifische Fachkenntnisse und Erfahrungen notwendig sind. In diesem Zusammenhang werden seit Jahrzehnten Ansätze zur Wiederverwendung in Wissenschaft und Praxis diskutiert. Die Akzeptanz und Verbreitung von explizit zur Wiederverwendung konstruierten Modellen (Referenzmodelle) bleiben jedoch deutlich hinter den Erwartungen zurück. Die vorliegende Arbeit trägt zur Untersuchung möglicher Ursachen für den ausbleibenden Erfolg von Referenzmodellen bei. Der Forschung liegt die Vermutung zugrunde, dass die Potentiale von Referenzmodellen nicht zufriedenstellend ausgeschöpft werden können, weil die existierenden bzw. verwendeten Modellierungsmethoden die theoretischen Anforderungen an die Wiederverwendung von modellhaft dargestellten Lösungen zur Unternehmensgestaltung nicht erfüllen. Die vorliegende Arbeit fasst neun Einzelpublikationen zum Themenbereich Evolutionäre Referenzmodelle zu einer kumulativen Dissertation zusammen. Es werden in einem argumentativdeduktiven Verfahren konstruktivistische Theorien zur systematischen Weiterentwicklung und Wiederverwendung konzeptueller Unternehmensmodelle untersucht. Die auf dieseWeise resultierende Erweiterung der allgemeinen Modelltheorie wurde ihrerseits argumentativ-konzeptionell mit Hilfe von semiformalen Argumentationsmodellen aufbereitet. Im Ergebnis werden ein theoretisches Rahmenwerk zur evolutionären Referenzmodellierung präsentiert und 23 konzeptionelle Anforderungen definiert, die eine gezielte Methodenentwicklung für die evolutionäre Referenzmodellierung steuern sollen.

This research applies institutional economics theory to management challenges arising in connection with e-business related transformational change. The research was carried out in response to widely recognised problems in managing IT-enabled change in complex organisations. A cyclic approach builds researcher competence in both the chosen theory, New Institutional Economics (NIE), and its application through a series of four contrasting case studies. The case situations, which derive from the researcher’s work as a technology management consultant, are treated as action research experiments which investigate e-business related transformational change in financial services, retail and government settings. A constructivist stance is adopted within the case situations with the researcher acting as a participant observer. Reflective practice is used to improve the experimental method for the case studies through the course of the research, leading to the use of participatory action research (PAR) for the final case. A literature review of NIE shows it to be loosely defined as a theory, so an analytic NIE framework is created to provide a cognitive model. This model is then modified and extended to produce a final theoretical framework. In parallel, a conceptual map of NIE is created from the research as a practical aid to illustrate NIE concepts and linkages. These two models, the theoretical framework and the conceptual map, evolve through the four case situations which were selected from a range of e-business consulting opportunities available to the researcher over the period of the research. The second case study drives the main development of the two models and draws out the necessary and complementary contributions of both transaction cost economics (TCE) and agency theory (AT) as parts of NIE, neither of which is sufficient on its own. The final case study demonstrates application to practice. The overall sequence of case studies shows the researcher’s cognitive growth from being a novice in the theory and its application in the first case through to a level of proficiency in applying NIE to the rigours of e-business practice in the final case. The research makes several contributions to knowledge. It makes a significant methodological contribution by bringing research methods developed for other forms of professional practice to the management discipline. It also makes a significant contribution to theoretical knowledge. It develops two theoretical models of NIE – a conceptual map and a theoretical framework – which present a way of linking NIE concepts in a meaningful way, and a structure by which NIE can be used in the analysis of highly complex organisational situations. These models clarify the complementary roles of TCE and AT, and indicate a reason why so many studies limited to TCE alone have been inconclusive. Applying NIE to the rigours of e-business management produces, in turn, a contribution to IT strategy formulation. The research makes a practical contribution by showing how NIE can be applied to e-business practice, subject to a number of significant caveats. NIE, as a descriptive theory, is shown to provide a powerful conceptual framework when combined with PAR, although both require deep knowledge and skill. In particular, adopting PAR as a case study method depends on an experienced, skilled and committed practitioner for its effective use. Finally, the research finds that NIE’s strengths as a framework for strategic analysis of large scale and complex e-business situations involving transformational change, which make it unduly sophisticated for less challenging situations, mean that NIE is suited to use by highly skilled, specialist consultants rather than by general managers.

This research investigated teachers'perceptions, understandings and implementation of education standards in elementary and primary schools in Papua New Guinea. The main research question and two sub-questions were designed to explore teachers' perceptions and understanding of national standards. This exploration engaged teachers in identifying factors which they believed influenced their professional work. This study also explored stakeholders' perceptions of teachers' interpretations of national education standards. This study adopted social constructivist epistemology, symbolic interactionism, and ethnographic case study methodology. This provided the basis for its theoretical framework to purposefully understand human interactions within their culture and context. Social constructivism accommodates situated learning, a conceptual framework which was adapted to interrogate understanding and implementation of national education standards. A variety of research methods were used to elicit teachers' and stakeholders' perceptions and experiences of their professional world. These methods included in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, documentary analysis, field notes and observations. Most of the focus group discussions engaged participants to "tell their stories", thus storytelling became an avenue for eliciting teachers' and stakeholders'perceptions. Workshops conducted for teachers became another important strategy for data collection. Two schools, one rural and one urban, became case studies to understand national education standards as an external phenomenon. A total of 595 participants were involved in this study including teachers and pupils, parents and community members, school board members, members of curriculum committees, and policy makers. The study found numerous contextual factors influenced teachers' understandings, interpretation and implementation of standards at the school level. Foremost, teachers' own knowledge of formal education standards was deficient thus influencing their commitment to and enthusiasm in their professional work. Teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical skills influenced their ability to translate content standards into clear benchmarks for pupils' learning. The absence of effective monitoring systems of teachers' performance contributed to pupils' superficial assessment reports and of uncoordinated mastery of subject content and performance skills. The absence of effective school leadership affected teachers' commitment, attitudes and professionalism. This generated a culture of isolationism acute in both schools. Teachers were performing to hierarchically externally imposed requirements, and in the process, overlooked essential knowledge and skills that were needed to improve quality of students' learning. The national education standards are an inherited policy from the colonial administration. This study found that successful implementation of education standards is highly dependent on the social and cultural expectations of Papua New Guinea's rapidly changing society. At the local level, education standards are highly influenced by teachers' professionalism, provincial education boards and community expectations. This is compounded by the mismatch of priorities and policies between the national and provincial education divisions. Such a practice impacts negatively on the successful implementation of educational reform agendas. The study implies that a reconsideration of national education standards is necessary. This process will involve a rethinking of teacher education programmes, dismantling previous assumptions of national standards and local implementation, and accommodating challenges presented by economic, political, social and cultural change in Papua New Guinea.

Title: Physics education of students and teachers in the Heureka project Author: RNDr. Irena Dvořáková Department: Department of Physics Education, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague Supervisor: doc. RNDr. Leoš Dvořák, CSc., Department of Physics Education, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague Abstract: This doctoral thesis is aimed at physics education of students and teachers in the Heureka project. The introductory part concerns the brief outline of the current state of physics education both in the Czech Republic and around the world. The next chapters describe the genesis of the project, characterize its main principles and give several examples of methodological sequences in which the application of these principles is shown. The impact of these ideas on students is illustrated by several school tests and the Lawson test, too. The significant part of this thesis deals with the teacher training in the Heureka project. The methods and forms used are described and the impact is analyzed. The international contacts and their development are mentioned in the closing chapter. Several more examples of materials both for students' work and teachers' seminars are published in the appendices. The DVD with digital recording of one lesson is also attached....