Abstract In this paper we document the advantages of utilising technology to enhance teachers’ instructional activities. In particular we showcase the potential and impact that the use of Geometer’s Sketchpad may have on the teaching and learning of geometry at school. A series of five, two-hour teacher development workshops in which Geometer’s Sketchpad was used were attended by 12 Grade 11 and 12 teachers. The findings revealed that teachers had a better understanding of the same geometry that they initially disliked. This finding was supported by a quantitative analysis which showed a positive change in the understanding of and beliefs about geometry from when the teachers started to the end of the workshops.

The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent constructivist classroom characteristics existed in ELT Methodology II courses in ELT departments. Secondly, the aim was to explore the extent to which constructivist learning activities and evaluation strategies were perceived to be useful by the students and the instructors. Thirdly, the study also attempted to find out the extent to which the students and the instructors in ELT departments had constructivist conceptions of learning and teaching. Finally, it was aimed to find out whether students&rsquo / perception of constructivist classroom characteristics differed according to certain variables such as university, sex, type of high school the students graduated from, expected average score in the course and perceived competency in English. Subjects of the study involved 410 students taking ELT Methodology II course (&Ouml / zel &Ouml / sretim Y&ouml / ntemleri II) during 2001-2002 academic year in ELT departments of four universities (Middle East Technical University, Gazi University, &Ccedil / ukurova University and Dicle University) and 15 instructors teaching this course at these universities. Data were collected between May &ndash / July 2002 through administration of a questionnaire (Constructivist Classroom Characteristics Questionnaire) to the students, interviews with the students and the instructors and observation of students&rsquo / microteaching practices in ELT Methodology II classes. Data analysis was carried out through both quantitative (frequencies, means, standard deviations, one-way ANOVA) and qualitative analysis techniques. The results of the study indicated that majority of the students and the instructors perceived the classroom characteristics to be constructivist although there were a few differences in their perceptions. Observations of microteaching also showed that classroom characteristics were constructivist with respect to the variety of the learning activities used by the students, feedback procedures in the classroom and negotiation and cooperation among the students. Secondly, both the students and the instructors perceived constructivist learning activities and evaluation strategies to be more useful compared to the traditional ones. Thirdly, majority of the students and the instructors held either cognitivist or constructivist conceptions of learning. On the other hand, the students were behaviorist in their conceptions of teaching while the instructors were constructivist. Finally, the results indicated that perception of constructivist classroom characteristics differed according to universities, expected average score and perceived competency in English whereas it did not differ according to student sex and the type of high schools the students graduated from. The results revealed that the learning activities, evaluation strategies, students&rsquo / learning experiences and instructors&rsquo / roles in the classroom should be reconsidered and improved in order to make ELT Methodology II classes more constructivist in nature.

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<p>The purpose of this constructivist grounded theory study was to explore women's experiences with endometriosis through diagnosis, treatment, and coping. Conducted using a health geography, medical sociology, and medical anthropology theoretical framework and a constructivist grounded theory methodology, the following research objectives guided this study: (a) document the experiences and consequences of receiving a medical diagnosis of endometriosis from the perspective of a group of women living in Hamilton, Ontario; (b) explore the iterative process the women experienced while seeking relief from the symptoms of endometriosis; (c) interpret the meaning of 'coping' that women on the journey for a reliable diagnosis and effective treatment for endometriosis experienced; and (d) formulate a coherent, middle-range interpretive substantive theory of the women's journey, in order to help others better understand the endometriosis experience from the patient's perspective.</p> <p>Seventy women were interviewed, and the middle-range substantive theory that emerged from this study is grounded in their experiences. The results indicate that the women experienced endometriosis as a journey through constant interaction with the social worlds they had defined through diagnosis, treatment, and ultimately coping. Studying their everyday life experiences and mapping those in the context of their biomedical, personal, and informational social worlds allow for a broader understanding of the varying ways that the women interviewed perceived the treatment processes and their treatment options, made sense of their symptoms, and experienced uncertainty about the influence change could have on their everyday lives. By incorporating their individual experiences and knowledge, their social world and descriptions of these worlds reflect the entirety of the endometriosis experience. Finally, if one examines endometriosis only from the perspective of being diagnosed, treated, and learning to cope with the disease, many facets of the journey are missed. Understanding these individual experiences as a journey, instead of just diagnosis, treatment, and coping, has practical implications for healthcare providers treating endometriosis.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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It has been proposed that for ecotourism to be the sustainable response to mass tourism, it should not only support local communities and their environments but also educate visitors. This study aimed to understand visitors' perceptions of personal impacts, including personal learning, in an ecotourism setting and why these impacts differed between visitors. To fully comprehend the nature of personal impacts, I took a primarily qualitative approach, using participant observation and a series of survey questionnaires. This study reveals that the visitor's construction of personal meaning is achieved through the interaction between the visitor's prior knowledge, quality social interaction on the tour and the fulfillment of the desire for an 'authentic' experience. With this finding, I suggest considering learning in an ecotourism setting as personal change and provide practical suggestions for encouraging all visitors to achieve personal understanding. / Master of Science / The Village Ecotourism Network (JED) in Bali, Indonesia is an ecotourism operation that provides tours of local Balinese villages to visitors. JED aims to promote sustainable tourism in Bali and counteract the growth of mass tourism currently occurring on the island. In this study, I focused on the visitor’s experience during these tours and sought to answer two questions: 1. What outcomes do visitors achieve on JED programs? 2. Why are these outcomes different for different visitors? To understand the visitor experience, I accompanied the visitors during their tour, recorded my observations of the experience and asked visitors to fill out survey questionnaires. After compiling and analyzing the data, I found that visitor outcomes derive from the interaction between the visitor’s prior knowledge before the tour began, quality social interactions during the tour and the fulfillment of visitors’ desire to experience ‘authentic’ Bali.

Social Networks are broad set of actors or organizations and relations between them. The recent review of the literature shows that the research has been focused mainly on the effects of social networks on the entrepreneurial process but little attention is being paid to the process of development of social networks during an entrepreneurial process. The present studies highlight the aspects of process through analysing life cycle, teleology, dialectic and evolutionary views of process of development of social networks. This thesis presents ‘Becoming a Networked Entrepreneur’, a substantive theory of process of social network development in Entrepreneurship Literature constructed using Constructivist Grounded Theory approach to study the 13 entrepreneurs of Fast Growing Firms in Lahore, Pakistan. There are three main conceptual domains of this theory: sources of networks and actions of the entrepreneur and Developmental Patterns. The process of becoming a networked entrepreneur involves constant interaction of entrepreneur with the environment where sources of networks enable the entrepreneur to get connected to a network actor. Through studying the process of becoming a networked entrepreneur, the researchers can view the process in an integrated approach which involves the development of networks before starting the venture and interaction of entrepreneur with the environment where these networks are being developed. The process of becoming a networked entrepreneur presents a framework to study the networks and their development along the entrepreneurial venture.

This thesis addresses the internationally recognised problem of transforming classroom teaching that is underpinned by transmissionist epistemologies, especially in the field of mathematics education. A constructivist-related theory of pedagogical reform was derived from the research literature in the fields of teacher cognition and conceptual change theory for the purpose of facilitating the radical reconstruction of teachers' centralist classroom roles and the development of pedagogies aimed at enhancing students' conceptual development. The thesis reports a collaborative action research study which was conducted with a teacher of high school mathematics who attempted to develop a constructivist- oriented teaching approach in his Grade 12 mathematics class.An interpretive research approach (Erickson, 1986) was employed to generate an understanding of the complex network of teacher beliefs and their constraining influence on the radical reform of the teacher's centralist pedagogy. An emergent research focus was the efficacy of the theory of pedagogical reform, especially its underpinning constructivist theory which shaped my discourse with the teacher during the collaborative phase of the study. Data were obtained from classroom participant- observations, teacher and student interviews, the teacher's report on the study, and an application of the repertory grid technique that was designed to investigate the teacher's implicit pedagogical beliefs.The major pedagogical reforms that resulted from the collaborative phase of the study included (1) the teacher's adoption of the role of teacher as learner; and (2) the refinement, rather than radical reform, of his centralist classroom role of teacher as informer. Although the reforms provided enriched opportunities for the development of students' algorithmic abilities, they largely failed to enhance students' mathematical ++ / conceptual development.Interpretive analyses were conducted from multiple constructivist-related perspectives (radical constructivism, social constructivism, critical constructivism) in order to generate a better understanding of the narrow scope of the pedagogical reforms. These analyses revealed (1) that rationalist preconceptions of mathematics and mathematical cognition underpinned important aspects of both the theory of pedagogical reform and the teacher's refined centralist classroom role of teacher as interactive informer, and (2) that the teacher's technical rationality, which was buttressed by personally constraining beliefs, maintained the ascendency of his technical curriculum interests and sustained his centalist classroom role of teacher as controller.The results of this thesis suggest strongly, therefore: (1) that pedagogical reforms which are based largely on a cognitivist theory of constructivism are susceptible to being subsumed by a powerful technical-rationalist ideology, and (2) that the hegemonic nature of this ideology is capable of disempowering reform-minded teachers from realising the practical viability of their constructivist-related ideals.The thesis recommends that future constructivist-related pedagogical reform in high school mathematics be based on a critical constructivist perspective which focuses attention on the curriculum interests that govern teaching and learning activities. In particular, it is recommended that reform-minded teachers establish a Critical classroom discourse which aims to attain a balanced rationality by making visible and subject to critical examination the hidden frames of reference that constitute the prevailing rationality of the traditional mathematics classroom.

This study hypothesized that students in a constructivist classroom would perform better academically than students in a traditionalist classroom. The methodology used was a multi~method approach utilizing both quantitative and qualitative techniques.Two separate classrooms of students in a 10th grade general science program were selected to serve as the experimental and control groups. One group was taught the material using traditional teaching methods in a traditional learning environment, functioning as the control group. The second group was taught the same basic material using constructivist methods in a constructivist learning environment.The most significant finding of the study was that students in the constructivist classroom scored higher on the achievement test than students in the more traditional classroom, even though constructivist approaches tend to focus on different assessment tools. Although the study lends support to the major hypothesis, it should be noted that further research must be conducted in this area. Samples of larger than 23 would ideally be chosen and more classes in multiple schools should be used. The use of a convenience sample; such as was done in this study, tends to limit the implication of the results, because the endings can only be strictly said to be true for classes in this particular school.

This study describes the first study conducted in Thailand that resulted in changes in science teachers' classroom environments. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of constructivist teaching on improving learning environments in Thai secondary school science classrooms. The study involved three phases. First, the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES), an instrument for assessing students' perceptions of the actual and preferred classroom environment through the constructivist perspective, was validated for use in Thailand. Second, typical Thai secondary school science classrooms were described using quantitative and qualitative methods. Finally, the effectiveness of constructivist teaching on promoting improvement in classroom environments was evaluated through an action research process, involving the use of feedback on actual and preferred classroom environments. The sample consisted of seven secondary school science teachers and their 17 classes of 606 students in Nakornsawan Province, Thailand. Student Actual and Preferred Forms of the CLES, assessing Personal Relevance, Uncertainty, Critical Voice, Shared Control and Student Negotiation, were administered. Factor analysis and internal consistency reliability measures supported a five-factor structure for both actual and preferred forms. Students' attitudes to science were also measured. The actual and preferred environments of different classes were described based on profiles of classroom environment scores. / The results suggested that the average classroom in this study had relatively high levels of student perceived actual Uncertainty, Student Negotiation, and Personal Relevance, but the levels of Shared Control and Critical Voice were consistently lower. On all five scales, students preferred a more favourable classroom environment than what they perceived as being actually present. Three teachers, selected from the original sample, then participated in an attempt to improve their classroom environments through the use of a constructivist teaching approach. Changes in classrooms did occur, thus supporting the effectiveness of constructivist teaching in improving classroom learning environments and students' attitudes towards science in Thailand.