published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This study was prompted by an interest in the extent to which the aims of home economics education in Ireland are being served by the assessment carried out at a national level. This interest led to an empirical investigation of key stakeholders’ perceptions of the validity of home economics assessment and a critical evaluation of its impact on teaching and learning. The data collection primarily comprised interviews with a selection of teachers and other key people such as students, teacher educators and professional home economists; and a complementary analysis of curriculum and design of Junior and Leaving Certificate home economics assessments during the period 2005-2014. The analysis of interview data combined with the curriculum and assessment analyses revealed the compounding impact and washback effect of home economics assessments on student learning experience and outcomes. This impact was reflected in several areas of the findings including an evident satisfaction among the respondents with junior cycle assessment, due to the perceived appropriateness of the assessment design and operational arrangements, and dissatisfaction with curriculum and assessment arrangements at senior cycle as they were considered to be inappropriate and negatively impacting on the quality of learning achieved. The respondents candidly pointed to what they considered to be an acceptance by some teachers of unethical behaviour around the completion of journal tasks. The respondents indicated that summative assessment practices are commonly used in home economics classrooms and the findings strongly suggest that external examinations are influencing teaching methods by demanding a test-oriented pedagogy to enable students to achieve certificate points. The technical analysis of the Junior and Leaving Certificate examination questions confirmed that these external assessments predominantly promote lower-order learning and there are clear indications of a washback effect on the quality of learning achieved. There is a view that the subject's position in the curriculum is weakened due to a lack of coherence around practice, as well as a lack of advocacy and leadership in the field. There was little evidence of the impact of home economics education and many of the interviewees merely 'hoped' that home economics made a difference in the lives of students. The study also showed that there are profiling, identity and teacher agency issues impacting upon the home economics profession. While not immediately generalisable to all home economics teachers or settings in schools, this study nonetheless implies that if the views and practices of the respondents were to be replicated across the whole of the home economics education community, it would not be safe to view national assessment results as a valid indicator of learning and achievement standards in the subject. There are grounds in this work to argue that the subject's values and purposes are not supported by existing curriculum, pedagogy and assessment arrangements.

This study of the feasibility of introducing certain economic concepts into secondary school industrial arts curricula reveals that most Americans understand economics poorly. The study divides economic concepts into seven major categories with which the responsible adult should be familiar. The study examines trends toward involving economics in contemporary industrial arts projects and presents selected such activities with an economic emphasis. The study concludes by distinguishing between suitable and unsuitable economic concepts for integration into industrial arts curricula.

"It is the purpose of this present study to investigate further the aptitude areas into which Home Economics courses may be classified, and to determine whether a relationship exists between these areas and the areas of the Differential Aptitude Test."--1.

The purpose of this research was to assess the gain in critical thinking skills with a consideration of grade point averages during a semester in two high school home economics courses, and one language arts course which was used as a control group. The study was conducted by administering the California Critical Thinking Skills Test: College Level (CCTST) as a pretest and a posttest to students (n = 101) in three classes; Food Science, (grades 10 -12), Nutrition and Food Preparation, (grades 10 -12), and Intermediate Composition, (grade 1l). The study utilized a two-way fixed analysis of covariance design. The dependent variable was the adjusted CCTST posttest score. Independent variables consisted of grade point average (two levels, those students with g.p.a.'s of 2.75 or above and those with g.p.a.'s below 2.75), and class grouping (three levels, including Food Science, Intermediate Composition and Nutrition and Food Preparation). The covariate was the CCTST pretest score. Analyses were performed by SPSS/PC+, with covariate adjustment using the pretest as an influence on posttest scores. After adjustment by the covariate (pretest score), students with higher g.p.a.'s were found to be significantly higher on CCTST mean scores. No statistically significant main effect was found for levels of class group. In addition, no statistically significant interaction was observed between levels of class groups and grade point average. As a result of the findings, it is concluded that the students did not have statistically significant gain in critical thinking skills in any of the tested classes as assessed by the CCTST. There is a great need for students to learn critical thinking skills. Efforts must be included in the training of teachers so that they can guide students in learning critical thinking skills. An effort must be made to adjust lessons and change pedagogy so that students' critical thinking skills can be improved at the high school level. / Graduation date: 1993

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Education

In mandating new curriculum, state legislatures frequently have opted to require school districts to "infuse" new content rather than adopt a new course. The lack of procedural guidelines in these legislative mandates leaves curriculum specialists to struggle with an "infusion dilemma," the problem of implementing the new curriculum without knowing how it should appear, once implemented. The purpose of this study was to examine interpretations of infusion held by persons responsible for operationalizing an infusion mandate. The interpretations of "infusion" held by people concerned with the implementation of the 1977 Economic Education Act in Texas were investigated. Selected legislators, state agency personnel, curriculum consultants, economics educators, and classroom teachers were interviewed about the concept and process of infusion.

Teachers use student grouping to reduce the complexities of the classroom. Grouping has been credited with making behavior more predictable, improving interpersonal skills, and making instruction easier by increasing homogeneity. Research suggests that teachers' grouping decisions are influenced by characteristics of the student, the teacher, the task, and the environment. Research on grouping has centered on elementary classes, with little investigation of secondary classes. The purpose of this study was to describe the influences on secondary laboratory teachers' grouping decisions in a naturally occurring secondary school setting.

Driven by the needs of growing populations, industrial and governing powers are successfully accelerating the rate of industrial consumption, production and employment as if the earth’s resources are in unlimited supply. In contrast, a range of international sustainable development forums, inspired by visionary individuals, have made significant progress in creating awareness that the footprint of human activity is exceeding the earth’s sink and source capacity; and educating people in government, workplaces and communities to slow down industrial consumption and clean up production. Turning around conventional and short sighted ‘business as usual’ logic, and directing economies toward greener, long-term sustainability outcomes, still meet with resistance and hidden unsustainable agendas. The ‘green economy’ drive nevertheless since 2008 attracts financial and human resources and bold action in favour of more sustainable management of human-nature relations. The sustainable development movement for example advocates a ‘triple bottom line’ approach, holding that socially and ecologically responsible economic development would be sustainable. The sustainability movement has attained significant buy-in among governments and business communities. It forms the under-labouring philosophy of the programmes reviewed in this case study. The thesis reviews social-economic events paving the way for a global green economy. Taking a leadership role in the sustainable development movement the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) concurred to respond to the 2008 world-wide economic meltdown with a two-pronged ‘Green New Deal’ (UNEP, 2008). The Green New Deal financial package helps restore multi-national economic growth, employment and markets while re-shaping economies to follow an ecologically and socially responsible growth trajectory. South Africa implements green economy principles as part of the 2010 The New Growth Path overarching policy framework, with an implementation strategy embedded in the 2011 National Development Plan (NDP) (RSA. The Presidency, 2010; 2011). The New Growth Path emphasises that the transformation of South Africa’s un-sustainable economic and educational legacy to a more sustainable future is not expected to follow a smooth, linear process. The transition to a green economy is rather expected to be an event of “… noisy, healthy democracy” (RSA. The Presidency, 2010). A green, low carbon economy particularly constitutes a pledge to slow down and turn the human induced climate change trajectory around. McKinsey (2009) argues that this pledge is attainable on a world-wide scale, as sufficient and suitable environmentally sound techniques and technologies are already in place. Attaining buy-in from business stakeholders toward re-thinking and amending an economy’s self-defying large environmental footprint (inclusive of carbon, water and waste footprints) however requires education starting with awarenessraising followed by educational programmes and official curricula aimed at implementation and continuous improvement of green practices in day to day ‘doings and beings’ (Sen, 1997). This study at implementation level reviews two green economy training programmes and their emergence in South Africa around this rationale. The awareness generation and training programmes elected as case study examples are the ‘Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production’ (RECP) and ‘Industrial Energy Efficiency’ (IEE) programmes, of the hosting agency National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa (NCPC-SA). The RECP and IEE teams reach out to decision makers, engineers and artisans at industrial workplaces and workplace related events to add green competences to their business-as-usual skill sets. Implementing green options in industry typically slows down industrial scale resource consumption, pollution, waste generation and green-house gas (GHG) emissions while optimising resource productivity and enterprise excellence. Optimised supply side systems allow industry to reduce energy and material intensity of products thus reducing cost and producing more with less. In transitioning to a ‘Green GDP’ economy South Africa is awakening to the reality that natural resources constitute the original, albeit limited feedstock for growth and employment. The RECP and IEE approach also contribute to reduction of industrial waste, waste-to-landfill, and energy and resource security. Literature reviewed for this research provides evidence that the green economy’s triple bottom line philosophy is quantifiable thus manageable. A range of green economy management tools are emerging, including guidelines for carbon, water and environmental footprinting and the green-house gas abatement cost curve (see section 2.2.5) (McKinsey and Company, 2009). Transitioning from business as usual to ecologically sustainable industrial sectors however requires visionary, educated leadership, willing and capable of introducing modern and more efficient techniques and technologies. The boundaries of this half thesis embrace the globally and historically significant Tbilisi Declaration and other education and sustainable development agreements produced by United Nations and OECD mechanisms. Participating nations like South Africa incorporate the essence of these agreements into domestic policies and strategies, and align industries to remain competitive in international markets, which are increasingly enforcing green standards like ISO 14001 and ISO 50001. The focus of this case study guided by inductive, abductive and retroductive inference is to understand how the two sustainability learning programmes for people in industrial workplaces, supported by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and relevant donors, and overseen by the South African Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), relate to emerging green learning aspects. Producing a review of this nature requires a framework of laterally understanding emerging green learning aspects, for which I have reviewed green economy literature and also green learning and conventional education and training literature respectively. Themes emerging from the literature review informed an analytical instrument (questionnaire) in Phase One. In Phase Two the questionnaire was applied through nested case study methodology to show how the educational content and approaches of the RECP and IEE programmes relate to emerging green learning aspects and as such is suitable for mainstreaming in the national educational system. From an explicit educational perspective potential partners for collaboration include the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) the South African Qualifications Authority’s (SAQA’s) Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) and the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) representing the training needs of the industrial workforce but affiliated to QCTO and SAQA. In the extended scenario the NCPC-SA as a dti programme recognises the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) as lead agency guiding implementation of South Africa’s green economy, and specifically DEA’s National Environmental Sector Skills Planning Forum (NESPF), a national leader in green skills development in South Africa, as conduit for productively mainstreaming relevant RECP and IEE content and approaches toward green skills development for the green economy.

Films have been used with varying degrees of success to influence the attitudes of pupils of different ages and interests. Little has been done, however, to measure the attitudes of girls in high school homemaking classes. It is the purpose of this study to use films as an integral part of a group relationships unit and to determine what attitude changes, if any, are directly attributable to film content.