Psychology in South Africa is facing a dire need for valid and reliable mental health instruments for all its citizenry. There presently exists a reliance on instruments of foreign origin. Very often such instruments are used without their psychometric properties having been tested in the local setting. The present study employed a multi-stage process for translating the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) into Zulu. A simplified English version of the GHQ and the translated Zulu version were subsequently administered to a sample of two hundred and fifty seven (257) bilingual high school students. The data from this sample was used to assess the equivalency between the Zulu version and the English version. At the scale level, both versions of the GHQ showed adequate internal consistency and reliability. Item analysis revealed certain differences between the two versions. Possible explanations regarding semantic differences are discussed. Substantial overlap between the factor solutions of the two versions was found. These factor solutions were found to correspond well with those recorded in the literature. The present sample scored much higher on the GHQ than foreign samples do. Suggestions for raising the cutting scores for South African samples are made. On the whole, the Zulu version displayed evidence of reasonable equivalence to the English version. A comprehensive research programme for the GHQ in South Africa is presented. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1996.

This study explores preservice teachers' learning to teach mathematics in the context of an innovative version of the mathematics methods courses typically offered at UBC. Thirteen preservice teachers engaged in a math letter writing exchange with Grade 4 students are the focus of this study. This math penpal experience was meant to provide a "laboratory setting" for preservice teachers to try out and investigate the ideas discussed during methods classes. Interactions with students, in turn, served as the focus of further class discussions and reflective journal writing. Two research questions were investigated: (1) What were preservice teachers learning through their math penpal investigations; and (2) What factors influenced their learning? Preservice teachers' written records (math letters, journals, and case reports) were the main sources of data used to address these questions. My perspectives as a participant, teacher, and researcher were used to guide and inform my analysis of this data. An analytical framework was constructed based on preservice teachers' "pedagogical puzzles" (issues and challenges faced and deliberated on). These puzzles related to their problem posing, interpreting, and responding practices. This framework was used to explore patterns and changes in preservice teachers' views and practices. Learning themes discussed include: learning to broaden goals and expectations of problems; learning to see and construct meaning from students' work, and learning to question and revise claims about students' mathematical attitudes and abilities; learning to recognize and interrogate hidden messages in their discourse, and learning to respond differently. Factors found to be associated with preservice teachers' learning include: (a) interactive experiences with students, (b) engagement in collaborative explorations of problems and comparable students' work, and (c) the opportunity to revisit and reinterpret their experiences with students in multiple occasions. Implications for the research and practice of mathematics teacher education are discussed in relation to: (a) preservice teachers' learning of mathematics and mathematical pedagogy, (b) learning in courserelated field experiences, and (c) learning to reflect and write about teaching and learning.

This thesis explores and discusses the current practice of English as a Second Language (ESL) evaluation primarily in terms of validity, authenticity, and experiential groundedness. The researcher endeavours to apply theories of ESL evaluation to actual practice, analyzing the differences or harmonization between with regard to validity, authenticity, experiential groundedness and some other factors identified as being important in evaluation in language acquisition situations, particularly CRTs, NRTs, foramtive and summative evaluations. Ethnographic inquiry is used for obtaining data. A program case study, a technique of qualitative research, is used for this study. The purpose is to gather some genuine data from the interviewees which are real and revealing, thus enabling the researcher to gain particular insights relative to the aims of his study. The analysis aspires to give voice to interviewee's on ESL evaluation in terms of validity, authenticity, and experiential groundedness, along with other factors noted above. This report sets out to determine how or if validity, authenticity, and experiential groundedness, along with some other factors identified above, are integrated elements of an efficient and effective ESL evaluation. Such was found to ve the case and it was also found that these can be reinforced by guaranteeing that an evaluation targets its population closely, adopting real-life approaches and, establishing linkages between evaluation and prior knowledge and skills. / xi, 156 leaves ; 28 cm.

This study was designed to answer the following research questions: "Are those at risk for coronary heart disease being screened for high blood cholesterol?" and "Are those with high blood cholesterol being treated according to the national guidelines?" The importance of early detection and treatment of high blood cholesterol is vital for preventive health care. A chart review of patient records was conducted to determine the behavior of the family practice residents. From the analysis of data it was determined that the residents screened their patients 83.0% of the time and when compared with national guidelines, treated those patients identified with high blood cholesterol 52.8% of the time. Third year residents screened their patients more (88.7%) for blood cholesterol than first (82.1%) or second (74.7%) year residents. Male residents screened a higher percent of their patients (84.8%) than female residents (75.0%). / Department of Physiology and Health Science

Student performance on the recently implemented Provincial Mathematics 10 examination concerns mathematics teachers. Using results from the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) to implement a strategy for students' improvement as well as properly placing students into the correct curriculum pathway may be an effective way for improving student success. Students who participated in the 2001/2002 FSA may have also participated in the 2004/2005 provincial mathematics 10 examination. Using regression analysis, three separate models were created for students writing the Principles of Mathematics 10 examination (n = 27 292, R2 = 0.320), Essentials of Mathematics 10 examination (n = 5 052, R2 = 0.169), and Applications of Mathematics 10 examination (n = 2 662. R2 = 0.231). The independent variables included Item Response Theory Scaled scores for the Numeracy and Reading Subtests of the FSA, gender, aboriginal status, English as a second language status, and school size. As well, hierarchical linear model (HLM) was implemented as an exploration to compare the coefficients with the regression analysis. In all three cases the coefficients of the HLM were similar to the linear regression. Disciminant analysis also predicted student placement in the three pathways at 61% accuracy using FSA results and other independent variables.

Eine Kompetenz beschreibt im Kontext eines Lehr-/Lernprozesses fachliche und fachübergreifende Basisqualifikationen. Als latente Fähigkeit kann sie jedoch nicht direkt beobachtet werden. Eine indirekte Beobachtung ist möglich, indem sie durch eine Menge valider Aufgaben beschrieben wird, die nur erfolgreich bearbeitet werden können, wenn die Kompetenz existiert. Werden diese Aufgaben durch einen Lernenden bearbeitet, so liefert ihm das Ergebnis der Bearbeitung ein unmittelbares Feedback über seinen aktuellen Lernerfolg. Der Lehr-/Lernprozess verhält sich dabei wie ein Regelkreis, in dem das Feedback als Regelgröße Einfluss auf verschiedene Aspekte des Lernens nimmt, zum Beispiel die Motivation. Wurde eine Aufgabe nicht korrekt gelöst, wünschen sich die Lernenden Feedback, welches ihnen hilft, das Problem zu erkennen, zu verstehen und zu lösen. Dabei kann sie ein Tutor unterstützen. Betreut der Tutor jedoch mehrere Lernende gleichzeitig, zum Beispiel während einer Übung, kann es zu einer Verringerung der individuellen Betreuungszeit kommen. Dadurch fällt es dem Tutor schwerer, ein individuelles, ausführliches und sofortiges Feedback im Anschluss an die Aufgabenbearbeitung zu geben. Es wird anhand mehrerer empirischer Studien untersucht, ob zuvor entwickeltes FCF einen Beitrag zur Bewältigung dieser Herausforderung bei kompetenzorientierten Programmieraufgaben leisten kann.

In this study, factors that affect students&#039 / science achievement were modeled based on the data which was obtained from Study for Determination of Student Achievement &ndash / 2002 (Ogrenci Basarisinin Belirlenmesi Calismasi &ndash / OBBS). First, using principle components analysis tecnique, dimensions of the student questionnaires and science achievement tests were found out. Using these dimensions for student questionnaires, latent variables socioeconomic status, student-centered activities, teacher-centered activities, private tutoring, experiments/technological material usage, and perception of interest and success were selected to be included in this study. Then, a reference model was proposed for factors affecting students&#039 / science achievement. Lastly, this reference model was tested across three grade levels (6th, 7th, and 8th) and three school types (state, boarding, and private) and comparisons among them were made. As a result of modeling which was conducted by structural equation modeling technique (SEM) using LISREL 8.30, the study yielded the followings: Socioeconomic status has a strong effect on science achievement for all grade levels investigated. While teacher-centered activities generally affect students&#039 / science achievement in a positive way, student-centered activities show a negative effect. Teacher-centered activities affect perception of interest and success as much as nearly they do for science achievement. Direct effect of teacher-centered activities is not significant for state and boarding schools, but their indirect effects strengthen the effect of teacher-centered activities on science achievement. Effect of experiments and technological material on perception of interest and success is negative for all grade levels and school types, except state schools in which it is positive.

The main purpose of this study was to develop a three-tier test for assessing ninth-grade students&rsquo / misconceptions about simple electric circuits. The first tier of an item on the test presents an ordinary multiple choice question, the second tier presents a set of reasons for the response given to the first tier, and the third tier questions if examinees are confident for their responses to the first two tiers. The study was carried in Polatli, the biggest outlying district of capital Ankara. In the light of the related literature, interviews were conducted by the researcher so as to collect information about students&rsquo / understanding of simple electric circuits. Thereby, a list of misconceptions was acquired and it was used for developing an open-ended questionnaire. Next, the questionnaire was examined by two physics teachers and an instructor from METU for establishing content validity. The questionnaire was administered to 99 ninth-grade students and their responses were categorized in the purpose of determining the distracters of the three-tier test / the Simple Electric Circuit Diagnostic Test (SECDT). At last, the SECDT was developed and administered to 124 ninth-grade students. The validity of the SECDT was established by means of quantitative methods in addition to the qualitative methods. A positive correlation coefficient was estimated between student scores and confidence levels, that is, successful students on the SECDT were more confident for their responses than unsuccessful students. This result means that the SECDT works properly, for example, students generally understood the items and found their reasoning among the distracters. Also, what items measure was investigated by means of factor analysis, and three reasonable factors were obtained. Furthermore, proportions of false positives and negatives were estimated and found as 17.47 % and 10.82 %, respectively. As well as, Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of student scores was estimated as 0.69, but the reliability coefficient of student misconception scores was estimated as 0.33. Consequently, the SECDT scores are valid and reliable measure of students&rsquo / qualitative understanding of simple electric circuits / however, misconception scores may not be reliable.

The factors related to mathematics and geometry achievement were modeled in this study. It was based on the data obtained from the Student Assessment Program carried out by Ministry of National Education. Mathematics achievement tests and student questionnaires of each grade were analyzed by using principal component analysis to obtain different dimensions that are expected to be related with student achievement. Before the principal component analysis, a content based evaluation of the content of the mathematics achievement tests was actualized and the items were grouped as mathematics and geometry. Regarding the student questionnaire socio-economic status, perception of success and interest toward mathematics and science, student-centered activities and teacher-centered activities in the classroom were identified as factors through the principal component analysis. Thereafter, three models were designed and tested by structural equation modeling technique (SEM) using LISREL 8.54. Path analysis with latent variables was used for testing the models. The following results were obtained in the study. In all of the models, socioeconomic status had a positive impact on the mathematics and geometry achievement of the students for all the grade levels examined. Teacher centered activities were found to be positively related with the students&rsquo / success of mathematics and geometry. On the other hand, student centered activities intended to have a negative relation with mathematics and geometry achievement. As the other variables were considered, an increase on the mathematics and geometry scores of the students&rsquo / was observed in all grade levels with the increase in the perception of success and interest toward mathematics and science.

Cross-cultural studies, like TIMSS and PISA 2003, are being conducted since 1960s with an idea that these assessments can provide a broad perspective for evaluating and improving education. In addition countries can assess their relative positions in mathematics achievement among their competitors in the global world. However, because of the different cultural and language settings of different countries, these international tests may not be functioning as expected across all the countries. Thus, tests may not be equivalent, or fair, linguistically and culturally across the participating countries. In this conte! ! xt, the present study aimed at assessing the equivalence of mathematics items of TIMSS 1999 and PISA 2003 across cultures and languages, to fin! d out if mathematics achievement possesses any culture specifi! c aspect s. For this purpose, the present study assessed Turkish and English versions of TIMSS 1999 and PISA 2003 mathematics items with respect to, (a) psychometric characteristics of items, and (b) possible sources of Differential Item Functioning (DIF) between these two versions. The study used Restricted Factor Analysis, Mantel-Haenzsel Statistics and Item Response Theory Likelihood Ratio methodologies to determine DIF items. The results revealed that there were adaptation problems in both TIMSS and PISA studies. However it was still possible to determine a subtest of items functioning fairly between cultures, to form a basis for a cross-cultural comparison. In PISA, there was a high rate of agreement among the DIF methodologies used. However, in TIMSS, the agree! ment ra! te decreased considerably possibly because the rate o! f differ e! ntially functioning items within TIMSS was higher, and differential guessing and differential discriminating were also issues in the test. The study! also revealed that items requiring competencies of reproduction of practiced knowledge, knowledge of facts, performance of routine procedures, application of technical skills were less likely to be biased against Turkish students with respect to American students at the same ability level. On the other hand, items requiring students to communicate mathematically, items where various results must be compared, and items that had real-world context were less likely to be in favor of Turkish students.