Integrated curriculum reform in China is meant to change the traditional teaching culture. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the education authority should implement the reform in a gradual manner and takes cultural changes into consideration. It is also essential to support the reconstruction of teachers' beliefs and their professional identities. / The education system of Mainland China has been dominated by the discipline-based curriculum. One of the major curriculum reform initiatives launched in September, 2001, is curriculum integration. Two new integrated curricula, "Science" and "History and Society" are implemented in junior secondary schools in the experimental zones. The ideology and teaching approach of these new integrated curricula differ from teachers' usual classroom practices. To what extent are the integrated curricula implemented? How have teachers' beliefs changed? What are the factors shaping these changes? / The study reveals that the deep and core belief of teachers is very stable. The factors influencing teachers' belief changes included the personal experience of teachers, the school environment and the societal context. During the reform, teachers were trapped in two contradictory discourses, one treasured humanistic values fostering personal growth, while the other emphasized standard examination and competition. Facing two paradoxical educational value stances, teachers experienced serious conflicts in their educational beliefs, and their professional identities were challenged. The changes of belief reflect the process of adapting and adjusting to their new roles in the education system. / This study, from a cultural-personal perspective, aimed to show teachers' beliefs and their changes. In this study, two schools and fourteen teachers were chosen to be studied. Ethnographic research methods, including in-depth interview, field observation and document analysis were adopted to inquire into teachers' collective daily experiences, their beliefs and their changes, and factors shaping the changes in beliefs. / 張爽. / 呈交日期: 2006年11月. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2007. / 參考文獻(p. 369-384). / Cheng jiao ri qi: 2006 nian 11 yue. / Adviser: Lam Chi Chung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-08, Section: A, page: 3270. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2007. / Can kao wen xian (p. 369-384). / Zhang Shuang.

Pressures from education reforms have contributed to the need for music educators to embrace new and diverse instructional strategies to enhance the learning environment. Music teachers need to understand the pedagogy of teaching and learning and how these affect their praxis. The purpose of this multiple case evaluative study was to investigate the instructional methods used in 10 middle school general music programs to assist students in obtaining the National Standards for Music Education. Bloom's revised taxonomy was the theoretical framework used to evaluate the teaching praxis of the participating teachers. The research questions for the study addressed the effectiveness of the instructional strategies in the music classroom and how they align with the National Standards Music Education and Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. Data were collected from an open ended survey, individual interviews, and unobtrusive documents from 10 general music teachers from suburban, rural, and urban school districts. A line-by-line analysis was followed by a coding matrix to categorize collected data into themes and patterns. The results indicated that standards-based metacognitive instructional strategies can assist music teachers in their classrooms and unite cognitive, affective, and kinesthetic experiences applicable beyond the music classroom. It is recommended that music teachers use alternative teaching techniques to promote and connect critical thinking skills through musical learning experiences. Implications for positive social change include training music educators to create learning environments that support and motivate students to learn and achieve academic success.

By the time students transition from elementary to middle school, many do not demonstrate mastery of recalling basic math facts. This 8-week quasi-experimental quantitative study, based in cognitive development and theories of the construction of memory, used a 3-level independent variable experimental design to determine if there was a relationship between teachers' implementation of timed drill practices and the students' level of automaticity with regard to basic multiplication facts in 9 sixth-grade, regular education math classes. The control group received no intervention, the first treatment group received weekly timed drill practice for 3 minutes, and a second treatment group received daily timed drill practice for 3 minutes. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures were used to measure the differences in pretest and posttest scores among the 3 treatment groups. Although no significant difference was found among the 3 groups' pretest performance, a significant difference among posttest performance was found. Scheffe' post hoc analysis revealed that the students who were administered daily timed practice drills performed statistically higher on the posttest than did the control group and first treatment group. Similarly, students in the weekly timed practice drill group had statistically significant higher gain scores than did students in the no treatment group. This study may lead to a shift in teachers' thought and practice regarding use of timed practice drills with the result of an increase of automaticity of basic math facts. Improved automaticity may lead to positive social changes including superior performance in math for regular education students that can lead to an increased sense of self-efficacy and higher graduation rates.

According to IDEA and NCLB requirements, students with disabilities are held to the same standards established for nondisabled students. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the impact of a special education inclusion program for middle school students with mild to moderate learning disabilities. Student outcomes were measured based on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) test scores for reading/language and mathematics. The theoretical foundation for this study was Vygotsky's social development theory applied to special education inclusion programs to support learning within the general curriculum for students with mild to moderate learning disabilities. An independent samples t test was used to measure the difference in the means of the TCAP scores for 2 cohorts of Grade 6, 7, and 8 students with disabilities (one group taught before the implementation of an inclusion program and one group taught after the implementation of an inclusion program). The findings indicated that inclusion had a significant positive impact on TCAP scores in both reading/language and mathematics. The implications for positive social change generated by this research include a better understanding of the impact of an inclusion program on the TCAP scores of students with mild to moderate learning disabilities at one middle school in Tennessee. Effective IEP decisions have implications for social change because positive educational experiences for middle school students with mild to moderate disabilities increase the likelihood such students will graduate from high school to enter higher education or the work force.

Self-efficacy beliefs, a component of Bandura's social cognition theory, provided the basis for this study of teachers' participation in professional learning. Training and positive experiences increase teacher efficacy, or the level of effort and persistence educators are willing to exert as they teach. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between teachers' participation in differentiated instruction (DI) in-service opportunities and teachers' knowledge and frequency of use of DI. It was hypothesized that middle school teachers' levels of DI training would be related to teachers' knowledge and use of DI in the classroom. An anonymous survey was used to collect data from 79 teachers. Regression analyses revealed that teachers' levels of DI training were not positively related to teachers' knowledge of DI, but there was a positive relationship between teachers' familiarity and use of content, process, product, and DI strategies. Teachers' education levels influenced their use of DI; however, teachers' experience levels did not. ANOVA was used to compare teachers' use of DI across grade levels, and results indicated that grade levels taught did not affect teachers' use of DI. Descriptive analyses indicated that most teachers were familiar with DI and used many of the DI techniques often; however, most reported that they learned how to differentiate using methods other than staff development. Many teachers reported that they would be willing to participate in future DI training. DI staff development is recommended as a way to educate teachers in additional DI methods. Implications for positive social change include increased DI training opportunities for teachers that can result in increased self-efficacy and instructional changes that can help improve student achievement.

University of Macau / Faculty of Education

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

iv, 126 leaves.

The reasons given by thirty-three junior high school band directors for success and failure at the University Interscholastic League Concert/Sightreading Contest were studied using the methodology of Attribution Theory. All of the subjects attended the same contest and were members of a region which included urban and suburban schools. The subjects responded to a questionnaire which evaluated their attitudes towards the contest, allowed them to make judgments about other directors in hypothetical contest situations, and finally asked them to list the five most important reasons for their success or failure at the contest in an open-response format.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates that students be measured yearly on standardized state tests, rather than on classwork, to show adequate academic growth. During the 2007--2008 school year, 38% of eighth graders in one state failed the math portion of the Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). The purpose of this quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest control-group study was to determine if there was a significant difference in CRCT scores between at-risk eighth-grade math students receiving instruction in (a) the Remedial Education Program (REP) and in (b) the regular program. The theoretical base for this study included Piaget's concrete operational theory, constructivist theory, and behaviorist theory. In this causal-comparative experimental design, analysis of covariance was used to assess differences in eighth grade CRCT scores, controlling for seventh-grade test scores. Of the 50 students in this study, 25 received instruction in the REP model and 25 in the traditional model. Results indicated that the group that received the REP program instruction had significantly higher eighth-grade CRCT scores than the regular instruction group. Implications for positive social change include better understanding the most effective type of math instruction for at-risk students that can result in increased math achievement.