This study was designed to examine the impact of embedding multiple modes of representing science information on student conceptual understanding in science. Multiple representations refer to utilizing charts, graphs, diagrams, and other types of representations to communicate scientific information. This study investigated the impact of encouraging students to embed or integrate the multiple modes with text in end of unit writing-to-learn activities. A quasi-experimental design in which four separate sites consisting of intact chemistry classes taught by a separate teacher at each site was utilized. At each site, approximately half of the classes were designated treatment classes and students in these classes participated in activities designed to encourage strategies to embed multiple modes with text in student writing. The control classes did not participate in these activities. All classes participated in identical end of unit writing tasks in which they were required to use at least one mode other than text, followed by identical end of unit assessments. This progression was then repeated for a second consecutive unit of study. Analysis of quantitative data indicated that in several cases, treatment classes significantly outperformed control classes both on measures of embeddedness in writing and on end of unit assessment measures. In addition, analysis at the level of individual students indicated significant positive correlations in many cases between measures of student embeddedness in writing and student performance on end of unit assessments. Three factors emerged as critical in increasing the chances for benefit for students from these types of activities. First, teacher the level of implementation and emphasis on the embeddedness lessons was linked to the possibility of conceptual benefit. Secondly, students participating in two consecutive lessons appeared to receive greater benefit, inferring a cumulative benefit. Finally, differential impact of the degree of embeddedness on student performance was noted based on student's level of science ability prior to the initiation of study procedures.

This study theme is ¡§The impact of learning system dynamics by learning group.¡¨ Both through literature review, the first aspect is the cumulative literature in learning groups¡F the second aspect is the system dynamic learning process. In the past research, there was not any research about learning the system dynamics by learning group approach. Therefore, the researchers referred to literature and action research to propose hypotheses as follows¡G Hypothesis 1¡GA learning group can improve the motivation to learn the system dynamics. Hypothesis 2¡GA member who is more familiar with the system dynamics than others can improve the continuous motivation to learn the system dynamics. Hypothesis 3¡GThe motivation to learn the system dynamics can be affected by members¡¦ learning situations. This study was designed to learn the system dynamics in three hours a week by a learning group. The ¡§Business Dynamics¡¨ was used as the main textbook. This study used the action research as research methods. This study collated findings obtained by the following¡G ¤@¡BA learning group can improve the motivation to learn the system dynamics ¤G¡BA member who is more familiar with the system dynamics than others can improve the continuous motivation to learn the system dynamics. ¤T¡BWe should consider different motivations to learn the system dynamics in the process of learning the system dynamics.

I den här uppsatsen undersöks fyra svenska som andraspråkslärares upplevelser av den australiska genrepedagogiken, vilken har nått stor framgång och spridits på skolor runt om i världen. Pedagogiken baseras på förvissningen att alla elever, i synnerhet andraspråkselever, behöver explicit undervisning för att utveckla sina läs- och skrivförmågor samt för att kunna tillägna sig kunskaperna inom de olika skolämnena. Mot bakgrund av genrepedagogikens spridning i Sverige, är mitt syfte att få kunskap om hur fyra verksamma svenska som andraspråkslärare upplever den australiska genrepedagogiken. Metoden som ligger till grund för min undersökning är fenomenografin och materialet utgörs av fyra ljudinspelade intervjuer, som sedan transkriberats. Resultaten visar att samtliga informanter är nöjda med metoden. Fördelarna är att genrepedagogiken lett till snabba resultat, tydliga måluppfyllelser såsom förbättrade grammatik- och skrivkunskaper, minskat klyftan mellan elever med olika bakgrund och bidragit till ett kollaborativt lärande. Det visade sig också att informanterna inte upplever några nackdelar med metoden, men däremot stött på några svårigheter. Samtliga upplevde att den stora skillnaden mellan deras tidigare arbetssätt och genrepedagogiken är att det tidigare arbetssättet var implicit till skillnad från genrepedagogiken som är explicit, vilket bidragit till att syftet med undervisningen blivit tydligare för både eleverna och lärarna. Tre informanter upplevde att en av skillnaderna är att genrepedagogiken innebär mer förarbete men de beskrev detta som något positivt då de slipper ”lappa och laga efter”. Slutsatsen är att informanterna upplever den australiska genrepedagogiken som positiv och vill fortsätta arbeta efter den.     Nyckelord: svenska som andraspråkslärare, genrepedagogik, fenomenografi, cirkelmodellen, Reading to Learn.

The purpose of this study was to examine the reflective essays of first-year, first-generation college students for evidence of self-directed learning at the conclusion of their first semester at the university. A phenomenological qualitative method was employed and a content analysis rating rubric used to identify and code evidence related to four themes: Self Awareness, Decoding and Pattern Fit, Autonomy/Responsibility, and Academic Success. The study findings indicated that first-year, first-generation college students have the capacity to take ownership of their learning in ways exemplified by self-directed learners. Participants demonstrated deep reflection and metacognition and their essays revealed unexpected student vulnerability as they voiced fears and hopes with a nearly innocent transparency and candor. Study findings also emphasized the importance of a support system that includes coursework designed to facilitate understanding of individual learner characteristics, emphasize strategies to maximize learner efforts that lead to successful outcomes, and empower students to become more self-directed. This study also expands the field of adult education by providing evidence that learner control is a key component of self-direction and is positively correlated to academic success. Ample evidence related to metacognition, self-regulation, and learner control was identified in the essay data.

Esta investigación doctoral tiene como objetivo principal plantear un conjunto de estrategias de formación en TICs para dos grupos de profesores pertenecientes al Departamento de Ingenierías Electrónica, Eléctrica, Telecomunicaciones y Sistemas de la Universidad de Pamplona en Colombia y al Departamento de Electrónica, Eléctrica, Automática e Ingeniería Informática de la Universidad Rovira i Virgili de Tarragona en España, a partir de la aplicación del sistema de aprendizaje Let Me Learn®.Los objetivos específicos planteados son: elaborar o adaptar y aplicar instrumentos metodológicos para conocer la utilización e importancia que los profesores y estudiantes involucrados en los dos casos de estudio dan a las TICs; aplicar el inventario de conexiones de aprendizaje suministrado por el sistema de aprendizaje Let Me Learn® a los profesores y estudiantes de nuestros estudios de caso; elaborar un análisis de los resultados obtenidos a partir de la aplicación de los instrumentos sobre utilización e importancia de TICs y patrones de aprendizaje Let Me Learn® en profesores y estudiantes de los dos estudios de caso; realizar una aproximación comparativa entre los dos estudios de caso, colombiano y español, de los resultados obtenidos en la aplicación de los instrumentos metodológicos; construir el conjunto de estrategias de formación en TICs para los profesores de los estudios de caso, basadas en el sistema de aprendizaje Let Me Learn®.Este sistema consta, de manera general, de una teoría, el Modelo Interactivo de Aprendizaje y un instrumento validado desde 1998 y utilizado en aproximadamente 40.000 personas, llamado LCI (Learning Connections Inventory). Esta metodología presenta ventajas para el conocimiento de los procesos de aprendizaje adoptados por los individuos y se plantea como una herramienta para descubrir las razones que llevan a los docentes a utilizar o no los recursos tecnológicos en su labor profesional. La autora de esta investigación es profesora de la Facultad de Ingenierías y Arquitectura de la Universidad de Pamplona. La recolección de información se hace a través de dos cuestionarios para conocer la utilización e importancia que los profesores y estudiantes involucrados en los dos estudios de caso dan a las TICs y de un inventario para conocer la combinación de patrones de aprendizaje Let Me Learn®. Se analizan los resultados obtenidos y se hace una aproximación comparativa de los dos estudios de caso. Finalmente, se plantea un plan de formación en TICs partiendo del sistema Let Me Learn® y se presentan las conclusiones y el futuro de la investigación. La metodología utilizada es de naturaleza mixta, cuantitativa en el sentido que se describen los usos que los profesores hacen de las TICs y los patrones de aprendizaje y cualitativa a través del análisis de los estudios de caso (Colombia y España) y la generaciónde soluciones a través de un conjunto de estrategias de formación. / The main goal of this research is to propose a set of ICT formation strategies for two groups of teachers who belong to the Electronics, Electrics,Telecommunications and Systems Engineering Department of University of Pamplona in Colombia and to the Electronics, Automatic and Informatics Engineering Department of Rovira and Virgili University in Tarragona, Spain.These strategies are based on the application of the Let Me Learn® learning system.The specific objectives are: To create or adapt and to apply methodological instruments to know the use and importance that our case studies teachers and students give to the ICTs; To apply the Learning Connections Inventory from Let Me Learn® to teachers and students of the case studies; To analyse the results obtained from the application of the instruments about the use and importance of the ICTs and about the Let Me Learn® learning patterns for teachers and students of the case studies; To carry out a comparative approach between the two case studies about the results obtained from the application of the methodological instruments; To produce a set of ICTs formation strategies for the teachers in our case studies based on Let Me Learn® learning system.Generally speaking, this system has a theory, the interactive learning model and a validated instrument called the LCI (Learning Connections Inventory).This instrument has been validated and used with more than 40.000 people since 1998. This system presents several advantages for the knowledge of the learning processes adopted by individuals and it is used as a tool to discover the reasons teachers have to use or not the technological resources in their professional activity. The author of this research is by herself a teacher in the Engineering Faculty at University of Pamplona in Colombia. The data collection is made through two questionnaires to know the use and importance that teachers and students of the case studies give to ICTs and an inventory to know their Let Me Learn® learning patterns combination. Finally, a ICTs formation plan, based on Let Me Learn®, is presented as well as some conclusions and the future of this research. The methodology used has a mixed nature: quantitative in the sense of the description of ICTs used by teachers and the learning patterns and qualitative through the case study analysis (Colombia and Spain) and the proposal of formation strategies.

Magistro darbe „Besimokančios bendruomenės analizė ir vystymosi galimybės“ nagrinėjame kokią reikšmę nuolatinis mokymas(is) turi įstaigos darbuotojams dėl globalizacijos proceso. Šiuolaikinėmis sąlygomis gebėjimas mokytis- tai reikalinga ir svari sąlyga sėkmingai modernizacijai. Šiuo metu mažėjant ekonomikos vystymosi procesui ši problema dar labiau aktuali. Bendruomenė norėdama išlikti ir klestėti, turi suvokti tobulėjimo tikslus, jautriai reaguoti į pokyčius rinkoje ir greitai adaptuotis naujomis sąlygomis. Būtina, kad kiekvienas darbuotojas, tos organizacijos, kaip bendruomenės narys ir pati organizacija kaip sistema- mokytusi. Tyrimo objektas. UAB „Kristiana“, kaip besimokanti bendruomenė. Buvo iškeltas ir šio tyrimo tikslas- ištirti įmonės UAB „Kristiana“, bendruomenės požiūrį į mokimąsi, nustatyti poreikį bei išryškinti optimaliausius mokymosi metodus ir priemones. Darbo tikslas lėmė ir atitinkamą darbo struktūrą- pirmiausia analizuojama besimokančios bendruomenės koncepcija: samprata, bruožai ; besimokančios bendruomenės privalumai ir trūkumai; bendruomenės narių motyvacija mokytis. Atliktas darbuotojų nuomonės tyrimas, nustatyti pagrindiniai mokymosi poreikiai, išryškinti lūkesčiai, ir patraukliausi mokymosi metodai. Išanalizavus respondentų atsakymus formuluojamos šios išvados: UAB „Kristiana“ darbuotojai: nuolat siekia įgyti konkretesnių ir gilesnių profesinių žinių, noriai dalyvauja įvairiuose kursuose, seminaruose, mokosi aukštosiose mokyklose. Ištyrus... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In the master's work „Analysis of the learning society and development opportunities“ we are exploring the meaning of the changing conditions which evolve due to the process of globalization and become a necessity to learn to live and work in changed conditions. In contemporary conditions capacity to learn is a necessary and solid condition for successful modernization. At the present time, when the process of economic development is shrinking, this problem has become even more relevant. The community wishing to survive and flourish, must understand the goals of improvement, react sensitively to the changes in the market and swiftly adapt in new conditions. The object of research. Close stock company UAB „Kristiana“, as a learning community. The purpose of this research has been also set out - to investigate the approach of the enterprise UAB „Kristiana“ and its community to learning, to identify the need and to highlight the most optimal learning methods and measures. The purpose of the work has also determined a respective structure of work – first of all the concept of the learning community is analysed: concept, features; advantages and shortcomings of the community; motivation of the members of the community to learn. Survey on the opinion of the staff as a learning community, has been made. Having generalized peculiarities and preconditions of the employees' need for learning it turns clear that employees of UAB „Kristiana“: are permanently seeking to acquire more... [to full text]

In the early 1990s Graham Nuthall and Adrianne Alton-Lee developed a model of the learning and remembering process which has profound implications for teaching and learning at all levels. Using their model they were able to predict what selected primary school students would and would not learn and remember from the teaching of a series of Science and Social Studies units and to do so with an accuracy of between 80 to 85 per cent. The Nuthall model states that for a student to learn and remember a new fact or concept he or she needs three to four learning opportunities with the complete set of information needed to learn the new fact or concept, and a gap of no more than two days between any pair of those two learning opportunities. It had always been Graham Nuthall's intention to test the model he developed with Adrienne Alton-Lee in a series of experiments. Tragically, Professor Graham Nuthall died before this was possible. The ten experiments in this thesis put the Nuthall model to the test.

This research introduces, develops and applies the concept of using student perceptions to measure opportunity-to-learn, in order to evaluate regular and special educational provision. A qualitative investigation into services for the education of learners with vision impairment identified the common aim of giving students equal access to the curriculum as their sighted peers. It also elicited potential determinants of need that affect caseload allocation decisions. Opportunity-to-learn was identified as a concept in the research literature, which has evolved from a measure of content coverage into a potential indicator of school effectiveness, measured almost exclusively from the teachers' perception. This research drew on the growing body of research that asks the students, to shift the focus from the teacher to the students themselves. An instrument was developed, based on the Essential Skills of the New Zealand curriculum, that measures opportunity-to-learn from the perspective of the students. This was used to collect baseline data on 1300 students, with no identified special needs, from twenty secondary schools throughout New Zealand. Analysis of the baseline data demonstrated the validity of the approach, and its potential to aid in research on the educational process, using this set of intermediate indicators. Results showed differences between schools and between girls and boys. The mean index scores for the schools were not strongly related to the socio-economic background of the schools, but did reflect independent measures of school quality. The instrument was then used to measure opportunity-to-learn for fifty learners with vision impairment in regular high schools. Comprehensive data on these learners was gathered from regular and specialist teachers, parents, schools and the individuals themselves. This data was analysed to evaluate the services and the opportunity-to-learn for the learners with vision impairment. Results showed that on average these students had opportunity-to-learn at least as good as for their sighted peers. Areas of weakness and strength within the service were identified. The instrument proved effective in the evaluation process.

Rapid technological advances and globalization have resulted in the rise of the information era and with it, the emergence of knowledge economies and the call to lifelong learning viewed as necessary for producing skilled workers. This study examines the characteristics of lifelong learners in different environments, in order to understand how education contributes to the development of the lifelong learner, as well as how active pedagogical approaches, namely problem-based learning, may be especially beneficial for developing the lifelong learner. Using a mixed-methods research approach, this exploratory study was conducted on a sample of polytechnic graduates from Singapore who were continuing their learning in bachelor degree programs at different universities. It was guided by a framework of four main attributes which were identified as possible descriptors of the lifelong learner: capacity for self-directed learning, motivation, metacognitive awareness, and learner disposition. Quantitative data were collected via responses to an instrument, the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS), while quantitative data were collected through interviews, to capture in-depth information about individuals’ lifelong learner attributes as well as to probe into their experiences in Singapore’s formal education system that enabled (or hindered) their lifelong learner development. The data generated from the survey and interviews indicated that this group of young learners from Singapore who were continuing their learning journey did manifest some of the qualities of effective lifelong learners. However, there was also some suggestion that their engagement in lifelong learning was not so much from an intrinsic love for learning, but more out of compulsion because of the better job prospects that came with it. Also, despite the aim of the Singapore Ministry of Education to develop lifelong learners under the policy umbrella of Teaching Schools, Learning Nation (TSLN), learners’ experiences suggest that reforms have not reached all secondary schools to the same extent, and that many government schools were still using more didactic teaching rather than learner-centred pedagogies. Cross-case analyses found that the experience of problem-based learning seemed to equip learners with more self-direction in learning, more intrinsic motivation to learn, and a greater metacognitive awareness. At the same time, the positive outcomes of this pedagogy appear to be mediated by the learner’s own readiness for self-directed learning: learners with lower readiness for self-directed learning appeared to be less able to enjoy the learning benefits of problem-based learning. The study concluded with implications of these findings for the Singapore education system, as well as on problem-based learning as a pedagogy for developing lifelong learners.

Rapid technological advances and globalization have resulted in the rise of the information era and with it, the emergence of knowledge economies and the call to lifelong learning viewed as necessary for producing skilled workers. This study examines the characteristics of lifelong learners in different environments, in order to understand how education contributes to the development of the lifelong learner, as well as how active pedagogical approaches, namely problem-based learning, may be especially beneficial for developing the lifelong learner. Using a mixed-methods research approach, this exploratory study was conducted on a sample of polytechnic graduates from Singapore who were continuing their learning in bachelor degree programs at different universities. It was guided by a framework of four main attributes which were identified as possible descriptors of the lifelong learner: capacity for self-directed learning, motivation, metacognitive awareness, and learner disposition. Quantitative data were collected via responses to an instrument, the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS), while quantitative data were collected through interviews, to capture in-depth information about individuals’ lifelong learner attributes as well as to probe into their experiences in Singapore’s formal education system that enabled (or hindered) their lifelong learner development. The data generated from the survey and interviews indicated that this group of young learners from Singapore who were continuing their learning journey did manifest some of the qualities of effective lifelong learners. However, there was also some suggestion that their engagement in lifelong learning was not so much from an intrinsic love for learning, but more out of compulsion because of the better job prospects that came with it. Also, despite the aim of the Singapore Ministry of Education to develop lifelong learners under the policy umbrella of Teaching Schools, Learning Nation (TSLN), learners’ experiences suggest that reforms have not reached all secondary schools to the same extent, and that many government schools were still using more didactic teaching rather than learner-centred pedagogies. Cross-case analyses found that the experience of problem-based learning seemed to equip learners with more self-direction in learning, more intrinsic motivation to learn, and a greater metacognitive awareness. At the same time, the positive outcomes of this pedagogy appear to be mediated by the learner’s own readiness for self-directed learning: learners with lower readiness for self-directed learning appeared to be less able to enjoy the learning benefits of problem-based learning. The study concluded with implications of these findings for the Singapore education system, as well as on problem-based learning as a pedagogy for developing lifelong learners.