Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 27-30).

Teaching vacancies are increasing nationally and the task of placing an experienced, subject-certified teacher in the classroom is getting more difficult for school districts. About 23% of all secondary teachers do not have a minor in their main teaching field. This is true for more than 30% of mathematics teachers and the proportion of such teachers is much greater in high-poverty schools and lower-level classes. In schools with the highest minority enrollments, students have less than a 50% chance of getting a science or mathematics teacher who holds a license and a degree in the field which he or she teaches. While placement of probationary teachers may help to relieve the shortages of licensed teachers, school districts should consider the consequences of placing these teachers in the classroom. One solution school districts have looked to is the use of technology. The Integrated Learning System (ILS) is a virtual classroom which may offer a solution for school districts not able to fill teaching vacancies with a fully prepared teacher. The focus of this study was on the impact of the ILS and teachers' mathematics preparation on 8th grade student achievement. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze existing data. The participants included 1223 students in 76 classes taught by 30 teachers. The results indicated that 8th grade student achievement in ILS classes was significantly higher compared to classes not using the ILS. When teachers' preparation in mathematics was added in to the model, the impact of the ILS was reduced. Results from this study suggested that the ILS may be beneficial for MJ-3 students and that the ILS may offer school districts an alternative technique in raising student mathematics achievement, specifically with low-income or minority students. In addition, the ILS may be a practical solution for school districts when dealing with teacher vacancies in mathematics classrooms. In regard to teacher preparation, the results from this study confirm the importance for school districts to hire mathematics teachers with knowledge of mathematics content and pedagogy; support the belief that alternative certification programs should emphasize pedagogy; challenge state licensing boards' option of certifying teachers without documentation of completed subject area courses; and support NCTM's vision of a well-prepared mathematics teacher.

This essay concerns methods of teaching, with the focus being mainly on methods of grammar, interaction, oral methods and the real context. The purpose of the study is to examine different methods used in the education of Spanish as a foreign language, as well as to show the effect of those methods. The investigation is based on the following questions: Which methods are used by teachers of Spanish as a foreign language? Which of these methods would be the most effective ones when it comes to learning? The methods of investigation used in the study are: search in related literature and interviews. The interviews are made with three teachers of Spanish as a foreign language in Sweden, and the analysis includes a comparison between the responses and the theories found in the literature. The result of the investigation shows that the effect of several of the methods depends on the students involved, their motivation and personalities. Another conclusion made is the fact that dialogues are regarded as effective and of good use in the teaching of a foreign language. Working in groups is moreover considered an excellent method according to the result of this study.

This thesis is about the recent education reform in Laos as a global and a local process. When the economy was deteriorating in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), the so called New Economic Mechanism (NEM) was introduced and the country opened up for global donors and markets. This also had an effect on the education system. To get hold of financial support there were demands on Lao PDR to replace the previous strong centralised governing of education with more decentralised strategies. There were further demands to replace teacher-led lessons and rote learning with more student-centred classroom practices. The research questions asked in this thesis are: How are education reform and the new methods of teaching governed in policy and through the formal education organisations from ministry level to school level? How do teachers and students in teacher education respond to the education reform and the new methods of teaching? What attention is put to gender and ethnic minorities in these matters? The thesis is inspired by Gita Steiner-Khamsi’s global perspectives on education reform; consensus, conflict and culturalist perspectives. It is also based on a local understanding taking its starting point in a pragmatic approach and a mosaic epistemology and a qualitative inductive methodological approach. The empirical findings are based on 36 documents that govern the education reform, 119 individual interviews with teachers and students in social science and science at teacher education, some observations and a contextual analysis of education, gender and ethnicity in Laos. The findings show that there is a consensus with the international community about bringing education to all people in Lao PDR. However, the political understanding is in conflict between neoliberal and socialist traditions. Democratic centralism is the foundation which built the governing system in Laos; information flows up through the system and decisions down. Even though the system leaves 20 percent autonomy to teachers to develop local curricula in line with the new methods of teaching, there are yet no major signs that such curricula exist. Teacher educators and teacher students understand new methods of teaching mainly as group learning and individual learning with only small variations between the two subjects. According to current policy the goal is to improve access to education for females and ethnic minority students. The ethnic minority students regarded individual studies as difficult because of language problems. They preferred group learning because they could be supported in language issues. Females also felt supported in group learning. However, because of old gender traditions especially females from the dominating Lao Loum group also found individual learning supportive. In individual learning females got opportunities to show individual capacities without being constrained by societal norms. The thesis ends up in a pragmatic tradition where possibilities and constraints with the education reform in Lao PDR are commented on.

Thesis (MTech (Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2005 / The purpose of this research was to investigate service-learning opportunities and possible collaboration between higher education students and lecturers located in the department of the Built Environment and the school community in a project that involved the building of a school hall. The school halls are generally needed as they accommodate a wide range of school and community activities and serve as bridges that link the school and the wider public. The study also attempted to develop a framework to guide the implementation of service-learning projects in third-year courses of the National Diploma: Building which include quantity surveying, construction technology and construction management. The study made use of literature that describes the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education in general and the expected role of higher education in socio-economic development of the South African communities in particular. Literature on the need for increased participation, collaboration, partnership formation and development of service-learning programmes in order to address the socio-economic and educational developmental needs of both communities and students was also consulted. Reference was also made to literature on building projects and the building process. The researcher used qualitative approaches and data production methods to get information from the school teachers, learners, students and lecturers through interviews in order to establish if the participants were willing to work together in the school building project and how they thought the school and the higher education institution could benefit from such collaboration. An observation schedule and photographs were also used to gather information relating to the process of building a school hall.

The purpose of the study is to compile previous research on students' reading habits in terms of fiction and teachers' working methods to develop students' interest in reading. This was done from a teacher perspective. The questions we started from in this literature study were what previous research said about students' interest in reading and according to previous research, what working methods can teachers use to increase students' desire to read? This is a literature study based on other researchers' results that are presented and clarified, but also the approach in the selection of the literature. A systematic literature study must include complete studies that are of good quality and that form the basis for various conclusions. This section also takes a stand on the method selection and data collection, but also its implementation, analysis methods and ethical considerations.The results of this study have shown that identification and the social interaction in fiction are two decisive factors for young people's interest in reading and desire to read in general and not just for students. It is possible to summarize which different working methods can increase students' desire to read. These consist of the teacher's commitment, deep reading, reading comprehension, discussion and variation of material for different students.

Im September 2010 fand der 6. Potsdamer Lateintag statt. Er war Bestandteil des um ein Jahr erweiterten Brandenburger Antike-Denkwerks (BrAnD), das von der Robert Bosch Stiftung gefördert wurde. Thema war dieses Mal das Römische Recht. Das Römische Recht ist ein faszinierender Forschungsbereich. Es hat die europäische Rechtsentwicklung geprägt und wirkt noch heute nach. Gleichzeitig gehört es zu den Themen, die uns bei der Lektüre lateinischer Texte immer wieder begegnen, die aber Fragen aufwerfen, da man mit der speziellen Thematik oft nicht vertraut ist. Das Projekt wollte die Lücke schließen. Es sollten nicht nur literarische Texte auf ihren rechtlichen Hintergrund hin befragt, sondern auch Fragen gestellt werden, wie der römische Alltag rechtlich geregelt war. Neben der wissenschaftlichen Beschäftigung mit diesen Fragen sollte immer auch der Vergleich mit heute gezogen werden. Der Band versammelt den Vortrag am Lateintag von Frau Prof. Dr. C. Möller, Materialsammlungen u.a. zu den Themen patria potestas, lex Aquilia, Geld bzw. Kauf-Tausch-Kontroverse, die Darstellung zum Ablauf des gesamten Projekts sowie eine Auswahl der Berichte zu den Schulprojekten. / The 6th Potsdamer Lateintag took place in September 2010. It was part of the Brandenburger Antike-Denkwerk (BrAnD), a project funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation. The topic was ‘Roman Law’. Roman Law is a fascinating field of research. It is the background for the development of European law and is still continuing to have an effect. On the other hand it is one of those topics, which readers of Latin literature often come across but which may cause confusion, because the reader is not that familiar with this specific topic. The aim of the project was to fill this gap. Not only the legal background of the literary texts was to be examined, but also questions concerning the judicial regulation of everyday Roman life were studied. In addition to those academic questions pupils were requested to compare the ancient and modern legal systems. This volume includes the lecture given by Prof. Dr. C. Möller, a collection of sources to topics such as patria potestas, lex Aquilia, money and buy/exchange controversy, as well as reports on the whole project and on some of the school projects.

Diploma thesis deals with methods of communication and stylistic education at the elementary school, specifically in the second class. The main aim is to create a stack of methods for this subject which will be effectively applicable in practice. The task is divided into theoretical and empirical part. The theoretical one has six chapters. Five of them characterize notions connected to the topic, definitions, conception of communication and stylistic education in past and nowadays. They also submit principles, content and goal of this component. The sixth chapter presents different categorization described in scholarly literature. It compares described systems and it apprizes with available methods. The empirical part is dedicated to the stack of communication and stylistic education methods that is possible to use in specific lessons. It has been based on analysis of scientific literature, own class observation and it is complemented by innovative teaching methods. In the end of thesis we discuss about available material for teachers, the efficiency of created method, advantages of created stack and its usage in future.

The thesis is divided into theoretical and research part practical. The theoretical part focuses on the description and presentation of teaching methods and current trends used in teaching. A special chapter introduces the innovative methods that are currently used in teaching the Czech language at upper primary schools and the possibility of their practical application. The main aim of the research is to identify the attitude of the Czech language teachers at second level of elementary school to innovative teaching methods. The practical part consists of a research using quantitative research methodologies, implemented as the questionnaire survey.

The theoretical part of the diploma thesis summarizes the conception of the theory of Word species from several professional manuals of Czech grammar. It also deals with Language and language communication in the Framework education programme of basic education. This part also getting the terms like teaching methods, traditional teaching methods and innovative teaching methods. In practical part there are already processed innovative methods of teaching selected word species at the first stage of elementary school and their practical verification. It also describes the depiction of curriculum word species in selected Czech language textbooks for the first stage of the elementary school, which are also evaluated here.