This dissertation comprises two manuscripts formatted for publication, preceded by a brief introduction to the dissertation project. The first manuscript addresses the recent history and development of peer observation in the United States and synthesizes the body available peer observation scholarship. Five fundamental elements of peer observation (design, community, control, training, reflection) are put forth as a nexus at which meaningful and formative peer observation can be undertaken. A selection of empirically based methods for conducting peer observation is also presented. The second manuscript is a mixed-methods descriptive study of the five fundamentals of peer observation. Three academic departments at a large land-grant university were identified, via questionnaire, as having programs of peer observation that aligned with attributes of the five fundamentals. These academic departments participated in individual case studies designed to bring-about a description of the five fundamentals as they were and were not manifest in authentic university/college contexts. / Ph. D.

This master's thesis refers to the use of video as a teaching tool in the subject Didactics of Biology. It comprises two parts, one theoretical and another practical. The theoretical part charts the didactical and practical subjects taught at the Faculty of Education, Charles University in Prague, and deals with the use of video for the professional development of teachers. For the practical part, 8 lesson observation videos were recorded and placed on a newly created website (www.didaktikabiologievidea.cz). The observation videos were submitted to an analysis based on the 3A method and were used afterwards during the courses on Didactics of Biology. A questionnaire was carried out among the students of the teaching profession to evaluate the benefits of the videos for them. The questionnaire surveyed the motivation for studying Didactics of Biology, as well as the impact that these observation videos had on the performance of the teaching profession and the improvement of the teaching abilities. All above stated goals were accomplished in this work. Key words: lesson observation videos, didactics of biology, 3A, methodology, teaching profession, motivation, teaching abilities

En 2001, dans la foulée de la réforme scolaire, une deuxième génération de programmes d’études en danse a été implantée (Gouvernement du Québec, 2001, 2003, 2007). Alors que la représentation devant public est prescrite dans les programmes d’études pour le secondaire (Gouvernement du Québec, 2003, 2007), elle est quasi-absente du programme d’études pour le primaire (Gouvernement du Québec, 2001). De plus, il y a peu de recherches empiriques sur l’enseignement de la danse à l’école québécoise et aucune sur l’utilisation de la représentation devant public dans ce contexte. Or, les enseignants sont nombreux à y avoir recours de façon intuitive pour favoriser les apprentissages chez les élèves. C’est pourquoi, à la lumière de repères théoriques issus de modèles de la transposition didactique, du processus de création, des systèmes de pertinence et de la construction identitaire des enseignants de la danse en milieu scolaire, nous avons cherché à comprendre comment la représentation devant public est utilisée, en danse, au troisième cycle du primaire, à l’école québécoise. Pour ce faire, nous avons eu recours à l’observation, à la captation audio et aux entretiens pour collecter des données auprès de deux enseignantes en danse et de cinquante-quatre élèves du troisième cycle du primaire, pendant le processus de création de danses menant à la présentation devant un public. Nous avons ainsi pu dégager treize thèmes représentatifs de l’expérience vécue par ces enseignantes et ces élèves, ainsi qu’une ébauche de modèle du processus de préparation d’une représentation devant public en milieu scolaire. / In 2001, following the curriculum reform, a second generation of dance programs was implemented (Gouvernement du Québec, 2001, 2003, 2007). While performing in front of an audience is prescribed in the programs for secondary education (Gouvernement du Québec, 2003, 2007), it is almost absent from the program for primary education (Gouvernement du Québec, 2001). Furthermore, there is little empirical research in the field of in-school dance teaching in Quebec, and none tackle the use of performance is this context. However, many teachers use it intuitively to promote students’ learning. Thus, enlightened by theoretical marks from models of didactic transposition theory, the creative process, the relevance systems theory and the identity construction in dance teachers in the school environment, we aim at understanding how performance is implemented, in dance, in Quebec’s schools, for kids from 5th to 6th grade. To do so, we used observation, audio recording and interviews to collected data from two in-school dance teachers and fifty-four of their students from 5th to 6th grade, while they were creating dances which would be performed in front of an audience. We were then able to extract thirteen themes representing the teachers’ and students’ experience of creating dances to be performed in front of an audience, and we developed a draft of a model of the process of preparing a performance.