The aim of this thesis is to get a better understanding of the role of practical work in physics education in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The Lao PDR is one of least developed countries in the world with a weak base for science, and poor market opportunities for science graduates. The rapidly expanding educational system has many problems concerning quality of the infrastructure and staff competence. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used in the study in order to assure reliability of the results. Data was collected through questionnaires, interviews, video-recordings, and my own ethnographic experiences of working in the Lao educational system for more than thirty years. The study was informed and results analysed with help of curriculum perspective and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). The findings show that Lao physics education curriculum at all levels is dominated by very traditional forms of teaching with an almost total absence of practical. Official curricular documents have statements prescribing teachers to do practical work in high school and university courses. However, few institutions have functioning equipment and skilled teachers for organising practical activities. Therefore, the majority of Lao students come to university and even can finish university without experience of practical work in physics. This shows the gap that exists between intended and implemented curricula. The majority of the students understand the importance of having practical activities in physics. However, after being exposed to laboratory experiments in an introductory physics course, they expressed criticism about the quality of instruction and the process of the practical work organisation. The laboratory group work analysis showed that discussions were mainly focused on understanding the experimental procedures, manipulating equipment, and collecting data for the report rather than on the physics content (object of activity, in CHAT terms). Based on the research results, it is possible to suggest that a systemic approach is needed to stimulate the development of a new practical work culture in schools and universities. This approach should include training and incentives for science teachers, development of assessment strategies including practical work, maintenance structures for physics equipment, and technical support for the organisation of demonstrations and laboratory exercises.

This thesis explored the introduction of a new physics curriculum in New Zealand secondary schools. It was part of a nationwide overhaul of the whole school curriculum from primary to secondary schools, initiated in the early 1990s. The study of curriculum change is inextricably woven with teacher change, as the teacher is seen as central to any real change in curricula in the classroom. Some theories of teacher change are reviewed here and synthesised into a list of criteria relevant to bringing about effective change in teachers and their practices. A sociocultural perspective emerged as being a useful theoretical approach in analysing and explaining these processes of curriculum change and teacher change because it takes a holistic approach that deals with 'people, places and things' and the discourses involved therein. In particular, Wenger's sociocultural theory was used to study the introduction of a new senior physics curriculum. His terms 'reification' and 'participation' were seen to apply to this research: the curriculum document was taken to be a reified communication artifact, and 'participation' is involved in every stage of its development and implementation. In the context of this theorising, data was procured from in-depth interviews with the three curriculum writers and ten physics teachers in and around a provincial city in New Zealand. The teachers were interviewed three times over a period of three years: before, during and after the first year of implementation; namely 1996 to 1998. The interviews showed that most of these ten physics teachers did not undergo any significant change in their teaching because of the introduction of 'Physics in the New Zealand Curriculum'. The reasons or barriers identified, such as lack of guidelines and clarity, and contentment with their own existing practice, were aligned with factors that have been identified by other researchers as important influences on teachers undergoing change, such as clarity of change and need for change. Three key elements were identified from these issues emerging from the data as necessary conditions or resources for teacher change: knowledge, support and time. In the present study, there was very limited knowledge held by the teachers about 'what', 'how' and 'why' changes were being implemented. Secondly, there was little social and system support for the curriculum change. Finally, teachers had little time to focus on and reflect on the change. A model of curriculum change, incorporating Wenger's notions of 'reification' and 'participation', but extended to include 'dereification' emerged from the data. 'Dereification' highlighted an important stage whereby the curriculum document as an artifact, needed to be incorporated into the plane of lived experiences of teachers. The introduction of the term 'dereification' supported the development of this model of curriculum change incorporating teacher change whereby the model outlined processes of reification and dereification involved in a mandated curriculum change. The model of curriculum change developed here also contained a screen that symbolises the lack of intersubjective linkage between teachers and the designers of the new curriculum. There was no follow-up teachers' guide, not enough explanation of the curriculum document, no direct communication between the writers and the teachers, and insufficient professional development for the teachers using it. The research findings led to three propositions: the curriculum document as a key artifact was not sufficient to effect a curriculum change; the lack of transparency of the curriculum document development was a constraint on teachers' commitment to the curriculum change; and the lack of support for teachers in their dereification of the curriculum document impacted negatively on curriculum change. The key elements of knowledge, support and time identified as crucial for teachers to effect any real change in their practice are critical at different points in the model of curriculum change. It is suggested that using such an interplay between the factors underlying teacher change and the sociocultural analysis of curriculum change, might enable more pro-active intervention at the various stages of the process of a curriculum change to effect a real change.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:05:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AndersonGG_DISSERT.pdf: 1735529 bytes, checksum: f6584cec2c53f7b51f5134f7616dfb6f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-13 / A disciplina F?sica do Meio Ambiente (FMA) foi criada em 1976 no Departamento de F?sica Te?rica e Experimental da UFRN e, atualmente, faz parte da estrutura curricular do curso de Licenciatura em F?sica da UFRN e ? de car?ter obrigat?rio. Tal car?ter se justifica, dentre outros motivos, pelo fato de que esta disciplina representa uma boa oportunidade dos licenciandos estudarem de que forma a F?sica pode contribuir para a compreens?o de fen?menos relativos ao nosso Meio Ambiente, sejam eles relacionados ?s atividades humanas ou aos fen?menos naturais propriamente ditos e que, de uma forma ou de outra, afeta a sociedade. O nosso trabalho de pesquisa teve como objetivo principal elaborar um novo programa de ensino para a disciplina de F?sica do Meio Ambiente adequado ?s necessidades da educa??o cient?fica para o s?culo XXI. A pesquisa foi conduzida inicialmente com um levantamento hist?rico da disciplina desde sua origem no Departamento de F?sica ate os dias atuais, analise dos Projetos Pedag?gicos do curso de Licenciatura em F?sica da UFRN, revis?o bibliogr?fica sobre as defini??es de compet?ncias e habilidades em um contexto de ensino e segundo o pensamento de vanguarda nesse campo de pesquisa, acompanhamento do curso durante um semestre atrav?s de aulas observacionais, aplica??o de question?rio para a coleta de dados e an?lise de alguns livros did?ticos de F?sica do Ensino M?dio. A partir do perfil ou modelo profissional para o licenciado em F?sica da UFRN definimos os objetivos gerais para a disciplina de FMA em termos de habilidades gerais relacionadas com as atividades que um futuro professor de F?sica ir? desempenhar no seu dia a dia. O nosso programa de ensino foi pensado no sentido de introduzir conte?dos de did?tica espec?fica ao longo da disciplina, isto ?, familiarizar os professores em forma??o com investiga??o e inova??o did?ticas voltadas para o ensino de temas que envolvam a conex?o entre F?sica e Meio Ambiente. Como resultado de nossa pesquisa foi proposto um novo Programa de Ensino para FMA que pode ser ?til aos futuros professores desta disciplina e foi elaborado segundo uma metodologia de organiza??o cient?fica do processo ensino

The thesis is divided into three parts. The first one focuses on both innovation of education and educational system in selected European countries in general. The second one deals with theoretical processing of Educational framework programme and with the way teachers and pupils react to it. The third one includes development of Educational framework programme for a particular school - Scholastic educational programme with description of basic school characteristic and characteristic of the subject of physics. It also includes a proposal of physics curriculum for 6th - 9th grade and one elaborated example of specific theme for demonstrational purposes.

Practical work plays an important role in the teaching and learning of science. This study was conducted to determine whether the methods and practices employed by physics teachers in Zimbabwe as required by the Zimbabwe School Examination Council (Zimsec) ‘A’ Level Physics Syllabus (9188) on the assessment of practical work skills assist the students in developing other crucial practical skills like manipulation, observational, planning and designing apart from presentation and analysis skills. The convergent parallel mixed methods approach of Creswell (2014) was used to collect, present and analyse data. Quantitative data were collected using the structured observation schedule to get assessment marks for a student using both methods of indirect assessment of practical work skills (IAPS) and direct assessment of practical work skills DAPS for the same practical work activity. Qualitative data were obtained from interviews with the physics teachers and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with the ‘A’ level physics students. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) of the percentage rating of marks obtained by the student as observed during practical work sessions compared to the obtained mark from the submitted practical work report for the same practical work activity was calculated and found to be 0.135 with a Pvalue of 0.432. Both the narrative approach (Creswell, 2007) and conservation analyses (Gray, 2011) were used to present and analyse data from focus group discussions with ‘A’ level physics students and interviews with the physics teachers. The major finding from the analysis of quantitative data was that there was no association between the grades obtained by the student from DAPS as compared to IAPS for the same practical work activity as the value of r was found to be very low. This implied that passing practical work through the assessment of practical work report did not necessarily mean that the student could have mastered the basic skills of manipulation, designing, observation and planning. The views of physics teachers and students who participated in the study were that, the current method of practical work assessment used by Zimsec is not relevant in encouraging students to develop a variety of practical work skills as students concentrated on mastering presentation and analysis skills in order to pass practical work examinations. The study recommends that an alternative model of practical work assessment that integrates both DAPS and IAPS should be used to ensure valid and reliable assessment of practical work skills of ‘A’ level physics students. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2017-06-14T20:42:36Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Alexandre Afranio Hokama Silva.pdf: 1694262 bytes, checksum: c51ea8dc05cf5272dc1c2a4dfb164c67 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-14T20:42:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alexandre Afranio Hokama Silva.pdf: 1694262 bytes, checksum: c51ea8dc05cf5272dc1c2a4dfb164c67 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-31 / The present investigation has as object of study the curriculum of the discipline of physics of the Secretariat of Education of the State of São Paulo (SEE-SP). The curriculum in question was implemented since 2008, as part of a broad set of measures aimed at improving the quality of education. Our objective was to know how a group of teachers of the state education network of São Paulo understand the demands implemented by the curriculum in their work. To achieve this objective, our initial concern was to map the recent production of curriculum policies. After that we map the physics curriculum proposals that have been a reference for the teachers of the state education network of São Paulo, specifically those of the Coordination of Studies and Pedagogical Norms (CENP), the Group of Reprocessing of Physical Education (GREF) and the National Curriculum Parameters (PCN +) . The analysis of the document shows that the CENP proposal approaches a traditional concept of curriculum. The GREF proposal and the PCN+ incorporate aspects that bring them closer to critical and post-critical curriculum theories. The analysis of the document that underlies the SEE-SP physics curriculum reveals the presence of aspects of all previous proposals. To verify how teachers understand these documents and how their work is impacted, we conducted semi-structured interviews with a group of teachers, who were selected by the criterion of availability. The interview was divided into four blocks and dealt with the training, career, work and practice in the classroom. Teachers' statements emphasize the criticism that they do not feel involved in curriculum development, that the peculiarities of school contexts are disregarded, which generates a large gap between what the curriculum aims for and the conditions of the students. They also affirm the absence of didactic resources and inadequate infrastructure. / Esta investigación tiene como objeto de búsqueda el plan de estudios de la materia de física del Departamiento de Educación del Estado de San Pablo (SEE-SP). El plan de estudios mencionado se puso en práctica a partir de 2008, como parte de un amplio conjunto de medidas destinadas a mejorar la calidad de la educación. Nuestro objetivo fue aprender cómo un grupo de maestros de la red de la enseñanza del Estado de San Pablo entienden las exigencias impuestas por el plan de estudios a su trabajo. Para lograr este propósito, nuestra preocupación inicial fue mapear la producción reciente acerca de las políticas del plan de estudios. En la secuencia hemos mapeado las propuestas del plan de estudios de física que han sido referencia a los maestros de la red de la enseñanza de San Pablo, en concreto las propuestas de la Coordinación de Estudios y Normas Pedagógicas (CENP), del Grupo de Rediseño de la Enseñanza de la Física (GREF) y Los Parámetros Curriculares Nacionales (PCN+). El análisis documental hecha muestra que la propuesta de CENP se aproxima a una concepción tradicional de un plan de estudios. La propuesta de la GREF y los PCN+ incorporan aspectos de aproximación a las teorías críticas y pos-críticas del plan de estudios. El análisis del documento que subyace en el plan de estudios de la física de la SEE-SP revela la presencia de todos los aspectos de las propuestas anteriores. Para ver cómo los maestros entienden estos documentos y cómo se ve afectado su trabajo, se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a un grupo de docentes que fueron seleccionados por el criterio de la disponibilidad. La entrevista se dividió en cuatro bloques y se ocupó de la formación, la carrera, el trabajo y la práctica en el aula. Los testimonios de los maestros hacen hincapié en la crítica al hecho de que ellos no se sienten participantes en el desarrollo curricular, que no están considerando las particularidades de los contextos escolares, lo que genera gran brecha entre lo que el plan de estudios tiene como objetivo y las condiciones de los estudiantes. También indican la falta de recursos para la enseñanza y la infraestructura inadecuada. / A presente investigação tem como objeto de estudo o currículo da disciplina de física da Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo (SEE-SP). O currículo em tela, foi implementado a partir de 2008, como parte de um amplo conjunto de medidas que visavam melhorar a qualidade da educação. Nosso objetivo foi saber como um grupo de professores da rede estadual de ensino de São Paulo compreende as demandas postas pelo currículo e como essa compreensão é percebida, por eles, como impactante em seu trabalho. Para alcançar esse intento, nossa preocupação inicial foi mapear a recente produção acerca das políticas curriculares e sua implementação. Na sequência fizemos o mapeamento das propostas curriculares de física que tem sido referência para os professores da rede estadual de ensino de São Paulo, especificamente as da Coordenadoria de Estudos e Normas Pedagógicas (CENP), do Grupo de Reelaboração do Ensino de Física (GREF) e as orientações complementares aos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (PCN+). A análise documental realizada mostra que a proposta da CENP se aproxima de uma concepção tradicional de currículo. A proposta do GREF e os PCN+ incorporam aspectos que os aproximam das teorias críticas e pós críticas de currículo. A análise do documento que fundamenta o currículo de física da SEE-SP revela a presença de aspectos de todas as propostas anteriores. Para verificar como os professores compreendem esses documentos e como seu trabalho é impactado, realizamos um conjunto de entrevistas com um grupo de professores, que foram selecionados pelo critério da disponibilidade. A entrevista foi dividida em quatro blocos e tratou de sua formação, carreira, trabalho e prática em sala de aula. O depoimento dos professores externa a crítica ao fato de não se sentirem participantes da elaboração do currículo. Por essa razão, argumentam que são desconsideradas as peculiaridades dos contextos escolares, gerando enorme distância entre o que o currículo almeja e as condições dos alunos. Afirmam também que o fracasso deriva da ausência de recursos didáticos e de infraestrutura adequada.