Sparti socialinio, ekonominio bei kultūrinio gyvenimo kaita kelia iššūkius Lietuvos švietimui. Ji neaplenkia ir pradinio ugdymo sistemos: įtakoja pradinio ugdymo specialybės studentų rengimą bei pradinio ugdymo pedagogų profesinę veiklą. Kad pedagogai gebėtų tenkinti visuomenės poreikius, sėkmingai ugdyti pradinių klasių moksleivius, yra itin svarbios pedagogų profesinės kompetencijos. Jas tyrę mokslininkai (Šalkauskis, 1992, Laužackas, 1999, Neifachas, 2006, Jurašaitė, 2006 ir kt) teigia, kad kompetentingi ir atsidavę savo darbui pedagogai- tai pagrindinė sąlyga siekiant ugdymo kokybės. Tyrimo objektas- Šiaulių universiteto Edukologijos fakulteto pradinio ugdymo specialybių studentų ir pradinio ugdymo pedagogų kompetencijos. Tyrimo tikslas- ištirti pradinio ugdymo specialybių studentų ir pedagogų profesines kompetencijas. / Rapid changes in social, economic and cultural life set new challenges to education in Lithuania. Primary education system is not left behind as well: preparation of primary education speciality students and professional activities of primary education educators are influenced. Professional competences of educators are very important so that educators could meet the needs of society, successfully educate pupils attending primary classes. Scientists who had been researching them (Šalkauskis, 1992, Laužackas, 1999, Neifachas, 2006, Jurašaitė, 2006, etc.) claim that competent educators who were devoted to their work were the major condition seeking for education quality. The Object of the Research- Competences of primary education speciality students of Faculty of Education of Šiauliai University and primary education educators. The Goal of the Research- to analyse professional competences of primary education speciality students and educators.

Darbe nagrinėjamas e.mokymosi elementų diegimas pradiniame ugdyme, pristatomas mišraus mokymosi modelis jaunesniojo amžiaus mokiniams. Pirmajame darbo skyriuje aptariama e.mokymosi bei mišraus mokymosi modelio samprata, analizuojama e.mokymosi priemonių pasiūla pradiniam ugdymui. Antrasis darbo skyrius skirtas tiriamajai veiklai apie e.mokymosi situaciją pradiniame ugdyme. Pateikiamos išvados bei rekomendacijos. Trečiajame skyriuje aprašoma projektinė dalis. Pristatomas suprojektuotas mišraus mokymosi aplinkos modelis pradinių klasių mokiniams, realizuota sąsaja tarp Impresio eJournal ir VMA Moodle. Tradicinėse pamokose naudojama elektroninė mokomoji medžiaga patalpinta eJournal aplinkoje, o savarankiškam mokinių mokymuisi pasirinkta VMA Moodle, nes ji yra atviro kodo plačiai taikoma Lietuvos švietimo įstaigose. Pristatomos schemos, diagramos, naudota programinė įranga e.mokymosi medžiagos rengimui. Paskutinė darbo dalis skirta mišraus mokymosi aplinkos vertinimui. Testavimo rezultatai parodė, jog aplinka pradinių klasių mokiniams suprojektuota tikslingai panaudojant e.mokymosi elementus, yra poreikis ją nuolat atnaujinti gerinant ugdymo kokybę. / This paper considers the implementation of elements of e-learning in primary education and introduces the model of blended learning for younger age of the students. The first chapter deals with the model concept of e-learning and blended learning, and with the analysis of e-learning tools’ supply for primary education. The second chapter covers the work of the research activity of the situation of e-learning in primary education. This chapter also involves conclusions and recommendations. The third chapter describes the designed part. It is introduced designed model of blended learning environment that is used for the students of primary education, also it is implemented an interface between Impresio eJournal and virtual learning environment Moodle. The e-learning material, which is used in traditional class, is hosted in eJournal environment, and it is chosen virtual learning environment Moodle for students’ self-learning because Moodle is open source system that is used widely in the educational institutions of Lithuania. This chapter also introduces charts and diagrams, and the software that is used for the preparation of the material. The last part is devoted to an assessment of the blended learning environment. The testing results showed that the environment is designed for the students’ of primary education by using the elements of e-learning purposeful, and also there is a need to upgrade it constantly in order to improve the quality of education.

The Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, has stated that “the Annual National Assessment (ANA) results for 2011 are an indication that the education sector needs to focus even more on its core functions of quality learning and teaching”. ANA is the standardized national assessments for Languages and Mathematics in the intermediate phase (Grades 4-6) and in Literacy and Numeracy for the foundation phase (Grades One to Three). The Grade Six national average in Languages was 28%. Of these grade six learners, only 30% achieved above 35%. The Minister attributed these results to “an under-emphasis on the development of the basic skills for reading and writing”. In the school studied in this dissertation, the average percentage achievement in the ANA for learners from Grade Three to Grade Six was between 18% and 23% for languages. This data revealed that learners lacked basic writing skills. This dissertation explores and describes the experiences of three educators when teaching functional and creative writing. Data was collected through in-depth interviews. The three educators teach English at the school. The school is situated in a low socio-economic area of Cato Manor, near Durban. The findings indicate the need for educators to be specialists in the field of Languages and Mathematics in order to improve experiences of teaching and learning. Secondly, lack of sufficient resources, such as lack of the workbooks introduced by the Department of Education, hinder the teaching and learning process. Sustainability of professional development and teambuilding exercises leads to effective teaching and learning. Dewey (1933) revealed that reflection on experience leads to learning. Whole school reflective practice will improve experiences of the teaching and learning of creative and functional writing. There is a close link between challenges and experiences. The researcher in this study is working from the perspective that all teachers have positive and negative experiences. On the other hand not all teachers face challenges when teaching functional and creative writing. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

The performance of children in writing is a cause for concern: national testing at age 11 indicates that too many pupils underachieve in writing. The purpose of the project outlined in this thesis was to design a computer tool which would assist children aged between 7 and 11 years achieve a higher standard in narrative writing. The project involved four phases of research. First, a review of the research literature and government documents relating to literacy was undertaken, to establish differences between good and poor narrative writing, differences in the approach of mature and beginner writers, the natural course of children's writing development, effective methods of teaching, ways of assessing writing quality and approaches adopted by other computer applications. Secondly, a computer tool which scaffolds the narrative writing process was designed. HARRY delivers conversational prompts, stored in Microsoft Access databases, in a conference like-sitaation. The tool acts as a bridge between the writing approach adopted by beginner writers and the mature approach whilst demonstrating features of successful narrative writing. Thirdly, a method for automating the assessment of children's written grammar was devised. CHECK TEXT, a computer utility program, provides quantitative analyses of specific grammar features, facilitating comparisons between examples of stories written at Key Stage 2. Both applications use ASP and HTML files, for implementation on a web server. Finally, two small scale studies were conducted in a primary school - the first to investigate the effects of HARRY's assistance upon children's writing performance and behaviour, and the second to investigate the effects of using the system upon children's subsequent writing performance. The first study showed that when supported by HARRY, the children adopted a more reflective writing approach and they produced more successful narratives, provided they followed the advice. The second study showed that HARRY can accelerate children's writing development - most of the children wrote subsequently better stories and they all felt that they had improved. All the children liked using the tool and thought that HARRY made writing stories easier. HARRY's limitations are indicated, and potential developments and further investigations are proposed.

The purpose of the study was to explore in what ways the principles of Multiple Intelligences Theory (MIT) are implemented on the 1st graders&rsquo / Literacy Education (LE), to find out the effects of the implementation on 1st graders&rsquo / tendency towards the course and their teachers / on the 1st grade teachers&rsquo / tendency towards their students / on the 1st graders&rsquo / literacy achievement / on improvements of the 1st graders&rsquo / multiple intelligences. The qualitative data were gathered through interviews, observations, checklist form, students&rsquo / drawings and writings about the LE, students&rsquo / portfolios, photographs, written document and Teele Inventory for Multiple Intelligences. Descriptive and content analysis were done. The study was conducted during the 2003-2004 academic year. Based on purposeful sampling methods, the participants of the study was comprised of one 1st grade classroom with 26 students, five 1st grade teachers from BaSkent University College AySe Abla Schools and four 1st grade teachers from Gazi University Foundation Private Primary School. The results of the data analysis indicated that the teachers&rsquo / main focus was on preparing learning activities while planning the LE lesson based on the principles of MIT. They had difficulty in preparing and implementing the learning activities for naturalistic intelligence. However, they prepared and implemented learning activities for linguistic, interpersonal, bodily-kinesthetic, visual-spatial intelligences easily. Also, the students willingly participated in the learning activities that were based on bodily-kinesthetic, visual-spatial, musical-rhythmic, interpersonal intelligences / that were based on their most dominant intelligences and that activated more than one intelligence. Also, when the students who faced difficulty throughout the LE were helped by using the way based on the students&rsquo / dominant intelligences, they overcame the difficulties. Besides, most of the teachers knew various assessment methods based on the principles of MIT, but they rarely used them. Moreover, the teachers&rsquo / views about the differences and similarities between the LE based on MIT and that based on traditional methods were different from each other. The effects of the implementation on the 1st graders&rsquo / tendency towards the course, their teachers / on the 1st grade teachers&rsquo / tendency towards their students / on the 1st graders&rsquo / LE achievement were positive. Also, some variations were observed in terms of the students&rsquo / multiple intelligences throughout the LE.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of multiple representations-based instruction on seventh grade students&amp / #8217 / algebra performance, attitudes toward mathematics, and representation preference compared to the conventional teaching. Moreover, it was aimed to find out how students use multiple representations in algebraic situations and the reasons of preferring certain modes of representations. The study was conducted in four seventh grade classes from two public schools in Ankara in the 2003-2004 academic year, lasting eight weeks. For assessing algebra performance, three instruments called algebra achievement test, translations among representations skill test, and Chelsea diagnostic algebra test were used. To assess students&amp / #8217 / attitudes towards mathematics, mathematics attitude scale, to determine students&amp / #8217 / representation preferences before and after the treatment representation preference inventory were administered. Furthermore, as qualitative data, interview task protocol was prepared and interviews were carried out with the students from experimental and control classes. The quantitative analyses were conducted by using multivariate covariance analyses. The results revealed that multiple representations-based instruction had a significant effect on students&amp / #8217 / algebra performance compared to the conventional teaching. There was no significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of their attitudes towards mathematics. The chi square analyses revealed that treatment made a significant contribution to the students&amp / #8217 / representation preferences. The results of the interviews indicated that the experimental group students used variety of representations for algebra problems and were capable of using the most appropriate one for the given algebra problems.

The purpose of this comparative case study was to explore English language teachers&rsquo / beliefs, assumptions and knowledge about learner-centeredness and the European Language Portfolio (ELP) and to see how they implement their understanding of learner-centeredness in their classrooms. The study was conducted at one public and one private primary school in Istanbul. Focus group interviews were held in each school with thirteen teachers of English and then individual interviews and observations were carried out with four volunteer teachers during the spring semester, 2004-2005. The four participant teachers were observed in their classrooms ten times along with before- and after-class observation reflections facilitated by the researcher. A follow up interview was conducted with each teacher at the end of the observations. In addition, these observations were accompanied by document analysis. Data from the interviews and before- and after-class reflections were inductively analyzed. For the analysis of observation data and documents, a learner-centered data analysis model was constructed by the researcher. The results of the data indicated that there were differences between public school teachers and private school teachers in the way they defined and implemented learner-centeredness. Lack of knowledge about the ELP was observed in both public and private school teachers. Results revealed that there is a need for in-service training programs that will cater for the needs of public school teachers if the aim is to implement learner-centeredness in schools.

Although geometry is important area in the mathematics curriculum, evidence from numerous research studies makes it clear that many students&rsquo / geometrical understanding is not at the level they need or are expected to be, especially in Turkey. The project-based learning approach offered to be one of the most effective learning tools to provide for the students an environment in which they can reach their own conclusions instead of just lecturing them, in the new mathematics curriculum in Turkey. In this study, the effects of project-based learning on the 7th grade students&rsquo / achievement in geometry and these students&rsquo / attitude towards geometry were examined. This study was conducted with a group of 24 seventh grade students in the Bilim College during the last five weeks of the 2004-2005 academic year. One group pre-test and post-test design was used. The instruments used for data collection are as follows: polygon, circle and cylinder achievement tests, geometry attitude scales, student survey forms, teacher&rsquo / s observation scales, and interviews. The data obtained was analyzed by a paired-sample t-test. The results from achievement tests and attitude scale indicated that project-based learning increased students&rsquo / geometry achievement and attitudes toward geometry, respectively. The student survey form and interview responses of the students, teacher&rsquo / s observation form responses of the teachers and the observation of the researcher also suggest that project-based learning increased their achievement in and their attitudes towards geometry as a result of making their own models, dealing with authentic daily life problems, determining the dimensions and the areas by trial and error. Moreover, this study helped grasp the attention and increase the desire to study particularly of those students with high capacity who performed unsatisfactorily due to their inclination to get distracted during classes. Providing those who were easily distracted and used every chance to disrupt the lectures with the opportunity to engage in something they could see as their own project brought about favorable results.

The purpose of the study was to predict mathematics achievement with self-confidence in mathematics, actual work effort in mathematics, and perceived importance of work effort in mathematics, and to investigate the gender differences with respect to those variables. The study was conducted in Ankara, Turkey with 157 eight-grade students (87 boys, 70 girls) from a private school. The following measuring instruments were used: (1) Confidence in Learning Mathematics Scale, (2) Effort as a Mediator of Mathematical Ability Scale, (3) Homeworks and Mathematics Achievement Tests. The validity and reliability of the measuring instruments were tested by the researcher. The data of this study were analyzed by using Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). The results of the study indicated that (1) the combined effect of three predictor variables (Self-confidence, actual work effort, and perceived Importance of work effort) on students&rsquo / mathematics achievement was significant (R2adj=0.543). Girls&rsquo / mathematics achievement was significantly (R2adj=0.531) affected by three predictor variables (Self-confidence, actual work effort, and perceived importance of work effort). Whereas for boys, two variables (Self-confidence and actual work effort) were the predictors which had a significant combined effect on mathematics achievement (R2adj=0.539). (2) There was no statistically significant mean difference between girls and boys with respect to self-confidence, actual work effort, perceived importance of work effort and mathematics achievement.

Design technology is a poorly understood aspect of educational practice, particularly as it applies in the primary school classroom. In a number of countries around the world the implementation of design technology has met with difficulties as it applies to educational practice. In Australia, this curriculum area is a relatively recent addition to classroom programs of study, and it is crucial that a sound understanding of the subject and its specific characteristics is developed to assist in its effective implementation. In this research a case study of a single primary school classroom was undertaken with a view to identifying issues that may have impeded or facilitated the effective implementation of design technology in such a context. The classroom experiences of the teacher and her students were examined in detail to ascertain any insights into design technology curriculum implementation and practice, particularly as it applies to the primary school environment. The research identified nine key assertions relating to the practices of this teacher and her students. These assertions were developed and refined throughout the data collection to explain the observed classroom activity. Linkages between previous research and these assertions were utilised to develop a discussion that broadly identifies key issues that may impact on the effective implementation of design technology, as well as addressing broader conceptual issues associated with the subject area. The concept of a contingent approach to design is proposed as a means to explain classroom behaviour by students, and is allied to the concept of a 'field of possibility' and the interpretation of artefacts through a narrative approach. These key concepts combine to develop a structure through which classroom activity may be interpreted by teachers in a manner grounded in student behaviour. A model for interpreting technology activity in the classroom is also developed. The research, therefore, develops present understanding through the observations of actual classroom activity. Furthermore, it presents new ways of conceptualising design technology that may assist in the progression of the curriculum area by academic and classroom professionals in a manner that is grounded in the reality of the classroom experience.