A lack of skill in particular component skills has been hypothesised as a cause of learning delays in children and this has been found to be the case in previous studies of reading delays (Smith, 2007; Williams, 2002). The present study explored this hypothesis with regard to the development of mathematical skills. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the delays of children who are delayed in mathematical development are in part due to a lack of skill, particularly a lack of fluency, in particular component skills. Performance on several component skills was investigated: The ability to read and write numbers, to recognise quantities and equality, and to perform simple and more complex operations. Performance of each of these skills was compared in two groups of Year 4 and 5 (8-9 year old) children: a group of typically developing children and a group of children showing delayed development in mathematics. Children whose mathematical development was delayed were likely to be less fluent at performing each of the component skills tested than children whose development was typical. Additionally, children whose development was delayed were more likely to have low levels of fluency in several of the component skills. The results of the present study highlight the importance of building component mathematical skills to fluency.

There has been a noticeable swing towards school pupils being driven to and from school, and away from active modes like walking and cycling, in recent decades. This has had a number of side effects. Less reliance on active modes of transport has been a contributing factor in the reducing levels of physical activity for school children. Traffic volumes associated with school trips have also increased. This increased has tended to contribute to an increase in traffic congestion, adverse environmental effects and reductions in levels of sustainability. School trip traffic contributes specifically to congestion at school gates. Schools have been identified as having significant effects on the transportation system adjacent to them. Schools which seek Resource Consents for new or changed activities are often being required to take measures to mitigate their adverse effects The purpose of this study is to explore the factors contributing to primary school pupils' travel choices. This will help to identify travel choice patterns which may, in turn, be useful in developing policies and planning initiatives which contribute to achieving an efficient and sustainable transport system. A range of literature relevant to school and general commuting travel demand was reviewed. A case study involving the pupils of twenty two Christchurch primary schools was carried out. Pupils and their parents were surveyed to establish mode choices and the factors influencing those choices. The study found that between 55% and 60% of pupils surveyed travel to and from school by car. 30% to 35% walk or scooter, and 5% to 7% cycle. This compares with 34% travelling by car in the late 1980s. In addition, a greater proportion of those pupils who walk, scooter or cycle to school are accompanied by an adult than in the past. The results of the study also suggested that School Travel Plans, when combined with the energy and commitment to implement them can have a significant effect on school travel choices. As part of the case study, parents were asked to rank the importance of a number of factors which could influence choices regarding their children's school travel. The responses from parents identified safety concerns, regarding both road and personal safety, as the major factor behind decisions regarding their children's travel choices. Time constraints coupled with the complexity of travel requirements of many families were identified as significant factors. Multinomial Logit Models for both mode choice and pupils travel independence were then produced for both the journey to and from school. These models were based on the results of the case study. The models produced indicate that, at a school level, there is a correlation between increasing school roll and an increasing proportion of pupils travelling by car. A slight negative correlation between school decile and car usage was also indicated. This is contrary to the normally accepted understanding that in most transport situations there is a positive correlation between increasing affluence and car usage. Superior model results were obtained at a disaggregated individual level, using nine variables relating to the school, the neighbourhood, and the home, than the results obtained using the school based variables of. However, it is not considered that the effort required to obtain information on the additional variables is justified when estimating mode choices of pupils at an individual school. It is therefore recommended that a model using Decile, Average Age, and School Roll variables be used to estimate mode choices at an individual school. At a family level, there was a strong positive correlation between distance from school, age of the pupils, and the number of major roads between school and home, and car usage. It became apparent that the decisions made regarding children's school travel are very complex. Families juggle a number of factors, many of which are in conflict with one another. For example a desire to care for the environment may be in conflict with the demand to get the children to school, and get to work on time. This complex interrelationship between factors has resulted in some instances where normally accepted "Rules of Thumb", such as the understanding that increased car usage is generally associated with increasing wealth, do not appear to be applicable to school travel. The complexity of interrelationships has further meant that it has not been possible to quantify the impact of any one factor on its own.

Despite considerable expenditure by school systems on ICT in terms of hardware, software, and related professional development programs, the impact on classroom practice remains disappointing to many. Current models of teacher professional learning in ICT appear to have had minimal impact. Based in the interpretative paradigm, this thesis describes the experience of the participants in a unique professional development program in which students in Grades 3 and 4 mentored teachers in their school in the use of ICT. The study was undertaken in two schools in Melbourne, Australia, and involved the professional development of teachers in the use of digital cameras and related software. Following their initial training with the researcher in one school and a focus teacher in another, the children worked in pairs to conduct three semi-structured sessions with a teacher, mentoring them in the use of the technology. The children were also available to the teachers for further consultation or assistance. It was intended that the mentoring program would enhance teachers’ knowledge of the technology and also their classroom practice. This thesis reports the benefits of student mentors in ICT as seen by teacher mentees involved in the project. In particular, the focus of this study is on the teachers’ perceived effect of the student mentoring approach to professional development in relation to their skills and confidence with ICT, their classroom practice with ICT and their recognition of other values inherent in the program. Data were collected throughout the project in the form of surveys, interviews, observations and student and teacher journals. Using NVivo, these data were analysed into themes to ascertain teachers’ reported benefits of the program in relation to their skills, confidence and classroom practice with ICT. Findings of the project included the improvement in teachers’ skills and confidence and an impact on their thinking and practices with technology in the classroom. As well as these intended outcomes, teachers also reported a greater knowledge of their personal learning preferences, which influenced the way they saw the children’s learning and therefore their classroom practice. Child mentors flourished in the mentoring relationships, showing their prowess in mentoring teachers with ICT, with several surprising their teachers with their capabilities. Overall, the teachers were very positive about the mentoring experience and the influence it had on their confidence, skills and classroom practice. This study showed the potential impact of children as mentors of teachers in ICT, and offers a model for consideration by schools and school systems in the way in which they approach professional learning in ICT of their teachers.

I november 2022 släpptes ChatGPT fritt på marknaden, och plötsligt förändrades synen på och kunskapen om artificiell intelligens! Syftet med studien är att synliggöra vilka olika uppfattningar elever på mellanstadiet har om artificiell intelligens (AI). Utifrån en fenomenografisk ansats har 16 mellanstadieelever, på två olika skolor, intervjuats i grupper om fyra vid två tillfällen. Mellan intervjutillfällena har i klasserna genomförts ett riktat undervisningsupplägg om AI och etik, hämtat från Mittuniversitetet. Syftet var att undersöka om elevernas uppfattningar förändrats av en sådan insats i undervisningen. Undersökningen visade att elever främst framställer AI på två olika sätt, AI beskrivs av eleverna som ett fysiskt ting, exempelvis en robot, eller så tillskriver eleverna AI mänskliga egenskaper. Dock visade undersökningen att eleverna bitvis har svårt att definiera vad AI faktiskt är och var AI finns. Resultatet visade också att eleverna kunde se både för- och nackdelar med AI och användande därav, både för den enskilde individen och för samhället i stort. Resultatet visade anmärkningsvärt liten förändring av elevernas uppfattningar mellan för- och efterintervju. Slutsatsen blev att elever har uppfattningar om vad AI är men att den inte alltid är verklighetsförankrad till exempel att man på sikt skulle kunna slippa gå i skolan för att AI löste allt. Detta kan ha med bristande kunskap att göra. / In November 2022, ChatGPT was released on the market, and suddenly the view and knowledge of artificial intelligence was drastically changed. The purpose of this study is to show different perceptions of artificial intelligence among primary school students. Based on a phenomenographic approach, 16 primary school students, at two different schools, were interviewed in groups of four on two different occasions. Between the interview sessions, a teaching sequence focusing on AI ethics, created by Mittuniversitetet, was carried out in the classes. The purpose was to investigate whether the students’ perceptions changed because of the participation in a focused teaching sequence. The study showed that students mainly describe AI in two different ways. AI was described by the students as a physical thing, for example a robot, or the students gave human characteristics to AI. However, the study showed that students sometimes find it difficult to define what AI actually is and where AI is found. The result also showed that the students could see both positive and negative aspects of AI and the use thereof, both for the individual and for the greater society. The result showed remarkably little change in the student’ perceptions between the pre- and post-interviews. The conclusion was that students have ideas about what AI is, but it is not always rooted in reality, for example that in the future you wouldn’t have to go to school because AI would fix everything for you. This may have to do with lack of knowledge.

The purpose of this study was to assess whether guided practice is more effective than no guided practice (1) in fifth and sixth grade classrooms, (2) in fifth and sixth grade social studies classrooms and fifth and sixth grade science classrooms, and (3) in science classrooms and social studies classrooms. In this experimental study, all fifth and sixth grade students in a small school district in north Texas were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and two control groups in each grade. Over the course of one month two teachers who had previously been trained in the use of guided practice procedures taught the experimental groups in each grade, using, extensive guided practice. Two other teachers taught the control groups in each grade without the use of guided practice. Students in both groups were administered a pretest before beginning each of two chapters in each textbook, while a posttest was administered after the study of each chapter. The analysis and interpretation of data yielded the conclusions that the use of guided practice in classes can be expected to result in higher student achievement than in classes using little or no guided practice in the following areas: science classes, social studies classes, sixth grade classes in general, fifth grade classes in general, fifth grade science classes, and fifth grade social studies classes. The use of guided practice did not result in significant gains in student achievement in sixth grade science classes and sixth grade social studies classes when compared with classes which used little or no guided practice.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This qualitative case study examined the extent to which learning styles were used by teachers in four seventh and eighth grade social studies classrooms in a large suburban north Texas junior high school. The conclusions were as follows: 1) The environment on the junior high level did not afford the flexibility found in the elementary classroom. The changing of students, teachers, and the multi-purpose use of rooms did not afford flexibility of light, temperature, sound, and design preference. 2) The physical and the psychological categories had elements within each category that overlapped. A right brain activity closely aligned to a tactile/kinesthetic activity. A parallel between physical-mobility and psychological-global was noted, as well as a pattern between the global and the tactile/kinesthetic projects. 3) The split lunch period created problems for the global, kinesthetic, impulsive students. The academic environment was interrupted for a thirty minute period; students had to re-acclimate to a more analytic environment after lunch. 4) Each teacher alternated between primary style and secondary and tertiary styles. This mediation ability enabled each teacher to use all styles in lessons the researcher observed. 5) Abstract random and concrete random teachers did more group and team teaching than concrete sequential and abstract sequential teachers. Further, dominant sequential ordering in a teacher limited random activities. Whereas, dominant random ordering in a teacher limited sequential ordering activities. Both groups of teachers experienced teacher burnout when forced out of their primary style. 6) It was easier for those teachers whose primary and secondary ordering were opposite (CS/CR or AS/AR), as opposed to those whose primary and secondary ordering were the same (CS/AS or CR/AR), to align to a different environment. 7) These results suggest that teachers should not be required to stay in any one style. The flexibility of being able to alternate between styles will conserve energy and prevent teacher burnout.

The purpose of this study was to build upon recent research dealing with the ways children of primary school age operate when composing original music. Through examining the musical and structural content of the musical products, and linking these features to working procedures in the composition process, the aim was to explore the interaction between process and product, and to identify any effects attributable to gender, age, or computer use. Control of the circumstances in which the compositions were generated made possible the examination of the activity of the subjects during the working period, providing data which was linked to features of the compositional products for possible "cause and effect". Compositions were collected from 60 primary school children aged 7, 9 and 11 years. Half of the students in each age-group used the computer to help them work out their music. There was equal gender representation in each subgroup. The working session of ten minutes for each child was recorded, and later analysed, to discover the pattern of activities taking place during the composition process. A second procedure was then undertaken which involved analysis of the final versions of the compositions of each subject. The pieces were evaluated by a panel of six judges who identified levels of achievement on a range of musical and structural items. The process and product data were analysed to ascertain the influence of gender, age and computer use. Any significant interactions between process variables and product variables were also noted. The research design proved to be useful and functional in providing empirical data that allowed detailed statistical analysis. The major significant results related to the process were: 1. Age was a significant factor in subjects' use of the compositional activities (i.e. exploration, development and repetition [implying closure] of musical ideas). 2. Computer-users developed their musical ideas more quickly during the compositional process than non-computer users. 3. There were significant 2-way interactions between age and computer use. The judges' evaluations of the product generated data that supported previous research that found a developmental sequence of stages in musical composition. Age was shown to be a significant influence in all factors derived from the developmental model. The significant period was between seven and nine years in all cases. Although significant differences attributable to gender were not revealed overall, females were predominant in the high scoring groups on some product variables. The influence of the computer emerged most clearly in profiles of subjects who received high/low scores from all judges in each of the main product variables. In the high scoring groups, computer users outnumbered non-computer users in every case. Little is known of the effects of the use of the computer by young children for composition. Further research is indicated in order to understand the impact of the computer on the creative and cognitive processes in music. There is a need for greater understanding of its role in this area of music education.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

De récents travaux soulignent qu’en France, les jeunes issus de l’immigration nord-africainesont moins nombreux à avoir le baccalauréat que les autres. Cette thèse défend l’idée généraleque cette moindre réussite académique peut être due, du moins en partie, à une moindrequalité des apprentissages scolaires. Dans la lignée des travaux de Steele et Aronson (1995)sur le phénomène de menace du stéréotype, l’objectif principal de cette thèse est d’examinerdans quelle mesure les stéréotypes négatifs associés aux capacités d’apprentissage des enfantsd’origine nord-africaine peuvent avoir des effets délétères sur la qualité de leursapprentissages scolaires. Il s’agit également, dans une visée développementale, d’enrichir lesconnaissances en psychologie sociale sur l’âge d’apparition de l’effet de menace dustéréotype chez les enfants. Enfin, dans un souci de validité écologique, ce travail a aussi pourobjectif de tester si les effets de menace du stéréotype se retrouvent en contexte scolaire réel.Sur cette base, cinq études expérimentales ayant toutes été réalisées en contexte réel de classesont présentées, impliquant près de 1 000 élèves scolarisés du CP au CM2. En accord avecnos hypothèses, les résultats obtenus permettent de conclure que les premiers apprentissagesscolaires des enfants français issus de l’immigration nord-africaine sont, dès leur plus jeuneâge, diminués par un effet de menace du stéréotype sur les apprentissages. En outre, lesrésultats mettent en évidence l’implication de l’identité sociale des enfants, et des effets desidentités ethniques et de genre qui sont favorables aux filles d’origine nord-africaine maisdéfavorables à leurs pairs masculins. Globalement, ces résultats soutiennent une explicationsocio-cognitive plutôt que socio-biologique des différences d’accession au baccalauréat enfonction de l’origine ethnique, et apportent un éclairage nouveau sur les processus impliquésdans la menace du stéréotype. / Recent studies emphasize that young French North-Africans are less likely than others to havea baccalauréat. We argue that this lower success can be due, at least in part, to a lower qualityof school learning. According to Steele and Aronson (1995) and the stereotype threathypothesis, the principal aim of this work was to examine in which extent negativestereotypes about learning abilities of French North African children can decrease quality oflearning. In a developmental perspective, our second goal was to better know when stereotypethreat effect begins to impact children’s learning and performance. Finally, in an ecologicalperspective, our third aim was to test if stereotype threat occurs in real academic setting. Fiveexperiments were conducted in real academic setting among nearly 1 000 students in primaryschool level. As expected, the results showed that stereotype threat affects negatively learningof French North-African children in primary school. In addition, the results highlighted theinfluence of children’s social identity. Ethnic and gender identities effects also appearedshowing a favourable effect for French North-African girls but an unfavourable one for theirmale peers. Overall, these findings support a sociocognitive explanation of French North-Africans inferiority in baccalauréat access, rather than a sociobiological one. Furthermore,these findings support a new understanding of processes implicated in stereotype threat.