No description available.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the size of class in eighth grade general mathematics affects the achievemnt of pupils in the class.

The purpose of this study is to do teaching multiplication with picture books, and to understand the learning process of two cases, then to investigate the dilemma of teaching and its solutions. To achieve the above purpose, the researcher designed the multiplication teaching activities for urban aboriginal middle grade pupils. The researcher adopts case study research. The subjects of the study were two pupils who participated in the after-school program at an elementary school in Kaohsiung city. For both pupils, mathematics scores are the lowest among all other subject areas, and mathematics scores ranked at lower class 10%. The teaching content involved Amis tribe picture books, integer multiplication, and multiplicative situations (Greer, 1992). There were three teaching procedures: preparation for teaching, picture books teaching activities, and multiplication teaching activities. The research data collected were from interviews,observations, teaching reflective journals, learning sheets, and learning diaries. The researcher induced pupils¡¦ learning experience and error types before teaching multiplication with picture books and also revealed pupils¡¦ attitude towards teaching multiplication with picture books and the learning multiplication of concept and its improvement. The conclusion is, through teaching multiplication with picture books, both pupils were familiar with the multiplication algorithm meaningfully, could used direct representation to solve multiplication problem, and used multiplication concepts to reason. Furthermore, the teaching activities promote subjects¡¦ mathematical learning attitude, ethnic identity, parent-child interactions, and peer tutoring. The results showed that the multiplication teaching with picture books had a positive influence on the subjects¡¦ attitude and multiplication concept. Based on research results and findings, the researcher made suggestions for teaching and future research.

No description available.

The study is concerned with the development of a teaching strategy suited to the specific needs of hearing impaired children. It was conducted in the last three grades in primary special schools for hearing impaired children in Baghdad. The teaching method was based around worksheets and materials in a resource-based learning context to enhance pupil understanding in the subject areas of mathematics and general science. The learning materials and the teaching method were used in one special school for hearing impaired as a pilot trial. The pupils and their teachers confirmed that the materials and method were easy to follow; knowledge and, unexpectedly, spoken and written language improved. For the field trial a language test was developed and validated. The six schools in the field trial were divided into two groups: experimental and control. The new teaching strategy was used with the experimental group; the control group, however, remained with the old method by using the same content of mathematics and science. Within these two groups there were matching grades, as well as matching pairs in the three grades to facilitate the statistical comparison between the pre- and post-tests. The methods for collecting information before, during and after the course were: pre- and post-tests (language and content), which were used with both groups. Observation, record cards and interviews with teachers and pupils were used with the experimental group. Some individuals in the control groups were observed (matched pairs). The pupils in the experimental group showed a marked improvement after only six weeks in their knowledge, as well as in their language tests. However, the control group neither improve their language nor their knowledge in mathematics. The new teaching method and materials improved the pupils' performance in the experimental group.

M.A., Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, 1996

The purpose of this study is to examine how primary school teachers work with the oral communicative ability of students who are quiet or unwilling to communicate freely in the classroom. This study aims to answer the question: which methods and strategies are most beneficial for the quiet students and how do teachers discover and assess these students? A qualitative method using semi-structured interviews will be used as the primary means of answering this question. The purpose of these interviews is to document the teachers’ experiences working with quiet students. It appears that the teachers interviewed have or have had quiet students in their classes. Furthermore, the teachers use different strategies that benefit the more quiet students. The conclusion is that many of these students become neglected due to the fact that teachers do not regard quiet students as a problem or something that is a priority. Additionally, the absence of sub goals, specific plans and not follow up results lead to few opportunities for quiet students to develop.

No description available.

This study attempted to ansewer, among other issue, the following questions: Did out of the home employement of the mother have any effect upon the child? If it had any effect, could it be determined and measured in such a manner as to draw reasonable conclusions?

During the 1990's the number of young people being permanently excluded from school increased from 2910 (1990-91) to a peak of 12700 (1996-1997). This increase coincided with the resurgence of the debate centring on lawless and delinquent youth. With the publication of Young People and Crime (Graham and Bowling, 1995) and Misspent Youth (Audit Commission, 1996) the role of school exclusion in delinquency causation appears to have become widely accepted within youth justice thinking. Indeed, and despite the limited research evidence available, the common sense assumption that school exclusion inexorably promotes crime received wide support, something which has resulted in the excluded pupil being portrayed as a latter day folk devil. This research seeks to question this taken-for-granted assumption. By drawing upon what can be broadly described as a refutationist approach, the research questions the causal priority of school exclusion in youth crime. Research interviews were conducted with 56 young people who had experience of being excluded from school. Self-report questions revealed that 40 young people had offended of whom 28 had been cautioned or prosecuted for an offence. Despite the high levels of offending present within the sample the research findings suggest that exclusion is not itself a causal factor with 90% (36) of those young people who had offended reporting onset that commenced prior to their first exclusion. Moreover, 50 (89%) of the total number of young people stated that they were no more likely to commit crime since being excluded. Indeed - and rather significantly, for 31 (55.4%) respondents it appeared that due to the imposition of parental sanction, offending was likely to reduce during their exclusion as they were" grounded" for the whole exclusion period. Moreover, interviews with the young people also revealed that in addition to school exclusion a number of other identified "risk" factors were present in the lives of most of the young people within the sample (see for example Farrington, 1996; Youth Justice Board, 2001). The research concludes that whilst the relationship between school exclusion and crime is highly complex it is certainly neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition for a young person to commit crime.