A child development laboratory in a university finds its first justification in its ability to contribute to the education of college students. After this justification has been established, the laboratory has a responsibility for serving the children enrolled in it.

This study investigated the effect of inquiry-based instruction in technical undergraduate education. Specifically, the effect was measured along two dimensions: 1) the effect on student learning and, 2) student attitude towards subject matter. The researcher designed an inquiry-based instructional approach to encourage interaction between teacher and students and to help students take more responsibility for their learning. Three technical undergraduate classes participated in the study. Each class was divided into experimental and control groups. For the experimental group, a twice-a-week traditional lecture was replaced with a once-a-week inquiry-based question and answer session. Students in the control group were taught as normal, by a traditional style lecture. Students in the experimental group were expected to use the extra hour, gained by meeting only once once-a-week, to study and prepare. Both groups were administered pre- and post- tests to determine the learning that took place during the experimental intervention. Pre- and post- surveys were also administered to assess the effect of the inquiry-based instruction on student attitude. Additionally, scores from student exams, professor surveys, and researcher observations were used to collect data and understand the effect of the instructional approach. The findings suggest that inquiry-based learning in technical classes can have a positive effect on learning and attitude.

The philosophy of teacher evaluation has changed over the past decade. Today more teacher evaluations are leaning toward the accomplishment of specific objectives established collectively by the teacher and evaluator. Beginning teachers find difficulty in identifying areas for improvement since they lack the teaching experience, base needed' to establish future performance objectives. The student teacher learning situation is similar to the beginning teacher. This study attempted to utilize the results of student ratings as a means for developing student-teacher behavioral objectives. The design process of this study divided the student teacher population into a control and experimental groups. The treatment process administered to the experimental group contained two “elements. The first element was a forced choice rating scale called the Student Teacher Diagnostic Questionnaire. This evaluation form completed by the students during the fourth week of student teaching determined the students assessment of the student teacher and his learning environment. The second element consisted of three "Peer Group Counseling Sessions" and provided the form for discussing thé student diagnostic ratings and establishing objectives for positive student teacher change. The diagnostic evaluation instrument provide ratings in four diagnostic categories: (1) personal traits, (2) professional competence, (3) student-teacher relationships and (4) classroom management. The final assessment of student teacher behavioral change in the experimental group was accomplished through the administration of the Student Teacher Rating Scale to both the control and experimental groups. This two part evaluation instrument administered during the twelfth week also provided the data to determine the overall student teachers characteristics associated with the four diagnostic categories. The statistical analysis of the data used a Pearson Product Correlational, t tests, and a one way analysis of variance for repeated measures. The findings revealed that no significant difference (at the .05 level or lower) existed between control and experimental groups total students ratings. Diagnostic category differences were significant at the .01 level for both groups on the final rating scale. The Newman-Keuls Process was incorporated to determine these differences. The category differences in the total mean scores on the Student Teacher Rating Scale were fewer for the experimental group than control group. This decrease in category differences was attributed to the student feedback and group counseling process. The students raters ranked the category of personal traits Significantly lower for all student teachers on both evaluation instruments. Category differences also occurred in the university supervisors ratings. Classroom management was ranked consistently higher than the other three categories. Cooperating teacher results indicated no significant category differences. There were no significant differences (at the .05 level or lower) found in the student ratings of teachers with high college grades and those with lower college grades. Also, there was no significant differences in middle and senior high student ratings of student teachers. University supervisors, cooperating teachers, and students all showed a slight positive correlation in rating student teachers. Only the cooperating teachers and students reached a significant level of .01. The two part Student Teacher Rating Scale revealed no significant difference between the forced choice section and the Likert scale section. / Ph. D.

Mainstream teachers are key for developing inclusive schools. Many times they do not feel prepared to deal with inclusive classrooms and may have negative attitudes towards inclusion. The aim of this study was to examine interventions that can affect mainstream pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion during their studies. Nine studies were identified through a systematic literature review and twelve inter- ventions emerged. Results show that interventions focusing on imparting knowledge of inclusion through a study unit or through an infusion approach can create a positive effect in pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion. Some factors found to influence the change in attitudes towards inclusion were knowledge of inclusion, gender, and interaction with people with disabilities. This study gives a promising view of the actions that are being taken towards having more inclusive teachers. Nevertheless, inclusion is a complex concept and future research on the content imparted during the interventions and the scales used to measure the change is needed.

In this thesis, conversation analysis (CA) is applied to study “risk strategies” in parent-teacher-student conferences in the Swedish nine-year compulsory school. The material consists of 80 conferences collected at two different points in time: 45 from the period 1992–93 (at that time called kvartssamtal, lit. “quarter of an hour conference”) and another 35 collected in 2004 (at the present time, and since the latest curriculum from 1994, called utvecklingssamtal, lit. “development conference”). All conferences in the material concern students in the 5th grade, i.e. when students are 11–12 years old. Each year, approximately 2.6 million student conferences in total are held in the Swedish compulsory school and upper-secondary school, involving about 5.5 million participants. Yet, we have virtually no knowledge of what actually happens in these conferences, i.e. how they are conducted. Hence, this study contributes to “filling the gap” and to meeting this want, the how of the student conference as a practical achievement. The aim of the study is to analyze conversational strategies in use to handle “risk”, i.e. a moment whose outcome is uncertain and that could possibly lead to a problem. Here, strategy refers to recurrent line of action and does not necessarily comprise speaker awareness. Strategies are part (and the materialization) of everyday cultural norms, rules of social behavior and habitualized “ways of practice”. They are used “for self”, “for someone else” or “for all” and should be considered in the light of Goffman’s notion of “face-work”, i.e. what the speaker does in order to counteract possibly face-threatening acts. The study is aimed at three particular situations of considerable analytic value: (i) the opening of the conference, (ii) the initiation of talk about trouble (problem), and (iii) the closing of the conference, or more immediately, the possibility for students and parents to raise their own issues. The results show that the conference opening is a coordinated achievement and to a great extent oriented to meet the possibility of the student being nervous. The conference is an “ordinary conference” and the opening questions are “what I ask any student”. When a speaker initiates talk about possible trouble, the pace decreases and utterances very often comprise “perturbations of delivery”, i.e. filled and unfilled pauses, mitigating expressions, abandoned turn beginnings and restarts, “repairs”, etc. These and other circumstances make it possible to forecast the action as (possibly) a trouble-initiating action. At the closing of the conference, students and parents are commonly offered the opportunity to raise their own issues. However, when analyzing the different ways of offering a prolongation of the conference, the study shows that the opportunity is strongly restricted, e.g. due to the design of the question. / I denna avhandling används samtalsanalys (”conversation analysis”) för att studera ”riskstrategier” i samtal mellan lärare, elever och föräldrar i grundskolan. Materialet består av 80 samtal som insamlats vid två olika tidpunkter: 45 st. inspelade 1992–93 (kvartssamtal, eller den mer formella benämningen enskilda samtal) och ytterligare 35 st. inspelade 2004 (utvecklingssamtal, den benämning som gäller sedan den senaste läroplanen). I avhandlingen används elevsamtal som ett samlingsnamn. Alla elevsamtal i materialet gäller elever i årskurs 5, dvs. när eleverna är 11–12 år gamla. Varje år genomförs ca. 2,6 miljoner elevsamtal i grundskolan och gymnasieskolan sammantaget, möten som involverar ca. 5,5 miljoner samtalsdeltagare. Även om elevsamtalen förekommer flitigt, vet vi nästan ingenting om vad som egentligen händer i dessa möten, dvs. hur de genomförs. Denna avhandling kan därför betraktas som ett bidrag till ambitionen att fylla detta tomrum något; hur samtalsdeltagarna genomför elevsamtal. Avhandlingens syfte är att studera kommunikativa strategier som tas i bruk för att hantera ”risk”, dvs. ett moment vars utgång är oviss och som potentiellt kan skapa eller leda till problem. Med strategi avses återkommande tillvägagångssätt och omfattar inte nödvändigtvis talarens medvetenhet. Strategier är en del (och materialiseringen) av vardagskulturella normer, umgängesregler och habitualiserade ”sätt att göra”. De används ”för talaren själv”, ”för någon annan” eller ”för alla” och bör betraktas i ljuset av Goffmans begrepp ”face-work”, dvs. vad talaren gör för att motverka potentiellt ansiktshotande ”incidenter”. I avhandlingen fokuseras tre specifika talsituationer av väsentligt analytiskt värde: (1) hur samtalet startas, (2) hur man initierar tal om problem och (3) hur samtalet avslutas, eller närmare, möjligheten för elever och föräldrar att lyfta egna ”övriga frågor”. Resultaten visar att elevsamtalets inledning är en koordinerad prestation som i synnerhet är orienterad mot eventualiteten att eleven är nervös. Elevsamtalet är ett ”vanligt samtal” och lärarens inledande frågor är ”vad jag brukar fråga alla andra elever”. När en talare inleder tal om ett potentiellt problem (problemmoment) går tempot ner och yttrandena omfattar ofta ”störningar och upphakningar”, dvs. pauser, pausfyllnader, förmildrande uttryck, övergivna turstarter och omstarter, ”reparationer”, etc.. Dessa egenskaper (och andra) gör det möjligt att ”förutse” handlingen som (potentiellt sett) en probleminitierande handling. Vid elevsamtalets avslutning är det vanligt att eleverna och föräldrarna erbjuds möjligheten att lyfta sina egna frågor och funderingar. En analys av lärarnas olika sätt att erbjuda möjlighet att förlänga samtalet visar emellertid att sådan möjlighet ofta är starkt begränsad, t.ex. beroende på frågeyttrandets form. / <p>Avhandlingen är publicerad med tillstånd av Arbetslivsinstitutet (http://www.arbetslivsinstitutet.se/publikationer/detaljerad.asp?ID=1632).</p>

Research shows that student teachers find the mentor teacher and the student teaching experience itself the two most influential factors in their practicum experience. This study examined five student teachers and the two mentor teachers of each in elementary school settings within a metropolitan school district in North Texas. Lave and Wenger’s (1991, 2002) community of practice theory informed this study. Data sources included mentor teacher interviews, student teacher interviews, student teacher observations, student teacher/mentor teacher dialogue journals, and student teacher reflections. A collective case study approach was followed to gain a detailed understanding of the experiences of the five student teachers, looking specifically at their confidence in teaching and the factors associated with it. Findings indicated that the confidence in teaching of all five student teachers changed throughout their practicum experiences. Results suggested many factors influenced these changes. Student teachers shared that the student teaching experience, the grade level/subjects taught, their relationships with their students, and their relationships with their mentor teachers contributed to their confidence. The mentor teachers perceived that student teachers’ confidence could be influenced by consistency in classroom management and their interactions with their mentor teachers. Two areas of influence on student teacher confidence not uncovered by other researchers were the quest of student teachers for perfection while teaching and the need of mentor teachers for control of the content presented by the student teachers, especially during the months prior to state-mandated testing. Implications of the study included the need for university supervisors to mediate between student teachers and mentor teachers in promoting shared ownership of student learning within that community of practice enabled by student teaching.

The present study is an investigation into the interrelatedness of student teachers' temperament traits, their attitudes toward youth, as measured by appropriate testing instruments, and the interpersonal teacher-pupil problems encountered by the respondents during their student teaching experience.

Thesis advisor: Audrey A. Friedman / This qualitative study examines the value of content mentoring for pairs of arts and sciences faculty members and teacher candidates in the same discipline. The researcher utilized participant interviews, demographic surveys, and student teacher performance assessments of four pairs of arts and sciences faculty members and student teachers (eight total participants) who participated in Boston College's semester-long One-on-One Content Mentoring program during the Fall 2008 semester. The researcher used a sociocultural theoretical perspective and interpretive qualitative analysis techniques to explore this problem and describe how content mentoring influences mentors and mentees. This study's focus on a content-specific mentoring initiative--especially its influence on mentors as well as mentees--has rarely been used in education research. Results indicate that content mentors gain increased exposure to and understanding of K-12 school realities, a better understanding of the Boston College Lynch School's mission "to teach for social justice," new perspectives on K-12 teacher preparation, and a renewed interest in pedagogy in their own classes. Analysis of content mentor results also raise cautions that professors' views on social justice not be reflective of a deficit model of education. Results also indicate that teacher candidates gain content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, confidence in their teaching abilities, better understanding of professional development, and a deeper understanding of social justice in teaching. Limitations to the study include a small sample size and the duration of the study. Recommendations for future study include increasing sample size and expanding research over a longer period of time. The researcher provides implications and recommendations for content mentoring program initiatives. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Education.

A partir de estudos na área de ensino-aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras relacionados à autonomia do aprendiz, à evolução dos métodos de ensino de línguas estrangeiras, ao papel do aluno e do professor na pedagogia do pós-método e ao ensino de estratégias de aprendizagem, este trabalho foi desenvolvido com o intuito de se verificar, em uma turma multisseriada de alemão do projeto Centro de Estudos de Línguas da Secretaria Estadual de Educação de São Paulo, se o desenvolvimento da autonomia do aprendiz, favorecido por ações que promovam o incentivo à autonomia, tem um aumento perceptível. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida em três etapas: uma fase inicial, na qual foi verificado o nível inicial de autonomia dos participantes, por meio de uma observação de uma atividade de produção textual e de questionários; uma fase de intervenção, na qual foram propostas atividades que tinham por objetivo o estímulo do desenvolvimento da autonomia; e uma fase final, na qual foi verificado, também por meio de uma observação e de um questionário, o nível de autonomia dos participantes após a intervenção. Os dados obtidos foram analisados e comparados entre si para possibilitar a verificação pretendida. / Taking account of studies in foreign languages teaching and learning area associated to learner autonomy, teaching methods development, the role of student and teacher in the post method pedagogy and the teaching of learning strategies, this study was conducted in order to verify, if the development of learner autonomy has a discernible increase, when incited by actions that promote autonomy in a multisseriate group of the project Centro de Estudos de Línguas (\"Center of Language Studies of the São Paulo State Secretary of Education). The research was conducted in three stages: an initial phase in which we have measured the initial level of autonomy of the participants, through an observation of a textual production activity and questionnaires; intervention phase, in which we have proposed activities that were aimed to impulse the autonomy development; and a final stage, in which the autonomy level of the participants after the intervention was also checked, through observations and questionnaire. The data were analyzed and compared to enable the intended proofing.

A few studies have attempted to examine whether children’s low self-esteem is partially explained by being relatively younger than their peers. In the present study this relative age effect on self-esteem is hypothesized to be mediated by children’s relationships to their teachers and the children’s performance in school. This study is based on nationally representative data from the Korean Youth Panel Survey. A total of 2,844 Korean fourth graders (M age = 9.86, SD = 0.35; 53.6% male) self reported their self-esteem, student-teacher relationships and academic achievement. Structural equation modeling revealed that both student-teacher relationships and academic achievement served as significant mediators in the relative age effect on self-esteem, even after family socioeconomic status was controlled for. The older children in the classroom formed higher quality student-teacher relationships and performed better in school, thereby ending up with higher self-esteem relative to their peers. These results may be used as guidance when creating intervention programs aiming to improve children’s SE and prevent negative development. / Ett par studier har undersökt om barns låga självkänsla delvis förklaras av att vara relativt yngre än sina klasskamrater. I denna studie antas barns relationer till sina lärare samt barns prestationer i skolan vara medierande faktorer för den beskrivna effekten av relativ ålder på barns självkänsla. Studien använder nationellt representativt data från Korean Youth Panel Survey. Sammanlagt 2,844 koreanska fjärdeklassare (M ålder = 9,86, SD = 0,35; 53,6% pojkar) skattade sin självkänsla, deras relationer till lärare och deras prestation i skolan. Strukturell ekvationsmodellering visade att både relationer till lärare och prestation i skolan var signifikanta medierande faktorer för effekten av relativ ålder på barns självkänsla. Detta även när familjens socioekonomiska status kontrollerats för. De relativt äldre barnen byggde relationer av högre kvalitet med sina lärare samt presterade bättre i skolan och fick därmed högre självkänsla än deras klasskamrater. Dessa resultat kan användas som vägledning när program med syfte att förbättra barns självkänsla samt förhindra negativ utveckling ska utformas.