Thesis (MPhil (Curriculum Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Transformatoriese verandering in onderwysstelsels wêreldwyd word gekenmerk deur 'n nuwe benadering ten opsigte van assessering. Hierdie soort assessering wat bekend staan as assessering-vir-leer behoort deurlopend, diagnosties en ontwikkelend van aard te wees. Dit is assessering wat nie net gemik is op 'n finale oordeel nie, maar wat ten doel het om leer en ontwikkeling met behulp van assessering by leerders te bevorder. Assessering-vir-leer maak dus 'n onlosmaaklike deel van die onderrig- en leerproses uit en gebeur nie slegs aan die einde van die leerproses nie. Hierdie navorsing is gebed in die volgende navorsingsvraag: Tot watter mate word assessering-vir-leer in die Ekonomiese en Bestuurswetenskappeleerarea in die Intermediêre Fase gebruik om leerdervordering te begelei en te ondersteun? Die mate waartoe die beginsels vir assessering-vir-leer in die onderrigpraktyk van onderwysers geïntegreer word om Intermediêre Faseleerders in die leerarea Ekonomiese en Bestuurswetenskappe (EBW) in 'n landelike skool te ondersteun is dus ondersoek. 'n Kwalitatiewe navorsingsontwerp binne die interpretatiewe navorsingsparadigma is gebruik om data te genereer ten einde die navorsingsvraag te beantwoord. Onderwysers en leerders is in die studie as respondente gebruik. Die navorsingsresultate het getoon dat onderwysers nog vasgevang is in praktyke van assessering-van-leer wat fokus op die insameling van punte eerder as op die gebruik van assesseringsinligting ten einde verdere leer by leerders te bevorder. Waar daar wel tekens van assessering-vir-leer in die praktyk van onderrig-en-leer by onderwysers plaasvind, is dit toevallig en nie intensioneel nie. Voortvloeiend uit die bevindinge word aangevoer dat, met die nodige ondersteuning, onderwysers beginsels vir assessering-vir-leer in hul klaskamerpraktyk kan integreer ten einde meer effektiewe onderrig en leer in die betrokke skool te bevorder. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Transformational change in teaching systems worldwide is characterised by a new approach regarding assessment. This type of assessment, known as assessment for learning, should be continuous, diagnostic and developmental by nature. This is assessment that does not only focus in a final judgement, but which aims to promote learning and development by means of assessment in learners. Assessment-for-learning therefore forms an integral part of the teaching and learning process and does not only happen at the end of the learning process. This research is embedded in the following research question: To which extent is assessment-for-learning used in the Economic and Management Sciences learning area in the Intermediate Phase to guide and support learner progress? The extent to which the principles for assessment-for-learning are integrated in the teaching practice of teachers to support Intermediate Phase learners in the learning area Economic and Management sciences (EMS) in a rural school was therefore researched. A qualitative research design within the interpretative research paradigm was used to generate data in order to answer the research question. Teachers and learners were used as respondents in the study. The research results showed that teachers are still caught up in practices of assessment of learning which focus on the collection of marks rather than on the use of assessment information in order to promote further learning in learners. Where there are signs that assessment for learning indeed takes place in the practice of teaching and learning by teachers, it is incidental and not intentional. Based on the results, it can be said that, with the necessary support, teachers may be able to integrate principles for assessment for learning into their classroom practice so as to promote more effective teaching and learning in the school concerned.

The Thai government has strongly advocated for the learner-centered education for the past decade. Success For Life Thailand (SFLT), a brain-research-based early childhood education program blended with the theories of the developmentally appropriate practices and child-centered philosophies, has been implemented in Thailand for over 8 years. The purposes of the present study were to: (a) describe the current statuses of the Thai early childhood educators' learner-centered beliefs and practices, (b) identify if the SFLT training workshop affects teachers' learner-centered beliefs and practices, and (c) examine if other variables, along with familiarity with the SFLT program, predict teachers' learner-centered beliefs and practices. Ninety-three preschool and kindergarten teachers participated in the study. Among them, 17 were SFLT trainees in 1999 and 2000 (i.e., the previously trained group), 43 were trained in Year 2006 (the currently trained group), and the others were comparable to the currently trained group by matching the key personal and school variables. The Teachers Beliefs and Practices Survey: 3-5 Year Olds (Burts et al., 2000) and the Learner-Centered Education: the Assessment of Learner- Centered (ALCP) for K-3 (McCombs, 2001) were used to collect data on the various domains of the learner-centered beliefs and practices. Findings reveal that: (a) Thai teachers highly endorse learner-centered beliefs, (b) Thai educators demonstrate relatively low levels of developmentally appropriate practices and high levels of developmentally inappropriate practices (DIP) in comparing with the American early childhood educators, (c) the previously trained SFLT teachers score higher on the DAP domains and lower on the DIP domains than the other two groups, and (d) familiarity with the SFLT program, along with teacher's education level, years of teaching experience, and the total number of students in the classroom do not predict variations on the different domains of the DAP and learner-centered learning questionnaires. Future studies need to use indigenous measurement instruments appropriate to Thai education to evaluate the impacts of the SLFT program on teachers' learner-centered beliefs and practices when more trainees become available, and possibly to include other teacher, student, and school variables.

Submitted by Larissa Vitoria Cardoso Cusielo (larissavitoria@id.uff.br) on 2017-09-05T19:25:29Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Rogerio Wanis - Dissertação Final.pdf: 4272777 bytes, checksum: f499434ddc57901f74a483946b225ba2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Biblioteca do Aterrado BAVR (bavr@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-09-27T18:49:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Rogerio Wanis - Dissertação Final.pdf: 4272777 bytes, checksum: f499434ddc57901f74a483946b225ba2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-27T18:49:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Rogerio Wanis - Dissertação Final.pdf: 4272777 bytes, checksum: f499434ddc57901f74a483946b225ba2 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Universidade Federal Fluminense. Instituto de Ciências Exatas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ensino de Física. Volta Redonda, RJ. / O Peer Instruction é uma metodologia centrada no aluno, voltada para a compreensão dos conceitos de uma dada disciplina. Nela, alunos devem, após uma breve exposição sobre um tópico da disciplina, responder a questões conceituais de múltipla escolha, chamadas Conceptests, individualmente após um minuto ou dois para reflexão sobre a resposta correta. Dependendo do número de respostas corretas dadas em um primeiro levantamento das respostas escolhidas pelos estudantes, pode haver um momento de dois a três minutos onde os estudantes procuram colegas com respostas diferentes das suas, explicam o raciocínio seguido e tentam chegar a um consenso sobre a resposta correta. Após estas sessões de debate, o professor procede a um levantamento das novas respostas, e discute a resposta correta com os estudantes. Neste trabalho, descrevemos a experiência de aplicação da metodologia de ensino descrita acima a duas turmas de 1º ano do ensino médio do Colégio Estadual Dr. Antônio Fernandes, no município de Miguel Pereira, RJ ao longo do ano de 2014, cobrindo a ementa de Cinemática e Mecânica. Analisamos os resultados de desempenho dos estudantes ao responder aos Conceptests, e verificamos os efeitos da metodologia sobre o engajamento dos estudantes sobre o processo de aprendizagem e sobre o interesse no estudo da disciplina de Física. / Peer Instruction is a student-centered teaching method, focused on the conceptual understanding of a discipline. Within its framework, after watching a mini-class on a given topic, students must answer multiple choice conceptual questions (dubbed Conceptests) individually, after one or two minutes of reflection. Depending on the number of correct answers given to the question in a first instance, students must find a peer who has chosen a different answer, and debate with them explaining the reasoning followed for arriving at the answer of choice, with two or three minutes for that. The peers should, if possible, try to reach a consensus on what the correct answer would be. After these debate sessions, the teacher proceeds to a second round of answers, and then discusses the correct answer with the students. In our work, we present a report on the application of this teaching method to two first-year high school classes from Colégio Estadual Dr. Antônio Fernandes, in Miguel Pereira county, which is part of the educational network of the State of Rio de Janeiro. The work was conducted along the year 2014, and the syllabus was Kinematics and Mechanics. We analyse the performance of students in answering the Conceptests, and we investigate the effects of applying the method on student engagement in the learning process, as well as on their interest in the study of Physics.

District administrators face concerns over students dropping out of school without a high school diploma. District personnel in a Mississippi urban school district identified specific curricular, instructional, and co-curricular factors that prompted students to leave school. The purpose of this bounded qualitative case study was to explore perceptions of principals, teachers, and counselors regarding factors that influenced students' disengagement and dropping out of school. Battin-Pearson's theory of academic mediation, which attributes poor academic performance and student-centered learning to students dropping out, framed this study. The research questions focused on how district personnel identified and monitored at-risk students and provided interventions to prevent them from disengaging and dropping out. A purposeful sample of 2 principals, 5 teachers, and 2 counselors, who had knowledge of dropout prevention strategies, volunteered and participated in semistructured interviews and classroom observations. Data were analyzed inductively using segment and thematic coding. Results indicated a multi-tiered system of support was used to identify and monitor at-risk students. Participants expressed a need to build cohesive and collaborative learning communities and relationships, provide student guidance and support, engage more with students, and provide targeted professional development (PD) for educators. Based on these findings, a 3-day PD was developed to address student engagement and dropout prevention. These endeavors may contribute to positive social change by providing educators with learner-centered strategies through a collaborative, flexible blended-learning PD aimed at identifying and assisting at-risk students, resulting in an increase in graduation rates and reduce in dropouts.

Southern U.S. teachers at suburban high schools can use Edmodo; however, teachers prefer traditional teacher-centered teaching methods. This quantitative correlative study explored teachers' technology acceptance in relation to teaching styles and experiences. Framing acceptance by Davis's technology acceptance model (TAM), research questions addressed the direct and moderating relationships between teaching style and the TAM variables related to using Edmodo and the direct and moderating relationships between teaching experiences and TAM variables. From 240 teachers at the high school, 45 completed an online survey (response rate of 18.75%). Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and regression analyzed data. TAM could be verified for the entire sample; however, no significant direct relationship between teaching style and the TAM variables was found. Teaching style moderated the relationships within the TAM; these were stronger for teachers with a teacher-centered teaching style. No significant direct relationship existed between teaching experiences and TAM variables; a moderating effect on the relationships existed within the TAM. Among experienced teachers, ease of use was the strongest acceptance predictor, whereas perceived use was the strongest predictor among less experienced teachers. Results indicated teachers might develop a more student-centered teaching style, thus concentrating on technology's ease of use, rather than its potential utility. A policy recommendation could ensure teachers efficiently used technology to support student-centered learning. The application of the recommended policies might lead to teachers' more effective use of instructional technology, which might affect student learning and motivation.

This dissertation is a rhetorical analysis of the theories and practices surrounding student-centered mentor-teaching. I examine textual representations of the teacher/student relationship as well as theories and practices involved in the discursive formation of teacher/student relationships, examining the intersection (or lack thereof) between the ways we as researchers talk about teacher/student relationship formation and the way(s) such relationships form in the “real world” of the English classroom. This institutional critique of teacher/student relationships draws on the works of ancient rhetorical scholars like Quintillian and Socrates, and on the post-1980 scholarship of Robert Connors, Lad Tobin, bell hooks, Paulo Freire, Parker J. Palmer, Mike Rose, Wendy Bishop, Louise Rosenblatt, Jeffrey Berman, and Peter Elbow. These scholars have all provided helpful models for me as I have framed my own beliefs about the value of expressive writing, the usefulness of writing conferences, the need for teacher vulnerability as a model for students’ expressive writing, the appropriateness of various relational settings beyond the classroom, and the ways grading/responding to student writing can either promote or inhibit a trusting student/teacher bond. While all of these scholars have contributed to my own beliefs and ideas, I am merely identifying and classifying pedagogical movements; rather, I am synthesizing these movements’ theories and practices in order to formulate an overall critique of the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches. I also draw heavily upon the theoretical underpinnings of psychoanalysis, feminism, reader-response criticism, and composition studies to weave together a synthesized working model of mutually beneficial teacher/student relationships as they pertain to the high school and college English classrooms. Ultimately, I suggest my own contributions to the existing scholarship that will call for a mixture of both bolder pedagogical approaches and greater relational caution, depending upon the concept and the student(s) involved. I conclude with suggestions for utilizing teacher research to formulate new theories and practices for mentor-teaching in the English classroom.

With the newly designed curricula, the preparatory year of the Anatolian High Schools (AHS) was terminated while expanding its English program to four years. Within that context, utilizing semi-structured interview protocols this descriptive study aimed to bring an insight into the perceptions of parents, students, and teachers about the new AHS English program. Moreover, the perceptions of the participants on the materials provided by MONE and European Language Portfolio were also aimed to be revealed. Additionally, it was targeted to bring out what participants think about the applicability of the communicative language teaching, student-centered approach, and multiple intelligences, since they were stated in the foreign language curricula. While the population consisted of AHSs in Ankara, the sample of the study made up of 4 groups of parents, students, and teachers from 4 AHSs in Ankara. Each group consisted of 12 interviewees, which makes 36 participants in total. In selecting students and parents convenience sampling, and in selecting teachers purposive sampling was utilized. Analyzing the data collected using content analysis the findings revealed that parents, students, and teachers do not favor the current English language practice in AHSs where preparatory class is terminated. Additionally, the findings showed that in order to learn English, preparatory class is a necessity either after 5-year or after8-year elementary education. Results also showed that all groups perceive English positively and support teaching and learning of the language. As for the perceptions of the participants on the materials, they expressed how insufficient they are in terms of teaching the language and in terms of practicing the language teaching approaches stated in the curriculum. Moreover, it was found that most of the participants did not know about the European Language Portfolio. Lastly, according to the answers, the English language teaching approaches stressed in the curriculum were difficult to be practiced in classes.

This student-centered analysis of caring in three academically promising, low-income public high schools in Texas used an instrumental case study design (Stake, 1998) to investigate students' perceptions and experiences of receiving care in high school. The analysis also examined the teacher and administrator practices that contributed to students' experience of receiving care, and considered the resources that supported the adults' caring practice at the three schools. Archival data consisting of open-ended interviews with students, teachers, administrators, and school staff were analyzed qualitatively. Results suggest that caring should be evaluated in context. In the high school context students experience care through having their teachers' and administrators’ help and support with academics. Results also suggest that students experience caring through teacher and administrator behaviors and attitudes that respond to their developmental needs. That is, they experience care when adults at school establish a style and pattern of interaction similar to "authoritative parenting" (Baumrind, 1987). Recognition from adults in the school is very important for high school students, and especially salient for low-income and minority adolescents who often receive negative and discriminatory feedback from the community. / text

The factors related to mathematics and geometry achievement were modeled in this study. It was based on the data obtained from the Student Assessment Program carried out by Ministry of National Education. Mathematics achievement tests and student questionnaires of each grade were analyzed by using principal component analysis to obtain different dimensions that are expected to be related with student achievement. Before the principal component analysis, a content based evaluation of the content of the mathematics achievement tests was actualized and the items were grouped as mathematics and geometry. Regarding the student questionnaire socio-economic status, perception of success and interest toward mathematics and science, student-centered activities and teacher-centered activities in the classroom were identified as factors through the principal component analysis. Thereafter, three models were designed and tested by structural equation modeling technique (SEM) using LISREL 8.54. Path analysis with latent variables was used for testing the models. The following results were obtained in the study. In all of the models, socioeconomic status had a positive impact on the mathematics and geometry achievement of the students for all the grade levels examined. Teacher centered activities were found to be positively related with the students&rsquo / success of mathematics and geometry. On the other hand, student centered activities intended to have a negative relation with mathematics and geometry achievement. As the other variables were considered, an increase on the mathematics and geometry scores of the students&rsquo / was observed in all grade levels with the increase in the perception of success and interest toward mathematics and science.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: John Portelli.