This study investigated the perceptions of school from students of differing ages, genders, ethnic groups, and grade levels in a rural school environment. The ages were divided into four categories: 11–12 years of age, 13–14 years of age, 15–16 years of age, and 17–19 years of age. The ethnic groups in the school population were African Americans and Caucasians. The different grade levels were 7th through 12th. Wilson and Corbett (1999), in the Report for the Philadelphia Education Fund, “No Excuses”: The Eighth Grade Year in Six Philadelphia Middle Schools, discussed students’ views of what they want their teachers to be like. Later in another book, Listening to Urban Kids, School Reform, and the Teachers They Want, Wilson and Corbett (2002) stated that their overall purpose for conducting this study was to document students’ perceptions of their educational experiences and track how those perceptions evolved over the 3-year period. The investigators initially selected five middle schools from the Philadelphia School District. Wilson and Corbett used interview protocols and selected 50 students from each school who participated in the study. In this study, the researcher compared the results to those of Wilson and Corbett focusing on 10 areas. Students were asked to respond to a series of questions from each area on the survey, which included the following: (a) student’s perception on the transition to high school; (b) student’s perception on learning experiences; (c) student’s perception on success; (d) student’s perception on school safety; (e) student’s perception on the school culture and/or environment; (f) student’s perception on peer pressure; (g) student’s perception on getting good grades; (h) student’s perception on instructional differences; (i) student’s perception on challenging work; and (j) the student’s future plans. The students selected their best choice from the answers given. Using interview protocols, the students responded to the same categories. The results produced data that will enable teachers, administrators, parents, and policy makers to implement school reform effectively by better understanding the students’ perceptions from a rural school environment. Recommendations for further research include the following: (a) determine if the results found in this study are the same as those of students in other rural school environments, (b) gain a greater understanding of the perceptions that students have about school, (c) determine if there is a direct correlation between students’ perception of school and student achievement, and (d) determine if school districts will utilize the data to aid in improving instruction, policy, and procedures within the school district.

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The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of using AR in the Computer Architecture unit for male 11th grade students in a school in the eastern area of Arar City in Saudi Arabia through monitoring its impact on student achievement and students' perceptions of the learning environment. Two research questions are explored: What is the effect of using AR on student achievement, and what are students' perceptions of the learning environment when they use AR? Two instruments were used to collect the data in this study: an achievement test taken from the official teacher book issued by the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia and the Technology-Rich Outcomes-Focused Learning Environment Inventory (TROFLEI) modified questionnaire "actual form." Statistical analyses employed to answer the first research question included an independent-samples t-test and descriptive statistics. To investigate the second research question, descriptive statistics and a paired t-test were used. These results from the first question indicate a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the two groups' mean values: the students who used AR achieved a higher level of learning compared to the students who learned in the traditional way. The study found that using AR helped the students to increase their achievements through many aspects, one of which was being able to feel in contact with objects and events that were physically out of their reach. In addition, AR offered a safe environment for learning and training away from potential and real dangers. The results for the second research question show statically significant increases in seven out of eight TROFLEI scales. This suggests that there was a positive feeling among the students regarding the teacher's interaction and his interest in providing equal opportunities to the students to answer the questions.

In the 1830s, students at Oxford University began using the word coach as a slang expression for a tutor who carried a student through an exam (Coach, 2011). Nowadays, the word is seen as a metaphor for a person supporting another person to achieve an imagined goal (Johansson &amp; Wahlund, 2009). Hilmarsson (2006) says that everyone acts as a coach from time to time, and Strandberg (2009) argues students in Sweden today want to be coached. However, it is hard to find schools where they claim they practice coaching. Because the word coach is ubiquitously used, many who today work with coaching are in fact inappropriately trained (Grant, 2010; Williams, 2008). Thus, by using a questionnaire as well as interviewing two students and a coach, I wanted to investigate whether coaching made any difference to how students perceived their English learning. 63 students and one coaching teacher participated in this study, where the findings demonstrated that there were other aspects which had a higher impact on students‟ perceptions of their English learning than the terminology used to describe the educational method practiced in their particular school.

This thesis focuses on why prospective teachers want to teach. It argues that prospective teachers draw on their own perceptions of what teaching means to them and that these perceptions are clarified and refined during the initial stages of their university study. Firstly, it examines what attracts and holds first year student teachers to teaching and whether they really want to be teachers. Secondly, it compares students’ perceptions of teaching at the start, during and at the end of their first year of their first year of university studies. Finally, it identifies the kind of early experiences at university and school sites that can either strengthen the initial commitment to become a teacher or might lessen the original desire to teach. The context of the study is a regional university in a provincial city in Central Queensland. The selection of constructivism as a theoretical framework informed the research approach and allowed data to be gathered in a case study format using an iterative process to permit probing and identification of change, and reconstruction of relevant issues. In this research, data was collected through three individual interviews with nine first year prospective student teachers at the beginning, mid and end of that year. Constructivist analysis concepts were employed to draw from the data coded patterns, themes and issues displaying student teachers’ emerging perceptions of their first year of learning how to teach. The thesis reports that student teachers in their initial year were enabled to articulate their co-construction of what it means to be a teacher. During the year they were able to build up their construction of what it means to be a teacher which, over time, alleviated earlier uncertainties as their decision to teach was affirmed. The process of construction of being a teacher identified qualities, knowledge and skills identified from the start to the end of the program, building from perceptions to reality, from the old to the new. Conceptions of teaching as work, and the importance of relationships in teaching contributed to the satisfaction of student teachers and helped affirm their commitment in anticipating their future as a teacher. The findings of the study exemplify that a well-structured, collaborative teacher education program in the initial year will attract and retain many prospective teachers. This thesis gives a wider understanding of the first year of a teaching career. The research builds a contemporary picture of what prospective teachers think about teaching in their first year of a teacher education program. The issues and problems identified in the context of a regional campus, underpin the results of this research. This research enables students’ voices to be heard and will inform teacher educators and others involved in teacher education to examine specific cases in the attraction and retention of prospective teachers.

One of the key thrusts in Singapore’s Thinking Schools, Learning Nation (TSLN) educational vision, launched in 1997, is the emphasis on critical thinking in schools. This entails pedagogical changes and challenges for teachers, especially, in terms of their knowledge, dispositions and practices of critical thinking, which are argued to be fundamental in fulfilling the TSLN thrust. Although TSLN is now 10 years into its implementation, to date, there has been little research undertaken to determine the efficacy of the implementation of the critical thinking policy thrust through the perspectives and voices of both teachers and students — the key stakeholders of education and the ultimate agents in the successful implementation of educational initiatives. Therefore, in gaining an in-depth understanding of teachers’ and students’ perspectives of the implementation of critical thinking from the ‘swampy lowlands’, a qualitative case study approach was used. Six government school teachers and their students participated in the case study and data were gathered through lesson observations, interviews, and the analysis of documents. / Findings suggest that a multitude of interrelated systemic and contextual factors, which are predisposed by underlying ‘technocratic and instrumental rationalities’ that govern Singaporean education, remain major barriers to the realisation of TSLN’s critical thinking thrust. The study found that there are gaps and uncertainties in the teachers’ knowledge base of critical thinking and that the incorporation of critical thinking as part of their pedagogy and classroom practice is marginal. Student data corroborate the general lack of emphasis and the limited role of critical thinking in the classroom and they indicate that the hegemony of both school curricula and high stakes examination perpetuate rote learning and didactic pedagogies. / Implications of the study suggest the need to reorientate teacher education and professional development programmes with the explicit aim of transforming teachers’ knowledge base and dispositions to engage with the pedagogical changes that TSLN’s critical thinking policy thrust necessitates. However, to effect deep change and realize the core aspiration of ‘thinking learners’, there must not only be restructuring; reculturing also needs to occur across and beyond the educational system. Importantly, such changes need to be primarily informed by the reconceptualisation of teachers — from mere ‘technicians’ to ‘transformative intellectuals’ — and teachers’ work — from ‘technical work’ to ‘intellectual work’. It is also vital that teachers who are entrusted with the task of developing ‘thinking learners’ under TSLN teach curricula and work in school contexts that explicitly encourage, value and reward critical thinking.

Current trends in education and school architecture reflect a growing awareness of the interconnectedness of people and spaces. Spaces acquire meaning through the experiences of those who use them and can contribute to the development of a sense of place. Purpose-built schools have long been valued and built in Iceland. The broad purpose of this study was to explore Icelandic students’ perceptions of their purpose-built school. Specific research questions included: (a) What spaces in purpose-built schools are important to students? (b) What happens in these spaces? (c) What meaning, if any, do these identified spaces hold for students? and (d) In ascribing meaning to some of the identified spaces, do students develop a sense of place? This phenomenological research initiative used an emergent design methodology. Seven Grade 9 and three Grade 10 students were recruited for this study. Primary data sources included students’ photographs of important school spaces, individual photo-elicitation interviews, and walking tours. Participants identified 25 important school spaces and 7 issues of concern within these spaces. Further analysis examined participants’ complex construction of importance and meaning. Participants described that school spaces were more likely to become meaningful places, when the design of the educational facility was in harmony with students’ experiences. The results of this study should raise awareness of the importance of building such schools in Canada and encourage the inclusion of students’ unique perspectives in the design of future schools. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-23 14:39:27.1

The purpose of this study was to explore the community college students’ perceptions on the use and effects of social media and social networking sites as well as any differences in perceptions based on students’ demographic characteristics. A community college in the state of Mississippi was chosen for this study. This community college is a comprehensive educational institution, accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The population for this study was currently enrolled freshman and sophomore students at one of the multiple locations. The respondents in this study were gathered by using a convenience sampling of students enrolled in academic core courses and electives or career and technical programs of study during the spring 2018 semester. The instrument that used for data collection in this study was a modified version of the Social Media Updates Survey (Pew Research Center, 2016). This study was quantitative in design, and a descriptive research methodology was used to conduct the study. The results revealed that students 25 years and older had significantly different social media habits than the students in the other age groups. Female students used social media more often than male students. More females than males used social media to interact with family. The data revealed that students mostly used mobile devices/tables to access social media and social networking sites. More students from academic programs accessed social media using desktops and laptops. More students from career technical education accessed social media using mobile devices. The most preferred social media websites were Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and SnapChat. Of the 201 respondents 41.3% agreed to social networking sites help them academically in getting educational materials for assignments or projects in class and 48.8% agreed that social networking sites are an effective tool for e-learning. 45.8% disagree to social media sites having positively affected their GPA. When asked the question, Social media networking sites have been effective in enhancing my active learning skills, 41.3% disagreed.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges faced by first-year students as they negotiated the transition from the wrting environment of high school to the writing environment of university. The research for the dissertation was undertaken using a mixed-method explanatory design. This yielded a description of students' perceptions of the differences between their high school writing and first-year university writing environments. The research questions were as follows: what are high school students' perceptions of their writing environment; and what differences, if any, do students perceive as different in the writing environment between high school and first-year university? A total of one hundred and forty-four Grade 12 students completed a quantitative survey asking for their perceptions of the high school writing environment, and twenty students took part either in qualitative focus groups or individual interviews. A follow-up interview was conducted with fourteen of the original twenty participants while they were in the process of completing their first term at university. The results indicated that students' perceptions were very much influenced by individual teachers and instructors and by their own expectations. Recommendations, implications for further research, and implications for program development are offered as a way to extend the knowledge in this area.