It has long been acknowledged that pre-service Early Childhood teachers enter university with a notable lack of confidence, high levels of anxiety and an aversion to science and mathematics. Unless redressed during their time spent at university, such negative attitudes may ultimately influence the quality of science education these teachers offer to young children. This study considers the affective attitudes to science and science education of those people considered to be central to the education of young children.Specifically the study investigates the attitudes and backgrounds in science/ science education, of academics, pre-service and in-service teachers together with their attitudes towards teaching science to young children. The attitudes to science of a group of young children, aged between 4 and 8 years, were also investigated in the study. The potential links between the attitudes held by each group was of great interest to the researcher who considered the ways that academics promoted the teaching of science to young children, the factors influencing the willingness of pre-service and in-service teachers to present science to young children and the effect that teachers have on the responses of young children to science.The findings suggest that in contrast to the attitudes towards science of pre- and in-service teacher groups in the study, the young children and academics displayed attitudes such as interest, curiosity, confidence and enjoyment towards their experiences in science. There was a strong link between the memory of prior experiences in science and the present attitudes to science of the adult participants. The implications of the study are that science education in the early years will be enhanced if ways can be found to provide more positive science related experiences for pre-service and in-service teachers.

The object of this study was to answer four major research questions dealing with the intention of teachers to use information technologies: what are the teacher characteristics and dispositions that impact upon teacher intentions to use computers in teaching and learning; how do these characteristics and dThis study aimed to answer four research questions dealing with the intentions of teachers to use ispositions impact upon teacher intentions to use computers in teaching and learning; how do these characteristics and dispositions relate to each other; can the pattern of relationship between these characteristics and dispositions explain conceptually the processes by which teachers' uptake computers into teaching and learning situations. Teachers were sampled from seven secondary schools located in Western Sydney. Subjects were provided with a questionnaire pertaining to educational, professional and computing backgrounds, and attitudes toward computers. Results show teachers' use of computers to be influenced by attitudes toward computers as well as factors such as teachers' computer skill, their involvement in formal training, and their access to computers outside of school. Gender issues were examined and while some effect was found, the effect was not consistent across all variables. The results of the inferential analysis were used to formulate a causal model, the purpose of which was to explain further the relationship between teachers' attitudes toward computers and computer use / Master of Education (Hons)

The purpose of this study was to describe the perceptions of the first year experience of teaching secondary agriculture and to explore the relationships between these perceptions, the characteristics of beginning agriculture teachers, and the types of support provided to beginning teachers. An additional focus of the study was to explore the relationship between the level of commitment to teaching and the perceptions of the first year experience. Information was gathered from secondary agriculture teachers across the U.S. who were in their second year of teaching agricultural education during the 2003-2004 academic year. A survey instrument was created specifically for this study through which information about the perceived experience of the first year, the types of support provided to the beginning teacher during the initial year of teaching, the perceived effectiveness of the support provided, demographic characteristics of the beginning teacher, and the perceived likelihood of teaching secondary agriculture in the future was gathered. Data were analyzed using descriptive and correlational statistics. The 57 variables related to the perceptions of the first year experience were reduced to 14 factors through Principal Component Analysis. Nearly 90 percent of respondents described the overall experience of their first year as very positive, positive, or somewhat positive. The most frequently reported positive experiences included working with students in the FFA, participating in professional development opportunities, and using computers and multimedia in teaching. A majority of respondents also described their relationships with school staff, colleagues, and administrators as positive or very positive. Less than 25 percent of respondents perceived the salary in relationship to the time required as positive or very positive. Most respondents reported negative perceptions of working with students in the classroom who don't want to be there and in dealing with problem student behavior. While nearly three-fourths of the respondents reported they were highly likely to teach secondary agriculture one-year from the time of the survey, less than one-third reported they were highly likely to do so at five years, and only 15% reported they were highly likely to do so twenty years from the time of the survey. / Graduation date: 2004

Prospective teachers enter teacher education programs with previously formed conceptions of geometry and its teaching. These conceptions help them make sense of new information about teaching, their roles as teachers, and their translation of mathematics into learning activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among preservice teachers' conceptions of geometry, conceptions of teaching geometry and classroom practices. Ten preservice mathematics teachers completed a card sort task with an interview. They also participated in a videotape task which consisted of viewing three experienced geometry teachers on videotape. Four of these preservice teachers were observed eight times each during their professional internship experience. All interviews and observations were videotaped and transcribed for data analysis. Results of this study indicated a complex relationship between the preservice teachers' conceptions of geometry and conceptions of teaching geometry. The preservice teachers could not discuss their conceptions of geometry without discussing the teaching of geometry. Their conceptions about geometry and their belief that geometry was linear, in nature were so strong that these views became connected with their views of teaching geometry. Clearly, the preservice teachers' conceptions of geometry influenced their conceptions of teaching geometry and the teaching of subject matter influenced the preservice teachers' conceptions of geometry as well. The relationship between the preservice teachers' conceptions of geometry and their classroom practices was directly influenced by the textbooks used. They believed geometry was ordered according to the textbook and their classroom practices also followed the textbook. The relationship of the preservice teachers' conceptions of geometry teaching to classroom practices indicated that what the preservice teachers said they believed and what they did in the classroom were not always consistent. Their beliefs about teaching geometry rarely emerged in their classroom practices. Finally, these preservice teachers had an overwhelming concern with classroom management. This concern governed their thinking about teaching. / Graduation date: 1996

Abstract Two purposes guided this study. First, the researcher explored in-service teachers’ perceptions of the benefits and barriers physical activity had on students with exceptionalities in school-based activities. Second, the researcher explored in-service teachers’ perceptions of physical activity and how their attitudes affected student’s learning. One hundred and fifty eight in-service, postgraduate (teachers taking courses in Education) and graduate teachers (teachers taking graduate level courses) volunteered to participate in this study. In-service teachers teaching in Kindergarten to grade 12 classrooms were either employed with a rural school division in Central Saskatchewan or a rural school division in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. Data was collected using adapted versions the Physical Educators’ Attitude Toward Teaching Individual with Disabilities-III (PEATID-III) (Rizzo, 1993) and the Physical Educators’ Judgement about Inclusion (PEJI) (Hodge, Murata, & Kozub, 2002) in this study. Volunteered participants completed the amalgamated adapted survey titled, Physical Educators’ Judgments and Attitude Towards Teaching Individuals with Exceptionalities. Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between teacher characteristics (e.g., gender, age, whether participants had taught physical education, participants ratings of fitness) and the six survey subscales (e.g., outcomes of teaching students with exceptionalities, effects on student learning, need for more academic preparation, judgement about inclusion, judgement about acceptance of students with exceptionalities, and judgement about perceived training needs) to investigate if there were any statistically significant relationships. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also used to examine potential differences between teachers’ attitudes toward instructing students with exceptionalities and the teacher characteristics (number of special education courses taken, years of teaching experience with exceptionalities, and number of adapted PE courses taken). All six subscales were examined compared with teacher characteristics to find potential differences between teachers’ attitudes toward instructing students with exceptionalities and varying levels of experience and pre-service training. Results showed years of teaching experience and academic preparation influenced teachers’ attitudes towards instructing students with exceptionalities. Physical education teachers who had more additional training had higher self-reported ratings of their ability to teach physical education to all students than physical education teachers with less additional training. Results also indicated the older teachers were, the more negative attitudes they had toward wanting students with exceptionalities in their classrooms. These results support the body of evidence that shows there is a need to promote positive attitudes in the schools toward teaching individuals with exceptionalities physical activity.

The 1989 Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement (TESA) study analyzed whether students perceived as low achievers, having been taught by TESA-trained instructors in the Metropolitan School District (MSD) of Warren Township over a three-year period, achieved significantly (p < .05) higher academic gain than a similar control group of students not taught by TESA-trained instructors as measured by the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS).Federal Judge S. Hugh Dillin, in 1971, found the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) system to be racially segregated in violation of the Constitution. The ruling indicated that the school system was denying equal opportunity to black children because of race. Following ten years of review and appeals to higher courts, one-way busing of black students from IPS to six suburban school districts began in the fall of 1981 in Marion County, including the MSD of Warren Township. Some of the greatest concerns for one-way busing included the steps being taken to ensure fair treatment and full academic opportunity for all children involved in desegregation.As a result of the desegregation order, the MSD of Warren Township and several other Indianapolis suburban school systems adopted the TESA staff development program. TESA is an intervention program designed to encourage non-discriminatory behavior toward all students in the classroom in order to increase academic performance.The original TESA research was conducted in 1974 by Sam Kerman and Mary Martin in school districts in Los Angeles, California. This 1989 TESA study covered five school years from 1982-1983 through 1986-1987, and followed the progress of 102 students through three consecutive years of being taught by a TESA-trained teacher, or a teacher not trained in TESA skills, in 246 classrooms.A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated that neither group (TESA or other) or race (black or other) were found to be statistically significant in improving students' academic achievements on the CTBS. Although some academic gains were noted for students taught by TESA-trained teachers over a three-year period, the gains were not statistically significant. TESA continues to be a staff development program many school systems support, but perhaps the interest should not include the expectation that low achieving students will significantly improve academic achievement.

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published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Philosophy

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