A federal Call to Action was mandated to reform community colleges across the nation, challenging college officials to enhance instructional methodology on college campuses towards increasing student completion rates. In addressing this mandate, college officials at the upstate NY community college identified a need for professional development that would increase student learning and enhance the instructional methodologies of facilitating faculty through improved alignment. Accordingly, this study investigated the alignment of faculty instructional effectiveness with the institution's core mission. The purpose of this study was to examine faculty perceptions of the instructional methodologies used to facilitate student learning. Informed by Knowles's theory of andragogy, the research questions examined instructional strategies and existing professional development of the faculty members to explore the problem of faculty alignment. The study employed a qualitative intrinsic case study design, with a purposeful sample of 6 part-time and 2 full-time faculty participants. The data were collected and analyzed through the use of a semi structured Likert-type survey and open-ended interview questions. Utilizing an open coding format, data revealed a lack of computer-based instructional strategies and a need for implementation of technological professional learning opportunities at the college. Faculty expressed desire for professional learning. These findings may inform college officials as to the importance of a professional development growth plan policy, and may contribute to positive social change by increasing student completion rates at the college level.

Studiens syfte var att beskriva hur undervisning i grundskolan utformas för nyanlända elever samt hur utformningen av undervisningen inverkar på elevernas lärande och inkludering. Frågorna som belystes var; Hur motiverar olika skolor sin utformning av undervisning för nyanlända elever? Hur utformar de olika skolorna stöttning och extra anpassningar, så att nyanlända elevers lärande underlättas? Hur beskrivs synen på inkluderande undervisning och hur omsätts den i verksamheten på olika skolor? Studien genomfördes med kvalitativ fenomenografisk metod. Nio halvstrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med rektor, specialpedagog och lärare på tre olika skolor. Resultatet visade att undervisning för nyanlända elever utformades olika skolor emellan samt att kunskap och erfarenhet var viktigt för att kunna utforma god undervisning. Vidare, att alla skolor strävade efter en inkluderande undervisning och att extra anpassningar eller stöttning genomfördes, för att elevernas individuella förutsättningar att nå målen skulle tillvaratas. Viljan fanns, men inte alltid kunskaperna eller förutsättningarna. Några verksamma åtgärder för ökad måluppfyllelse identifierades i studien. Stöttning var en förutsättning för att nå de individuella målen.Undervisning som var kognitivt utmanande samt utgick från elevernas kunskaper och erfarenheter och användande av modersmål i undervisningen lyftes som verksamma redskap, för att få eleverna engagerade i läsande och skrivande samt stärka språket. Samarbete inom skolan mellan olika yrkeskategorier, men också ett samarbete med vårdnadshavare var en förutsättning. Ökad inkludering nåddes när åtgärder vidtogs, som skapade goda förutsättningar för nyanlända elever att lyckas i skolan. Inkluderingssträvan var en ständigt pågående demokratisk process för alla människors rättigheter och lika värde. Den utgick ifrån idén att elevers olikheter var en tillgång, där elever erbjöds möjligheter att uppleva gemenskap och aktivt deltagande med hög pedagogisk vinst. / The purpose of the study was to describe how teaching is designed in elementary school for newly arrived pupils, and to review the effects of this teaching. The questions being analyzed were: What is the motivation of the different schools in how they create their supportive teaching structure for the newly arrived students? How do the different schools organize their scaffolding, and how do they make adjustments, so that the learning of new arrivals is supported? How is inclusive education described, and how is it transformed into activities at different schools? The study used a qualitative phenomenographic methodology. Nine half-structured interviews were conducted with the principal, special educator and teacher at three different schools. The results showed that teaching for newly arrived pupils varies between schools, and that knowledge and experience is important in order to create a good teaching environment. Further, all schools aimed for an inclusive education, and that additional adjustments or supporting structures were implemented to ensure that the pupils' individual needs for achieving their goals were met. Not all schools had the knowledge or the right conditions for the implementation of an inclusive education, but all three had the will to try. Some methods for increased goal achievement have been identified as being particularly active in the study. Scaffolding was a prerequisite for reaching pupils’ individual goals, and one challenge was to decide on the right kind of pedagogy for the individual pupil. Education that was cognitively challenging, and on the pupil’s mother tongue, can all be used as active tools in order to get pupils involved in reading and writing and with the goal of strengthening their language. Collaboration within the schools’ different occupational categories, as well as cooperation with caregivers, were needed. Inclusion was achieved when the right action was taken to create good learning conditions for newly arrived pupils to succeed in school. The inclusion endeavor was ultimately based on an ongoing democratic process for all human rights and equal values. It was based on the idea that pupils' differences were an asset, offering students the opportunity to experience community and active participation with high educational gains.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This research investigated elementary classroom teachers' experiences in a collaborative learning community (CLC) on the topic of supporting the literacy learning of students with characteristics of ADHD. Five general education classroom teachers participated in biweekly CLC meetings over a 5-month period. Qualitative methods of data gathering were employed in the form of participant observations in the classroom and during 9 CLC meetings. Participants were also interviewed three times. The first interview was conducted before the CLC meetings began, the second interview was conducted immediately after formal CLC meetings had ceased, and the final interview was conducted 6 months after meetings had ended. Three main findings emerged from the research. First, participants' literacy teaching of their students with characteristics of ADHD was positively influenced as a result of their participation in the CLC. This positive influence came through an interaction of factors related to their knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs. It also resulted from a reconceptualization of both their understanding of their students with characteristics of ADHD and of themselves as literacy teachers. Second, certain aspects of the CLC contributed to this positive outcome. These aspects were the opportunity to work with colleagues, participant control over the format and content of CLC, and repeated opportunities to reflect on and refine teaching practice. Third, personal and contextual factors shaped the participants' experiences within the CLC. Participants who had challenges during their own schooling were more driven and committed to understand and respond to their students’ diverse learning needs. Participants with the most number of years of teaching experience had a more fully realized skill set, higher levels of self-efficacy, and lower levels of stress related to teaching and meeting the needs of their students with characteristics of ADHD. Implications for school literacy teaching, preservice education, in-service education, and future avenues for research are discussed in light of the findings.

In this discusses four different approaches used during a statistics tutorial of a group of first year undergraduates studying computer science related degrees at the University of Westminster UK. The four approaches were each implemented in an attempt to keep the students interested in the statistics topics delivered. It was found that “Chalk and Talk” (i.e. board work) was not the best form of imparting knowledge to the students of the group as determined by student analysing feedback forms and generally observing student behaviour and listening to student comments over a number of years delivering statistics topics. The duration of each tutorial was two hours. The teaching strategies adopted were: a) A class quiz. b) Group explanation of material to members of the individual’s group. c) Group explanation of material to members of the entire class. d) Students teaching at the front of the class. Each of the methods will now be discussed with the relative merits and defects included for a comparison. It was found that each method worked better at the end of each module when the students were more familiar with the topics introduced on the module.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to determine if questioning can be used as an effective teaching and learning skill to develop learners' higher level thinking in the natural sciences learning area. The types of questions asked by the teachers as well as the different questioning techniques that can be used to provoke the learners' higher level thinking during a learning experience was discussed. The way in which learner questions can be used to encourage student engagement and learning was determine. Questioning as it is used in secondary school was investigated to determine the ways in which it is applied during teaching and learning. The present situation regarding the development and stimulation of learners' questions was determine. The degree to which training and experience determine the teachers application of questioning as an effective teaching and learning skill is investigated by means of a survey. Guidelines to enhance questioning as a skill to develop the learners' higher level thinking was formulated. Method: A literature study was done to investigate the ways in which questioning can be used to enhance the teaching and learning of higher level thinking. Learning strategies, teaching and learning methods and skills to enhance effective higher level thinking was discussed in terms of teaching and learning in the natural sciences. The success rate of teaching and learning can be measure in terms of good questioning and the level of thinking. 'The teaching and learning experience in natural sciences is influenced by the nature of science. The objectives of teaching and learning in the natural sciences is discussed. The empirical data about the grade 8 and grade 11 natural sciences classroom situations was obtained by means of video recordings. These recordings was analysed and coded with a situation analysis instrument developed against the background of the literature study. Empirical research was also undertaken in terms of a survey procedure to obtain the biographical data about the teachers. The empirical data are analysed and discussed in terms of the present situation in use in the natural sciences classrooms. Based on this discussions, guidelines were developed in terms of the proposal of the findings with which to ensure the application of questioning as a teaching and learning skill to enhance the development of learners' higher level thinking in the natural sciences learning area. Core findings: The core findings are, that not enough effort is put to the didactic task of enhancing questioning as an effective teaching and learning skill of learners in the natural sciences. The teachers are confronted with the challenge to make use of spiral questioning to provoke the learners thinking in the classroom situation. Questioning can be used to serve and support the teaching and learning experience. From the empirical data it can be deducted that the teachers in this research group are not trying to enhance, stimulate of provoke learners' questioning. Questioning as practice by the teachers are mostly classified as communication and lower level questions. Furthermore no deduction can be made about the degree to which training and experience determine the teachers application of questioning as an effective teaching and learning skill to enhance the higher level of thinking in the natural sciences learning area. Based on these core findings recommendations are made about the development of higher level thinking to promote deeper understanding of the natural sciences with the aid of questioning as an instructional skill during learning. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This research investigated elementary classroom teachers' experiences in a collaborative learning community (CLC) on the topic of supporting the literacy learning of students with characteristics of ADHD. Five general education classroom teachers participated in biweekly CLC meetings over a 5-month period. Qualitative methods of data gathering were employed in the form of participant observations in the classroom and during 9 CLC meetings. Participants were also interviewed three times. The first interview was conducted before the CLC meetings began, the second interview was conducted immediately after formal CLC meetings had ceased, and the final interview was conducted 6 months after meetings had ended. Three main findings emerged from the research. First, participants' literacy teaching of their students with characteristics of ADHD was positively influenced as a result of their participation in the CLC. This positive influence came through an interaction of factors related to their knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs. It also resulted from a reconceptualization of both their understanding of their students with characteristics of ADHD and of themselves as literacy teachers. Second, certain aspects of the CLC contributed to this positive outcome. These aspects were the opportunity to work with colleagues, participant control over the format and content of CLC, and repeated opportunities to reflect on and refine teaching practice. Third, personal and contextual factors shaped the participants' experiences within the CLC. Participants who had challenges during their own schooling were more driven and committed to understand and respond to their students’ diverse learning needs. Participants with the most number of years of teaching experience had a more fully realized skill set, higher levels of self-efficacy, and lower levels of stress related to teaching and meeting the needs of their students with characteristics of ADHD. Implications for school literacy teaching, preservice education, in-service education, and future avenues for research are discussed in light of the findings.

Although the Internet is widely used in many areas, its use in school mathematics is at best in its infancy. Studies show that Mathematics teachers have fewer uses for the Internet than teachers of other disciplines. Hence, this research adopted a mixed method approach to investigate what mathematics materials are on the Internet, how teachers are teaching mathematics with the Web and mathematic students' perceptions and engagement with the Internet. This research reviewed the World Wide Web for mathematics materials and found three major groupings of online resources namely interactive resources, non-interactive resources, and communications possibilities. A typology of Web objects was constructed and a database based on a Task-Web object approach was proposed for teacher use. A broad survey was used to elicit information about Internet usage among mathematic teachers. A total of 103 mathematics teachers responded and 15 were interviewed to gain further insight into their usage. Observations of Internet use were also conducted in the classrooms of 4 teachers. The results show that most teachers would like to use the Internet more in their teaching of mathematics but many do not know where and how to do so in an effective way. Statistics, Business Mathematics and Number operations appear to be the more popular topics. Using statistics data from the Web seem to be the Web feature that is most common followed by using the Internet as a resource centre for word problems. Web communications are seldom used. Common constraints teachers face include lack of time, difficulty in planning, lack of knowledge of good Web sites that map to curricula, slow download times, and limited booking times. Students perceive doing activities on the Internet as better than from the textbook because of the amount and variety of information, the better explanations and the change in mode of presentation. Students who have a low comfort level with mathematics wish their teachers would use the Internet. The power of interactive activities on the Internet to engage and motivate these students is due to a variety of reasons such as the element of game play, a change from the routine, its ability to present different conceptual visuals, the independent self paced learning, and quick feedback that came with the use of the Internet. The Internet also enabled students to access difficult to find information and saved them time. The findings also suggest that teachers' persistence in using the Internet could bring about a routine that helps students settle down to the task and stay on task. Teachers' choice and discernment of Web-based activities that are engaging and motivating are paramount to the success of this learning tool. Four Web-based strategies for teaching mathematics were documented and a model of underlying knowledge for teacher practice with the Web was suggested.

The debate on how students of different abilities should be organised and taught is probably as old as the introduction of formal schooling. It has generated a lot of debate in the past and continues to do so in the present millennium. This debate has invariably divided the world of educational research into two distinct camps. On one hand are proponents of ability grouping who claim that this grouping approach creates homogeneity which make it possible to tailor teaching to individual needs and thus raise achievement. On the other hand, are the exponents of mixed-ability grouping, who argue that ability grouping denies equality of educational opportunities to many young people, limiting their life chances and increasing social segregation. However, there is an emerging trend which posits that teachers should view students' mixed-abilities as an asset, which if properly exploited can result in effective instruction for the benefit of all students regardless of their many individual differences. This emanates from the realisation that there are different types of intelligences, and that it is not always possible for an individual student to posses all the types of intelligences. Therefore, students from diverse backgrounds, endowed with multiple intelligences, can help one another understand the content better as they will perceive the content from their diverse experiential backgrounds. This qualitative study concerned itself with investigating how mixed-ability grouping can be optimised for effective instruction at the junior secondary school level in Botswana. The study made use of literature study, focus groups, follow-up interviews and lesson observations. Major findings were that teachers are not optimising mixed-ability grouping for effective instruction. Instead, teachers have problems in teaching mixed-ability classes, with most of their teaching being teacher-centred. However, teachers can optimise mixed-ability grouping through the use of student-centred instructional strategies such as cooperative learning, small-group instruction, peer teaching and student research. Gifted students could be catered for through curriculum compaction, enrichment and extension work, while mentally challenged students could be offered remedial work. These cited teaching strategies are differential and they make use of the diverse abilities found in mixed-ability classes. / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Didactics)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Evaluations carried out in Brazil have revealed that the averages of proficiency in Mathematics have been continuing low in both national and state exams. The influence of teachers training over students learning has been investigated and, generally, it is accepted that problems on training have negative effects over students learning at basic education. Taking into consideration the difficulties in Mathematics and the low averages on official exams, such as SAEB (Brasil, 2005), presented on students learning from the elementary school system of the city of Santa Maria, this research has been carried out based on assumptions from analysis of errors in a public school from this city with 6th graders. From the analysis of students answers, on tests applied by the teacher of two classes, the most common errors were analyzed, classified and grouped. Then, teaching strategies were elaborated from those errors. Soon after the application of the strategies, we applied a new test in order to observe the impact of these strategies on the learning of such contents. With the results, we set teaching workshops for teachers from grades previous to the sixth grade, a questionnaire about the workshops for the participating teachers was applied as well. We think that we have contributed for the teaching of mathematics in that school besides helping with the teaching practice through workshops for teachers and with activities for students, such as games, which helped contemplate the discrepancies in the teaching of mathematics from the errors observed. / As avaliações, em larga escala, realizadas no Brasil têm revelado que as médias de proficiência em Matemática vêm se mantendo baixas, tanto nas provas nacionais como estaduais. A influência da formação do professor sobre a aprendizagem dos alunos tem sido investigada e, em geral, é aceito que problemas na formação têm efeitos negativos sobre a aprendizagem dos estudantes da escola básica. Tendo em vista as dificuldades na disciplina de Matemática e as baixas médias nos exames oficiais, como o SAEB (BRASIL, 2005), apresentadas na aprendizagem de alunos do Ensino Fundamental do município de Santa Maria, realizou-se esta pesquisa fundamentada em pressupostos de Análise de Erros, numa escola da rede pública desta cidade com alunos do 6º ano do Ensino Fundamental. Por meio da análise das respostas dos alunos, em provas aplicadas pela professora regente de duas turmas, foram analisados, classificados e agrupados os erros mais comuns cometidos, sendo que a partir destes foram elaboradas estratégias de ensino. Logo após a aplicação das estratégias aplicou-se uma nova prova a fim de observar o impacto das mesmas sobre a aprendizagem de tais conteúdos. Com os resultados foram preparadas oficinas de ensino aos professores das séries anteriores ao sexto ano. Aplicou um questionário sobre as oficinas a estes professores participantes. Julgou-se ter contribuído para o ensino de Matemática desta escola, bem como auxiliou a prática docente, através de oficinas aos professores e com atividades para os alunos, como jogos, que ajudaram a contemplar as defasagens no ensino de Matemática a partir dos erros observados.