This thesis deals with the preparatory education of Geography teachers at the Faculty of Science of Charles University and looks at it from many perspectives.The basis is the content analysis of study plans which are also evaluated through interviews with former graduates, now teachers of Geography. Furthermore, representatives of academic community were interviewed in order to present the current state and vison of preparatory education of Geography teachers at the Faculty of Science of Charles University. The aim of the thesis is to make a comprehensive study of open dialogue between students, graduates and academic staff, in order to characterize the current education of Geography teachers and to evaluate the outcome.

Student Number : 0110601M - MSc research report - Faculty of Science / Based on the perceived need for improved graphing skills of students at first-year university level, two lecturers wanted to produce a web-based computer programme to improve first-year university biology students’ ability to construct and interpret graphs. Prior to designing and developing the package, however, it was important to establish whether there was a need for such a programme, and what might need to be included. The investigation to establish this provided the research described in this research report. A situation analysis was conducted to establish the nature and extent of the problems of graphing skills discussed anecdotally in the staff room of biology departments at a number of institutes. The ultimate intention (beyond this study) was to determine whether the problems were extensive and serious enough to warrant developing supplementary teaching materials to teach graphing skills. All lecturers (n = 5) and teaching assistants (n = 4) involved in using or teaching graphing skills to first-year biology students at one university were identified and interviewed. The purpose of the interviews was to establish the problems they believed are exhibited by their first-year students (with reference to graphing skills), and the nature and extent of current teaching of such skills in their first-year courses. In order to triangulate the information on student’s problems an item analysis was conducted of all questions incorporating graphs in two mid-year examination papers (n = 478 and n = 65), and students were observed during a practical session (n = 43). Results revealed that students experienced fewer problems with interpreting graphs than with graph construction. Of the four categories of graph interpretation problems identified by the teaching staff, the most popular category was students inability to describe quantitatively what the graph is showing (4 teaching staff). This was confirmed in the question paper analysis when 58% of the medics students (n=478) were unable to answer correctly one question involving several interpretation skills. No specific skills for graph interpretation were observed as being a problem in the College of Science question paper (n=65). Observations showed interrelating graphs as the biggest problem (5 students out of 43). Five categories for problems with graph construction were identified by the teaching staff. The most commonly mentioned problem (4 teaching staff) was identifying or plotting variables, whereas class observation revealed scaling axes as the most problematic skill shown by students (15 out of 43). In the exams, 80% of the medics students could not correctly answer one question requiring multiple skills including identifying variables, and 56% could not correctly answer another question that required skills that also involved identifying variables. The College of Science question paper revealed that 85% of the students could not supply the units of measurement for the y axis. A needs analysis was conducted to establish how the lecturers thought graphing skills should be taught and who should teach the skills. This information was needed to provide suggestions (from education “experts”) about what could be included in the computer programme to be developed subsequent to the research study, and how the teaching could best be done. Four members of the teaching staff said it was important to give students a lot of exercises to practice the skills and five members of the teaching staff said it was the responsibility of the university tutors or lab staff to teach graphing skills.

Avhandlingen består av två ganska olika delar som ändå har en del gemensamt. Del A är baserad på två artiklar i matematik och del B är baserad på två matematikdidaktiska artiklar. De matematiska artiklarna utgår från ett begrepp som heter polynomkonvexitet. Grundidén är att man skulle kunna se vissa ytor som en sorts ”tak” (tänk på taket till en carport). Alla punkter, eller positioner, ”under taket” (ungefär som de platser som skyddas från regn av carporttaket) ligger i något som kallas ”polynomkonvexa höljet.” Tidigare forskning har visat att för ett givet tak och en given punkt så finns det ett sätt att avgöra om punkten ligger ”under taket”. Det finns nämligen i så fall alltid en sorts matematisk funktion med vissa egenskaper. Finns det ingen sådan funktion så ligger inte punkten under taket och tvärt om; ligger punkten utanför taket så finns det heller ingen sådan funktion. Jag visar i min första artikel att det kan finnas flera olika sådana funktioner till en punkt som ligger under taket. I den andra artikeln visar jag några exempel på hur man kan konstruera sådana funktioner när man vet hur taket ser ut och var under taket punkten ligger. De matematikdidaktiska artiklarna i avhandlingen handlar om vad som krävs av studenterna när de gör universitetstentor i matematik. Vissa uppgifter kan gå att lösa genom att studenterna lär sig någonting utantill ur läroboken och sen skriver ner det på tentan. Andra går kanske att lösa med hjälp en algoritm, ett ”recept,” som studenterna har övat på att använda. Båda dessa sätt att resonera kallas imitativt resonemang. Om uppgiften kräver att studenterna ”tänker själva” och skapar en (för dem) ny lösning, så kallas det kreativt resonemang. Forskning visar att elever i stor utsträckning väljer att jobba med imitativt resonemang, även när uppgifterna inte går att lösa på det sättet. Mycket pekar också på att de svårigheter med att lära sig matematik som elever ofta har är nära kopplat till detta arbetssätt. Det är därför viktigt att undersöka i vilken utsträckning de möter olika typer av resonemang i undervisningen. Den första artikeln består av en genomgång av tentauppgifter där det noggrant avgörs vilken typ av resonemang som de kräver av studenterna. Resultatet visar att studenterna kunde bli godkända på nästan alla tentorna med hjälp av imitativt resonemang. Den andra artikeln baserades på intervjuer med sex av de lärare som konstruerat tentorna. Syftet var att ta reda på varför tentorna såg ut som de gjorde och varför det räckte med imitativt resonemang för att klara dem. Det visade sig att lärarna kopplade uppgifternas svårighetsgrad till resonemangstypen. De ansåg att om uppgiften krävde kreativt resonemang så var den svår och att de uppgifter som gick att lösa med imitativt resonemang var lättare. Lärarna menade att under rådande omständigheter, t.ex. studenternas försämrade förkunskaper, så är det inte rimligt att kräva mer kreativt resonemang vid tentamenstillfället. / This dissertation consists of two different but connected parts. Part A is based on two articles in mathematics and Part B on two articles in mathematics education. Part A mainly focus on properties of positive currents in connection to polynomial convexity. Earlier research has shown that a point z0 lies in the polynomial hull of a compact set K if and only if there is a positive current with compact support such that ddcT = μ−δz0. Here μ is a probability measure on K and δz0 denotes the Dirac mass at z0. The main result of Article I is that the current T does not have to be unique. The second paper, Article II, contains two examples of different constructions of this type of currents. The paper is concluded by the proof of a proposition that might be the first step towards generalising the method used in the first example. Part B consider the types of reasoning that are required by students taking introductory calculus courses at Swedish universities. Two main concepts are used to describe the students’ reasoning: imitative reasoning and creative reasoning. Imitative reasoning consists basically of remembering facts or recalling algorithms. Creative reasoning includes flexible thinking founded on the relevant mathematical properties of ob jects in the task. Earlier research results show that students often choose imitative reasoning to solve mathematical tasks, even when it is not a successful method. In this context the word choose does not necessarily mean that the students make a conscious and well considered selection between methods, but just as well that they have a subconscious preference for certain types of procedures. The research also show examples of how students that work with algorithms seem to focus solely on remembering the steps, and researchers argue that this weakens the students’ understanding of the underlying mathematics. Article III examine to what extent students at Swedish universities can solve exam tasks in introductory calculus courses using only imitative reasoning. The results show that about 70 % of the tasks were solvable by imitative reasoning and that the students were required to use creative reasoning in only one of 16 exams in order to pass. In Article IV, six of the teachers that constructed the analysed exams in Article III were interviewed. The purpose was to examine their views and opinions on the reasoning required in the exams. The analysis showed that the teachers are quite content with the present situation. The teachers expressed the opinion that tasks demanding creative reasoning are usually more difficult than tasks solvable with imitative reasoning. They therefore use the required reasoning as a tool to regulate the tasks’ degree of difficulty, rather than as a task dimension of its own. The exams demand mostly imitative reasoning since the teachers believe that they otherwise would, under the current circumstances, be too difficult and lead to too low passing rates.

There are no studies which focus on the instructional practices employed in the teaching of children's poetry at the university level. This project aimed to describe the instructional practices utilized in the teaching of children's poetry at universities across the United States. Limited to the practices of the university professors and adjunct instructors who were members of the Children's Literature Assembly (CLA) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) at the time of this study, this investigation attempted to ascertain the general perceptions of poetry held by these university professors and adjunct instructors, their in-class instructional practices, and the types of poetry assignments given. Additionally, this study revealed both the poets typically highlighted and the goals held by professors and instructors in courses of children's literature, English, language arts, library science, and reading education. A mixed-methods design provided the framework for the descriptive data gleaned from the Poetry Use Survey. Quantitative data analysis yielded descriptive statistical data (means, standard deviations, ranges, percentages). Qualitative data analysis (manual and computer-assisted techniques) yielded categories and frequencies of response. Major findings included respondents': (a) belief that the teaching of poetry was important, (b) general disagreement for single, "correct" interpretations of poetry and general agreement in support of multiple interpretations, (c) general disagreement whether current curricular demands have prevented or impaired their teaching of poetry, (e) high frequency of reading poetry out loud in class, (f) emphasis on inclusion of award-winning poets in assignments, (g) instructional emphasis on variety and breadth in the selection of poets highlighted in a particular course, (h) goals for inclusion of poetry centered on pedagogical issues (e.g., frequent use, appreciation of craft; writing models; thematic uses) in language arts and across content areas.

No description available.

<p>The main purpose of the research this thesis is based upon was to study students’ attitudes towards learning chemistry at university level and their motivation from three perspectives. How can students’ attitudes towards learning chemistry be assessed? How can these attitudes be changed? How are learning situations experienced by students with different attitude positions?</p><p>An attitude questionnaire, assessing views of knowledge, learning assessments, laboratory activities, and perceived roles of instructors and student, was used to estimate students’ attitude positions. It was shown that a positive attitude was related to motivated student behaviour. Furthermore, it was shown that factors in the educational context, such as the teachers’ empathy for students learning chemistry, had affected the students. It was also found that students holding different attitude positions showed different learning outcomes and differed in their perceptions of the learning situation. Students’ holding a more relativistic attitude more readily accepted the challenges of open experiments and other more demanding tasks than those holding a dualistic attitude.</p><p>In addition, the teachers were found to play important roles in the way the tasks were perceived and the development of students’ ideas. In studied laboratory activities open tasks resulted in positive student engagement and learning outcomes. Preparative exercises, such as a computer simulation of the phenomena to be investigated, affected students’ focus during laboratory work, encouraging them to incorporate more theoretical considerations and increasing their ability to use chemical knowledge. Finally, it was shown that students’ focus during laboratory work is reflected in the questions they ask the teacher, implying that questions could be used as tools to evaluate laboratory teaching and learning processes.</p><p>The findings imply that students’ attitudes towards learning and motivation, and the design of learning situations, are key factors in the attainment of desirable higher educational goals such as the ability to judge, use, and develop knowledge. For universities encountering students with increasingly diverse attitudes, motivation and prior knowledge, these are important considerations if they are to fulfil their commissions to provide high quality learning environments and promote high quality learning.</p>

The main purpose of the research this thesis is based upon was to study students’ attitudes towards learning chemistry at university level and their motivation from three perspectives. How can students’ attitudes towards learning chemistry be assessed? How can these attitudes be changed? How are learning situations experienced by students with different attitude positions? An attitude questionnaire, assessing views of knowledge, learning assessments, laboratory activities, and perceived roles of instructors and student, was used to estimate students’ attitude positions. It was shown that a positive attitude was related to motivated student behaviour. Furthermore, it was shown that factors in the educational context, such as the teachers’ empathy for students learning chemistry, had affected the students. It was also found that students holding different attitude positions showed different learning outcomes and differed in their perceptions of the learning situation. Students’ holding a more relativistic attitude more readily accepted the challenges of open experiments and other more demanding tasks than those holding a dualistic attitude. In addition, the teachers were found to play important roles in the way the tasks were perceived and the development of students’ ideas. In studied laboratory activities open tasks resulted in positive student engagement and learning outcomes. Preparative exercises, such as a computer simulation of the phenomena to be investigated, affected students’ focus during laboratory work, encouraging them to incorporate more theoretical considerations and increasing their ability to use chemical knowledge. Finally, it was shown that students’ focus during laboratory work is reflected in the questions they ask the teacher, implying that questions could be used as tools to evaluate laboratory teaching and learning processes. The findings imply that students’ attitudes towards learning and motivation, and the design of learning situations, are key factors in the attainment of desirable higher educational goals such as the ability to judge, use, and develop knowledge. For universities encountering students with increasingly diverse attitudes, motivation and prior knowledge, these are important considerations if they are to fulfil their commissions to provide high quality learning environments and promote high quality learning.

The central argument underlying this research is that experiential learning (EL) can strengthen environmental university programs. Its goal is to demonstrate the benefits of EL from students' and graduates' perspectives and to provide recommendations for its effective implementation into a program. The research utilized a qualitative case study (Environmental Sciences/Studies (ESS) programs at the University of Manitoba, Canada) through focus groups and individual interviews with students and graduates. The results indicate that EL helps develop an understanding of environmental complexities; motivates students to engage at all levels of their ability; is decisive in skill development; engages students in environmental issues with diverse stakeholders; is important in obtaining employment; and it is imperative to connect EL activities to concepts taught in class. The data however, did not show EL to be a significant factor in fostering pro-environmental behaviours in post-secondary environmental students. Overall, the research shows that provided effective implementation, EL can play a significant role in enhancing ESS curriculum and that ESS students place a great value on EL in their education. / October 2016

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e TecnolÃgico / O presente trabalho abordou a temÃtica da qualidade do ensino universitÃrio brasileiro. Para tal, buscou identificar a associaÃÃo que hà entre a qualidade da gestÃo e da docÃncia em cursos de graduaÃÃo, com os resultados do Conceito Preliminar de Cursos (CPC). A avaliaÃÃo da qualidade dos cursos de graduaÃÃo foi tratada com o auxilio do modelo conhecido pelo anagrama CIPP â contexto, insumos (inputs), processos e produtos (outputs), o qual abrange os momentos de planejamento e estruturaÃÃo das decisÃes, implementaÃÃo e reciclagem das decisÃes. Para cada um desses momentos existe uma forma especÃfica para avaliaÃÃo: (1) - avaliaÃÃo do contexto; (2) â avaliaÃÃo dos insumos (input); (3) â avaliaÃÃo de processos e, finalmente, (4) â avaliaÃÃo do produto. A presente pesquisa foi desenvolvida em uma amostra de 35 cursos de graduaÃÃo da Universidade Federal do Cearà (UFC), que possuem CPC, de um universo de 112 cursos, divididos em Grupo Inferior ( CPC &#8804; 2 ), Grupo Mediano ( 2 < CPC &#8804; 3 ) e Grupo Superior ( CPC > 3 ). Foi enviado um e-mail-grupo para 16.383 alunos regularmente matriculados nos 35 cursos, obtendo-se 1.433 respondentes ao questionÃrio de avaliaÃÃo da qualidade da docÃncia e 1.178 respondentes ao questionÃrio de avaliaÃÃo de qualidade da gestÃo acadÃmica. Os resultados indicaram existir associaÃÃo positiva entre a qualidade do curso e as notas do CPC. Com relaÃÃo à gestÃo acadÃmica, foi verificado que do grupo inferior para o grupo mediano houve uma associaÃÃo positiva, entretanto do grupo mediano para o grupo superior, houve um decrÃscimo em termos de qualidade avaliada pelos discentes, demonstrando baixa qualidade da gestÃo acadÃmica nos cursos de excelÃncia. No caso da docÃncia, apurou-se que o planejamento pedagÃgico foi muito bem avaliado, ocorrendo o inverso na atuaÃÃo docente e em sala de aula. Como indicaÃÃo de trabalhos futuros temos: a) aprofundar investigaÃÃo acerca da execuÃÃo da atuaÃÃo docente em sala de aula e b) averiguar o motivo da baixa qualidade da gestÃo nos cursos de excelÃncia. / This study addressed the issue of the teachinig quality of university level. To this end, we sought to identify the association that exists between the quality of management and teaching in undergraduate courses, with the results of the Concept Preliminary of Course (CPC). Assessing the quality of undergraduate courses was treated using the aid of the model known by the anagram CIPP - context, inputs, processes and products, which covers the phases of planning and decision structuring, implementation and decisions recycling. For each of these moments there is a specific way of assessing it: (1) â Context evaluation; (2) â Inputs evaluation (input); (3) - Process evaluation and, finally, (4) â Product evaluation. This research was conducted on a sample of 35 undergraduate courses of the Federal University of Cearà (UFC), who possesses CPC, of a universe of 112 courses, divided into Lower Group ( CPC &#8804; 2 ), Average Group (2 < CPC &#8804; 3), and Superior Group ( CPC > 3 ). It was sent an email for 16,383 students regularly enrolled in the 35 courses sampled, yielding 1,433 respondents to the questionnaire for evaluating the teaching quality, and 1,178 respondents to the evaluation of academic management quality questionnaire. The results indicated that there is a positive association between the course quality and the CPC scores. With relation to academic management, it was found that the lower to the middle group there was a positive association, however from the median to the upper group, it was identified a decrease in the quality evaluated by students, demonstrating low management quality in academic courses of excellence. In the case of teaching, it was found that pedagogical planning was highly rated, while the opposite occurred in the classroom teaching practice. As an indication to future work are listed: a) further research on the implementation of classroom teaching practice, and b) investigate the reason for the identified low quality for the management in courses of excellence.

LAVOR, João Ferreira de. Qualidade da gestão acadêmica e da docência em cursos de graduação: validando relações com o conceito preliminar de cursos (CPC). 2014. 182f. – Tese (Doutorado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação Brasileira, Fortaleza (CE), 2014. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-08-06T11:57:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_tese_jflavor.pdf: 1341216 bytes, checksum: 964f7d3eef694081ba47e4da68353690 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-08-06T13:48:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_tese_jflavor.pdf: 1341216 bytes, checksum: 964f7d3eef694081ba47e4da68353690 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-06T13:48:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_tese_jflavor.pdf: 1341216 bytes, checksum: 964f7d3eef694081ba47e4da68353690 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / This study addressed the issue of the teachinig quality of university level. To this end, we sought to identify the association that exists between the quality of management and teaching in undergraduate courses, with the results of the Concept Preliminary of Course (CPC). Assessing the quality of undergraduate courses was treated using the aid of the model known by the anagram CIPP - context, inputs, processes and products, which covers the phases of planning and decision structuring, implementation and decisions recycling. For each of these moments there is a specific way of assessing it: (1) – Context evaluation; (2) – Inputs evaluation (input); (3) - Process evaluation and, finally, (4) – Product evaluation. This research was conducted on a sample of 35 undergraduate courses of the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), who possesses CPC, of a universe of 112 courses, divided into Lower Group ( CPC ≤ 2 ), Average Group (2 < CPC ≤ 3), and Superior Group ( CPC > 3 ). It was sent an email for 16,383 students regularly enrolled in the 35 courses sampled, yielding 1,433 respondents to the questionnaire for evaluating the teaching quality, and 1,178 respondents to the evaluation of academic management quality questionnaire. The results indicated that there is a positive association between the course quality and the CPC scores. With relation to academic management, it was found that the lower to the middle group there was a positive association, however from the median to the upper group, it was identified a decrease in the quality evaluated by students, demonstrating low management quality in academic courses of excellence. In the case of teaching, it was found that pedagogical planning was highly rated, while the opposite occurred in the classroom teaching practice. As an indication to future work are listed: a) further research on the implementation of classroom teaching practice, and b) investigate the reason for the identified low quality for the management in courses of excellence. / O presente trabalho abordou a temática da qualidade do ensino universitário brasileiro. Para tal, buscou identificar a associação que há entre a qualidade da gestão e da docência em cursos de graduação, com os resultados do Conceito Preliminar de Cursos (CPC). A avaliação da qualidade dos cursos de graduação foi tratada com o auxilio do modelo conhecido pelo anagrama CIPP – contexto, insumos (inputs), processos e produtos (outputs), o qual abrange os momentos de planejamento e estruturação das decisões, implementação e reciclagem das decisões. Para cada um desses momentos existe uma forma específica para avaliação: (1) - avaliação do contexto; (2) – avaliação dos insumos (input); (3) – avaliação de processos e, finalmente, (4) – avaliação do produto. A presente pesquisa foi desenvolvida em uma amostra de 35 cursos de graduação da Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), que possuem CPC, de um universo de 112 cursos, divididos em Grupo Inferior ( CPC ≤ 2 ), Grupo Mediano ( 2 < CPC ≤ 3 ) e Grupo Superior ( CPC > 3 ). Foi enviado um e-mail-grupo para 16.383 alunos regularmente matriculados nos 35 cursos, obtendo-se 1.433 respondentes ao questionário de avaliação da qualidade da docência e 1.178 respondentes ao questionário de avaliação de qualidade da gestão acadêmica. Os resultados indicaram existir associação positiva entre a qualidade do curso e as notas do CPC. Com relação à gestão acadêmica, foi verificado que do grupo inferior para o grupo mediano houve uma associação positiva, entretanto do grupo mediano para o grupo superior, houve um decréscimo em termos de qualidade avaliada pelos discentes, demonstrando baixa qualidade da gestão acadêmica nos cursos de excelência. No caso da docência, apurou-se que o planejamento pedagógico foi muito bem avaliado, ocorrendo o inverso na atuação docente e em sala de aula. Como indicação de trabalhos futuros temos: a) aprofundar investigação acerca da execução da atuação docente em sala de aula e b) averiguar o motivo da baixa qualidade da gestão nos cursos de excelência.