Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemWorking through tension : a response to the concerns of lesbian, gay and bisexual secondary school students(University of Melbourne, 2001)
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ItemTeaching abstract physics to junior secondary students using computer technology(University of Melbourne, 2001)This study investigated the use of computer technology in the teaching of Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity to junior secondary students. A teaching unit was developed incorporating a computer program for the purposes of the research. Six subjects completed pre-tests prior to undertaking the program and post-tests at the conclusion of the program. The subjects were also interviewed at the conclusion of their post-tests. All subjects demonstrated some degree of conceptual change in their understanding of relativistic effects. Five of the six subjects demonstrated a considerable change in their conceptual understanding of abstract phenomena described by the theory.
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ItemThe relationship between levels of social competence and of false belief understanding in children with Asperger's Syndrome( 2001)Social competence is seen to develop in young children through an awareness of self, then others and on to an awareness of others' mental states in what is known as theory of mind. Children with Asperger's Syndrome are characterised by impairments in social development. It has been suggested that a delay in developing a theory of mind underlies this deficit in social behaviour. Lalonde and Chandler (1995) examined the relationship between social behaviour as determined by teacher ratings on a questionnaire and performance on theory of mind tasks related to the understanding of false belief. Their subjects were normal pre-schoolers. The study reported here used the methodology of Lalonde and Chandler (1995) to investigate the relationship between social behaviour and understanding of false belief in six school-aged boys with Asperger's Syndrome. No clear outcome on the relationship was obtained although greater understanding was seen to relate to age. Observations of some real life social behaviours of three subjects were made. The real life observations extended the data obtained by experimental means.
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ItemThe academic achievements of language centre students at a secondary college( 2001)What are the academic achievements of adolescent new-arrival English as a Second Language (ESL) students at secondary schools in Victoria, Australia? Research on Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) students in Australia has tended to neglect new arrival ESL students. To examine the academic achievements of this important subgroup of NESB students, the current study will highlight the academic achievements of a cohort of Victorian Language Centre students at a Secondary College over six years with interruption to schooling in their first language (L1) as the key variable linked to academic achievement in their second language (L2). Victorian Language Centres provide new-arrival ESL students with the English skills they need to start their secondary educations in L2. The current study examined the academic achievement of two groups of Language Centre students, those who completed their Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and those who left the Secondary College prior to completing VCE. Their academic results were summarised into spreadsheets for quantitative analysis. Subsequent to the quantitative analysis interviews were conducted with four ESL students from the Language Centre currently completing their VCE studies to provide further insight into the factors that enabled them to do their VCE. Results indicate that the academic achievements of this cohort of ESL Language Centre students are poor and that interruption to education in Ll had a major impact on the students' ability to achieve academically at the Secondary College. The study suggests that L1 education is the key variable influencing the student's ability to acquire the academic language skills necessary to meet the academic demands of secondary education, particularly the VCE. Other factors such as support for learning and strong motivation were found to help students overcome difficulties encountered in their secondary education. However, students who were unable to overcome these difficulties left the College prior to completing VCE. It was concluded that the majority of Language Centre students faced uncertain economic futures once they left the Secondary College. The results of the study suggest that Language Centre students need more support and assistance to enable them to complete VCE or to access educational alternatives to the VCE. This study also suggests that more research into the effect of L1 education on L2 education be conducted as this was found to be the key variable in the students' ability to acquire the academic language skills necessary to meet the academic demands of VCE.
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ItemWomen in Collingwood in the depression of the 1930s( 2001)This thesis is about the lives of women in Collingwood during the Depression of the 1930s. They fought tirelessly to have their families fed and clothed, often sharing the little they had. Homes were primitive, bathrooms were uncommon and most houses had no water in the home. Shopping was done on a daily basis as there were no refrigerators. With constant childcare under these conditions, women were almost literally chained to the home. Even in the 1930s it was not accepted that women work outside the home. In some instances women would go without food to ensure that their children were fed, some women suffering from malnutrition. The Women's Hospital was where Collingwood women went for treatment. As there was no Medicare, doctors were unavailable to the working class. Marriage called for perseverance as divorce was uncommon. With the working-class wife heading the family, men, especially unemployed men, regarded this as a blow to their pride. A common occurrence for families unable to meet their rent payments was eviction. Eventually the Government gave a subsidy towards the rent for those who received an eviction order. Many people relied on charity, indicating just how desperate they were. Over 11,000 women out of 16,000 women in Collingwood were either unemployed or dependent on husbands' uncertain incomes. For many, charity was the only answer. Many of the remaining 5,000 women were domestic servants, barmaids, factory workers or shop assistants. Barmaids had a lowly reputation as their work was not regarded as respectable 'women's work'. Professional women, teachers and kindergartners came from the more affluent areas to work in Collingwood. Some women resorted to crime, shoplifting and even violence as a matter of survival. Others turned to abortion and prostitution, both outlawed at this time. Men were not neglected in this thesis. They suffered humiliation and degradation as they formed endless queues, and more often than not returned home only to report no job.
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ItemThe impact of information technology on the development of literacy skills in a secondary school( 2001)This study reports on a relationship between the increased use of Information Technology (IT), in both domestic and school environments and the development of literacy in reading comprehension and vocabulary skills in a sample of 52 students in a junior high school. The study was prompted by a perception based on my own personal observation as a classroom teacher in the computer studies area, that the increased availability of personal computers was coinciding with a decline of literacy skills demonstrated in submitted written work by my students. Other teachers also expressed their concern that students were displaying more interest in using IT and a coinciding reduction in reading and writing in class. The study reveals that a majority of students has access to personal computers at home and that they spend more time playing computer games than they do reading the kind of variety of printed text that would benefit the development of their basic comprehension, vocabulary and writing skills. Some correlations were found between high computer use and low scores on Progressive Achievement Tests in Reading (Vocabulary and Comprehension) as well as with low scores on other written exercises. These findings indicated that a high use of personal computers impacts on the development of literacy in reading (comprehension and vocabulary) and writing skills. The parents of the children studied were also surveyed and their comments indicated that the majority felt that their children spent more time on computers than they did on reading any type of printed text or practising their handwriting skills. Despite this, parents were convinced of need for the computer technology in their domestic environment for the educational development their children require. A majority of teachers who were interviewed also expressed their concern at how students were not developing literacy skills at this age. They felt that the acquisition and the development of basic literacy skills should occur at this stage of schooling. It was felt that it was crucial that students, growing up in the "Information Age", developed language literacy skills as well as computer literacy skills. Further study on a wider scale is necessary to specifically identify whether the decline in language literacy is directly tied to the advancements in Information Technologies and their increased use by students. In reality there may be a transformation of literacy that is occurring faster than society and schools can adapt to it. Literacy is a relative concept that must be set in the context of economic and social demands.
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ItemRelationships between modernism, postmodernism, new technologies and visual culture in Victorian secondary visual arts education( 2001)This study investigates relationships between computer technologies, modernism, postmodernism, visual culture and visual arts education. The literature research focuses on relationships between modernism and new technologies, modernism and postmodernism, postmodernism and new technologies and art education and computer technologies. The field research consisted of three 'semi-structured interviews with secondary visual arts teachers in metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria. I investigated selected teachers' perceptions of the extent to which they addressed computer technologies, modernism, postmodernism and visual culture in their visual arts curricula. Initially I aimed to discover the extent that they included computer technologies and postmodern theories into their visual arts curricula. I used a combination of research methods when undertaking this study and in particular when analysing the field research findings. The deductive method of Orientational Qualitative Inquiry was combined with the inductive method of grounded theory. Whilst investigating relationships between postmodernism and new technologies using Orientational Qualitative Inquiry I found that modernism impacted upon both postmodernism and computer technologies. I then used grounded theory to document the interrelationships between modernism, postmodernism, visual culture, new technologies and arts education. This study was limited by several factors, including the following. Firstly, I limited the investigation to only three participants. Secondly, there were flaws inherent in the combination of inductive and deductive research methods. Most significantly, I was limited by the fact that the three interviewees worked in modern institutions. The relationships between modernism and new technologies encountered in section 2.1 were echoed by the interviewees' comments, particularly in sections 4.1 and 4.2. The interviewees held strong modern values such as a belief in progress and the importance of originality. The investigations surrounding postmodernism and visual culture in sections 2.2 and 2.3 were less well established in the field research. However, these were still present, especially in section 4.3. Finally, the traditions of the incorporation of computer technologies established in Australian and American visual arts education in section 2.4 were continued by all three participants in chapter four and summarised in section 5.1. By exploring relationships between modernism, postmodernism, visual culture and new technologies in visual arts education I found that modernism and postmodernism are not mutually exclusive but rather deeply interconnected.
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ItemAn investigation of adult attention-getting strategies used with children with typical development, hearing impairment and autism( 2001)This study investigated the use of adult attention getting strategies with children with typical development hearing impairment and autism. Six children with typical development six children with hearing impairment and two children with autism and their primary caregivers were involved in the study. Their ages ranged from 29 months to 44 months at the time of videotaping Data consisted of videotaped adult child interaction during a free play session at the setting of their choice. Adult s attention getting strategies and the latency of the child s response in the middle five minutes of the play session were coded. The results show that parents of typically developing children and autistic children used verbal attention getting strategies more frequently than did children with hearing impairment. Parents of children with hearing impairment used more attention getting strategies overall. Children with typical development had quicker responses to attention getting strategies than the other two groups of participants. The more responsive the child was to the adults attention getting strategies the less these strategies were used by the adults. For the groups with typical development and hearing impairment non verbal attention getting strategies were responded to more quickly than were verbal strategies. Children with autism responded to verbal and non verbal attention getting strategies Just as quickly. The parents of children with typical development experienced more success in gaining their children s attention whereas the parents of children with hearing impairment and autism experienced a similarly reduced success rate to their attention getting strategies. Results also showed that there was a negative correlation between success response rate and response latency to each attention getting strategy. The findings of the study show some similarities some differences and the successfulness of particular attention getting strategies used by the parents of children with typical development hearing impairment and autism It also provides experimental data of attention getting strategies used by the parents of the three groups.