Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemPredictors of performance in arithmetic in the middle years of primary school( 2002)While the amount of research into difficulties in mathematics has increased markedly over recent years there continues to be a need for more research into mathematics in the middle years of Primary School. The present study examined the extent to which performance on various maths related processing tasks (e.g. reading numbers, reading number statements, mental arithmetic) and measures of maths understanding (e.g. numeration and counting) predicted maths computation ability as determined by performance on typical Year 3-5 un-timed pen and paper arithmetic tasks. Analysis consisted of a stepwise regression for each of the three year levels. Some of these tasks were found to be highly predictive of achievement in arithmetic. The multiple regression was not only significant at each of the three year levels but accounted for a substantial proportion of achievement criterion variance: Year 3: 61%, Year 4: 59.8% and Year 5: 61.5%. Achievement in arithmetic was best predicted by a combination of factors at each year level with some similarities occurring across levels. The most striking of these is Mental Arithmetic: multiplication which was found to be a predictive factor at all three levels. Other significant predictive factors included Mental Arithmetic: subtraction (Year 3), Numeration: tens of thousands (Years 3 & 4), Processing of 4-digit numerals (Years 4 & 5), and Mental Arithmetic: addition (Year 5).
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ItemImplementation of recommended language teaching methods in Rajabhat primary schools : Thai teachers' perceptions of the new basic curriculum( 2008)This study is concerned with primary education reform at schools attached to Rajabhat Universities. A set of twelve language teaching approaches (methods) is suggested in the Thai Teacher Handbook for Foreign Language Teachers, as part of the reform in language teaching and learning at primary level. The approaches aim to develop the ability of language use for communication. Rajabhat schools are in the ideal position for the change implementation, due to schools' location on university campuses and administrative structures under the universities. The aim of the study was to probe the teachers' understanding and practice of the new approaches. Two research questions guided the study: 1 To what degree the teachers comprehend the suggested language teaching methods? 2 What are the teachers' perceptions of how they implement the suggested language teaching methods in classrooms? A mixed research method was employed to answer these questions. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. The two data sets are brought together by comparing and contrasting the findings, providing triangulation to enrich result interpretation. Data analysis reveals that the teachers have incorporated the suggested language teaching approaches and methods into classroom activities. They are willing to learn how the suggested approaches could be transformed into activities. However, activities students engaged in appeared to emphasize coverage of linguistic elements of target language and analysis of grammatical relationships of the elements. The emphasis on linguistics, rather than development of the ability to relate language form for functional use, derives from unclear understanding of the proposed approaches. Study findings provide evidence that knowledge and skill development for the usage of the methodological concepts of the suggested approaches could lead to the sustained change in language teaching and learning.
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ItemThe communicative interactions of hearing impaired students with hearing peers and regular teachers( 2001)This project examined the levels of control used in interaction by regular teachers and normally hearing peers with mainstreamed hearing impaired students. The communicative interaction of thirteen students; ten normally hearing and three hearing impaired, and their teacher was observed. Observations were recorded and then analysed based on the characteristics of communication developed by Wood.D, Wood.H, Griffiths.A & Howarthl (1986). The interactions experienced by hearing impaired students are important to the development of their communicative competence. It is through interaction with more mature users of language that communicative development takes place (Wood, Wood, Griffiths & Howarth,1986). The literature suggests that the hearing-impaired student experience high levels of control in interactions with others, in particular from their parents and teachers. Webster (1986) used the expression that mothers of deaf students 'command' the child. High control does not allow the hearing-impaired child freedom in response, or the development of extended communication acts in which both partners, can participate, learn and share responsibility. Both partners, parents and children, need to search for meaning in their communication with each other (Webster, 1986). It is through accessing meaning that language makes sense. Paul (1994) suggests that hearing impaired students are exposed to a lower quality of oral communication because they are labelled as deaf. Activities, such as speech or listening training, often take the place of meaningful conversation. The data suggests little difference in the level of control used by teachers when interacting with hearing and hearing impaired students. Similarly, there was little difference found with the level of control used by hearing students in their interactions with either normally hearing of hearing impaired peers. Interactions were short involving few exchanges. The characteristics of the language used consisted of mainly wh type questions, personal contributions, instructions and gesture. The information gathered would suggest that the input to interaction in this regular mainstream setting are not consistent with research of parent -child interaction and pre-school settings and provide opportunity for interaction and promotion or development of communicative skills.
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ItemPhenomenal robotics! : so what are students' perceptions about the robotics experience?( 2006)Robotics as a learning experience is becoming very popular in Australian schools and is being offered to students at primary and secondary level. It is considered to be a valuable integrated unit particularly in the areas of science and mathematics but also provides an ideal environment for students to engage and learn via constructionist principles. But what do young students perceive to gain from participating in a robotics experience? This investigation looks at the lived experience of doing robotics through the eyes of a group of students who were of mixed ages but had participated in the robotics' experience when they were in grade six as 12 year olds. The students were interviewed regarding the effect of the robotics experience on their learning during and after the experience ended. Students reflected on the phenomenon and made strong connections with the social value of the program. Their emphasis was not so much on academic skills gained but on the sense of self and its relationship to the group. The robotics experience provided an environment that allowed the students to feel valued and motivated to strive for goals, without realising they were gaining valuable information and skills as well as enjoying themselves.
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ItemResearching teacher agency in primary school science: a discursive psychological approach( 2004)This ontological study is concerned with analyses of the problem of the scientific reform of the primary school curriculum. It was conducted at a time when a solution was sought through State mandated curriculum and standards specification and primary teacher accountability. The case study developed as an interactive ethnography (Woods 1996) written from the point of view of the facilitator of a whole school science curriculum project. The focus of the enquiry emerged as an exploration of social episodes in the life of two experienced Early Years teachers engaged in the yearlong project. Discursive psychology became the theoretical framework for the analysis of the primary teachers' professional identity formation in their professional work=place conversations with the author. Pronominal coding has been used to mark the teachers' psychological location in their storylines of the implementation of enquiry-based science education in their classes. In the teachers' accounts they simultaneously position themselves in their acts and actions and in the local moral order of duties and responsibilities. A significant disparity is shown to exist between the ontologies of the primary teachers' and research accounts, which present mental state analyses of teachers' lack of confidence or reluctance to teach science related to limited scientific understanding. The. study offers a schematic model of social action that theorizes human agency as, developing and functioning within the interactional nexus of local community settings. The community operates in the lives of these teachers not as a latent, abstract concept; instead it gives ideological differences and teachers' understandings of themselves significance in everyday educational practices.