Faculty of Education - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 9 of 9
-
ItemNo Preview Available
-
Item
-
ItemLink between teacher-student relationship, student emotional wellbeing, coping styles, classroom engagement and peer relationships( 2007)This research explored the link between teacher-student relationship, student emotional wellbeing, coping styles, peer relationship and classroom engagement of year 8 students. The participants were Catholic school students and the focus was limited to English class and teacher. The data sources were a Student-Survey (SS) and the Adolescent Coping Scale (ACS) (Frydenberg & Lewis, 1993). The first component of the research was scale development, to validate the hypothetical categorization of items in the scales; the second was the testing of the hypotheses. Teacher-student relationship was highly correlated with classroom engagement and coping style-solving the problem. The correlation between other variables was positive but not significant.
-
ItemEpistemological beliefs and practice in a preschool setting( 2002)The aim of this case study was to determine whether the level of espoused epistemological beliefs of a qualified teacher and unqualified assistant were implicit in each Teacher's individual practice. The study was undertaken in a privately operated preschool in Victoria. Two participants were chosen on their identified preference to work and be recognized by co-workers, parents and children, as a team of two teachers working side by side. For this reason, the participants were referred to as Teacher A and Teacher B. Data were collected using five different methods of inquiry: preliminary interview; audio transcripts during planning and preparation sessions; copy of the written teaching plan; video recordings of Teacher interactions; and video stimulated debriefings. These methods set out to investigate: the epistemological beliefs of each Teacher; what beliefs held by each Teacher about knowledge, learning, child development and teaching practices were similar or dissimilar; the levels of epistemological development in each Teacher's espoused beliefs; the consistency between each Teacher's espoused beliefs with their individual practice; and whether each Teacher's level of epistemological development was implicit in their individual practice. The research indicates that Teacher A and Teacher B generally held varying beliefs about the nature of knowledge, learning, child development, and teaching practice. Despite dissimilarities, the comparison of each Teacher's espoused beliefs with Belenky et al's (1986) Women's Ways of Knowing Model revealed each had the same level of espoused epistemological development, which was subjective knowledge. Comparisons between Teacher A and Teacher B's espoused beliefs with individual practice revealed that each Teacher's beliefs were predominantly inconsistent with their practice. The results also revealed inconsistencies between practice and particular recollections by each Teacher. Although the comparative analyses of each Teacher's beliefs and practice revealed inconsistencies, the comparative analyses of each Teacher's espoused epistemological development with each Teacher's practice revealed Teacher A and Teacher B's espoused epistemological development were implicit in their individual practice.
-
ItemHunting the snark : poststructuralism, narrative, and education( 2001)Hunting the Snark: Poststructuralism, Narrative and Education' explores the possibility of implementing Narrative Therapy Practices when dealing with social issues such as bullying and substance abuse in schools. Since the practice of 'externalizing the problem' in Narrative therapy involves the objectification and often the personification of the difficulties a person may be having in their life, this thesis seeks to externalize the research problems in an effort to analyze the research. Thus the Snark represents learning, the Boojum represents the voice of academia and the Jubjub is dissatisfaction and doub that teachers often experience in their classrooms. These characters are borrowed from Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem the Hunting of the Snark, which tells the story of a quest for an entity which has a habit of disappearing as soon as it comes within reach. The practice of externalizing not only helps the researcher to maintain the rigor required of the research but also enables her to structure the thesis in a similar way to the subject of the research which is how externalizing role plays can be used as a learning tool. Thus subject matter and form are integrated by example. The scene is set through a review of poststructuralist philosophy and its influence on Narrative therapy as well as a review of poststructuralist and narrative teaching methods being used in schools at present. The thesis draws on these theories and practices to connect the teaching methodology of externalizing role-plays with the methodology of the research. These both include elements of poststructuralist theory such as interruption, deconstruction, positioning and subjectivity. A combination of action research and other qualitative research methodologies are drawn upon in this project through the implementation of the program in a school setting. This is undertaken by a group of year 11 drama students over a period of six months. The data is taken from video and audio tapes of the externalizing role plays and evaluation sessions as well as from interviews with five of the participating students. The externalizing conversations are translated into a school setting in the form of role-plays where students played the parts of the problems for example: harassment, sexism and racism. These issues are personified to ensure that the problem is seen as the problem rather than the person being seen as the problem. The characters are questioned in order to find out the history of their rise to power. That is, how they have been able to enlist students into joining them in their role of making weaker students' lives miserable. They are then questioned about the times when people have been able to say 'no' to them thus robbing them of their power. The experiences and perceptions of the students and teacher/ researcher show that utilizing externalizing role-plays as a teaching method: help to break down the power differential between teacher and students, contribute to the empowerment of students, and provide some valuable insights into the handling of social issues in schools. Suggestions are made as to ways that other narrative practices could be translated in an educational setting.
-
ItemDiagnostic reasoning teaching : an analysis of expert teacher behaviour in a clinical setting( 2008)Clinical reasoning is a cognitive process that uses data collected from and about a patient to make a diagnosis and develop and implement a therapeutic plan. Clinical reasoning may be usefully divided into diagnostic and therapeutic reasoning. Diagnostic reasoning is a problem solving task of categorization where information from the patient interview, physical examination and investigations are used formulate diagnostic hypotheses (a differential diagnosis) and eventually (and ideally) a single diagnosis. Therapeutic reasoning derives a therapeutic plan from the diagnosis and the wishes of the patient and implements the plan in the context of specific measurable outcomes. The diagnostic reasoning processes of novices and experts have been extensively evaluated. A variety of reasoning strategies have been identified including causal, probabilistic, deterministic and hypothetico-deductive reasoning and pattern recognition. Clinicians use, at different times and with different patient problems, any or all of these strategies. Novices are more likely to use causal and hypothetico-deductive reasoning whereas experts are more likely to apply pattern recognition. The quality and fidelity of the diagnostic reasoning process is also (and substantially) influenced by the knowledge organization of the clinician. Novices are more likely to have their knowledge organized as prototypes and instance scripts which rely on bioscience knowledge and less clinical experience whereas experts use illness scripts and semantic networks which are rich in data collected from their previous experience and relies little on bioscience knowledge. The teaching of diagnostic reasoning changed substantially with the implementation of problem-based learning (PBL) curricula by medical schools from the late 1960s onwards. PBL employs the principles of adult learning theory and hypothetico-deductive reasoning to explore clinical cases in the bioscience years of the medical course. The implementation of PBL curricula resulted in greater student and teacher satisfaction but there is little evidence that the knowledge and skills of the students are different to traditional more didactic curricula. A small body of evidence suggests that students of PBL courses have better diagnostic reasoning skills. The teaching of diagnostic reasoning in the clinical years of a medical course is less well understood. Traditional patient-based discussions at the bedside or in a tutorial room have been the mainstay of clinical education for many years. The effectiveness of this style of this traditional "bedside" clinical teaching to teach diagnostic reasoning has not been evaluated but many recommendations about teaching and learning styles have been published. In order to examine the teaching of diagnostic reasoning by expert clinician teachers a model of novice diagnostic reasoning was developed from the literature which was used as a framework for analysis. In this model three phases of novice diagnostic reasoning were identified - data acquisition, problem representation and hypothesis generation and refinement. The study presented in this thesis examined teacher behaviour in six seminaturalistic "bedside" tutorials designed to promote diagnostic reasoning discussions. Each tutorial was led by an expert teacher, who had won the teacher of the year award (determined by student vote), with a group of medical students in their first clinical year and an experienced simulated patient. The simulated patient delivered a script that was deliberately diagnostically inconclusive. Each session was videotaped and analysed using Studiocode (video analysis software). The coding first attributed each utterance to the teacher, a student or the patient. The teacher utterances were then sub-coded to the phases of the novice diagnostic reasoning process (data acquisition, problem representation and hypothesis generation/refinement). Teacher utterances in each phase of the novice diagnostic reasoning model were examined to identify illustrative examples of teaching behaviours consistent with excellent teachers (derived from the previous literature) including requests, direct instruction, questioning/probing, scaffolding, modeling and feedback. Finally, in the hypothesis generation and refinement phase of each tutorial, teacher utterances were further examined for illustrative examples of the teaching of causal, probabilistic, deterministic and hypothetico-deductice reasoning and pattern recognition. Six expert teachers participated in the tutorials (3 physicians and 3 surgeons, 4 male and 2 female). The teachers, on average, spoke for 56% (range 43-64%) of the tutorial (average length 56 minutes). Physicians and surgeon talk proportions were not different (56% vs 56%). Of the teacher utterances 55% were coded to the hypothesis generation/refinement phase, 31% to the data acquisition phase and 3% to the problem representation phase. During the data acquisition and hypothesis generation/refinement phases of the tutorial illustrative examples of direct instruction, questioning/probing, scaffolding, modeling and feedback were identified in the teacher utterances. In the problem representation phase only illustrative examples of direct instruction, modeling and feedback were identified. In the hypothesis generation and refinement phase illustrative examples of the teaching of causal, probabilistic and hypothetico-deductive reasoning and pattern recognition course but not deterministic reasoning were identified in the teacher utterances. This study examined the behaviour of expert teachers in semi naturalistic tutorials designed to promote the teaching of diagnostic reasoning. In these tutorials the teacher typically spoke for more than half of the tutorial. The teacher utterances were coded into all three phases of the novice diagnostic reasoning model but least time was spent in the problem representation phase. Illustrative examples of excellent teaching behaviour were identified in most of the phases of the novice diagnostic reasoning process. Illustrative examples of most diagnostic reasoning types were identified in the tutorials. The results of this study would suggest that further research is required to determine the "optimum" teacher talk time in a clinical (and other) tutorial and the effectiveness of teaching about the problem representation phase of diagnostic reasoning.
-
ItemCritical thinking, culture and context: an investigation of teaching and learning in introductory macroeconomics( 2001)This study is an investigation of a critical thinking task, Critical and Analytical Learning in Macroeconomics (CALM), in its educational setting. CALM is an assessment task in a first year subject in an Australian university. The study takes into account the context of student learning, situated as it is within the discourses of Western tertiary education and the academic discipline of economics. Into the teaching environment, students bring with them their own previous learning experiences and cultural understandings. The study explores the relationship between the teaching context and the students' own background and the effect that this relationship has on learning. In particular, this study explores critical thinking as described by the students of Introductory Macroeconomics, the designers of the CALM project and the tutors. Two groups of students are considered in this study, local English speaking students and international Chinese speaking students. These two groups are significant in the student population in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce in which this study took place. Interviews were used to collect data from the designers of the CALM project and the students. A focus group and an interview were used to collect data from the tutors. From the data a three level model of critical thinking emerged. This model was informed by the three conceptualisations of critical thinking found the literature. The CALM designers' understandings of critical thinking had a profound influence on the ways in which critical thinking was perceived by the students, both local and international. Students' notions of critical thinking were shaped by the guidelines on critical thinking given to them by their lecturer. Although international students reported that they found the critical thinking task unfamiliar and that this difficulty was compounded by learning in a second language, they still described critical thinking in similar ways to their local counterparts. This similarity can be explained largely by the effort that the international students put into adapting to their new learning environment. Although the tutors had some divergent notions of critical thinking, their ideas had little influence on the students' understandings of critical thinking owing to the constraints of the subject and its assessment practices. This study signals the need for clear conceptualisation of complex notions such as critical thinking and for explicit teaching, modelling and scaffolding of what critical thinking involves. It also points to the need for an unpacking of the assumptions surrounding academic tasks, in this case critical thinking. In addition the study points to the limitations of critical thinking presented to students.
-
ItemSelf-perception and academic performance in mathematics: a study of a group of normal technical (nt) students in a girls' school in Singapore( 2008)Self-perceptions of students are determinants of healthy psychological development and school success. Research on the associations between students' self-perceptions and their academic performance is of great importance in the educational realm. There have been limited studies investigating students' self-perceptions in Singapore. Hence, this study aims to examine students' perceptions of Mathematics, academic and general self. It sought to provide insights in relation to how these self-perceptions correlated with each other, and academic achievement with particular focus on Mathematics. Students' sentiments on the Normal Technical stream were also explored. A mixed methods approach was used for data collection. Quantitative data were derived from a questionnaire and students' Mathematics and overall academic results. The self-perception scores were measured by Self-Description Questionnaire - II (SDQII) to yield three scores: Mathematics, Academic-school and General Self-perceptions. Qualitative data was obtained from a group interview using semi-structured questions. The study involved thirty-seven students from the Normal Technical stream in a girls' school in Singapore. Eight students were involved in the group interview. Insights were gained about how students perceived Mathematics, academic school, general self and streaming. Firstly, the study found that Mathematics self-perception correlated strongly with Mathematics performance. Secondly, statistical evidence indicates that students had higher means for self-perceptions than academic achievements. Thirdly, evidence suggests that students' perception of academic-school is strongly correlated to their general self-perception. Finally, students resented the stigma that is attached to the Normal Technical stream, which regarded them negatively. Implications for practice and further research in the three areas of self-perception and academic achievement are also discussed.
-
ItemEnhancing self-concept in an educational setting: the effect of an educational program( 2007)The new Victorian Essential Learning Standards includes a teaching and learning wellbeing strand. As a result schools are now required to choose programs that develop student wellbeing. Many programs are available, however not all aim to develop self-concept, the core of student wellbeing, nor do they possess the nine program qualities identified by Nation et al. (2003), as effective in supporting student wellbeing. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the You Can Do It! Education program (YCDI Education program). Methodologies of previous studies identified as bringing about positive changes in self-concept, and the related self-constructs of self-attributions and self-talk were employed in this study. During a year-long investigation one primary school implemented the YCDI Education program, and a second school acted as a comparison school. Seventy-five students drawn from Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 classes participated. Data was collected at the beginning and end of the 2005 school year. The Self-Description Questionnaire-I was used to measure various aspects of self-concept. The Modified Sydney Attribution Scale was used to measure various aspects of self-attributions, and positive and negative self-talk was measured using The Self-Talk Inventory.