Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe new English : an analysis of ideology in the professional literature of English-teaching, 1963-1978( 1982)This thesis focusses upon the professional literature of English teachers in Victoria in the period 1963-1978. Its concern is, firstly, to identify and delineate the distinctive features of the successive ideologies of English teaching which emerged in the literature during those years, focussing in particular upon 'the New English'. Secondly, it seeks to suggest reasons for their emergence, by examining contemporary socio-economic, political and institutional developments, to which the theory of English teaching has been responsive. Although writers in the professional literature presented themselves as spokesmen for classroom English teachers, their rationales and pre-occupations were not widely shared or successfully communicated. Therefore, the theories of English teaching which are identifiable in the literature do not represent the changing practices of teachers, but rather a succession of 'attempts by theorists to direct and control those practices. They also reflect the changing composition and configuration of a particular segment of the intellectual field over a period of time. Some aspects of the changing ideology of English teaching are thus the product of quasi-autonomous internal processes of self-reflection and debate within the profession. However, the major purpose of this analysis is to demonstrate how more widespread historical developments called forth a specific range of responses amongst theorists, whose role was one of intellectual management of those developments. It is claimed that the New English merits attention both because of its congruence with broader structural changes and because of the challenge it offered to existing forms of control over both teaching practice and the production of theory itself.
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ItemAn evaluation of computer science in the Victorian Higher Schools Certificate( 1984)This thesis evaluates certain aspects of the Victorian Higher Schools Certificate subject, Computer Science. Firstly, an overview is taken of the subject as it was intended to function in the first three years of its accreditation, 1981 - 83. In the light of this, the draft proposal for changes to the course in 1984 is reviewed. Secondly, a number of specific areas of the course are examined in more detail. A questionnaire to course designers and teachers is the basis of this investigation. The relationship between stated objectives of the course and items of course content is explored. An analysis is conducted on the extent to which the four option components are equitable in terms of time. The relative importance of the three components of assessment is explored, especially in the case of a 'barely passing' student. Actual raw mark components for the 1981 students have been used in connection with the latter investigation.
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ItemAn assessment of the educational value of a computer simulation policy game in the teaching of higher school certificate economics( 1975)The use of computer simulation games in the teaching of the subject Economics represents a comparatively recent development in Australian educational practice. The original purpose of this research exercise was to examine the accuracy of the contention that participation in a computer simulation game on economic policy would improve Higher School Certificate economics students' understanding of government monetary and fiscal policy. To prove the accuracy of this hypothesis students from the economics classes of two high schools were subjected to a series of evaluation procedures. The exercises failed to provide a clear indication of a measurable gain in student understanding of the relevant topic area. However they did provide further evidence to the effect that computer simulation games represent a very successful means of motivating students.
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ItemThe effects of schools on achievement in science( 1975)The study sought to identify factors which were based in schools which affected the performance of sixth form students in science in Victorian schools, In order to identify school effects, allowance was made using multiple regression analysis for factors which were shown to contribute to academic performance but were those over which the school had no control. Use was made of information collected during a. study of science achievement by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). A sample of 37 schools was used the probability of selection of the school was proportional to its enrolment. Within each school, a random sample of students in the sixth form was made to select the students to take part in the testing program. Information collected enabled a predicted score for each school to be made and this was compared with the actual score obtained by averaging the scores of each student in the sample. Two groups of five schools were then selected for comparative study; one group which had performed better than expected and the other which had performed below expectations. The comparison of the two groups of schools to identify school factors was achieved by the study of the responses of teachers, students and school principals on survey instruments. In addition a visit was made to each school to gather further information. These procedures enabled the identification of school characteristics which were seen as contributing factors to the performance of students on tests of science achievement.
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ItemConceptual development in science practical work( 1987)In an investigation of the effect of practical work upon the conceptual understanding of high school biology students the author employed concept maps as the primary research tool. Practical reports and responses to interview questions were also analysed. Misconceptions were identified in the concept maps, practical reports and interviews. The interviews appeared to reveal the greatest detail of the students' misconceptions. The component scores of the students' concept maps were substantially unaltered by the performance of a practical exercise selected from a year 11 biology course. If concept maps are reflectors of conceptual understanding then it appears that the conceptual frameworks of the students were stable over the duration of the practical exercise. Several component scores of the concept maps were found to be significantly correlated with either the students' exam results or their practical work assessment. Concept maps may have application as predictors of academic performance or be used to supplement or replace traditional measures of achievement.
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ItemAn exploratory study of teachers' planning in secondary social science( 1976)For approximately the last twenty-five years Tyler's classical model has formed the basis of much curriculum planning. Stated in bare outline the model involves the following logical operations: (a) state objectives (b) select experiences (c) organize experiences (d) evaluate. Over time, this approach has been refined although its fundamental principles are still recommended to teachers by many authorities for the rational planning of courses, units and lessons. In view of a body of literature suggesting that some teachers plan differently from the classical approach, initially a view intuitively supported by this investigator, this study sought to explore the planning models used by some secondary social science teachers. Four teachers for study were identified. Insight into their methods of planning were obtained by interview, by simulated unit development and by classroom observations. The study raises a number of issues deserving closer examination. While it appears that some teachers may consider objectives to be central to the planning process, notwithstanding a disagreement about how specifically they should be stated, others view objectives as being peripheral or of little consequence. This latter group concentrate more on planning around the experiences and content to be presented to the students which, nevertheless, reflect their general intentions. An analysis of these respective approaches, when translated into classroom practice, suggests the usefulness of examining to what extent stating specific instructional objectives results in closed and terminal learning patterns. Additionally, how far teachers are sufficiently clear about their intentions and how much learning is enhanced when specific objectives are avoided in the planning process merit closer study. Comparatively speaking, judgements about any merits or limitations of planning with or without specific objectives require , extensive analysis of learning outcomes. A research pattern for such an analysis is explored in this study.
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ItemA review of recent developments in the conception and administration of year 12 geography courses in Australia( 1981)Although geography has been taught in Australian secondary schools for most of this century, it is only in the past thirty years that all states have provided a course of study for the teaching of geography to Year 12 students. Geography has been a significant component of the school curriculum for many students at this level during this time. The development of secondary education systems in the post-World War II years has been influenced by many factors which have directly or indirectly affected Year 12 geography courses. These factors, varying from state to state, have included reports of commissions, for example, the Wyndham Report, development of curriculum theory, the removal of external examinations at various levels, and others. Specific factors which have influenced Year 12 geography courses have been changes in the nature of geographic thought, the writings of Bruner and Australian geographers Biddle, McCaskill, Shortle, Stringer, Blachford, and the increasing involvement of teachers in curriculum development. Each state has produced a Year 12 geography course unique to that state in many ways. A study of the current (1979) courses illustrates not only their similarities and differences, but also examines factors which have influenced their development. Various statutory bodies responsible for the development of the course in each state provided a degree of central control, and the external examinations continue to play a significant role despite the general movement toward school-based curriculum development and internal assessment at other levels of secondary schooling. The future geography at Year 12 level depends upon the ability of course developers, not only to meet the challenge of change, but also to provide a course of study seen by students to be not only interesting but also as relevant and meaningful preparation for the postsecondary world they are about to enter.
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ItemAttitudes of teachers to the objectives of mathematics education in the junior secondary school( 1976)At the same time as "New Maths" was being gradually introduced, secondary schools in Victoria became largely responsible for their own curriculum. This devolution of responsibility was coupled with a serious questioning of the meaning and purpose of secondary education itself, and an increasing awareness of other relevant factors such as how children learn, but secondary mathematics teachers have been so occupied with the new mathematical content demanded of them that other considerations have tended to be disregarded until very recently. The pressures that have increasingly been acting on secondary mathematics teachers have created confusion about the aims of the subject at the junior secondary level. Some teachers have retained the narrow academic aims of the past, while others have rejected these completely. Most, however, have reached a compromise. Five "innovative" and five "conservative" high schools in the Melbourne Metropolitan area were chosen subjectively by an informed panel. From each of these ten schools, two "junior level" and two "senior level" mathematics teachers were selected. Each of these forty teachers completed a Likert-type attitude questionnaire designed to establish their attitude towards narrow academic objectives at the junior secondary level. It was found that there was no significant difference in attitude between teachers of senior and junior levels, nor between teachers at conservative or innovative schools. There were, however, differences in attitude to the aims of junior secondary mathematics within each school of relatively large proportions. The lack of significant differences in attitude between schools indicates that they may be more alike than their reputation suggests, at least as far as mathematics education is concerned. Perhaps of greater concern is the effect on pupils of teachers with different attitudes towards their teaching. The fear that autonomy of schools has tended to become freedom for individual teachers to act alone in curriculum matters is reinforced by these results.
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ItemThe public examination of English in Victoria : a study of one external influence on the secondary school English curriculum( 1980)The secondary school English curriculum was determined by groups outside schools during the period 1944-1974. External domination of teaching content and methodology was ensured by a system of Public and Matriculation Examinations which empowered agents of the universities to prescribe courses and to assess students' performance in those courses. The University of Melbourne exercised these functions through its Professorial Board and the Schools Board before relinquishing its powers to the Victorian Universities and Schools Examination Board in 1965. Statute and tradition allowed these bodies to establish themselves as a centre apart from schools, and to legitimise their authority through the institutionalised processes of prescription, examination and review of performance. The effect of these processes was to subordinate schools, teachers and pupils. There was immense inertia in the Victorian system of external prescription and examination. Courses and examination papers remained essentially unmodified for long periods. Significant development in the conception and content of English courses occurred, effectively, only at Year 12 in response to social and educational pressures which had previously led to the withdrawal of Public Intermediate and Leaving Examinations. Broadening the goals of H.S.C. English did not, however, signal diminished control over curriculum from the centre. The fact of competitive examinations at the end of secondary schooling continued to shape content and methodology in the earlier years. Competitive examinations engendered in schools, teachers and pupils a narrow conformity, the results of which can most clearly be seen in the failure of the Class A system to produce school-based curriculum initiatives of any substance. The effect of external prescription and examination of English courses was profound. Relationships between teachers and pupils were strongly mediated by the system, reducing the autonomy of both by subjugating their intentions to the instrumental demands of evaluation. So much of a student's 'life chance' depended upon examination success that teachers and taught were continually constrained to focus their attention on the tasks expected in examinations. Fragmentation, in line with the different sections of examination papers, rather than integration became, therefore, the organising principle for teaching aimed at developing those techniques believed to be essential for success in the examination game. External examinations dictated that the English classroom was a place where pupils met to prepare for their encounters with examinations rather than to explore the nature and richness of experience through literature and their own use of language for real ends. The system of Public and Matriculation Examinations established in 1944 was a potent influence on the secondary school English curriculum. The system rested upon a powerful, conservative centre whose legitimacy was so thoroughly entrenched that it was able to admit reform only on its own terms. Thus, it was possible after twenty-five years of relative stasis to negotiate evolution in the details of the school English curriculum without alteration to the essential power relationships. After thirty years, English teachers were still without autonomy. Year 12 English courses continued to exert the pressures and to exact the dependence which had constrained mother tongue studies throughout secondary schools since 1944.
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ItemThe mole concept: teaching and learning( 1982)Historically, teachers were responsible for the accurate teaching of prescriptions delineated in courses, textbooks and examinations. Recent developments in chemistry education assume a broader responsibility of teachers to become involved in the process of learning itself. This thesis is an account of one teacher's explorations of the relationship between the teaching and learning of a central concept in Chemistry; the Mole concept, through the surprisingly rich and varied literature that exists in this important scientific idea. The problem of teaching the Mole is a practical curriculum problem and as such is as much concerned with the problem of understanding the current theory in the scientific literature and understanding the perceptions of students as it is with the logical presentation of material as indicated by the text. The confusion surrounding the nature of the scientific language itself in professional literature and textbooks is weighed and the thinking of eight students recently introduced to the Mole is explored through structured interview. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of some teaching strategies and techniques of diagnosis of learning problems in this area of chemistry.