Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses
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ItemThe effect of success and failure on self concept and anxiety( 1977)While there is considerable evidence of the relationship between self-concept and achievement, there is little experimental evidence of the effect of achievement on self-concept. Morrison (1973) provided such evidence, and the purpose of this study was to attempt to replicate Morrison's findings with regard to the effect of success and failure on self-concept with subjects of a younger age. In so doing a number of methodological improvements were made in order to more clearly establish the relationship between anxiety and self-concept, and to clarify the role of sex differences. The subjects of this study were 176 Form Three (Nineth Grade) students selected from four Melbourne metropolitan secondary schools. The experiment investigated the effects of success and failure as determined by performance on an anagram task on self-concept, as measured by the semantic differential, and on anxiety, as measured by a brief form of the STAI A-State Scale. Post-test scores were covaried for pre-test scores. The experiment provided strong support for the hypothesis that general self-concept changes as a result of a single experience of success or failure. Subjects who experienced success saw themselves more positively, while subjects who experienced failure saw themselves more negatively. R further experience of success and failure also had a highly significant effect on self-concept, with success following failure and failure following success being particularly effective in producing changes in self-concept. A similar pattern of results occurred in the case of anxiety. There is a strong indication that changes in anxiety and self- concept occurred independently. No significant sex differences were found. Support was also provided for the hypothesis that the response made to the anagram task would generalize to other similar stimuli. The highly significant results were discussed in the light of the probable self-concept development of subjects of this age. The effectiveness of success following failure, and failure following success in producing changes in self-concept and anxiety may have resulted from the difference between the level of expectation and subsequent achievement. Stimulus generalization was discussed as a potentially profitable area of future research regarding the relationship between self-concept and achievement.
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ItemValidation of the state-trait distinction in curiosity( 1976)To further validate the state-trait distinction in the study of curiosity, the present experiment aimed to investigate the effects of situational variables on a measure of state-curiosity. Introductory chapters contain a discussion of the historical background to contemporary research and theory on curiosity, and a rationale for the specific hypotheses put forward in the study. A group of 177 student subjects were given three tasks assumed to produce high, medium, and low levels of state-curiosity. Four measures of C-State were taken during the task: after instructions, after five minutes, after ten minutes, and after debriefing. Measures of C-Trait were administered two weeks before and two weeks after the testing session. Results were analysed using both a product moment correlation and a two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures. It was concluded that situational variables influence both overall levels of state-curiosity between tasks and over the duration of each task. Specific predictions were only partly confirmed.
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ItemComputer-based learning in an Australian setting : a study of the development and use of a foreign language vocabulary program at the University of Melbourne( 1976)This thesis is the first Australian study of the use of computer-based learning by non-Science students. It begins with a review of research and developments in computer applications in education overseas, and looks in particular at the use of computers in the teaching of foreign languages. It then examines the development, use and evaluation of a foreign language vocabulary practice program for students in first year undergraduate Swedish courses at the University of Melbourne. Since non-Science students might be expected to be more wary of technological innovations, student attitudes to the program and to the computer as a learning medium were of particular interest in this study. As had been reported in overseas studies, a majority of students showed very favourable attitudes to computer-based learning, largely because of their opinion that the program ensured thorough learning of the material presented. A smaller group were found to have strongly negative attitudes to the technique. The proportion of students who made a great deal of use of the program was quite small. This was attributable mainly to the limited aim of the program, acquisition of vocabulary, although inconvenience due to unsuitability of the available computing facilities for educational applications was also a contributing factor.
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ItemInfluences on engineering education in Australia( 1976)This thesis is concerned with the identification and examination of the various types of influences on professional engineering education in Australia. It commences with a study of what a professional person in general, and a professional engineer in particular, should be, and describes the functions and characteristics of such a person. This is followed by an examination of curriculum design, and how the curricula of professional courses are controlled by professional societies. The various influences on engineering curricula are then considered in detail in four broad categories, namely historical influences, formal influences, informal influences, and societal influences within each of these categories, various tapes of influences are identified, and their method of application, and relative effectiveness, discussed. Apart from the chapters on terminology and historical influences, which have been researched from existing publications, the content of the thesis is original, and, as far as can be ascertained, is the first attempt to examine the subject of Australian engineering education in a sociological context.
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ItemA comparative study of primary school social studies in three Australian states : Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia, 1952-1975( 1976)This study is concerned with the way in which Primary school Social Studies curricula have been revised, organized and developed from 1952 to 1975 in three Australian States - Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia. As few commercially produced Social Studies courses, or indeed Social Studies units, have been forthcoming in these States, coverage in this thesis concentrates on those syllabus revisions which have been produced by Revision Committees organized by the respective Education Departments in these States. Underlying factors which have been instrumental in Social Studies revisions and their final outcome - a Social Studies Syllabus - have been analyzed by considering those constraints which form a part of the Curriculum Materials Analysis System (1967). The constituent six part cluster questions have been used in horizontal analysis to highlight features of Social Studies courses in the 1950's as compared to those of the 1960's, and the most significant changes which have occurred in the most current revisions. From courses which presented a high degree of uniformity in their emphasis on facts, social living and citizenship, have emerged State revisions which, though differing in format and degree of inclusiveness, reflect attributes commonly associated with 'new' Social Studies.
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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 transition from concrete to formal operational thinking : some aspects of Piaget's theory of cognitive development( 1974)The theoretical and research literature related to the transition from concrete operational to formal operational thinking was critically reviewed. The numerous unresolved issues were discussed. Within this contextual framework a study was proposed to investigate one of the issues needing clarification. A test of memory span for digits from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Wechsler 1949), a non-verbal test of general ability Raven s 1938 Progressive Matrices (A C E R 1958), and a test of formal operational thinking the test of the Oscillation of a Pendulum (Inhelder & Piaget 1958) were administered to 30 subjects from Grade 6 at a Melbourne suburban primary school. The sample contained equal numbers of boys and girls whose ages ranged from 10 10 to 12 3. The main aim of the study was to investigate the hypothesis proposed by McLaughlin (1963) that there is a significant relationship between short-term memory ability, as measured by a test of digit span and level of thinking as evidenced on a Piagetian test of formal reasoning ability. It was further hypothesised that this relationship is independent of general ability as measured by a conventional intelligence test. Both these hypotheses were supported by the results. Discussion centred on an attempted explanation of the findings in the light of otner evidence on their implications for further research and on a number of questions raised by aspects of this study.
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ItemThe attribution of open-mindedness : the effects of education and age instructions on responses to the balanced dogmatism scale( 1976)The theoretical and research literature related to . authoritarianism and dogmatism, and their relationship with educational level and age level, was reviewed. A study dealing with the attributions by schoolteachers of open-mindedness to students at different educational levels, and the implications of this study concerning self-fulfilling prophecies in education, was critically reviewed, and some unresolved issues were discussed. Within this contextual framework a study was proposed to investigate one of the issues needing clarification. Differently prefaced Balanced Dogmatism Scales were administered to 57 male and 103 female teachers/ college students, approximately between the ages of 19 and 23 years. The testing took place during late 1974 and early 1975. The main aim of the study was to investigate the hypothesis that the age and education instructions prefacing the Balanced Dogmatism Scale would be confounded in subjects attributions, and would therefore be reducible to one another. This hypothesis was only partly supported by the results. For: the two lower levels of age and education instructions, that is, 12 year old and first-form 'students, and 17 year old and sixth form student, the instructions were confounded. For the two upper levels, that is, 21 year old and university undergraduate, and 19 year old and teachers P. college student, the instructions were found to be independent of one another. Since the confounding occurred only in part, there was an overall lack of interaction between the age and education instructions. Because of the insignificance of this interaction effect, a post-hoc analysis was carried out on the main effects of age and educational level instructions. It was found that increased open-mindedness was attributed both as a function of educational level, and as a function of age level, and that the direction and form of these attributions were similar. Discussion centred on an attempted explanation of the findings in the light of other evidence, and on their implications for further research.
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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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ItemA study of the relationship between satisfaction with tutorials and actual and preferred participation in those tutorials( 1973)The study seeks to determine the relationships between a student's satisfaction with a tutorial and the actual level of participation exhibited by the student, the tutor, and the group of students in the tutorial, together with the student's preferred level of participation for each of self, tutor, and student group. Concomitant with this aspect of the study, an investigation is also undertaken of the differences exhibited and expressed by both Australian and overseas students. 64 resident students, 39 Australian and 25 Overseas, were observed once over 15 tutorials with 15 different tutors. Actual participation for each member was rated using Bales Interaction Process Analysis to categorise students along each of the dimensions of task performance and social emotional behaviour. At the conclusion of a tutorial, each student rated his satisfaction with that tutorial along an 11 point scale, and then dichotomised into HIGH or LOW satisfaction groups. Two months after the observation period, students were given a questionnaire based on Bales 12 I.P.A. categories to determine their preference on each of the behaviour dimensions for the classification of self, tutor, and student group. While no relationships were found between similarity of actual and preferred behaviour and high satisfaction, high actual participation was related to high satisfaction in 7 out of 12 analyses. Significant differences were found between Australian and Overseas students in a number of areas of the study, principally in that Overseas students were more satisfied with work oriented tutorials than were Australians. All students were more satisfied with tutorials where both students and tutors interacted in a friendly social atmosphere.