Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses

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    Pictures, words and voices : provoking thinking and inquiry through art rich picturebooks
    Watkins, Marnee Ellen (University of Melbourne, 2009)
    This thesis examines an emerging phenomenon in children's literature � the vast, varied and growing sub-genre of picturebooks, linked together fundamentally by their intertextual references to art, artists and artmaking within their narratives (text and visual). These works have been collectively termed art rich picturebooks for this study. The aim of this project was twofold: to investigate the collected works of art rich picturebooks and to use this investigation as a foundation to a narrative inquiry and self-study into their pedagogical possibilities. The research design encompassed an intrinsic case study model containing within it two loosely bounded systems under investigation: the range of books categorised through predetermined criteria as art rich picturebooks, and a small selection of primary school teachers using these books in their teaching. Extending on Sipe's (2001b) research on 'picturebooks to teach art history' (197), the study here used a sample of 190 art rich picturebooks to analyse, categorise and generate into a bibliography and profile of these books � their qualities, challenges, limitations and possibilities. The second strand of this study used the researcher's own practice as a framework for analysing the narrative data collected from three participating teachers. The findings informed the development of an exemplar for teaching with these resources. It became increasingly evident that while these picturebooks present with multiple entry points for thinking and inquiry through art, integral to activating their potential, is the flexibility and artistry a teacher brings to translating the curriculum into lived practice. The artistry allows the teacher to seek creative and art rich ways into the books, and the flexibility lets them invite in the children's thinking, wonderings and imaginings. Aoki (in Pinar and Irwin, 2005) talks of the teacher seeking the spaces 'between' and 'among' in their teaching, and that these interspaces are 'the voice of play in the midst of things' (282). This study has worked towards finding these interspaces of possibility through teaching with art rich picturebooks.
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    Can children in the early years of primary schooling say from whom or what or where they acquired their scientific understandings ?
    Roscholler, Carolyn June ( 2006)
    Young children bring with them to school a certain amount of science knowledge gained from their everyday lives. What they "know", whether right or wrong, may be the result of interactions with family, television, computer programs, books, peers or visits to environmental locations, museums or science centres. In this study, children who have been at primary school for between two and three years are asked to describe their knowledge and their sources of information. The extent to which school factors are influencing their science knowledge is investigated. A survey was developed and protocols trialled before fifty-seven children aged eight and nine years at a provincial Victorian government primary school were surveyed to establish their home background and family interest in science, their own attitudes and feelings toward science and the efficacy of their science experiences at school. Interviews were carried out with nine students, selected to represent a broad range of attitudes to science, in order to gain more detailed information about their specific understandings of a number of topics within the primary school science curriculum and the sources of their information. The students' responses revealed that where they were knowledgeable about a subject they could indeed say from where they obtained their knowledge. Books were the most commonly cited source of information, followed by school, personal home experiences and family. Computers and the internet had little influence. Students who appeared to have "better" understandings quoted multiple sources of information. Positive correlations were found between enjoyment of school lessons and remembering science information, liking to watch science television or videos and remembering science information, and liking to read science books and remembering science information. Mothers were also linked to the use of science books at home, and the watching of nature TV shows at home. There are several implications for the teaching of science at early years level. Teachers need to be aware of powerful influences, from both within and outside of the classroom, which may impact on children, and which may be enlisted to help make learning more meaningful. The research indicates the importance of home background, parental interest and access to books, and notes the under utilisation of computers and lack of visits to museums and interactive science centres.
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    Remediating the elementary mathematics of prospective primary school teachers
    Pateman, Neil A (1941-) ( 1980)
    Three areas are reviewed: the knowledge of prospective primary teachers of basic mathematics, remediation programs in mathematics and the use of calculators as a learning aid in mathematics. A remediation program is described involving a diagnostic pre-test and consequent assignment to one of three treatments: self-study, group tutorials or individual tutorials. The purpose of the 10 week program is to help prospective primary teachers meet a competency requirement in mathematics which is mandatory for progress beyond the third semester of a six-semester course of primary teacher training at a Victorian university. The program covers understanding and knowledge of place value, whole number decimals and fraction operations, percentages, averages and measurement including metrics. The group tutorials were given one of two treatments: the use of calculators during the remedial program, or the same program without calculators. Seven hypotheses related to the effects of the program are described. Post-testing after the 10 weeks of the program showed very large gains by each of the three groups. However the calculator group showed no difference from the non-calculator group, a finding consistent with the literature. Discussion of the results and pointers for future study conclude the study, with one recommendation being that mathematics specialists be appointed to primary schools.
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    Teachers' roles : catering for the marginal child in Thailand's border schools
    Paripurana, Karuna ( 2005)
    This thesis investigates the roles of primary school teachers who work in remote areas along the Thai-Burmese border in Ratchaburi Province, Thailand. It also develops a framework to re-conceptualize teacher education so that it will be more concerned with the needs of poor, marginal children who are linguistically and culturally diverse, and with the needs of illiterate villagers, and remote communities. A qualitative study was conducted in the three remote primary school settings with high percentages of bilingual students in the Province. The teachers, the headmasters, the school supervisors, the school board members and the provincial primary education administrator were involved in the study. Data was collected by means of personal diaries, individual interviews, focus group interviews, open-ended responses to a questionnaire, school documentation, a personal letter, and the Rajabhat Universities' teacher education curricula. Data was analyzed using the Princess Sirindhorn's Children Development Projects to indicate the current and expected roles of teachers, and then the data was triangulated and synthesized to determine the diverse roles of teachers including: providing effective education, leading students to a better life, empowering parents, developing schools, and developing communities. These diverse roles may positively affect individual, family, and community or environmental circumstances where children are "at-risk". And these can assist children to become valued citizens for their communities and country. Taking these diverse roles as a platform, diverse knowledge, skills, and values are established, and a diverse teacher education framework is identified to better prepare pre-service teachers to work successfully in the remote schools located close to the Thai-Burmese border. Moreover, certain recommendations for policies on teacher education curricula, primary education, staff development, and assessment in Thailand, for Rajabhat Universities, are proposed as well.
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    Primary teachers' practices in a demonstration school : the pedagogical uses of websites
    O'Mara, Lynn ( 2007)
    The new communications technologies are the latest technological revolution to impact on education. Karl Marx pointed out it is not technology that shapes a social world, but the social arrangements that are required or adopted to implement it. But contrary to what I will argue, Marx and many others since have thought that there are an indeterminate number of social arrangements by which technology, defined in physical terms, can be implemented as an industrial or educational process by human beings with a history and traditions. The discussion points to the following principle: a website is transformed from a piece of stuff into a social object by its embodiment in staffroom narrative. In education the pattern of Internet use has the potential to change the professional identity formation, individually and collectively, of teachers who use it, so researching how the Internet is used helps in understanding the individual rationales that underpin some of the day to day choices teachers make that will shape the future of schooling. This study of the teachers' discursive practices, in an ICT demonstration school, seeks to understand their site practices in the context of this social responsibility. Each of the teachers has a pedagogical past or 'historical self' that acts as an agent on all they say and do in the community of practice. The differences in how teachers interpret and utilize Internet websites may reflect to what degree institutional practices and social rhetoric play an 'active' role in determining a teacher's classroom agency. Teaching with the new information technology should afford children not only access to new knowledge but the executive intelligence to form their own educational investigations. However, Wittgenstein has warned us against taking superficial models of where we are or what there is. In this study, everyday social talk, including social theory is full of grammatical substantives, but only those which refer to discursive acts are what they seem. The discursive exploration of specific social episodes that occur within a new socially constructed technological world of the primary school (Schatzki, 2002) enable us to understand the patterns of practice of the Purcell Primary School community and identify meanings that are constructed within. The data presented demonstrates how the six members of this teaching community make sense of their world; not only as individuals, but as members of both the broader team and a school community directly determines how they acquire 'shared meaning' within that community. The research identifies the self, of the teachers, as agents or patients (Harre, 1995) in the real world context of Purcell. For the teachers, collectively and individually, at Purcell, and teachers in the broader educational community, alike, understanding their psychological location in their own storylines in a complex local moral order that publicly embraces the new informational technology in the face of new institutional practices, has the potential to enhance their capacity and lead to a more technical and comprehensive fulfilment.
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    Teacher learning in a professional community
    O'Keefe, Brigid ( 1998)
    During recent years teacher appraisal has received increasing attention in educational research and literature. This study observed the development of a teacher appraisal program in a Victorian State Primary School and explored participants' understanding of appraisal processes designed for the purposes of improvement and accountability, and tracked the processes and outcomes. The overall purpose of this study was to investigate the opportunities for teacher learning and growth that these processes made available to teachers. A case study approach was chosen for the investigation with data collected from several sources. A primary source of information was five teachers with the remaining staff a secondary source. Data were collected through observations, interviews, written responses, written document analysis and participant observation. It was found that as a result of the appraisal processes, the school culture became more supportive of teacher learning and growth. Many factors contributed to the process of teacher development. These included supportive leadership and the importance of learning from ones peers. The management of the appraisal processes and the tensions that arose between the separate processes of appraisal are also discussed.
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    Teachers, change and integrated curriculum
    Murdoch, Kathleen Jane ( 1992)
    This study describes and analyses a process of change sought through a professional development program about integrated curriculum. A yearlong, school-based program was planned and carried out by the staff of one school in conjunction with the researcher who acted as an outside agent of change. The study had a number of purposes: (1) to explore the roles developed by an outside agent of change in assisting teachers' planning and teaching of integrated curriculum; (2) to examine the way in which teachers developed and changed in relation to integrated curriculum; and (3) to examine factors which appeared to facilitate the process of change towards the planning and implementation of integrated curriculum. The research design drew from ethnographic and action research methodologies and was based on a naturalistic paradigm. Several data sources were used. Extensive data were gathered from four teachers through interviews, written document analysis and participant observation. Three key informants including teachers and observers of the program provided additional data through interview. The remaining staff presented a third source of data through observation, written responses and self- evaluations. A detailed journal, kept by the researcher throughout the study, served a range of important functions including the diversification and triangulation of data. Final analysis of the data provided insight into the nature. of the role of the outside agent of change. In providing input, facilitating the process of change, responding to and challenging teachers, aspects of this role emerged as multidimensional and interdependent. Success in this role depended on a close understanding of individual teachers; the culture of the school; and the nature of integrated curriculum. Teacher change in relation to the implementation of integrated curriculum varied amongst individuals. Collectively, however, teachers developed a clearer conceptual framework in which to plan. They fine-tuned or re-examined their use of resources, selection of content and attention to children's prior and developing understandings. In facilitating the change process, integrated curriculum emerged as a powerful vehicle through which acknowledged characteristics of effective professional development could be fostered in a purposeful way.
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    Language and thinking in action: how one primary teacher supports her students to enact and articulate their thinking
    Lynch, Christine ( 2007)
    This study investigated how one teacher facilitates dialogue with and between primary-aged students, to assist their thinking, at a time when the introduction of a new curriculum in Victoria is placing explicit demands on teachers to meet rigorous standards in students' thinking. Its aim was to identify exploratory (Mercer 2002) or dialogic interactions (Wells 1999) in the context of problem-based or inquiry learning, so that educators will better understand how language-based techniques and prompts promote students' thinking and learning. A review of the current and relevant literature revealed that classroom-based research focusing on the relationship between language, thinking and learning as theorised by Lev Vygotsky and Michael Halliday, emphasises the important role of the teacher in challenging and extending students' thinking. A qualitative case study of the language generated by the teacher working mainly with a small group of her students was undertaken and discourse analytic techniques were applied to the data. The main findings of the study relate to (i) the teacher's use of some dialogic techniques that supported students' thinking and learning and (ii) alternatively the teacher's under-exploitation of teachable moments to fully promote students' thinking and learning using exploratory language.
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    Teachers and technology: experiences and perceptions of professional development
    Kingston, Adele ( 2001)
    This study investigated professional development to support teachers' use of information and communication technologies in one primary school setting. It explored teachers' attitudes and feelings towards information and communication technologies and their perceptions about professional development to support them in this area. The ways in which this group of teachers are currently utilising information and communication technologies to assist teaching and learning processes were also investigated. Current practice and professional development experiences were explored to discover links, and to investigate participants' perceptions of effective types of professional development to support their use of information and communication technologies. Other support such as access, technical assistance and support from management were also explored to discover their impact on teachers' use of information and communication technologies. An exploratory case study approach was taken and both qualitative and quantitative methods utilised to cater for the richness of the context. Data were collected from three sources; documents relating to professional development for information and communication technologies, a survey of teachers' technology skills and use, and a semi-structured interview. Data management and analysis were computer assisted. The study aimed to discover the types of professional development and the modes of presentation of this professional development that would be most effective in assisting this group of teachers with their use of information and communication technologies. This 'human dimension' is the key to appropriate use of technology, as illustrated by a working party for the Directorate of School Education: �The Working Party considers that attention should be directed to the human dimension, which promises to provide the key to more successful implementation of information technology in schools. It believes the issue should be addressed through structured professional development programs based on information technology and an understanding of such matters as learning, change and the factors that affect school culture.� Directorate of School Education, Victoria (1994, p. 2)
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    The attitudes of teaching college students to the role of primary teacher
    Hopkins, Brian ( 1978)
    The particular problem chosen here was one of 'normative consensus': to what extent were 150 second year students in the State College of Victoria at Geelong in agreement as to the forms of behaviour which could be regarded as appropriate when acting the role of primary teacher? More specifically in this case how much consensus was there regarding the role of the primary teacher in given situations as seen through the students' eyes, and as they perceived the college lecturers and the practising teachers to view this role? The students were asked to complete a set of four role-norm inventories developed by Foskett (1969). Each inventory contained 45 identical questions which examined four main areas of teaching, attitude to pupils (15 items) attitude to colleagues (10 items), attitude to parents (10 items) and 10 items concerning the teacher's attitude to the community. The students answered the inventories from four points of view: - R.N.I. 1 as they thought they ought to behave; R.N.I. 2 as they intended to behave when they began teaching; R.N.I. 3 as they thought the college lecturers would like them to behave and R.N.I. 4 as they thought practising teachers would behave. The norms and expectations were measured on a 5 point Likert-type scale. The data from the inventories were used to obtain the mean and standard deviation for each item. The means were then compared, item by item, to see if significant differences existed between the various role-setting at .01 level of significance. There was one item of significant difference between R.N.I 1 and R.N.I. 2, 12 between R.N.I. 1 and R.N.I. 3 and 21 between R.N.I. 1 and R.N.I. 4. The results indicated that students tended to identify with their college lecturers and to be opposed to the way they perceived teachers to behave, especially in the area of classroom interaction. Various weaknesses of the research methods employed were examined but nonetheless the evidence that the process of teacher training might serve to produce conflict between the novitiate teacher and the school was considered strong enough to warrant further investigation.