Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses
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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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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 measurement of curiosity : development of the state trait model of curiosity for children( 1976)The State Trait model of Curiosity developed by Drs. Naylor and Gaudry was modified for use with seventh grade subjects. Extra items were written, making a thirty--six item four choice Likert scale for trait and for state curiosity. 150 boys and 159 girls completed the trait scale, a word knowledge test, a curiosity stimulating task, and the state scale. The scales were analysed using the computer program Testat. Items were selected on the basis of their point biserial correlations. Splitting the subjects on their sex and vocabulary scores showed that many items had considerable bias. Reducing the reversed and the non-reversed subscales by removing small groups of items produced scales almost identical to those containing the items with the highest correlations. A factor analysis justified the distinction between state and trait curiosity and between reversed and non-reversed items. The loadings on the three factor Varimax rotation were highly correlated with the items' point biserial correlations. Sample-free item analysis attempts to analyse data so that the resulting statistics are independent of the sample used. Similarly it enables comparisons between individuals independently of the tests used. The program Calfit, based on this model, was used to analyse the data rescored at the three possible levels of curiosity. The trait scale fitted the model quite well but the state scale fitted poorly. This was due to the different behaviour of the three curiosity levels and the interaction of a subject's curiosity and the response on many items. Testat proved more effective for item selection but Calfit enabled the linking to previous research. Scales for future use are recommended.
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ItemThe development and validation of a test of economic literacy( 1976)In this work it is argued that there is a need for standardized tests of economic literacy of similar kinds to tests produced in the U.S.A. The notion of economic literacy is examined and from a general definition a detailed content specification is produced. That specification consists of categories of inter-related concepts. A description is given of the way in which multiple-choice test items were written to sample those concepts and to give what was considered appropriate representation to the various categories, while at the same time attempting to cover a range of cognitive processes. A method of classifying the test items according to the number of concepts and categories represented is discussed and it is argued that this aspect of concept-extensiveness is an important dimension of the test specification. Trial testing, analyses of trial test results and the compilation of the final form of the test are described, as also is the administration of the test to groups of Grade 12 students, first-year university students and trainee teachers of economics. It is argued that the data lend support to the claim that the test is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring economic literacy.
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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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ItemAspects of oral and written expression of primary school children( 1976)Children's oral language and its relationship to their written language has not been extensively studied. In this study the relationship between these expressive language forms was explored with an attempt to determine what aspects of written language could be predicted from aspects of oral language. Further exploration of the inter-relationships among facets of written language was also carried out by means of factor analytic procedures. The sample comprised 100 8-year old boys from 17 Melbourne metropolitan State schools. Three types of language samples were obtained from all subjects:- 1) Oral language - the retelling of a story which had previosly been read by the child, 2) Oral language - responses to the Dailey Language Facility Test, 3) Written language - the child's writing of a story. about a stimulus picture. Scores on the story telling task and the Dailey test were compared with subjective and objective measures of the written expression. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that certain aspects of writing ability can be predicted from story telling ability. In this study, these aspects were found to be spelling ability and a general assessment of writing ability. A factor analysis of the total range of written expression measures used enabled the identification of 4 factors. These were, a spelling factor, a general ability factor associated with length of response, a stylistic factor associated with the use of pronouns and a factor associated with the use of more complex language forms. The findings of the study show that it is possible to determine a relationship between oral and written expression. Because story telling ability has been shown to be a predictor of aspects of writing ability, it can be considered a valid measure of language competence and is thus worthy of. greater attention by classroom practitioners.
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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.