Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses

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    An analysis of the logic of film criticism with special reference to film study courses in schools
    Murray, John Charles ( 1970)
    The distinctive concepts, relationships between concepts, criteria and procedures for judgement-making which constitute the logic of film criticism have been left largely unexplored. As a consequence, film critics and film teachers, lacking an understanding of the distinot body of concepts and procedures characteristic of this form of discourse, have been unable to offer convincing justifications for critical judgements on the one hand, and f o r the belief that film study i s properly an educational activity on the other. In each case, factors or principles extrinsic to the internal logic of film criticism have been offered as justifications. It is shown that the search for justifications for both aesthetic and educational judgements which appeal to necessary formal or moral principles, or to the consequences believed to follow from an experiencing of films, cannot withstand analysis. A critical scourse in the arts i s properly effected by presenting descriptions of the works, expressed i n terms of, and justified with reference to, those concepts and criteriadistinctive of the form of art i n question. It is argued that the work of the English film critic, Robin Wood, and some recent semiological studies on the nature of meaning i n films, represent the beginnings of a clarification of the logic of film criticism. The matter is of central importance to the form and purpose of film study courses. If, to be counted as educational, an activity must be concerned with judgements publicly testable for truth or appropriateness, and if such judgements can occur only within the logical structure of a form of knowledge or discourse, then film teaching can properly be termed educational only if film study courses are informed by an understanding of the logic of film criticism. It follows then that Robin Wood's criticism and the small body of semiological work at present available could well serve as the source of this understanding.
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    The cognitive levels of grade VI, form II and form IV students when solving social studies type problems and the influence upon performance of varying the method of question presentation
    Whitehead, Graham J ( 1972)
    An examination was made of the thinking abilities of students measured on social studies type tests and the influence upon performance of varying the method of presentation. The study was undertaken with subjects drawn from grade 6, form II and formlV. The social studies tests were five in number. Two were based upon verbal materials, two upon photographs and one upon actual objects. For the questions asked, each testing situation provided conflicting information which the subject could either ignore or attempt to resolve. Three treatment groups were used to assess the impact of varying the method of test presentation. In the first the subjects were given each set of data and the appropriate questions were posed. With the second variation the subjects were asked to consider possible answers to each question before they saw the data. The third variation involved a short teaching sequence where individual subjects were shown model answers to a question based upon a situation that was not part of the testing program. The qualities of these model answers were indicated and the subject was asked to replicate similar attributes in his own responses. This brief introduction was given to each subject in Treatment Three on five occasions, just prior to each of the five testing situations. Aside from the two major issues investigated, the study also examined the relationship between performance on the social studies situations and performance on the A.C.E.R. Intermediate Test D; A.C.E.R. Word Knowledge, Form B; a multi-choice social studies reasoning test; and a test of current affairs. In addition performance on the social studies tasks was related to the socio-economic status of parents and to performance on a replication of Piaget's colourless chemicals experiment. The results of the study are based upon an examination of the responses of 171 subjects from two different socio-economic areas and assigned at random to the three treatment groups. Performance was rated against the stages of cognitive growth proposed by Piaget together with some additional sub-sections. Overall, 8 categories were used to classify the responses; the categories ranged from the intuitive stage to the stage of formal operations. The analysis of results indicated that the performance of the three grade levels differed significantly from one another. The mean score of grade six, across the five tasks, was at the early level of concrete operations. Form II was still within the concrete stage although at a higher or more sophisticated level. Form IV mean score almost reached the transitional stage between concrete and formal operations. Performance on the three groups of social studies tests - verbal, visual and objects - differed significantly from each other. This result was interpreted with caution. Although the verbal material situations were more difficult than the visual materials which in turn were more difficult than the objects test, this sequence of decreasing difficulty also corresponded to the order of test administration. Thus the change in difficulty level could have been due to a learning phenomenon rather than to the nature of the test materials. The differences in scores between Treatment Three and the other two treatments was accepted as a real difference and a significant interaction was discovered between grade 6 and Treatment Three. The correlations between the social studies tasks and other variables followed the order sequence of intelligence test scores, vocabulary, social studies reasoning, chronological age, social studies knowledge, colourless chemicals experiment, and socio economic status of parents. The lower correlation between the last two measures and the five social studies tasks was not anticipated.
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    Students' attitudes concerning mathematics: a study of the opinions and views concerning mathematics and mathematics teaching held by students in the upper primary and lower secondary schools of New South Wales and Victoria
    Keeves, J. P. ( 1966)
    From an examination of the relevant courses of study in mathematics and the associated published writings hypotheses were proposed to examine the influence of an emphasis on an inquiry and discovery approach to the teaching of mathematics on the attitudes concerning mathematics of students in the upper primary and lower secondary schools of New South Wales and Victoria (each N = 1000). Emphasis on the use of inquiry methods at the lower secondary school level was found to be associated with students' views that mathematics teaching involved more inquiry and discovery, with students' opinions that mathematics was an open and creative process and with the students' greater interest in mathematics. At the upper primary school level a strong influence of curricular factors was not detected, however, the evidence suggested that the classroom teacher played an important part in the development of attitudes concerning mathematics. The data collected was examined for the influence of several non-curricular factors including the sex of the pupil, and the occupation and the place of residence of the students' father. The sex of the student and differences in the scientific nature and the socio-economic status of the father's occupation were found to be linked with some differences in the opinions expressed by the students concerning mathematics.
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    The social role of the English teacher
    Cosopodiotis, Theodora Catherine ( 1978)
    The concern of this thesis has been to probe the various expectations of those involved in the teaching and learning processes of English. This has been done in part through questionnaires, surveys, discussions, reports, and the writings done by teachers and students. The comments of educationists, psychologists, sociologists, and the media, have been related to the material wherever possible. Factors such as the socio-economic status of students, their ethnicity, different levels of motivation, occupational aspirations, and their beliefs and values, were also noted for their relevance to the acquiring of language skills. These and similar factors were seen to determine to a large extent the educational environment that is needed to generate in students a motivation to learn, to think critically, and to develop defensible ideas about themselves and society. For this reason, it has been suggested that the inter-disciplinary approach to English and English Literature through psychology, sociology and philosophy, may be seen as relevant to students in their study of the individual and society. Consciously or unconsciously, teachers impart norms of the individual's role in society. It may seem logical then to expect that teachers become familiar both with the substantive content of certain topics and issues that help them to define the role of the individual in society, and with the role of the school in dealing effectively with emerging social problems. Remedial and migrant students form part of the social problems that have caused the teaching of English to be criticised by the media and by concerned educationists. An examination of the problems of illiteracy, and solutions suggested by many writers on the subject, is compared with the experiences of those who are involved in remedial and migrant English teaching. Overall, an attempt has been made to define the role of the teacher of English in such a way as to encompass the varied needs of students in an increasingly complex society. The sixth form students in their replies to the HSC questionnaire, showed a desire to study the psychological, sociological and philosophical aspects of the literature read, and to relate it to their own lives, and to society in general. Literature was thus used for increasing self-awareness. This seems to suggest that teachers may need to re-evaluate their approach to the teaching of English in order to accommodate all students at all levels who desire to use English as an instrument of communication in its fullest sense.