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Louisiana State University

Curriculum and instruction; Education

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Toward A Reconceptualization Of The Integration Of Culture And Language In The Korean Efl Classroom., Seung Bin Roh Jan 2001

Toward A Reconceptualization Of The Integration Of Culture And Language In The Korean Efl Classroom., Seung Bin Roh

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Many Korean EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students do not have sufficient opportunity to learn cultural knowledge and information in their classrooms. EFL teachers also tend to ignore the teaching of culture. Even though culture is taught, it simply delivers "fact-only" information rather than cultural awareness by comparing native with target culture. Teaching target cultural knowledge and information should be delivered within the native cultural frame, and teaching of culture must be an integral part of teaching and learning English. For the effective integration of culture in EFL classes apart from conveying simply "fact-only" information, this research advocates the …


Differential Modes Of External Change Agent Support In Diffusion Of Innovation., Janet Gibson Stevens Jan 2001

Differential Modes Of External Change Agent Support In Diffusion Of Innovation., Janet Gibson Stevens

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The main goal of this multiple-case exploratory study was to examine and describe the processes, perceptions and changes that occurred at the school level in ten south Louisiana middle schools, as the result of external change agent assistance given through the Louisiana School and District Accountability Program. Within this primary goal, the perception of external change agent influence on: (1) school effectiveness processes (i.e., discipline, teacher collaboration, expectations and quality of instruction); and (2) Fullan's school improvement processes were examined. This multiple case study involved five middle schools in Louisiana with two types of external change agents [i.e., the Distinguished …


The Call From The Stranger On A Journey Home: Curriculum As Creative Transformation Of Selfhood., Hongyu Wang Jan 2001

The Call From The Stranger On A Journey Home: Curriculum As Creative Transformation Of Selfhood., Hongyu Wang

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Both utilizing and problematizing the notions of stranger, home, journey, and self through cross-cultural inquiry, gender analysis, psychoanalysis, and autobiography, this study attempts to draw a new picture of the human self and a new vision of curriculum. It draws upon the works of three great thinkers: Michel Foucault, a French philosopher; Confucius, an ancient Chinese sage; and Julia Kristeva, a French psychoanalyst. Traveling through a contradictory yet generative space provided by the Foucaultian subject, the Confucian self, and the Kristevian subject, this study intends to address the issues of differences, connections, and creativity in depicting a new landscape of …


A Narrative Study Of Selected Introductory College Biology Students' Struggles To Gain An Understanding Of Scale And Measurement., Juliana Guillory Hinton Jan 2000

A Narrative Study Of Selected Introductory College Biology Students' Struggles To Gain An Understanding Of Scale And Measurement., Juliana Guillory Hinton

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Case studies, developed with criteria from Yin's Case Study Research: Design and Methods (1994), probed single mental constructs of four introductory college biology students who were recent high school graduates. Data sources included autobiographical essays, interviews, coconstructed concept maps (Wandersee & Abrams, 1993), a videotape questionnaire, and graphics. A multisensory microscopy experiment provided the setting for the construction of shared meanings by the participants. Concept maps were used then to explore the existing cognitive framework of the participants. This research affirmed the value of supporting graphic organizers for understanding science (Good & Berger, 1998; Hyerle, 1996; Trowbridge & Wandersee, 1998). …


First Graders' Efferent And Aesthetic Responses To Informational Trade Books., Kay Monroe Broders Jan 2000

First Graders' Efferent And Aesthetic Responses To Informational Trade Books., Kay Monroe Broders

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of the study was to describe young children's efferent and aesthetic responses to informational trade books. During the study a first-grade teacher read aloud the trade books to the whole class and four children were interviewed following the read-alouds using a standard open-ended interview approach. A scale developed for the study was used to code the efferent and aesthetic level of the responses as: most efferent, primarily efferent, primarily aesthetic, and most aesthetic. Data were analyzed to answer the following questions: (1) Do children have aesthetic as well as efferent responses to informational trade books? If so, how …


The Voice Of The People: Reasons Laypersons Support K--12 Art Education., Lucienne Bond Simon Jan 2000

The Voice Of The People: Reasons Laypersons Support K--12 Art Education., Lucienne Bond Simon

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In the midst of generating theory for classrooms, philosophizing on the meaning and relevance of art education, determining policy and practices for classrooms, even providing advocacy literature in favor of art education, few references have been made to laypersons' ideas about art education. Lest the layperson (non-art education professional)---the "human element" [Pinar, Reynolds, Slattery, & Taubman, 1995, p. 102)---be overlooked, disregarded, and/or marginalized from considerations about art education, their ideas must be solicited, honored, and respected. Since the mission of art education is to educate future laypersons and not (necessarily) future artists, members of the profession as well as policymakers …


Texts And Talk: A Close Look At Gender In Literature Discussion Groups., Peggy Sue Rice Jan 1998

Texts And Talk: A Close Look At Gender In Literature Discussion Groups., Peggy Sue Rice

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated discourse according to gender-related patterns of eight sixth-grade students (four boys and four girls) as they discussed four realistic fiction short stories in peer-led discussion groups that alternated between same-sex and mixed-sex group compositions. Descriptive data were analyzed according to the constant comparative method of analysis. Quantitative analysis was used to determine discourse patterns in terms of frequency. Data were analyzed to answer the following questions: (1) Will the discourse patterns vary when the students discuss their responses in same-sex groups and mixed-sex groups? If so, in what ways will they vary? (2) Will gender differences be …


Investigation Of Two Treatment Approaches For Improving College Students' Comprehension Of Science Text., Nancy L. Martino Jan 1998

Investigation Of Two Treatment Approaches For Improving College Students' Comprehension Of Science Text., Nancy L. Martino

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Many college freshmen are unable to read expository material at a level of proficiency necessary for understanding and integrating information from their textbooks. Providing intervention that addresses these deficits and results in rapid improvements is critical if these students are going to pass their current courses and remain in college. This study examined whether an instructional approach termed Communicative Reading Strategies (CRS) would result in improvement in the ability to comprehend expository text. CRS uses interactive strategies that teach students to comprehend a text as it is read. The CRS approach was compared to a skills approach that addressed similar …


A Cross-Site Inquiry Into Reading Instruction In Differentially Successful Title I Schools., Gypsye Dugas Bryan Jan 1998

A Cross-Site Inquiry Into Reading Instruction In Differentially Successful Title I Schools., Gypsye Dugas Bryan

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

By design, elementary schools are places where students perform specified tasks and become literate. In practice, elementary schools enroll students who engage in instructional activity, yet many of these students fail to reach minimum literacy standards. This multiple-case qualitative inquiry focused on the inner workings of schools where students placed at risk learned to read and examined schools where similar students did not learn to read. Research conducted in four elementary schools addressed the following questions: (a) What resources, time factors, and management systems do elementary teachers use to create an effective reading environment? (b) How do reading assessment measures …


Cognition And Learning: The Implications Of A Situated Connectionist Perspective For Theory And Practice In Education., John A. St. Julien Jan 1994

Cognition And Learning: The Implications Of A Situated Connectionist Perspective For Theory And Practice In Education., John A. St. Julien

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In this dissertation I attempt to construct a framework for an alternate theory of instruction, starting from the position that education has no theory of learning; instead, what passes for theories of learning are actually descriptions of the conditions under which knowledge is acquired. Descriptive theorizing does not serve education well because it is not likely, being a description of what is known told in terms of assumed categories, to be generative or adaptive. I question the naturalness of current assumptions about thought and learning by tracing the consolidation of the present discursive formation around a presumed unity of logic, …


Factors Influencing Conceptual Change In Evolution: A Longitudinal, Multicase Study., Sherry Southerland Demastes Jan 1994

Factors Influencing Conceptual Change In Evolution: A Longitudinal, Multicase Study., Sherry Southerland Demastes

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

A high school Biology II classroom was observed daily in order to study students' conceptual change in evolution of life. The conceptual frameworks of four student participants were documented and the patterns of conceptual change were studied closely throughout the full school year. Data collected included open-ended and structured individual interviews, student journals, daily classroom observations, field notes, and pre-and posttests. All 68 student interviews (17 per student) were recorded, transcribed, coded, and sorted to find patterns of conceptual change. Additional interviews were conducted with the teacher, parents, principal, and high school counselor. The researchers' interpretations were shared with the …


A Study Of Nontraditional Referral And Screening Of Culturally Different Gifted Children., Jo Anne Welch Jan 1994

A Study Of Nontraditional Referral And Screening Of Culturally Different Gifted Children., Jo Anne Welch

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of using nontraditional referral and screening procedures to identify culturally different (minority) gifted children. The extreme disparity of representative frequencies of these groups within gifted programs nationally and in Louisiana prompted research in four parishes (counties) to compare nontraditional with traditional identification procedures. The nontraditional referral procedures included child search methods and parent and teacher training about the characteristics of giftedness among culturally different populations. Nontraditional screening procedures included the use of creativity and leadership checklists, analysis of achievement in all academic areas, and the use of the Matrix Analogies …


A Comparative Study Of The Oral Language Of Students In Basal-Based And Whole Language Kindergartens., Joan H. Lucille Benedict Jan 1994

A Comparative Study Of The Oral Language Of Students In Basal-Based And Whole Language Kindergartens., Joan H. Lucille Benedict

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Concern has existed for several years over the classroom practices relating to the "whole language" approach as opposed to the "basal-based" approach relative to literacy development, especially with respect to the appropriateness of each method for use with minority and lower socioeconomic groups of children entering kindergarten. This study describes the oral language of both African American and European American kindergarten children from low and middle socioeconomic status families who are attending public school kindergartens, one using whole language and one a basal-based approach. The language during centertime of seventeen children from these two classrooms was audiotaped using wireless microphones …


Toward Understanding Post-Structuralism And Curriculum., Wen-Song Hwu Jan 1993

Toward Understanding Post-Structuralism And Curriculum., Wen-Song Hwu

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation describes extensions of post-structuralism in contemporary curriculum discourses. Post-structuralist thought is mainly associated with the seminal work of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, Jean-Francois Lyotard, and Michel Serres. Post-structural criticism and analysis challenge prevailing structuralist approaches and question the fundamental assumptions upon which these approaches rest. A key assumption of structural approaches is that all phenomena are constituted by an underlying structure. In curriculum, these structural assumptions (often scientific) remain unacknowledged and thus are immunized against criticism; rather, they are incorporated into the preferred structural analyses, interpretations, and organizations promoted by the promise of order and rationality. …


Cosmology And Curriculum: A Vision For An Ecozoic Age., Angela T. Lydon Jan 1992

Cosmology And Curriculum: A Vision For An Ecozoic Age., Angela T. Lydon

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The text of this dissertation explores interconnections between cosmology and curriculum. I believe the demands of an Ecozoic Age will initiate a reconceptualizing of curriculum. Further, I believe the particular cosmological perspective I advance can help us with this reconceptualization. Chapter 1 utilizes the multi-faceted insights of scientific, historical, and speculative thought. The texts used in this chapter incorporate an engagement with past cultures (Ong, Eliade), with contemporary theoretical perspectives (Munitz, Haught, and Stafford), and with a scholarship that envisions alternative futures (Bohm). Chapter 2 uncovers how modernity's relationship to the earth is rooted in the scientific, political, and social …


Autobiographical Amnesia: Memory, Myth, Curriculum., Gregory Michael Nixon Jan 1992

Autobiographical Amnesia: Memory, Myth, Curriculum., Gregory Michael Nixon

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Autobiography in curriculum theory and practice is being more and more acknowledged as a major force leading toward the development of reflectively analytical teachers, reflexive practitioners, and discursively self-aware individuals. I look to two vital aspects of self-narration to explore. I speak firstly of memory, without which narrative continuity would be impossible. Memory is as involved with learning as it is with storytelling, and I would agree with Krell (1978) that "inquiry into memory and the theory of pedagogy go hand in hand" (p. 131). I eschew the models of memory provided by the behavioral sciences, empirical psychology, cognitive psychology, …