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Edith Cowan University

Theses : Honours

2000

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Articles 1 - 18 of 18

Full-Text Articles in Education

The Effects Of Incorporating A Word Processor Into A Writing Program: Seven Individual Case Studies, Natalie Beck Jan 2000

The Effects Of Incorporating A Word Processor Into A Writing Program: Seven Individual Case Studies, Natalie Beck

Theses : Honours

Writing is a "complex interplay of social, physical, and cognitive factors" (Daiute, 1985a, p.1) and an essential part of every young child's school life. However, "every school has at least a few children who can be classified as non-writers" (Aumack, 1985, p.46). Some children are often inhibited and "frustrated when they attempt to express themselves with pencil and paper'' (Aumack, 1985, p.46) and are put off by the thought of writing, erasing and rewriting, thus producing "children who do not want to write" (Aumack, 1985. p.46). In response to these statements, this qualitative study examined the effects of incorporating a …


Factors Affecting The Non-Selection Of Year Eleven Physical Education Studies By Female Students In A Rural Western Australian High School, Fiona Cameron Jan 2000

Factors Affecting The Non-Selection Of Year Eleven Physical Education Studies By Female Students In A Rural Western Australian High School, Fiona Cameron

Theses : Honours

This study of year eleven female students at a rural Western Australian high school, focused firstly on why students were choosing not to enrol in Physical Education Studies (PES) and secondly what students believed would improve student enrolment. A two-stage qualitative research approach was utilised. The first stage involved creating a school profile and conducting a survey of 71 year eleven females. The second stage involved a three-step process of interviewing three year eleven females who were selected on the basis of not enrolling in PES and their responses on the survey slips. Findings suggested that the major factors effecting …


Understanding My Work : Reflections On Implementing A Season Of Sepep, Kevin Black Jan 2000

Understanding My Work : Reflections On Implementing A Season Of Sepep, Kevin Black

Theses : Honours

Implementing new curriculum models for the first time can be difficult for teachers, especially those recently graduated. This study captured some of these challenges and difficulties, and the substantial rewards, through recording the teacher's reactions and reflections as he implemented his first season of SEPEP. The perceptions of the students involved in the season were recorded as a way of validating the teacher's reflections. SEPEP is a student centered physical education program which seeks to capture the positive aspects of community sport, and allows students the opportunity to be involved as players, in team roles such as captain, coach and …


Literature Review : Teachers' Knowledge And Attitudes About Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd), Bruna Bekle Jan 2000

Literature Review : Teachers' Knowledge And Attitudes About Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd), Bruna Bekle

Theses : Honours

ADHD is a neuro-developmental disorder that is diagnosed in 3 to 6% of the childhood population in a diversity of cultures and a variety of geographical locations. It presents as a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity, with boys being over-represented by approximately 3 to 1. High levels of comorbidity between ADHD and a number of other disorders, including Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and learning disabilities, have been identified. This review will examine the historical development of the understanding of ADHD, knowledge of its etiology, and the influence of this disorder in the school environment. In particular, it will …


Investigation Into The Compatibility Of The Outcomes Of The Northern Territory Special Category Curriculum For Secondary Aged Indigenous Students And The Western Australian Student Outcome Statements, Matthew Byrne Jan 2000

Investigation Into The Compatibility Of The Outcomes Of The Northern Territory Special Category Curriculum For Secondary Aged Indigenous Students And The Western Australian Student Outcome Statements, Matthew Byrne

Theses : Honours

This study is an investigation into the compatibility of the outcomes of the Northern Territory Special Category Curriculum for Secondary Aged Indigenous Students (NTC) and the Western Australian Student Outcome Statements (SOS), in the Learning Area of English, using specified criteria. This document analysis examined the theoretical assumptions underpinning the NTC and SOS, the comparisons that can be made between the two, and then, how suitable the NTC was for achieving the SOS documented by Education Department of Western Australia (EDWA) for Indigenous secondary students in remote comminutes. The outcomes for the NTC and SOS in the Learning Area of …


The Narrative Content Of Preschool Children's Drawing, Wendy Philippa Candy Jan 2000

The Narrative Content Of Preschool Children's Drawing, Wendy Philippa Candy

Theses : Honours

The narrative content of preschool children's drawing is the focus of this study. The purpose of this study was to raise educators, preschool teachers and parents awareness of the narrative content of preschool children’s drawings and to alert them to how children of this age communicate through their drawings. A school with an operational pre-primary class was selected from the Northern Metropolitan education district of Perth. Twelve pre-school children were selected on the basis of their participation in drawing activities. The researcher observed the children at work over a period of eight sessions. A qualitative descriptive research method was used …


Boys' And Girls' Attitudes To Aboriginal And Non-Aboriginal Students With Conduct Disorder, Nerine Van Wyk Jan 2000

Boys' And Girls' Attitudes To Aboriginal And Non-Aboriginal Students With Conduct Disorder, Nerine Van Wyk

Theses : Honours

The purpose of this study was to examine children’s attitudes towards Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal peers with Conduct Disorder. A 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design was used to test the hypotheses. The three independent variables were: (a) Ethnicity of the target student (aboriginal/ Non-Aboriginal) described in a vignette, (b) disability or the target student (no disability/ conduct disorder) described in a vignette; and (c) the gender of the participants. A sample of 216 Year 6 students was divided into four groups each containing 27 girls and 27 boys and an attitude questionnaire was administered. The attitude survey measured two …


An Exploration Of Tools, Techniques And Procedures For Evaluating Informational/Educational Multimedia Software, Serge Walberg Jan 2000

An Exploration Of Tools, Techniques And Procedures For Evaluating Informational/Educational Multimedia Software, Serge Walberg

Theses : Honours

This thesis explored the evaluation of informational/educational systems. It investigated the features of the design of an evaluation system needed to conduct the summative evaluation of informational and educational software. In designing this evaluation methodology, several questions were addressed: - What is needed to be achieved from an evaluation? - Which characteristics/features of a system required evaluation? - How was the evaluation going to be conducted? - How can future developers use the information obtained from the evaluation? - What were the scope and the limitations of the proposed evaluation? - How can evaluation tools, techniques and procedures developed by …


Mapcast : Real-Time Collaboration With Concept Maps, Brett Greay Jan 2000

Mapcast : Real-Time Collaboration With Concept Maps, Brett Greay

Theses : Honours

This thesis describes the development of the application mapCAST, a computer-based concept-mapping tool that allows synchronous collaboration via TCP/IP networks, such as the Internet The useability and feasibility of mapCAST as a computer-based tool was examined and analysed in a real world situation. Results indicate that mapCAST is successful as a collaborative tool in a situations involving knowledge organisation, but lacks certain functionality that many Macintosh users are accustomed to.


Lower Secondary Student Attitudes Towards Social Studies In A Catholic School, Ekaterina Thiveos Jan 2000

Lower Secondary Student Attitudes Towards Social Studies In A Catholic School, Ekaterina Thiveos

Theses : Honours

This case study examined lower secondary student attitudes towards social studies and identified the factors that influenced attitudes in one Catholic secondary school located in the Perth metropolitan area. A total of 4 75 students were enrolled in Years 8 to 10 at the school in 1999. A modified version of Student Attitudes Towards Social Studies (Moroz 1996) questionnaire with 94 items, was utilised to gauge secondary student attitudes towards the learning area. A total of 421 lower secondary students participated in the survey. The data was analysed using the statistical software package SPSS 9. 0 for Windows, where descriptive …


Sense Of Belonging And Self-Esteem : What Are The Implications For Educational Outcomes Of Secondary School Students? : A Literature Review, Lynne Strudwicke Jan 2000

Sense Of Belonging And Self-Esteem : What Are The Implications For Educational Outcomes Of Secondary School Students? : A Literature Review, Lynne Strudwicke

Theses : Honours

In this technological era a complete secondary education is more important than ever. Therefore, this review examines the issues surrounding students' at risk of dropping out of school. School factors such as the relevance of the curriculum, support. and also methods of assessment have each been associated with the dropout issue. These factors may also impact on students' sense of belonging, self-concept and self-esteem in negative or positive ways. Sense of belonging is a fundamental need. In schools it has been found to relate directly to achievement, indicating that mainly higher achieving students benefit from having this need fulfilled. Sense …


The Effects Of Conceptual Change On The Transfer Of Established Skills, John Forbes Jan 2000

The Effects Of Conceptual Change On The Transfer Of Established Skills, John Forbes

Theses : Honours

When people practice a task, their performance in terms of speed and accuracy normally improves in a smooth manner that follows a power function. The consistency with which the performance of a wide range of skills conforms to this power function relationship is known as the Power Law of Learning, and has been an important assumption of many of the dominant theories of skill acquisition and transfer. As such, the form of the power function that is derived from the training process has been used to predict performance when task conditions remain constant. However, Speelman and Kirsner (under review) have …


The Influence Of Gender-Role On Upper Primary School Students' Graphic Representations, Tamara Frederiks Jan 2000

The Influence Of Gender-Role On Upper Primary School Students' Graphic Representations, Tamara Frederiks

Theses : Honours

The aim of this research was to study the effect of gender-rule on Year Six students' graphic representations completed during a visual transformation task. The influence of gender on learning has become a significant issue in primary schools and research in the area is needed to inform teachers about gender differences. The significance of the issue relates to the equality of opportunity for girls and boys in the classroom. Drawings are of significance because they provide teachers and parents with a glimpse of the developing child in terms of his or her creative and mental growth, feelings, emotions and world-view. …


Attitudes Of Lower Secondary School Students Toward Social Studies At An Independent School : A Case Study, Diane M. Hobbs Jan 2000

Attitudes Of Lower Secondary School Students Toward Social Studies At An Independent School : A Case Study, Diane M. Hobbs

Theses : Honours

There is a dearth of research on student attitudes toward social studies, especially in Western Australian secondary schools. The purpose of this case study was twofold. Firstly it was to determine the attitudes of lower secondary school students toward social studies at one Independent high school in the Perth metropolitan area. Secondly, it was to investigate the factors that influence student attitudes toward social studies. The case study school was selected as a convenience sample. A total of 203 students from Years 8, 9, and 10 completed a questionnaire designed to determine attitudes toward social studies and to identify factors …


Year 9 Student Attitudes Toward Social Studies In A Western Australian Government High School : A Case Study, Leah Elizabeth Anne Hansberry Jan 2000

Year 9 Student Attitudes Toward Social Studies In A Western Australian Government High School : A Case Study, Leah Elizabeth Anne Hansberry

Theses : Honours

This study identifies the status of social studies in one metropolitan Government secondary school in Western Australia. This was achieved by investigating the attitudes of Year 9 students, at the case study school, toward the subject and by identifying the factors responsible for influencing these attitudes. A focus of the study was to explore the impact of student gender on attitudes toward the learning area. The underlying theoretical basis for the study contends that attitude toward social studies is a function of the interrelationship of student, teacher and learning environment variables. The empirical database for the study was quasi-experimental in …


The Feasibility Of A Flexibly Delivered Professional Development Program For Teachers In Road Safety Education, Vanessa Hille Jan 2000

The Feasibility Of A Flexibly Delivered Professional Development Program For Teachers In Road Safety Education, Vanessa Hille

Theses : Honours

School-based prevention education programs can contribute to a reduction in childhood road trauma by increasing students' knowledge, attitudes and skills. Professional development (PO) for teachers is needed to ensure effective implementation of health curricula. Access to conventional workshop PD is restricted by obstacles such as time, cost and lack of resources. A flexibly delivered PD program would allow teachers to study when, where and how they prefer. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of a flexibly delivered PD program for teachers in road safety education. The target population was teachers from Western Australian primary schools. A …


Case Studies Of Children's Social And Emotional Adjustment At School After The Permanent Separation Of Their Parents, Gillian Kirk Jan 2000

Case Studies Of Children's Social And Emotional Adjustment At School After The Permanent Separation Of Their Parents, Gillian Kirk

Theses : Honours

The number of children who have experienced the separation of their parents is constantly rising. An increasing amount of children arc entering classrooms contending with their day-to-day stressors as well as the stress originating from then home lives. Many of these children are not prepared with the knowledge or understanding of their stressor, nor are they equipped with strategies that would help them deal with stress. Observations and interviews were conducted with four children who had experienced the separation and divorce of their parents over a period of six months. As the data for this study needed to be rich …


The Effect Of Conceptual Context Changes On Skill Transfer Performance, Kris Giesen Jan 2000

The Effect Of Conceptual Context Changes On Skill Transfer Performance, Kris Giesen

Theses : Honours

The effect of changing the conceptual context on task performance was examined. The aim was to evaluate whether power functions that describe improvement on old skills during practice can be used to predict further improvement on these skills when they are presented in a novel environment. This research was designed to extend Speelman and Kirsner's (under review) study, which involved testing the assumption made by many skill theories: that performance should continue to improve as if a change in task conditions had no effect. Eighty participants were randomly allocated to one of four distractor conditions: Operand Change (e.g., 2 x …