Education Commons^™

Developing A Common Understanding Of A Teacher Competency Framework Through Video Analysis : Experiences Of Victorian Regional Independent Middle School Teachers, Christopher J. Brown

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study was deliberately focussed upon the careful examination of a model of professional learning for Middle School teachers, which has at its core, a Teaching and Learning Framework depicting essential elements of effective teaching practice. Set within the context of Middle School classrooms in a Regional Independent school, the intent was to research the impact of the framework on the professional learning of a group of teachers. Research was also undertaken to investigate the effectiveness of feedback and analysis structured around the framework, using video recordings taken from classroom observations.

A group of eight Middle School teachers participated actively …

The Impact Of Student Created Slowmation On The Teaching And Learning Of Primary Science, Jeffrey Brown

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Current research indicates that although innovations in science teaching are having a positive impact on science education in many Australian schools, national and international assessments show that student achievement is not improving (Hackling & Prain, 2008; Thomson, Wernet, Underwood, & Nicholas, 2008). Furthermore, there is little or no increase in the number of students choosing science as a post-compulsory study option or as a career path. There remains a need to further develop innovative teaching methods that promote the development of students‟ scientific literacy, engenders a joy of science learning through student engagement and encourages a desire to pursue further …

Structure Strategy Use In Children's Comprehension Of Expository Texts, John V. Holsgrove

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study reviewed a body of literature largely written between the mid 1970s and 1990s that was concerned with the rhetorical structure of written expository text and its relationship to memory and comprehension. This dissertation follows from an argument that the earlier research often confused memory and comprehension and that it was limited in its attempt to clarify the relationship between text structure and reading comprehension. The current study sought to provide a fuller description of the manner in which schoolchildren of different ages and abilities employ rhetorical structure in the comprehension process. In contrast to the earlier research this …

You Don't Know What You Don't Know: Investigating The Information Needs Of Clients Of Web Based Public Sector Information Services, Julie Ann Johnson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research grew from two frustrations. The first was the personal frustration experienced when attempting to find information on websites; especially government websites. Often the sites were loaded down with all sorts of information such as corporate organisation charts and press releases but lacked the information which would allow clients to interact effectively with the agency or meet their information needs and move on. The second frustration was that of Edith Cowan University students who battled with a diverse, overlapping and incomplete set of both online and paper based resources as they sought to make decisions about their selections of …

Teacher Understandings Of Responsibilities For Reading Instruction In Stage One And Two English Courses Of Study In Western Australian Schools, Liana Strutt

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of the study was to explore secondary teachers’ understandings of their responsibilities towards students who demonstrate poor literacy skills with regard to the Reading Outcome in the Western Australian English Courses of Study. As an experienced secondary English teacher, the researcher was aware that the reading demands of senior secondary classrooms were challenging for some students and that many teachers were unsure of how they should respond to the needs of the students. Since the education reforms which began in Western Australia in the late 1990s and the subsequent introduction of Courses of Study in 2006, a great …

Enhancing The Teaching And Learning Of Computational Estimation In Year 6, Paula Mildenhall

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

There have been repeated calls for computational estimation to have a more prominent position in mathematics teaching and learning but there is still little evidence that quality time is being spent on this topic. Estimating numerical quantities is a useful skill for people to be able to use in their everyday lives in order to meet their personal needs. It is also accepted that number sense is an important component of mathematics learning (McIntosh, Reys, Reys, Bana, & Farrell, 1997; Paterson, 2004) and that computational estimation is an important part of number sense (Edwards, 1984; Markovits & Sowder, 1988; Schoen, …

Looking Smart Is Not The Ultimate Goal: An Examination Of A Gifted And Talented Science Program, Kym S. Tan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

At Metropolitan High School (MHS) a gifted and talented science program (GTSP) operates to meet the educational needs of exceptional students. Academic achievement is dependent on many factors including cognitive ability, goal orientation, selfregulation of learning and self-efficacy. Few studies have attempted to investigate the significance of each of these in special populations particularly in the academic field of science. The literature indicates that educational programs should be subject to evaluation, yet such evaluation is not routinely carried out. In a balanced teaching system, components such as curriculum, teaching methods, assessment procedures and classroom environment are aligned so that they …

An Investigation Into The Feasibility Of Using Digital Representations Of Students’ Work For Authentic And Reliable Performance Assessment In Applied Information Technology, David G. Miller

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The assessment of student performance in areas such as drama, physical education, art and Information Technology (IT), does not lend itself to traditional, paper-based testing methods. In these domains, much emphasis is placed on the acquisition and demonstration of practical skills and these may be difficult, if not impossible, to measure by scores on theoretical, written assessments. Alternative forms of assessment, which are both valid and reliable, need to be devised for the practical aspects of these subject areas. The capture, in digital form, of students’ work, may allow the development of authentic forms of summative, high-stakes assessment with high …

From Essay To Resumé : A Study Of Writing Genre And Discursive Positioning In Senior School English, Jennifer Shand

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In 2004, the Western Australian government signalled its intention to increase the school leaving age from 15 to 17 by 2008 (Carpenter, 2004). During the period from 2004 to 2006, increasing numbers of young Western Australians completed twelve years of secondary school. For English faculties in Western Australian schools, this resulted in a notably diverse cohort of students undertaking compulsory English studies in their final two years of school. The central aim of this thesis was to examine what it means to be a writer in senior school English. In doing so, the thesis investigated the construction of student writing …

"More Than Three "Rs" In The Classroom" : A Case Study In Aboriginal Tertiary Business Education, Keith Truscott

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This was an investigation of factors that assisted Australian Aboriginal students complete or incomplete a business course at a University in Perth between 2000 and 2010. The concept of resilience and related factors of inclusion and exclusion from the participants’ past were assumed clues by the researcher. The investigation involved four inquiries. First, the researcher reviewed recent statistics of Aboriginal population, education and employment. A short history of Aboriginal education in Western Australian was also made. Both reviews indicated Aboriginal people endured relative exclusion and a lower status than the mainstream population in areas of education and employment.

Second, the …

Philosophy For Teenagers: Finding New Relevence In Old Concepts, Andrea Monteath

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In 2008, the Curriculum Council of Western Australia launched a formal curriculum of philosophy and ethics education for upper secondary students. This thesis is a writing project that provides a new teaching text in support of this course. The thesis is composed of two components, a creative project and an essay. The creative project is a work of non-fiction entitled, Philosophy for Teenagers: Finding New Relevance in Old Concepts, and has been researched and designed employing the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) Philosophy and Ethics course model. Philosophy for Teenagers aims to provide an innovative introduction to concepts such …

Shall We Play A Game?, Craig Caulfield

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In response to real and perceived short-comings in the quality and productivity of software engineering practices and projects, professionally-endorsed graduate and post-graduate curriculum guides have been developed to meet evolving technical developments and industry demands. Each of these curriculum guidelines identifies better software engineering management skills and soft, peopleware skills as critical for all graduating students, but they provide little guidance on how to achieve this. One possible way is to use a serious game — a game designed to educate players about some of the dynamic complexities of the field in a safe and inexpensive environment. This thesis presents …

Steering In The Same Direction? : An Examination Of The Mission And Structure Of The Governance Of Providers Of Pathway Programs, Rodney A. Gillett

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of the study was to examine the mission and structure of governance of three providers of pre-university pathway programs based in Australia and operating on a global basis. The aim of the research was to investigate changes, if any, to the purpose and form of governance in this sector for which virtually no research has been undertaken. The literature review of governance in the higher education sector on a global scale in relation to universities revealed an increasing trend toward a corporate style of management. The literature also revealed that the distributors of pathway programs are operating in …