Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Research In Mathematics Education: A Contemporary Perspective, Alistair Mcintosh (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

The twelve chapters in this book-all but two written by researchers in Australian universities-provide ample evidence of the impressive contributions currently being made by Australia to research in mathematics education. The authors' fields of inquiry are diverse: they include discussion of the roles of language and imagery, problem posing and problem solving, students' beliefs and students' thinking, gambling and mental computation. T!1eir methodologies are no less diverse, incorporating descriptions of both quantitative and qualitative research projects, including action research in classrooms, theoretical perspectives and the development of theoretical models, reviews of research, surveys, clinical interviews and descriptions of new research …

Young Children's Understanding Of Design In The Technology Process, Jean E. O'Sullivan

Theses : Honours

This study explored the development of children's thinking when social constructivist principles of learning were implemented through technological experiences. The study monitored the development of children's understanding of “design" through project work, using classroom based action research. In addition to investigating children's understandings, the study explored the use of technology in early childhood curriculum to develop the skills said to be required in the next millennium. The study found that five year old children are capable of "designing" and that technology is an effective vehicle for developing socially, contextually and culturally appropriate learning experiences.

Teacher's Perceptions Of The Introduction Of A Middle School Within A Western Australian Independent Girls' School, S. M. Lienert

Theses : Honours

In 1995 an independent girls' school in Perth, Western Australia, decided to introduce a Middle School. 'This meant changing the traditional structure of grouping children aged between 5 and 12 years into primary school and children aged between 13 and 17 years into secondary school. The aim of the Middle School was to provide increased educational opportunities for 12 to 14 year old students. When the introduction of a Middle School was announced teaching staff expressed a number of concerns with respect to their new roles and the new school operations. These concerns raised questions about whether years of teaching …

The Variables Related To Attrition And Persistence Of Distance Education Students Enrolled In The Fourth Year Of The Bachelor Of Education Course, Eileen Thompson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The extent to which a range of demographic, academic and administrative variables are related to attrition and persistence of external students enrolled in the Fourth Year of the Bachelor of Education course during second semester, 1995 are investigated in this study. The applicability of the sub-scales and scales developed by Kember, Lai, Murphy, Siaw and Yuen (1995) for distance education students is also reported on for the study group. Data were obtained from the student records system and two self-administered mail out questionnaires. The study population was predominantly female, in their early thirties, living in Western Australia, had completed their …

Mental Computation In School Mathematics: Preference, Attitude And Performance Of Students In Years 3, 5, 7 And 9, Alistair Mcintosh, Jack Bana, Brian Farrell

Research outputs pre 2011

Commencing in 1989 a team consisting of Alistair Mcintosh, Paul Swan and Ellita de Nardi at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, probed the strategies used by children of primary school age when calculating mentally, with a view to developing and promoting more appropriate and effective mental computation...This present monograph, which looks at the mental computation of Western Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, is one of the outcomes of this collaborative research project.

Perceptions Of Lower Secondary Design And Technology Teachers About The Utilisation Of The Design Process, Desire Mallet

Theses : Honours

This study investigated the perceptions of lower secondary school teachers about the utilisation of a design process. Seven Design and Technology teachers from government and private secondary schools, situated in Perth metropolitan area, were selected. The participants have been using a design process in lower secondary school for at least eighteen months prior to the study. Each participant was interviewed individually and the interviews were audio-recorded. The Education Department of Western Australia considers a design process as a central element in the Technology and Enterprise learning area of the Student Outcome Statements. However, not much is known about how this …

Victorian Modern Cursive Handwriting In West Australian Schools, Deborah Ann Taylor

Theses : Honours

The Victorian Modern Cursive script was introduced to Western Australia as the newly recommended handwriting style in 1990. The choice of this handwriting style, which is a foundation style similar to the Simple Modern Hand (Gourdie, 1981), was based upon the prediction that its use would facilitate the transition from beginners' script to full cursive writing. This assumption has not been tested in West Australian schools and hitherto no evaluation of the new handwriting model has been conducted. This study set out to evaluate and compare the legibility and fluency of cursive writing of a group of Year 3 children …

The Effects Of Different Methods Of Cloze Test Construction And Their Relationship With A Standardised Reading Comprehension Test, Trevor Michael Edward Forde

Theses : Honours

The purpose of this study is to provide guidelines to classroom teachers for the construction of valid and reliable cloze comprehension tests. Review of the related literature suggested there are many diverse and contradictary opinions as to the most appropriate method of constructing cloze tests. The subjects were 49 Year 5 primary school children from two metropolitan schools. Three different comprehension tests were administered. The Gap Reading Comprehension Test and two Cloze Comprehension Tests consisting of 50 and 100 word deletions, in which the deletions began at either the fifth or sixth word of the second sentence. The Cloze Tests …

A Case Study Of Two Year Six Classes Involved In A Health-Related Fitness Intervention, Andrew T. Medland

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Children are not as active as they may appear and they do not voluntarily engage in moderate to high intensity activity as commonly perceived by the general public. With coronary heart disease risk factors now found to have origins in childhood there is a real need for children to adopt lifestyles that will produce healthier adults. In Perth the Western Australian Schools Physical Activity and Nutrition project (WASPAN) has been implemented, as a Year 6 intervention, addressing the problems of poor nutritional habits and low activity levels. The focus of this case-study was to describe the physical activity component of …

A Case Study To Investigate The Use Of Computers Across A School Population, Janine Bersan

Theses : Honours

The National Advisory Committee on Computers in Schools (Commonwealth Schools Commission, 1983) recommended to support computing in both government and non-government schools in Australia over 1984 - 1986. This led to the injection of computer resources to schools. The Western Australian Government then provided significant funds for the provision of computer equipment to primary and secondary schools (1987 -1989). Primacy schools in Western Australia now have on average three computers per primary school. The Ministry of Education has produced a policy document on computer use in primary education which clearly outlines goals to be achieved by all primary school teachers …

The Delphi Technique : An Application Of The Delphi Technique As A Method Of Obtaining Staff Opinions On Issues Relating To Teaching Practice At Nedlands College Of Advanced Education, M. Kaplan

Research outputs pre 2011

As one approach to gathering information required in compiling a report on Teaching Practice, Supervision Advice and Assessment (Published as Research Committee Report Number 12), use was made of the Delphi Technique. (Kaplan, 1980).

Space precluded providing details of this technique in Report Number 12 but since the technique is not often used, it was decided to provide information on its application in the study in this separate report.