The development, implementation and evaluation of alternative approaches to teaching and learning in the chemistry laboratory

The focus of the thesis is on the evaluation of the effect of the implementation of a three-hour per week problem-based learning (PBL) module for 1SI year undergraduate students. The research questions are outlined below: • What approaches to learning are undergraduate students adopting at the initial stage of tertiary education? • Are student approaches to learning related to age/gender/ time in university/achievement in examinations? • Can a PBL module in chemistry be developed that can provide an effective teaching and learning environment, which develops students’ understanding in chemistry and engages the students with the context and processes o f chemistry? • Will the introduction of such a PBL module in chemistry have an effect on students’ approaches to learning? The main evaluation tool for determining student approaches to learning was the learning style inventory - Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students. Other evaluation tools employed were student surveys, interviews and assessment data. Key findings were that students on entry to tertiary level report a preference for deep and strategic approaches to learning over a surface approach. However, with time in university, the profile shifts with students indicating increasing use o f a surface approach. Mature students tended to prefer a deep approach in comparison to their younger counterparts and female students were more strategic than males in their approach. An introductory year-long chemistry PBL laboratory module was developed, implemented and evaluated. Interestingly, students who took part in the PBL module showed a lower preference for a surface approach having successfully completed the PBL module compared to those who followed the traditional approach despite showing similar trends at the start of the study. The effect on a deep approach to learning, after taking the PBL module, one sixth of the 1st year course, was not evident however. Conversely, the PBL students did significantly better in a non-formal exam designed to assess students learning in the first year chemistry laboratory. The students also successfully engaged with the chemistry content, context and processes and reported the benefit of the pre-lab, group work and practical aspects of the PBL approach

Child Externalising and Internalising Behaviour in the First Year of School: The Role of Parenting in a Low SES Population

Successful transition and adjustment to school life is critical for a child's future success. To ease this transition a child needs to arrive equipped with the necessary skills for school. The extent of a child’s behavioural problems is one indicator of his or her level of adjustment and school readiness. A factor which is consistently associated with such behaviours is parenting practices. This study examined the role of maternal parenting behaviours on externalising and internalising behaviours displayed by children in their first year of schooling. As children living in low socioeconomic status (SES) families are at risk of both adverse parenting behaviours and childhood behavioural difficulties, the study focuses on a low SES cohort. Mothers (n = 197) reported parenting behaviours using the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ; Robinson, Mandelco, Olsen, & Hart, 2001). Teachers (n = 21) rated children on how frequently they engaged in fifteen behaviours. These behaviours were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis, eliciting two externalising behaviour factors (aggressive and defiant; hyperactive and inattentive) and one internalising behaviour factor. Bivariate analyses revealed that authoritarian parenting is associated with aggressive and defiant behaviours and that permissive parenting and maternal education is associated with hyperactive and inattentive behaviours. Only the latter result remains significant in the multivariate analysis. Finally, no relationships were found between parenting practices and child internalising behaviours. Parenting behaviours explained a small proportion of the variance in child externalising behaviours, highlighting the need to educate parents in effective parenting practices.

Readiness for Change: Evidence from a Study of Early Childhood Care and Education Centers

This study examines factors that influence staff members’ readiness for change in early childhood settings in Ireland. The introduction of a new national framework, designed to improve the quality of Early Childhood Care and Education Centers (ECCECs), has been piloted in several communities. This study measures support for this change in organizational practices using the Organizational Change Recipients’ Belief Scale and uses correlation analysis to determine how readiness for change is linked to job satisfaction and the work environment. Results show that individual staff characteristics had little impact on support for the change, while factors related to group dynamics were significantly associated with readiness for change. Specifically, a positive work environment and greater job satisfaction were associated with a lower belief that there is a need for change, but a higher belief that the staff will be supported by management if the change is introduced.

Skills, Capabilities and Inequalities at School Entry in a Disadvantaged Community

Socioeconomic inequalities in children’s skills and capabilities begin early in life and can have detrimental effects on future success in school. The present study examines the relationships between school readiness and sociodemographic inequalities using teacher reports of the Short Early Development Instrument in a disadvantaged urban area of Ireland. It specifically examines socioeconomic (SES) differences in skills within a low SES community in order to investigate the role of relative disadvantage on children’s development. Differences across multiple domains of school readiness are examined using Monte-Carlo permutation tests. The results show that child, family and environmental factors have an impact on children’s school readiness, with attendance in centre-based childcare having the most consistent relationship with readiness for school. In addition, the findings suggest that social class inequalities in children’s skills still exist within a disadvantaged community. These results are discussed in relation to future intervention programmes.School readiness, Socioeconomic inequalities, Monte-Carlo permutation tests

Differential parent and teacher reports of school readiness in a disadvantaged community

Differential ratings by multiple informants are an important issue in survey design. Although much research has focused on differential reports of child behaviour, discrepancies between parent and teacher reports of children’s school readiness are less explored.

A case study exploring students’ problem-solving strategies in a PBL chemistry task

This paper shares the initial results of a small-scale research study which aimed to investigate the problem solving processes Year 1 undergraduate science students used while undertaking problem-based learning tasks in the chemistry laboratory. A qualitative case study, combining observation and semi-structured interviews, was used to explore learners’ experience of the problem-based learning (PBL) task. The literature on problem solving processes of experts generally places importance on domain specific knowledge, developed through experience, for the expert. This is of particular relevance to this study since the students have a range of different prior experiences in the ‘chemistry’ and ‘experimental/practical’ domains. Overall, it was shown that students revealed novice-like problem solving strategies and surface approaches to learning. However, one group revealed more expert-like characteristics, coupled with a deep approach, with this group successfully solving the problem. One implication of this study is that we need to be more aware of the learning approaches of our students, as well as their subject knowledge, as they enter into higher education through careful scaffolding of such problem-based task

Report on Children's Profile at School Entry 2008-2009: Evaluation of the 'Preparing For Life' Early Childhood Intervention Programme

The Children's Profile at School Entry (CPSE) was conducted by the UCD Geary Institute who have been commissioned by the Northside Partnership to assess the levels of school readiness in a designated disadvantaged community of Ireland, as part of an overall evaluation of the Preparing for Life (PFL) early childhood intervention programme.

TheSilver Bullet?: A Cross-National Investigation of the Relationship Between Educational Attainment and Sustainability

Thesis advisor: Andrew K. JorgensonThe United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda (2015-2030) urges nation-states to engage in concerted efforts toward building an inclusive, sustainable, and resilient future for people and the planet. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 associated targets offer a roadmap for policymakers to achieve this complex agenda. An essential component of the quest for global sustainability is to understand the synergies and potential tradeoffs between these economic, social, and environmental targets. The theoretical and empirical tools developed in the sub-discipline of environmental sociology are particularly helpful in this regard because it is dedicated to unpacking the connections among people, institutions, technologies, and ecosystems. The first portion of this dissertation considers some of the theoretical and empirical contributions of social scientists — and in particular environmental sociologists — to our understanding of sustainability. I also highlight the origins and value of the socio-ecological measure of sustainability used in this project, namely, the carbon intensity of wellbeing (CIWB). CIWB is a ratio of CO2 per capita/life expectancy. In the second portion of the dissertation, I engage development frameworks and macro-comparative sociological theories in two cross-national empirical investigations into the relationship between education and sustainability. Education is a social institution widely regarded as a useful mechanism for enhancing human wellbeing. However, much remains unknown about its relationship with global sustainability. To address this gap in our understanding, I assess the relationship between per capita rates of educational attainment and nations’ CIWB by estimating Prais-Winsten regression models using cross-national panel data from 1960 to 2010. In the first empirical investigation presented in chapter two, I hypothesize that gains in education may be associated with more sustainable societies, drawing on the ecological modernization perspective and Amartya Sen’s conceptualization of education as the expansion of human capabilities. In this analysis, I find that education played an important historical role in reducing nations’ CIWB. However, this relationship has mostly disappeared over time for nations located in most regions. Chapter three builds on the findings of chapter two by assessing how economic factors affect the interplay between education and CIWB. Two theoretical traditions concerning global integration inform this chapter: world society and world-systems perspectives. In my analyses, I find that the magnitude of the relationship between education and CIWB varies by nations’ levels of economic development. I also find that the relationship between per capita educational attainment and CIWB is moderated by national integration into the global economy, as measured by exports as a percentage of GDP. Notably, the nature of this relationship depends on nations’ level of economic development, in that further integration into the global economy enhances the beneficial relationship between education and CIWB for high-income nations. The opposite trend can be observed in the middle- and low-income nations, whereby further integration into the global economy ameliorates the predicted beneficial relationship between education and CIWB. In all, my research contributes to sociological understandings of sustainability and if — and under what conditions — population gains in educational attainment can strengthen both human and ecological wellbeing.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Sociology