8 research outputs found

    Grade 9 teacher attitudes towards common tasks for assessment (CTA) : a case study of economic and management sciences (EMS) in two schools.

    Get PDF
    Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.This study examines the standardised tests as administered in Grade 9 in the form of Common Tasks for Assessment (CTA). The main focus of the study was to understand the attitudes of Economic Management and Sciences teachers toward the CTA (EMS) and how they were engaging with the CTA (EMS) during the ‘normal’ course of curriculum development. The study was undertaken in response to my observation of the negative attitude of EMS teachers toward the CTA (EMS) during the EMS workshops. The literature revealed that standardised tests have negative consequences such as the narrowing of curriculum, over-reliance on tests preparation materials, unethical test practices, unfair test results, unintended bias against population subgroups, increased tension and frustration in schools, increased grade retention, and regression of pedagogical practice. In responding to the pressure and stress associated with the standardised tests, teachers end up leaking test papers prior to test writing and gave answers to learners during the writing of tests. Teachers in ‘high-stakes testing’ environment tended to feel more pressure to increase test scores than their counter-parts in low- or moderate-stakes testing environments. The data was generated through semi-structured interviews, document analysis and lesson observations. Purposive sampling was used in the selection of the participants. Results indicated that: (1) teachers and learners experienced problems with the language used in the CTA (EMS); (2) the content of the CTA (EMS) was biased; (3) CTA (EMS) put pressure and stress on EMS teachers; and (4) the CTA imposed unfair curriculum expectations on EMS teachers. These problems made EMS teachers develop a negative attitude toward the CTA (EMS). It was also found that EMS teachers had difficulty in engaging CTA (EMS) during the ‘normal’ course of curriculum development. It is recommended that policy makers should regularly interact with schools in order to acquaint themselves with teachers’ experiences during CTA (EMS) administering. Furthermore they should take the views of the teachers into consideration during the policy formulation on CTA (EMS) administering. If the policy makers continue to ignore the concerns of the EMS teachers and to distance themselves from the reality in schools as far as the CTA (EMS) administering is concerned, the implementation of assessment policy will remain an elusive reality

    Applying Alternative Teaching Methods to Impart a Rounded, Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) Education: Students’ Reflections on the Role of Magazines as Instructional Tools

    Get PDF
    In a constantly and rapidly changing social world, students from all disciplines ought to attain a rounded education within the tradition of a “Liberal Arts and Sciences” (LAS) context. Students outside of the natural sciences must be encouraged to appreciate the place of those sciences in their lives. Conversely, students in the natural sciences must be encouraged to envision the role of other subjects in their lives. In order to accomplish this, however, we need to go beyond basic instructional approaches by applying alternatives such as using magazines and newspapers. This paper reports students’ reflections on the use of newspapers as supplementary instructional materials to enhance learning. Data were collected from an introductory liberal arts physics course using a survey instrument. The survey had five descriptive measures: student perceptions; creativity based on activities learned; ability to link concepts learned in class to articles in the news journal; ability to impart knowledge acquired; and identifying lessons based on a case study of a selected news article from the newspaper. Student reflections indicate that magazines can effect a positive learning experience and stimulate curiosity to read. It is concluded that this approach can be used to enhance student motivation and persistence in introductory classes, particularly in schools where resources are limited. Keywords: improvisation, Liberal Arts and Science education, magazines, student reflections

    A Needs Assessment for the Adoption of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in K-12 Education in the United States

    Get PDF
    Since its inception, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) blue print has attracted interest from more than 40 states in the United States. The overall objective of these proposed changes is to align K-12 science education with current trends in technology and career needs. However, the assessment of teacher preparedness and classroom technology needs is still a critical factor in the implementation of these changes. Our study conducted a needs and preparedness assessment using online surveys on public K-12 teachers before the implementation phase. The data collected for this study comprised 214 responses from schools in 16 states across the US. The study indicates that most of the teachers were not knowledgably equipped to fuse the proposed changes in standards with the current curricula and their teaching plans. The teachers made several suggestions, based on their views regarding the level of preparedness of their students. The implications of these findings and suggestions for further adjustments are presented and discussed

    Teacher Questioning Strategies in Mathematical Classroom Discourse: A Case Study of Two Grade Eight Teachers in Tennessee, USA

    Get PDF
    Teacher questioning in mathematics is an important diagnostic tool for teaching as well as measuring the academic progression and comprehension of the learner. While teacher questioning enhances student learning and self-assessment of the teacher’s lesson delivery effectiveness, if not presented properly can have negative impacts on the student learning process. Identifying “good” and/or “effective” questioning strategies is a major challenge to mathematics teachers. To increase teacher effectiveness and student success in mathematics, a self-assessment of teacher questioning techniques is essential. This study examines the questioning strategies used by two grade 8 teachers, selected at random, from twelve middle school teachers each handling quadratic mathematical modeling as one of their lessons in a project. The purpose of this study was to determine the questioning strategies used by the two teachers in their mathematical classroom discourse. Each class was videotaped over six-month period but only a section from each of the two selected classes, on quadratic modeling, was watched for about 45 minutes long for the purpose of this paper. A common theme “teacher questioning strategies” was the bases for analyzing the data. The strategies include: probing and follow-up, leading, check-listing and student-specific questioning. Findings from the study indicate that guiding teachers (pre-service and in-service) through an analysis of questions they ask and the responses they get from students during mathematical discourse, may enable them recognize both effective and ineffective questioning strategies in their mathematical classroom discourse. This study may help both pre-service and in-service teachers as well as teacher-researchers to be well aware of their questioning practices by reflecting on the questioning strategies they use in their own mathematical classroom discourse. Keywords: probing and follow-up, scaffolding, checklisting strategy, leading questions, student-specific questionin

    The Next Generation Science Standards and the Quest towards Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Perceptions of K-12 Educators

    Get PDF
    The K-12 education system is increasingly becoming more culturally diverse. Due to this change in student population diversity, the public, policy makers, employers, and educators agree on the need to change how science is taught in classrooms. Answering this call, states are rushing to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in K-12 public schools. However, there is need to assess how culturally responsive teaching (CRT) can be meshed with NGSS to achieve desired results. This study explored teachers’ views on the benefits and implications of using CRT in K-12 science education under NGSS. Survey data were collected from K-12 teachers in 18 states in the US using an online questionnaire. Based on our data, 86.36% of the respondents had a positive view of the potential impact of integrating CRT with NGSS. However, connecting CRT and NGSS to the science content emerged as one of the major concerns among the teachers. The study also found that teacher training programs on the awareness and adoption of both NGSS and CRT are still needed.Based on these findings, three major recommendations were proposed: 1) phased-adoption and re-assessment of the CRT-NGSS combination on student success; 2) immersive professional development for in-service teachers on how to include NGSS in the existing science curricula; and 3) evaluation of how CRT fits into the new science standards

    Comparative Analysis of Participation of Teachers of STEM and Non-STEM Subjects in Professional Development

    Get PDF
    School administrators continuously consider teacher professional development (PD) as one of the key strategies to improving teachers’ pedagogical skills. Modern proposals for advancing education by improving student learning outcomes are centered on high quality professional development for teachers. However, teachers face a number of barriers when it comes to participation in PD. Also, students in K-12 levels taking Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM subjects often report different learning experiences, most of which influence their decisions to enroll in STEM or non-STEM career-related programs in higher education. Understanding factors that influence the differential in teacher participation in PD is a critical step towards addressing student interest in STEM careers. Using the cross-sectional survey data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey of 2013, this study compared the participation of middle school STEM and non-STEM teachers in PD activities in the US. A bivariate analysis was used to compare STEM subject teachers versus non-STEM subject teachers’ participation in PD activities, its impact, and challenges. The findings showed that PD participation was higher among teachers of STEM subjects, but not significantly different from those for non-STEM subjects. Out-field teaching (no formal training of subject taught) accounted for 10.3% of the survey participants. Further, conflict with one’s work schedule was one of the major barriers to PD participation for teachers

    Feedbacks of Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Rice Agriculture

    Get PDF
    The effect of global warming on methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions from agriculture was investigated and simulated from a soil warming experiment. Experiments were designed and installed in a temperature controlled greenhouse. The relationships between elevated temperatures and CH₄ and N₂O emissions were determined and calculated as the Q₁₀s of production, emission and oxidation. A study of the populations of methanogens and methanotrophs at a range of soil temperatures was performed based on soil molecular DNA analysis. This study showed that global warming would increase CH₄ emissions from rice agriculture and that the resultant emissions will be potentially large enough to cause changes in the present atmospheric concentrations. This research also showed that this increase was most evident for soil temperatures below 30⁰C, above which emissions decreased with increasing temperature. The seasonal average Q₁₀s of CH₄ emission, production, oxidation, methanogen and methanotroph populations were found to be 1.7, 2.6 and 2.2, 2.6 and 3.8, respectively, over a temperature of 20-32⁰C. Considering that the processes of CH₄ production and emission are similar to those in natural wetlands, which is the largest source of atmospheric CH₄, the contribution of this feedback is likely to cause a significant increase to the present CH₄ atmospheric budget if the current global warming trend persists over the next century. The Q₁₀s of N₂O emissions and production were 0.5-3.3 and 0.4-2.9, respectively. The low Q₁₀ values found for N₂O suggest that although global warming will have a direct impact on the production and emission rates. Nevertheless, the magnitude of the impact of global on both CH₄ and N₂O emissions from agriculture is likely to vary from one region to another due to the spatial variations in agricultural soil temperatures and the likely changes in the global regional distribution of water resources (water tables, rainfall patterns), water management practices and the responses of terrestrial CH₄ and N₂O sources such as natural wetlands and plants
    corecore