Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Study skills guide'

Magister Educationis - MEd
A qualitative case study was used to investigate how learners apply a study skills guide during the teaching of mathematics content in a Grade 10 class. A great amount of research and money is continually spent focussing on improving mathematics performance throughout the world. Performance of our learners in South Africa is of concern to the government as well as educators. Researchers agree that many learners lack effective study skills, which is the reason for their poor performance in mathematics. This study intended to infuse study skills in mathematics lessons as an intervention. The study skills intervention sessions were done over a period of 6 weeks. These study skills were infused in topics of the mathematics curriculum which was done in the previous quarter of the school program. Data was collected through interviews, journal entries and a questionnaire. The interviews were done before study skills instruction while the questionnaire was administered after completion of the sessions. Journal entries were completed during the 6 week instruction period by learners. It was found that some learners used the study guide as intended whilst others did not. Furthermore there was improvement in learners' scores for the topics focused on at the end of the study compared to the scores for similar topics in a school-based test written about two months before the intervention. It is concluded that the infusion of study skills in lessons has the potential for improving achievement in high-stakes mathematics examinations.

As opportunities to perform as a soloist diminish, more pianists consider chamber and orchestral playing as an alternative solution. By so doing, ample performance opportunities are introduced. Although most university music programs offer ensemble courses for pianists and have begun to offer degrees with an emphasis in accompaniment, their curriculum lacks instructions specifically designed to train and prepare pianists for playing in large ensembles, especially wind bands. This dissertation addresses the difficulties, which one might encounter in large ensemble collaboration, and recommends useful suggestions for acquiring functional skills to solve these difficulties. Pianists can attain professional status by acquiring the functional skills presented in each chapter. The goal of this study is to provide pedagogical support and direction for novice pianists in the larger ensemble collaboration.

This case study explores the application of interpretive strategies as tools to facilitate transformative learning and advance young adults' abilities in various learning contexts. While much of the literature on adult museum program education focuses on older adults' learning, this study emphasizes the impact of interpretive skills training at a Southwestern university photography center on student tour guides' personal and professional learning. The findings reveal that the training allowed these student tour guides to transform their notions of learning and teaching through interpretive dialogues, cogenerative learning, and critical reflections. The interpretive skills training enhanced the participants' abilities to become better public speakers, interpretive writers, thoughtful educators, and efficient learners. Based upon the findings, the research suggests that interpretive strategies are useful to develop future teachers to be open to different perspectives, willing to consider new ideas, and create a two-way transformative learning loop with their students.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xv, 229 p.; also includes graphics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 148-157). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

The purpose of this study was to answer an overall question: What is being recommended or required by states regarding social studies skills in actual curricula? The researcher examined curriculum guides to see how the states defined, classified, and organized the skills - determining whether patterns of agreement existed. Materials for the analysis were received from 39 states via letters sent to states' social studies supervisors. The states' materials were content-analyzed using the researcher's "Basic Analysis Process" which included a coding instrument based on the Essentials Of The Social Studies (1980) - a statement by NCSS to enumerate basic learning expectations for exemplary social studies programs. The method of research, the findings of the study, the literature search, and generalizations regarding curriculum guides should interest education professionals, curriculum designers, and researchers in general. The researcher's "Comparative Content Analysis System," which is based on ideas gained from research theory on qualitative study, includes a pretesting component, a "Basic Analysis Process" for the actual content analysis of the states' documents, and a system for collecting and summarizing the findings. Three special appendices illustrate the study's findings: a state by state summary of content analysis information and tables of quantitative data revealing, for example, the most dominant skills cited at specific grade levels. The literature search, which evolved into a history of the social studies skills spanning some 100 years, documented a continued situation of confusion and chaos relative to the skills. The content analysis indicated, in varying degrees, confusion extends into states' curriculum materials as well. An open-ended aspect of the study's design allowed for the emergence of the unexpected --- such as the researcher's findings regarding desirable characteristics of "ideal" curriculum guides.
Ed. D.

In 1991, the NCAA created Challenging Athletes Minds for Personal Success (CHAMPS)/Life Skills (NCAA, 2005). The CHAMPS/Life Skills program concentrates on five areas: Academic Commitment, Athletic Commitment, Personal Development Commitment, Career Development Commitment, and Service Commitment (NCAA, 2005). Very few amendments and modifications have been made to the CHAMPS/Life Skills educational material since the program was developed. In the present creative thesis project, revisions and updates were implemented to the current material to satisfy the needs of collegiate student-athletes. Hence, the purpose of this creative thesis project was to update the Academic Commitment module within the CHAMPS/Life Skills manual. Specifically, the Time Management and Study Skills components were revised. These revisions were evaluated by three university professors. In conclusion, the present creative thesis project will assist in presenting CHAMPS/Life Skills material to student-athletes.
School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

The project is concerned with the effectiveness of the Independent Living Program (ILP) in assessing the effectiveness of preparing youth for emancipation from the foster care system. Specifically, the project focused on ILP participants' preparedness to live independently as determined by: education, housing, employment/career, and money management skills attained.

As technology and our world understanding develop, we will need citizens who are able to ask and answer questions that have not been thought of yet. Currently, high school and college graduates entering the workforce demonstrate a gap in their ability to develop unique solutions and fill the current technology-driven jobs. To address this gap, science needs to be prioritized early in children's lives. The focus of this research was to analyze a science training program that would help pre-school teachers better understand Mind in the Making life skills, the nature of science, science practices, and improve their self-efficacy integrating science education into their classrooms and curriculum. Seventy-one teachers enrolled in two three-day, professional development trainings that were conducted over three, five-hour sessions approximately one month apart. During that training the teachers learned hands-on activities for young children that introduced life and physical science content. They were also given the task of developing and implementing a science-based lesson for their students and then analyzing it with other participants. The information from the lesson plans was collected for analysis. After the last training the teachers were given a pre/post retrospective survey to measure effective outcomes. The results from the lesson plans and surveys indicate that the trainings helped improve the teachers' understanding of Mind in the Making, the nature of science, and science practices. The results also show that the teachers felt more comfortable integrating science education into their classrooms and curriculum.

Das Schulregister des Kultusministeriums MIUR verzeichnet, dass mehr als jede/r zehnte aller Schüler/innen in Italien keine italienische Staatsbürgerschaft hat, obwohl sie mehrheitlich dort geboren wurden. Zahlreiche Erhebungen weisen für sie im Vergleich zu den italienischen Mitschülern/innen geringere Italienischkenntnisse und weniger schulischen Erfolg auf. Innerhalb dieser explorativen Feldforschung haben Einzelinterviews mit 121 Schülern/innen (5.-8. Klasse) in Turiner Schulen und mit 26 Eltern, sowie die Auswertung von 141 an 27 Italienisch- und Herkunftsprachlehrer/innen verteilten Fragebögen ergeben, dass viele Schüler/innen "zweisprachige Natives" sind, da sie mit Italienisch und einer anderen Sprache aufwachsen. Dieser Polyglottismus, den die Interviewten sehr positiv bewerteten, findet jedoch in der Schulpraxis keine Entsprechung: Gezielte Förderung im Italienischen und der Unterricht der Familiensprache sind meist Wunschdenken. In der Kohorte haben die Schüler/innen mit den besten Italienischkenntnissen einen italophonen Elternteil bzw. kamen im Vorschulalter nach Italien und besuchten dort den Kindergarten. Dagegen sind, wie auch bei den INVALSI-Tests, die in Italien geborenen und die dann die Krippe besuchten, leicht benachteiligt. Was die Familiensprache angeht, verbessert ihr Erlernen die Kompetenzen darin, ohne dem Italienischen zu schaden: Im Gegenteil. Diese Ergebnisse bestätigen die wichtige Rolle der "anderen" Sprache für einen gelungen Spracherwerb. Das MIUR sollte also sein Schulregister mit Sprachdaten ergänzen, um die Curricula im Sinn der EU-Vorgaben umzuschreiben und den sprachlich heterogenen Klassen gezielte Ressourcen und definierte Vorgehensweisen zur Verfügung zu stellen. Mit geringeren Mitteln, im Vergleich zu den jetzigen Kosten für Herunterstufung, Klassenwiederholung und Schulabbruch würde man Schulerfolg, Chancengerechtigkeit und Mehrsprachigkeit fördern, mit positiven Folgen für den Einzelnen sowie für die Volkswirtschaft.
The Italian Ministry of Education (MIUR) student register records that today in Italy more than one out of ten students is not an Italian citizen, although the majority of them were born there. Several statistical surveys indicate that "foreign" students, when compared to native students, show a poorer performance in Italian and in academic achievement. This exploratory fieldwork carried out in schools in Turin (5th to 8th grade) analyzed data obtained through semi-structured interviews with 121 students and 26 parents as well as 141 questionnaires filled in by 27 teachers of Italian and family language. It showed that many students are "bilingual natives", as they grow up acquiring both Italian and another language; however, despite the fact that the interviewees rate polyglottism positively, schools don't usually offer targeted support in either language. Within the cohort the broadest range of competences in Italian are found first among those with an Italian-speaking parent, then among those who arrived in Italy at pre-school age attending kindergarten there; this latter group shows higher competences than those born in Italy attending nursery there, as also in the INVALSI tests. As far as family language is concerned, data illustrate that its teaching increases its competences without affecting those in Italian: quite the opposite in fact. These results confirm the remarkable role played by the "other" language in successful language education. MIUR is therefore called upon to include also linguistic data in its student register, so as to redefine its curricula according to EU Guidelines, and to identify specific procedures and resources for multilingual classes. This new policy would reduce the current cost of placing students in a lower grade, grade retention and drop-outs, and would promote school success, equal opportunities and multilingualism, with positive consequences both for the individuals and for the national economy.
L'anagrafe studenti del MIUR registra come oggi in Italia più di uno studente su dieci non è cittadino italiano, pur essendo la maggioranza di loro nata in questo paese. Numerose indagini statistiche mostrano come gli allievi "stranieri" presentino, rispetto a quelli italiani, ridotte competenze in italiano e minore successo scolastico. Questa ricerca esplorativa svolta in alcune scuole di Torino (V elementare-III media) ha analizzato dati ottenuti tramite interviste semi-strutturate a 121 studenti e 26 genitori e 141 questionari compilati da 27 insegnanti di italiano e di lingua di famiglia. Da essa è emerso che molti studenti sono "nativi bilingui", poiché crescono usando l'italiano e un'altra lingua. Questo poliglottismo, valutato dagli intervistati assai positivamente, non si rispecchia però nella prassi scolastica: un supporto mirato in italiano e l'insegnamento della lingua di famiglia sono di regola una chimera. All'interno del campione le più ampie competenze in italiano si trovano fra chi ha un genitore italofono e chi è arrivato in Italia in età prescolare frequentandovi la scuola materna; come constatato anche nei test INVALSI, chi è nato in Italia e vi ha frequentato l'asilo nido è leggermente svantaggiato. Rispetto alla lingua di famiglia risulta che il suo studio porta a migliori competenze in essa, senza nuocere all'italiano: anzi. Emerge quindi il ruolo significativo della lingua "altra" per un'educazione linguistica efficace. L'invito al MIUR è quindi di integrare la propria anagrafe con dati linguistici, così da ridefinire i propri curricula secondo le Linee Guida Comunitarie, individuando procedure e risorse specifiche per le classi multilingui. Con un investimento ridotto, paragonato con il costo attuale dato da retrocessioni, ripetenze e abbandono scolastico, si riuscirebbe a sostenere il successo scolastico, le pari opportunità e il plurilinguismo, con conseguenze positive per i singoli e per l'economia nazionale.

D. Ed. (Multiculturalism and Education)
This research will look at specific problem areas specifically pertaining to life skills which hamper the disadvantaged pupil in his development in the formal and non-formal educational sector of the school. with these identified factors, I aim to develop an acceptable information base for staff who have no in-service training as to how to assist, handle and participate with the sudden influx of disadvantaged pupils. This study is therefore aimed at gaining information to assist the teacher as well as the pupil. Reasons for the non-performance and thus the high failure rate, will also be noted in this study. One of the aims is to use pupil feedback extensively for the required information. My final aim is to illicit future research in this direction, thus assisting all parties.

The study describes the teaching of scientific investigations by Life and Natural Sciences educators in the Bushbuckridge Region in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. A quantitative survey method was exploited using a Cluster sampling method. The study was conducted a year after the introduction of the National Curriculum Statement in Grade 10, in South African schools. The study found that most educators use teacher-centred teaching methodologies rather than open inquiry in teaching scientific investigations. Schools still have a shortage of infrastructure, teaching resources and references, which make it difficult for the educators to shift towards the expected new system of teaching. Teachers are confronted with language barriers, heavy workload and insufficient retraining in the new curriculum.
Science and Technology Education
M.Ed.

This study focused on teaching strategies preferred and used by grade 8 mathematics teachers, what they thought was most effective for learning mathematics as well as students’ perspectives of their mathematics classroom. The aims of this study were to investigate the teaching strategies used in the South Korean mathematical classroom and to find out how they attain a high performance in mathematics, in comparison with other countries. The target population was chosen from within the Chungcheongbuk Province and ten schools were selected for the study. In order to determine what teaching strategies are used in the South Korean mathematics classroom, a case study using both quantitative and qualitative research methods was adopted. Data collection methods included questionnaires for the students while interviews were conducted with the teachers. The questionnaire contained fifty closed-ended questions divided into different sections to obtain data on teaching strategies used, on preferred learning styles from the students and on how they felt about mathematics and the mathematical classroom. The interview consisted of ten open-ended questions to get feedback from the mathematics teachers on what teaching strategies they used in the classroom and on what they thought were the best strategies with regard to teaching grade 8 mathematics. From the ten sampled schools there were two hundred and two students who participated in this research, and six teachers were interviewed. The results of the study showed that in the South Korean mathematics classroom a combination of direct instruction, practice and teacher guidance helps the students to learn problem-solving skills and to master mathematics. The students indicated that the teachers mostly used chalkboard instruction and that they practiced solving problems using worksheets, past exam paper questions and through homework or private study. The average student studied mathematics for about six hours a week and most attended afterschool academies for further studying mathematics. Although the South Korean students attained a high performance in mathematics it was evident that they indicated a low interest in the subject. The teachers stated in the interviews that they thought the students needed to see examples on the chalkboard, and then the students need to practice with guidance from the teacher. It was evident that the students focus a lot on guided practice, since they study for about six hours a week. The teachers also felt that the curriculum is overloaded and that there was a gap between the better and the poorer level of students in the mathematics classroom, this gap grew bigger as students lost motivation. The responses to the questionnaire showed that 65% of the students were not interested in mathematics; in spite of this South Korea is placed among the best performing countries in the world. The teachers also indicated that mathematics was very highly valued in South Korea and that parents and universities put a lot of pressure on students to perform well in this subject. This study provides better insight into what is happening in the South Korean mathematics classroom, what methods are used and how the students felt about the mathematics classroom and the strategies that are used. Apart from commenting on teaching strategies, there was also an indication of what teaching style the students preferred. The information in this research study can provide answers to questions regarding South Korean mathematics instructional practices and will be useful for future comparative studies regarding the teaching of mathematics in other countries.
Mathematics Education
M. Ed. (Mathematics Education)

The global spread of HIV and Aids has greatly exceeded the most pessimistic projections. Infection rates are not declining and human tragedy is escalating. South Africa is a nation in mourning. If one is not infected, one is affected. Notwithstanding the catastrophic effects that are already being experienced, the full consequences of the pandemic seem yet to be felt. Developmental psychology and ecological systems theory were used in this study to examine the research problem. It has become necessary to determine the level of knowledge that adolescents have of HIV and Aids and whether Life Skills programmes stimulate any change in behaviour. This initially took the form of a quantitative study in which questionnaires were administered. A combination of quantitative and qualitative research (focus group interviews) was applied for verification. The goals of the research were achieved, providing valuable findings, confirming that there has been no behaviour change and adolescent knowledge remains inadequate. South African adolescents have insufficient knowledge of responsible sexual behaviour. Recommendations with regard to the content and course of the programme as well as further research are formulated as a result of the conclusions.
Educational Studies
M.Ed. (Socio-Education)

This qualitative study was aimed at exploring and describing the theoretical and practical experiences of second-year critical care nursing students. Purposive sampling was done, and unstructured interviews and narrative descriptions were used as data collection tools. An adaptation of Johns's Framework, the Guideline for the Facilitation of Reflection as Teaching Strategy, was used during interviews to guide participants in reflecting on theory-practice integration. Multiple strategies were used to ensure the trustworthiness of the study. Concerning patient data, communication, and the administration of life-saving medications, theory-practice integration did occur. Regarding treatment and the outcome of nursing interventions, it seemed that knowledge deficiencies and a lack of exposure to practical situations contributed to the inability to apply theory to practice. This apparent inability evoked negative feelings, such as guilt. Discrepancies between practice and theory taught led to confusion. Guided reflection assisted students in gaining a new perspective on nursing and theory-practice integration.
Health Studies
M.A. (Health Studies)