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    Early childhood centre children in an interactive science gallery : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1998) Ellis, Jill A
    The Science Centre & Manawatu Museum (TSC&MM) was established with monetary support from the Palmerston North City Council and Lotteries Board. The science gallery, Kids Own (KO), is designed especially for children 0 to 8 years of age and usually contains fourteen exhibits which young children and their accompanying adults are invited to explore. This research investigates use of the Kids Own gallery by people in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector. The data were gathered by a questionnaire administered to all Early Childhood Centre (ECC) staff in the catchment area of The Science Centre & Manawatu Museum, and by audio-recording, observing, and later interviewing children from 3 Early Childhood Centres who visited the Kids Own gallery. The findings of phase one of this study suggest that Early Childhood Centre staff are composing groups of children and adults from their centres to visit the Kids Own gallery. Interaction among peers is relied upon for children to learn about phenomena in the world and develop their concepts of how the world works. Phase two of this study was conducted to record the interactions of early childhood staff, adults, and peers with the exhibits, and with each other while visiting an interactive science centre gallery. Major findings include: That The Science Centre & Manawatu Museum is perceived by most early childhood educators to be meeting the needs of young children and staff from Early Childhood Centres; That Early Childhood Centre staff have taken groups of young children to the Kids Own gallery because they perceive it enables them to meet all the principles of the current early childhood curriculum; That the peers and ECC staff in the gallery scaffolded children's interactions with exhibits; That girls showed a preference for sensory exhibits and activities with child peers, while boys engaged in interactions with adults, primarily at physical science exhibits; That there are issues regarding the creation, placement, publicity, and appropriateness of exhibits designed for young children.
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    School culture and attitudes to science : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masterate in Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1997) Bowmar, Anne Megan
    This study investigated possible relationships between school culture and attitudes to science held by teachers and students. It was a single site case study situated in an Intermediate school, in a middle class suburb of Auckland's North Shore. It describes how the school has chosen to solve its science delivery problems by setting up a system of prepared science lessons in addition to participating in a science fair and science badge scheme. The values underpinning the school science culture were seen to be: a predominately traditional approach to science, strong leadership, an emphasis on outside schemes and competition. Teachers had a generally positive attitude to science teaching but expressed both positive and negative sentiments regarding science support in the school. They felt they would have more confidence if their knowledge of science content increased. Students also had a generally positive attitude to science. Boys, Asian students and form one students scored more highly on curiosity towards and positive image of science than girls, European students and form two students respectively. Students indicated they enjoyed challenging, hands-on science, where they were active both mentally and physically. The study concludes by proposing two models which draw links between the culture of science in the school and attitudes to science.
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    The Wittgensteinian revolution and linguistic philosophy : some implications for education and educational philosophy : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1979) Stenhouse, David
    The potential relevance for Education of Wittgenstein's concept of the 'language-game', and the now widely accepted view of Philosophy as an activity to be practised rather than a body of knowledge to be learned up, are investigated principally in two of the 'component' disciplines of Education, namely Science Education and Educational philosophy. In both of these areas, it has been claimed that Philosophy is relevant and has already been incorporated in existing work. A number of sub-optimal features are outlined for both areas, however, taking several widely-used publications as examples for detailed (though not exhaustive) critical examination; and it is argued that many of the faults revealed could be ameliorated through adoption of a Wittgensteinian approach especially if combined with Kuhn's (1962) notion of the 'paradigm' differentiated into the concepts of 'Common Assumptions paradigm' (CAP) and 'Paradigmatic Demonstration' (or 'Public Demonstration Paradigm', PDP). This new synthesis results in a conceptual schema in which each 'family' of language-games which constitutes an academic discipline (or any intellectual or societal activity), is constrained and directed by its underlying CAP; and 'revolutionary' change in Kuhn's sense is accomplished by an alteration from CAP1 to CAP2 (a new CA Paradigm), signalled by a Paradigmatic Demonstration (PDP) that anomalies generated within the CAP1 l-gs but not fully statable within them, can be both stated and resolved within the l-gs of CAP2. This revolutionary 'paradigm-shift' is shown to involve alterations in the meanings of words, such that substantial problems of translation may arise - but may not be perceived as such - between the l-gs of CAP1 and CAP2, the users of the former perhaps being genuinely unableto see the latter as being othor than (strictly) nonsense, i.e. meaningless, or false. The 'translation problem' between teachers and taught is viewed as a possible analogue of that between the several proponent-groups of different CAPs, and some of the practical implications of this for education (notably for examining) are explored. Although the main purpose of the thesis is not exegesis nor critique of Wittgenstein's philosophy in itself, some attention is devoted to issues of interpretation, especially his doctrine of 'the unsayable' as against 'the sayable', in view of the significance for education of precise differentiation between the two; also for the abstraction, in relation to this distinction, of an adequate concept of 'reason'/'rationality'. In relation to the concept arrived at from Wittgen-stein's and other published writings, concepts of 'rationality' etc. appealed to by Peters, Hirst, and others of the 'London' school of Educational Philosophy, are argued as being inadequate and misleading. In Science Education, various limitations and faults are argued as being remediable if sufficient attention is paid to problems at the methodological/philosophical level, i.e. at the confluence between Educational Philosophy and Philosophy of Science; and educational changes needed-to facilitate appropriate developments on these lines are outlined and discussed.
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    Preservice training for science teaching and the subsequent classroom practices of teacher-graduates : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1982) Gardiner, Dorothy Atleen
    This study has investigated the effects of a massed and a spaced preservice programme of science training on the subsequent classroom practices of the graduates of these programmes after they had spent 6 months as year-one teachers. The investigation was conducted in 2 phases. Phase 1 entailed an examination of the training presented to the preservice teachers and the instructional behaviours used by the science lecturers during the presentation of training. Phase 2 involved an examination of the classroom practices of the teacher-graduates. The sample for the first phase of the study comprised 5 science lecturers and 120 preservice teachers. For Phase 2 the sample comprised 20 volunteer teachers from the earlier sample, 7 of whom had received spaced curriculum training over a period of 2 years (group 1) and 13 of whom had received massed curriculum training over a period of 6 weeks (group 2). Information gathering techniques included direct observation and audiorecording of the curriculum training sessions and the subsequent science lessons of the 2 groups of teachers, as well as structured interviews and a questionnaire. A system developed by Adams (1965) was used for the analysis of the teaching patterns of both science lecturers and teacher-graduates. The results of the study revealed that both groups of teachers: (i) indicated that they were using 47 competencies presented during preservice training with a "high" mean level of success; (ii) attributed their capability to use such competencies to preservice training, and (iii) reported that the use of these competencies had a "high" mean level of influence on their overall level of success as science teachers. The results also revealed that of the 6 teaching patterns with which they were compared, the averaged teaching patterns of both groups of teachers resembled mostly the actual teaching patterns of their respective lecturers. Moreover, on an individual basis: (i) the (averaged) functional patterns of 15 of the 20 teachers resembled the averaged functional patterns of their respective lecturers; and (ii) the (averaged) structural patterns of 18 of the 20 teachers resembled the averaged structural patterns of their respective lecturers. From this it was concluded that the teachers modelled the teaching patterns of their lecturers. In addition to such findings the following conclusions were drawn from the study: (i) Both massed and spaced enquiry-oriented, science curriculum training did appear to be effective means for ensuring teacher-use of competencies provided during preservice training. (ii) Positive transfer of training did appear to have resulted from programmes of training with the same objectives of the syllabus which the graduates of these programmes subsequently used. (iii) Preservice training in science teaching did effect positive teacher attitudes towards the teaching of science. (iv) Preservice training in science teaching did appear to influence the teachers' own perceptions of how elementary science should be taught. (v) Role modelling did appear to be an effective means of promoting specific teaching behaviours in teachers. (vi) Although teacher-perceptions of the recommendations of their lecturers did appear to influence their own concepts of how science should be taught more than the actual behaviours of their lecturers, the behaviours of their lecturers did appear to have influenced their own teaching patterns more than their own recommendations. (vii) The teachers' ability to control pupils during science classes did appear to have the hightest level of influence on their overall level of success as science teachers. (viii) The teachers' own knowledge and understanding of science did appear to be less influential on their science teaching success than was their own ability to teach whatever science they knew.