Notes on Session 5: How to Write a Paper

Writing a Report (Follow Dr Quek's pp)

To find out NIE LE

Introduction


Body

Lit Rev
Methodology
Sample
Instrument
Table 1 (3 tables and 1 graph)
Procedure

Findings

Conclusion (Recommendation)
graph:no sig diff - tak mean of actual and preferred / 2

Reflections on Session 4: Assessment of LE II

I enjoyed today's hands-on session on using SPSS to analyse survey data. I believe it will be a very useful tool to be used in school when we gather students feedback. This is especially so when we are analysing school wide survey.
Through making us going through the whole process of doing the survey, collating the findings, typing in the data and sharing in our blog, it is really an interesting experience to internalise the steps in doing such data analyses. I have enjoyed totally!

Notes on Assessment of LE II 04/12/2007

What defines the sch LE?
- st-tr interaction/relationship
- sch cult
- discipline
- parents spt
- teaching methodology
- physcial aspect
- support staff
- learng sty of student
- finance
- shared vision (bring out the best in every indiv)
- emotional well-being
- money
- student attitude
- sch leaders vision
Instrumentation: SLCEQ
- 5point likether scale
-better to put SA to SD
- affliation (able to identify wif pple)
- staff freedom (go for courses)
- resource adequacy (enough for tr?)
- st spt (under relationshiop in Moo schema)
- Professional int and achievement orientataion (under personal development dimension)
- staff freedom , participatory DM, Innovation, resource adequacy, work pressure (under systema and maintenance)

Reflections on Assessment of LE I

As a teacher nowadays, we do not just enter a classroom and deliver the contents away. It is important to do a environment scan to access whether the conditons of the class is suitable for lesson delivery to take place. This is a form of assessment that all teachers should take to ensure a conducive learning environment. I feel the assessment of LE is important in order to ensure a stimulating and conducive environment for our students. Apart from assessing the physical environment such as lightning of the classroom, noise level near the classroom and so on, we also need to access our own students' conditions and even our own teaching resources or our mode of delivery. Moo concluded that LE can be described in three general categories namely the relationship dimension, the personal development dimension and the system maintenance and change dimension which can be further broken down into 10 different aspects of LE. These 10 different aspects are used to analyze students evaluation of LE. Through this session, i am happy to find out that there is an array of assesssment tools to assist the teachers to access the classroom learning environment like the LEI (Moo), CES (Moo) ,QTI, WIHIC and so on. In conclusion, i believe it is important to access student's LE as it will reflect how a student cope with the learning environment and subsequently it may affect his/her learning results.

Notes on Assessment of LE I 03/12/2007

Key Pointers abt LE
- student needs
- students perceptions
- sch culture
- sch climate
- human behaviour
- sch environment

Overview
1) Why access LE?
2) What to access in LE?
- physical (seating, noise level, ventilation, resource provision)
- Students (working in groups/indiv, student behaviour, group sizes and compo, student concentration)
- Social (Teachers modes of instruction, tr acceptance and rejection)
3) inter-relationships bet Lewinian formula and Murray's needs-press modal
2 approach in conducting assessment
Alpha press approach-- team of experts from outside to study eg Forbes climate survey ( they are detached observers outside environment)
Beta press approach--- Participants of environment to study environment eg teachers/ students (they are attached to the environment)
Data triangulation is the best approach, ie using both quantitative and qualitative methods.
4) Murray proposed a need-press model that shows the representation of a person and environmt
5) Moo developed LEI and CES(Classroom Environmt Scale)
6) He concluded tat LE can b described in 3 general categories
- Relationship dimension
- the personal development dimension
- sys maintenance and change dimension (pg 159)
7) These dimensions further broken down into 10 diff aspects of LE
-Creativity
- stimulation
- achievement
- efficacy
- safety
- control
- helpfulness
- participation
- responsibility
- influence
8) 1930 - Murray, Moo, Timothy leary
9) Assessmt of LE Research
- Relationship
*Extent of pple involvmt & spt for each other
- Personal devt
* direction along which personal growth and self-enhancemt occur
- Sys maintenance and system change
* Extent of which the environmt is orderly
- Actual vs preferred forms
* instrumt measures the perceptions of 'actual' or exp classrm environmt as well as the perceptions of 'preferred' or ideal classrm environmt
- Class vs personal forms
* elicit an individual pupil's perceptns of the class (class form0
* evluate a pupil's perception or opinion of his/her own role within the class (personal form)
- Adaptation
- Approach
* Use st perceptn
- Instrumts
* My Class Inventory (MCI)
* Sc Lab Environmt Inventory (SLEI)
* e-learning
* What is happening in this class (WIHIC)
10) Flexible learning environment (hands on, minds on, use MP3, blogging, e-textbook)
11) Takeaways today

Reflections on Engaged Learning Environment

After reading through Barbara Means' seven classroom variables that must be present for an engaged learning to take place, i agree and advocate for it. In retrospect, the education system back then was pretty teacher-centered. The teacher gave inputs while the student received and regurgitated back onto the test papers. That was education! I agree during the process, there would be some forms of learning taking place and if the retention value is high for such information, then effective learning may take place. However, such unilateral learning impedes the creativity in a child. There is no room to leverage the child's capacity in learning. Furthermore, there is no innovation in teaching and learning becomes boring. Can you imagine attending a History lesson by reading lines after lines in a History textbook? This is NOT learning but rather it is a punishment of a highly intellectual being!We have been through that kind of education and we certainly do not want our next generations to follow suit. In fact, with the MOE initiatives of creative and innovative learning through experiential education, most schools are already aligned with such culture. For instance, schools are using interdisciplinary project work as a platform to engage students learning in multidisciplinary mode. For instance, students are learning the nutritional facts of food and its association with different muscular growth in a human body. Student should participate interactively in or out of classroom situation. Nowadays, teachers are using pod casting to teach concepts online. This promotes independent learning and home learning. Tests and examinations are no longer the only modes of assessment; the students are using the non-paper and pen assessment too. Learning has indeed become exploratory in nature, beyond classroom experience like learning Geography through overseas field trips, learning mathematics or accountings through running a stall in school during carnival day or learning physical properties in pet rockets. In such an engaging learning environment, teachers are only facilitating them to learn further.