title: Improving teaching and learning of University physics in Taiwan

authors: Chang, Wheijen

abstract: This thesis studies the teaching and learning of first year university physics. The students involved in this study were first year physical science or engineering students at a private university in Taiwan. These students appeared to possess a low motivation towards learning university physics and had a poor academic performance. The failure rate was of concern to both the students and their lecturers. The existing teaching design, which included the physics content, the didactic teaching approach, and the assessment emphasising recall of facts, were seen to have contributed to the situation. 

These problems are also found in the literature mostly in western countries. The literature which is specifically related to university physics education, provides information about the prevalent problems of traditional teaching in university physics courses, as well as trends for modifying the existing course. These modifications are mainly in the aspects of teaching content and teaching approach design. This literature provides practical suggestions for innovations to university physics courses. 

The literature on constructivist and sociocultural views of learning in science education indicates that learning physics involves both cognitive engagement and engagement in learning as a social practice. The role of a physics lecturer is seen to shift from simply an information provider and concept interpreter, to a learning mediator, which includes facilitating students’ engagement in the learning process, monitoring students’ learning outcomes, and intervening in students’ alternative conceptions. Accordingly, students need to play an active role in their learning, ie, to actively participate in learning, and to reflect and be aware of their learning outcomes. Therefore, the literature suggests that the focus of physics classes needs to shift from teaching alone to both teaching and learning. The goals of learning physics include developing students’ physics knowledge as well as promoting learning motivation and broadening the students’ perspectives of why and how to learn physics. This literature provides a theoretical framework for this thesis regarding the learning process, teaching tasks, and the goals of the university physics course. 

This study includes three phases: 
(1) understanding the existing situation, including both the students’ and the lecturers’ perceptions with respect to the course design, the teaching performance, and the learning outcomes. The students’ opinions were investigated by a questionnaire survey, and the lecturers’ views were investigated by interviews and a questionnaire survey. Two standarised tests were also applied in order to examine the students’ physics background in comparison with their peers in the United States. 

(2) designing and implementing an intervention teaching program. The design of the intervention program was based on the literature on constructivist and sociocultural views of learning and the existing situation as identified by this research. The major theme of the program was to activate the students’ participation in the classroom learning process. A three-week intervention teaching program was then implemented in one class by the researcher. 

(3) evaluating the outcomes of the intervention program, which included student interviews, a questionnaire survey, and standarised tests. The outcomes of the intervention teaching were compared with those of traditional teaching. 

This study concludes that the learning outcomes of the traditional teaching appeared to be far from satisfactory both in cognitive and affective aspects. The students obtained low gains in standardised tests before and after teaching. Meanwhile, the students’ learning motivations and adopted learning strategies appeared to drastically deteriorate during the learning process. The evaluation of the intervention teaching showed that the new teaching design significantly improved the students’ learning motivation, promoted the students’ engagement in thinking and discussion, and enhanced learning commitments out of class. Meanwhile, the students’ perceptions and awareness of their learning were enhanced by the intervention teaching. However, the intervention students were found to have similar achievement in physics knowledge as their peers in the traditional classes.

text: Improving teaching and learning of University physics in Taiwan This thesis studies the teaching and learning of first year university physics. The students involved in this study were first year physical science or engineering students at a private university in Taiwan. These students appeared to possess a low motivation towards learning university physics and had a poor academic performance. The failure rate was of concern to both the students and their lecturers. The existing teaching design, which included the physics content, the didactic teaching approach, and the assessment emphasising recall of facts, were seen to have contributed to the situation. 

These problems are also found in the literature mostly in western countries. The literature which is specifically related to university physics education, provides information about the prevalent problems of traditional teaching in university physics courses, as well as trends for modifying the existing course. These modifications are mainly in the aspects of teaching content and teaching approach design. This literature provides practical suggestions for innovations to university physics courses. 

The literature on constructivist and sociocultural views of learning in science education indicates that learning physics involves both cognitive engagement and engagement in learning as a social practice. The role of a physics lecturer is seen to shift from simply an information provider and concept interpreter, to a learning mediator, which includes facilitating students’ engagement in the learning process, monitoring students’ learning outcomes, and intervening in students’ alternative conceptions. Accordingly, students need to play an active role in their learning, ie, to actively participate in learning, and to reflect and be aware of their learning outcomes. Therefore, the literature suggests that the focus of physics classes needs to shift from teaching alone to both teaching and learning. The goals of learning physics include developing students’ physics knowledge as well as promoting learning motivation and broadening the students’ perspectives of why and how to learn physics. This literature provides a theoretical framework for this thesis regarding the learning process, teaching tasks, and the goals of the university physics course. 

This study includes three phases: 
(1) understanding the existing situation, including both the students’ and the lecturers’ perceptions with respect to the course design, the teaching performance, and the learning outcomes. The students’ opinions were investigated by a questionnaire survey, and the lecturers’ views were investigated by interviews and a questionnaire survey. Two standarised tests were also applied in order to examine the students’ physics background in comparison with their peers in the United States. 

(2) designing and implementing an intervention teaching program. The design of the intervention program was based on the literature on constructivist and sociocultural views of learning and the existing situation as identified by this research. The major theme of the program was to activate the students’ participation in the classroom learning process. A three-week intervention teaching program was then implemented in one class by the researcher. 

(3) evaluating the outcomes of the intervention program, which included student interviews, a questionnaire survey, and standarised tests. The outcomes of the intervention teaching were compared with those of traditional teaching. 

This study concludes that the learning outcomes of the traditional teaching appeared to be far from satisfactory both in cognitive and affective aspects. The students obtained low gains in standardised tests before and after teaching. Meanwhile, the students’ learning motivations and adopted learning strategies appeared to drastically deteriorate during the learning process. The evaluation of the intervention teaching showed that the new teaching design significantly improved the students’ learning motivation, promoted the students’ engagement in thinking and discussion, and enhanced learning commitments out of class. Meanwhile, the students’ perceptions and awareness of their learning were enhanced by the intervention teaching. However, the intervention students were found to have similar achievement in physics knowledge as their peers in the traditional classes.

year: 2000

title: "Never say never?": Heterosexual, bisexual, and lesbian women's accounts of being childfree.

authors: Hayfield, Nikki

subjects: gender roles

abstract: Feminist scholars have identified a “motherhood imperative” in Western cultures, when heterosexual women are understood to both want and to have children. However, social shifts have resulted in a decrease in pronatalism as well as an increase in social recognition of the parenting desires of same-sex parents. Despite a resurgence of interest in childfree identities, research to date has predominantly focused on heterosexual women’s explanations for being childfree and their experiences of marginalization. Our aim in the current study was to explore how childfree heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual, and queer women negotiate their childfree lives and identities in the context of their personal and social relationships within changing cultural contexts. Data from 23 interviews with women in the United Kingdom, who responded to a call for childfree participants, were thematically analyzed. We constructed two themes: (1) Never say never? Negotiating being childfree as ever precarious, which shows how women constructed being childfree as requiring constant revisiting and renegotiating to maintain and (2) An ordinary life: Constructing being childfree as rational and reasonable, in which we identify the rhetorical efforts of participants to establish their being childfree as an ordinary, reasonable, and rational position. We conclude that for these women, childfreedom was constantly in flux and that maintaining a positive childfree identity required considerable identity work in order to manage intimate personal relationships and wider friendships.

text: "Never say never?": Heterosexual, bisexual, and lesbian women's accounts of being childfree. Feminist scholars have identified a “motherhood imperative” in Western cultures, when heterosexual women are understood to both want and to have children. However, social shifts have resulted in a decrease in pronatalism as well as an increase in social recognition of the parenting desires of same-sex parents. Despite a resurgence of interest in childfree identities, research to date has predominantly focused on heterosexual women’s explanations for being childfree and their experiences of marginalization. Our aim in the current study was to explore how childfree heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual, and queer women negotiate their childfree lives and identities in the context of their personal and social relationships within changing cultural contexts. Data from 23 interviews with women in the United Kingdom, who responded to a call for childfree participants, were thematically analyzed. We constructed two themes: (1) Never say never? Negotiating being childfree as ever precarious, which shows how women constructed being childfree as requiring constant revisiting and renegotiating to maintain and (2) An ordinary life: Constructing being childfree as rational and reasonable, in which we identify the rhetorical efforts of participants to establish their being childfree as an ordinary, reasonable, and rational position. We conclude that for these women, childfreedom was constantly in flux and that maintaining a positive childfree identity required considerable identity work in order to manage intimate personal relationships and wider friendships.

year: 2019

title: Ngā Wai E Rere Nei: The Physical and Symbolic Representations of Embodied Waters of Birth and Mourning

authors: Dixon, Ngahuia Mereana

subjects: Women water procreation tears

abstract: Recently, there has been considerable public debate and much consternation, especially amongst Māori, about the future New Zealand’s waterways. Māori have strongly held views, tikanga and cultural knowledge, about waterways and their deep connection to iwi (tribal/community) identity, history and sense of well-being. The waterways in public discussion are lakes, rivers, harbours and the ocean.  
This thesis examines deeper aspects of tikanga that relate to Māori concepts of waterways and oceans, but more specifically to the waterways of the human body which I refer to as embodied waters.  Māori cultural concepts of water and tikanga that is applied to water, is interconnected to the wider body of knowledge or mātauranga, in which water, is fundamental to concepts of human and environmental life and death. The thesis examines the tikanga, meaning knowledge, values and practices, regarding the embodied waters, related to human procreation and death. 
The research examines the rich Māori knowledge base, relating to concepts such as te whare tangata, waiū, te ūkaipō, roimata and hupe which still have symbolic and material significance in Māori beliefs, values and practices. The research drew upon kaupapa Māori research approaches, as a way to examine tikanga, from a contemporary Māori perspective. My research examined recorded oral traditions and literatures, including whakatauākī, whakapapa, waiata mōteatea, haka and pūrākau, alongside other research literature in the field. The research approach also included an auto-ethnographic component that has enabled me to connect my own observations and practices, with this literature, to demonstrate how tikanga in relation to this knowledge is applied. The research focuses on two main iwi contexts, Tauranga where I was born and raised, and Waikato, where I have lived since I married into the iwi.   
The thesis reveals the interconnected philosophies, cultural concepts, values and practices that are embedded in language, rituals, traditions, stories and symbols. I argue that these tikanga, give coherence and guidance, to contemporary practise especially in the context of cultural revitalization, where communities are seeking to restore certain tikanga. The thesis also finds that the tikanga relating to embodied waters, for human life and death, still give meaning to the people and communities, who continue to adhere to tikanga, those traditions providing a cultural framework for understanding their identity.

text: Ngā Wai E Rere Nei: The Physical and Symbolic Representations of Embodied Waters of Birth and Mourning Recently, there has been considerable public debate and much consternation, especially amongst Māori, about the future New Zealand’s waterways. Māori have strongly held views, tikanga and cultural knowledge, about waterways and their deep connection to iwi (tribal/community) identity, history and sense of well-being. The waterways in public discussion are lakes, rivers, harbours and the ocean.  
This thesis examines deeper aspects of tikanga that relate to Māori concepts of waterways and oceans, but more specifically to the waterways of the human body which I refer to as embodied waters.  Māori cultural concepts of water and tikanga that is applied to water, is interconnected to the wider body of knowledge or mātauranga, in which water, is fundamental to concepts of human and environmental life and death. The thesis examines the tikanga, meaning knowledge, values and practices, regarding the embodied waters, related to human procreation and death. 
The research examines the rich Māori knowledge base, relating to concepts such as te whare tangata, waiū, te ūkaipō, roimata and hupe which still have symbolic and material significance in Māori beliefs, values and practices. The research drew upon kaupapa Māori research approaches, as a way to examine tikanga, from a contemporary Māori perspective. My research examined recorded oral traditions and literatures, including whakatauākī, whakapapa, waiata mōteatea, haka and pūrākau, alongside other research literature in the field. The research approach also included an auto-ethnographic component that has enabled me to connect my own observations and practices, with this literature, to demonstrate how tikanga in relation to this knowledge is applied. The research focuses on two main iwi contexts, Tauranga where I was born and raised, and Waikato, where I have lived since I married into the iwi.   
The thesis reveals the interconnected philosophies, cultural concepts, values and practices that are embedded in language, rituals, traditions, stories and symbols. I argue that these tikanga, give coherence and guidance, to contemporary practise especially in the context of cultural revitalization, where communities are seeking to restore certain tikanga. The thesis also finds that the tikanga relating to embodied waters, for human life and death, still give meaning to the people and communities, who continue to adhere to tikanga, those traditions providing a cultural framework for understanding their identity.

year: 2013