The topic of this thesis was the use of work plans and oral presentations as teaching and learning tools in secondary schools. The main/overall research question was: In what way do student-centred teaching methods, such as work plans and oral presentations, affect lower secondary school students’ use of strategies and working methods? Both work plans and oral presentations are best suited to self-regulated students who are able to take responsibility for their learning, work on their assignments individually and manage their time appropriately. Although Norwegian secondary school students frequently work with work plans and oral presentations, little research has been conducted on these two teaching and learning tools.
This study investigated the strategies that high- and low-achieving students employ when they use work plans and whether there are gender differences in these strategies. It also investigated whether the use of work plans promoted self-regulated learning and in what ways social positioning and the use of verbal and non-verbal resources were reflected in boys’ and girls’ oral presentations.
The analyses drew on data from the PISA+ video study, which was conducted during 2005. The PISA+- video study consisted of video observations of six ninth-grade math, reading and science classrooms in Norway. One hundred and fifty two video recordings of classes, 77 student interviews and 18 teacher interviews were analysed.
The results showed that high-achieving girls and boys and low-achieving girls took greater responsibility for their learning than low-achieving boys. In terms of the oral presentations, the girls were better prepared, and they were less dependent on manuscripts. In general, the findings showed that the teachers gave the students little training in the use of different learning and self-regulation strategies and that the students received little cognitive and autonomy supportive feedback.
This thesis discusses the use of student-centered teaching methods (work plans and oral presentations) in secondary schools and provides proposals on how these can be used more appropriately.
The work was conducted at the University of Oslo, Department of Education.