Darrell Fisher

About Fisher : His work involves studying

• Teacher-student interpersonal behaviour

How teachers interact with students. Using the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction in investigating differences between boys' and girls' perceptions, differences between students from different cultural backgrounds, and the effects of teacher interpersonal behaviour on student outcomes.

• Classroom and school learning environments

The development and validation of questionnaires to assess students' or teachers' perceptions of classroom or school environments and the use of these questionnaires in investigating the effects of classroom environments on student outcomes.

• Curriculum evaluation of science innovations

Evaluation of the effectiveness of new curricula using either or both quantitative and qualitative methods.

His work: The Effectiveness of Cooperative Learning Integrated with Contructivist teaching on Improving Learning Environments in Thai Secondary School Science Classrooms

• First Phase: Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) is used to assess students' perception of the actual and prefered classroom environment through a constructivist perspective


• Second: The effectiveness of Cooperative Learning integrated with constructivist teaching in promoting improvement in Classroom Environment was evaluated through an Action Research process, involving the use of feedback on actual and preferred classroom environment

Sample:

7 secondary Science teachers and 17 classes of 606 students in Thailand.

Method:

Student Actual and Preferred Forms of the CLES,

• assessing personal relevance, uncertainty, critical voice, shared control and student negotiation were administered


• factor analysis and internal consistency measures supported both actual and preferred forms


• Student's attitude to Science was also measured


• A number of teachers participated in an attempt to improve their classroom environment through the use of cooperative learning integrated with the constructivist teaching approach

Conclusion:

Changes in classrooms did occur , supporting the effectiveness of CL integrated with the constructivist teaching in improving learning environments and students' attitudes towards science in Thailand.