The Thai government has strongly advocated for the learner-centered education for the past decade. Success For Life Thailand (SFLT), a brain-research-based early childhood education program blended with the theories of the developmentally appropriate practices and child-centered philosophies, has been implemented in Thailand for over 8 years. The purposes of the present study were to: (a) describe the current statuses of the Thai early childhood educators' learner-centered beliefs and practices, (b) identify if the SFLT training workshop affects teachers' learner-centered beliefs and practices, and (c) examine if other variables, along with familiarity with the SFLT program, predict teachers' learner-centered beliefs and practices. Ninety-three preschool and kindergarten teachers participated in the study. Among them, 17 were SFLT trainees in 1999 and 2000 (i.e., the previously trained group), 43 were trained in Year 2006 (the currently trained group), and the others were comparable to the currently trained group by matching the key personal and school variables. The Teachers Beliefs and Practices Survey: 3-5 Year Olds (Burts et al., 2000) and the Learner-Centered Education: the Assessment of Learner- Centered (ALCP) for K-3 (McCombs, 2001) were used to collect data on the various domains of the learner-centered beliefs and practices. Findings reveal that: (a) Thai …

The purpose of this study was to analyze the participation of females in the labor force in Thailand between 1960 and 1970. The demographic variables tested were age, sex, migration rates, employment, youth dependency ratio, and educational attainment. The findings of the study indicate that demographic trends are affecting economy, culture, and roles of women. Female participation rates in the economic sector increased, particularly in Bangkok. Although many Thai women still occupy traditional female roles, there are indications that sex roles are being modified as related to industrialization and urbanization.

The North Texan magazine includes articles and notes about UNT students, faculty, and alumni activities.

Freedom of the press in Thailand fluctuates greatly, depending upon the government in each period. Newspapers have been suppressed since the monarchy political system was changed to democracy in 1932. Several kinds of suppression were imposed in each period which showed that the country, in reality, was under a military dictatorship. This study is a summary of the government control of the press since 1932. The study was divided into five chapters, including the introduction, background of the press and politics in Thailand, style and characteristics of Thai newspapers, government control from 1932 to 1963, and the conclusions and recommendations for further study.

This research examines the efficacy, if any, of the Music and Visual Arts (MVA) program in improving the English vocabulary development of first grade Thai students. The researcher developed the Vocabulary Recognition Assessment (VRA) as a measure of English vocabulary development. It employs the accuracy and rapidity method of word recognition as a measurement of English language development in Thai children. Forty first grade Thai students in a Bangkok elementary school participated in the study. Participants were divided equally between an experimental group and a control group. During a nine-week period, students in the experimental group were instructed with the MVA strategy, while students in the control group were taught with the Visual Arts (VA) strategy. Paired sample t-test, ANOVA, and ANCOVA were used to analyze data from the VRA, to compare the pre-test and the post-test in terms of accuracy scores and rapidity scores of the control group and the experimental group. Data revealed that students instructed with the MVA strategy improved their English vocabulary development in terms of accuracy of word recognition significantly more than students taught English using the VA strategy. No significant difference was found between the MVA strategy and the VA strategy in terms of …

This study identified and analyzed factors which affect the participation of rural women in nonformal education programs. These factors were linked to the national program for rural women. Document analysis and unstructured interviews of policy personnel were used to describe national policies for educational programs for women, the status of women's participation in those programs, and issues that influence women's education. Participant observation and unstructured interviews were employed to obtain data in the field study of Baan Kha Klang village. Forty-two women in the village, 21 who had participated and 21 who had not participated in nonformal education programs within the past year, were randomly selected as subjects.

This study examined the need for, and interest in, preretirement preparation programs for educators (teachers and administrators) in Nakorn Nayok Province, Thailand. All educators were between 46 and 60 years of age and were working in elementary and secondary schools in Nakorn Nayok Province, Thailand. The sample consisted of 333 teachers and 101 administrators. Data were collected by questionnaire survey. Of the returned questionnaires, 81.33% were usable. The results were analyzed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Results of the study show that elementary and secondary school teachers and administrators in Nakorn Nayok Province, Thailand, would benefit from preretirement preparation programs, but that few programs exist for educators. With all things taken into consideration, individual Thai educators have to be responsible for their retirement preparation knowledge, because the Ministry of Education does not consider preretirement preparation programs important enough to require that they be provided for educators.

Atlas shows illustrations of nations throughout the world with brief descriptions.

The dengue virus has become widespread worldwide in recent decades. It has no specific treatment and affects more than 40% of the entire population in the world. In Thailand, dengue has been a health concern for more than half a century. The highest number of cases in one year was 174,285 in 1987, leading to 1,007 deaths. In the present day, dengue is distributed throughout the entire country. Therefore, dengue has become a major challenge for public health in terms of both prevention and control of outbreaks. Different methodologies and ways of dealing with dengue outbreaks have been put forward by researchers. Computational models and simulations play an important role, as they have the ability to help researchers and officers in public health gain a greater understanding of the virus's epidemic activities. In this context, this dissertation presents a new framework, Modified Agent-Based Modeling (mABM), a hybrid platform between a mathematical model and a computational model, to simulate a dengue outbreak in human and mosquito populations. This framework improves on the realism of former models by utilizing the reported data from several Thai government organizations, such as the Thai Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), the National Statistical Office, and others. …

Agriculture is usually the largest economic sector in developing countries. Typically, most of the countries' population is employed in this sector. The economic growth is dependent upon productivity in agricultural production and its export potential. Increased production and exports from this sector result in foreign exchange earning by which to promote development of the other sectors. Given the importance of agricultural development, this thesis attempts to study the impact of the agricultural sector on Thai economy and to examine some problems concerned with cultivation, production and marketing. The study also concentrates on the development of social overhead capital (i.e., transportation and irrigation systems), which play an important role in stimulating the growth of Thai agriculture. Finally, there are some conclusions and recommendations which may be useful to the government and its agencies concerned with the development of agriculture.

Magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme discussing worldwide environmental policies and other concerns. This issue is devoted to environmental problems and solutions specific to urban environments.

The primary purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of the rural teachers preparation program in specific curriculum components, field experience and training, and preparation. A secondary purpose is to determine the need for these components and a limited evaluation of other delivery systems for rural teaching in eight nonmetropolitan teachers colleges in Northeast Thailand. The questionnaire of the Rural Education Association (REA) developed by Barbara Jean Jones was employed to collect data from a random sampling of 352 teachers college instructors and administrators and randomly selected 352 elementary school teachers and administrators. Analysis of data from 508 respondents, were analyzed by using the descriptive statistic and t-test, revealed that: (a) the REA model components were available and are essential for teachers preparation program at Thai teachers colleges in the Northeast, (b) public relations and educational technology including computer literacy components should be developed to meet the public need, (c) teachers college faculty members should receive special training for preparing students to teach in a rural environment, (d) teachers colleges should provide a teacher training site in the provinces, (e) teaching in a rural and an urban environment are significantly different, and (f) there is a need for …

This study was designed to develop a provincial science museum model for expanding science museums to the provinces in Thailand.

This study investigated the current status of Thai teacher institutions in regard to environmental problems and proposed an environmental curriculum system for teacher training in Thailand. An interview questionnaire was designed to gather descriptive data about selected Thai teacher institutions, teaching strategies utilized in environmental-related courses, and the employment of ten selected environmental-related problems in three aspects: (1) courses offered at Thai teacher institutions, (2) environmental research conducted by faculty members of Thai teacher institutions, and (3) environmental services provided to the public by faculty members of Thai teacher institutions. Of the seventeen Thai traditional teacher institutions considered, representatives from fifteen (88 percent) were interviewed.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between Western and Thai music objectives in the undergraduate music programs of selected Thai universities and colleges. The data were collected from two sources: (1) an investigation of university music catalogs and syllabi for potential conflict areas in Western and Thai music objectives, and (2) questionnaire responses from university music teachers regarding their opinions about those potential conflict areas found from reviewing catalogs and syllabi. The dissertation is organized into six chapters: the introduction in Chapter I; the synthesis of related literature and background information regarding music study in higher education in Thailand in Chapter II; the design of the study in Chapter III; the comparisons of required music programs of six Thai universities in Chapter IV; the analysis of questionnaire data in Chapter V; and the summary, conclusions, discussions, and recommendations in Chapter VI. It was found that Western and Thai music objectives tended to be seen as supporting each other in the areas of music theory, orchestration, form and analysis, music history, counterpoint, composition, and the practice of pitched and unpitched musical instruments. Sight reading practices in Western music were found to support the rote method utilized in …

This extremely valuable collection of texts in the Lahu language represents the language and culture in the 1960’s, a time when the heritage language and culture were still vibrant and not yet globalized, hence the title Window on a Vanished World. It is also one of the largest collections of texts in any Tibeto-Burman language. The texts are available as a book and online with the audio (originally from 1960’s magnetic tape). This is a massive achievement for all involved in the recording, conversion, and editing.

Interview with Wade Webb, U.S. Army veteran (2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, Texas National Guard) and a member of the "Lost Battalion," concerning his experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II. Webb discusses the fall of Java and his capture, Bicycle Camp in Batavia (1942), Changi Prison Camp in Singapore (1942), building the Burma-Thailand Death Railway (1942-1944), Kanchanaburi, Thailand (1944-1945), and his liberation. The Appendix includes a photocopy of a photograph of Wade Webb and other prisoner-of-war survivors in Calcutta, India shortly after their release [1 p.] and an addendum to Mr. Webb's oral history interview [1 p.].

This study is an investigation of the importance of present and preferred institutional goals as perceived by the faculties and administrators of two open university systems in Bangkok, Thailand. The purposes of the study are twofold. The first is to identify and analyze the similarities and differences of present and preferred goal priorities. The second is to determine differences and similarities for five institutional goal areas between the two systems and by administrator and faculty groups.

This study was designed to determine (a) the most important knowledge and skills for functional literacy teachers; (b) the most important competencies to be covered in in-service training; (c) whether there were any differences between the perceptions of functional literacy teachers, supervisors, and administrators in terms of needed competencies or areas of training; and (d) whether there were any differences in the perceptions of teachers, supervisors and administrators regarding the need for competencies and for training of functional literacy teachers based upon these variables: age, years of experience in formal and nonformal education, and training in the functional literacy program. It was found that teachers, supervisors, and administrators agreed that most competencies listed in the instrument were important. No significant difference was found in their perceptions of the importance of the competencies. A significant difference was found in the perceptions of the needs for training among these three groups.