“It is through others that we become ourselves.” A study of Vygotskian play in Russian and Irish schools.

50 years after publishing his seminal work on play and its role in child development, Vygotskian theory is still highly influential in education, and particularly in early years. This paper presents two examples of full integration of Vygotskian principles into schools in two very different settings. Both report improvements in learning and in well-being, and exemplify the theory-practice-theory cycle, highlighting the development of new theoretical constructs arising out of putting theory firmly into practice. In both settings, the positive results have come from years of effort, in which school personnel who may have been skeptical at first, have been inspired by the impact of adopting Vygotskian play on the children they teach. The Northern Ireland study shows that at least some of the Golden Key principles (mixed-age play and enhanced home-school links) translate perfectly into very different cultural-historical contexts.

HRM and Innovation: A Multi-level Organizational Learning Perspective

Drawing on the 4I organizational learning framework (Crossan et al., 1999), this article develops a model to explain the multi-level and cross-level relationships between HRM practices and innovation. Individual, team, and organizational level learning stocks are theorized to explain how HRM practices affect innovation at a given level. Feed-forward and feedback learning flows explain how cross-level effects of HRM practices on innovation take place. In addition, we propose that HRM practices fostering individual, team, and organizational level learning should form a coherent system to facilitate the emergence of innovation. The article is concluded with discussions on its contributions and potential future research directions.

The impact of childhood residential mobility on mental health outcomes in adolescence and early adulthood: a record linkage study.

Background Understanding the causes of poor mental health in early childhood and adolescence is important as this can be a significant determinant of mental well-being in later years. One potential and relatively unexplored factor is residential mobility in formative years. Previous studies have been relatively small and potentially limited due to methodological issues. The main aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between early residential instability and poor mental health among adolescents and young adults in Northern Ireland.

Methods A Census-based record linkage study of 28% of children aged 0–8 years in 2001 in Northern Ireland (n=49 762) was conducted, with six monthly address change assessments from health registration data and self-reported mental health status from the 2011 Census. Logistic regression models were built adjusting for socioeconomic status (SES), household composition and marital dissolution.

Results There was a graded relationship between the number of address changes and mental ill-health (adjusted OR 3.67, 95% CIs 2.11 to 6.39 for 5 or more moves). This relationship was not modified by SES or household composition. Marital dissolution was associated with poor mental health but did not modify the relationship between address change and mental health (p=0.206). There was some indication that movement after the age of five was associated with an increased likelihood of poor mental health.

Conclusions This large study clearly confirms the close relationship between address change in early years and later poor mental health. Residential mobility may be a useful marker for children at risk of poorer mental health in adolescence and early adulthood

Early History of the Iowa State Highway Commission

A narrative of the early years of the Iowa State Highway Commission from its founding in 1904 to 1921.

Creative Reflection in Action

This (Students as Academic Partners) project aimed to explore the potential of a creative approach to reflection. Developing approaches to reflective practice is directly relevant for teachers and those who are training to become teachers. Individual reflections were produced by project participants based on several very short video clips of children in a nursery school. These individual reflections were extended into a collaborative reflection highlighting common themes. This broader focus seeks to contribute to an encompassing discourse related to early years practice. The poster aims to show how critical reflection and speculation can develop an understanding of the child, their development and potential barriers to this development. Through observing stills from the video footage, viewers of the poster are challenged to speculate about the child’s body language, what they might be doing or whether the learning environment is suitable to develop and progress their knowledge and understanding further?

Primitivism, Regionalism, and the Vernacular in Le Corbusier's middle years, 1929-1945

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Representações sociais sobre educação ambiental e objetivações em práticas pedagógicas no ensino fundamental

This work presents results, reflections, conclusions and considerations about the research entitled "Social representations of environmental education and objectivations in teaching practices in elementary school ". She intended to make known research whose objectives were to know the current environmental education framework (EA) developed by the teachers of the early years of elementary school of that city; identify their social representations about EA and the ways in which these representations are objectified in their teaching practices. Thus, the methodology is characterized by the qualitative approach; whose data collection instruments were the Free Evocation Questionnaire (QEV), the semi-structured interviews and documentary research. The QEV consists of free recall questions and essay questions, whose data is quantitative and qualitative. Data from this instrument were analyzed according to the procedures of the Structural Approach to Theory of Social Representations. In turn, the analysis of data obtained through the interview and reading the documents followed the guidelines of the Content Analysis method. The theoretical and methodological basis of this research was the Theory of Social Representations and critical approach to environmental education. Thus, the results obtained in the investigation allowed us to identify the social representations of EA of participants; confirm that such representations are being targeted in their pedagogical practices that are characterized as conservative. Also confirm that the teaching documents of the surveyed network are in line with the official documents on EA; the AE actions developed in the network are referenced in the teaching documents of the network and in the official documents of EA and the EA practices of survey participants teachers relate directly with their social representations on Environmental Education.

Observatório nacional da educação: concepções dos professores dos anos iniciais sobre a não aprendizagem

O presente trabalho tem por justificativa compreender como os professores percebem a não aprendizagem, esse entendimento faz-se necessário entender para poder lidar com essa temática, cada vez mais latente nas escolas. Os objetivos do estudo são: compreender qual o pressuposto epistemológico que predomina na prática docente dos professores de anos iniciais; interpretar como se consolidam os processos de diagnóstico e seus encaminhamentos; e investigar quais as estratégias elaboradas pela escola para trabalhar com alunos diagnosticados com dificuldades de aprendizagem (DA) em sala de aula. A pesquisa possui caráter qualitativo, sendo utilizado como método de coleta de dados o grupo focal e como método de análise dos dados o Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo (DSC). O contexto do estudo é uma amostra representativa das escolas públicas da rede municipal de ensino regular do Ensino Fundamental da zona urbana da cidade do Rio Grande, RS. Os professores indicaram, em suas falas, indícios de uma concepção empirista, apontando vestígios a respeito da transmissão de conhecimento, bem como indicações de uma concepção construtivista. De modo geral, os professores destacaram ao longo da interação a importância da família inserida no contexto escolar e no que acontece na sala de aula com as crianças. Enfatizaram também que ao longo de sua formação não tiveram conhecimentos que poderiam servir de base para auxiliar em sua prática. Ao identificarem crianças com DA em sua sala de aula, os professores relataram que os encaminham para um atendimento especifico na escola, a sala de recursos. Desse modo, analisar as concepções dos professores e fazê-los problematizar sobre sua prática pode ser uma estratégia para encarar e diminuir o processo de não aprendizagem.

Humor in mathematics teaching

HUMOR: OUR VIEW FOR MATHEMATICS TEACHING Our assumptions and context. Process humor and be able to produce is clearly a sign of intelligence, revealing, when done well, complex reasoning. Humor has an important social role, assuming as a cognitive experience that as well as creating a sense of well-being, predisposes people to work and can improve the productivity of that work. Mathematics is a discipline in which the reasoning occupies a very prominent place, both as a science as a school area. At the same time, students' interest for mathematics is not always the same and some have initially not very favorable feelings (Toh, 2009; Wanzer, Frymier & Irwin, 2010). Recent curriculum changes to the teaching of mathematics have been, in most countries of the world, showing the need for students to develop skills of critical nature, such as communication, thinking and problem solving along with the acquisition of mathematical knowledge. Also in Portugal, it is claimed the importance of promoting learning that combine the construction of mathematical knowledge with its use, when performing mathematical tasks and communicating mathematical ideas and mathematical reasoning. In the early years of schooling, corresponding to primary education in many countries, the use of texts such as short stories or comics, from which we can develop challenging mathematical tasks, is reported in the literature as having potential to promote learning specified in curricular documents (Wanzer, Frymier., & Irwin, 2010). In particular, some texts focus on mathematical topics in a humorous way and to be understood, students must develop their mathematical competence. The development of mathematical tasks from stories and other humorous presents big challenges to teachers (Flores & Moreno, 2011). Our questions. In this context, we put some questions: Primary teachers use in their classes tasks or situations that present, in a humorous way, mathematical ideas? What resources do they use? Also: How to select, adapt or build texts and tasks which have, in a humorous way, mathematical ideas with didactic potential for education in the early years of schooling? If the resources for this purpose have been produced and if teachers have been sensitized for their use, are they able to integrate them in their classes? Our intentions. This research project seeks to address these questions, focused on: (i ) assessment of teachers’ practices and underlying knowledge, resources available for the use of texts with mathematical ideas presented in a humorous way; (ii) selection, adaptation and construction of mathematical tasks from texts that present, in a humorous way, mathematical ideas with didactic potential in education for the early years of schooling; and ( iii ) integration and use, by primary school teachers, of texts that present , in a humorous way, contexts for the teaching of mathematics. So, the project is organized into three tasks and as a methodological design that combines qualitative elements with quantitative elements, the first one prevailing.

As concepções e práticas avaliativas em matemática de um grupo de professores do 5º ano do ensino fundamental e suas relações com a prova Brasil

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Educação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, 2015.

Prática de ensino supervisionada em educação pré-escolar: desenvolver a orientação espacial

Elaborado no âmbito da Prática de Ensino Supervisionada do Mestrado em Educação pré-escolar, o presente relatório pretende dar a conhecer os aspetos inerentes à prática desenvolvida no ano letivo de 2014/2015 na instituição CoopBerço de Évora, diretamente relacionados com a dimensão investigativa dessa prática. Esta investigação foi realizada tendo em conta as necessidades e os interesses das crianças, conciliados com um foco no desenvolvimento da orientação espacial. A presente investigação teve como objetivos desenvolver a minha competência de preparar e conduzir situações que promovam o desenvolvimento da orientação espacial das crianças, nomeadamente nos espaços do Jardim-de-infância; desenvolver a minha competência de identificar situações reais adequadas para explorar a orientação espacial com as crianças; identificar situações a explorar para aproveitar a curiosidade e interesses das crianças; e refletir sobre as observações realizadas com base nos desempenhos das crianças e identificar como melhorar a prática. Estes objetivos foram definidos com a finalidade de tornar possível promover o desenvolvimento da orientação espacial das crianças no contexto de creche e jardim-de-infância, o que se torna fundamental desde os primeiros anos. A investigação apoiou-se na recolha e análise de dados relativos ao trabalho realizado no âmbito da orientação espacial, trabalho realizado com fundamentação teórica. Em ambos os contextos, foi desenvolvida uma sequência de tarefas promotoras de aspetos fundamentais da orientação espacial, como tomar um ponto de vista, conseguir localizar e ler e interpretar mapas. Este estudo permite concluir que a orientação espacial pode começar a ser desenvolvida nas primeiras idades, sendo crucial a organização do espaço que rodeia as crianças, assim como o proporcionar-lhes momentos de exploração, discussão em grupo e investigação para que possam consolidar noções espaciais que já dominam e fazerm novas aquisições. O educador tem um papel crucial na ampliação da capacidade de orientação espacial das crianças, sendo importante promover situações diversas que recorram à posição no espaço das crianças, localização, à tomada de um ponto de vista e à leitura de mapas; cSupervised Teaching Practice in Pre-School Education: Developing Spatial Orientation Abstract: This report focus on the supervised teaching practice of the Master on Preschool Education and intends to describe the investigative dimension of the practises developed in the academic year of 2014/2015 in the CoopBerço de Évora. This research was conducted taking into account the needs and interests of the children in what concerns the development of their spatial orientation. This research aimed to develop my competence of preparing and conducting situations that promote the development of spatial orientation of the children; to develop my competence of identifying suitable real situations to explore the spatial orientation with the children; to identify situations that take advantage of the curiosity and interests of children; and to reflect on the children's performance and, at last, to identify how to improve my practice as educator. These objectives were defined in order to make possible to promote the development of spatial orientation of children in the context of nursery school and kindergarten, considering that these development is fundamental since the early years of childwood. The research is based on the collection and analysis of data relating to the work concerning the development of spatial orientation. The work with the children was intentionally prepared with the elaboration of a sequence of tasks devoted to promote the development of fundamental aspects of spatial orientation, such as taking a point of view, being able to locate and reading and interpreting maps. This study shows that the spatial orientation can start to be developed at early ages. The organization of the space surrounding the children is crucial as well is to provide children with moments of exploration, group discussion and investigation so they can use and exploit the spatial notions that already know. The teacher plays a crucial role in expanding the spatial orientation ability of the children. It is important to prepare and conduct diverse situations making use of the position in the space, location, making a point of view and map reading.

Os inéditos-viáveis na e da formação continuada de professores que ensinam matemática nos anos iniciais da educação de jovens e adultos

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Educação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, 2016.

Early hearing loss and language abilities in children with Down syndrome

BACKGROUND: Although many children with Down syndrome experience hearing loss, there has been little research to investigate its impact on speech and language development. Studies that have investigated the association give inconsistent results. These have often been based on samples where children with the most severe hearing impairments have been excluded and so results do not generalize to the wider population with Down syndrome. Also, measuring children's hearing at the time of a language assessment does not take into account the fluctuating nature of hearing loss in children with Down syndrome or possible effects of losses in their early years. AIMS: To investigate the impact of early hearing loss on language outcomes for children with Down syndrome. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Retrospective audiology clinic records and parent report for 41 children were used to categorize them as either having had hearing difficulties from 2 to 4 years or more normal hearing. Differences between the groups on measures of language expression and comprehension, receptive vocabulary, a narrative task and speech accuracy were investigated. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: After accounting for the contributions of chronological age and nonverbal mental age to children's scores, there were significant differences between the groups on all measures. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Early hearing loss has a significant impact on the speech and language development of children with Down syndrome. Results suggest that speech and language therapy should be provided when children are found to have ongoing hearing difficulties and that joint audiology and speech and language therapy clinics could be considered for preschool children.

La posición socio económica en el campo de la actividad física y su relación con la imagen corporal: Aproximación desde el enfoque determinantes/ determinación social de la salud

El presente trabajo analiza la definición de la categoría posición socioeconómica (PSE) y las variables con las cuales se representa en los productos académicos del campo de la actividad física, además de su relación con la categoría de imagen corporal. Para lograr el objetivo, se rastrean elementos que permiten dar cuenta si los documentos de investigación se abordan desde alguno de los dos contextos: determinantes (DDSS) o determinación social de la salud (DSS). Se inicia con un rastreo global por medio de los motores de búsqueda, las bases de datos y los repositorios institucionales. Posteriormente se parametriza la ruta, desde las categorías imagen corporal (IC) y PSE. Las investigaciones pretenden dar cuenta de la evaluación a 15 años del programa "Salud para Todos" de la ONU de 2001, en el marco de los Objetivos Del Milenio. Se revisaron resúmenes de los productos, descartando aquellos donde la categoría PSE o sus descriptores asociados tuvieran un papel secundario. Se limitó a Latinoamérica y España por su tradición histórica colonizadora; con el ánimo de conocer la postura de esta comunidad frente al proceso globalizado de la salud en el mundo. Al grupo final se le aplican criterios parametrizados a partir de la revisión teórica, para responder los interrogantes basados en las implicaciones que tiene la PSE en el pensamiento actual de la producción científica en el campo de la actividad física; y cómo las otras categorías de análisis se ven o no manifiestas. El índice de calidad científica CASPe, determina la pertinencia de los textos. En el aspecto teórico, se encuentra que la categoría PSE, a pesar de ser muy utilizada, tiene una conceptualización difusa. Por tal motivo, se propone una definición de PSE sustentada en el pensamiento sociológico. En el aspecto empírico, al rastrear las variables con que se reemplaza la PSE en las investigaciones, se encuentran grandes diferencias y el uso de múltiples y disímiles subcategorías.