Spreading my wings : how can I improve my practice and contribute to the professional knowledge base through narrative-autobiographical self-study?

"How can I improve my practice and contribute to the professional knowledge base through narrative-autobiographical self-study?" Through the use of Whitehead's (1989) living educational theory and examination of my stories, I identify the values and critical events that have helped me come to know my own learning and shape my professional self. Building on the premise that educational knowledge/theory is created, recreated, and lived through educational inquiry; I strive to make meaning of this data archive, collected over 7 years of teaching. I chart my journey to reexamine my beliefs and practices, to find a balance between traditional and progressive practices and to align my theory and practice. I retell, and, thus, in some way relive, my own "living contradictions." A reconceptualization of the KNOW, DO, BE model (Drake & Burns, 2004) is used to develop strategies to align my practice, including a six-step model of curriculum design that combines the backwards design process of Wiggins and McTighe (1998), the KNOW, DO, BE model (Drake & Burns) and Curry and Samara's (1995) differentiation planner.

The Transfer of Wilderness Trips to the Everyday Lives of Young People: A Case Study

There has been considerable research that investigates the outcomes, benefits, and perceptions of wilderness trip experiences. However, the transfer of learning from a wilderness trip to the everyday lives of youth trip participants, that has deliberately explored post-trip experience, is minimal. Using a qualitative multi-case study approach, methods of data collection included interviews with six youth program participants, six parents/legal guardians, and three program staff, as well as document solicitation. Reports from the participants suggested that the key content transferred to a post-wilderness trip context were interpersonal skills; life skills; and instances of personal growth. Participants applied their learning content from the wilderness trip to school; sports; community and international volunteering; work and career aspirations; family and home life; and social life contexts. Implications for adventure programming and curriculum design, instruction, and transfer are considered.

A tool for mapping research skills in undergraduate curricula

There has been considerable interest recently in the teaching of skills to undergraduate students. However, existing methods for collating data on how much, where and when students are taught and assessed skills have often been shown to be time-consuming and ineffective. Here, we outline an electronic research skills audit tool that has been developed to map both transferable and discipline-specific skills teaching and assessment within individual modules, the results of which can be collated and analysed across entire degree programmes. The design and use of the audit tool is described in detail and a bioscience case study is presented to illustrate the types of data that can be collected. The audit tool has been designed as a time-effective way of collecting information on skills teaching and assessment, but also actively encourages staff to reflect on their teaching and learning practices. Conclusions are drawn about the practicalities of using the audit tool and its importance in both curriculum design and as a resource to encourage dialogue with graduate employers.

On the nature of "context" in chemical education

Some of the most pressing problems currently facing chemical education throughout the world are rehearsed. It is suggested that if the notion of "context" is to be used as the basis for an address to these problems, it must enable a number of challenges to be met. Four generic models of "context" are identified that are currently used or that may be used in some form within chemical education as the basis for curriculum design. It is suggested that a model based on physical settings, together with their cultural justifications, and taught with a socio-cultural perspective on learning, is likely to meet those challenges most fully. A number of reasons why the relative efficacies of these four models of approaches cannot be evaluated from the existing research literature are suggested. Finally, an established model for the representation of the development of curricula is used to discuss the development and evaluation of context-based chemical curricula.

Learners’ perceptions of being identified as very able: insights from Modern Foreign Languages and Physical Education

While learners’ attitudes to Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and to Physical Education (PE) in the UK have been widely investigated in previous research, an under-explored area is learners’ feelings about being highly able in these subjects. The present study explored this issue, among 78 learners (aged 12-13) from two schools in England, a Specialist Language College, and a Specialist Sports College. Learners completed a questionnaire exploring their feelings about the prospect of being identified as gifted/talented in these subjects, and their perceptions of the characteristics of highly able learners in MFL and PE. Questionnaires were chosen as the data collection method to encourage more open responses from these young learners than might have been elicited in an interview. While learners were enthusiastic about the idea of being highly able in both subjects, this enthusiasm was more muted for MFL. School specialism was related to learners’ enthusiasm only in the Sports College. Learners expressed fairly stereotypical views of the characteristics of the highly able in MFL and PE. The relevance of these findings for motivation and curriculum design within both subjects is discussed.

Writing in French in secondary schools in England and Germany: are the British really 'bad language learners’?

It is widely assumed that the British are poorer modern foreign language (MFL) learners than their fellow Europeans. Motivation has often been seen as the main cause of this perceived disparity in language learning success. However, there have also been suggestions that curricular and pedagogical factors may play a part. This article reports a research project investigating how German and English 14- to 16-year-old learners of French as a first foreign language compare to one another in their vocabulary knowledge and in the lexical diversity, accuracy and syntactic complexity of their writing. Students from comparable schools in Germany and England were set two writing tasks which were marked by three French native speakers using standardised criteria aligned to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEF). Receptive vocabulary size and lexical diversity were established by the X_lex test and a verb types measure respectively. Syntactic complexity and formal accuracy were respectively assessed using the mean length of T-units (MLTU) and words/error metrics. Students' and teachers' questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to provide information and participants' views on classroom practices, while typical textbooks and feedback samples were analysed to establish differences in materials-related input and feedback in the two countries. The German groups were found to be superior in vocabulary size, and in the accuracy, lexical diversity and overall quality – but not the syntactic complexity – of their writing. The differences in performance outcomes are analysed and discussed with regard to variables related to the educational contexts (e.g. curriculum design and methodology).

Secondary school teachers' perspectives on teaching about topics that bridge science and religion

The question of where to locate teaching about the relationships between science and religion has produced a long-running debate. Currently, Science and Religious Education (RE) are statutory subjects in England and are taught in secondary schools by different teachers. This paper reports on an interview study in which 16 teachers gave their perceptions of their roles and responsibilities when teaching topics that bridge science and religion and the extent to which they collaborated with teachers in the other subject area. We found that in this sample, teachers reported very little collaboration between the curriculum areas. Although the science curriculum makes no mention of religion, all the science teachers said that their approaches to such topics were affected by their recognition that some pupils hold religious beliefs. All the RE teachers reported struggling to ensure students know of a range of views about how science and religion relate. The paper concludes with a discussion about implications for curriculum design and teacher training.

Internationalizing the MFA in Creative Writing

is article explores the prospects for internationalizing the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing, a degree that has gained considerable popularity in the United States in the past half century but has yet to gain much of a foothold in other countries. As part of this exploration, we describe the experiences of estab- lishing the first low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in Asia at City University of Hong Kong, explaining the justification for setting up such a program with reference to the history of teaching creative writing and the current conditions for literary writing in English in Asia and globally. We also reflect upon the processes of planning, curriculum design, and administrative negotiation and that went into setting up the program and report on feedback from the first cohort of students. e experience of setting up this program is used as the basis for raising a number of more general issues regarding the teaching of creative writing in English in interna- tional contexts.

An Educational international partnership responding to local needs: Process evaluation of the Brazil FAIMER Regional Institute

The Brazilian public health system requires competent professionals sensitive to the needs of the population. The Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) provides a two-year faculty development programme for health professions educators, aiming to build leadership in education to improve health. A partnership with governmental initiatives and FAIMER was established for meeting these needs. This paper describes the initial process evaluation results of the Brazilian FAIMER Institute Fellowship (FAIMER BR). Methods: Data were analysed for the classes 2007-2010 regarding: application processes; innovation project themes; retrospective post-pre self-ratings of knowledge acquisition; and professional development portfolios. Results: Seventeen of 26 Brazilian states were represented among 98 Fellows, predominantly from public medical schools (75.5%) and schools awarded Ministry of Health grants to align education with public health services (89.8%). One-third (n = 32) of Fellows' innovation projects were related to these grants. Significant increases occurred in all topic subscales on self-report of knowledge acquisition (eff ect sizes, 1.21-2.77). In the follow up questionnaire, 63% of Fellows reported that their projects were incorporated into the curriculum or institutional policies. The majority reported that the programme deepened their knowledge (98%), provided new ideas about medical education (90%) and provided skills for conflict management (63%). One-half of the Fellows reported sustained benefits from the programme listserv and other communications, including breadth of expertise, establishment of research collaboration and receiving emotional support. Conclusion: Contributors to initial programme success included alignment of curriculum with governmental initiatives, curriculum design merging educational technology, leadership and management skills and central role of an innovation educational project responding to local needs.

Formação inicial de professores: uma análise da experiência do Campus da UFPA de Breves/Marajó

A presente Dissertação intitulada, „”Formação inicial de professores: uma análise da experiência do Campus da UFPA de Breves/Marajó” tem como finalidade investigar a política de formação de professores, tendo como questão de pesquisa: A formação inicial de professores do curso de Pedagogia da Universidade Federal do Pará, a partir da Interiorização em específico do Campus de Breves/Marajó estabelece uma conexão com a realidade dos sujeitos em formação, com vistas a sua atuação de forma crítica no exercício da docência? Partimos da perspectiva de que a análise sobre a formação de professores pressupõe considerarmos a conjuntura e estrutura social vigente. Assim sendo, fundamentou-se nas bases teórico-metodológicas do materialismo histórico dialético para relacionar o singular com a totalidade social, buscando compreender o objeto de pesquisa em questão, em suas determinações históricas contraditórias. A pesquisa se caracteriza como um estudo de caso tendo como lócus de investigação a Universidade Federal do Pará, Campus de Breves/Marajó. Para realização da pesquisa foi utilizado documentos que constituem a base legal que orientam as determinações para formação do professor da educação básica em nível superior. Também, para a apreensão da totalidade, utilizaram-se documentos elaborados pelo Grupo de Trabalho de Formação de Professores da ANPED, além de pesquisas produzidas no âmbito deste GT, bem como documentos institucionais da UFPA, como o Documento do Programa REUNI, Relatórios da Unidade pesquisada, entre os anos de 2009 a 2012 e o Projeto Curricular do Curso de Pedagogia. Com objetivo de analisar se a formação recebida estabelece uma conexão com a realidade dos sujeitos em formação, com vistas a sua atuação de forma crítica no exercício da docência, realizou-se entrevistas com egressos do curso de Pedagogia dos anos de 1995 a 2006. De forma não conclusiva, considera-se que a Formação Inicial de Professores a partir da Interiorização da UFPA foi ofertada sob condições precarizadas, provocada pelo falta de recursos para materialização das ações. Mesmo tendo sido redimensionada pelo Programa REUNI, a Formação Inicial de Professores da Interiorização apresenta dificuldades para ofertar um ensino de qualidade com vista à atuação crítica do egresso no campo de atuação do trabalho docente.

Ensino de Sociologia e as Contribuições de Leontiev e Galperin para Elaboração de Material Didático-pedagógico

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Reflexões e observações sobre as novas diretrizes curriculares e a sua influência na formação inicial do professor na universidade

With reference to curricular changes proposed by the CNE Resolution 1 /2002 and CNE 2/2002 on Teacher Education in Basic Education teaching degree - this study aims to analyze the new professional profile proposed in curriculum pedagogy , Physical Education , Science Biology , Mathematics , Physics and Geography . Within the curriculum guidelines was observed in a more normative articulated curriculum, focused on action-reflection- action. A guided design in practical rationality and the skills set without breaking the commitment of the public university with emancipation and quality education . Although there is this understanding we must also attend to the care that must be given to the new guidelines , based on the same reveal great concern with vocational training , with its instrumentation , with the pragmatic and utilitarian dimension of the training process . It is noteworthy that throughout the twentieth century in Brazil , where he fought for educational policies that were to solidify the construction of teacher identity , but the gains have largely remained restricted to the issue of educational reforms and a roster of disciplines , called pedagogical varnish . Therefore, this work is to deepen this thematic perspective , studying the identity of the teacher in the new curriculum design presented by undergraduate courses . Therefore , the central objective seeks to understand how the identity of teacher ( professional profile ) was presented in the proposals for teacher training , as well as the different elements that make up this identity process . Specifically if you want to ( a) identify the proposals of courses for Teachers of Primary Education , UNESP / RC - Institute of Biosciences and Geosciences and Exact Sciences - Biological Sciences , Physical Education , Physics , Geography , Mathematics and Pedagogy - the proposed profile and ( b ) analyze the fundamental knowledge that this professional listing the elements...

Mercadorização da educação: elementos que circunscrevem a formação inicial de professores

Pós-graduação em Educação - FFC

Currículo, Infância e Educação Corporal: Fundamentos na perspectiva histórico-cultural e orientações no campo da interdisciplinaridade

Pós-graduação em Docência para a Educação Básica - FC

Currículo, Infância e Educação Corporal: Fundamentos na perspectiva histórico-cultural e orientações no campo da interdisciplinaridade

Pós-graduação em Docência para a Educação Básica - FC