The potential of symbolic approximation. Disentangling the effects of approximation vs. calculation demands in nonsymbolic and symbolic representations.

Mathematical skills that we acquire during formal education mostly entail exact numerical processing. Besides this specifically human faculty, an additional system exists to represent and manipulate quantities in an approximate manner. We share this innate approximate number system (ANS) with other nonhuman animals and are able to use it to process large numerosities long before we can master the formal algorithms taught in school. Dehaene´s (1992) Triple Code Model (TCM) states that also after the onset of formal education, approximate processing is carried out in this analogue magnitude code no matter if the original problem was presented nonsymbolically or symbolically. Despite the wide acceptance of the model, most research only uses nonsymbolic tasks to assess ANS acuity. Due to this silent assumption that genuine approximation can only be tested with nonsymbolic presentations, up to now important implications in research domains of high practical relevance remain unclear, and existing potential is not fully exploited. For instance, it has been found that nonsymbolic approximation can predict math achievement one year later (Gilmore, McCarthy, & Spelke, 2010), that it is robust against the detrimental influence of learners´ socioeconomic status (SES), and that it is suited to foster performance in exact arithmetic in the short-term (Hyde, Khanum, & Spelke, 2014). We provided evidence that symbolic approximation might be equally and in some cases even better suited to generate predictions and foster more formal math skills independently of SES. In two longitudinal studies, we realized exact and approximate arithmetic tasks in both a nonsymbolic and a symbolic format. With first graders, we demonstrated that performance in symbolic approximation at the beginning of term was the only measure consistently not varying according to children´s SES, and among both approximate tasks it was the better predictor for math achievement at the end of first grade. In part, the strong connection seems to come about from mediation through ordinal skills. In two further experiments, we tested the suitability of both approximation formats to induce an arithmetic principle in elementary school children. We found that symbolic approximation was equally effective in making children exploit the additive law of commutativity in a subsequent formal task as a direct instruction. Nonsymbolic approximation on the other hand had no beneficial effect. The positive influence of the symbolic approximate induction was strongest in children just starting school and decreased with age. However, even third graders still profited from the induction. The results show that also symbolic problems can be processed as genuine approximation, but that beyond that they have their own specific value with regard to didactic-educational concerns. Our findings furthermore demonstrate that the two often con-founded factors ꞌformatꞌ and ꞌdemanded accuracyꞌ cannot be disentangled easily in first graders numerical understanding, but that children´s SES also influences existing interrelations between the different abilities tested here.

Niveles de actividad física de niños y adolescentes durante las clases de educación física en tres colegios oficiales de Bogotá

La clase de educación física es un espacio en el cual los niños y adolescentes pueden incrementar los niveles de actividad física y alcanzar las recomendaciones emitidas por la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), sin embargo, existe poca evidencia científica a nivel nacional sobre las actividades físicas que realizan los estudiantes dentro del ámbito escolar, específicamente dentro de las clases de educación física y sus relaciones con el contexto; es por esto que el objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar los niveles de actividad física de niños y adolescentes durante las clases de educación física en tres colegios oficiales de Bogotá, Colombia, por medio de la herramienta SOFIT. Estudio de diseño descriptivo y transversal realizado entre octubre de 2014 y mayo de 2015. Las observaciones se llevaron a cabo en tres colegios oficiales de la ciudad de Bogotá ubicados en las localidades de Tunjuelito y Ciudad Bolívar que aceptaron su participación en la investigación. Se obtuvo la aprobación para participar de 1361 estudiantes (682 niñas y 679 niños) de 5 a 17 años de los cuales 180 estudiantes (93 niños y 87 niñas) fueron seleccionados de manera aleatoria sistemática, siguiendo el protocolo SOFIT para observar su nivel de actividad física durante las clases de educación física. El 45,23% del tiempo de la clase de educación física los estudiantes mantuvieron un comportamiento sedentario; mientras que el 30.91% y el 23.86% del tiempo de la clase presentaron un nivel de actividad física moderada (AFM) y vigorosa (AFV) respectivamente. El nivel de actividad física moderada a vigorosa (AFMV), fue de 54,78% es decir, 35,27 minutos de la clase. Los docentes no promovieron la actividad física en un 56,47% del tiempo de la clase y se encontró que ningún docente promovió la actividad física fuera de la clase, es decir, alentando a sus estudiantes a que practicaran cualquier forma de actividad física en horas extraescolares. El contexto de la clase que más se desarrolló fue la condición física con un 35,66% del tiempo de la clase, seguido por los contextos de generalidades 24,83% y habilidades 23,84%. El contexto de la clase generalidades está asociada significativamente y de manera negativa (β=-0,32, p=0,006) con menor porcentaje de tiempo en AFM y AFV, las variables activas de SOFIT, lo que sugiere que las clases deben invertir menos tiempo en este contexto e incrementar el porcentaje de tiempo en los otros contextos como condición física y habilidades para aumentar la cantidad de minutos de AFMV en los estudiantes.

Niveles de actividad física, contenidos-contextos de la clase e intervención docente durante la clase de educación física y su asociación con el tipo de profesor

Resumen: Objetivo: determinar la asociación entre el tipo de profesor (especialista y no especialista en educación física), con el nivel de actividad física, el contenido-contexto de la clase y el comportamiento del profesor. Método: Estudio descriptivo de corte transversal en un colegio distrital de Bogotá. Fueron evaluadas 57 clases de educación física, y dos docentes (uno con formación académica en Educación física), por medio del Sistema para la observación del tiempo de instrucción de la condición física (SOFIT). Las variables observadas fueron analizadas con estadística descriptiva en cantidades relativas a los minutos y proporción de la clase. Para establecer la asociación entre el género de los estudiantes y el tipo de profesor se usaron test t para muestras independientes y U de Mann-Witney. Resultados: La duración promedio de la clase fue 82,7 minutos, 69% del tiempo programado; los estudiantes pasaron la mayor parte del tiempo de pie 29% (25 minutos), el contenido predominante de la clase fue el de tipo general 21% (25 minutos) y los maestros ocuparon en promedio el 36% (29 minutos) de la clase observando. Los estudiantes pasaron 53% (44 minutos) en actividades físicas moderadas a vigorosas (AFMV). Los niños fueron más activos que las niñas (53.94% vs 50,83%). Se observó una asociación positiva entre el género y casi todos los niveles de actividad física de los estudiantes (p<0,05). Se identificó que existe una diferencia estadísticamente significativa (p<0,05), para las categorías sentado y estar de pie de la variable Niveles de Actividad física tanto en los resultados expresados en minutos, como en la proporción del tiempo de la clase y para la categoría caminando expresada en tiempo de la clase. Para la variable contenido-contexto se determinó una asociación para la categoría conocimiento, tanto en la proporción como en el número de minutos, y para la categoría contenido general en los resultados expresados en proporción de la clase. Finalmente, para la variable comportamiento del profesor expresada tanto en minutos como en proporción de la clase tuvo significancia estadística en todas sus categorías a excepción de la categoría promover Conclusiones: hay una diferencia importante en la forma como los dos tipos de maestros desarrollan la clase y los niveles de actividad física en que involucran a los estudiantes. La educación física en la escuela debe ser impartida por profesionales formados en el área, que tengan las destrezas y habilidades necesarias para desarrollar una educación física de calidad.

Relatório no âmbito da unidade curricular prática de ensino supervisionada

O presente relatório, que será apresentado à Universidade de Évora, foi elaborado no âmbito do Curso de Mestrado em Ensino de Português e de Espanhol, para o 3.º ciclo do ensino básico e ensino secundário, e resulta da reflexão da prática letiva realizada na Escola Básica de Alcáçovas, do Agrupamento de Escolas de Viana do Alentejo, no ano letivo de 2014/2015. Numa primeira parte, são revisitados os principais documentos legais orientadores da prática letiva, relativos ao ensino das línguas materna e estrangeira. Num segundo momento, após uma breve caracterização da Escola e do Agrupamento, dá-se a conhecer o trabalho realizado com os alunos do terceiro ciclo do ensino básico, enquanto professora de Português, fazendo-se simultaneamente uma reflexão sobre as escolhas pedagógicas efetuadas. Posteriormente, apresentam-se as atividades dinamizadas, os cargos desempenhados na Escola e no Agrupamento e faz-se um balanço do caminho percorrido até ao presente; Supervised Teaching Practise Report ABSTRACT: This report, which will be presented to the University of Évora, was elaborated within the context of the Master degree in Portuguese and Spanish teaching for the 3rd cycle of elementary and secondary school. It arises as a result of the teaching practice reflection carried out in Escola Básica de Alcáçovas, Agrupamento de Escolas de Viana do Alentejo, during the school year 2014/2015. In the first part, the main legal guiding documents, concerning the teaching of mother tongue and foreign languages and the teaching practice, are revisited. As a second step, after a brief characterization of School and School Grouping and while as Portuguese teacher, it is presented the work performed by the students of the 3rd cycle of elementary school, as well as a reflection about the chosen pedagogical choices. Subsequently, the carried out activities, the positions held at School and School Grouping are presented, as well as an assessment of what has been done so far.

Relatório da prática de ensino supervisionada realizado no agrupamento de escolas n.º 4 de Évora - EB 2,3 Conde de Vilalva e Escola Secundária André de Gouveia em ensino de educação física nos ensinos básico e secundário

A Prática de Ensino Supervisionada desenvolveu-se no Agrupamento de Escolas nº 4 de Évora- EB 2,3 Conde Vilalva e na Escola Secundária André de Gouveia, com as turmas do 8º ano e 12° ano respectivamente. Para elucidar o trabalho realizado ao longo do ano desenvolvi o presente relatório onde abordei a preparação cientifica, pedagógica e didáctica que permitiu um conhecimento dos alunos e do currículo; a Planificação e condução das aulas e respectiva avaliação que faz referencia ao planeamento por etapas e às vantagens do mesmo e ainda à forma como foram leccionadas as aulas; uma análise da prática de ensino; a participação na escola e as actividades desenvolvidas nas mesmas; e o desenvolvimento profissional com referências ás competências que o professor deve assumir dentro da comunidade escolar. Com os parâmetros acima referidos demonstra-se a grande importância que o estágio teve na aquisição das competências essenciais inerentes à docência. ABSTRACT: Supervised Teaching Practice was developed in School Cluster nº 4 of Évora­ Elementary School Conde Vilalva and in Secondary School André de Gouveia, with classes of 8th and 12th grade, respectively. To elucidate the work I done over this school year, I developed this report which discussed the scientific, educational and teaching preparation, allowing an understanding of students and the curriculum; the planning and conduct of lessons and their assessment that refers to the planning stages, and to advantage of it and, on the other hand, the way that were taught lessons; an analysis of teaching practice; participation in school and activities carried therein; and professional development with reference to the competences that the teacher should take within the school community. With the above parameters is shown the importance of this stage in the acquisition of essential skills related to teaching.

Transición 6 grado a 7año, ¿problema o desafío?

The present article displays the results of a two-year research experience carried out by an interdisciplinary research team from the five academic departments (units) at CIDE. The study is part of a larger research project named Profiles, Dynamics and Challenges of Costa Rican education at CIDE, which is directed by the Deanery. The study was conducted during 2006 and part of 2007 in secondary schools which were identified as successful institutions regarding academic achievements. The research focused on exploring the factors which influence students’ academic performance positively as they move from primary to secondary school and as they remain within successful academic indicators during those transition years. This research, besides involving an important literature review, required field work which took place in ten secondary schools from diverse settings all over the country. Observations were made and the seventh and eighth graders’ beliefs, as well as, their parents’ and teachers’ assumptions were explored. In addition, paralleled to the aspects mentioned, an important population of sixth grade students, their parents, and teachers were studied, since those primary institutions were related to the secondary schools involved in the study.

LETRAMENTOS: CONCEPÇÕES DE ESCRITA E PONTUAÇÃO

One of the barriers to be overcome so that a society can achieve a reasonable level of literacy is the understanding on the part of the mediators of this process that the whole conception of teaching how to write, whether it is guided by a vision of literacy or alphabetisation, presupposes a concept of writing. To help facilitate this understanding, in this article we propose a review of the concepts of literacy, seeking to present, discuss and recognise the concept of writing present in these conceptions of literacy, as well as their representation in schools. To this end, we analyse the use of punctuation in texts written by two children in the early stages of schooling and also the proposal for the use of punctuation in a Portuguese textbook, adopted for the first grade, second year of elementary school. The results indicate that although the school and the school textbook continue to focus on an autonomous view of literacy, there are cases where children demonstrate traits of authorship in their writings, either because they have the opportunity to study in a school that understands the social functions of writing, or because they arrive from home with different interactional modes relating to written text than that which predominates in their school. The data also allows us to point to the importance of articulating more unique perspectives with social perspectives of writing, since distinctive features may be indicative of social constructions of literacy, such as a child's access to written text and the ways of interacting with the written text. In conclusion, we emphasise the importance for a teacher undergoing training to recognise the concepts of writing that are present in both theory and practice.  

BELIEFS ABOUT ENGLISH LEARNING AND TEACHING IN A TECHNICAL SCHOOL IN THE CITY OF PONTA PORÃ/MS

Abstract: This study is part of my master research, which aimed to investigate the beliefs about  English learning and teaching of students entering to a High School Course integrated to Computer Technician at a Federal High School in the city Ponta Pora / MS , located at the  border  with Paraguay . In the context , great part of the students coming from public schools in the region  had not studied English as a foreign language in elementary school , once it is located  in a region of the border with Paraguay , it offers only Spanish as a foreign language. The interest for this research came up as of conflicting situations between the teacher way of teaching and students ways of learning, especially of those who had not studied English in elementary school. Thus we tried to study the beliefs of these students, analyzing how they process in that context in order to promote reflection of the teacher  to perform actions of intervention in order to reduce the mismatches between the ways of teaching and the ways that the students believe to be the right to learn. Keywords: Beliefs; English Teaching and Learning; Context

The Practice of Reading, Writing Papers and Linguistic Analysis in Teaching Portuguese: A Proposal for the Organization of Everyday School Life from the Perspective of Multiliteracies

This paper aims to reflect on the teaching of Portuguese language in the context of twenty-first century, taking as its starting point the proposal of multiliteracies. We propose to discuss the applicability of genres in the classroom as a condition to ensure the construction of fundamental knowledge to social practices of language. For this, we rely on recent studies on the possibilities that the genre can bring to practice reading, writing papers, and linguistic analysis. We intend, therefore, to assist the planning of teachers who still find themselves unsure on curricula that suggest what they have to do, but did not say how. Understand the reason why this work is another contribution to the teaching of Portuguese in the final years of elementary school and high school bringing out a space for discussion about what needs to be taught and some teaching procedures that favor the democratization of school and interaction linguistics. Curricular innovations and new ways of thinking about teaching and learning of mother tongue are already part of the reflections of most professionals, but there is still an open field to think of more effective alternatives through multimodality an interactionist conception of language.

Text production and the classroom: a look at the public school

Through projects linked to Procad/Unioeste/UFSC, with support from Capes, CNPq and also Fundação Araucária, studies carried out on written production in elementary school. This article presents a study of the conjunctions as guiding elements of viewpoint. It reported stages of project, mainly related to the reading of text support and to the practice what kind of positing was designed in the selection process of coordinating conjunctions. The essays selected for this research reveal certain argumentative strategies that act as execution a positioning of the author of the text on understanding of how to deal with writing, considering theme compatible with the daily reality.

Children's self-talk and significant others' positive and negative statements

A sample of 675 elementary school children in Grades 3-7 were administered the Self-talk Inventory and the Significant Others' Statements Inventory. The psychometric properties of both scales were investigated and the relationships between positive and negative self-talk and significant others' (parents, teachers, siblings and peers) positive and negative statements were explored using correlational and multiple regression analyses. Sex and age differences were also examined. The significant relationships and differences are described.

Why is there a gender gap in children presenting for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder services?

This study addressed why girls are less likely to be referred for mental health services for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than boys. Ninety-six parents of children with elevated ADHD symptoms and 140 elementary school teachers read vignettes about children with ADHD. Half of the participants read vignettes with boys' names, and half read the same vignettes but with girls' names. Participants then rated their likeliness to seek or recommend services for the child in each vignette. Parents and teachers were less likely to seek or recommend services for girls than boys with ADHD, but results did not support the hypothesis that this is because girls are less disruptive than boys. Rather, differences in service seeking were explained by the fact that parents and teachers believed that learning assistance is less effective for girls than boys with ADHD.

Comprehension as social and intellectual practice : rebuilding curriculum in low socioeconomic and cultural minority schools

This article reframes the concept of comprehension as a social and intellectual practice. It reviews current approaches to reading instruction for linguistically and culturally diverse and low socioeconomic students, noting an emphasis on comprehension as autonomous skills. The Four Resources model (Freebody & Luke, 1990) is used to make the case for the integration of comprehension instruction with an emphasis on student cultural and community knowledge, and substantive intellectual and sociocultural content in elementary school curricula. Illustrations are drawn from research underway on the teaching of literacy in primary schools in low SES communities.

Student autonomy enhancing science learning : Observations from a Primary Connections implementation

This case study involved a detailed analysis of the changes in beliefs and teaching practices of teachers who adopted the Primary Connections program as a professional development initiative. When implementing an inquiry-based learning model, teachers observed that their students learnt more when they intervened less. By scaffolding open-ended nquiries they achieved more diverse, complex and thorough learning outcomes than previously achieved with teacher-led discussions or demonstrations. Initially, student autonomy presented erceived threats to teachers, including possible selection of topics outside the teachers’ science knowledge. In practice, when such issues arose, resolving them became a stimulating part of the earning for both teachers and students. The teachers’ observation of enhanced student learning became a powerful motivator for change in their beliefs and practices. Implications for developers of PD programs are (1) the importance of modeling student-devised inquiries, and (2) recognising the role of successful classroom implementation in facilitating change.