English as a Second Language and Children’s literature : An empirical study on Swedish elementary school teachers’ methods and attitudes towards the use of children’s literature in the English classroom

Previous research has shown multiple benefits and challenges with the incorporation of children’s literature in the English as a Second language (ESL) classroom. In addition, the use of children’s literature in the lower elementary English classroom is recommended by the Swedish National Agency for Education. Consequently, the current study explores how teachers in Swedish elementary school teach ESL through children’s literature. This empirical study involves English teachers from seven schools in a small municipality in Sweden. The data has been collected through an Internet survey. The study also connects the results to previous international research, comparing Swedish and international research. The results suggest that even though there are many benefits of using children’s literature in the ESL classroom, the respondents seldom use these authentic texts, due to limited time and a narrow supply of literature, among other factors. However, despite these challenges, all of the teachers claim to use children’s literature by reading aloud in the classroom. Based on the results, further research exploring pupils’ thoughts in contrast to teachers would be beneficial. In addition, the majority of the participants expressed that they wanted more information on how to use children’s literature. Therefore, additional research relating to beneficial methods of teaching English through children’s literature, especially in Sweden, is recommended.

Legal LEGO: Model based computer assisted teaching in evidence courses

This paper describes the development of a new approach to the use of ICT for the teaching of courses in the interpretation and evaluation of evidence. It is based on ideas developed for the teaching of science to school children, in particular the importance of models and qualitative reasoning skills. In the first part, we make an analysis of the basis of current research into “evidence scholarship” and the demands such a system would have to meet. In the second part, we introduce the details of such a system that we developed initially to assist police in the interpretation of evidence.

Wolves in sheeps' clothing: Creationist manipulation of Kansas science standards

So the question that animates this paper is this: what happens when a state's education policy seeks to make popular social and religious values a central part of its education standards in direct confrontation with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution? I will try to answer that question in three ways. First, I will examine the tactics used in the manipulation of curricula to reflect social and religious values, with special focus on the Kansas case. Second, I will try to ascertain the determinants of success in these efforts; under what conditions are movements to impose creation science on public school curricula likely to succeed, and when to fail? Third, I will try to place these struggles over educational curricula, and between religion and science, in broader context, focusing on what they tell us about the nature of public policy making in the contemporary United States.

Using Technology to Increase Collaboration Between the Library, Teaching Faculty, and the Campus at Large

This article outlines many different ways of using technology to better link academic librarians and faculty, focusing particularly on how the appropriate use of technology in Acquisitions can improve the image of the library. The article presents a comprehensive overview of how technologies can be used to make Acquisitions not just a book purchasing department, but a department that works proactively to impress consituents, helping to make the library a central and prestigious part of the campus community. While the article's primary focus is on academic libraries, much of the discussion is also applicable to other types of libraries.

March 2008: Teaching Kits

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A avaliação de estagio no ensino de 2. grau

O presente trabalho, requisito complementar para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Educação, visa sugerir formas adicionais de controle do trabalho escolar, no ensino de 2o grau profissionalizante. Apoia-se na legislação vigente para a análise de incoerencias que estariam a frustar os objetivos daquele nível de ensino e identifica o Estágio Orientado na Empresa como a etapa onde deveria se processar uma mais efetiva reavaliaçao do trabalho escolar. Como contribuição à solução da questao, propoe um modelo de avaliação para esse tipo de estágio, destinado ao seu acompanhamento e controle, de forma a fazer do mesmo, um efetivo instrumento de integração Escola-Empresa em prol da educação profissionalizante. O estudo está estruturado em duas partes. A primeira compõe-se de dois capítulos: o Capítulo I introduz o tema, ressalta os seus objetivos e justifica a sua escolha, acrescentando, ainda, algumas definições destinadas a imprimir maior clareza contextual ao desenvolvimento do trabalho; o Capítulo 2 trata de melhor delimitar o estudo, quando apresenta algumas considerações sobre as Funções da Escola, o Trabalho Escolar e o Estágio Orientado na Empresa. A segunda parte, tambem com dois capítulos (3 e 4), trata, no Capítulo 3, da caracterização das Escolas Técnicas Federais: discorre sobre algumas disfunções ali praticadas; inicia um estudo exemplificativo destinado à Introdução do referido modelo de avaliação, e situa a posiçao alcançada por aquelas escolas no tocante à implantaçao do denominado Serviço de Integração Escola-Empresa. O Capítulo 4 é a proposta propriamente dita de avaliação e controle do trabalho escolar através de Estágio Orientado na Empresa. São apresentados os fatores e os parâmetros da avaliação pretendida para, entao, discorrer sobre a metodologia de aplicação, com detalhamentos que vao desde a classificação das atividades e tarefas dos estágios, até a sua análise final com os conceitos e os·pareceres. Como parte complementar desta proposta, é sugerida a estruturação de um organismo funcional, à semelhança de um BANCO DE DADOS, destinado à metodização de aproveitamento dos registros do processo de avaliação para o proveito da açao pedagógica. Como referência justificadora desta proposta de alteraçao dos dispositivos de avaliação do estágio, -e apresentado um levantamento-pesquisa preliminar, em forma de diagnóstico, desenvolvido na escola que serviu de fonte para o referido estudo exemplificativo. Trata-se de uma amostra da situação encontrada e, bastante, para justificar as alterações propostas, além de fornecer subsidios orientadores à sua elaboração. Os anexos, em número de 5, contem os modelos propostos para os principais instrumentos de avaliação do Estágio, bem como as instruções adicionais destinadas ao aluno. A Bibliografia consultada apoia-se basicamente na legislação em vigor para o ensino de 2o grau.

As Ciências Espaciais, o saber e o fazer docente no ensino fundamental

This study aims to include topics related to Space Science in elementary education from an experiment that aims to rescue the science teachers in public schools of São Tomé, RN, a taste for experimentation and exploration of advanced technologies. During this research with teachers found that they knew enough about the subject, but this knowledge was restricted to the events disclosed by the media. Regarding scientific knowledge, that same surface, they had many conceptual difficulties which hindered the approach of these topics in their classes. To overcome this difficulty, a workshop was held where teachers had the opportunity to discuss the historical aspect of Space Science, some physical concepts related to it, and the conduct of experiments with PET bottle rockets that recover from the curiosity typical of how the science. The results were outlined in the form of Planning Didactic built by teachers and using themes related to space science, from there, discussing content already provided in the composition of the schools curriculum. Therefore, this work allowed the teachers a minimum training required for them to not only reproduce, but readjusted and build, from this, their own paths in the classroom at the fundamental level

A leitura como instrumento facilitador da compreensão matemática

This research builds on a qualitative approach and proposes action research to develop, implement and evaluate a strategy grounded in the teaching of geometry reading from different text types, in order to enhance the understanding of mathematical concepts by students in the 6th grade of elementary school. The teaching of mathematics, strengthened by a reading practice that fosters a greater understanding of science, because it would contribute to the expansion of vocabulary, acquire a higher level of reasoning, interpretation and understanding, providing opportunities thus a greater contextualization of the student, making out the role of mere spectator to the builder of mathematical knowledge. As a methodological course comply with the following steps: selecting a field of intervention school, the class-subject (6 years of elementary school) and teacher-collaborator. Then there was a diagnostic activity involving the content of geometry - geometric solids, flat regions and contours - with the class chosen, and it was found, in addition to the unknown geometry, a great difficulty to contextualize it. From the analysis of the answers given by students, was drawn up and applied three interventional activities developed from various text (legends, poems, articles, artwork) for the purpose of leading the student to realize, through reading these texts, the discussions generated from these questions and activities proposed by the present mathematics in context, thus getting a better understanding and interaction with this discipline as hostility by most students. It was found from the intervention, the student had a greater ability to understand concepts, internalize information and use of geometry is more consistent and conscientious, and above all, learning math more enjoyable

Criar o próprio jogo didático ou apenas jogar? Efeitos de diferentes estratégias de ensino na motivação e aprendizado de ciências

The use of games as educational tools is common, however the effectiveness of games with educational purposes is still poorly known. In this study we evaluated three different low-cost teaching strategies make and play your own board game, just play an educational science game and make a poster to be exposed in the school regarding: (1) science learning; (2) use of deep learning strategies (DLS); and (3) intrinsic motivation. We tested the hypothesis that, in these three parameters evaluated, scores would be higher in the group that made and play their own game, followed respectively by the group that just played a game and the group that made a poster. The research involved 214 fifth-grade students from six elementary schools in Natal/RN. A group of students made and played their own science board game (N = 68), a second group played a science game (N = 75), and a third group made a poster to be exposed at school (N = 71). Our hypothesis was partly empirically supported, since there was no significant difference in science learning and in the use of DLS between the group that made their own game and the group that just played the game; however, both groups had significantly higher scores in science learning and in use of DLS than the group that made the poster. There was no significant difference in the scores of intrinsic motivation among the three experimental groups. Our results indicate that activities related to non-digital games can provide a favorable context for learning in the school environment. We conclude that the use of games for educational purposes (both making a game and just playing a game) is an efficient and viable alternative to teach science in Brazilian public school

Power law distribution in education: Effect of economical, teaching, and study conditions in university entrance examination

We studied the statistical distribution of student's performance, which is measured through their marks, in university entrance examination (Vestibular) of UNESP (Universidade Estadual Paulista) with respect to (i) period of study - day versus night period (ii) teaching conditions - private versus public school (iii) economical conditions - high versus low family income. We observed long ubiquitous power law tails in physical and biological sciences in all cases. The mean value increases with better study conditions followed by better teaching and economical conditions. In humanities, the distribution is close to normal distribution with very small tail. This indicates that these power law tails in science subjects axe due to the nature of the subjects themselves. Further and better study, teaching and economical conditions axe more important for physical and biological sciences in comparison to humanities at this level of study. We explain these statistical distributions through Gradually Truncated Power law distributions. We discuss the possible reason for this peculiar behavior.

Teaching real-time with a scheduler simulator

In this paper we describe a scheduler simulator for real-time tasks, RTsim, that can be used as a tool to teach real-time scheduling algorithms. It simulates a variety of preprogrammed scheduling policies for single and multi-processor systems and simple algorithm variants introduced by its user. Using RTsim students can conduct experiments that will allow them to understand the effects of each policy given different load conditions and learn which policy is better for different workloads. We show how to use RTsim as a learning tool and the results achieved with its application on the Real-Time Systems course taught at the B.Sc. on Computer Science at Paulista State University - Unesp - at Rio Preto.

Indoor air quality assessment of elementary schools in Curitiba, Brazil

The promotion of good indoor air quality in schools is of particular public concern for two main reasons: (1) school-age children spend at least 30% of their time inside classrooms and (2) indoor air quality in urban areas is substantially influenced by the outdoor pollutants, exposing tenants to potentially toxic substances. Two schools in Curitiba, Brazil, were selected to characterize the gaseous compounds indoor and outdoor of the classrooms. The concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and the isomers xylenes (BTEX); NO2; SO2; O3; acetic acid (HAc); and formic acid (HFor) were assessed using passive diffusion tubes. BTEX were analyzed by gas chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry and other collected gasses by ion chromatography. The concentration of NO2 varied between 9.5 and 23 μg m-3, whereas SO2 showed an interval from 0.1 to 4.8 μg m-3. Within the schools, BTEX concentrations were predominant. Formic and acetic acids inside the classrooms revealed intermediate concentrations of 1.5 μg m-3 and 1.2 μg m-3, respectively. © Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2009.

The gyromagnetic factor of elementary particles and non-minimal coupling

In this work we investigate a possible magnetic moment generation for massive neutral particles with spins-1 and -2 coupled non-minimally, in a specific way, to an external electromagnetic field. It is found that, in the nonrelativistic limit, these particles present g = 1. This result, worked out in the framework of Relativistic Quantum Mechanics, seems to suggest that g = 1 for all massive and neutral particles of any spin ≤ 2. We also compare with the results obtained for massive charged particles of spins-1 and -2, in the same regime (nonrelativistic), in order to investigate the role played by the spin separetely from the charge. Copyright © owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Licence.

Environment for teaching and development of mobile robot systems

Using robots for teaching is one approach that has gathered good results on Middle-School, High-School and Universities. Robotics gives chance to experiment concepts of a broad range of disciplines, principally those from Engineering courses and Computer Science. However, there are not many kits that enables the use of robotics in classroom. This article describes the methodologies to implement tools which serves as test beds for the use of robotics to teach Computer Science and Engineering. Therefore, it proposes the development of a flexible, low cost hardware to integrate sensors and control actuators commonly found on mobile robots, the development of a mobile robot device whose sensors and actuators allows the experimentation of different concepts, and an environment for the implementation of control algorithms through a computer network. This paper describes each one of these tools and discusses the implementation issues and future works. © 2010 IEEE.