Home Literacy Activities in Latino Immigrant Families: Contributions to Toddlers’ Expressive and Receptive Language Skills

The development of language is a critical component of early childhood, enabling children to communicate their wishes and desires, share thoughts, and build meaning through linguistic interactions with others. A wealth of research has highlighted the importance of children’s early home experiences in fostering language development. This literature emphasizes the importance of a stimulating and supportive home environment in which children are engaged in literacy activities such as reading, telling stories, or singing songs with their parents. This study examined the association between low-income Latino immigrant mothers’ and fathers’ home literacy activities and their children’s receptive and expressive language skills. It also examined the moderating influence of maternal (i.e., reading quality and language quality) and child (engagement during reading, interest in literacy activities) characteristics on this association. This study included observational mother-child reading interactions, child expressive and receptive language assessments, and mother- and father-reported survey data. Controlling for parental education, multiple regression analyses revealed a positive association between home literacy activities and children’s receptive and expressive language skills. The findings also revealed that mothers’ reading quality and children’s engagement during reading (for expressive language skills only) moderated this association. Findings from this study will help inform new interventions, programs, and policies that build on Latino families’ strengths.

Summit between West Chester University, Pennsylvania, USA and Universidad Nacional, Heredia Costa Rica. Global Library Literacy Initiative: An Intercultural Learning Experience

 This document describes the experience of academic cooperation between professionals in the field of library science, both from West Chester University (WCU), and the National University (UNA) of Costa Rica. The event took place at West Chester University during the week May 4th to May 8th, 2009. The objectives of this revolved around the exchange of ideas and interests in the academic and cultural relations between the two universities. In addition, it unveiled several services and procedures in the handling of information and highlighted the importance of promoting the exchange of students from both institutions. Finally, this article highlights the schedule of activities to integrate international and intercultural perspective in various areas related to the teaching-learning process, the contribution of university libraries on student success and techniques of information dissemination.

The library of the Institute of Alajuela address the information and communication technologies: User training and information literacy

The Library of the Institute of Alajuela made an induction experience and training of users and ventured into the information literacy and engaged in the work of the teaching-learning as an integral part of the curriculum. The actions of the library in developing search strategies, location, selection and use of information brought inthe health service, changes to the role of the library, the librarian, the book and the information in the educational environment.By sharing this experience is intended to provide information that can motivate staff of educational institutions that wish toenter the field of information literacy as a strategy to support the development oflifelong independent learning skills and meaningful learning. Currently, the library should be a proactive part in the education of students but also teachers, administrative and family.This will result in a benefit to Costa Rica: the development of youth and their proper integration into the workplace.

Possibilities and problems of teaching the history of the present time through media and information literacy.

Le système éducatif encourage une histoire positiviste, ordonnée, unilatérale et universelle; par l´incorporation de le découpage chronologique de l´histoire en quatre étapes. Mais, est-ce qu´il serait posible que les élèves puissent étudier leur propre présent? Mon commuication poursuit d´exposer, comme Saab affirmait, le présent est “le point de départ et d´arrivée de l´enseignement de l´histoire détermine les allers et les retours au passé”. La façon d´approcher l´enseignement de l´histoire est confortable. Il n´y a pas de questions, il n´y a pas de discussions. Cette vision de l´histoire interprétée par l´homme blancoccidental-hétérosexuel s´inscrit dans le projet de la modernité du Siècle des Lumières. Par conséquent, cette histoire obvie que nous vivons dans una société postmoderne de la suspicion, de la pensée débile. En ce qui concerne la problématique autour de la pollution audiovisuelle et la façon dont les enseignants et les élèves sont quotidiennement confrontés à ce problème. Par conséquent, il est nécessaire de réfléchir à la question de l´enseignement de l´histoire quadripartite. Actuellement, les médias et les nouvelles technologies sont en train de changer la vie de l´humanité. Il est indispensable que l´élève connaisse son histoire presente et les scénarioshistoriques dans l´avenir. Je pense en la nécessité d´adopter une didactique de l’histoire presente et par conséquent, nous devons utiliser la maîtrise des médias et de l´information. Il faut une formation des enseignants que pose, comme Gadamer a dit: “le passé y le présent se trouvent par une négociation permanente”. Una formation des enseignants qui permette de comprendre et penser l´histoire future / les histoires futures. À mon avis, si les élèves comprennent la complexité de leur monde et leurs multiples visions, les élèves seront plus tolérantes et empathiques.

Geographical literacy, attitudes, and experiences of freshman students: A qualitative study at Florida International University

The purpose of the study was to explore the geography literacy, attitudes and experiences of Florida International University (FIU) freshman students scoring at the low and high ends of a geography literacy survey. The Geography Literacy and ABC Models formed the conceptual framework. Participants were freshman students enrolled in the Finite Math course at FIU. Since it is assumed that students who perform poorly on geography assessments do not have an interest in the subject, testing and interviewing students allowed the researcher to explore the assumption. ^ In Phase I, participants completed the Geography Literacy Survey (GLS) with items taken from the 2010 NAEP Geography Subject Area Assessment. The low 35% and high 20% performers were invited for Phase II, which consisted of semi-structured interviews. A total of 187 students participated in Phase I and 12 in Phase II. ^ The primary research question asked was what are the geography attitudes and experiences of freshman students scoring at the low and high ends of a geographical literacy survey? The students had positive attitudes regardless of how they performed on the GLS. ^ The study included a quantitative sub-question regarding the performance of the students on the GLS. The students’ performance on the GLS was equivalent to the performance of 12th grade students from the NAEP Assessment. There were three qualitative sub-questions from which the following themes were identified: the students’ definition of geography is limited, students recall more out of school experiences with geography, and students find geography valuable. In addition, there were five emergent themes: there is a concern regarding a lack of geographical knowledge, rote memorization of geographical content is overemphasized, geographical concepts are related to other subjects, taking the high school level AP Human Geography course is powerful, and there is a need for real-world applications of geographical knowledge. ^ The researcher offered as suggestions for practice to reposition geography in our schools to avoid misunderstandings, highlight its interconnectedness to other fields, connect the material to real world events/daily decision-making, make research projects meaningful, partner with local geographers, and offer a mandatory geography courses at all educational levels.^