Evidence-based (or not!) practices used for reading instruction in oral deaf education schools

This descriptive study aims at determining the most widely used reading instructional practices that are used by teachers of the deaf in oral deaf education schools.

Las secuencias didácticas de lengua: una encrucijada entre teoría y metodología

[ES] El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar secuencias didácticas(SD) para enseñar lengua/s diseñadas por profesores de educación primaria y proponer algunos indicadores que guíen a los enseñantes en la confección y validación (o autoevaluación) de las mismas. Entendemos la secuencia didáctica en el sentido de sus creadores ginebrinos, es decir, como una herramienta para la enseñanza del género textual como unidad comunicativa. El diseño de las secuencias estudiadas en este artículo se realiza a lo largo de unas sesiones de formación de profesorado; a la vista de los obstáculos que se observan en su elaboración (dificultades para explicitar la consigna, noción difusa del género textual, etc.), decidimos analizarlas a partir de unos ítems o criterios extraídos básicamente de los principios que rigen las secuencias didácticas. Pensamos que las principales dificultades derivarán de las concepciones teóricas y metodológicas previas que tienen los profesores y de una concepción disociada de la SD y del género textual. Los resultados ponen de relieve cuáles son algunos de los aspectos que merecen especial atención a la hora de diseñar secuencias didácticas y sugieren el interés de contar con unos indicadores que guíen al docente en la confección de las mismas. Eso no significa, sin embargo, que deba tratarse de una lista cerrada y, evidentemente, futuros trabajos habrán de modificarla y completarla. Hasta el momento, estos criterios nos permiten confirmar la importancia de insistir en las bases teóricas y metodológicas de las secuencias didácticas en el marco de las sesiones formativas.

Contrasting Effects of Cattle Grazing Intensity on Upland-Nesting Duck Production at Nest and Field Scales in the Aspen Parkland, Canada

The Aspen Parkland of Canada is one of the most important breeding areas for temperate nesting ducks in North America. The region is dominated by agricultural land use, with approximately 9.3 million ha in pasture land for cattle grazing. However, the effects of using land for cattle grazing on upland-nesting duck production are poorly understood. The current study was undertaken during 2001 and 2002 to investigate how nest density and nesting success of upland-nesting ducks varied with respect to the intensity of cattle grazing in the Aspen Parkland. We predicted that the removal and trampling of vegetation through cattle grazing would reduce duck nest density. Both positive and negative responses of duck nesting success to grazing have been reported in previous studies, leading us to test competing hypotheses that nesting success would (1) decline linearly with grazing intensity or (2) peak at moderate levels of grazing. Nearly 3300 ha of upland cover were searched during the study. Despite extensive and severe drought, nest searches located 302 duck nests. As predicted, nest density was higher in fields with lower grazing intensity and higher pasture health scores. A lightly grazed field with a pasture score of 85 out of a possible 100 was predicted to have 16.1 nests/100 ha (95% CI = 11.7–22.1), more than five times the predicted nest density of a heavily grazed field with a pasture score of 58 (3.3 nests/100 ha, 95% CI = 2.2–4.5). Nesting success was positively related to nest-site vegetation density across most levels of grazing intensity studied, supporting our hypothesis that reductions in vegetation caused by grazing would negatively affect nesting success. However, nesting success increased with grazing intensity at the field scale. For example, nesting success for a well-concealed nest in a lightly grazed field was 11.6% (95% CI = 3.6–25.0%), whereas nesting success for a nest with the same level of nest-site vegetation in a heavily grazed field was 33.9% (95% CI = 17.0–51.8%). Across the range of residual cover observed in this study, nests with above-average nest-site vegetation density had nesting success rates that exceeded the levels believed necessary to maintain duck populations. Our findings on complex and previously unreported relationships between grazing, nest density, and nesting success provide useful insights into the management and conservation of ground-nesting grassland birds.