Excelsior elementary studies in English grammar; with numerous examples and exercises in analysis and parsing. Designed for schools and academies. .

Mode of access: Internet.

Confronting expectation in grade 4: Tossing two coins

This study focuses on the experiences of 91 Grade 4 students who had been introduced to expectation and variation through trials of tossing a single coin many times. They were then given two coins to toss simultaneously and asked to state their expectation of the chances for the possible outcomes, in a similar manner expressed for a single coin. This paper documents the journey of the students in discovering that generally their initial expectation for two coins was incorrect and that despite variation, a large number of tosses could confirm a new expectation.

序列视觉信息整合的特性与机制

One of the great puzzles in the psychology of visual perception is that the visual world appears to be a coherent whole despite our viewing it through temporally discontinuous series of eye fixations. The investigators attempted to explain this puzzle from the perspective of sequential visual information integration. In recent years, investigators hypothesized that information maintained in the visual short-term memory (VSTM) could become visual mental images gradually during time delay in visual buffer and integrated with information perceived currently. Some elementary studies had been carried out to investigate the integration between VSTM and visual percepts, but further research is required to account for several questions on the spatial-temporal characteristics, information representation and mechanism of integrating sequential visual information. Based on the theory of similarity between visual mental image and visual perception, this research (including three studies) employed the temporal integration paradigm and empty cell localization task to further explore the spatial-temporal characteristics, information representation and mechanism of integrating sequential visual information (sequential arrays). The purpose of study 1 was to further explore the temporal characteristics of sequential visual information integration by examining the effects of encoding time of sequential stimuli on the integration of sequential visual information. The purpose of study 2 was to further explore the spatial characteristics of sequential visual information integration by investigating the effects of spatial characteristics change on the integration of sequential visual information. The purpose of study 3 was to explore the information representation of information maintained in the VSTM and integration mechanism in the process of integrating sequential visual information by employing the behavioral experiments and eye tracking technology. The results indicated that: (1) Sequential arrays could be integrated without strategic instruction. Increasing the duration of the first array could cause improvement in performance and increasing the duration of the second array could not improve the performance. Temporal correlation model was not fit to explain the sequential array integration under long-ISI conditions. (2) Stimuli complexity influenced not only the overall performance of sequential arrays but also the values of ISI at asymptotic level of performance. Sequential arrays still could be integrated when the spatial characteristics of sequential arrays changed. During ISI, constructing and manipulating of visual mental image of array 1 were two separate processing phases. (3) During integrating sequential arrays, people represented the pattern constituted by the objects' image maintained in the VSTM and the topological characteristics of the objects' image had some impact on fixation location. The image-perception integration hypothesis was supported when the number of dots in array 1 was less than empty cells, and the convert-and-compare hypothesis was supported when the number of the dot in array 1 was equal to or more than empty cells. These findings not only contribute to make people understand the process of sequential visual information integration better, but also have significant practical application in the design of visual interface.

Caracterização socio-econômico-cultural de raizeiros e procedimentos pós-colheita de plantas medicinais comercializadas em Maceió, AL

ARAUJO, Afranio Cesar de et al. Caracterização socio-econômico-cultural de raizeiros e procedimentos pós-colheita de plantas medicinais comercializadas em Maceió, AL. Rev. Bras. Pl. Med, Botucatu, v. 11, n. 01, p.81-91, 2009. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 04 out. 2010.

Caracterização socio-econômico-cultural de raizeiros e procedimentos pós-colheita de plantas medicinais comercializadas em Maceió, AL

ARAUJO, Afranio Cesar de et al. Caracterização socio-econômico-cultural de raizeiros e procedimentos pós-colheita de plantas medicinais comercializadas em Maceió, AL. Rev. Bras. Pl. Med, Botucatu, v. 11, n. 01, p.81-91, 2009. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 04 out. 2010.

Caracterização socio-econômico-cultural de raizeiros e procedimentos pós-colheita de plantas medicinais comercializadas em Maceió, AL

ARAUJO, Afranio Cesar de et al. Caracterização socio-econômico-cultural de raizeiros e procedimentos pós-colheita de plantas medicinais comercializadas em Maceió, AL. Rev. Bras. Pl. Med, Botucatu, v. 11, n. 01, p.81-91, 2009. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 04 out. 2010.

Teachers’ and children’s personal epistemologies for moral education : Case studies in early years elementary education

While there is strong interest in teaching values in Australia and internationally there is little focus on young children’s moral values learning in the classroom. Research shows that personal epistemology influences teaching and learning in a range of education contexts, including moral education. This study examines relationships between personal epistemologies (children’s and teachers’), pedagogies, and school contexts for moral learning in two early years classrooms. Interviews with teachers and children and analysis of school policy revealed clear patterns of personal epistemologies and pedagogies within each school. A whole school approach to understanding personal epistemologies and practice for moral values learning is suggested.

Teaching elementary school social studies,

Mode of access: Internet.

Guide to the social studies in the elementary grades.

"Keyed to the Book of knowledge."

Gender and grade differences in upper elementary school children’s descriptive and evaluative self-statements and self-esteem

Gender and developmental differences in self-description, self-evaluation and self-esteem were investigated using 957 elementary school children in grades 3 to 7. Gender differences were found for six of the seven descriptive statements and for five of the seven evaluative statements. The major gender stereotypical findings from previous studies were replicated. Boys reported higher scores than girls on descriptive and evaluative statements about their physical abilities and mathematics, while girls reported higher scores on descriptive and evaluative statements about reading. Declines over time were noted for all self-evaluations except having good relations with peers and for global self-esteem, providing some support for the notion that the decline in self-concepts and self-esteem may be attributed to the children's perceptions of themselves becoming more accurate and less egocentric in line with their cognitive capacity to integrate external feedback realistically.

Integrating engineering education within the elementary and middle school mathematics curriculum

Many nations are experiencing a decline in the number of graduating engineers, an overall poor preparedness for engineering studies in tertiary institutions, and a lack of diversity in the field. Given the increasing importance of mathematics, science, engineering, and technology in our world, it is imperative that we foster an interest and drive to participate in engineering from an early age. This discussion paper argues for the integration of engineering education within the elementary and middle school mathematics curricula. In doing so, we offer a definition of engineering education and address its core goals; consider some perceptions of engineering and engineering education held by teachers and students; and offer one approach to promoting engineering education within the elementary and middle school mathematics curriculum, namely through mathematical modeling.

Elementary teacher’s conceptions of inquiry teaching : messages for teacher development

The advocacy for inquiry-based learning in contemporary curricula assumes the principle that students learn in their own way by drawing on direct experience fostered by the teacher. That students should be able to discover answers themselves through active engagement with new experiences was central to the thinking of eminent educators such as Pestalozzi, Dewey and Montessori. However, even after many years of research and practice, inquiry learning as a referent for teaching still struggles to find expression in the average teachers' pedagogy. This study drew on interview data from 20 elementary teachers. A phenomenographic analysis revealed three conceptions of teaching for inquiry learning in science in the elementary years of schooling: (a) The Experience- centred conception where teachers focused on providing interesting sensory experiences to students; (b) The Problem-centred conception where teachers focused on challenging students with engaging problems; and (c) The Question-centred conception where teachers focused on helping students to ask and answer their own questions. Understanding teachers' conceptions has implications for both the enactment of inquiry teaching in the classroom as well as the uptake of new teaching behaviours during professional development, with enhanced outcomes for engaging students in Science.

Approaches to inquiry teaching : elementary teacher’s perspectives

Learning science through the process of inquiry is advocated in curriculum documents across many jurisdictions. However, a number of studies suggest that teachers struggle to help students engage in inquiry practices. This is not surprising as many teachers of science have not engaged in scientific inquiry and possibly hold naïve ideas about what constitutes scientific inquiry. This study investigates teachers’ self-reported approaches to teaching science through inquiry. Phenomenographic interviews undertaken with 20 elementary teachers revealed teachers identified six approaches to teaching for inquiry, clustered within three categories. These approaches were categorized as Free and Illustrated Inquiry as part of experience-centered category, Solution and Method Inquiry as part of problem-centered category, and Topic and Chaperoned Inquiry as part of a question-centered category. This study contributes to our theoretical understanding of how teachers approach Inquiry Teaching, and suggests fertile areas of future research into this valued and influential phenomenon broadly known as “Inquiry Teaching”.

Elementary teachers’ knowledge of legislative and policy duties for reporting child sexual abuse

This study examined elementary school teachers’ knowledge of their legislative and policy-based reporting duties with respect to child sexual abuse. Data were collected from 470 elementary school teachers from urban and rural government and nongovernment schools in 3 Australian states, which at the time of the study had 3 different legislative reporting duties for teachers. Teachers completed the 8-part Teacher Reporting Questionnaire (TRQ). Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with (a) teachers’ legislation knowledge and (b) teachers’ policy knowledge. Teachers with higher levels of knowledge had a combination of pre- and in-service training about child sexual abuse and more positive attitudes toward reporting, held administration positions in their school, and had reported child sexual abuse at least once during their teaching career. They were also more likely to work in the state with the strongest legislative reporting duty, which had been in place the longest.

The spatialized practices of teaching writing in Australian elementary schools : diverse students shaping discoursal selves

This paper discusses the teaching of writing within the competing and often contradictory spaces of high-stakes testing and the practices and priorities around writing pedagogy in diverse school communities. It uses socio-spatial theory to examine the real-and-imagined spaces (Soja, 1996) that influence and are influenced by teachers’ pedagogical priorities for writing in two linguistically diverse elementary school case studies. Methods of critical discourse analysis are used to examine rich data sets to make visible the discourses and power relations at play in the case schools. Findings show that when teachers’ practices focus on the teaching of structure and skills alongside identity building and voice, students with diverse linguistic backgrounds can produce dramatic, authoritative and resonant texts. The paper argues that “thirdspaces” can be forged that both attend to accountability requirements, yet also give the necessary attention to more complex aspects of writing necessary for students from diverse and multilingual backgrounds to invest in writing as a creative and critical form of communication for participation in society and the knowledge economy.