Codeship: Financing growth: Case study and Teaching note

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Un Estudio de caso sobre la formación del profesorado de educación primaria en didáctica de la lengua y la literatura

Nuestro trabajo se fundamenta en primera instancia en las investigaciones que tratan y adoptan el conocimiento de los profesores como objeto de estudio y que vienen realizándose desde hace algunas décadas, arrancando de los prestigiosos trabajos de Lee Shulman (1987, 1991, 1992) y su equipo, donde se insiste en la importancia del contenido en la enseñanza y, sobre todo, donde se caracteriza el llamado “conocimiento didáctico del contenido”. Estos estudios han dado lugar a variadas líneas de investigación, impulsadas por autores tan prestigiosos como Grossman (1990), Leinhardt (1992), Clandinin et alii (1992), Connelly y Clandinin (1988), etc., líneas que han intentado conformar una base de conocimiento para la enseñanza centrándose en análisis relacionados con la comparación entre el conocimiento formal y el práctico; el conocimiento informado por los propios profesores; el conocimiento de la materia y su papel en la enseñanza; el conocimiento didáctico, de los aprendices, de los currículos y el didáctico del contenido o los procesos cognitivos de los profesores antes y durante la enseñanza. Se han aportado incluso nuevos lenguajes, como es el caso de los trabajos de Connelly y Clandinin (1985); se han estudiado los componentes usados en la construcción del conocimiento, el conocimiento previo de los docentes, las teorías implícitas de los profesores, el conocimiento práctico personal, las rutinas docentes, imágenes y creencias; se han descrito varios tipos de conocimiento (conocimiento para, en y de la práctica), y se habla últimamente de la adquisición social del conocimiento, proponiéndose “la indagación como actitud” (Cochran-Smith y Lytle, 1999)

The impact of a digital children's literature program on primary students' reading motivation

This qualitative study stemmed from a concern of the perceived decline in students' reading motivation after the early years of schooling, which has been attributed to the disconnect between the media students are accustomed to using outside the classroom and the media they predominantly use within the classroom. This research documented the effectiveness of a digital children's literature program and a postreading multimedia program on eight grade 1 students' reading motivation, word recognition, and comprehension abilities. Eight students were given ten 25-minute sessions with the software program over 15 weeks. Preprogram, interim-program, and postprogram qualitative data were collected from students, teachers, and parents through questionnaires, interviews, standardized reading assessment tools, classroom observations, field notes, and student behaviour observation checklists. Findings are summarized into 3 themes. The motivational aspects and constructivist styles of instruction in the digital reading programs may have contributed to 5 student participants' increased participation in online storybook reading at home. Qualitative data revealed that the digital children's literature program and multimedia postreading activities seemed to have a positive influence on the majority of grade 1 student participants' reading motivation, word recognition, and listening comprehension skills. These findings suggest the promise of multimedia and Internet-based reading software programs in supporting students with reading andlor behavioural difficulties. In keeping with current educational initiatives and efforts, increased use of media literacy practices in the grade 1 curriculum is suggested.

Coherence and Historical understanding in children's Biography and Historical Nonfiction Literature: A Content Analysis of Selected Orbis Pictus Books

The purpose of this study was to investigate a selection of children's historical nonfiction literature for evidence of coherence. Although research has been conducted on coherence of textbook material and its influences on comprehension there has been limited study on coherence in children's nonfiction literature. Generally, textual coherence has been seen as critical in the comprehensibility of content area textbooks because it concerns the unity of connections among ideas and information. Disciplinary coherence concerns the extent to which authors of historical text show readers how historians think and write. Since young readers are apprentices in learning historical content and conventions of historical thinking, evidence of disciplinary coherence is significant in nonfiction literature for young readers. The sample of the study contained 32 books published between 1989 and 2000 ranging in length from less than 90 pages to more than 150 pages. Content analysis was the quantitative research technique used to measure 84 variables of textual and disciplinary coherence in three passages of each book, as proportions of the total number of words for each book. Reliability analyses and an examination of 750 correlations showed the extent to which variables were related in the books. Three important findings emerged from the study that should be considered in the selection and use of children's historical nonfiction literature in classrooms. First, characteristics of coherence are significantly related together in high quality nonfiction literature. Second, shorter books have a higher proportion of textual coherence than longer books as measured in three passages. Third, presence of the author is related to characteristics of coherence throughout the books. The findings show that nonfiction literature offers students content that researchers have found textbooks lack. Both younger and older students have the opportunity to learn the conventions of historical thinking as they learn content through nonfiction literature. Further, the children's literature, represented in the Orbis Pictus list, shows students that authors select, interpret, and question information, and give other interpretations. The implications of the study for teaching history, teacher preparation in content and literacy, school practices, children's librarians, and publishers of children's nonfiction are discussed.