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

Learning Grammar : A study of upper secondary level students’ attitudes and beliefs concerning the learning of grammar

The communicative approach to language learning is widely taught in Western education, and yet its predecessor, the grammar-translation method, is still commonly employed in other parts of the world. In Sweden, the increasing popularity of the communicative approach is often justified by the high level of students’ communicative skills (Öhman, 2013). At the same time, students’ written texts and speech contain many grammatical errors (Öhman, 2013). Consequently, being aware of their tendency to produce grammatical errors, some students express beliefs regarding both the explicit and implicit learning of grammar (Sawir, 2005; Boroujeni, 2012). The objective of this thesis is to gain more knowledge regarding students’ beliefs concerning the learning of English grammar at the upper secondary level, in Sweden. With this purpose a survey was conducted in two schools in Sweden, where 49 upper-secondary English students participated. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to process the collected data. Despite some difference in the participants’ ages, there were many similarities in their attitudes towards the teaching and learning of grammar. The results show that the participants in both schools believe that only by applying both, explicit and implicit methods, can they obtain a high level of language proficiency. The results of this study can help teachers in planning different activities that enhance the students’ knowledge of grammar.

The teaching of history and civics in the elementary and the secondary school,

Bibliography at head of chapters.

The teaching of English in the elementary and the secondary school /

Mode of access: Internet.

Interference of Native Language in English Language Acquisition in Santa Cruz and Calheta Secondary schools

This study analyzes the interference of native language when students are learning a foreign language, in this case English. According to this study, interferences from the native language such as lexical-semantic and phonological are not infrequent. It is one of the main barriers that create difficulties when learning English. The outcome of this study is presented at the end of the Monografia: to provide English-language teachers and students the most significant linguistic interferences that occur during the learning process of English language. Furthermore, some teaching strategies are discussed to avoid the biases that appear due to the interferences of the native language. As a result of this study, I hope to contribute to the learning success among English-language students.

Entrepreneurship Education in Basic and Upper Secondary Education – Measurement and Empirical Evidence

The starting point of this study is to direct more attention to the teacher and those entrepreneurship education practices taking place in formal school to find out solutions for more effective promotion of entrepreneurship education. For this objective, the strategy-level aims of entrepreneurship education need to be operationalised into measurable and understandable teacher-level practices. Furthermore, to enable the effective development of entrepreneurship education in basic and upper secondary level education, more knowledge is needed of the state of affairs of entrepreneurship education in teaching. The purpose of the study is to increase the level of understanding of teachers’ entrepreneurship education practices, and through this to develop entrepreneurship education. This study builds on the literature on entrepreneurship education and especially those elements referring to the aims, resources, benefits, methods, and practises of entrepreneurship education. The study comprises five articles highlighting teachers’ role in entrepreneurship education. In the first article the concept of entrepreneurship and the teachers role in reflection upon his/hers approaches to entrepreneurship education are considered. The second article provides a detailed analysis of the process of developing a measurement tool to depict the teachers’ activities in entrepreneurship education. The next three articles highlight the teachers’ role in directing the entrepreneurship education in basic and upper secondary level education. Furthermore, they analyse the relationship between the entrepreneurship education practises and the teachers’ background characteristics. The results of the study suggest a wide range of conclusions and implications. First, in spite of many outspoken aims connected to entrepreneurship education, teachers have not set any aims for themselves. Additionally, aims and results seem to mix. However, it is possible to develop teachers’ target orientation by supporting their reflection skills, and through measurement and evaluation increase their understanding of their own practices. Second, applying a participatory action process it is possible to operationalise teachers’entrepreneurship education practices. It is central to include the practitioners’ perspective in the development of measures to make sure that the concepts and aims of entrepreneurship education are understood. Third, teachers’ demographic or tenure-related background characteristics do not affect their entrepreneurship education practices, but their training related to entrepreneurship education, participation in different school-level or regional planning, and their own capabilities support entrepreneurship education. Fourth, a large number of methods are applied to entrepreneurship education, and the most often used methods were different kinds of discussions, which seem to be an easy, low-threshold way for teachers to include entrepreneurship education regularly in their teaching. Field trips to business enterprises or inviting entrepreneurs to present their work in schools are used fairly seldom. Interestingly, visits outside the school are more common than visitors invited to the school. In line, most of the entrepreneurship education practices take place in a classroom. Therefore it seems to be useful to create and encourage teachers towards more in-depth cooperation with companies (e.g. via joint projects) and to network systematically. Finally, there are plenty of resources available for entrepreneurship education, such as ready-made materials, external stakeholders, support organisations, and learning games, but teachers have utilized them only marginally.

Maternal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and the secondary sex ratio: an occupational cohort study.

Background: Though commercial production of polychlorinated biphenyls was banned in the United States in 1977, exposure continues due to their environmental persistence. Several studies have examined the associationbetween environmental polychlorinated biphenyl exposure and modulations of the secondary sex ratio, with conflicting results.Objective: Our objective was to evaluate the association between maternal preconceptional occupational polychlorinated biphenyl exposure and the secondary sex ratio.Methods: We examined primipara singleton births of 2595 women, who worked in three capacitor plants at least one year during the period polychlorinated biphenyls were used. Cumulative estimated maternal occupationalpolychlorinated biphenyl exposure at the time of the infant's conception was calculated from plant-specific job exposure matrices. A logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between maternalpolychlorinated biphenyl exposure and male sex at birth (yes/no).Results: Maternal body mass index at age 20, smoking status, and race did not vary between those occupationally exposed and those unexposed before the child's conception. Polychlorinated biphenyl-exposed mothers were, however, more likely to have used oral contraceptives and to have been older at the birth of their first child than non-occupationally exposed women. Among 1506 infants liveborn to polychlorinated biphenyl-exposedprimiparous women, 49.8% were male; compared to 49.9% among those not exposed (n = 1089). Multivariate analyses controlling for mother's age and year of birth found no significant association between the odds of amale birth and mother's cumulative estimated polychlorinated biphenyl exposure to time of conception.Conclusions: Based on these data, we find no evidence of altered sex ratio among children born to primiparous polychlorinated biphenyl-exposed female workers.

Teaching secondary Chemistry.

Esta guía práctica tiene como objetivo facilitar recursos a los docentes de la etapa de secundaria en su objetivo de enseñar a los alumnos las bases para el estudio y comprensión de la química. Está escrito en colaboración con la Association for Science Education (ASE) con la finalidad de difundir las buenas prácticas y nuevas ideas entre los profesores de ciencias y contribuir, así, a la mejora de la enseñanza.

Teaching secondary Physics.

Esta guía práctica tiene como objetivo facilitar recursos a los docentes de la etapa de secundaria en su objetivo de enseñar a los alumnos las bases para el estudio y comprensión de la física. Está escrito en colaboración con la Association for Science Education (ASE)con la finalidad de difundir las buenas prácticas y nuevas ideas entre los profesores de ciencias y contribuir, asi, a mejorar la enseñanza.

Teaching secondary Biology.

Esta guía práctica tiene como objetivo facilitar recursos a los docentes de la etapa de secundaria en su objetivo de enseñar a los alumnos las bases para el estudio y comprensión de la biología. Está escrito en colaboración con la Association for Science Education (ASE)con la finalidad de difundir las buenas prácticas y nuevas ideas entre los profesores de ciencias y contribuir, asi, a mejorar la enseñanza.

Teaching secondary science using ICT.

El nivel alcanzado por las Tecnologías de la Información y de la Comunicación en el mundo actual, en el que van a vivir y trabajar nuestros estudiantes, justifica su utilización en las aulas. Las TIC han transformado la enseñanza de las ciencias en las escuelas, pues aportan nuevas posibilidades a los profesores y ofrecen una mayor independencia en su trabajo y en su forma de pensar a los estudiantes.

Teaching secondary science.

Enfoca la enseñanza de las ciencias en la escuela secundaria desde el punto de vista contructivista del aprendizaje en los niños. Reúne los requisitos exigidos en el curriculo nacional de Inglaterra del año 2000 y en la Estrategia nacional para las ciencias (National Strategy for Science). Está dividido en cinco partes, que están vinculadas a las tres normas para la obtención de la cualificación docente: primera, los valores profesionales y la práctica, es decir, qué es la ciencia y justificar su lugar en el curriculo; segunda, el conocimiento y la comprensión de las ideas que traen los alumnos y la mejor manera de iniciarles en nuevas ideas científicas. Y en tercer lugar, la enseñanza, que comprende la planificación, la evaluación, la enseñanza y la dirección de la clase por parte del profesor.

Teaching secondary how science works.

El propósito de este libro es ayudar a los profesores a cumplir con los enunciados incluidos en la última versión del curriculo nacional en ciencias. Para ello, pone de relieve varios elementos que forman parte de cómo trabajar con la ciencia y que los maestros deben entender y enseñar: datos, pruebas, teorías y explicaciones, habilidades para la comunicación y aplicaciones e implicaciones de la ciencia. Cumple con los requisitos para la enseñanza de la ciencia en secundaria. Se acompaña de un CD-ROM con hojas de trabajo para los alumnos.

The history of technology in education. A comparative study and forecast

Area, launched in 1999 with the Bologna Declaration, has bestowed such a magnitude and unprecedented agility to the transformation process undertaken by European universities. However, the change has been more profound and drastic with regards to the use of new technologies both inside and outside the classroom. This article focuses on the study and analysis of the technology’s history within the university education and its impact on teachers, students and teaching methods. All the elements that have been significant and innovative throughout the history inside the teaching process have been analyzed, from the use of blackboard and chalk during lectures, the use of slide projectors and transparent slides, to the use of electronic whiteboards and Internet nowadays. The study is complemented with two types of surveys that have been performed among teachers and students during the school years 1999 - 2011 in the School of Civil Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. The pros and cons of each of the techniques and methodologies used in the learning process over the last decades are described, unfolding how they have affected the teacher, who has evolved from writing on a whiteboard to project onto a screen, the student, who has evolved from taking handwritten notes to download information or search the Internet, and the educational process, that has evolved from the lecture to acollaborative learning and project-based learning. It is unknown how the process of learning will evolve in the future, but we do know the consequences that some of the multimedia technologies are having on teachers, students and the learning process. It is our goal as teachers to keep ourselves up to date, in order to offer the student adequate technical content, while providing proper motivation through the use of new technologies. The study provides a forecast in the evolution of multimedia within the classroom and the renewal of the education process, which in our view, will set the basis for future learning process within the context of this new interactive era.

Postgraduate study and managers' subsequent work experience:an exploratory evaluation

Drawing on an exploratory qualitative study, this article considers the link between business school teaching at graduate level and subsequent work behaviour and experiences of former students. It evaluates the student experience some time after graduation. The findings of the retrospective evaluation point to the value of classroom peer discussion, the testing of ideas against prior work experience and the opportunity to make sense of organisational issues by setting them into broader context. The importance of andragogical approaches to teaching is discussed as well as the implications of the study findings for teaching quality enhancement. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.