ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Preparing Students for Education, Work, and Community: Activity Theory in Task-Based Curriculum Design
Author: Campbell, Chris
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Task Analysis,Curriculum Design,Case Studies,Sociocultural Patterns,Benchmarking,Immigrants,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Learning Activities,Communities of Practice,Foreign Countries,Units of Study,Program Design,Foreign Students,Higher Education,Land Settlement,Work Environment,Citizenship,Community Involvement,Learning Theories,Standards,Check Lists,Focus Groups

This case study describes how sociocultural and activity theory were applied in the design of a publicly funded, Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB)-based English as a Second Language (ESL) credential program and curriculum for immigrant and international students in postsecondary institutions in British Columbia, Canada. The ESL Pathways Project was conceived to prepare immigrant students to navigate the multiple pathways in the settlement process from postsecondary education to the workplace, community participation, and citizenship. The innovation in curriculum design resulted from the systematic reinterpretation of situated cognition and task-based design using activity theory. Given that both situated and task-based learning share intersecting theoretical lineages with activity theory, this reinterpretation was more a deepening and improvement than a reconceptualization process. The ensuing units were defined by the real-world activities and contexts of target communities of practice, with relevant instructional topics, tasks, genres, skills, and outcomes presented in a systematic manner to support learners to participate, ultimately, in those target communities. This process contrasts with traditional ad hoc forms of task-based curriculum design in ESL and EAP (English for Academic Purposes).
Using Prewriting Tasks in L2 Writing Classes: Insights from Three Experiments
Author: McDonough, Kim
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Prewriting,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),Collaborative Writing,English for Academic Purposes,Brainstorming,Task Analysis,Student Attitudes,Critical Thinking,Connected Discourse,Foreign Countries,Graduate Students,Undergraduate Students,Writing Instruction,Writing Assignments

Even though collaborative prewriting tasks are frequently used in second language (L2) writing classes (Fernández Dobao, 2012; Storch, 2005), they have not been as widely researched as other tasks, such as collaborative writing and peer review. This article examines the effectiveness of collaborative prewriting tasks at encouraging English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students to engage in critical reflection while brainstorming the content and organization of written texts. Drawing upon data from three experiments (Neumann &amp; McDonough, 2014a, 2014b), the impact of task design and students' perceptions about collaboration on their prewriting discussions are explored. Suggestions for instructors with an interest in using collaborative prewriting tasks are provided.
Text Comprehension--Learning Styles--School Performance
Author: Bartha, Krisztina
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Learning Strategies,Cognitive Style,Reading Comprehension,Reading Skills,Questionnaires,Curriculum Evaluation,Native Language,Textbook Evaluation,Correlation,Socioeconomic Background,Parent Background,Academic Achievement,Performance Based Assessment,Teacher Surveys,Teacher Attitudes,Research Reports,Data Interpretation,Middle School Students,Foreign Countries,Content Analysis,Observation,Grade 7,Worksheets

The following study interprets the results of a research carried out in 2008 in Romania, on a smaller sample. The aim of the study is the analysis of the text comprehension skills of 14 year old pupils, and the presentation of the connections with the social background, learning styles and school performance. The gathering of the data was completed during the survey with the analysis of the native language curricula and textbooks, class monitoring, as well as with a questionnaire addressed to teachers. The present paper presents the data on text comprehension, as well as the correlations with social background and learning. It sums up the result of the class monitoring, as well as those of the teacher interviews, emphasizing the aspects which are relevant from the point of view of text comprehension developing.
Adaptive Teaching via E-Learning Form
Author: Kostolányová, Katerina
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Electronic Learning,Student Characteristics,Student Centered Curriculum,Teaching Methods,Educational Practices,Educational Strategies,Learning Strategies,Needs Assessment,Student Needs,Pilot Projects,Cluster Grouping,Instructional Innovation,Questionnaires,Student Surveys,Preferences,Foreign Countries

The proposal of the adaptive form of teaching stems from the analysis of tested student characteristics. The testing involved modified questionnaires localized to Czech conditions of teaching (LSI, ISL, ...) in context with e-learning teaching. Based on tipped, most frequently occurred groups of student characteristics, the optimum procedures for presentation of the content of study according to learning styles of individual students are proposed. Students will be recommended the optimum method of the passage through the course, but at the same time, they will be offered other forms and methods of presentation of a particular topic of study. The contribution deals with the proposal of teaching tools according to most frequently occurring clusters of student characteristics.
Study on Students' Critical Thinking Capacities during Seminars of the Didactics of Geography
Author: Dulama, Eliza Maria
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Critical Thinking,Geography Instruction,Capacity Building,Instructional Materials,Hypothesis Testing,Seminars,College Students,Multimedia Materials,Visual Aids,Performance Factors,Teaching Methods,Educational Practices,Educational Strategies,Instructional Effectiveness,Teacher Education Programs,Elementary School Curriculum,Foreign Countries

In this study we tried to find answers to the following question: What is the effect of cognitive organisers (schemes, graphical organisers, quintets) on developing capacities characteristic of critical thinking? The hypothesis we wanted to test was the following: restructuring information through cognitive organisers did not suppose compulsory critical thinking, but restructuring while observing certain explicit tasks. We tested the hypothesis during a seminar of the Didactics of Geography in 2008. The sample was represented by 64 students in the second year at the Faculty of Geography. The task was to realise a poster about a country. That poster should have included a quintet, ten keywords, a graphical organiser, a sigle, a schematic map, and the essential ideas about the respective country. After analysing students' results we noticed the following: restructuring information in quintets, realising the sigle and identifying ten keywords about a country required and proved use of critical thinking as a result of observing explicit or implicit tasks; when restructuring information into graphical organisers and into lists of ideas, students used certain capacities characteristic of critical thinking, but they did not assess all ideas according to the same criteria and, therefore, restructuring that information should be realised on the basis of observing certain explicit tasks.
Ways to Use ICT in Schools to Optimize the Impact on Teaching and Learning
Author: Fredriksson, Ulf
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Teaching Methods,Foreign Countries,Qualitative Research,Case Studies,Questionnaires,Interviews,Focus Groups,Teacher Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Administrator Attitudes,Secondary Schools,Computers,Video Technology,Audio Equipment,Computer Software,Animation,Internet,Electronic Mail,Information Dissemination,Distance Education,Barriers

The European eLearning Forum for Education 2 (ELFE2) is a project initiated by the ETUCE (European Trade Union Committee on Education) and builds on the conclusion of its predecessor ELFE1. ELFE2 aims, as ELFE1, to contribute to a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of using ICT in education. It identifies ways used to optimize the benefits of ICT in education. To explore how ICT can be used to support teaching and learning two schools each in Denmark, England, Latvia, Poland, and Slovenia were selected based on information that indicated that they were regarded nationally as schools with an advanced ICT practice. The idea behind this selection is that by studying schools with what is experienced as an advance practice it will be possible to get some hints about problems and challenges other schools will be faced with. ELFE2 indicates that a number of ways are used in the schools to optimize the positive impact of ICT. Most of these ways are perceived by teachers and students as positive, but there are also factors that make the picture more complex. Some factors seem to be an obstacle for the introduction of ICT in the schools.
Risks Associated with the Use of the Internet and Its Impact upon Students&apos; Awareness of Perverse Issues: Literature Review
Author: Al Saif, Abdulkarim A.
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Literature Reviews,Risk,Internet,Mass Media Effects,Mass Media Role,Mass Media Use,Motivation,Use Studies,Student Needs,Access to Information,Social Networks,Technology Uses in Education

There are a lot of studies that have dealt with the different facets of the use of the internet. Most studies have identified entertainment and amusement as the major motivation for internet use with seeking knowledge and making social relationships coming as distant second and third respectively . Varying lines of investigation have been taken in this regard by different researchers notable among which are the impact of internet use on cultural and religious values, national language, loyalty to the home country, family ties and relationships, psychological stability and well-being, attitudes towards learning, educational usages…etc. While few question the learning and educational benefits of internet use, many authors have voiced their concerns over the adverse effects on religion and the national culture. Fears have also been expressed of internet addiction and related problems which may negatively affect the social behavior of youthful people. However, the evidence on the impact of internet use remains somewhat mixed and more research -- work is needed.
Experiences of Meaning and the Multilingual Existence
Author: Tódor, Erika Mária
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Native Language,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis,Reading Skills,Reading Comprehension,Comparative Analysis,English (Second Language),English Language Learners,Questionnaires,Reading Achievement,Reading Tests,Grade 8,Cultural Influences,Social Influences,Multilingualism,Hungarian,Romance Languages,Family Characteristics,Contrastive Linguistics,Language Usage,Reading Habits,Learning Experience,Foreign Countries

The aim of the article is to analyse the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the skills of reading and text-understanding, focusing on the comparative analysis of experiences of meaning in native language, Romanian and English in the case of Hungarian pupils. We attempted to present the qualitative indexes and factors of the process of reading texts written in native, secondary and foreign language with the help of questionnaires, the students' data and tests measuring the performances of reading. The collection of data was realized in the spring of 2009. Through the collected data we attempted to answer the following questions: What kind of skills of understanding text do the pupils in the last year of primary school (i.e. 8th grade) possess? Which are the determining socio-cultural background factors? Can we differentiate between the common and specific features of reading and meaning-construction done in different languages? Can we speak about similar difficulties of reading and about the phenomenon of transfer in the case of meaning-discovery in different languages? The present study offers the possibility of creating training programs and teaching strategies based on local specificities, as well as of drafting curricula based on the pupils' knowledge of language, desires and interests.
Modern French and Russian Media Education in XXI Century (2000-2009)
Author: Fedorov, Alexander
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Media Literacy,Mass Media,Comparative Education,Educational Practices,Comparative Analysis,Participant Satisfaction,Models,Audiovisual Instruction,Internet,Web Based Instruction,Publications,Material Development,Educational Research,International Education,Learning Activities,Foreign Countries,Educational Assessment,Educational Indicators

The author of this article thinks that the basic difficulties of wider introduction of media education in the Russian and French universities &amp; schools first of all are connected with patent defect purposefully prepared of media educators; with the certain inertness of many educational establishments; with traditional approaches of the education ministry structures concentrating the attention on support of training computers' courses and information technologies and much smaller attention to actual media education problems. The target to give media education movement a new pulse is connects with the consolidation of all educational and media educational organizations and media communities. As a whole the comparative analysis modern media education in France and Russia in XXI (twenty first) centuries has shown that, despite of the certain distinctions, it has common extremely actual in epoch refined media manipulations vector--aspiration to development of critical and democratic thinking, creative abilities on media material--at all levels of training.
Children between Sustainable Development and Commercials
Author: Péter, Lilla
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Sustainable Development,Sustainability,Advertising,Childrens Television,Mass Media Effects,Mass Media Role,Elementary School Students,Childhood Attitudes,World Views,Consumer Education,Critical Viewing,Educational Legislation,Hypothesis Testing,Parent Influence,Habit Formation,Information Policy,Television Commercials,Television Viewing,Foreign Countries,Children,Questionnaires

Our paper deals with the relationship between sustainability, media advertisements and their effect on children. This topic is highly actual today, as the children of today, who grow up in front of the TV will be the consumers of tomorrow. The perpetual growth of consuming and gathering material goods is not serving the sustainable development. However advertisements keep on telling us that we should purchase, buy, have things, as we all are what we can buy. On can buy happiness or become like protagonists featuring in the advertisements. Regardless of the actual programme, this is the overall message of the advertisements. Adults may be able to look at these ads from a critical point of view, but children, who are much more vulnerable in front of the effects of television, tend to take a dreamworld for reality. The aim of the paper is an empirical research on 7-9 years children. The primordial question of our research is the way how the commercials had effect on the children's view on the world, view on themselves, their own and their family's present and future consuming habits.
Several Characteristic Features of Children's Representations
Author: Dulama, Maria Eliza
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Kindergarten,Childrens Art,Freehand Drawing,Art Expression,Ecology,Environmental Influences,Art Appreciation,Childhood Attitudes,Foreign Countries

The purpose of our research was to test the following hypothesis: 6 and 7 years old children's representations were strongly influenced by the environment they lived in. Representations are interiorised models of objects, phenomena and events, independent of present use of our senses and of the presence or absence of objects. We realised our research in Gradinita cu Program Normal Floresti/Floresti Kindergarten, Cluj county, during the 2008-2009 school year. The sample was represented by twelve children in their last year of kindergarten, preparing for school. We analysed nine of those children's drawings. We identified the representations that appeared in several of children's drawings and in the same child's drawings for several times, then we identified for each child her or his singular representations and compositions as a reflection of the world they were living in or of an imaginary world. After analysing children's drawings we realised that it confirmed the hypothesis that 6 and 7 years old children's drawings were influenced strongly by their environment. We noticed the following: kindergarten children's representations were very diverse, but they were characterised by a certain peculiarity of the place they inhabited; some objects appeared more often than others, and that meant that kindergarten children knew them better and could represent them graphically more easily; kindergarten children preferred drawing familiar objects that they had drawn before; some drawings included the essential features of the represented objects and that proved that kindergarten children had the respective concept and could represent it in drawings, while one could not identify other objects without writing down what the child said he or she meant.
The Units Tell You What to Do
Author: Brown, Simon
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Computation,Units of Study,Teaching Methods,Fundamental Concepts,Problem Solving,Mathematical Applications,Mathematical Models,Mathematics Activities,Educational Practices,Educational Strategies

Many students have some difficulty with calculations. Simple dimensional analysis provides a systematic means of checking for errors and inconsistencies and for developing both new insight and new relationships between variables. Teaching dimensional analysis at even the most basic level strengthens the insight and confidence of students, and provides them with a tool that can be applied in almost any context.
Is Algebra Really Difficult for All Students?
Author: Egodawatte, Gunawardena
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Algebra,Mathematics Skills,High School Students,Secondary School Mathematics,Psychological Patterns,Error Patterns,Problem Solving,Arithmetic,Mathematics Instruction,Brain,Cognitive Processes,Mathematical Logic,Foreign Countries,Grade 9,Grade 10,Secondary School Students,Comprehension,Equations (Mathematics),Word Problems (Mathematics),Symbols (Mathematics),Interviews

Research studies have shown that students encounter difficulties in transitioning from arithmetic to algebra. Errors made by high school students were analyzed for patterns and their causes. The origins of errors were: intuitive assumptions, failure to understand the syntax of algebra, analogies with other familiar symbol systems such as the English alphabet and interference from arithmetic. There were other psychological factors such as carelessness, anxiety, overconfidence, and lack of motivation. Three major error types are discussed with their causes using a cognitive psychological approach. Solution methods of another group of students show that they were eager to use algebraic methods over arithmetic procedures even though arithmetic procedures are more straightforward. The paper argues that creative methods used by some students should be used to reinforce the learning of other students.
Chemistry Inreach: University Employees' Children Experiencing University Chemistry
Author: Shaw, Amanda J.
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Chemistry,Outreach Programs,Employees,Children,Universities,Work Environment,Community Programs,Foreign Countries,Science Experiments,Adolescents,Scientists,Questionnaires,Student Attitudes,Likert Scales,Feedback (Response),Departments,Parents,Parent Attitudes,Surveys,Interests,Science Education

Many university departments provide public engagement activities, often referred to as &quot;outreach&quot; to school students, their teachers and other members of the public. It is less common for University Departments to run activities for their employees let alone the children of these employees. This paper looks at the value put on an engagement activity both by participating students and their parents who are employees of the host university. Analysis shows that the students welcome the opportunity to experience aspects of their parents' workplace and those parents are extremely supportive of such initiatives.
Crossroads on the Way Towards Educational and Social Inclusion: Intercultural, Critical and Feminist Pedagogy
Author: Popa, Nicoleta-Laura
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Inclusion,Critical Theory,Feminism,Multicultural Education,Ideology,Educational Theories

Regardless the ideology one would embrace in thinking or rethinking education, he/she would agree that education is a real vehicle of change-making. The present article attempts to summarize through a review of multidisciplinary literature three convergent ideological trends in contemporary educational theory, which underline this powerful principle: intercultural, feminist and critical pedagogy. Although choices of concepts, suggested educational approaches or classroom strategies may seem to illustrate different view points, there are common standings shared by theorists of the respective fields: education is primarily a tool of changing society through empowerment, respecting diversity of personal experiences, building community, privileging individual voices etc. Intercultural, feminist and critical pedagogy challenge in specific ways traditional pedagogical notions, but they may be conceived as roads to the inclusive movement in education. As a consequence, boundaries of inclusive education go beyond the simple adjustement of school provisions to the special needs of the disabled, becoming a rather largely shared educational ideology, covering all educational approaches addressing specific target groups.
Using Graphic Organizers in Intercultural Education
Author: Ciascai, Liliana
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Multicultural Education,Instructional Materials,Educational Practices,Visual Aids,Teaching Methods,Learning Activities,Learning Strategies,Educational Technology,Instructional Material Evaluation,Program Descriptions,Science Education

Graphic organizers are instruments of representation, illustration and modeling of information. In the educational practice they are used for building, and systematization of knowledge. Graphic organizers are instruments that addressed mostly visual learning style, but their use is beneficial to all learners. In this paper we illustrate the use of graphic organizers in the intercultural education. We present a set of graphic organizers used in the scientific literature and then we describe teaching activities that are based on the use of graphic organizers.