Using children’s literature to teach English has been promoted by researchers and educators because of its positive effects on learners – motivation, language learning, and personal growth. It is inline with the Hong Kong SAR government’s view on using literature and language arts in classrooms to motivate and teach reading and learning. However, using literature to teach is quite rarely seen in local schools. This dissertation study aims to research the effectiveness of an innovative reading programme—Novel Study—on motivating young learners to read in a local primary school. An action research was conducted in an grade 5 English class and the data was collected through thirty-six semi-structured interviews, observations from ten video-recorded lessons, students’ reading journals and the teacher-researcher’s teaching journals. This study finds that Novel Study had positive impacts on motivating children to read. One significant finding was that the reading programme brought enjoyment in reading and in working on different tasks in class. The study also shows encouraging effects in giving the teacher the opportunities to implement effective teaching strategies and meaningful tasks. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Limited research has been done on the reading strategies of primary school children learning English as a foreign language, particularly in the Hong Kong context. To contribute much needed research in this area, this study uses miscue analysis and prompted think aloud procedures to investigate the reading strategies used by higher and lower proficiency native Cantonese speaking students learning English as a foreign language in primary 4. As part of the investigation the study focuses on the strategies that these students use to comprehend unfamiliar words in context and the contribution of graphophonic awareness skills to the reading process. The study found that (a) higher proficiency students have a clearer awareness of the reading process and the importance of overall coherence and comprehension than their lower proficiency counterparts; (b) higher proficiency students were able to make efficient and effective use of the syntactic and semantic cueing systems to reduce their reliance on graphophonic and pictorial cues; and (c) higher proficiency students focused on more sophisticated graphophonic stategies, such as blending chunks of sounds, identification of syllable and association with other words, while lower proficiency students were more likely to engage in lower level pronunciation strategies, such as blending single sounds, or attempting whole word visual recall. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

With the development of using tablet computers in the classrooms, it is raised concern in education how to enhance the effectiveness of using tablet computers in teaching and learning. In this study, it provides a significant framework included four main obstacles of using tablet computers as a learning tool related to schools, teachers, students and parents that are studied with grounded theory. The purpose of this study is to understand the obstacles of using tablet computers as a learning tool and provide some recommendations according to teachers’ perception of teaching and students’ engagement of learning that occurs as a result of using tablet computers in primary schools. From the results of comparing students’ using tablet computers between schools and homes, the perception of teachers, students and parents’ on using tablet computers as a learning tool, the study found that there is a lot to develop and improve the tablet computers for primary school students to use as a learning tool. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

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Primary Health Care (PHC) plays a vital role in decentralization of health care services. PHC is designed to ensure health care coverage at the community level through the involvement of the community in improving their healthy living. PHC offers treatment and care in continuum that is supported by a facility-linked home- based care system and a referral system. While PHC is global, its operation and functioning in the area of community health provisioning varies across communities. The main objective of this study is to find out whether PHC is effective or not in Roma Valley, Lesotho. The study was carried out in Roma Valley, in the Maseru district of Lesotho. The population for this study includes the nurses under the department of PHC, village health workers, Chiefs and out-patients from four different villages. Out of this, a sample of thirty individuals was selected. The data for this study was collected through qualitative research technique, particularly oral interviews and written records or secondary data sources. The analysis revealed that nurses and village health workers respond to the social needs and health problems of the community and community members are also involved in improving their health status. Village health workers face many challenges in their engagement in this system such as not being given incentives for what they do and often uncooperative disposition of some community members including their leaders. It was also found that they operate under a lot of stress due to lack of resources.

Over two thirds of adults in the United States are affected by overweight or obesity. Weight management, which requires multi-component, intensive interventions targeting dietary and physical activity behaviors, should be offered as part of routine primary care services. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of evidence to guide the implementation of feasible and effective strategies within primary care settings. This DNP Project utilized a cross-sectional descriptive needs-assessment to survey obese patients' perceptions and preferences regarding weight and the primary care provider role in weight management. The findings from the needs assessment were used to inform the development of a feasible, patient-centered, weight management program.

No description available.

No description available.

The top-down effects of consumers and bottom-up effects of resource availability are important in determining community structure and ecological processes. I experimentally examined the roles of consumers — both detritivores and predators — and habitat context in affecting nutrient cycling using the detritus-based insect community in bromeliad leaf wells. I also investigated the role of multiple resources in limiting plant productivity using meta analyses. The insect community in bromeliads only increased nitrogen release from leaf detritus in the presence of a predator trophic level. When only detritivores were present, the flow of stable isotope-labeled nitrogen from detritus to bromeliads was statistically indistinguishable from that in bromeliads lacking insects. I suggest that emergence of adult detritivores constitutes a loss of nitrogen from bromeliad ecosystems, and that predation reduces the rate of this nutrient loss. Hence, insects facilitate nutrient uptake by the plant, but only if both predators and detritivores are present. Moreover, predators can affect nutrient cycling by influencing the spatial scale of prey turnover. This mechanism results in a pattern opposite to that predicted by classic trophic cascade theory. Increasing habitat complexity can have implications for nutrient cycling by decreasing the foraging efficiency of both predators and their prey, and by affecting the vulnerability of predators to intraguild predation. Along a natural gradient in bromeliad size, I found that, depending on the relationship between community composition and habitat size, habitat complexity interacts with the changing biotic community to either complement or counteract the impact of predators on nutrient uptake by bromeliads. In contrast to the existing emphasis on single-resource limitation of primary productivity, meta-analyses of a database of 653 studies revealed widespread limitation by multiple resources, and frequent interaction between these resources in restricting plant growth. A framework for analyzing fertilization studies is outlined, with explicit consideration of the possible role of multiple resources. I also review a range of mechanisms responsible for the various forms of resource limitation that are observed in fertilization experiments. These studies emphasize that a wider range of predator and nutrient impacts should be considered, beyond the paradigm of single resource limitation or classic trophic cascades.

Background: Work-related asthma (WRA) is under-recognized and early detection is associated with improved outcomes. The Work-related Asthma Screening Questionnaire (Long-version) (WRASQ(L)) is a 14-item tool designed to increase the detection of WRA in primary care. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess whether the WRASQ(L) provided additional and reliable information on a patient’s likelihood of WRA, beyond what is collected in standard care, to explore the relationship of WRASQ(L) responses to clinical actions and to assess the use of the WRASQ(L) in the primary care setting. Methods: This was an intervention study involving two Ontario Primary Care Asthma Program (PCAP) sites assigned the WRASQ(L). Standard care for asthma patients in PCAP sites involved completing the Asthma Care Map (ACM), a clinical pathway which included seven WRA screening items. Consent to participate in this study involved completing an electronic WRASQ(L) at each visit for participants and prompted care providers to record details related to WRA investigations. Results: The study sample (N=37) was predominantly female (73.0%), with a mean age of 46.3 years (SD, 10.9). Use of the WRASQ(L) identified work-related symptoms, exposures and high- risk past occupations in 38% and 60% and 47% of participants, respectively, that were not identified in standard care. Two participants were newly-suspected cases of WRA during this study period. WRASQ(L) items demonstrated fair to moderate reproducibility, but estimates may have been subject to measurement error. Incorporation of the electronic WRASQ(L) in clinical care was limited by time constraints and technical factors, such as ease of use and flexibility of the application. Conclusions: The WRASQ(L) provided added information about possible WRA over standard care. Use of the questionnaire’s results by care providers in this study was limited due to barriers encountered in incorporating the use of the WRASQ(L) in clinical practice. Future directions include the validation of this tool in relation to WRA diagnosis. The WRASQ(L) has the potential to increase recognition of WRA, improving long-term health outcomes for those with WRA. / Thesis (Master, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-27 21:16:28.59