The aim of this thesis is to generate new knowledge about how children and teachers communicate scientific contents in preschool. The general research question is formulated as: How do the object of learning and the act of learning appear in communication about scientific contents in preschool? This thesis is a collection of three (previously published) empirical studies and takes shape in the encounter between a projected knowledge acquisition task for preschool and the educational tradition of preschool. The research approach is based primarily on phenomenography focussing on developmental pedagogy. The results are discussed in relation to situated learning and the assumptions about the task of preschool characterising the social practice that is brought to light. The thesis is based on the assumption that teachers are bearers of taken-for-granted ideas about what the ‘good preschool’ is, and that these ideas affect the way they interpret new tasks. The empirical basis consists of video observations from two preschools working with different thematic projects: Life in the tree stump and How soil is formed. The analysis is delimited to the verbal communication occurring between children and teachers about the scientific content. The children are aged between three and six years. All observations have been transcribed to text and analysed according to the following research questions: Study I: (i) What is communicated as the object of learning in the theme work about natural scientific phenomena in the preschool studied? (ii) What acts of learning appear in the communication of the object of learning? Study II is a re-analysis of the linguistic usage in the empirical data from Study I. Research questions of Study II are: is there any systematic pattern in the use of anthropomorphic speech regarding (i) who uses this language, (ii) when it is used and (iii) what it is used for? Study III is delimited to children’s perspective, and the research questions are: (i) What do children ask about during theme work with a natural scientific process in preschool? (ii) Can any tendency towards change be discerned with regard to what kind of questions children ask in the course of the theme work? The results have thrown light on what natural science is in these preschools, a questioning teacher, an education ideal as an interpretative framework and children’s meeting with the object of learning. The results are discussed in relation to a feasible didactic perspective based on the educational ideal of preschool and in relation to a critical didactic perspective concerning teachers’ will, courage and competence to make the content visible. Finally, with the implementation of the raised knowledge task for preschool in mind, prominence is given to the need of critical reflection over the role of language as maintaining a discourse and the concepts established. / Finansierad av vetenskapsrådet/utbildningsvetenskapliga kommittén: Nationell forskaskola i Barndom, lärande, ämnesdidaktik (FoBa), Dnr 721 - 2005 - 2717

<p> This qualitative multiple case study sought to discover third-grade teacher perspectives of the strategies used when effectively implementing Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI). Five exemplar third-grade teachers were purposefully selected based on recommendations from their principal and instructional coach. The purpose of the study was to learn how the implementation of the essential elements of CGI affected planning of mathematics lessons and how those elements were implemented into mathematics instructional practices. </p><p> The study utilized triangulation of data sources, including semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis. Based on the results from the first research question, planning for CGI lessons was found to be more difficult compared to planning for traditional mathematics lessons. The teachers spent more time developing word problems due to the lack of resources, because CGI is to be customized to meet the needs of the students. For the second research question, five themes emerged as strategies the teacher used for implementing CGI during class: 1) conceptualizing, 2) articulating, 3) using multiple strategies, 4) questioning, and 5) scaffolding. These strategies were employed by all teachers, but were differentiated by each teacher to best meet the needs of the students.</p>

<p> When considering closing the achievement gap, full-day kindergarten (FDK) is a viable contender. The implementation of specific teacher strategies enhances the FDK experience and elicits gains among the students. The literature clearly articulates a strong correlation between poverty and poor achievement and supports the notion that the relationship between the teacher and student is a positive factor in closing the achievement gap. However, the research is insufficient when it comes to digging deep into teacher perceptions regarding the importance of the relationship that exists between the teacher and the student. The foundation for which this study is built stems from John Bowlby&rsquo;s attachment theory and emphasizes the importance of the relationship between the child and adult. This study provides profound insight into the perceptions of FDK teachers and the strategies, or concepts they believe have the greatest influence on student achievement among students of poverty. The qualitative phenomenological study revealed intimate and personal thoughts of nine FDK teachers discovered through the coding and analysis of 18 semi-structured interview transcripts. Substantial findings exposed four themes with great clarity and obvious patterns. The themes in order of the greatest number of responses to the least, are: classroom atmosphere, instructional strategies, student management, and the relationship between the teacher and the student. </p>

<p> The present mixed-methods quasi-experimental study (embedding a case study and a mixed factorial within-between ANOVA test), conducted in a private English school in Limassol, Cyprus, investigated how the use of the schematic learning aids (researcher-made color-coded flash-cards and grids) influence year-2 children's ability to read, write and represent Hindu-Arabic numerals and how these number representations affect their arithmetic competency. This was achieved by comparing an intervention group (n=16) and a control group (n=17) before and after the 2-week intervention. </p><p> It is concluded that the use of the place-value learning aids facilitates numeration system conceptual understanding , reading, writing and representing numbers (in canonical and non-canonical form) by thinking in terms of "100s", "10s" and "1s" (or in terms of color-coded cards). Students visually relate the face-value of the digits (e.g. "3" and "5") of the number (e.g. "35") with the number of flash-cards to be used for the canonical representation (three orange cards and five blue cards). Children also understand how "53" differs from "35" or "503". It is further concluded that the use of the learning aids facilitates addition and subtraction performance in terms of "hundreds", "tens" and "ones" (rather than just "ones") either mentally or by constructing canonical and non-canonical representations with the use of the flash-cards and grids or by constructing abstract representations on paper. Students realize that ten cards of one color can be exchanged with one card of another color (or vice versa). Students further understand how "35-2" differs from "35-20" and how "51-32" differs from "52-31". </p><p> Quantitative data are in agreement with qualitative data, suggesting that children's arithmetic competency is enhanced when taught how to represent numbers, additions and subtractions with the use of the learning aids. The control group mean score increase from before to after intervention was 1,24 marks, compared to an increase of 11,06 marks for the intervention class. The medium to large Cohen's d effect sizes of 0,51 (comparing the intervention group score increase to the control group score increase) or 0,57 (comparing the intervention group score from before to after) indicate strong practical significance.</p>

<p> Multiple-baseline across participants design was used to examine the effects of professional development (PD) and coaching on preschool teachers&rsquo; implementation of embedded-explicit literacy instruction to increase children&rsquo;s opportunities to engage in meaningful, intentional, and contextualized literacy behaviors, as measured by Complete Learning Trials (CLTs). Three teachers were videotaped weekly during free-play and observations were coded for CLT accuracy. After professional development, coaching was provided weekly via email. An immediate effect of PD was observed, with considerable variability once remote feedback was provided. Students&rsquo; early literacy skills were measured prior to and at the end of the study to provide a snapshot of children&rsquo;s literacy-related skills. Compared to pre-intervention scores, children&rsquo;s picture naming, rhyming, sound identification and comprehension skills had significantly increased, however, due to the research design these changes cannot be attributed to teachers&rsquo; implementation or non-implementation of explicit-embedded activities alone.</p>

This study is a qualitative case study of one writer, my daughter Zoe, over a period of two years comparing her writing at home with the writing completed at school during kindergarten and first grade. This study involves descriptions, interpretations, and analyses of Zoe's writing, including the processes and products across the two settings. There are two frames through which the writer and her writing are described, analyzed, and interpreted in this study. The first frame focuses on the purposes for and functions of Zoe's writing activity at home and in school. This includes our present understanding of written language development in terms of purposes and functions, the conditions writers require in order to write, determinants of written language, and the various systems upon which writers rely to make meaning. The second frame through which Zoe's writing is described, interpreted, and analyzed in this study focuses on the nature of the two settings, the home and the school. The settings are analyzed in terms of the activities and experiences in which the writer engages within each setting. The goal of this study is to understand the nature of a young child's writing activity across the home/school settings by analyzing the writing she did in each of those settings. The impact of the social nature of the settings upon her writing activity are also considered. A theoretical framework for written language use and development is presented and discussed as a vehicle for understanding and developing writing programs and developing supportive relationships between the school and the home.

This multiple-case study describes the literacy events that occurred during play in three holistic preschool classrooms over a four-month period. The data includes field notes from observations and from discourse with participants, audiotape transcriptions, interviews, and writing samples. Analytic induction was used for the analysis. Within play, literacy was used as: a support for play themes, a frame for play themes, and as an extraneous aspect of play. Literacy events involved transactions with print, as well as social transactions. Social transactions within literacy events were analyzed for whether they involved: self-construction of meaning, joint construction of meaning, direct instruction, or challenge. The data show that in print-rich environments, where reading and writing materials are accessible, and where literacy is an expected way of life, teachers can meaningfully facilitate literacy development. The teachers capitalized on the many teachable moments that arose during play by carefully observing children and making relevant literacy-related contributions. The children explored and developed their own understandings about literacy, and at the same time, nurtured literacy development in their peers; literacy development was both personal and social. By themselves, and with support from peers and teachers, the children explored the functions and features of written language, they tested their hypotheses about written language, and they developed strategies used by successful readers and writers. Play was found to be a meaningful and effective medium for facilitating literacy development.

Kindergarten was originally conceived as a place for young children to playfully participate in self-initiated investigation and creative work to facilitate their development (Froebel, 1967a). However, over time, curricular mandates have shifted from Froebel’s original conception of kindergarten to prescriptive outcomes that have resulted in a more academically oriented curriculum that emphasizes skills and content in segregated subject areas (Russell, 2011; Stipek, 2004). These expectations and the accompanying accountability have led to the development of a different kind of kindergarten driven by a different set of goals (Stipek, 2004). There has been much discussion concerning the impact of shifting expectations on teacher practice (e.g., Goldstein, 2007b). Much of this research has surrounded a singular debate: the tension between the use of developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) and the obligation to teach prescribed curricular goals (e.g., Einarsdottir, 2008). However, this debate focusses solely on two dichotomous instructional logics and, thus, belies the complexities of the kindergarten classroom (Goldstein, 2007a). To gain a deeper understanding of how kindergarten is enacted in the evolving curricular landscape, this research looks beyond the challenges of integrating competing perspectives and into the interconnected factors at play in a classroom. Accordingly, in this study, I use a conceptual lens informed by Schwab’s conception of the eclectic (1971) and the four commonplaces (1973) to examine the multiple factors that contribute to the development of a kindergarten classroom environment. I re-envision the four commonplaces – subject matter, teacher, milieu, and learner – to align them with contemporary conceptions of educational purposes, practical theory, classroom climate, and childhood. Acknowledgement of kindergarten as an eclectic space provides a framework to explore the concurrent inclusion of both academic and developmental orientations. Using an ethnographic approach that integrates data from classroom observations, teacher interviews, and photo elicitation interviews with the students, I robustly describe learning in three full day kindergarten classrooms in Ontario. The data demonstrate that a successful, albeit different, balance between academic learning and developmentally appropriate practices is present in each of these classrooms. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2013-04-28 23:45:55.34

<p> This study is an examination of early intervention services for infants/toddlers with visual impairments, as related to home-based services and andragogy learning theory. Early intervention refers to therapeutic services provided to eligible infants/toddlers while andragogy emphasizes how adults learning. Research discussed the implementation of andragogical factors with parents of infants/toddlers appeared limited. The null hypotheses statements addressed four variables related to infant/toddler with visual impairments assessment scores, the number of home visit units authorized by the child&rsquo;s Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) and implemented by the early intervention service provider, responses on the family outcome survey, and service provider responses regarding the use of andragogical factors during early intervention home visits.</p><p> The researcher examined secondary data related to assessment scores of infants/toddlers with visual impairments, the frequency of home visits implemented by a Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI) and/or Orientation and Mobility (O and M) specialist, comparison of early intervention units, and results of a Family Outcome Survey. The researcher co-authored the Modified Instructional Perspectives Inventory for Teachers working with Parents of Young Children (MIPI-TPC) to measure the frequency in which early intervention service providers implemented andragogical factors during home visits. Participants of this study included 30 infants/toddlers with visual impairments receiving early intervention services from a TVI and/or O and M specialist. Seventeen families completed the Family Outcome Survey and three early intervention service providers completed the MIPI-TPC. The utilization and analysis of descriptive statistics, a <i>t</i>-test of dependent means, and the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient, Analysis of Variance, and <i>Chi-Square</i> test determined relationships among the variables.</p><p> The results demonstrated limited relationships with assessment scores, frequency of home visits, units provided and authorized in the infant/toddler&rsquo;s IFSP, and parent responses on the Family Outcome Survey. However, the MIPI-TPC results reported the service providers implementing andragogical factors within the category levels of above average and average. The prominent finding of the study supported the integration of andragogy learning theory during early intervention services. Future studies linking the two fields together may benefit the advocacy of early intervention service providers, empowerment of parents, and most importantly, infants/toddlers with developmental delays. </p><p>

<p> Limited research exists on effective treatment modalities for early onset trauma-based psychosis during the latency period of childhood. This thesis reviews research on the benefits of using Jungian play therapy to treat trauma-based psychosis. Depth psychologists have theorized that the conscious reality of individuals experiencing psychosis is flooded by unconscious complexes, resulting in symptoms of psychosis and intolerance to emotions experienced. Using hermeneutic and heuristic methodologies, this thesis focuses on how, using Jungian play therapy, therapists can form therapeutic alliances with children experiencing psychosis, assist the child with integrating their unconscious experiences, affect, and thoughts into conscious reality thereby managing distressing emotions, contributing to healthy ego development, and reducing psychotic symptoms. Psychological literature and a friend of the author&rsquo;s experience of psychosis are examined to demonstrate how the integration of unconscious material leads to the potential to heal the fragmentation of the psyche caused by trauma and psychosis.</p>