The full text of this thesis/dissertation is not available online. Please <a href="mailto:upetd@up.ac.za">contact us</a> if you need access. Read the abstract in the section 00front of this document. / Thesis (PhD (Nie-formele Onderwys))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Orthopaedic Surgery / unrestricted

In this qualitative study, I explored the lived experiences of eight early childhood educators implementing a play-based teacher professional development intervention, child teacher relationship training (CTRT), in an affluent Christian based preschool. Through the building of relationships, CTRT provided the teachers a person-centered approach to develop skills to establish relationships and to attend to the intentional emotional and relational development of young children. The research questions addressed the impact on teachers with children exhibiting challenging behaviors utilizing CTRT experienced before, during, and after the implementation of the play-based consultation intervention. Thematic analysis of the pre-intervention interviews, observation journals, reflexive journal, and post-intervention interviews revealed two clusters and seven distinct themes. The first cluster described the learning experiences of teachers while implementing CTRT with four identified themes: (a) changes in their views about children; (b) changes in their views about their personal abilities and performance; (c) a deeper understanding of theory (Reggio Emilia and CTRT); and (d) teacher skill development. The second cluster concerned the impact of CTRT before, during, and after the implementation of CTRT with three identified themes: (a) relationships; (b) support systems; and (c) the transfer of CTRT skills outside the classroom. The emerging themes indicated that the participants found CTRT to be a useful intervention for skill development to address challenging behaviors in young children, increased the teachers' abilities to manage classrooms, and professional and personal growth.

This dissertation investigated the roles of early childhood fundamental motor skills (FMS) competence on physical, cognitive, and psychosocial health outcomes among underserved preschoolers in Head Start, and examined parental influence on their children's FMS competence. An explanatory sequential mixed methodology was used to examine the predictive strength of FMS competence on physical, cognitive, and psychosocial health outcomes among 216 underserved preschoolers from six Head Start centers (Mage = 4.32, SD = 0.63; girls 56.5%). This methodology allowed for a follow-up qualitative aspect to explore the influence of parents' perceptions and behaviors on their child's FMS competence and health outcomes in a subsample of eight parent–child dyads who demonstrate high or low FMS competence in the quantitative data. The results of this dissertation suggest that preschoolers' FMS competence, especially locomotor skills, were associated with and predicted various health outcomes in sedentary behavior (β = -0.21), light physical activity (β = 0.23), executive function (β = -0.21), and perceived motor competence (β = 0.34). No significant influences of FMS competence on moderate-to-vigorous, body fatness, HRQoL were found (p > 0.05). We also found that positive parental influences (role modeling, support, and facilitation) were observed more often among preschoolers in the high FMS competence group. In addition, preschoolers with single, divorced, or young parents (age range 18–24) tended to show low FMS competence. The analysis of children's drawing pictures also indicated differences in images related to the moments when they played games or sports with parents based on their FMS competence levels. Practical implications and future research direction are discussed.

No description available.

This two-part dissertation investigated the home language experiences and language development of 35 toddler-aged children from low-income Mexican immigrant families. These children represent a rapidly growing demographic in the United States. Because early language abilities are closely linked to later academic success, understanding the characteristics of the early language learning experiences provided in the homes of Mexican immigrant children is a foundational step to supporting their strengths and needs prior to formal school entry. In the first study of this dissertation, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the children’s mothers regarding the everyday activity settings of their young children. Degree of maternal acculturation was also assessed. Commonalities and variations in mothers’ values, beliefs, and practices regarding language teaching and learning were revealed. The commonalities included attention towards children’s early behavior and social skills, collective child-rearing practices, emphasis on the family unit and Mexican identity, and support for Spanish-English language learning and educational success, among others. A limited number of variations were also found to be associated with mothers’ affiliation with Anglo-American culture. In the second study, naturalistic recordings of the toddlers' language input in the home were analyzed in-depth to describe features of the quantity and quality of the input to which children were exposed. A wide range of variability in children’s quantity and quality was found. In addition, the relative amount of Spanish and English spoken to children was determined. Spanish was the primary language used with children, although English was also used in most homes. Children’s productive vocabulary in both languages was further measured contemporaneously; total vocabulary size ranged widely across children. There were no associations revealed between the characteristics of children’s language input quantity and quality and their productive vocabulary, although quantity and quality were related to one another. Implications of both studies to early childhood researchers and practitioners focused on early language development, including speech-language pathologists, are discussed. / Communication Sciences

Inclusive education is a fundamental part of South African Education with policies and initiatives being designed to provide support for learners with barriers to learning. With autism as a growing global phenomenon, South Africa has the additional challenge of providing learning support for learners with autism. This dissertation focuses on how one specialised preschool provides inclusive opportunities for preschool learners with autism through learning support. This setting is unique as it shares the same physical location as a mainstream preschool. The study focuses upon how the preschool teachers support their learners with autism so that they can be included within the adjoining inclusive environment. The research was conducted through participant observation and supporting interviews over a period of six months. All observations were recorded through field notes and reflections. The research produced a number of key findings. The shared physical environment enabled teachers and learners from both preschool settings to work together on a daily basis. This had a positive effect upon peer acceptance, staff and learner relationships and opportunities for staff to communicate and work collaboratively on a daily basis. The specialised preschool teachers provided learning support through the adaptation of learning environment, curriculum, multi sensory learning and language and communicative means. The main conclusions drawn from this research were the importance of a close working relationship between staff members and learners from both settings; the importance of adapting communication, environment and learning expectations; and lastly, the importance of focusing upon each individual when providing inclusive opportunities. The research recommends having a specialist setting physically close to an inclusive environment as this enables learners with high needs such as autism to build up the skills needed to benefit from being included. In addition, the research recommends staff in mainstream and specialist settings to have regular opportunity to work together collaboratively when developing learning strategies. Finally, the research recommends the publication of a guideline, outlining the nature of autism and recommended strategies to use within the classroom, which would serve as a flexible document for teachers to adapt to support their individual learners. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

La présente recherche collaborative vise à étudier les pratiques de lecture à haute voix d’enseignantes expertes et leur influence sur le développement de l’habileté des élèves du préscolaire à faire des inférences. Plus précisément, nous décrivons les interventions, lors des lectures à haute voix, de quatre enseignantes expertes que nous avons formées pour travailler la compréhension inférentielle et les comparons à celles de deux enseignantes expertes non formées (objectif 1). Puis, nous examinons l’influence de leurs pratiques de lecture à haute voix sur le développement de l’habileté à faire des inférences de leurs élèves (n=92) (objectif 2). Enfin, nous nous intéressons, à titre exploratoire, au potentiel de la recherche collaborative comme voie de développement professionnel des enseignants (objectif 3). Afin d’atteindre nos objectifs, nous avons observé les enseignantes à quatre reprises, lors de lectures d’albums de littérature de jeunesse. Les données obtenues à partir de ces pratiques observées ont été complétées par celles issues des pratiques déclarées des enseignantes pour toute la durée de la recherche (neuf semaines). De plus, nous avons évalué l’habileté à réaliser des inférences des élèves de ces six enseignantes à deux reprises, au début et à la fin de la recherche. Finalement, les enseignantes ont rempli deux questionnaires écrits sur l’impact de cette recherche sur leurs pratiques, l’un à la fin de la recherche et l’autre deux ans après celle-ci. Nos résultats indiquent que si toutes les enseignantes travaillaient les inférences, il existe cependant des différences notables dans leur façon de mener ce travail. Trois des enseignantes formées (enseignantes 1, 2 et 3) ont majoritairement privilégié la co-élaboration du sens des épisodes implicites et se sont montrées très efficaces pour soutenir leurs élèves dans ce travail de construction du sens. L’autre enseignante formée (enseignante 4), en raison d’une appropriation difficile du contenu de la formation, n’est pas parvenue à offrir à ses élèves un étayage adéquat, malgré ses nombreuses tentatives pour les amener à faire des inférences. Les enseignantes non formées (enseignantes 5 et 6) ont, quant à elles, misé plus fréquemment sur la transmission du sens des épisodes implicites et ont également soutenu moins efficacement leurs élèves dans l’élaboration du sens. Ces différences dans la façon de travailler les inférences se sont répercutées sur la progression des élèves entre le début et la fin de la recherche. Ceux des enseignantes 1, 2 et 3 obtiennent des résultats significativement supérieurs à ceux des trois autres enseignantes. Ainsi, il ne suffit pas de travailler les inférences lors des lectures à haute voix pour assurer la progression des élèves. D’autres facteurs revêtent aussi une grande importance : le choix d’oeuvres de qualité, l’engagement des élèves dans les discussions pour co-élaborer le sens et l’étayage adéquat de l’enseignant. Enfin, il semblerait que l’activité réflexive suscitée lors d’une participation à une recherche collaborative et le soutien offert par l’étudiante-chercheuse aient donné aux enseignantes la possibilité d’apporter des changements durables dans leurs pratiques. En ce sens, la recherche collaborative paraît être une voie prometteuse pour contribuer au développement professionnel des enseignants. / This collaborative research is an attempt to study expert teachers' reading aloud practices and their impact on the development of preschool students’ ability to make inferences. First, the interventions of four expert teachers specifically trained to work inferences while reading aloud are described and compared with those of two non trained expert teachers (objective 1). Next, the impact of all teachers’ practices on the development of their students’ ability to make inferences (n=92) is examined (objective 2). Finally, we look into collaborative research as a way to support professional development for teachers (objective 3). In order to attain our objectives, we observed participant teachers four times while they were reading children’s books. Data gathered from those observations were completed with other data provided by the teachers about their practices over a nine-week period. Moreover, the ability of the students to make inferences was assessed twice: once at the beginning and once at the end of the research. Teachers also completed two written questionnaires, one at the beginning and the other 2 years after the end of this research, concerning the impacts of their participation in this research on their practices. While all teachers worked inferences with their students, our results showed that there are significant differences in the way they do it. Three of the trained teachers (number 1, 2, and 3) predominantly put emphasis on co-elaboration of the implicit episodes’ meaning and gave their students appropriate scaffolding. Because she found it difficult to assimilate training contents, the other trained teacher (number 4) failed - not without numerous attempts - to offer the same kind of scaffolding. As for the two non trained teachers (number 5 and 6), they gave preference to the transmission of the implicit episodes’ meaning, and supported their students less efficiently when they tried to elaborate it. The differences in how the work on inferences was done had an impact on students’ progression from the beginning to the end of the research. Three of the trained teachers’ students had significantly superior results in comparison to the others’. Therefore, a specific work on inferences only does not ensure that students will make progress. There are other important contributing factors: choosing quality books, students’ involvement in discussions in order to co-elaborate the text’s meaning, and appropriate scaffolding from the teacher. Finally, according to our results, a participation in a collaborative research, which promotes reflexivity and offers coaching, seems to give the teachers the opportunity to bring about long-term changes in their practices. In consequence, a participation in that type of research appears to contribute to teachers’ professional development.

Submitted by SBI Biblioteca Digital (sbi.bibliotecadigital@puc-campinas.edu.br) on 2016-05-10T13:06:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ricardo Alves Taveira.pdf: 1151021 bytes, checksum: c5d09ee17fb521dd9ae01f24204b8fd0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-10T13:06:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ricardo Alves Taveira.pdf: 1151021 bytes, checksum: c5d09ee17fb521dd9ae01f24204b8fd0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-17 / This work addresses the initial training of Educators teachers and physical education teachers, with an emphasis on children movement body culture of early childhood education, aged between three and five years what the design on this body manifestation that such teachers They have and how they work with their students. It is a qualitative research, based on the cultural-historical theory of Vygotsky and authors linked to the culture of body movement and training of teachers (Children's Education and Physical Education). Used as instruments to build the empirical material research, participant observation and semi-structured interviews in two schools that have early childhood education in the city Espirito Santo do Pinhal/ SP. The choice of body culture movement is justified by the understanding that human movement is not restricted to a mechanical and insulation displacement, but in a form of body language we express and embed feelings, emotions, cultural influences, among others, contributing to overall development of children. The analysis of the material found in search field understand the investigated problems, which refers to the understanding of human movement as a necessary element and a member of the educational practice in early childhood education as a component that is linked in a timely manner in the relationship between teachers working in this cycle and the relationship between the students themselves, considering the historical and social context and promoting the use of the different aspects that interfere in Early Childhood Education (social, emotional, motor, cognitive) and also contributing in the areas of teacher training . These results indicate the need to structure the interdisciplinary work in this school stage in understanding the meanings that the body carries as a living collection of historical, social, cultural factors contributing to the development of children and the preparation of these professionals from their initial training. / Este trabalho aborda a forma??o inicial dos professores Pedagogos e dos professores de Educa??o F?sica, com ?nfase na cultura corporal de movimento de crian?as da Educa??o Infantil, com idades entre tr?s e cinco anos, ou seja, qual a concep??o sobre essa manifesta??o corporal que tais professores possuem e como trabalham com seus alunos. ? uma pesquisa qualitativa, fundamentada na teoria hist?rico-cultural de Vygotsky e em autores ligados ? cultura corporal de movimento e ? forma??o de professores (Educa??o Infantil e Educa??o F?sica). Utilizamos como procedimentos metodol?gicos para constru??o do material emp?rico da pesquisa, a observa??o participante e a entrevista semiestruturada em duas escolas que possuem a Educa??o Infantil na cidade Esp?rito Santo do Pinhal/ SP. A escolha pela cultura corporal de movimento se justifica pelo entendimento de que o movimento humano n?o se restringe apenas a um deslocamento mec?nico e isolado, mas numa forma de linguagem corporal em que expressamos e embutimos sentimentos, emo??es, influ?ncias culturais, dentre outros, contribuindo ao desenvolvimento global das crian?as. A an?lise do material encontrado em campo busca compreender a problem?tica investigada, que se refere ? compreens?o do movimento humano enquanto elemento imprescind?vel e integrante da pr?tica educativa na Educa??o Infantil, como um componente que se articula de forma pontual na rela??o entre os professores que atuam nesse ciclo, al?m das rela??es entre os pr?prios alunos, considerando-se o contexto hist?rico-social e favorecendo o aproveitamento dos diferentes aspectos que interferem na Educa??o Infantil (social, afetivo, motor, cognitivo) e, ainda, contribuindo nas ?reas de forma??o de professores. Os resultados desta pesquisa indicam a necessidade de se estruturar o trabalho interdisciplinar nesta etapa escolar, no entendimento dos significados que o corpo traz consigo, enquanto um acervo vivo de fatores hist?ricos, sociais, culturais, contribuindo com o desenvolvimento das crian?as e o preparo desses profissionais, desde suas forma??es iniciais.

La présente recherche collaborative vise à étudier les pratiques de lecture à haute voix d’enseignantes expertes et leur influence sur le développement de l’habileté des élèves du préscolaire à faire des inférences. Plus précisément, nous décrivons les interventions, lors des lectures à haute voix, de quatre enseignantes expertes que nous avons formées pour travailler la compréhension inférentielle et les comparons à celles de deux enseignantes expertes non formées (objectif 1). Puis, nous examinons l’influence de leurs pratiques de lecture à haute voix sur le développement de l’habileté à faire des inférences de leurs élèves (n=92) (objectif 2). Enfin, nous nous intéressons, à titre exploratoire, au potentiel de la recherche collaborative comme voie de développement professionnel des enseignants (objectif 3). Afin d’atteindre nos objectifs, nous avons observé les enseignantes à quatre reprises, lors de lectures d’albums de littérature de jeunesse. Les données obtenues à partir de ces pratiques observées ont été complétées par celles issues des pratiques déclarées des enseignantes pour toute la durée de la recherche (neuf semaines). De plus, nous avons évalué l’habileté à réaliser des inférences des élèves de ces six enseignantes à deux reprises, au début et à la fin de la recherche. Finalement, les enseignantes ont rempli deux questionnaires écrits sur l’impact de cette recherche sur leurs pratiques, l’un à la fin de la recherche et l’autre deux ans après celle-ci. Nos résultats indiquent que si toutes les enseignantes travaillaient les inférences, il existe cependant des différences notables dans leur façon de mener ce travail. Trois des enseignantes formées (enseignantes 1, 2 et 3) ont majoritairement privilégié la co-élaboration du sens des épisodes implicites et se sont montrées très efficaces pour soutenir leurs élèves dans ce travail de construction du sens. L’autre enseignante formée (enseignante 4), en raison d’une appropriation difficile du contenu de la formation, n’est pas parvenue à offrir à ses élèves un étayage adéquat, malgré ses nombreuses tentatives pour les amener à faire des inférences. Les enseignantes non formées (enseignantes 5 et 6) ont, quant à elles, misé plus fréquemment sur la transmission du sens des épisodes implicites et ont également soutenu moins efficacement leurs élèves dans l’élaboration du sens. Ces différences dans la façon de travailler les inférences se sont répercutées sur la progression des élèves entre le début et la fin de la recherche. Ceux des enseignantes 1, 2 et 3 obtiennent des résultats significativement supérieurs à ceux des trois autres enseignantes. Ainsi, il ne suffit pas de travailler les inférences lors des lectures à haute voix pour assurer la progression des élèves. D’autres facteurs revêtent aussi une grande importance : le choix d’oeuvres de qualité, l’engagement des élèves dans les discussions pour co-élaborer le sens et l’étayage adéquat de l’enseignant. Enfin, il semblerait que l’activité réflexive suscitée lors d’une participation à une recherche collaborative et le soutien offert par l’étudiante-chercheuse aient donné aux enseignantes la possibilité d’apporter des changements durables dans leurs pratiques. En ce sens, la recherche collaborative paraît être une voie prometteuse pour contribuer au développement professionnel des enseignants. / This collaborative research is an attempt to study expert teachers' reading aloud practices and their impact on the development of preschool students’ ability to make inferences. First, the interventions of four expert teachers specifically trained to work inferences while reading aloud are described and compared with those of two non trained expert teachers (objective 1). Next, the impact of all teachers’ practices on the development of their students’ ability to make inferences (n=92) is examined (objective 2). Finally, we look into collaborative research as a way to support professional development for teachers (objective 3). In order to attain our objectives, we observed participant teachers four times while they were reading children’s books. Data gathered from those observations were completed with other data provided by the teachers about their practices over a nine-week period. Moreover, the ability of the students to make inferences was assessed twice: once at the beginning and once at the end of the research. Teachers also completed two written questionnaires, one at the beginning and the other 2 years after the end of this research, concerning the impacts of their participation in this research on their practices. While all teachers worked inferences with their students, our results showed that there are significant differences in the way they do it. Three of the trained teachers (number 1, 2, and 3) predominantly put emphasis on co-elaboration of the implicit episodes’ meaning and gave their students appropriate scaffolding. Because she found it difficult to assimilate training contents, the other trained teacher (number 4) failed - not without numerous attempts - to offer the same kind of scaffolding. As for the two non trained teachers (number 5 and 6), they gave preference to the transmission of the implicit episodes’ meaning, and supported their students less efficiently when they tried to elaborate it. The differences in how the work on inferences was done had an impact on students’ progression from the beginning to the end of the research. Three of the trained teachers’ students had significantly superior results in comparison to the others’. Therefore, a specific work on inferences only does not ensure that students will make progress. There are other important contributing factors: choosing quality books, students’ involvement in discussions in order to co-elaborate the text’s meaning, and appropriate scaffolding from the teacher. Finally, according to our results, a participation in a collaborative research, which promotes reflexivity and offers coaching, seems to give the teachers the opportunity to bring about long-term changes in their practices. In consequence, a participation in that type of research appears to contribute to teachers’ professional development.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore how preschool-aged girls self-regulate when they are challenged by a naturally occurring task or activity within the preschool environment. My work as a graduate research assistant to Dr. Wanda Boyer enabled me access to a large grounded theory study entitled, A Foundational Measure of Early Childhood Self-Regulation, from which participants were chosen. Since I endeavoured to capture a holistic picture of preschool-aged girls’ self-regulation, as they encounter a naturally occurring difficult activity, a multiple case research design, within the qualitative paradigm, was used. In keeping with the qualitative case study tradition, this study utilized multiple data sources such as demographic information, transcriptions of interviews and videotaped observations from the larger study. The results of pattern matching, within-case and cross-case analyses are presented within four central themes: (a) initiating, modulating, and ceasing a difficult task, (b) strategies used across six dimensions of regulation, (c) interactions occurring during the regulation of a difficult task and, (d) the common use of physical strategies. This descriptive thesis concludes with key findings, proposed implications, and suggestions for future research.