<p> The purpose of this project to was to 1) develop, 2) instruct, 3) evaluate, and 4) revise a 5^th-12^th grade fisheries conservation engineering outreach program entitled <i>Smart Fishing and the Bering Sea</i> (SFBS).</p><p> Fishery resources are important to Alaska and Alaskans, but present complex conservation challenges including user conflicts and concerns about unsustainable fishing practices. Increasing Alaska residents' environmental literacy will enhance natural resource management decisions regarding fisheries. The intent of the SFBS program is to introduce students to ecological and economical factors that drive conservation engineering in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. I instructed the SFBS program to 93 students from four different public and private institutions in Anchorage, Alaska. My observations and participants' pre- and post-program concept maps were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the SFBS curriculum. Participants gained content knowledge from this fishery outreach program about the Bering Sea and commercial fishing. Program evaluation analysis and results were used to revise the curriculum and make suggestions to SFBS stakeholders.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2007. / Additional advisors: Lois M. Christensen, Lynn D. Kirkland, Maryann Manning, Dorothy Riley. Description based on contents viewed June 12, 2008; title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-126).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2007. / Additional advisors: Lois M. Christensen, Lynn D. Kirkland, Maryann Manning, Dorothy Riley. Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-126).

The aim of the thesis is to gather data for the creation of information literacy standards for graduates of 9th grade of elementary school in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part contains the definition of information literacy, organizations in the field of information literacy, documents in the information society, as well as existing standards of information literacy in the Czech Republic and abroad. Finally, research activities in the field of information literacy in the Czech Republic are described. In the practical part, the analysis of the current situation in the information literacy development in the UK and Sweden is introduced. The analysis of the currricula of selected elementary and grammar schoools in Benešov distrikt is described as well. The main contribution of this thesis is the analysis of the selected schools and a proposal of the information literacy standards. Keywords information literacy information literacy standards education elementary education elementary school

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Anne Haas Dyson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 234-245) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

O ensino fundamental brasileiro passou por grandes transformações nos últimos trinta anos: o acesso foi praticamente universalizado, os municípios ganharam importância nas políticas educacionais, as instituições privadas se consolidaram, políticas de avaliação foram instituídas e a preocupação com a qualidade do ensino se tornou prioritária. O objetivo da presente dissertação é analisar essas transformações e retratar a situação atual do ensino fundamental. Para isso, a análise se concentrará na mesorregião Sul/Sudoeste de Minas, comparando-a a Minas Gerais e ao Brasil. A dissertação é composta por dois artigos. O primeiro deles adota uma visão mais ampla: ele apresenta as linhas gerais das mudanças no ensino fundamental em 1991, 2000 e 2010, em três níveis regionais (Brasil, Minas Gerais e no Sul/Sudoeste de Minas Gerais), em relação à expectativa de anos de estudo, taxa de frequência bruta e taxa de frequência líquida. Além disso, o artigo também fornece uma visão mais detalhada do ensino fundamental no Sul/Sudoeste de Minas em relação ao número de instituições de ensino básico, número de matrículas por dependência administrativa (federal, estadual, municipal e privada). Por sua vez, o objetivo do segundo artigo é investigar a relação entre gastos públicos e desempenho educacional, concentrando-se no ensino fundamental público municipal do Sul/Sudoeste de Minas Gerais. O primeiro artigo indicou que não há falta de escolas nem de vagas para os alunos, no entanto, há uma forte variação entre a quantidade de escolas e de matrículas dos municípios de pequeno e médio porte. Por sua vez, o segundo artigo indicou que a correlação entre despesas e desempenho escolar é fraca, o que indica que o processo ensino-aprendizagem não depende apenas da quantidade de recursos financeiros. De acordo com a metodologia empregada, os municípios de menor porte são mais eficientes. Portanto, os principais resultados do trabalhos são a constatação de que administrar os recursos aplicados à educação é tão ou mais importante que a quantidade despendida e que a mesorregião Sul/Sudoeste de Minas Gerais não se distância consideravelmente do padrão educacional público brasileiro. / Brazilian elementary education faced major transformations in the last thirty years: access to the education was practically universalized, municipalities gained importance in educational policies, private institutions were consolidated, evaluation policies were instituted and concern with the quality of education became a priority. The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze these transformations and expose the current situation of elementary education in the country. In order to do so, the analysis will focus on the South/Southwest mesoregion of Minas Gerais, comparing it to Minas Gerais state and Brazil. The dissertation is composed by two papers. The first one adopts a broader view: it presents the main lines of changes in elementary education in 1991, 2000 and 2010, at three regional levels (Brazil, Minas Gerais and South/Southwest mesoregion of Minas Gerais) concerning the expected years of study and school frequency rate (both gross and net). In addition to that, the paper also provides a more detailed view of elementary education in the South/Southwest mesoregion of Minas Gerais concerning the number of basic education schools and number of enrollments per administrative dependency (federal, state, municipal and private). In turn, the purpose of the second paper is to investigate the relationship between public expenditures with education and educational performance focusing on municipal public elementary education in the South/Southwest mesoregion of Minas Gerais. The first paper found no shortage of schools or places for students, however there is a strong variation between the number of schools and enrollment of small-sized municipalities and the medium ones. On the other hand, the second paper showed that the correlation between expenditure and school performance is weak, indicating that the teaching-learning process does not depend exclusively on the amount of financial resources. According to the methodology employed, smaller municipalities are more efficient than medium and large ones. Therefore, the main results of the study are the observation that managing the resources applied to education is more important than the amount spent and that the South/Southwest mesoregion of Minas Gerais does not differ considerably from the Brazilian public educational profile.

For decades, urban public schools have been plagued by systemic and structural challenges that continue today. Scholars, policymakers, and the general public have pointed to problems of learning in urban schools and to low expectations for urban students' learning, but little attention has been given to how urban students themselves conceptualize learning. This study sought to fill the void by asking a group of urban students about their views of learning. A phenomenographic approach was employed to examine the qualitatively different ways in which 20 urban elementary fifth-grade students expressed their conceptions of learning and of their learning approaches. Consistent with phenomenography, the study was intended to understand the collective expressions of individuals' conceptions regarding a phenomenon, and emphasis was on the mapping of variation across the conceptions. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions, conducted individually, elicited the students' conceptions of the meaning of learning and their learning approaches. In a "search for meaning" approach, analyses were based on students' transcribed responses forming a pool of quotations. These quotations were divided first into "what" and "how" categories—"what" is learning and "how" does learning occur—and then into subcategories. The results were a set of categories organized in a two-level hierarchy. The three "what" conceptions were as follows: learning as increasing knowledge, learning as growing as a person, and learning as applying knowledge. The three "how" conceptions were the following: learning by persevering, learning by using active learning strategies, and learning by participating in social interactions. These conceptions comprised an outcome space representing the six different ways that these urban school students expressed their conceptions of learning inside and outside of school contexts. Whereas much attention in the educational literature has been directed to teachers setting high expectations for urban students, students in this study seemed to be setting high expectations for themselves, which included college and career. Although prior research has pointed to a need for urban students to develop more positive mindsets regarding engagement and motivation, students in this study tended to express some major metacognitive insights into their own learning. Educational implications are suggested based on the findings.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:32:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 REGIME DE CICLOS COM PROGRESSAO CONTINUADA NAS ESCOLAS PUBLICAS PAULISTAS.pdf: 1455470 bytes, checksum: f6ec07da71e6ba4b4653cd0896f3a892 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-01-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The aim of this study is to contribute to the comprehension of how the changes entailed in the educational reform work and are expressed. It was accomplished based on a research about the new set, relative to the scholar organization, created by the changes introduced with the implantation of Cycle Regime with Ongoing Progression at elementary education in public schools from São Paulo. The initial hypothesis was that the this implantation would modify, meaningfully, the school time organization, what would generate a direct impact with the cultural capital and habitus of the teachers. The research took place in 2003 in two public schools from São Paulo state net subordinated to the same Teaching Board. It was made through interviews to two teachers in each school who worked at the second cycle of elementary school, 5th to 8th grades, at a total of four, and to the pedagogic coordinators that were working at this duty since the implantation of the reform. It was also performed the collection and analysis of school documents which expressed the school time organization. This job used the Pierre Bourdieu theoretical corpus as reference, mainly the cultural capital, arbitrary cultural dominant, strategies and habitus, to verify the resulting impact of the reform quoted at the consolidated docent practices. It was testified that the initial hypothesis, concerning the school time, was not proved. Nevertheless, the direct impact on the teacher s cultural capital and habitus regarding to meritocracy, which prizes and settles an ideal student pattern, the pedagogic authority reduction on behalf of ongoing progression that makes impossible the power of the decision about the retention or approval of the pupils, and the valorization and defense of the transmission of scholar contents without which school becomes devoid of its leading duty, was evidenced. Finally the adoption of strategies such as the defense of the Grade Board strengthening and the reduction of the cycles duration from four two years aiming at overcoming these impacts and its effects that are considered damaging, by the docents, to public schools and the pupils future. / Este estudo tem a finalidade de contribuir para a compreensão de como operam e se expressam as mudanças envolvidas em reformas educacionais. Realizou-se a partir de uma pesquisa sobre o novo cenário, relativo à organização escolar, criado pelas alterações introduzidas com a implantação do Regime de Ciclos com Progressão Continuada no Ensino Fundamental das escolas públicas paulistas. Partiu-se da hipótese inicial de que a implantação da referida reforma alteraria significativamente a organização do tempo escolar o que geraria um impacto direto no capital cultural e habitus dos professores. A pesquisa foi realizada em 2003 em duas escolas públicas, da rede estadual paulista subordinadas à mesma Diretoria de Ensino, por meio de entrevistas com dois professores de cada escola, de segundo ciclo do Ensino Fundamental, 5ª à 8ª séries, num total de quatro, com os professores coordenadores pedagógicos de cada unidade escolar, que estivessem no exercício dessa função desde a implantação da referida reforma. Foi também, realizada a coleta e análise dos documentos escolares que expressam a organização do tempo escolar. Este trabalho tem como referência o corpo teórico de Pierre Bourdieu privilegiadamente os conceitos de capital cultural, arbitrário cultural dominante, estratégias e habitus para se verificar o impacto resultante da implantação da reforma em tela nas práticas docentes consolidadas. Constatou-se que a hipótese inicial, no que se refere à organização do tempo escolar, não se comprovou. No entanto, emergiu, ao longo da pesquisa, o impacto direto sobre o capital cultural e habitus dos professores referentes a meritocracia, que valoriza e estabelece um padrão de aluno ideal, a redução da autoridade pedagógica em função da progressão continuada que impossibilita o exercício do poder de decisão sobre a retenção ou aprovação do alunado e, a valorização e defesa da transmissão dos conteúdos escolares sem o que a escola fica esvaziada de sua função precípua. Finalmente a adoção de estratégias, como, por exemplo, a defesa do fortalecimento do Conselho de Série e da redução do período de duração dos ciclos de quatro para dois anos visando a superação desses impactos e seus efeitos que são considerados danosos, pelos docentes, à escola pública e ao futuro dos alunos.