The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of current education materials on changing maternal smoking attitudes. Children are affected by prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke. Although there are educational efforts to discourage pregnant women from smoking, the practice continues in a significant number of pregnancies. New materials, based on current research, were also evaluated for effectiveness. The theoretical framework for this study was adult learning theory presented by Knowles which makes the assumption that an individual is shaped by environmental systems, that adult learning is affected by previous knowledge they bring to the learning and that adults must have a motive for change. The study sought to determine if mothers are presented with the latest research-based information about the effects of smoking upon their unborn child what extent will it change the attitude of smoking while pregnant. The research design was a quantitative, one-group pretest-posttest design. The target individuals, mothers of young children in a large preschool program, were surveyed with direct questions that yielded measurable data. The surveys were validated by three early childhood experts. The data obtained through the participant surveys were analyzed using a paired an analysis of variance, comparing pretest-posttest responses and demographic variables. The results of the study showed the affect education had on changing the attitudes and that demographic characteristics did not influence that change. Through educating mothers on the long-term negative outcomes of smoking during pregnancy, this study's impact has changed attitudes and understanding and thereby changes their behavior. The result of this research provided educational information that may change the attitude towards mothers smoking during pregnancy.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:08:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 marciana_gomes_falcao_alves.pdf: 759043 bytes, checksum: a47ff7b2e2af189354cfc1d11210ce6b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-04-08 / Family and school are areas of human development that promote physical, cognitive, emotional, and social growth of the individual preparing him for insertion in his culture by strengthening his social relationships. However, each of them has its specific features in its tasks . While families have the primary function of providing conditions which favor the full development of their children, regarding the feeling of belonging, physical, emotional and financial care, school, on the other hand, has as its ultimate purpose to lead children and young people for life in society as citizens able to live, socialize and act competently in the contemporary world. It is in this context school/family that it is sought to investigate this relation, which is as narrow as it is conflicting. Thus, our thesis main goal was to understand the social representations that families that live in situations of social vulnerability, in São Lourenço da Mata, make or build about school. The chosen theoretical and methodological support was Moscovici s Social Representation Theory, which provided the understanding of how families that joined this study anchor and objectivize their social relationships about school, considering the values, feelings and social beliefs shared by this group. The methodology of the study was of qualitative nature, and for data collection were utilized semi-structured interviewing and the Free Association technique. Ten members of municipal school students families participated, from a city of the Metropolitan Region of Recife, who live in situations of social vulnerability. The findings of this work were analyzed by the Analysis of the Theme Content, where we sought to identify centers of meaning from the words evoked in Free Association as well as the content of the interviews. As a result, we infer that the group of studied families represents the School as" education" and "respect", supported by the social, political and educational environment where they are in and make their objectives when en rolling their children at school aiming for a more dignified future, and a good job. / A Família e a Escola são espaços de desenvolvimento humano que favorecem os crescimentos físico, cognitivo, afetivo e social do indivíduo preparando-o para sua inserção na sua cultura fortalecendo as suas relações sociais. Contudo, cada uma delas tem as suas especificidades nas suas tarefas. Enquanto a família tem como função básica propiciar condições que favoreçam o pleno desenvolvimento de seus filhos, no que diz respeito ao sentimento de pertença, cuidados físico, emocional e material, a escola, por sua vez, tem como finalidade última, instrumentalizar crianças e jovens para a vida em sociedade, como cidadãos que saibam viver, conviver e agir com competência técnica e emocional, no mundo contemporâneo. É nesse contexto escola/família que se busca investigar essa relação, ao mesmo tempo tão estreita quanto conflituosa. Dessa forma, esta dissertação teve como objetivo compreender as representações sociais que famílias que vivem em situação de vulnerabilidade social, no município de São Lourenço da Mata, fazem ou constroem sobre a escola. Como aporte teórico-metodológico foi utilizada a Teoria das Representações Sociais de Moscovici que proporcionou a compreensão de como as famílias que participaram deste estudo ancoram e objetivam suas representações sociais sobre a Escola, a partir dos valores, sentimentos, crenças compartilhados socialmente por este grupo. A Metodologia do trabalho foi de natureza qualitativa e para a coleta dos dados foram utilizados como instrumentos, a entrevista semi-estruturada e a técnica da Associação Livre. Participaram da pesquisa dez membros de famílias de estudantes de escolas municipais, de uma cidade da Região Metropolitana do Recife, que vivem em situação de vulnerabilidade social. Os achados deste estudo foram analisados através da Análise de Conteúdo Temática, onde buscamos identificar núcleos de sentido a partir das palavras evocadas na Associação Livre e no conteúdo das entrevistas. Como resultado, inferiu-se que as famílias estudadas representam a Escola como educação e respeito , ancoradas no contexto social, político e educacional onde estão imersos e fazem suas objetivações ao matricularem seus filhos na escola com vistas a um futuro mais digno, a um bom emprego.

Parents and teachers have differing perspectives of parental involvement which presents a barrier to the development of effective parental involvement. This mixed-method, sequential, exploratory study of parents and teachers in rural school districts sought to identify, compare, and analyze these divergent parental involvement perspectives. A sample of 122 parents and 21 certified teachers from 3 rural elementary schools were first surveyed using parallel questions from Epstein's School and family partnerships parent (or teacher) questionnaire (SFP). Independent-sample t-tests of SFP scales confirmed parental involvement perspectives of parents and teachers differed significantly. Survey data was analyzed descriptively and identified 5 specific topics of differences: parents' ability to help with reading and math, their need for teacher ideas, checking homework, volunteering, teacher and parent communication, and sharing learning expectations. Next, 5 focus groups of parents, teachers, and parents and teachers together probed these topics. Digital recordings of focus group data were transcribed, segmented, and coded for repeated words and phrases. Themes were then inductively developed. Results specified parents want clear, timely communication, while teachers want parents' support and to assist with children's homework. Results further indicated improved communication would assist in building stronger parent teacher relationships. Focus groups provided a venue for communication and building relationships inspiring transformation. The implications of social change are that parental involvement programs that address the perspectives of both parents and teachers improve understanding and promote a sense of social justice where both parents and teachers share positions of power in the education of children.

Abstract This dissertation is aimed at exploring the utilization of select works by children's book author Markéta Zinnerová in literary education. The selected texts all feature a child protagonist in a difficult life situation with regards to their immediate or wider family circle. The vantage point was primarily the ouvre of M. Zinnerová, particularly the titles Indiáni z Větrova ('The Indians from Větrov'), Tajemství proutěného košíku ('The Secret of the Woven Basket'), and Kde padají hvězdy ('Where Stars Fall'). The dissertation is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part contains first a description of the general characteristics of narrative prose from the life of children with an emphasis on the issues of personal and social education. Furthermore, it focuses in detail on the utilisation of prose in literary education in primary schools, the methodology and different types of literary analysis and the insertion of all these activities into the relevant curriculum. The practical part deals with concrete classical and activising methods of application with regards to select texts from M. Zinnerová's works. The aim of the dissertation was to create work sheets based on excerpts from the prose of this author and to test them in practice in the environment of an after-school care centre where primary school children were to engage with them. This part of the dissertation describes said work sheets as well as the procedural methodology and the reasoning behind their creation. The work sheets were used when working with 3rd -grade school children in an after-school care centre. The ways in which they cooperated with us and were captivated by the texts, as well as the precise way in which the activities involved in working with the proposed sheets proceeded are described in the following chapter of the practical part. The concluding reflection upon the utilisation of the work sheets proposes certain possible corrections, expansions or other possible uses of these work sheets.

This thesis deals with actual topic in the Czech Republic - pre-school education of children younger than three years in kindergartens. With regards to social, health educational and family policies development, education and care of children under three years of age have shifted to kindergartens. The aims of this thesis are to describe recent changes concerning family, current state of pre-school education system in the Czech Republic with regard to children younger than three years of age needs and analyze and specific these needs by a contemporary young child. On such substantial data base we would like to define specific conditions of pre-school education of such young children. To follow the aims, an inquiry was conducted to examine whether or not the needs of children younger than three years are fulfilled at some kindergartens. Following that, the inquiry outputs from individual school have been compared to one another and to a model of an optimal praxis of a pre-school institution. Based on this thesis outcomes it is obvious that pre-school education of children of age up to three years in kindergartens is possible. In further detail, to maintain current quality of pre- school education also in case of inclusion of such children into kindergartens it is necessary to adopt specific legal...