A comparative analysis of the perceptions of special education teachers in the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) regarding the importance, comfort, and frequency levels of educative activities to further develop their teaching skills was conducted by the researcher in order to apply findings to the development of future professional learning opportunities for this group of educators and to the role of human resource development (HRD) with regard to adult learning and organizational processes. Responses were elicited from a selection of educative activities listed on a questionnaire instrument that was distributed to a non-proportional, stratified random sampling from the district?s total population of special education teachers in the fall of 2006. Multivariate analyses of variance resulted in no significant differences in the importance, comfort, and frequency levels of educative activities as rated by special education teachers regardless of teaching level or years of teaching experience. The primary conclusions drawn from this study were: (a) mean responses were homogenous at the group level regardless of the educative activity; (b) there were no significant perceptual differences found with regard to the rating of educative activities by importance, comfort, and frequency; and (c) there was a need for more research in this area to further investigate or substantiate findings due to the exploratory nature of the study?s design. Recommendations include: 1. Large scale research comprised of similar teacher samplings and research design to add to existing studies regarding the perception and selection of educative activities by special education teachers to further develop teaching skills. 2. Large scale research comprised of similar teacher samplings and research design to explore special education teacher perceptions regarding adult learning and the role of human resource development and other district department professionals in order to add to existing research when designing professional learning opportunities for this teacher group. 3. Review of the questionnaire instrument since no significant differences were found. Items listed should include activities that are distinctly different from each other. In addition, educative activities may need to be added or subtracted depending on new findings from research.

Muziejinė edukacija Lietuvoje sėkmingai vykdoma jau dešimt metų. Aiškiai matyti Lietuvos nacionalinio ir Lietuvos dailės muziejų efektyvumas, darbo kokybė ir pasiekimai edukacijos srityje. Šių muziejų veikla orientuota į edukaciją, kuri atitinka pasaulines muziejų tendencijas. Akcentuodami jos svarbą visuomenėje ir naudodami edukacinės veiklos formas, šie muziejai sprendžia augančios kartos auklėjimo ir lavinimo klausimus bei neformalaus ugdymo uždavinius. Kurdami naujas metodikas ir programas, pritaikytas skirtingoms lankytojų grupėms, realizuoja svarbiausias muziejų edukacijos funkcijas. Lietuvos nacionalinis ir Lietuvos dailės muziejai kryptingai formuoja savo edukacinės veiklos turinius, kurie atitinka jų apibrėžtas misijas ir strategijas. Edukacinė veikla kasmet tampa nacionaliniuose muziejuose vis platesnė ir įdomesnė. Šie muziejai gali įtakoti kitų muziejų dukacinę veiklą bei būti jiems efektyvaus mokymosi būdo modelio pavyzdziu. Lietuvos nacionalinio muziejaus edukacinės programos yra istorinio pobūdžio. Jų tematika susieta su Lietuvos istorija ir etnine kultūra. Akivaizdu,kad pasitelkus edukacines programas stengiamasi perteikti žmogiškąsias vertybes, stiprinti tautinį tapatumą.. Lietuvos dailės muziejus,pasitelkdamas sukauptų meno kūrinių siužetus, tematikas, realizuoja muziejinės edukacijos tikslus,sėkmingai kūria ir pritaiko skirtingoms lankytojų grupėms naujas metodikas ir programas. Nors Lietuvos nacionalinio ir Lietuvos dailės muziejų vertybių rinkiniai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The museum-based education is being successfully implemented in Lithuania for ten years already. The effect, high quality and achievements of the activities of Lithuanian National Museum and Lithuanian Art Museum in the sphere of education are evident. The activities of the said Museums are oriented to education that conforms to the trends usual for world museums. Stressing its importance for the society and using various forms of educative activities, the Museums settle various problems of education and training of the young generation as well as solve tasks of informal education. In course of developing new methods and programmes, they implement the principal functions of the museum-based education. Lithuanian National Museum and Lithuanian Art Museum purposefully form the contents of their educative activities that conform to their determined missions and strategies. The educative activities at national museums becomes more wide and interesting annually. The educational programmes of Lithuanian National Museum are the ones of historical character. They are bound with Lithuanian history and ethnic culture. It is evident that they are helpful in conveying the human values and strengthening the national identity. Lithuanian Art Museum implements the goals of the museum-based education using the stocks of its artistic works, successfully develops new methods and programmes applying them for various groups of visitors. Although the collections and expositions of values disposed... [to full text]

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / To understand the development and the functioning of the carried out Processes of continued education in Schools of Basic Education (EEB) seems to be undelayable investment of teachers in professional exercise qualification and point out conditions to put changes into effect in their pedagogical practices. Our research, accomplished in the years 2005 and 2006, sought to find answers for the following problem: Which aspects characterize and which ones work as condition to the elaboration and accomplishment process of continued education of teachers in the Schools of Basic Education of Santa Maria and which relations are established between these aspects? It is a qualitative research that involved as research space, 4 schools of Basic Education of the Public Net of the Santa Maria city. We used as sources of information, the formative meeting carried out in these schools, besides the discourse of 50 persons who constructed our real sample of research, they are: four professional responsible for planning and developing the actions of continued education of the 4 investigated EEB; 38 teachers who had participated in the carried out formative meeting in the schools; 8 professionals invited to carry out the formative meetings with the teachers. We used as an instrument, to collect information, participated observations, collective and individuals interviews and scripts. We identified some aspects of the meetings organization and functioning which have limited the education to be a moment of these teachers collective production. We pointed out that continued education has been organized, in general, independent of the teachers and school s needs and difficulties. The teachers have a minimal participation on the decisions concerning the processes offered to them. Normally, the teacher trainers do not have knowledge about school contexts and about the teachers for which they carry out the meeting. The teachers, in turn, believe that the solution for their problems is in knowledge produced outside of the school space, mainly in the academy; therefore, they attribute to the teacher trainers the capacity to solve all the problems and difficulties faced by them. We conclude that, to occur significant changes in these processes, it is necessary to analyze the teacher trainers profile, in the construction of activities that give conditions, in the formative meetings, to teachers construct new knowledge, in the approach of the knowledge dealt with each school and its peculiarities, as well as, in the inclusion of studies on the continued education in order to the teachers adopt more independent and conscientious attitudes concerning their processes of professional development. / Compreender o desenvolvimento e o funcionamento dos Processos de Formação Continuada realizados em Escolas de Educação Básica (EEB) parece ser um investimento inadiável para que se possa avançar na melhoria da qualificação dos professores em exercício e apontar condicionantes para a efetivação de mudanças nas práticas pedagógicas. Nossa pesquisa, realizada nos anos de 2005 e 2006, procurou encontrar respostas para o seguinte problema: Que aspectos caracterizam e que aspectos condicionam a elaboração e a realização dos processos de formação continuada de professores nas Escolas de Educação Básica de santa Maria e quais relações se estabelecem entre estes aspectos? Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa que envolveu como espaço de pesquisa, 4 escolas de Educação Básica da Rede Pública do Município de Santa Maria. Utilizamos, como fontes de informações, os encontros formativos realizados nestas escolas, além das falas dos 50 sujeitos que construíram nossa amostra real de pesquisa, a saber: 4 profissionais responsáveis pelo planejamento e desenvolvimento das ações de formação continuada das EEB investigadas; 38 professores que participaram dos encontros formativos realizados nas escolas; 8 profissionais convidados para realizarem os encontros formativos com os professores. Utilizamos, como instrumentos de coleta de informações, observações participadas, entrevistas coletivas, entrevistas individuais e roteiros. Identificamos aspectos, da organização e do funcionamento dos encontros, limitadores para que a formação se configure em um espaço de produção coletiva pelos professores. Constatamos que a formação continuada é organizada de forma independente das necessidades e das dificuldades dos professores e da escola de uma forma geral. Os professores pouco participam das decisões acerca dos processos a eles oferecidos. Normalmente os formadores não têm conhecimento dos contextos escolares e dos professores para os quais realizam os encontros. Os professores, por sua vez, acreditam que a solução para seus problemas está em conhecimentos produzidos fora do espaço escolar, principalmente na academia, por isso atribuem aos formadores a capacidade de resolver todos os problemas e dificuldades por eles enfrentadas. Concluímos que, para ocorrerem mudanças significativas nestes processos há de se começar pelo perfil dos formadores, na construção de atividades que potencializem os encontros formativos para a construção de novos conhecimentos pelos professores, na aproximação dos conhecimentos tratados com cada escola e suas especificidades, assim como, na inclusão de estudos sobre a formação continuada a fim de que os professores adotem atitudes mais autônomas e conscientes acerca de seus processos de desenvolvimento profissional.