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Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung setzt einen systematischen Ansatz voraus, der sozioökonomische Umweltaspekte in enge Beziehung zueinander setzt. Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung bedeutet also, die Komplexität von Phänomenen und deren Beziehung zueinander zu begreifen lernen und Schlüsselkompetenzen zu entwickeln, um aktiv, bewusst, verantwortungsvoll und kritisch an der Gestaltung der Gegenwart und der Zukunft teilzuhaben. Gegenstand vorliegender Forschungsarbeit ist die Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung (BNE) aus Sicht der Geographie und im internationalen Vergleich zwischen der italienischen Stadt Padua in der Region Venetien und Würzburg in Bayern. Im Mittelpunkt stehen Aktivitäten und Projekte, die im formalen Bereich, d.h. in Kindergärten und Grundschulen, und im non-formalen Bereich, wie in Vereinen, Einrichtungen, lokale Körperschaften, durchgeführt wurden. Damit war die Voraussetzung geschaffen, das gesamte Spektrum an Angeboten und Möglichkeiten der Zusammenarbeit im Bereich BNE in den für die Fallstudie gewählten Städten zu erfassen, also einschließlich der Angebote von und der Angebote an die Schulen. Dem Forschungsverfahren liegt ein Fragebogen über die Wertesysteme und Wertvorstellungen von Erziehern und Lehrern in Bezug auf geographische Bildung zugrunde. Dabei stellt sich unter anderem heraus, dass der Zusammenhang zwischen BNE und geographischer Bildung kaum wahrgenommen wird. Diese Feststellung bestätigt sich im weiteren Verlauf des Untersuchungsverfahrens, das sich auf die Auswertung von dreizehn, aus der Fachliteratur und aus internationalen Dokumenten ausgewählten und behandelten BNE-Themen konzentriert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass es in beiden Städten und in beiden Bereichen, im formalen wie im non-formalen, “ BNE-Best Practice” gibt und dass Themen mit Bezug zu Bildung zu Nachhaltigkeit gegenüber Themen mit Bezug zu entwicklungsbezogener Bildung der Vorzug gegeben wird. Weiter geht daraus hervor, dass in erster Linie Umweltaspekte behandelt werden, gefolgt von sozialen, während ökonomische Aspekte das Schlusslicht bilden. In Bezug auf das, was nachhaltige Entwicklung und BNE bedeuten, herrscht bei den Interviewpartnern ziemliche Unklarheit und ein geringes Bewusstsein. Im non-formalen Bereich Tätige wissen über die Grundlagen nachhaltiger Entwicklung Bescheid, bevorzugen jedoch die Bezeichnung “Umwelterziehung”, weil dieser Begriff für die Allgemeinheit angeblich besser verständlich ist. Die Mehrheit der Erzieher und Lehrer hingegen erkennt keinen Unterschied zwischen BNE und Umwelterziehung. Auch die staatlichen Lehrpläne und Richtlinien geben kaum Aufschluss darüber, was BNE ist. Manchmal wird BNE mit Umwelterziehung gleichgesetzt, dann ist sie wieder Teil davon, andere Male wird sie als Orientierungshilfe für Umwelterziehung empfohlen. Jedenfalls wird darin nichts anderes als Umwelterziehung damit in Verbindung gebracht. Die befragten Personen sind wesentlich mehr auf die “ Praxis” als auf die “ Theorie” bedacht. Sie führen interessante Projekte und Aktivitäten durch, sind sich aber des theoretischen Ansatzes, der BNE zugrunde liegt und der mit dem der Geographie in gar einigen Punkten konvergent ist, nicht wirklich bewusst. In diesem Sinne erschließt vorliegende Forschungsarbeit das Potential an Synergien von BNE und geographischer Bildung. Denn einerseits könnte die Geographie aufschlussreiche theoretische Überlegungen und Impulse liefern, andererseits könnte BNE den Anstoß zur Erneuerung geographischer Bildung geben und sie damit aus der gesellschaftlichen Isolation führen. Solche Grundüberlegungen sollten selbstverständlich auch in den Curricula – in Form der zur Verfügung stehenden Stundenzahl – ihren Niederschlag finden. / L'Educazione allo Sviluppo Sostenibile (ESS) adotta un approccio di tipo sistemico nel quale processi ambientali, sociali ed economici sono strettamente collegati fra loro. Educare alo sviluppo sostenibile significa, quindi, educare alla complessità dei fenomeni e delle relazioni e sviluppare le competenze chiave per prendere parte in modo attivo, consapevole, responsabile e critico alla creazione del presente e del futuro. L'oggetto di ricerca di questo lavoro è l'Educazione allo Sviluppo Sostenibile in ottica geografica attraverso un confronto internazionale tra la città italiana di Padova, in Veneto, e la città tedesca di Würzburg, in Baviera. In particolare, l'attenzione si focalizza su attività e progetti realizzati sia nell'ambito formale, ossia all'interno di scuole dell'infanzia e di scuole primarie, sia nell'ambito non formale, vale a dire all'interno di associazioni, istituzioni ed enti del territorio. In tal modo è preso in esame l'intero spettro di proposte e di collaborazioni sull'ESS offerte dalle scuole ed alle scuole nelle due città scelte come casi di studio. Il punto di partenza del processo di ricerca è la somministrazione di un questionario sulle credenze di insegnanti ed educatori rispetto all'educazione geografica che, tra i vari esiti, ha messo in luce come il collegamento tra ESS ed educazione geografica sia percepito come molto debole. Ciò ha trovato conferma nel proseguo dell'indagine che si è concentrata sulle proposte realizzate in merito a tredici temi di ESS, scelti tra quelli individuati nella letteratura e nei documenti internazionali. Gli esiti emersi evidenziano l'esistenza di “buone pratiche” di ESS realizzate sia nell'ambito formale sia in quello non formale nei contesti territoriali analizzati. In particolare sono stati affrontati maggiormente i temi connessi all'Educazione alla Sostenibilità rispetto a quelli connessi all'Educazione allo Sviluppo. Emerge inoltre che, dei temi affrontati, vengono presi in considerazione in primis gli aspetti ambientali, a seguire quelli sociali ed infine quelli economici. Gli intervistati risultano essere piuttosto confusi e scarsamente consapevoli rispetto al significato di sviluppo sostenibile e di ESS. In particolare, mentre gli operatori dell'ambito non formale sono informati rispetto ai principi base dello sviluppo sostenibile ma preferiscono utilizzare l'espressione “educazione ambientale” poiché sostengono di essere compresi meglio dalla comunità, la maggior parte degli insegnanti e degli educatori, invece, non vede differenza tra ESS ed educazione ambientale. Anche all'interno dei documenti ministeriali per la scuola si è rilevata una grande confusione su cosa sia l'ESS, infatti alle volte viene fatta coincidere con l'educazione ambientale, altre volte ne è una parte, altre volte ancora rappresenta un orientamento per l'educazione ambientale. In nessun caso essa viene presentata come una prospettiva diversa dall'educazione ambientale. Nel complesso, gli intervistati sono risultati essere maggiormente concentrati sulla “ pratica” che sulla “teoria”, infatti realizzano progetti e attività interessanti ma non sono del tutto a conoscenza dell'approccio teorico che sta alla base dell'ESS, che risulta avere molti punti di convergenza con quello della geografia. In tal senso la ricerca valorizza le potenzialità della sinergia tra ESS ed educazione geografica poiché se da un lato la geografia potrebbe fornire riflessioni teoriche chiare e significative sull'ESS, dall'altro l'ESS potrebbe offrire l'opportunità all'educazione geografica di rinnovarsi e di superare il suo isolamento rispetto alla società inserendosi in modo significativo, anche in termini di monte ore, nei curricola.

Parental involvement contributes to the improvement of student achievement. Although children entered kindergarten with varying levels of literacy development, parents might perceive kindergarten literacy instruction as a panacea for any lacking skills, therefore lessening their involvement in their children's literacy development. Thus, there was a need to understand parents' perceptions of the importance of (a) their involvement in the education of their children, (b) their role in their children's literacy development during kindergarten, and (c) their role in their children's early literacy development as influencing their children's overall literacy development. Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model of human development served as a guide for this qualitative exploratory case study. Semistructured telephone interviews were conducted with 11 kindergarten parents on their perceptions regarding their involvement in the literacy development of their child. Data analysis was guided by Yin's 5-phased cycle of analyzing case studies, through which 4 main themes emerged. First, the parents perceived their involvement in the early literacy of their children helped their children's overall literacy development. Second, they perceived their involvement in their child's education was important. Third, there was a change in the degree of involvement of parents once their children entered kindergarten. Last, parents perceived that their involvement in their children's literacy development was one of the various roles and responsibility they have in being a parent. The findings of this study may contribute to positive social change by serving as useful information that can assist schools and teachers in developing effective strategies for encouraging parental involvement for families with children in kindergarten.

Researchers report that implementation of scripted reading programs has been inconsistent. Although administrators need to understand teachers' experiences with scripted reading instruction to make decisions about best practices for implementation of those programs, little research on those experiences exists. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe teachers' lived experiences and self-efficacy when using a scripted reading program. Bruner's constructivist theory, the concept of pedagogical content knowledge, and self-efficacy theory were used to frame the study. Eight elementary teachers in Grades K-3 from the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States each completed 4 individual interviews. Template-based iterative analysis using open and axial coding resulted in 5 major themes: self-efficacy changes, confidence and lack of confidence, experiences with guided reading instruction programs, strengths of scripted learning, and weakness of scripted learning. The scripted nature of the programs allowed teachers to focus their time and energies on teaching and content and less on planning, which helped build confidence in their abilities. Teachers did modify the scripts to meet the needs of their individual students, especially ELL students. Findings suggested that as teachers grew professionally, though, scripted programs had the potential to stifle creativity. Implications include having teachers and administrators explore hybrid and flexible program options with opportunities for teacher choice. This study contributes to positive social change by informing educators and others of how teachers perceive and use scripted reading instruction in their effort to reach all learners in a climate of increasing accountability.

Teachers in elementary schools are often faced with countless disruptive bullying behaviors, which cause them to lose valuable classroom instruction time. In addition, bullying victims have shown a decline in academic success as compared to students who are not bullied. The purpose of this qualitative bounded case study was to explore teachers' understanding and awareness of bullying behaviors and policies at the elementary school level, particularly in an elementary school in a southeastern state that has experienced large increases in student disruptive behavior over the past 2 school years. Bandura's social cognitive theory served as the conceptual framework. Semi-structured interview data were collected from a purposeful sample of 8 certified teachers at the school who taught students in Grades 3 through 5 during the past 2 school years. Open and axial coding procedures were utilized to discover themes based on teachers' perceptions of bullying, interventions and regulations. The findings revealed that teachers struggled with recognizing bullying behaviors, were unsure of the policies and procedures related to reporting bullying incidents, and their confidence levels were low when handling bullying behavior. Findings reflected components of Bandura's social cognitive theory in that individuals with high levels of perceived competence were motivated to set goals and complete tasks. A professional development workshop was created to provide teachers with the necessary tools to assist them in recognizing, responding, and reporting bullying incidents. Positive social change might occur from promoting bullying awareness among teachers and creating a positive impact on teaching, student learning, and the overall school environment at the local level.