This thesis analyzes the teaching material Caminando 3 from a neurodidactic perspective. The discipline of neurodidactics is young and controversial and the aim of this investigation is to present an understanding of the use of practical applications of neurodidactics in written material of education in Spanish as a second language. The methods applied are a quantitative and objective analysis of measurable aspects in Caminando 3 and a qualitative, subjective analysis which is interpreting fundamental understandings of language learning which Caminando 3 reflects in its structure and content. The results show that there are several aspects in Caminando 3 which are supported by the evidences and advices of the neurodidactic theories and simultaneously there are details in exercises and parts of the layup containing a level of repetition and prediction which are directly harmful to the process of acquisition, according to neurodidactic theories. The conclusion is that a more dynamic teaching book can be produced with guidelines that can be created using these results. Further investigations will have to measure the knowledge and success of the pupils to decide whether neurodidactics is a successful complement to traditional didactics of second language learning.

<p> Mental health screeners need to demonstrate measurement equivalence across the populations of their intended use in order to improve the fairness in the identification of students in need of social, emotional, and behavioral supports. This study examined measurement invariance on three mental screeners across five racial and ethnic groups. The <i>Elementary Social Behavior Assessment</i> measures academic enablers associated with the latent construct of teachability (ESBA). The <i>Student Risk Screening Scale </i> assesses externalizing problems (SRSS) and the <i>Student Internalizing Behavior Screener</i> measures internalizing problems (SIBS). Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses tested for measurement invariance from the sample of African American (18%), Asian American/Pacific Islander (13%), Latino Hispanic (25%), European American (31%), and multiracial (11%) groups of students in elementary schools. Only the ESBA required respecification to establish an adequate baseline model. The ESBA, SRSS, and SIBS demonstrated metric invariance with ordinal ratings of <i>never, occasionally, sometimes</i>, and <i> frequently</i> in addition to scalar invariance with the thresholds between the ordinal ratings. Thus, the total scores from the ESBA, SRSS, and SIBS generalize across racial and ethnic groups and the student&rsquo;s race or ethnicity is less likely to mask their true level of need for social, emotional, and behavioral supports. The results indicate that the ESBA, SRSS, and SIBS may help teachers to identify racially and ethnically students who need intervention, to customize the interventions, and to evaluate students&rsquo; response to intervention. Schools using these mental health screeners may reduce disproportionality in discipline and special education.</p><p>

<p> The increased demand for qualified STEM workers, necessitates addressing the bachelor&rsquo;s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degree achievement among African Americans and other underrepresented populations. Using inquiry derived from Harper&rsquo;s (2010) Anti-Deficit Achievement Framework, this study sought to explore the factors that contribute to the successful degree completion of African American STEM students within a large comprehensive university system. Coding of the twelve semi-structured interviews revealed six major themes: a) K-12/precollege educational experiences, b) motivation to complete a STEM degree, c) systems of social support, d) extracurricular activities and out-of-class experiences, e) addressing stereotyping and discrimination, and f) faculty behaviors and dispositions. All themes were intertwined at each phase of participants&rsquo; academic careers, thereby, highlighting the complexity of this population&rsquo;s experience and what is needed to address their low STEM degree attainment. Findings indicated that this student population benefits from positive, sustained faculty-student interactions, holistic STEM success programming, and genuine networks of social support. Furthermore, Harper&rsquo;s framework can be modified to explore the motivation of African American STEM students as well as the African American student&rsquo;s relationship with disability support services.</p><p>

Diana Baumrind's identification in the 1960s of authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles, as well as her demonstration of correlations between optimal developmental outcomes and the authoritative style, continue to have profound influences on how child socialization is thought about and researched. But, times have changed. Cultural psychology's assumption of intentional individuals and intentional cultures co-constructing each other allows for the possibility that historically mediated sociocultural differences between the 1960s and 1990s may have influenced childrearing practices and outcomes. For this study, instruments used by Baumrind were adapted to investigate cultural ideals and families today. Middle-class, urban, Northeastern families in which parents (n = 10) of preschool children appeared to meet criteria for the authoritative style were studied in depth. Although the ratios of nurturance and demandingness appear to be comparable in the two time periods among authoritative parents, 1990s parents show substantially more conformist and authoritarian attitudes than did their predecessors. Whereas attitudes of 1960s authoritative parents support children in speaking their minds, 1990s authoritative parents support children in minding their speech. This change is interpreted as a function of historical changes in parents' creative intuitions that optimal developmental outcomes are now less related to the 1960s discourse of agency, and more related to the 1990s agency of discourse. As a consequence, what may appear to be a matter of authoritarianism on the parts of parents is interpreted here as greater vigilance regarding the significance of speech acts for succeeding in the 21st century.

Return to education is as an intervention in the life course that produces changes in sense of self and relationship. This study investigated the subjective experience of adult women who returned to school and completed an undergraduate degree after age 25. Thirteen women who returned to school and earned a Bachelor's degree were interviewed at least two years after graduation; their retrospective evaluations and understandings of changes initiated by return to school constituted a perspective missing from the literature. Analyses of interview themes were based on the principles of grounded theory. Relationships between codes representing participants' experiences were investigated to understand motivation before returning, experiences while in school, including stress, coping, and support, and evaluations at interview of change and stability in perceptions of senses of self and relationships with others. There was considerable support for the idea that education fostered developmental progression, rather than developmental stagnation or regression, in terms of increased capacity for independence and individuation, and in terms of increased capacity for relatedness and connection. Further, the perspective of retrospect and a qualitative approach added considerable richness and depth to understandings of experiences of return to education.

The present cross-sectional study adds to the extant literature by exploring how parenting and child behavior problems relate to elementary school children's academic achievement and engagement. Parenting was investigated as a possible mediator of the relationship between behavior problems and academic outcomes. A diverse sample of 62 children, their primary caregivers, and teachers participated in the study. Videotaped observation of parent-child dyads doing a homework task allowed the following behaviors to be studied: parental autonomy support, positive-minus-negative presence, quality of teaching, and child engagement. To assess behavior problems, parents and teachers completed behavior rating scales, and parents completed a structured interview. Children participated in language and literacy based achievement testing, and school personnel provided grades. Children who displayed higher levels of engagement performed better on measures of academic achievement. Positive parenting behaviors were associated with academic achievement and engagement. An exploratory analysis was consistent with child engagement partially mediating the relation between parenting behavior and reading achievement. Child behavior problems were related to lower engagement, but contrary to expectations, they were not related to parenting or achievement. Boys rated by teachers as displaying behavior problems, however, had lower academic achievement, but this was not the case for girls. Though parenting was not related to child behavior problems, findings did suggest that parenting and child behavior are associated with child engagement. This research points to the critical role of engagement as a component of academic success and the potential for parents to foster children's academic engagement and achievement through the parent-child relationship.

This study examines SEARCH, an individually administered screening test used to identify kindergarten children who may be vulnerable to academic failure in school. The public school district in the community studied had used SEARCH as its screening tool for nine years and abandoned it with much controversy as to its usefulness and accuracy as a measure to detect kindergarten children vulnerable to learning failure. If it could be demonstrated that SEARCH is an effective screening instrument, the community would consider renewing its use. A sample comprised of two years of entering kindergarten children (270) who had taken SEARCH and later taken the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) were investigated to determine whether SEARCH was successful in its ability to identify young children at risk. Variables including special education services, pre-school experience, retention, and sex were analyzed to determine any relevant effects on SEARCH scores and academic success. Bivariate and multivariate linear regressions were performed to examine relevant correlations. Stepwise regression was utilized to determine the relative predictive validity of the SEARCH subscales. A positive correlation emerged when SEARCH was compared to CTBS. Children who scored high on SEARCH tended to score high on the CTBS total score, Reading, Mathematics, and TCS scores. Further, students who scored high on SEARCH tended to succeed in regular education programs with greater consistency than low scorers. The specificity of SEARCH was (.78), the sensitivity was (.37), and the overall hit-rate was greater than 71%. Yet, sixty-four percent of children who scored in the vulnerable range on SEARCH never received special education services and twenty-two percent of children who passed SEARCH received 766 remediation. Still, a strong SEARCH score is more indicative of success than a low SEARCH score. Of the 41 children who scored five and below on SEARCH, 5 (12%) were retained, while of the 229 children remaining who passed SEARCH, 11 (4%) were retained. While the ESI reports greater overall predictive validity than SEARCH, one SEARCH subtest yields important diagnostic information. The Lamb Chop Matching subscale will be recommended as a component of the kindergarten screening program.

The theoretical part of this thesis is focused on the introduction to drama as a separate object with its principles and the principles of working with drama, on its methods and techniques. We will introduce here the work of teachers of drama education and training opportunities in this field. In terms of psychology, the work deals with the development of speech in children and the ability to learn a new language, so that we get the most lasting effect in the preservation of the skills acquired in the memory. An integral part of this work is also didactic teaching of foreign languages and its characteristics. Required skills in a foreign language, then set the General Educational Programme for Basic Education, which allows us to set learning goals. The theoretical part is also a methodology to creating tutorials foreign language with the use of drama in education and its reflection. The practical part contains taught lessons on selected topics of the English language, where I used drama as a teaching resource.

Este trabalho se enquadra na linha de Pesquisa em Psicologia da Educação e tem por interesse entender quais são as informações e dados relevantes que a Neurociência tem produzido para sustentar uma educação de qualidade para as crianças de 0 a 5 anos de idade, circunscrevendo, assim, o que se compreende como letramento emergente uma prática de leitura, escrita, escuta e multiplicidade de expressões linguísticas que compreendem um conjunto de códigos socialmente construídos a partir do referencial teórico e empírico neurobiológico. O interesse pelo tema provém das relações entre as áreas que investigam o cérebro e a aprendizagem da criança pequena, que são citadas, mas pouco discutidas no ambiente educacional e também no campo das ciências humanas no geral. A fundamentação consistiu na busca de alguns referenciais teóricos clássicos da Pedagogia (Comenius e Montessori), da Psicologia Cognitiva Educacional (Bruner e Gardner) e da Neurociência da leitura (Dehaene, Goswami, Gazzaniga, Kuhl, Luria, Morais, entre outros) a fim de elaborar uma investigação interdisciplinar com relação à aprendizagem dos aspectos linguísticos da criança pequena. Utilizamos como metodologia investigativa a revisão sistemática em três áreas do conhecimento (Educação, Psicologia Cognitiva e Neurociência). A identificação de variáveis comuns como, por exemplo, criança pequena, letramento emergente, pré-escola, aprendizagem, neurociência, neurologia, neuropsicologia e assim por diante possibilitou delimitar nossa pesquisa a um tema específico e fundamental nesse nível de ensino e nos anos subsequentes da escolarização. O letramento emergente pode ser investigado como uma práxis que envolve aspectos neurobiológicos, sociais, históricos e políticos. Uma nova perspectiva teórica é necessária para interligar de forma multidisciplinar os cuidados e as atividades educativas propostas voltadas para a primeira infância. Acreditamos que essa lacuna ou clivagem entre o conhecimento das ciências humanas e das ciências biológicas dificulta o surgimento de novas teorias e novos desenhos de pesquisa para aprofundar as relações sob uma perspectiva multidisciplinar do letramento na criança. Ao analisar uma parte da produção acadêmico-científica que circunscreve a elaboração do conhecimento sobre a criança pequena nos últimos anos, verificamos que existe a necessidade de novas teorias que fundamentem o encadeamento da perspectiva biológica às perspectivas culturais do letramento emergente, principalmente naquela que a investiga de forma multidisciplinar. Novas abordagens teóricas baseadas em evidências acadêmico-científicas são importantes para fundamentar uma práxis profícua dos educadores, pais e cuidadores e políticas públicas que relacionem aspectos complementares do cuidado, da educação plena à criança pequena e dos impactos do futuro na sociedade. / The present work comprises a research in the field of Psychology of Education, and aims at highlighting what relevant data and information Neuroscience has recently produced that could support quality education for children between the ages of 0 and 5 years. This study encompasses, therefore, from the theoretical and empirical point of view of Neurobiology, what has come to be known as emergent literacy understood here as reading, writing, listening, and a wide range of linguistic manifestations, all of which constitute a set of socially constructed codes. The interest in this subject comes from the relationships among different fields of study that have as objects the brain and the learning processes of small children. Such fields are mentioned, but rarely discussed in depth, in the educational environment, as well as in the more general field of Humanities. In order to investigate in a multidisciplinary fashion the learning processes related to the linguistic behaviors of small children, we took into consideration a number of classical and theoretical parameters from the fields of Pedagogy (Comenius and Montessori), Educational and Cognitive Psychology (Bruner and Gardner), and Neuroscience of Reading (Dehaene, Goswami, Gazzaniga, Kuhl, Luria, Morais, and others). The identification of common variables present in all of these sources key terms such as small children, emergent literacy, pre-school, learning process, Neuroscience, Neurology, Neuropsychology, and so on has made it possible to circumscribe our study to a specific theme, essential both to the pre-school level of teaching and to subsequent years of schooling. It is possible, then, to analyze emergent literacy as a praxis involving neurobiological, social, historical, and political, aspects. However, if we are to establish a multidisciplinary relationship between the care and the educational activities typical of early infancy, a new theoretical perspective is necessary. We believe that the knowledge gap between Humanities and Biology hinders the development of new theories and studies that could strengthen the relationship between these fields of study, in relation to a multidisciplinary approach to child literacy. In a selective analysis of recent academic and scientific studies on the development of small children, the need for new theories capable of substantiating the link between the biological and cultural aspects of emergent literacy was evident, especially when it comes to multidisciplinary investigations. New theoretical approaches based on academic and scientific evidence are important to properly guide public policies, as well as to ground a praxis that will allow parents, caregivers and educators to efficiently integrate complementary aspects of the care and full education of small children, with an eye towards their future impact on society.

An educational psychology thesis analysing technical and artistic abilities of pupils selected for technical education. Attempting to bridge the gap between the designer and the psychologist, the author makes a psychometric study of architectural and engineering drawing. Draftsmanship calls for practical intelligence. The draftsman needs, above all, the ability to think in-terms of space. He must be able to think in solid and to transfer an object from three to two dimensions and vice versa. Artistic ability does not play an important part in draftsmanship at the early stage of training.