<p> Effectively integrating technology into the educational system is paramount to the continued success of the U.S. educational system. Not meeting the needs of students can be detrimental to the continued growth and competitiveness of the United States. Educational systems must reflect the rapid changes in society and the way students communicate, socialize, and think. K-12 educational leaders have an increasing interest in understanding how to equip students with 21st-century skills designed to enhance their ability and willingness to become productive and knowledgeable citizens. This qualitative descriptive case study examined the perceptions of a purposive sample of middle school educators to determine what skills and competencies influenced their use and promotion of technology in education. The following three research questions guided this study: How do rural Virginia middle school educators describe the use of technology in middle school education? What challenges do rural Virginia middle school educators face when attempting to integrate technology in education? How do rural Virginia middle school educators prepare for and view effective integration of technology in education? The theory of constructivism provided the conceptual framework for examining how the participants in this study used and promoted technology in their educational settings. Data were collected by conducting in-depth interviews of 10 rural Virginia middle school educators. The anecdotal responses of the participants provided insight into their perceptions and practices. Four major themes emerged in this study: motivations for using technology, obstacles, training, and technology perceptions. </p><p>

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2005-12-12Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:57:30Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 battistuzzi_vm_me_rcla.pdf: 1120041 bytes, checksum: 64e93fb3b882acc18dbdfa7d9f27e30d (MD5) / Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) / Os Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais elegem a cidadania como eixo norteador e propõem que sejam trabalhados nas aulas de Educação Física o esporte, os jogos, as lutas, as ginásticas, as atividades rítmicas e expressivas, além dos conhecimentos sobre o corpo. Os principais avanços que o documento apresenta são: o princípio da inclusão (sugerindo a participação de todos os alunos nas atividades); os temas transversais (relacionando a disciplina com os grandes problemas da sociedade brasileira), e as dimensões dos conteúdos (conceituais, procedimentais e atitudinais). O presente trabalho teve como objetivo subsidiar os professores de 5ª a 8ª séries do Ensino Fundamental como o esporte pode ser tratado dentro de uma proposta pedagógica que leva em conta as três dimensões dos conteúdos: conceituais, procedimentais e atitudinais. A metodologia utilizada foi a pesquisa-ação, de cunho qualitativo, constituída por três etapas. Os sujeitos participantes foram cinco professoras da rede municipal de ensino da cidade de Americana - SP. Inicialmente cada professora participante respondeu a um questionário com o objetivo de detectar o conhecimento prévio sobre o tema, assim como suas dúvidas, opiniões, dificuldades, necessidades e sugestões. Estas respostas serviram de base para a elaboração da próxima etapa, que foram os nove encontros. Estes encontros aconteceram na forma de vivências, debates, exposições e leitura de textos, visando debater e ampliar os olhares sobre esta temática. Na última etapa, as participantes responderam outro questionário apresentando as sugestões e contribuições para uma avaliação final. Os resultados nos mostraram que as professoras, embora tivessem dificuldades em compreender e considerar as dimensões dos conteúdos... / The National Curricula Parameters elect the citizenship as a north axle and propose to be worked in the Physical Education classes the sport, the games, the fights, the gymnastics, the rhythm and expressive activities, besides knowledge about the body itself. The main advances that the document presents are: the inclusion principle (that guarantees the participation of all students in the activities); the transversal themes (relating discipline to the biggest problems of the Brazilian society); and the contents' dimensions (conceptual, procedure and attitudinal). The present work had as object to verify with Juniors' Schools teachers how the sport can be treated inside a pedagogical proposal, that takes into account three dimensions of the contents: conceptual, procedural and attitudinal. The methodology used was the research-action, with qualitative basis, composed by three steps. The participants were five teachers (women) from public schools from Americana - SP - Brazil. Initially, each teacher/participant answered a questionnaire with the objective to detect the previous knowledge about the theme, as well as their doubts, opinions, difficulties, needs and suggestions. These answers were used as a basis for the elaboration of the next step that was composed of nine meetings. These meetings happened as experience exchanges, debates, expositions and text readings, aiming to discuss and increase the views over the current theme. In the last step, the participants responded another questionnaire presenting suggestions and contributions for a final evaluation. The results showed that the teachers, even though they had difficulties to comprehend and consider the dimensions of the contents, overcame them and made proposals that range the contents' dimensions in vi its totality. Besides it, they mentioned other relevant aspects... (Complete abstract, click electronic address below)

Orientador: Suraya Cristina Darido / Banca: Amauri Aparecido Bássoli de Oliveira / Banca: Lílian Aparecida Ferreira / Resumo: Atualmente, o livro didático vem sendo reconhecido como um material indispensável ao processo de escolarização. No campo da Educação Física a produção e estudo do livro didático permanecem praticamente negligenciados. O objetivo do presente estudo foi, em uma primeira etapa, elaborar um livro didático de basquetebol para o Ensino Fundamental: um dirigido ao professor e outro ao aluno. Na segunda etapa o objetivo dessa pesquisa foi investigar como cinco professores de Educação Física avaliam a aplicabilidade do livro didático de basquetebol. E na terceira etapa foi investigar como um professor utiliza esse livro em situações reais de ensino. A metodologia utilizada foi de natureza qualitativa. Na etapa de elaboração do livro didático utilizou-se o referencial da pesquisa teórica. Na etapa de avaliação do livro didático optou-se pelo estudo exploratório, tendo a entrevista como instrumento de coleta de dados. Na terceira etapa foram realizadas observações sistemáticas da aula de um professor, para tanto, apoiou-se no estudo de caso. Os resultados apontaram que a elaboração de um livro didático é uma tarefa complexa e existem poucos princípios que fornecem suporte a esse trabalho. Os professores se identificaram com a proposta do livro didático de basquetebol e apontaram vantagens e desvantagens para sua utilização no cotidiano escolar. Os professores apresentaram dificuldades de visualizar a aplicabilidade do livro didático em suas práticas, uma vez que não há tradição de seu uso em aulas de Educação Física. Quanto ao uso do livro didático, o professor investigado demonstrou pouco interesse pelo livro do professor, por outro lado, utilizou amplamente o livro destinado ao aluno. Por fim, observou-se que os alunos receberam o livro didático de formas variadas e as relações que eles estabelecem com o livro didático modifica-se de acordo com... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Nowadays, text book has been recognized as an indispensable material to education process. In the field of Physical Education the text book's production and study became practically neglectful. The present study's objective was, in a first stage, to elaborate a basketball text book for the Fundamental Teaching: one focusing the teacher and other the student. In the second stage the research's objective was to investigate how five Physical Education teachers evaluate the applicability of the basketball text book. And in the third stage it was to investigate how a teacher uses that book in real situations of teaching. The methodology used was qualitative. In the stage of the text book's elaboration it was used the reference of theoretical research. In the evaluation stage of the text book it was chosen the exploratory study, the interview was a data collection instrument. In the third stage it was observed systematically a teacher's class, for this, it was supported by case study. The results pointed that the elaboration of a text book is a complex task and there are few principles that gives support for this. Teachers identified themselves with the proposal of the basketball text book and they pointed advantages and disadvantages for its use in school. The teachers presented difficulties of visualizing the applicability of the text book in their practices, once there is no tradition on text books in classes of Physical Education. Concerning the use of the text book, the investigated teachers demonstrated little interest for the teacher's book; on the other hand, they used the student's book thoroughly. Finally, it was observed that the students received the text book in different ways and the relationships they establish with it changes according to the teacher's commitment to the material use. The pedagogic practice in Physical Education is demanding a more and more intense... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

<p> This study incorporated an intervention that combined discussion and sentence writing to promote vocabulary development. Fourth grade students were assigned to either an intervention or control condition. Teachers in the intervention classrooms used a word learning protocol that was designed to provide students with student-friendly definitions and a minimum of 15 exposures to each target word through both receptive and expressive tasks. These tasks called upon students to begin to make connections between spontaneous and scientific concepts to support their word learning. Teachers in control classrooms followed instructional routines as specified in their school&rsquo;s reading series. Multiple choice assessments from the district adopted reading series for vocabulary and comprehension along with a researcher-developed sentence writing task were used to measure growth in word knowledge. On the multiple choice vocabulary assessment, the intervention group outperformed the control group on one of the three weekly assessments from the reading series. There were no differences in comprehension scores on weekly reading tests across groups. On the sentence writing task, results indicated that the intervention group outperformed the control group with the intervention group showing a statistically significant difference in the rate at which they learned words.</p><p>

Orientador: Irene Conceição Andrade Rangel / Banca: Suraya Cristina Darido / Banca: Glauco Nunes Souto Ramos / Resumo: Os Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais elegem a cidadania como eixo norteador e propõem que sejam trabalhados nas aulas de Educação Física o esporte, os jogos, as lutas, as ginásticas, as atividades rítmicas e expressivas, além dos conhecimentos sobre o corpo. Os principais avanços que o documento apresenta são: o princípio da inclusão (sugerindo a participação de todos os alunos nas atividades); os temas transversais (relacionando a disciplina com os grandes problemas da sociedade brasileira), e as dimensões dos conteúdos (conceituais, procedimentais e atitudinais). O presente trabalho teve como objetivo subsidiar os professores de 5ª a 8ª séries do Ensino Fundamental como o esporte pode ser tratado dentro de uma proposta pedagógica que leva em conta as três dimensões dos conteúdos: conceituais, procedimentais e atitudinais. A metodologia utilizada foi a pesquisa-ação, de cunho qualitativo, constituída por três etapas. Os sujeitos participantes foram cinco professoras da rede municipal de ensino da cidade de Americana - SP. Inicialmente cada professora participante respondeu a um questionário com o objetivo de detectar o conhecimento prévio sobre o tema, assim como suas dúvidas, opiniões, dificuldades, necessidades e sugestões. Estas respostas serviram de base para a elaboração da próxima etapa, que foram os nove encontros. Estes encontros aconteceram na forma de vivências, debates, exposições e leitura de textos, visando debater e ampliar os olhares sobre esta temática. Na última etapa, as participantes responderam outro questionário apresentando as sugestões e contribuições para uma avaliação final. Os resultados nos mostraram que as professoras, embora tivessem dificuldades em compreender e considerar as dimensões dos conteúdos... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The National Curricula Parameters elect the citizenship as a north axle and propose to be worked in the Physical Education classes the sport, the games, the fights, the gymnastics, the rhythm and expressive activities, besides knowledge about the body itself. The main advances that the document presents are: the inclusion principle (that guarantees the participation of all students in the activities); the transversal themes (relating discipline to the biggest problems of the Brazilian society); and the contents' dimensions (conceptual, procedure and attitudinal). The present work had as object to verify with Juniors' Schools teachers how the sport can be treated inside a pedagogical proposal, that takes into account three dimensions of the contents: conceptual, procedural and attitudinal. The methodology used was the research-action, with qualitative basis, composed by three steps. The participants were five teachers (women) from public schools from Americana - SP - Brazil. Initially, each teacher/participant answered a questionnaire with the objective to detect the previous knowledge about the theme, as well as their doubts, opinions, difficulties, needs and suggestions. These answers were used as a basis for the elaboration of the next step that was composed of nine meetings. These meetings happened as experience exchanges, debates, expositions and text readings, aiming to discuss and increase the views over the current theme. In the last step, the participants responded another questionnaire presenting suggestions and contributions for a final evaluation. The results showed that the teachers, even though they had difficulties to comprehend and consider the dimensions of the contents, overcame them and made proposals that range the contents' dimensions in vi its totality. Besides it, they mentioned other relevant aspects... (Complete abstract, click electronic address below) / Mestre

<p> This exploratory case study was designed so that I could investigate the writing processes of sixth-grade students when composing traditional and digital compositions. With the increase in multimodal composing in classrooms, understanding how students compose and what traditional print text skills can be appropriated for digital composition is important. This knowledge will guide educators in how to effectively develop pedagogies to support digital writing development. I used a teacher-research paradigm to guide this study. I found several key factors that influence student writing through document analysis, participant interviews and stimulated recall sessions. Knowledge of purpose impacted student awareness of audience that in turn impacted revision processes. In addition, I discovered that students&rsquo; traditional writing knowledge was insufficient when composing digitally. While students possessed declarative knowledge for what they wanted to compose, they were unable to produce the types of digital compositions that met the rhetorical demands of the task. While digital writing motivated the students, they did not possess the knowledge to produce a digital composition that maintained the integrity of their compositions. During interviews, it became evident that the participants lacked rhetorical knowledge about digital composition and reverted to the knowledge they possessed about print writing. Utilizing the more familiar rhetorical knowledge they possessed about composing traditional text created digital compositions that did not utilize the affordances that digital writing offers to create meaning. These finding can impact the way digital composition is taught in school to ensure that students possess the necessary rhetorical skills for creating digital compositions.</p><p>

<p> The college education gap between Latinas/os and whites has grown to 29 percentage points (Kolodner, 2017). I am a product of this gap. As a high school principal, I believe the solution to this problem lies within the creative minds of school principals/leaders. When a resource was not available to address the college readiness gap at my campus, I created one. The resource I created is <i>College Ready-the Game</i>. You can create one too! </p><p> The purpose of this qualitative study is to discover the experiences of middle and high school AVID students who played <i>College Ready-the Game</i>. John Dewey&rsquo;s theory of pragmatism guided the study. The intent behind the development of <i>College Ready-the Game</i> was to create a vocabulary resource that students can <i>learn by doing</i>. </p><p> The methodological framework was based upon tenets of Action Research. Patterns of experiences from participants of the same social group (students in the AVID program) that had played the college-ready game were observed through an interpretivist lens. Data from interviews were unitized and sorted into categories. </p><p> Secondary AVID classrooms who most widely use the game were chosen for the selection of participants. The classrooms are located in Title I and Non-Title I campuses to help ensure diversity of the participants. </p><p> The emergent patterns of responses conclude the following: &bull; Game-play of <i>College Ready-the Game</i> sparked conversations that developed college-ready vocabulary. &bull; <i>Physical movement, competition, and repetition</i> of <i>game-play</i> motivated students to learn college-ready vocabulary. &bull; <i>Community of inquiry</i> and a <i>college-going culture</i> were established through game-play. &bull; <i>Bank of college-ready vocabulary</i> empowered students to participate in <i>college-talk</i> and earn <i>social and cultural capital</i>. &bull; The <i>social and cultural capital </i> led the students to the critical <i>predisposition</i> stage to pursue college with their counselors, peers and parents. </p><p> While the study adds to the literature of college readiness, future qualitative studies are recommended to uncover the experiences from a variety of student and parent populations, such as speakers of other languages. Longitudinal quantitative studies are recommended to discover the effects of students who play <i>College Ready-the Game</i> throughout their school years. </p><p>

<p> This research addresses the problem of low math achievement of middle school students through the use of a Growth Mindset intervention and related strategies. While the research on Growth Mindset interventions and strategies show positive results in controlled settings, there is a need to better understand Growth Mindset implementation from the perspectives of teachers and students in classroom settings. This study looked at Growth Mindset implementation with 449 students and seven teachers in sixth-grade math classrooms from two middle schools in one suburban school district. This study examines teacher and student perspectives of the effectiveness of four Growth Mindset instructional strategies and achievement results after a Growth Mindset intervention conducted by the classroom teachers. Teachers learned to implement four Growth Mindset strategies through an online professional development series provided by the district and shared their perspectives in an online discussion group and subsequent survey. All the sixth-grade students completed a survey and the researcher conducted two focus groups to identify students&rsquo; perspectives of the classroom goal orientation and the Growth Mindset strategies. The impact of the Growth Mindset intervention was measured using benchmark test scores and trimester grades, which assisted the district&rsquo;s goal to improve mathematics achievement in middle school. The results demonstrate that teachers and students perceive both mastery and performance classroom goal orientations and find two Growth Mindset strategies, celebrating mistakes and providing challenging math tasks, to be well received by both groups. Findings also indicate that after the Growth Mindset intervention student achievement on the benchmark test did not improve, however, students&rsquo; grade point average did improve compared to students from the previous school year in the same district.</p><p>

<p> Professional learning environments and professional development practices among educators throughout the United States have experienced a great deal of attention in the need for changes toward collaborative learning models and professional learning opportunities that engage in hands-on work focused on student learning and the growth of teachers&rsquo; practice to help students develop their ability to think critically. This qualitative phenomenological study explored middle and high school teachers&rsquo; and administrators&rsquo; previous professional learning experiences through the practice of School-Based Instructional Rounds and Student Shadowing. The research focused on exploring the impact, if any, on transforming teaching strategies that provide deeper learning experiences for students in college and career readiness. A transformative framework under the theory of Mezirow&rsquo;s transformative learning theory and Knowles&rsquo;s adult learning theory using a constructivist paradigm and grounded theory approach informed the exploration of worldviews from the data of this research study. </p><p> The participants who took part in School-Based Instructional Rounds included 8 high school and middle teachers and administrators in 3 school districts representing 4 Southern California schools. In-person interviews support the research findings in this study. The participants represented in the Shadow a Student Challenge consisted of school leaders and a teacher who work in public and private middle and high school districts in the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Rhode Island. Document analysis and personal interviews support the research findings of this study. Professional learning experiences of School-Based Instructional Rounds and Student Shadowing were explored within the lived experiences of teachers and administrators professional learning practices. Perceptions of deeper learning opportunities in middle and high school classrooms were examined, connecting professional development and the transformation of deeper learning instructional practices. This study will contribute to the body of literature on the value of implementing School-Based Instructional Rounds and the Shadow a Student Challenge as hands-on professional learning practices for teachers and administrators toward supporting the adoption of engaging, meaningful, and relevant strategies for 21st-century learning skills in middle and high school classrooms.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to investigate if and to what extent Northeast PA middle school principals&rsquo; use of a Transformational Leadership (TL) style related to their teachers&rsquo; perceptions of self-efficacy. TL includes four specific leadership behaviors: intellectual stimulation, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, and individual consideration. The sample included 217 middle-grade teachers (4^th&ndash;8^th) from six middle schools in four school districts. Instruments included: the Multi-Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) on Transformational Leadership (TL) behaviors, and Bandura&rsquo;s Teacher Self-Efficacy Scales (TSES). Transformational leadership and teacher self-efficacy were the theories used to undergird the study. Results indicated that principals&rsquo; TL style did have a statistically significant relationship with teacher self-efficacy in regard to total score (<i>r_s</i> = .331, p &lt; .001), and a statistically significant relationship with each of the four components of transformational leadership: intellectual stimulation (<i>r_s</i> = .301, p &lt; .001); idealized influence (<i>r_s</i> = .273, p &lt; .001); inspirational motivation (<i> r_s</i> = .289, p &lt; .001); and individual consideration (<i>r_s</i> = .243, p &lt; .001). Results revealed that teacher perceptions of their principals&rsquo; TL were related to higher levels of teacher self-efficacy. These results offer new insight and add to the existing body of knowledge on how principals can build higher performing schools by transforming teacher self-efficacy through attitudes of empowerment, growth, and improvement. The results of this study have implications for school leaders of all levels, educational researchers, and teachers in regard to facilitating teacher self-efficacy development by engaging in transformational leadership behaviors.</p><p>