Teaching Arabic as foreign language is a fairly new field of study, particularly in Western Universities. The aim of this thesis is to discuss one aspect of this field by concentrating on text-book analysis and evaluation. In carrying out this task we have formulated a set of questions to serve as parameters in the collection and analysis of data relevant to this task (appendix II). The subject of this practical study is vol. 1, entitled "Arabic for Beginners" of a series of books used for teaching Arabic to foreign adults at the Arabic Language Institute. Our study utilises a number of notions and considerations which are applicable to text-book analysis and evaluation generally. In Appendix I we deal with some of these points in an attempt to specify the theoretical dimension presupposed by our practical analysis. The thesis contains two main parts:- the theoretical part which deals with different aspects belonging to the teaching of Arabic as a foreign language, including the characteristics of the Arabic language and the teaching of sounds, vocabulary, constructions, and culture. The practical part, on the other hand, is concerned with the practical application and the outcome of the analysis of the text-book in terms of a set of criteria which may have applicability outside the immediate realm of Arabic foreign language teaching. The thesis contains four chapters. Chapter one deals with the characteristics of the Arabic language and its importance as a foreign language; it also concentrates on the objectives of Arabic language teaching as well as on the problem of syllabus design in relation to this language. Chapter two gives a general outline of the institutes and the materials of teaching Arabic as a foreign language in Saudi Arabia. Chapter three deals with the importance of sounds, vocabulary, constructions and culture, paying attention to their place in the text-book of teaching Arabic as a foreign Language. Chapter four sets out the results of applying the criteria of text-book evaluation to the book under investigation, pointing out its positive and negative features in the areas of sounds, vocabulary, constructions and culture.

The main tasks of this thesis are a mapping of the occurrence of the topic prevention of risks arising from encounters with animals in textbooks for primary scholars, a detection levels of scholar´s knowledge in this field, a creation of a tutorial on this topic and a testing of this tutorial. The survey has shown that scholars have got only shallow theoretical knowledge about the way how to deal safely with common domesticated animals as dogs and cats, they have got almost no experience with bigger farm animals (as pigs, cows, horses). The survey has shown that after completing the tutorial the scholar´s knowledge has become much deeper. There is very low rate of this topic in textbooks for the educational area The Man and his World. The domesticated animals (especially dogs) are presented as a thoroughly good, the scholars are not warned of the possible risks during the meeting with this animals. This thesis was created as part of the GAJU 078/2013/S project.

The aim of the thesis is to explore the current state of using text books of civics and social sciences based on research at selected primary and secondary schools and to assess positive and negative aspects of these textbooks. The diploma thesis is divided into two parts - theoretical and practical. The theoretical part will define textbook concept and describes its basic functions, requirements, structural components and evaluation. Furthermore, it focuses on the description of the text books of Civics and Social Sciences with former and current guidance of the Ministry of Education, which is commonly used in schools from 1989 to the present. The practical part will include research survey (questionnaire) realised on ten selected primary and secondary schools in Pelhřimov and Pacov. The research will be supplemented by interviews with teachers.

The topic of the diploma thesis is The Issue of Presenting New Lexis in Contemporary English Language Textbooks for Czech Secondary Schools. The aim of the theoretical part is to describe the ways we can present new lexis to students in English language classes. This part of the thesis also deals with teaching lexis in accordance with Communicative Approach that is considered to be a basis for modern textbooks in English language classes. Further on, it will supply a range of topics of the lexis defined by Common European Framework of Reference. The theoretical part is also devoted to expected amount of vocabulary when teaching English as a foreign language that are reflected in the Framework Educational Programme. The practical part is based on an analysis of contemporary textbooks in English language classes whose objective is to provide a total number of occurrences showing the new lexis. This part also provides an overview of the ways how the new lexis is presented in textbooks. The last chapter focuses on possible activities that could compensate eventual imperfections concerning the presentation of the new lexis in contemporary textbooks.

Esta pesquisa procura investigar as regras que dão contornos à caligrafia que chega às escolas brasileiras hoje por meio de livros didáticos. Para analisar essas regras, foi necessário um olhar genealógico, buscando conexões com as condições de possibilidade que permitiram a enunciação, a circulação e o caráter de verdade dos discursos que hoje constituem a caligrafia que ganha visibilidade na arquitetura montada nos livros didáticos; uma arquitetura que, como discutirei, opera para fabricar escritas legíveis e ágeis, agora não mais necessariamente belas, como por muito tempo a escola brasileira primou. O estudo analisa quatro coleções de livros de caligrafia, de grande vendagem no Brasil, recomendados para uso nas séries iniciais do Ensino Fundamental. Totalizando dezenove volumes, as quatro coleções escolhidas para análise são: da editora Ática, Assim se aprende caligrafia; da editora Scipione, Marcha criança e Ziguezague; e da editora FTD, No capricho. Como referencial teórico, utilizo contribuições dos estudos de Michel Foucault e de outros autores pós-estruturalistas, no que se refere a possibilitar a análise dos discursos e a examinar os mecanismos que operam a normalização das escritas infantis por meio da caligrafia escolar. Conceitos como discurso, enunciado, saber, poder, normalização, estratégia e tática foram especialmente úteis ao trabalho. A pesquisa destacou três grandes táticas em movimento nos materiais analisados: 1) o funcionamento maciço de regras fornecidas pela psicomotricidade para conduzir a organização dos exercícios caligráficos; 2) a disposição em séries de complexidade crescente dos exercícios, partindo de unidades menores, como a letra, até a solicitação regular de cópias de textos em fonte cursiva; e 3) o jogo discursivo que envolve brincadeira, infância e caligrafia com vistas a interessar as crianças ao trabalho estético sobre suas escritas. Olhar para as táticas significou examinar como o poder se exerce sobre os sujeitos infantis em relação à produção de padrões estéticos de escrita. E o que fiz foi colocar em evidência determinadas operações que pretendem fazer com que a criança governe seus próprios traçados na escrita, por meio da aparelhagem fornecida pelos livros de caligrafia. / The present study aims to investigate the rules that give shape to the handwriting that is delivered to Brazilian schools through handwriting textbooks. In order to analyze such rules, I have cast a genealogical view while searching for connections to the conditions of possibility that allowed the enunciation, the circulation and the character of truth in the discourses that have construed the handwriting that gains visibility in the architecture created for the textbooks; this architecture, as will be discussed in this study, operates for the production of legible and speedy handwriting, which no longer has to be necessarily beautiful or decorative, as it had been advocated by the Brazilian school for a long time. This study analyzes four collections of handwriting textbooks that are highly popular in Brazil, and that are recommended for teaching in the first grades of Elementary School. These collections comprehend a total of nineteen volumes and are as follows: by Ática Publishers: Assim se aprende caligrafia; by Scipione Publishers: Marcha criança and Ziguezague; and by FTD Publishers: No capricho. As theoretical references, I have relied on the contribution from Michel Foucault‟s studies, as well as from other post-structuralist writers, with regard to the enabling of discourse analysis and the examination of the mechanisms that operate the normalization of children writings through school handwriting. Concepts such as discourse, statement, knowledge, power, normalization, strategy, and tactics have been especially useful for this study. The research has highlighted three major moving tactics in the material under analysis: 1) the massive functioning of the rules dictated by psychomotricity to guide the organization of handwriting exercises; 2) the disposition of exercises in series of rising complexity levels, starting from smaller units, like letters, up to the regular demand of copying texts using cursive handwriting; and 3) the discursive game that engages playing, childhood and handwriting aiming at getting the children interested in the aesthetic work applied to their handwriting. Looking into such tactics has meant investigating how power operates upon child subjects regarding the production of aesthetic writing patterns. In this sense, the contribution of this work is to highlight some operations that are intended to allow the children to self-govern their own handwriting, through the means supplied by handwriting textbooks.

Este estudo tem como objetivo examinar as possibilidades e potencialidades do ensino das Transformações Geométricas no Ensino Fundamental, assunto este pouco abordado nos currículos deste nível de ensino. Realiza um resgate histórico sobre o ensino da Geometria e constata que a introdução do tema das transformações se dá a partir do Movimento da Matemática Moderna. Identifica os Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais como incentivador deste estudo, a partir do momento em que, devido a essas orientações, autores de livros didáticos passam a tratar do tema em suas coleções, mesmo que, em alguns casos, de forma tímida. Para verificar as potencialidades do estudo das Transformações Geométricas foram elaborados dois conjuntos de atividades, sendo um desenvolvido com professoras atuantes nos Anos Iniciais do Ensino Fundamental e outro com uma turma de alunos do 6º ano desse nível de ensino, ambas em uma escola municipal da Rede Pública de Ensino da cidade de São Leopoldo, RS. Esta pesquisa de caráter qualitativo segue princípios da pesquisa-ação, adotando procedimentos de acompanhamento e controle da intervenção produzida. Da análise da aplicação da proposta, foi produzido um livro do tipo paradidático intitulado Matemática das Transformações, o qual trata o tema com aspectos lúdicos, de caráter artístico e que, pela linguagem nele utilizada, tem a pretensão de incentivar a leitura. / This study intents to examine the possibilities and potential of Geometric Transformations in teaching Elementary School, a few discussed subject in the curriculum of this educational level. Performs a historical survey about the teaching of geometry and notes that the introduction of the theme of change is given from the Movement of Modern Mathematics. Identifies how the National Curriculum Parameters for this study, from the time when, due to these guidelines, authors of textbooks come to address the issue in their collections, even though in some cases, so shy. To verify the potential of the study of Geometric Transformations were prepared two sets of activities, one developed with teachers working in early years of elementary school and another with a group of students from the 6th year of this level of education, both in a municipal school of the Network public Schools in the city of São Leopoldo, RS. This qualitative study follows the principles of action-research, adopting procedures for monitoring and control of the intervention produced. An analysis of the implementation of the proposal, was produced a textbook titled Transformation’s Mathematics , which treats the subject with playful aspects of artistic character, and that the language used therein, intend to encourage reading.

A presente pesquisa faz uma análise das atividades práticas existentes nos livros didáticos de Biologia, avaliados pelo PNLEM (Programa Nacional do Livro Didático para o Ensino Médio) de 2007 a 2012. Buscou-se identificar e classificar as atividades práticas, quando presentes nas obras já citadas, segundo seus próprios objetivos de proposição. O percurso metodológico foi constituído por duas etapas: a exploratória, que buscou identificar a presença de atividades práticas nos 45 livros que participaram das três avaliações realizadas pelo PNLEM e a segunda etapa, constituída pela caracterização das proposições de atividades práticas presentes em duas coleções selecionadas na etapa anterior. Nessa fase de análise das proposições presentes nas duas coleções selecionadas, buscou-se categorizá-las segundo seus objetivos. A identificação e a caracterização das atividades práticas presentes nos livros didáticos de Biologia permitem um esboço de como o ensino de Biologia vem ocorrendo em escolas brasileiras. Pesquisas apontam que para muitos professores, o livro didático é o único recurso utilizado e este ainda é determinante do currículo. Documentos oficiais legitimam um ensino de ciências, em particular de Biologia, fundamentado numa proposta construtivista e sociointeracionista, interdisciplinar e contextualizada, a partir de uma abordagem investigativa. Porém, na análise realizada não foi encontrado esse perfil nas proposições de atividades práticas, sendo estas apenas de caráter ilustrativo e/ou demonstrativo. Os dados apontam, ainda, para uma proposição de atividades práticas sem um rigor conceitual, que não privilegiam, concomitantemente, conteúdos conceituais, procedimentais e atitudinais, com abordagem disciplinar e descontextualizada, dependendo inteiramente das concepções, valores e compromisso do professor na realização ou não das atividades práticas. / The present research has analysed practical activities offered by PNLEN ( Plano Nacional do Livro Didático para o Ensino Médio), from 2007 to 2012 and, It has aimed to identify and classify those practical activities, whenever they have been present in the already cited books, according to their own proposition objectives. The method has been constituted by two parts: the exploratory, which has aimed to identify the presence of practical activities in the 45 books that have been part of the three choices offered by PNLEN; and the second part, constituted by the proposition characterizations existing in the two collections selected at an earlier moment. In this phase, by the analysis of propositions existing in the two selected collections, the research has aimed to categorize them according to their objectives. Both identification and categorization of practical activities found out in Biology textbooks books have allowed an outline on how Biology teaching has happened in brazilian schools.Researches have showed that, to many teachers, the textbook has been the only source used and, it still has determined the curriculum. Official documents have legitimated a Science teaching, particularly Biology, based on a constructivist, social interactive, contextualized and interdisciplinar proposal, departing from an investigative approach. However, the analysis has not found this profile in the proposition of practical activities, being them, just of illustrative or demonstrative character. Data collected still has pointed that, to a proposal of practical activities without a strict conceptual, which does not give priority, concomitantly, just to conceptual procedures and attitudinal contents as well as disciplinary and out of context activities, has depended completely on the teacher´s conceptions, values and engagement in the implementation or not of practical activities.

The goal of this diploma work is the suggestion of teaching industrial geography for the second degree of basic schools. This suggestion includes learning presentation with commetaries for teacher and workbook for students. The didactic analysis and evaluation of industrial geography in these textbooks is also a part of this diploma work.

This independent degree project investigates possible differences and similarities between vocational and non-vocational language learning textbooks in terms of topics covered, use of Swedish, and vocabulary levels. The textbooks analyzed in this study are Viewpoints 1, Viewpoints vocational, Blueprint A version 2.0 and Blueprint vocational, and they are aimed at the course English 5 in Swedish senior high school. In order to compare and analyze the differences between the textbooks, the Swedish words were counted in order to compare the proportion of Swedish words of each textbook. The texts and tasks from each textbook were made into a corpus. The corpus was analyzed with the tool Text Inspector, and connected to the levels of the Common European Framework of Reference and the Academic Word List. The results show that vocational textbooks have a larger focus in the topic of social and working life than the non-vocational textbooks. However, the results also suggest that the textbooks are quite similar in terms of academic words and the CEFR levels. The results also suggest that an investigation of a larger number of textbooks from several publishers could present a different result. The pedagogical implications that can be drawn from the results are that teachers need to know that differences may occur and that textbooks might need additional material.

This dissertation pursues three broad questions. First, what are the correlates of nonviolent attitudes around the world? Second, which nations exhibit characteristics of robust "Cultures of Peace"? Third, are there signs that history and collective memory shapes attitudes, i.e., do cultures "learn" from experiences of war, peace, or nonviolence? A multi-method approach sought to further our understandings of propensities for peace at both the national and individual levels. First, an analysis of nation-level Gallup World Poll data (N=136 nations) identifies correlates of nonviolent attitudes and advances a critique of the Global Peace Index (GPI), grounded in the observed disconnect between structural and attitudinal indicators of peace in many nations. The Gallup World Poll analysis suggests that many forces of modernization instill forms of "callous cruelty" while failing to cultivate pragmatic nonviolent attitudes. For example, poor nations and nations with recent successful nonviolent revolution are more likely to affirm that nonviolence "works" than wealthier nations ranking high in the GPI. Moreover, it is argued from Gallup data that the accumulation of "peace capital" is quite specific, with a frequent disconnect between forms of principled and pragmatic nonviolence. Second, survey data were collected from two "maximally different" cases, university students in the U.S. (N=403) and Costa Rica (N=312), which have starkly divergent structural and historical relationships to peace and militarism. Utilizing a new survey instrument, factor analyses helped to identify cross-national variations in respondent adherence to ideologies of violence and nonviolence: militarism, realism, just war, or nonviolence. The results show Costa Ricans were significantly more peaceful than U.S. respondents on 48 out of 52 items. Susceptibility to "elite cues" was tested in an experimental section. Tests revealed gaps in historical knowledge of nonviolence offering support for the theory that "ideology has no history." Finally, a cross-national sample of state-approved history textbooks from 8 nations (Germany, Norway, Ghana, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the U.S.) were analyzed as outcomes of collective memory processes. The relative neglect of significant nonviolent revolutions and campaigns in the majority of these textbooks suggests formidable obstacles to the proliferation of nonviolent ideology around the world. / 10000-01-01