Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T16:27:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabiana Birch.pdf: 3403742 bytes, checksum: 5b27fcdde63c325332c6c82b0b84ca84 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-07-01 / This study has been developed from problematizations about the enlargement of Elementary Education (EE), to nine years lasting, referring to reading and writing teaching in the Early Years of learning. The aim was to analyze, with the teachers of 5th and 6th grades of this academic stage, in São João, PR, the relationships of this new organization of EE and the reading and writing learning process. The survey took place from 2012 to 2013 and involved all eleven state and municipal schools which offer 5th and 6th grades in this town. It was interviewed sixteen people with semistructured questions - six state teachers of Portuguese Language in the 6th grade, seven municipal teachers of the 5th grade (AIEF ), a municipal pedagogy teacher, the municipal secretary of education and the responsible for AIEF of nine years at Núcleo Regional de Pato Branco. The studied documents were the Pedagogical Proposition of schools for AIEF of the organization lasting eight and nine years of studying at elementary school in São João County; internal data of the institutions, referring to the ages and the scholar learning of Portuguese Language, the classes from 2011, 2012 and 2013, of 4th and 5th grades and 5th and 6th grades. The data were analyzed based on the assumptions of historical materialism as a theoretical-methodological approach that enabled a reflection upon a the research object, considering it in its entirety, relationships and contradictions, and historical and cultural assumptions of language studies, by Vygostki and Bakhtin, who understand the language as a social phenomenon, resulting from the cultural dimension of human experience and constituent subjects. The results of this study show that, with the implementation of Elentary Education of nine years lasting in the São João, the guidelines related to the adoption of learning cycles, as proposed for integral formation of students, received emphasis only in the first three AIEF grades , not contemplating the following grades (4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grades); there wasn´t reorganization of school content for classes of 5th grade; there wasn´t planning meetings between state and local teachers reported; and also there was no training for education professionals so it didn´t gave the support for schools and teachers to make the effective transition. This study also pointed improvement in students performance; changes on teachers' practices aiming a more contextualized and dynamic teaching, able to explore the textual diversity, with more time on reading and producing texts, than, specifically, the normative language teaching; inclusion of specific teaching content of literacy in the reorganized PPC; improved mastery of the written code with regard to the technical issues of writing students who arrive at 5th and 6th grades; and greater interest in reading. Such positive results in teaching and learning of reading and writing are situated in a historical context multidetermined and beyond the simple relation with the expansion of the time spent in school and its obligation, they may have been influenced by other programs and educational policies. However, the cultural-historical perspective that justified this search, it is recognized that when children get into school earlier, they have enlarged their possibilities of relations with the written culture and thus made possible the expansion of their learning. / Este estudo se desenvolveu a partir de problematizações sobre a ampliação do Ensino Fundamental (EF), para nove anos de duração, referentes ao ensino de leitura e escrita nos Anos Iniciais. O objetivo foi analisar, junto às professoras de 5º e 6º anos dessa etapa escolar, do município de São João, PR, as relações dessa nova organização do EF com a aprendizagem de leitura e escrita. A pesquisa foi realizada no período de 2012 a 2013 e envolveu todas as onze escolas estaduais e municipais que ofertam 5º e 6º anos, no município. Foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com dezesseis sujeitos - seis professoras estaduais de Língua Portuguesa no 6º ano, sete professoras municipais do 5º ano (AIEF), uma pedagoga da rede municipal, uma secretária de educação do município e a responsável pelos AIEF de nove anos do Núcleo Regional de Educação de Pato Branco. Os documentos analisados foram as Propostas Pedagógicas Curriculares dos AIEF da organização de oito e de nove anos do EF no município; dados internos das instituições, referentes às idades e ao aproveitamento escolar em Língua Portuguesa, das turmas de 2011, 2012 e 2013, de 4ª e 5ª séries e 5º e 6º anos. As informações coletadas foram analisadas a partir dos pressupostos do materialismo histórico, como opção teórico-metodológica que possibilitou uma reflexão sobre o objeto de pesquisa, considerando-o em sua totalidade, relações e contradições, e pressupostos histórico-culturais dos estudos da linguagem, de Vigostki e Bakthin, que compreendem a língua como fenômeno social, resultante da dimensão cultural da experiência humana e constituinte dos sujeitos. Os resultados apontam que, com a implantação do Ensino Fundamental de nove anos no município de São João, as orientações referentes à adoção dos ciclos de aprendizagem, como proposta de formação integral dos estudantes, recebeu ênfase apenas nos três primeiros anos dos AIEF, não contemplando os anos seguintes (4º, 5º, 6º, 7º, 8º e 9º anos); que não houve reorganização dos conteúdos escolares para as turmas de 5º ano; não foram relatados momentos de planejamento conjunto entre professores municipais e estaduais; e que as formações destinadas aos profissionais da educação não atenderam às necessidades das escolas e professores, para efetuar a transição. Apontam, também, melhoria no desempenho dos estudantes; alteração das práticas docentes em função de um ensino mais contextualizado e dinâmico, capaz de explorar a diversidade textual, com maior tempo dedicado à leitura e produção de textos, do que, especificamente, ao ensino normativo da língua; inclusão de conteúdos de ensino específicos da alfabetização na PPC reorganizada; melhora do domínio do código alfabético no que se refere às questões técnicas de escrita dos alunos que chegam aos 5º e 6º anos; e maior interesse pela leitura. Tais resultados positivos no ensino e aprendizagem de leitura e escrita situam-se em um contexto multideterminado historicamente e ultrapassam a simples relação com a ampliação do tempo de permanência na escola e sua obrigatoriedade e podem ter sido influenciados por outros programas e políticas educacionais. Contudo, pela perspectiva histórico-cultural que fundamentou a pesquisa, reconhece-se que, ao ingressarem na escola mais cedo, as crianças têm ampliadas suas possibilidades de relações com a cultura escrita e, consequentemente, possibilitad a a ampliação de suas aprendizagens.

A construção dos conhecimentos necessários ao ensino de Ciências tem se mostrado um grande desafio para os professores dos anos iniciais de escolaridade, uma vez que requer o entendimento das inúmeras tensões que envolvem o processo de ensino e aprendizagem desta área do conhecimento. Considerando uma perspectiva sociocultural de educação em Ciências, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo compreender com maior profundidade como tais professores constroem e mobilizam seus conhecimentos para ensinar Ciências, a partir da análise de algumas práticas e depoimentos, proporcionados pelo curso de extensão O ensino de Ciências no contexto dos anos iniciais de escolaridade, realizado na Faculdade de Educação da Universidade de São Paulo, em 2013. Sob esse enfoque, foi realizado um estudo de casos múltiplos (Yin, 2010), a partir do estabelecimento de Núcleos de Significação decorrentes da análise de entrevistas, filmagem de atividades e documentos de cinco professoras desses anos, da rede pública de ensino (AGUIAR; OZELLA, 2013). Os resultados apontam que, embora o curso de extensão tenha oferecido contribuições importantes para que professores dos anos iniciais reflitam sobre o ensino de Ciências e construam conhecimentos importantes para sua docência, a construção dos conhecimentos necessários para o estabelecimento do processo de ensino e aprendizagem está relacionada a uma série de fatores, que engloba as vivências dos professores enquanto alunos, sua formação inicial, continuada e em serviço, bem como a postura institucional da escola em que atuam. / Developing the necessary knowledge for the teaching of science has been a great challenge for teachers in the early years of schooling, as it requires the understanding of numerous tensions surrounding the process of teaching and learning in this area of knowledge. Taking into account a sociocultural perspective of education, this research aims to understand in greater detail how such teachers develop and mobilize their knowledge to teach science, based on the analysis of some practices and statements provided by the extension course \"Teaching of Science in the early years of schooling context\", held at the Faculty of Education of University of São Paulo in 2013. Under this approach, a multiple-case study was performed (YIN, 2010), from establishing the meaning core resulting from analysis of interviews, video recordings of activities and documents from five early school years teachers of the public education system (AGUIAR; OZELLA, 2013). The results show that, although the course has offered important contributions for early school years teachers to reflect on the teaching of science and develop important knowledge to their teaching, building the knowledge required for the establishment of the teaching and learning process is related to a number of factors, which include the experiences of teachers as learners, their graduation programs, ongoing and in-service training as well as the institutional position of the school in which they operate.

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The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program [IB PYP] is a student-driven, inquiry-based elementary school level educational program that has grown rapidly in the United States since its creation in 1997. This study explores how IB PYP art teachers define and implement inquiry-based instructional methods in their art rooms through a nation-wide, online survey of art teachers, coordinators, and administrators. The Survey consists of 22 questions which ask respondents to describe their classroom practices and provide examples of how they make use of inquiry-based methods in the art room. The responses to this survey were then value coded for four different phases of inquiry and three degrees of student-centeredness to analyze understandings of these practices. This study concludes that conceptions of these instructional methods vary greatly in occasionally contradictory ways. There is need for more robust lesson plans examples and increased frequency and access to subject specific training, in both physical and online settings.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) standards recognize reflection as an integral part of the framework and the fabric of the Primary Years Programme school, as it is embedded in the foundational standards and practices of the inquiry-based IB teaching model. However, teachers in an IB Primary Years Programme school located in the southeast United States struggled with being reflective practitioners. Guided by John Dewey's reflective thought, the purpose of this bounded qualitative exploratory case study was to examine teacher perceptions of reflection practices in an IB Primary Years Programme school. Research questions were drafted to ask about teachers' perceptions of their reflective practices, how teachers' perceived reflective practices aligned with IB's teaching model, and beliefs about the school-based support and resources teachers needed to implement reflective practices. The selection criteria included teachers with at least 2 years of teaching experience who had been to at least 1 outside IB training. Ten teachers, chosen through purposeful sampling, completed a 2-week reflective journal and participated in a semistructured interview. Based on the open-coding and inductive analysis patterns emerged, leading to themes; including lesson reflections, planning, time, and training. Based on the findings, a project, a white paper, includes recommendations to address the teachers' perceptions of reflective practices that will be presented to the school as well as the district. This improved instructional change may provide positive social change in the culture of reflection for teachers and help them and to better differentiate instruction for students.

Medical decision problems are extremely complex owing to their dynamic nature, large number of variable factors, and the associated uncertainty. Decision support technology entered the medical field long after other areas such as the airline industry and the manufacturing industry. Yet, it is rapidly becoming an indispensable tool in medical decision making problems including the class of sequential decision problems. In these problems, physicians decide on a treatment plan that optimizes a benefit measure such as the treatment cost, and the quality of life of the patient. The last decade saw the emergence of many decision support applications in medicine. However, the existing models have limited applications to decision problems with very few states and actions. An urgent need is being felt by the medical research community to expand the applications to more complex dynamic problems with large state and action spaces. This thesis proposes a methodology which models the class of sequential medical decision problems as a Markov decision process, and solves the model using a simulation based reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm. Such a methodology is capable of obtaining near optimal treatment strategies for problems with large state and action spaces. This methodology overcomes, to a large extent, the computational complexity of the value-iteration and policy-iteration algorithms of dynamic programming. An average reward reinforcement-learning algorithm is developed. The algorithm is applied on a sample problem of treating hereditary spherocytosis. The application demonstrates the ability of the proposed methodology to obtain effective treatment strategies for sequential medical decision problems.

The issue of accounting for goodwill has caused considerable concern to accountants and academics. For over 100 years there has been diversity of views as to the nature, recognition and measurement of goodwill. Such diversity of views has contributed to the adoption of a variety of accounting practices for goodwill, which has lead to attempts to regulate practice by accounting professions in the Anglo-American world. The research conducted involves a literature review to identify the concepts and definition of goodwill and the criteria for its recognition and measurement. the investigation will then concentrate upon goodwill arising on consolidation of the financial statements of a group of companies. Major accounting practices will be examined, along with the requirements of the australian and mojor overseas professions on the issue. The findings of a study of listed Australian companies which investigated the accounting policies adopted for goodwill on consolidation before and after regulation of the issue and which sought views upon some of the conceptual issues involved are reported and discussed. Implications of the research for the Australian accounting profession will be addressed, and recommendations will be propsed together with a description of future research opportunities.

<p>Long term care and social services (LTCaS) for older people are an important part of the Scandinavian welfare state. The fast growing number of elderly people in Sweden has caused many concerns about increases in future needs (and particularly costs) of age-related social programs such as LTCaS. The general aim of this dissertation is to examine how projected demographic changes may affect future needs for long-term care and services in Sweden assuming different trends in morbidity and mortality. The following data sources are used: national population registers, register data on inpatient/outpatient health care from region Skåne, the Swedish National Survey on Living Conditions (SNSLC) for the period 1975-1999. Three alternative methods to inform simple demographic extrapolations of needs for health and social care for the elderly are presented. Furthermore, a new method for demographic projections has been developed. According to our studies, the health of older people (measured as the prevalence of severe ill-health) has improved during the study period. Taking into account health status, when projecting future needs for LTCaS, will result in a fairly substantial reduction of the rate of the demographically influenced increase in projected LTCaS needs. The changes in population composition regarding education and mortality differentials per educational level may have a significant impact on the number of the elderly in the future. On the other hand, the projected increase in the number of older people suffering from severe ill-health, as a consequence of population ageing, may be counterbalanced to a large extent by changes in the educational composition towards a higher proportion of the population having a high educational level and lower prevalence of severe ill-health. We need to improve our planning tools in order to support policy-makers to plan for uncertainty concerning future needs and demand for LTCaS.</p>

Long term care and social services (LTCaS) for older people are an important part of the Scandinavian welfare state. The fast growing number of elderly people in Sweden has caused many concerns about increases in future needs (and particularly costs) of age-related social programs such as LTCaS. The general aim of this dissertation is to examine how projected demographic changes may affect future needs for long-term care and services in Sweden assuming different trends in morbidity and mortality. The following data sources are used: national population registers, register data on inpatient/outpatient health care from region Skåne, the Swedish National Survey on Living Conditions (SNSLC) for the period 1975-1999. Three alternative methods to inform simple demographic extrapolations of needs for health and social care for the elderly are presented. Furthermore, a new method for demographic projections has been developed. According to our studies, the health of older people (measured as the prevalence of severe ill-health) has improved during the study period. Taking into account health status, when projecting future needs for LTCaS, will result in a fairly substantial reduction of the rate of the demographically influenced increase in projected LTCaS needs. The changes in population composition regarding education and mortality differentials per educational level may have a significant impact on the number of the elderly in the future. On the other hand, the projected increase in the number of older people suffering from severe ill-health, as a consequence of population ageing, may be counterbalanced to a large extent by changes in the educational composition towards a higher proportion of the population having a high educational level and lower prevalence of severe ill-health. We need to improve our planning tools in order to support policy-makers to plan for uncertainty concerning future needs and demand for LTCaS.

<p>Air pollution and a general concern for lack of physical activity in North America have motivated governments to encourage non-motorized modes of transportation. A key infrastructure component for these forms of transportation is sidewalks. The City of Saskatoon has identified the need to formalize sidewalk management policies to demonstrate diligence for community protection regarding sidewalk safety. Prioritization of sidewalk maintenance and rehabilitation actions must be objective and minimize risk to the community. Most research on prioritization of pedestrian facilities involved new construction projects. This research proposes a decision model that prioritizes a given list of existing unsafe sidewalk locations needing maintenance or rehabilitation using a direct measure of pedestrian safety, namely, quality-adjusted life years lost per year. </p><p>A decision model was developed for prioritizing a given list of unsafe sidewalk locations, aiding maintenance and rehabilitation decisions by providing the associated risk to pedestrian safety. The model used data mostly from high quality sources that had already been collected and validated. Probabilities and estimations were used to produce value-added decision policy.</p> <p>The decision analysis framework applied probability and multi-attribute utility theories. This study differed from other research due to the inclusion of age and gender groups. Total average daily population of the city was estimated. This population was distributed to sidewalk locations using probabilities for trip purposes and a locations ability to attract people relative to the city total. Then trip injury events were predicted. Age and gender distribution and trip injury type estimations were used to determine the impact of those injuries on quality of life.</p><p>There exist much observable high quality data that can be used as indicators of unknown or unobserved events. A decision policy was developed that prioritizes unsafe sidewalk locations based on the direct safety impact on pedestrians. Results showed that quality-adjusted life years lost per year sufficiently prioritized a given list of unsafe sidewalk locations. It was demonstrated that the use of conditional probabilities (n=594) allowed for the ability to abstract data representing a different source population to another. Average daily population confined and distributed within the city boundary minimized problems of accuracy. Gender-age distribution was important for differentiating the risk at unsafe sidewalk locations. Concepts from this research provide for possible extension to the development of sidewalk service levels and sidewalk priority maps and for risk assessment of other public services.</p>