Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-73). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D..)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Ithel Jones, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Childhood Education, Reading and Disability Services. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Jan. 24, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 182 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.(Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: C. Chris Payne ; submitted to the School of Human Environmental Sciences. Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-97).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Boise State University, 2005. / Includes abstract. In appendices, sample participation questionnaires are in both English and Spanish. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-89). Also available online via the ProQuest Digital Dissertations database.

The U.S. toxic food environment has impacted the increased rates of childhood obesity and disordered eating patterns (Battle & Brownell, 1996), and prevention efforts are beginning to take an ecological approach to addressing these weight-based problems. Researchers have begun to discuss the importance of starting prevention efforts during infancy and early childhood (Flynn et al., 2006; Olstad & McCargar, 2008). Caregivers and parents have the most impact on child eating and activity levels during early development, but there is scarce research on ways to engage parents in programming. The present study used a qualitative design to investigate parents' experiences receiving, making meaning of, and applying sociocultural messages about children's health and nutrition. Individual interviews were conducted with parents from 16 very low-income Early Head Start families. Interview transcripts, field notes, documentary evidence, and follow-up participant checks were used during grounded theory analysis of the data (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). A theoretical model of parental movement toward action was developed that included (a) the culture and context influencing parents, (b) parents' sources of social and cultural messages, (c) parental attitude and engagement, (d) parental motivation for action, (e) intervening conditions impacting motivation and application, and (f) parent action taken on the individual and social levels. The categories and subcategories of the model are illustrated by narrative data. Implications for research, parent engagement, and prevention programming for weight-related problems in young children are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Marjorie R. Hancock / With the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (PL 107-110) many pedagogical practices for literacy learning have been re-examined to align themselves with the results of the National Reading Panel report (2000). The federally funded Reading First initiative mandates systematic and explicit instruction of the key components identified by the National Reading Panel report (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension). Higher accountability and high stakes testing has caused reflection regarding how instructional time is spent in classrooms. This qualitative case study was conducted in a combined setting of a kindergarten classroom and music education classroom in a small mid-western community over a period of nine weeks, from February 15 through April 23, 2007. This study, framed in the socio-cultural theory of constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978) and Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence (2004) explored the way a kindergarten teacher and music educator provided literacy learning opportunities for young children. Data were collected through detailed observational fieldnotes, interviews of the kindergarten teacher and music educator, and conversations with children. Data analysis revealed five characteristics that framed the literacy learning environment which included: 1) providing a caring community; 2) use of conversations; 3) connections to prior knowledge and community; 4) collaboration; and 5) consistency. Pedagogical commonalities were found to include: 1) a gradual release of responsibility; 2) use of metacognition; 3) a sharing of quality children’s literature; 4) purposeful oral language development; and 5) use of active engagement in learning, especially the use of gesturing. Data also revealed evidence of support of six components of early literacy learning: 1) phonemic awareness; 2) phonics; 3) fluency; 4) vocabulary; 5) comprehension; and 6) concepts about print. Data identified that the classroom teacher provided more incidences of instruction coded as phonemic awareness, phonics, and comprehension; with the classroom music educator providing more evidence of coded events for fluency and vocabulary learning. Analysis of combined events identified a balance of instructional methods, experiences, and techniques identifying the critical importance of the elementary music educator’s role in supporting early literacy learning of young children and the importance of collaboration in meeting needs of children.

Florida’s Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten program (VPK) aims to ensure that all 4-year-olds are prepared to excel in K-12 mathematics. Early numeracy/spatial skills are predictive of success in K–12 mathematics. No research has examined whether VPK classrooms are equipped with the materials necessary to teach numeracy/spatial skill. The Pre-Kindergarten Numeracy and Spatial Environment Survey was created to examine the frequency of access to and use of numeracy/spatial materials in VPK classrooms. The 69-item survey was completed by the lead educator from a sample of 62 pre-kindergarten classrooms in Miami-Dade County. Regression analysis results suggest the location of the pre-kindergarten center, the sex distribution of the children in the classrooms or the number of years of experience that the educator has as a lead teacher along with the extra training courses undertaken by the teachers does not affect the access to or the use of, numeracy and spatial materials in the classrooms.

The Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994) called upon all governments to implement inclusive education, ensuring that all learners with barriers to learning are included in the educational system. South Africa as a cosignatory to this global call responded with the implementation of the South African Education White Paper 6 (Department of Education, 2001) where the principles and foundations towards inclusive education were stipulated. It was expected of teachers to be able to accommodate learners with barriers to learning in their classrooms (Dednam, 2009, p. 371), although Ntombela and Green (2013, p. 2) state that teachers are not equipped to work with learners with specific disabilities. Learners present with various barriers to learning and these barriers pose problems and challenges in the classroom. One of these problems in the classroom is learners presenting with Auditory Processing Disorder. This qualitative study employed phenomenology as the research design. Through the use of memory work, drawings and focus group discussions as data production tools, the five Foundation Phase teachers’ experiences regarding learners presenting with Auditory Processing Disorder in the inclusive classroom, were explored. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model was used to make meaning of the findings of the study. The findings of the study indicate that teachers are torn between the expectations of global and national policies regarding inclusive education and the management and support of learners presenting with Auditory Processing Disorder in their classrooms. Various challenges and problems arise with the inclusion of learners presenting with Auditory Processing Disorder in the classroom. The findings of the study were used to formulate guidelines to support Foundation Phase teachers working with learners presenting with auditory processing problems as well as policy suggestions for the Department of Basic Education. The Department of Basic Education should revise the implementation of CAPS to include the necessary adaptations for learners presenting with Auditory Processing Disorder; and also provide teacher assistants in Foundation Phase classrooms to enable the full inclusion of all learners.

A partir da descoberta dos íntrons, muitas questões sobre sua origem vêm sendo discutidas como: porque eles existem em eucariotos e não são encontrados em procariotos, quando e como eles se originaram. Basicamente duas hipóteses existem para explicar a origem dos íntrons: \"introns-early\" e \"introns-late\". A primeira hipótese sugere que íntrons e éxons já existiam nos primeiros genes e os íntrons foram perdidos posteriormente na linhagem de bactérias. A hipótese oponente, introns-late, assume que os íntrons foram adicionados posteriormente durante a evolução, somente em eucariotos. Introns de genes diferentes podem sofrer recombinação durante a divisão celular e assim formar novos genes. Este processo permite e aumenta a freqüência de troca completa de éxons e, conseqüentemente, aumenta a probabilidade de novos genes funcionais serem formados. Este fenômeno é chamado de \"exon-shuffling\" e é um mecanismo importante em relação a origem de muitas proteínas novas em eucariotos. Entretanto, o papel do exon-shuffling na criação das proteínas no ancestral comum dos procariotos e eucariotos é o ponto de discordância entre as hipóteses introns-early e introns-late porque este mecanismo depende da presença dos introns no progenoto. Excesso de éxons simétricos é considerado uma evidência de exon-shuffling, já que a troca de éxons flanqueados por íntrons da mesma fase não muda o quadro de leitura do gene receptor. Nesta tese, apresentamos dois estudos relacionados ao papel do fenômeno de exon-shuffling na evolução das proteínas. No primeiro estudo, observamos que existe uma correlação significativa entre unidades simétricas de shuffling e a idade de domínios protéicos. Domínios antigos, presentes em procariotos e eucariotos, são mais freqüentemente flanqueados por íntrons de fase zero e são preferencialmente localizados nas partes centrais das proteínas. Domínios modernos são mais freqüentemente flanqueados por íntrons de fase um e estão presentes predominantemente nas extremidades das proteínas. Propomos um modelo no qual o shuffling de domínios antigos flanqueados por íntrons de fase zero deve ter sido importante durante a criação das partes centrais das proteínas no ancestral comum de eucariotos e procariotos. Shuffling de domínios modernos, predominantemente flanqueados por íntrons de fase um, deve ter sido importante para a origem das extremidades das proteínas durante a evolução de eucariotos. O segundo estudo trata do possível papel do exon-shuffling na evolução de peptídeos sinal em proteínas humanas. Recentemente, foi mostrado que existe uma predominância de íntrons de fase um próximo ao sítio de clivagem de peptídeos sinal em genes humanos [Tordai, H., Patthy, L. (2004) FEBS lett. 575:109-111]. Os autores sugeriram que tal distribuição é causada pela inserção de íntrons em sítios de inserção preferencial AGG. Apresentamos evidências de que o sinal observado não é tão forte como inicialmente mostrado e que não existe excesso desproporcional de AGG que daria suporte a inserção em sítios preferenciais. Como estas proteínas evoluíram através de exon-shuffling, levantamos a possibilidade de que este fenômeno possa também ter sido amplamente responsável pelo excesso de íntrons de fase um. Acreditamos que os dados presentes nestes dois estudos representam uma contribuição importante para o campo de estudo de evolução de íntrons e do fenômeno de exon-shuffling porque estes apresentam dados importantes e originais acerca do papel do \"exon-shuffling\" antigo e moderno durante a evolução das proteínas. / Since the discovery of introns, many questions about their origin have been raised such as: why they exist in eukaryotic organisms and not in prokaryotes, when and how did they originate. Mainly, there are two hypotheses explaining the origin of introns: ?introns-early? and ?introns-late?. The first hypothesis suggests that introns and exons already existed in the first genes and were lost later in the bacteria lineage. The opposing hypothesis, introns-late, assumes that introns were inserted late in evolution, in eukaryotic organisms only. Introns from different genes may suffer recombination during cell division and this way form new genes. This process allows and increases the frequency of exchanging complete exons and, consequently, increases the probability of forming new functional genes. This phenomenon is called ?exon-shuffling? and is an important mechanism accounting for the origin of many new proteins in eukaryotes. However, the role of exon-shuffling in the creation of proteins in the ancestor of prokaryotes and eukaryotes is the point of disagreement between the hypotheses \"introns-early\" and \"introns-late\" because this mechanism depends of the presence of introns in the progenote. Excess of symmetric exons is thought to represent evidence for exon-shuffling since the exchange of exons flanked by introns of the same phase does not disrupt the reading frame of the host gene. In this thesis, we present two studies concerning the role of the exon-shuffling phenomenon in protein evolution. In the first study, we found that there is a significant correlation between symmetric units of shuffling and the age of protein domains. Ancient domains, present in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, are more frequently bounded by phase zero introns and their distribution is biased towards the central part of proteins. Modern domains are more frequently bounded by phase one introns and are present predominantly at the ends of proteins. We propose a model in which shuffling of ancient domains mainly flanked by phase zero introns would have been important during the creation of the central part of proteins in the ancestor of eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Shuffling of modern domains, predominantly flanked by phase one introns, would have accounted for the origin of the extremities of proteins during eukaryotic evolution. The second study accounts the possible role of exon-shuffling in the acquisition of signal peptides in human proteins. It was recently shown that there is a predominance of phase one introns near the cleavage site of signal peptides of human genes [Tordai, H., Patthy, L. (2004) FEBS lett. 575:109-111]. The authors suggested that it was due to intron insertion at AGG proto-splice sites. We present evidence that the signal observed is not as strong as initially shown and that there is no disproportional excess of AGG that would support insertion at proto-splice sites. As these proteins evolved by exon-shuffling, we raise the possibility that this phenomenon might also be largely responsible for such excess of phase one introns. We believe the data present in these two studies represent an important contribution to the field of introns and exon-shufling evolution due to their important and original data concerning the role of ancient and modern exon-shuffling during the evolution of the proteins.