published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

The purpose of this study was to compare the environmental literacy of 11th and 12th graders who participated in an eighteen-week environmental education program using trade books versus 11th- and 12th-graders who participated in an eighteen-week, traditional environmental education program without the use of trade books. This study was conducted using a quasi-experimental research technique. Four high school aquatic science classes at two suburban high schools were used in the research. One teacher at each high school taught one control class and one experimental class of aquatic science. In the experimental classes, four trade books were read to the classes during the eighteen-week semester. These four books were selected by the participating teachers before the semester began. The books used were A Home by the Sea, Sea Otter Rescue, There's a Hair in My Dirt, and The Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo. The instrument used to measure environmental literacy was the Children's Environmental Attitude and Knowledge Scale. This test was given at the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester. The scores at the end of the semester were analyzed by 2 X 2 mixed model ANOVA with the teacher as the random effect and the condition (trade books) as the fixed effect. The statistical analysis of this study showed that the students in the experimental classes did not score higher than the control classes on the Children's Environmental Attitude and Knowledge Scale or on a subset of "water" questions. Several limitations were placed on this research. These limitations included the following: (1) a small number of classes and a small number of teachers, (2) change from the original plan of using environmental science classes to aquatic science classes, (3) possible indifference of the students, and (4) restrictive teaching strategies of the teachers.

The purpose of this study is (1) to investigate the characteristics of ideal physics textbooks, (2) to investigate the students, teachers, textbook writers, book committee members and science education instructors&rsquo / opinions whether the 9th grade physics textbooks, used in TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus), possess the characteristics of an ideal physics textbook, and (3) to investigate how physics textbooks should be used and how they are being used. In this study, &ldquo / Physics Textbooks Evaluation Questionnaires&rdquo / , which were prepared for physics teachers, 9th grade students, National Ministry of Education book committee members, science education instructors and physics textbook writers separately, were used as measuring instruments. The study was conducted with 591 students, 18 physics teachers, 4 book committee members, 3 science education instructors in Magosa and LefkoSa cities in TRNC, and 4 physics textbook writers in 2005-2006 spring semester. The data were analyzed by using frequency analysis. Results revealed that most of the opinions of the participants matched with the literature review in terms of ideal physics textbooks characteristics. In addition, according to most of the textbook writers and book committee members, textbooks, that were analyzed, possessed most of the characteristics of ideal physics textbooks in the nine determined categories. However, according to most of the teachers&rsquo / and students&rsquo / opinions, analyzed physics textbooks possessed most of the ideal physics textbook characteristics in all categories except instructional approach category. Students&rsquo / views on usage of physics textbooks indicated that most of the teachers and students&rsquo / levels of using physics textbooks were almost similar. In addition, all groups of the participants stated that it is necessary to support textbooks with other sources.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Textbooks play an integral role in every teaching and learning process and they are the most essential tools used to transmit knowledge, skills and values to the learners. The purpose of this study was to examine if there is any change in knowledge representation and cognitive demands in the old curriculum and new curriculum grade 12 Geography textbooks. The study was informed by Bernstein’s concept of knowledge structures. The data were chapters from four grade 12 Geography textbooks. It employs a quantitative document analysis and an adapted analytical tool from Green and Naidoo (2008) was used to analyse data. The findings show that all the four texts contain more formal knowledge and more geographical images and definitions rather than everyday knowledge. The study also shows a noticeable change in the new curriculum textbooks regarding the number of tasks and questions used as a form of assessment. The new texts have a number of tasks and more questions in each task given but they show a minimal change in terms of cognitive levels, since across all the sampled textbooks most questions require understanding of factual knowledge. There are only few questions that engage learners in the other higher cognitive levels of reasoning other than understanding. In the old curriculum texts there is more geographic content and subject specific images whereas in the new curriculum texts there is less content and more space is taken by assessment tasks and images. The study concludes that in terms of content knowledge there is no substantial change in the new textbooks. There is little integration in terms of knowledge within the subject, between geography and other subjects, and between subject knowledge and everyday knowledge. There is some change in the kinds of knowledge assessed in the tasks. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

Since 2009 the textbook has emerged as a key educational resource in South African classrooms. This has been a direct response to rapid curriculum change, and real and perceived inadequacies in teacher content and pedagogic knowledge. Of significance though is that there is limited understanding of the nature of content selections that textbook authors invoke and the subtext thereof. The purpose of this study therefore is to understand how gender is represented in Business Studies textbooks available to teachers and pupils in the Further Education and Training (FET) band in South African classrooms. This qualitative study is located in the critical paradigm and engaged the tenets of Critical Discourse Analysis as the key analytical frame. A purposive sample of two contemporary Business Studies textbooks was selected to investigate the phenomenon of gender representation. Findings reveal that stereotypes of women and men are reinforced in the selected textbooks under study. Women were shown more frequently in home settings than were men. Men were shown in a wider variety of occupational roles than women. Textbooks portrayed men in a wide range of highly-paid, high-status occupations such as managing directors, doctors, lawyers etc. In both texts more males have been represented in leadership positions in government, economic and corporate institutions. The textbooks further represented women as being disabled and destitute. Males were portrayed as confident and educated in the usage of technology while women were portrayed as illiterate. Additionally men were portrayed as assertive and forthright business individuals, while women were also portrayed as emotional and as more reliant on, or needing, the advice of men to deal with business-related issues. Finally, the portrayal of firstness presented the male pronoun first in sentences and conversation as opposed to the female pronoun. The findings indicate that representations in the textbooks are gender-biased and gender-insensitive. Of concern is that these representations may be transmitted to school learners. A critical approach to the selection and use of textbooks is thus necessary. Much work needs to be done by key role players in the educational sectors to ensure that gender inclusivity becomes a feature of South African Business Studies textbooks. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Orientador: Jorge Megid Neto / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-17T05:23:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DelPozzo_Lucimara_M.pdf: 4213609 bytes, checksum: c88be39fe6ff733730e219eb5b024713 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Tendo em vista a importância e o uso frequente dos livros didáticos no ensino escolar e a atual política de avaliação desses materiais pelo Programa Nacional do Livro Didático - PNLD, a pesquisa tem por objetivo verificar como as coleções de Ciências têm sido avaliadas no que se refere às atividades experimentais, aspecto que passa a ser valorizado dentre as categorias de avaliação do PNLD-2010 na área de Ciências. De modo mais específico, foi tratado o seguinte problema: qual a coerência entre as resenhas de avaliação do Guia de Livro Didático de Ciências - PNLD 2010 e as atividades experimentais presentes nas coleções de Ciências aprovadas nesse programa? Foram selecionadas 5 coleções didáticas de Ciências dos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental dentre as 11 aprovadas no PNLD-2010: Projeto Pitanguá, Projeto Conviver, A Escola é Nossa, Porta Aberta e Aprendendo Sempre. As atividades experimentais de todos os volumes de cada coleção foram estudadas segundo a "Análise de Conteúdo" a partir de duas categorias: Atividades experimentais por resolução de problemas e Atividades experimentais por redescoberta, e comparadas com as resenhas do Guia de Ciências do PNLD-2010. Essas resenhas apresentam um parecer positivo no que se refere à categoria de avaliação "Pesquisa e Experimentação" para as 5 coleções selecionadas, ao valorizar aspectos de problematização, formulação de hipóteses e questionamentos, numa perspectiva construtivista e investigativa de ensino. Porém, na análise das coleções didáticas observa-se a predominância de atividades experimentais do tipo redescoberta, com base em um roteiro instrucional rígido, o qual não estimula a autonomia dos alunos na formulação de hipóteses, no planejamento e execução experimental e na interpretação e análise dos dados. Constata-se, assim, uma incoerência das resenhas-sínteses do Guia do Livro Didático PNLD-2010 com as atividades experimentais presentes nas coleções didáticas selecionadas. Nessas coleções são esporádicas as propostas de atividades do tipo resolução de problemas ou que estimulam a investigação de caráter científico. Nesse sentido, notamos que nem as coleções didáticas propõem atividades experimentais que favoreçam o desenvolvimento cognitivo dos alunos numa perspectiva investigativa e crítica, nem tampouco as avaliações da equipe de Ciências do PNLD-2010 conseguem captar essa limitação das coleções e estimular a melhoria das mesmas quanto a esse aspecto pedagógico e epistemológico no ensino das Ciências da Natureza. / Abstract: Given the importance and frequent use of textbooks in school education and the current policy evaluation of these materials by the National Book Program - PNLD, the research aims at studying how collections of Sciences have been evaluated with regard to activities experimental aspect that is to be valued among the categories for assessment of PNLD 2010 in the sciences. Specifically, he was treated the following problem: what is the consistency of the assessment reviews Guide Textbook of Sciences - PNLD 2010 and experimental activities present in the collections of Sciences adopted this program? We selected five teaching collections of Sciences of the early years of primary education among the 11 approved in the PNLD 2010: Projeto Pitanguá, Projeto Conviver, A Escola é Nossa, Porta Aberta e Aprendendo Sempre. The experimental activities of all the volumes of each collection were studied according to the "Content Analysis" from two categories: experimental activities for problem solving and experimental activities for rediscovery, and compared with reviews of the Guide to Science - PNLD 2010 . These reviews have a positive opinion regarding the assessment category "Research and Experimentation" to the five selected collections, by emphasizing aspects of questioning, hypothesizing and questioning, a constructivist perspective and investigative learning. However, the analysis of teaching collections there is a predominance of type rediscovery of experimental activities, based on a rigid instructional script, which does not stimulate the students' autonomy in formulating hypotheses, planning and experimental execution and interpretation and analysis data. There is thus an inconsistency of reviews, summaries Guide Textbook - PNLD 2010 to the present experimental activities in teaching collections selected. These collections are sporadic the proposals of the type or problem-solving research that stimulate scientific. In this regard, we note that neither the teaching collections suggest experiential activities that promote the cognitive development of students in an investigative and critical perspective, neither team evaluations of Sciences - PNLD 2010 can capture this limitation of the collections and to stimulate the same as the pedagogical and epistemological this aspect in the teaching of natural sciences. / Mestrado / Ensino e Práticas Culturais / Mestre em Educação

The aim of this study was to find out whether the school history textbooks used in Transkei Junior and Senior secondary schools were adequate in helping pupils meet the demands of their course. The results of the study would be used as argument for or against the assumption that the type of textbooks used in Transkei schools, through their inadequacy in equipping the pupils with the necessary skills for "doing" history, do contribute to the high failure rate in history, especially that they are in most schools, the only recourse for both the teacher and the pupil. In particular the study intended to see what strategies the history textbooks used to aid concept understanding which is crucial to the understanding of history. Twenty three criteria, fourteen objective and nine subjective were used to assess the books for readability and for strategies which might aid concept understanding. Eight books were assessed: four Std 5 and four Std 8 books. The results showed that only three of the eight books catered for the development of skills of learning history and were suited to the level of the pupiils for whom they were intended . History textbooks therefore need to be improved so as to foster the skills of learning history. Their inadequacy could be a contributory factor to the high rate of failure. In-service and pre-service training in methods of textbook analysis can assist in textbook selection and for changes in methods of teaching to supplement shortcomings in books which are commonly used

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Input—that is, meaningful samples of the target language to which learners are exposed—is generally considered the most essential condition for second language (L2) development. Theoretical and empirical research on this key construct, however, remains scarce. To date, the field’s understanding of input has mostly been fragmentary and shallow. Crucial questions, such as what input characteristics make it indispensable for mastering any linguistic construction, are partially addressed, at best. This study sought to advance a holistic conceptualization of input in empirical research via the theoretical lens of L2 input robustness from the Selective Fossilization Hypothesis (Han, 2009, 2013, 2014). Specifically, the distributional characteristics of the simple present and present progressive in a beginner-to-advanced English as a Second or Foreign Language textbook corpus were identified using form-function analysis. Input robustness was assessed as a function of the range and types of each target construction’s mappings of form, meaning, and function (FMF) in context (“input variability”) and the frequency distribution of those mappings (“input frequency”). A mathematical model was custom-built to simulate increasing magnitudes of input variability. Insights regarding each construction’s variability and frequency were then integrated for extrapolation through a novel application of the input robustness formula. The study found that specifying distributional characteristics with FMF descriptors (e.g., one form encoding multiple meanings in multiple contexts) provided objective benchmarks for cross-construction comparisons. Moreover, the most robust textbook datasets for both constructions consistently ranked as the top two lowest in variability and the top two highest in frequency. Furthermore, the less context-dependent the FMF mappings exemplified are, the less variable a target construction would become, and vice versa. Finally, both the simple present and present progressive were determined to be “quite robust” (i.e., somewhat invariable and somewhat infrequent) in the textbook corpus, despite differences in magnitude. Overall, these findings suggest that the input robustness approach leads to a more holistic understanding of input. Conceptually, this input robustness study addressed how a target construction’s FMF consistency and frequency distribution are intricately connected in the input. Methodologically, the study demonstrated how those intricacies can be integrated into falsifiable terms for further interpretation.