Science Writing Heuristics Embedded in Green Chemistry: A Tool to Nurture Environmental Literacy among Pre-University Students

Science.gov (United States)

Shamuganathana, Sheila; Karpudewan, Mageswary

2017-01-01

Existing studies report on the importance of instilling environmental literacy among students from an early stage of schooling to enable them to adopt more pro-environmental behaviors in the near future. This quasi-experimental study was designed to compare the level of environmental literacy among two groups of students: the experimental group (N…

Scientific Literacy of High School Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Lucas, Keith B.; Tulip, David F.

This investigation was undertaken in order to establish the status of scientific literacy among three groups of secondary school students in four Brisbane, Australia high schools, and to reduce the apparent reticence of science teachers to evaluate students' achievement in the various dimensions of scientific literacy by demonstrating appropriate…

Ecological literacy materials for use in elementary schools: A critical analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Chambers, Joan Maureen

My research is a critical examination of environmental science education resources for use in Alberta schools. I examine both the resources and the processes by which these resources are developed by diverse groups. My inquiry is guided by the following question: What is the nature of the discourse of ecological literacy in the promotion and content of teaching materials in elementary schools in Alberta? This critical analysis centres on the discourses, language, and perspectives (both hidden and overt) of these resources and processes; the manifestation of political agendas; existing relations; and the inclusion or exclusion of alternate views. Framed within critical theory and an ecosocial construct, my methodology employs critical discourse analysis and hermeneutic interpretation. I analyse selected environmental science resources produced for the elementary classroom by government and nongovernment organizations. I also interview the producers and/or writers of these instructional resources to provide the perspectives of some of the developers of these materials. The findings illustrate how the discursive management of the view of nature, human-nature relationships, uncertainty, multiple perspectives, and dimensions of ecological literacy in materials for schools offer students a particular perspective. These ecological and science discourses act to shape their personal relationships with nature and notions of environmental responsibility and consciousness. This research is necessary because, particularly in Alberta, corporate interests have the potential to impact school curricula. The study points to a need for a critical appraisal of resources for schools produced by the environmental science community.

Reading in Middle School: Bumps in the Literacy Crossroads

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Hall, Katrina Willard

2008-01-01

Certainly a major bump in the literacy road today is the apparent conflict between school literacies and the preferred literacy activities of students outside of school. After family conversation about a nephew who was getting poor grades in language arts, Hall shares her thinking on the dilemmas of what constitutes literacy, how literacies kids…

Home-School Literacy Bags for Twenty-First Century Preschoolers

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Brand, Susan Trostle; Marchand, Jessica; Lilly, Elizabeth; Child, Martha

2014-01-01

Combining home-school literacy bags with preschool family literature circles provided a strong foundation for family involvement at home and school during this year-long Reading Partners project, and helped parents become essential partners in their children's literacy development. Using home-school literacy bags, children and parents learned…

Environmental Literacy of Undergraduate College Students: Development of the Environmental Literacy Instrument (ELI)

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Lloyd-Strovas, Jenny; Moseley, Christine; Arsuffi, Tom

2018-01-01

As the world population continues to increase and natural resources become limited, environmental education (EE) in universities play an essential role in developing environmentally literate. This study measured the environmental literacy (EL) levels (familiar knowledge, factual knowledge, attitude, behavior) of undergraduate college students.…

How to develop scientific literacy on environmental contamination?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimada, Yoko

2012-01-01

The knowledge and data on the environmental contamination should be smoothly communicated for environmental risk literacy. In this paper, the issues for environmental risk literacy are raised by referring the case of the environmental contamination with radionuclides released from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. It is discussed that literacy for experts should be the capacity to explain the environmental contamination system with the global and long-term viewpoint and that the network between experts like SRA Japan should be necessary. (author)

Measuring the environmental literacy of teachers | Swanepoel ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The crucial role that teachers' environmental literacy plays in realising the goals of environmental education and the importance of the ability, to determine their level of environmental literacy, are argued. A measuring instrument was developed in this regard and was applied to a sample of teachers. An analysis of the results ...

Women's Environmental Literacy As Social Capital In Environmental Management For Environmental Security of Urban Area

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Asteria, Donna; Herdiansyah, Herdis; Wayan Agus Apriana, I.

2016-02-01

This study is about experience of women's role in environmental management to raise environmental security and form of women's emancipation movement. Environmental concerns conducted by residents of urban women who become environmental activists based on environmental literacy. Because of that, women's experience in interacting with both physic and social environment have differences in managing the environment including managing household waste by applying the principles of the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and their persuasive efforts on their communities. This is the key to achieving sustainable development by anticipating environmental problem and preserving the environment. This study is conducted qualitative research method and its type is descriptive-explanative. The result of this study is environmental literacy of women activist on pro-environment action in their community that has achieved spiritual environmental literacy. Environmental literacy may differ due to internal and external condition of each individual. Pro-environment activities conducted as a form of responsibility of environmental concern such as eco-management, educational, and economic action, by persuading residents to proactively and consistently continue to do environmental management and develop a sense of community in shaping the networks of environmental concern in local context for global effect.

Information Literacy in the Upper Secondary School

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Claus; Schreiber, Trine; Tønnesen, Pia Hvid

The discussion paper is a publication from the project Information Literacy in the Upper Secondary School. The project is a collaboration between the National Library of Education at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, and the Royal School of Library and Information Science....... The project is funded by Denmark's Electronic Research Library (DEFF). The discussion paper is published in connection with the conference Information Literacy in the Upper Secondary School on 22 April 2010. See video streaming from the conference etc. at www.dpu.dk/info....

Empowering Primary School Pupils through Literacy Remediation ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Empowering Primary School Pupils through Literacy Remediation Project in Uyo ... and retraining in the hope that this will impact on the pupils' literacy development. ... process and often fail to engage the pupils in activities that promote literacy ... In other to empower such children for meaningful learning, reading needs to ...

Teachers’ use of a school library in a South African township school: closing the literacy gap

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Nicoline Wessels

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This post-project study investigates the use of the school library at a primary school by teachers at the end of a literacyproject, without the guidance of the project facilitators at the school. The article gives background information about theAcademic Literacy Research Project Unit (ALRU from the University of South Africa which established a school library atschool P as part of the literacy research project. The aim of the Literacy Project was to improve literacy levels and createa strong reading culture that would later have a positive impact on the academic progress of learners at school P. TheLiteracy Project involved training teachers in literacy and reading matters. In addition to the teacher training, a schoollibrarian was trained to manage the school library. At the onset of the post-project study, self-administered questionnaireswere drawn up to collect data on the teachers’ school library practices after withdrawal of the project team. Thequestionnaires included qualitative and quantitative questions. The findings suggest that the school library is being utilisedand appreciated as an integral part of the learning process; however, the teachers seem to need further exposure andtraining on information literacy. The authors hope that the information and interpretations provided in this article will behelpful in achieving the goal of quality education in South Africa and especially in improving the reading and literacy levelsof all learners.

The Association of School Climate, Depression Literacy, and Mental Health Stigma Among High School Students.

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Townsend, Lisa; Musci, Rashelle; Stuart, Elizabeth; Ruble, Anne; Beaudry, Mary B; Schweizer, Barbara; Owen, Megan; Goode, Carly; Johnson, Sarah L; Bradshaw, Catherine; Wilcox, Holly; Swartz, Karen

2017-08-01

Although school climate is linked with youth educational, socioemotional, behavioral, and health outcomes, there has been limited research on the association between school climate and mental health education efforts. We explored whether school climate was associated with students' depression literacy and mental health stigma beliefs. Data were combined from 2 studies: the Maryland Safe Supportive Schools Project and a randomized controlled trial of the Adolescent Depression Awareness Program. Five high schools participated in both studies, allowing examination of depression literacy and stigma measures from 500 9th and 10th graders. Multilevel models examined the relationship between school-level school climate characteristics and student-level depression literacy and mental health stigma scores. Overall school climate was positively associated with depression literacy (odds ratio [OR] = 2.78, p stigma (Est. = -3.822, p = .001). Subscales of engagement (OR = 5.30, p stigma (Est. = -6.610, p < .001), (Est. = -2.742, p < .001). Positive school climate was associated with greater odds of depression literacy and endorsement of fewer stigmatizing beliefs among students. Our findings raise awareness regarding aspects of the school environment that may facilitate or inhibit students' recognition of depression and subsequent treatment-seeking. © 2017, American School Health Association.

Financial Literacy, Schooling, and Wealth Accumulation. NBER Working Paper No. 16452

Science.gov (United States)

Behrman, Jere R.; Mitchell, Olivia S.; Soo, Cindy; Bravo, David

2010-01-01

Financial literacy and schooling attainment have been linked to household wealth accumulation. Yet prior findings may be biased due to noisy measures of financial literacy and schooling, as well as unobserved factors such as ability, intelligence, and motivation that could enhance financial literacy and schooling but also directly affect wealth…

Research on Mathematical Literacy in Schools--Aim, Approach and Attention

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Haara, Frode Olav; Bolstad, Oda Heidi; Jenssen, Eirik S.

2017-01-01

The development of mathematical literacy in schools is of significant concern at the policy level, and research is an important source of information in this process. This review article focuses on areas of research interest identified in empirical projects on mathematical literacy, and how mathematical literacy in schools is approached by…

The profile of high school students’ scientific literacy on fluid dynamics

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Parno; Yuliati, L.; Munfaridah, N.

2018-05-01

This study aims to describe the profile of scientific literacy of high school students on Fluid Dynamics materials. Scientific literacy is one of the ability to solve daily problems in accordance with the context of materials related to science and technology. The study was conducted on 90 high school students in Sumbawa using survey design. Data were collected using an instrument of scientific literacy for high school students on dynamic fluid materials. Data analysis was conducted descriptively to determine the students’ profile of scientific literacy. The results showed that high school students’ scientific literacy on Fluid Dynamics materials was in the low category. The highest average is obtained on indicators of scientific literacy i.e. the ability to interpret data and scientific evidence. The ability of scientific literacy is related to the mastery of concepts and learning experienced by students, therefore it is necessary to use learning that can trace this ability such as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).

ROLE OF GRASSROOTS ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY: The case of water security at Bwaila Secondary School in Malawi

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Chasukwa Mwalwenje, Yvonne; Chasukwa, Steria

2015-04-01

water. The main challenge is the degradation of water resources which result into siltation that blocks the water sources due to rain while in the dry season the water level in reservoirs goes down. Other challenges include inadequate service coverage, insufficient literacy on climate change, inadequate mitigation measures for water related disasters and inadequate promotion of hygiene and sanitation. Bwaila Secondary School in Malawi is no exception in experiencing inadequate water service coverage amidst opportunities such as availability of relatively abundant water resources, political will, active women and youth. The formal education curriculum in secondary schools has enriched students' knowledge of environmental management in subjects such as Geography, Agriculture and Biology to improve their understanding of natural resource management. However, the primary gap is that students do not use the skills in environmental management acquired from the formal school setting in their day to day life henceforth rendering it to be a mere academic exercise confined within classroom walls. It is against such background that Grassroots Environmental Literacy (GEL), an environmental management social marketing franchise in non-formal education was established to fill in the gap. GEL's mission is to inspire students to become change agents in environmental management in their own lives in both formal and non-formal settings in Malawi. GEL believes that the cultivation of broad-based private and public support is the key to bringing about positive and lasting environmental change hence contributing to water security. The education sector in general and school attendance in particular is largely affected by water security. Furthermore, technological limitations have also affected the accessibility of water resources. UNICEF (2008) asserts that water resources may be scarce as it is capital intensive to sink a bore hole in Malawi. Bwaila secondary school is one of the examples

Modeling Environmental Literacy of Malaysian Pre-University Students

Science.gov (United States)

Shamuganathan, Sheila; Karpudewan, Mageswary

2015-01-01

In this study attempt was made to model the environmental literacy of Malaysian pre-university students enrolled in a matriculation college. Students enrolled in the matriculation colleges in Malaysia are the top notch students in the country. Environmental literacy of this group is perceived important because in the future these students will be…

Pacific CRYSTAL Project: Explicit Literacy Instruction Embedded in Middle School Science Classrooms

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Anthony, Robert J.; Tippett, Christine D.; Yore, Larry D.

2010-01-01

Science literacy leading to fuller and informed participation in the public debate about science, technology, society, and environmental (STSE) issues that produce justified decisions and sustainable actions is the shared and central goal of the Pacific CRYSTAL Project. There is broad agreement by science education researchers that learners need to be able to construct and interpret specific scientific discourses and texts to be literate in science. We view these capabilities as components in the fundamental sense of science literacy and as interactive and synergetic to the derived sense of science literacy, which refers to having general knowledge about concepts, principles, and methods of science. This article reports on preliminary findings from Years 1, 2, and 3 of the 5-year Pacific CRYSTAL project that aims to identify, develop, and embed explicit literacy instruction in science programs to achieve both senses of science literacy. A community-based, opportunistic, engineering research and development approach has been utilized to identify problems and concerns and to design instructional solutions for teaching middle school (Grades 6, 7, and 8) science. Initial data indicate (a) opportunities in programs for embedding literacy instruction and tasks; (b) difficulties generalist teachers have with new science curricula; (c) difficulties specialist science teachers have with literacy activities, strategies, genre, and writing-to-learn science tasks; and (d) potential literacy activities (vocabulary, reading comprehension, visual literacy, genre, and writing tasks) for middle school science. Preinstruction student assessments indicate a range of challenges in achieving effective learning in science and the need for extensive teacher support to achieve the project’s goals. Postinstructional assessments indicate positive changes in students’ ability to perform target reading and writing tasks. Qualitative data indicate teachers’ desire for external direction

Financial Literacy of High School Students: Evidence from Germany

Science.gov (United States)

Erner, Carsten; Goedde-Menke, Michael; Oberste, Michael

2016-01-01

After graduating high school, underage individuals soon face ever more complex and important financial decisions. Pivotal to the development of improved financial literacy programs is a comprehensive examination of financial literacy levels and potentially related factors. The authors conducted a survey among German high school students and found…

Ocean Literacy After-School

Science.gov (United States)

Hlinka, Lisa

2016-04-01

Ocean Literacy is a topic that is often underrepresented in secondary school science curriculum. To combat this deficit, our School has partnered up with Hudson River Community Sailing (HRCS), a local organization in New York City that offers an after-school program to high-need high school students in the surrounding community. This organization has developed a 9th grade Sail Academy which allows students from participating public high schools to increase their proficiency in math and science by learning basic sailing, navigation, and boat building. Upon successfully completing the 9th grade Sail Academy curriculum, students enter the "First Mates Program" which offers a scaffolded set of youth development experiences that prepare students for college, career, leadership, and stewardship. This program is built in the context of a new Ocean Literacy Curriculum focused around 3 major topics within Ocean Literacy: Marine Debris, Meteorology, and Ecology (specifically water quality). The learning experiences include weekly data collection of marine debris, weather conditions, and water quality testing in the Hudson River adjacent to the HRCS Boathouse. Additionally there are weekly lessons engaging students in the fundamentals of each of the 3 topics and how they are also important in the lens of sailing. During the marine debris portion of the curriculum students identify sources of marine debris, impacts on the local environment, and study how debris can travel along the ocean currents leading in to larger garbage gyres. To supplement the curriculum, students embarked on a day trip to the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility in Brooklyn, NY to learn how and where NYC receives its drinking water, how wastewater is treated, and how water quality in the local area can be easily influenced. While on the trip, students did their data collection of marine debris, weather conditions, and water quality testing at Newtown Creek, and then they compared their results

Learning Music Literacies across Transnational School Settings

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Skerrett, Allison

2018-01-01

This article examines an adolescent's music literacy education across Caribbean and U.S. schools using qualitative research methods and theories of multimodality, transnationalism, and global cultural flows. Findings include that the youth's music literacy practices continuously shifted in response to the cultural practices and values of the…

Assessing Change in High School Student Information Literacy Using the Tool for Real-Time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills

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Kovalik, Cindy L.; Yutzey, Susan D.; Piazza, Laura M.

2012-01-01

Change in high school student information literacy (IL) knowledge and skills, from freshman year to senior year in high school was the focus of this quasi-experimental research project. Researchers used a free information literacy skills assessment tool entitled TRAILS (Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills) to measure…

Assessment of Environmental Literacy, Concern and Disaster Preparedness Among College Students

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Dr. Rosario Clarabel C. Contreras

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Climate change adversely brings about uncontrollable, unpredictable natural calamities. Municipality of Calinog, strategically located at the center of Panay Island, has its share of environmental hazard nightmares. Thus, it is deemed necessary to assess students’ environmental knowledge, concern and disaster preparedness. Participants were 293 students of West Visayas State University Calinog for AY 2012-13. Modified, partly adapted instrument attempted to collect information from respondents. Statistical tools used- Mean; Standard Deviation; t-test; One-Way ANOVA; and Pearson’s r. Respondents’ level of environmental literacy and concern are “knowledgeable” and “very concerned” respectively. Level of disaster preparedness was “most often prepared” in all variables except to course. Significant relationships between the environmental literacy and concern; and between environmental literacy and disaster preparedness have been observed. Generally, students are environmentally literate, concerned, prepared during disasters occurrence. Significant variations occur in environmental literacy, concern, and disaster preparedness among respondents categorized according to course while no variations occurred among others. Environmental literacy is associated with environmental concern and disaster preparedness while environmental concern not associated with disaster preparedness. Hence, educational institutions must do their share.

Food Literacy at Secondary Schools in Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Ronto, Rimante; Ball, Lauren; Pendergast, Donna; Harris, Neil D.

2016-01-01

Background: Food literacy can encourage adolescents to develop healthy dietary patterns. This study examined home economics teachers' (HET) perspectives of the importance, curriculum, self-efficacy, and food environments regarding food literacy in secondary schools in Australia. Methods: A 20-item cross-sectional survey was completed by 205 HETs.…

Easter School Guidance. The National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Department for Education and Skills, London (England).

This booklet explains the goals of Easter Schools, part of England's National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies. Easter Schools should be planned to cover four half-days and include four literacy and four mathematics lessons each covering the equivalent of at least an hour. The booklet addresses the following issues: why funding has been made…

Analysis of ICT Literacy Competence among Vocational High School Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Nurhabibah; Setiawan, A.; Yanti, H.; Miraj, Y. Z.; Yannuar

2018-02-01

To realize learning quality in Vocational Secondary School, and to achieve educational goal, teacher competence is needed. The application of ICT Literacy in vocational secondary school is intended to upgrade teachers’ knowledge, skill and competence in ICT. This paper is aimed to describe the process of teachers’ competence adaptation to ICT integrity in learning in Vocational Secondary School. This study use descriptive method with literature study and documentation technique. The source in this study is research journal and research report book. The study result showed that teachers lack of self-confident in using ICT, and gender factor influence ICT integration in which the level of ICT literacy in male is higher than female. The group of young teachers aged 21-40 have higher level of ICT literacy compared with the older group. Demographic factor in ICT literacy competence are gender, education level and age. This study suggest that teachers enhance the ability in ICT literacy competence, increase their knowledge and knowledge creation in each aspect of ICT literacy competence.

Influence of a Non-Formal Environmental Education Programme on Junior High-School Students; Environmental Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Goldman, Daphne; Assaraf, Orit Ben Zvi; Shaharabani, Dina

2013-01-01

One of the solutions implemented by schools for conducting value-based environmental education (EE) is outsourcing: allocating external environmental organizations that develop and conduct EE programmes. This study addressed such a programme--the Green Council Programme (GCP)--developed and implemented in schools by the Israeli Society for…

The Effect of Explicit Environmentally Oriented Metacognitive Guidance and Peer Collaboration on Students' Expressions of Environmental Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Adler, Idit; Zion, Michal; Mevarech, Zemira R.

2016-01-01

The prevalence of habitat and life-threatening environmental problems has motivated environmental researchers to develop education programs to strengthen students' environmental literacy. We argue that the connection between environmental literacy and metacognition is theoretically promising. Therefore, we developed the "Meta-CIC" model,…

Field trip method as an effort to reveal student environmental literacy on biodiversity issue and context

Science.gov (United States)

Rijal, M.; Saefudin; Amprasto

2018-05-01

Field trip method through investigation of local biodiversity cases can give educational experiences for students. This learning activity was efforts to reveal students environmental literacy on biodiversity. The aim of study were (1) to describe the activities of students get information about the biodiversity issue and its context through field trip, (2) to describe the students findings during field trip, and (3) to reveal students environmental literacy based on pre test and post test. The research method used weak-experiment and involved 34 participants at senior high school students in Bandung-Indonesia. The research instruments for collecting data were environmental literacy test, observation sheets and questionnaire sheets for students. The analysis of data was quantitative descriptive. The results show that more than 79% of the students gave positive view for each field trip activity, i.e students activity during work (97%-100%); students activity during gather information (79%- 100%); students activity during exchange information with friend (82%-100%); and students interested to Biodiversity after field trip activity (85%-100%). Students gain knowledge about the diversity of animal vertebrate and its characteristics, the status and condition of animals, and the source of animal with the cases of animal diversity. The students environmental literacy tends to be moderate level based on test. Meanwhile, the average of the attitudes and action greater than the components of knowledge and cognitive skills.

The Relationship between Bible Literacy and Academic Achievement and School Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Jeynes, William H.

2009-01-01

This study assessed the relationship between Bible literacy among secondary school students and their academic achievement and school behavior. One hundred and forty students in the 7th to 12th grade were randomly selected from a Christian school. Four measures of Bible knowledge were combined to obtain an overall measure of Bible literacy. They…

Environmental Literacy Development: A Comparison between Online and Traditional Campus Courses

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Taylor, James Young

As traditional educational efforts expand into the online environment, academic research is needed to determine if effective environmental education could be replicated in the virtual classroom in higher education. Although previous research showed that the online course delivery could be an effective means of teaching environmental facts, what had yet to be determined is if there was a significance difference in the development of an environmental literacy, represented by attitudes and behaviors between online and traditional campus students, at a university within the Western United States. To determine if there was a measured statistical difference in environmental literacy following course completion this causal comparative quantitative study built on the theoretical foundations of environmental literacy development and used the Measures of Ecological Attitudes and Knowledge Scale and New Ecological Paradigm. From a sample of 205 undergraduate environmental science students it was determined, through the use of two tailed t tests at the 0.05 significance level, that no statistical difference in environmental knowledge, actual commitment, and global environmental awareness were evident. However, statistical differences existed in verbal commitment and emotional connection to the environment. Both the online and the traditional campus classroom are shown to be effective in the development of environmental literacy. As technology continues to be incorporated in higher education, environmental educators should see technology as an additional tool in environmental literacy development. However, the identified differences in emotional and verbal commitment should be further investigated.

Environmental Literacy in Madeira Island (Portugal): The Influence of Demographic Variables

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Spinola, Hélder

2016-01-01

Demographic factors are among those that influence environmental literacy and, particularly, environmentally responsible behaviours, either directly or due to an aggregation effect dependent on other types of variables. Present study evaluates a set of demographic variables as predictors for environmental literacy among 9th grade students from…

UKRAINIAN EXPERIENCE OF ENHANCING SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS’ FINANCIAL LITERACY AT MATHEMATICS LESSONS

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Nataliia VASILIUK

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article covers the role of financial literacy in the country’s economic growth, reveals the essence of the notion and significance of financial literacy, highlights the main results of studies that determine the level of financial literacy of the population of Romania and Ukraine. The main steps to improve the level of financial literacy of the citizens of both countries are listed. The Ukrainian experience of developing financial literacy of high school students during mathematics lessons is underscored. The author suggests the recommendations and certain examples of tasks for raising the level of financial literacy of high school pupils in the process of teaching mathematics.

The Effects of Preliteracy Knowledge, Schooling, and Summer Vacation on Literacy Acquisition

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Tiruchittampalam, Shanthi; Nicholson, Tom; Levin, Joel R.; Ferron, John M.

2018-01-01

What causes the literacy gap and can schools compensate for it? The authors investigated 3 drivers of the gap: preliteracy knowledge, schooling, and the summer vacation. Longitudinal literacy data over 5 time points were collected on 126 five-year-olds attending higher or lower socioeconomic status (SES) schools during their first 15 months of…

Making the Invisible Visible: Disciplinary Literacy in Secondary School Classrooms

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Mac Mahon, Brendan

2014-01-01

In Ireland, policy on literacy now aims to expand the role that post-primary teachers of all subjects have in developing students' literacy skills. This paper draws on data from a wider research study carried out in secondary schools in 2010 and focuses on the classroom support with disciplinary literacy provided by subject teachers for students…

How School Principals Can Foster Effective Literacy Instruction: A Ten-Step Plan

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Hinchman, Kathleen A.

2009-01-01

School principals can foster effective literacy instruction by orchestrating community collaboration in an ongoing cycle of literacy program development, implementation, evaluation, and revision outlined in this ten-step plan. The steps address forming a community advisory board, appointing a building literacy leader, forming a literacy team,…

Contextualizing physical literacy in the school environment: The challenges

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Darla M. Castelli

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The intent of this paper is to conceptualize physical literacy in the school environment within the United States educational system. Evolution of physical literacy from both a general education and disciplinary focus is overviewed. The challenges of transitioning from a physically educated to a physically literate person as the primary learning outcome of physical education may inhibit progress. Five prioritized recommendations are made to assist teachers in overcoming such barriers: (a whole of school approach, (b effective, differentiated pedagogy, (c integration of technology for individualized tracking of progress, (d supportive school climate, and (e alignment of local efforts with national initiatives.

The role of service-learning in college students' environmental literacy: Content knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors

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Singletary, Joanna Lynn Bush

This study evaluated the relationship of environmental service-learning on environmental literacy in undergraduates. The subjects were 36 undergraduates at a small liberal arts university enrolled in an environmental biology course. To determine the role of environmental service-learning on college students' environmental knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and environmental literacy, this study utilized concurrent mixed methods approach for qualitative and quantitative analysis. A quasi-experimental repeated measures approach was the design of the quantitative component of the study. Data were collected on attitude, behavior, and content knowledge aspects of environmental literacy as measured by the Environmental Literacy Survey (Kibert, 2000). Hypotheses were tested by independent samples ttests and repeated measures ANOVA. Repeated measures ANOVA conducted on participants' three subscales scores for the Environmental Literacy Survey (attitude, behavior, and knowledge) indicated that students who participated in environmental service-learning scored statistically significantly higher than those that did not initially participate in service-learning. Qualitative data collected in the form of journal reflections and portfolios were evaluated for themes of environmental attitudes or affective statements, environmentally positive behaviors and skills, and ecological content. Quantitative and qualitative data support the positive role of environmental service-learning in the development of environmental literacy in undergraduate students.

Mental health literacy in secondary schools: a Canadian approach.

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Kutcher, Stan; Bagnell, Alexa; Wei, Yifeng

2015-04-01

"Mental health literacy is an integral component of health literacy and has been gaining increasing attention as an important focus globally for mental health interventions. In Canada, youth mental health is increasingly recognized as a key national health concern and has received more focused attention than ever before within our health system. This article outlines 2 unique homegrown initiatives to address youth mental health literacy within Canadian secondary schools." Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PROTOTYPE OF WEB BASED INFORMATION LITERACY TO ENHANCE STUDENT INFORMATION LITERACY SKILL IN STATE ISLAMIC HIGH SCHOOL INSAN CENDEKIA

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Indah Kurnianingsih

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract. Information Literacy (IL Program is a library program that aims to improve the ability of library users to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. Information literacy learning is essential to be taught and applied in education from the beginning of the school so that students are able to find and organize information effectively and efficiently particularly regard to the school assignment and learning process. At present, various educational institutions began to implement online learning model to improve the quality of teaching and research quality. Due to the advancement of information technology, the information literacy program should be adjusted with the needs of library users. The purpose of this study was to design web-based information literacy model for school library. This research conducted through several stages which are: identifying the needs of web-based IL, designing web-based IL, determining the model and the contents of a web-based IL tutorial, and creating a prototype webbased IL. The results showed that 90,74% of respondents stated the need of web-based learning IL. The prototype of web-based learning IL is consisted of six main units using combination of the Big6 Skills model and 7 Concept of Information Literacy by Shapiro and Hughes. The main fiveth units are Library Skill, Resource Skill, Research Skill, Reading Skill, and Presenting Literacy. This prototype web-based information literacy is expected to support the information literacy learning in a holistic approach.

Improving Environmental Health Literacy and Justice through Environmental Exposure Results Communication

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Monica D. Ramirez-Andreotta

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Understanding the short- and long-term impacts of a biomonitoring and exposure project and reporting personal results back to study participants is critical for guiding future efforts, especially in the context of environmental justice. The purpose of this study was to evaluate learning outcomes from environmental communication efforts and whether environmental health literacy goals were met in an environmental justice community. We conducted 14 interviews with parents who had participated in the University of Arizona’s Metals Exposure Study in Homes and analyzed their responses using NVivo, a qualitative data management and analysis program. Key findings were that participants used the data to cope with their challenging circumstances, the majority of participants described changing their families’ household behaviors, and participants reported specific interventions to reduce family exposures. The strength of this study is that it provides insight into what people learn and gain from such results communication efforts, what participants want to know, and what type of additional information participants need to advance their environmental health literacy. This information can help improve future report back efforts and advance environmental health and justice.

Implementation literacy strategies on health technology theme Learning to enhance Indonesian Junior High School Student's Physics Literacy

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Feranie, Selly; Efendi, Ridwan; Karim, Saeful; Sasmita, Dedi

2016-08-01

The PISA results for Indonesian Students are lowest among Asian countries in the past two successive results. Therefore various Innovations in science learning process and its effectiveness enhancing student's science literacy is needed to enrich middle school science teachers. Literacy strategies have been implemented on health technologies theme learning to enhance Indonesian Junior high school Student's Physics literacy in three different health technologies e.g. Lasik surgery that associated with application of Light and Optics concepts, Ultra Sonographer (USG) associated with application of Sound wave concepts and Work out with stationary bike and walking associated with application of motion concepts. Science learning process involves at least teacher instruction, student learning and a science curriculum. We design two main part of literacy strategies in each theme based learning. First part is Integrated Reading Writing Task (IRWT) is given to the students before learning process, the second part is scientific investigation learning process design packed in Problem Based Learning. The first part is to enhance student's science knowledge and reading comprehension and the second part is to enhance student's science competencies. We design a transformation from complexity of physics language to Middle school physics language and from an expensive and complex science investigation to a local material and simply hands on activities. In this paper, we provide briefly how literacy strategies proposed by previous works is redesigned and applied in classroom science learning. Data were analysed using t- test. The increasing value of mean scores in each learning design (with a significance level of p = 0.01) shows that the implementation of this literacy strategy revealed a significant increase in students’ physics literacy achievement. Addition analysis of Avarage normalized gain show that each learning design is in medium-g courses effectiveness category

Environmental literacy, ecological literacy, ecoliteracy: What do we mean and how did we get here?

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B. B. McBride; C. A. Brewer; A. E. Berkowitz; W. T. Borrie

2013-01-01

Numerous scholars have argued that the terms environmental literacy, ecological literacy, and ecoliteracy have been used in so many different ways and/or are so all-encompassing that they have very little useful meaning. However, despite the seemingly arbitrary and, at times, indiscriminate use of these terms, tremendous efforts have in fact been made to explicitly...

Activist Literacies: An Analysis of the Literacy Practices of a School-Based Human Rights Club

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Collin, Ross

2012-01-01

In this article, I examine the literacy practices of a high school-based human rights club. I investigate how the group engages in certain kinds of textual production to sponsor and arrange advisory sessions (school-wide meetings between teachers and small groups of students). More specifically, I consider how the club adapts school genres to…

The enhancement of environmental literacy of High School students within the Sparkling Science project "Traisen w3"

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Poppe, Michaela; Zitek, Andreas; Böck, Kerstin; Scheikl, Sigrid; Heidenreich, Andrea; Kurz-Aigner, Roman; Schrittwieser, Martin; Muhar, Susanne

2015-04-01

Environmental literacy is the knowledge necessary to understand the environment as an ecological system. It comprises the insight in the impact of human behaviour on the natural world and the disposition and motivation to apply ones knowledge, skills and insight in order to make environmentally beneficial decisions as rational citizen. The United Nations Environmental Programme states that young people will face major challenges in providing sufficient water and food, generating energy and adapting to climate change in future. Dealing with these challenges will require a major contribution from science and technology. But even more important, it is an issue of education to transfer the required system understanding as a basis to take informed decisions. In this way an education towards environmental literacy contributes significantly to the personal, social, and professional lives of young people, plays therefore a central role in young person`s "preparedness for life", and is a major prerequisite for sustainable development. For the purpose of developing new and engaging forms of learning, "Sparkling Science" projects are funded by the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy in Austria. These projects target at integrating science with school learning by involving young people into scientific research. Within the Sparkling Science Projects "FlussAu:WOW" and" "Traisen.w3" scientists work together with 15-18-year-old students of an Austrian High School over four years. The projects aim to assess and evaluate crucial functions and processes of riverine landscapes particularly considering the floodplain area in near natural and anthropogenically changed landscapes. Within the first project "FlussAu:WOW" (2012-2014), students and scientists elaborated on indicators for assessing and evaluating the ecological functionality of floodplains and rivers. In a case study in the "Traisen.w3" project (2014-2016), scientists and students will focus at the catchment

Literacy Instruction in Multilingual Classrooms: Engaging English Language Learners in Elementary School. Language & Literacy Series--Practitioners Bookshelf

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Helman, Lori

2012-01-01

This hands-on guide shows elementary school teachers how to create multilingual classroom communities that support every learner's success in reading, writing, and general literacy development. The author provides a practical overview of key ideas and techniques and describes specific literacy activities that lead to vocabulary and oral English…

[Training, the key to improving eHealth literacy of upper secondary school students].

Science.gov (United States)

Hernández-Rabanal, Carme; Vall, Aurora; Boter, Clara

To explore whether training on strategies to identify and assess health-related information online has a positive impact on students' perception of their own eHealth literacy. The validated eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) was administered to a sample of upper secondary school students, aged 15-18. One week later, they attended a training session on how to search and identify reliable health-related information and resources online. The eHEALS was administered again at the end of this session. Information about gender and school year was collected in both sessions. Perceived eHealth literacy was assessed by comparing the scores obtained before and after the session. Bivariate and multiple linear regressions were completed. Of the 298 students enrolled in upper secondary school (Bachillerato), 285 were included in the study. Approximately 52.28% (149) were female, and 47.72% (136) were male. The mean eHEALS score before the session was 24.19 (range: 8-40), and was 28.54 after it. The training was associated with higher perceived eHealth literacy scores (p <0,0001). Health literacy was positively associated with the usefulness and importance students give the Internet. Attendance at a training session on strategies to identify and assess health-related resources online is associated with higher levels of perceived eHealth literacy. Implementing specific training sessions on eHealth literacy in upper secondary school is a promising approach for enhancing students' eHealth literacy. Copyright © 2017 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Internet Literacy of Vocational High School Teachers

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Vernanda, D.; Abdullah, A. G.; Rohendi, D.

2018-02-01

Internet literacy is needed to know the development of the world in various things quickly and precisely, as well as in the world of education, especially teachers. Seeing the importance of internet literacy, there is an interest to discuss and analyze the level of internet literacy of teachers. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative. The sample of research is vocational school teacher (SMK) as many as 99 respondents. Data are collected through questionnaires. The theory used is adopted from Suitable Learning Object Type (LRE APV4.7) and Three Elements of Literacy Digital. The result data of the questionnaire is processed and analyzed using Capability Maturity Model theory, the result of the research shows that the level of internet literacy of vocational teachers is at level 2, meaning that SMK teachers have used the internet many times to assist their daily activities and have pattern of repetition in internet utilization. The use of internet by teachers of SMK with various needs that support the process of teaching, communicating, sharing knowledge, but the most dominant is to communicate through social media. Factors affecting internet usage include age, gender, and employment status.

Measuring the Influences That Affect Technological Literacy in Rhode Island High Schools

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Walach, Michael

2015-01-01

This study sampled the current state of technological literacy in Rhode Island high schools using a new instrument, the Technological Literacy Assessment, which was developed for this study. Gender inequalities in technological literacy were discovered, and possible causes and solutions are presented. This study suggests possible next steps for…

The Role and Status of Food and Nutrition Literacy in Canadian School Curricula

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Anderson, Heather; Falkenberg, Thomas

2016-01-01

The obesity epidemic in North America has given greater attention to food and nutrition literacy in Canadian schools. However, the review of relevant literature on food and nutrition literacy reveals quite a range of understandings of what such literacy means. This raises the question of what understanding of food and nutrition literacy is…

Experential Learning Group Investigation as Effort to Developt Environmental Literacy Ability at 5th Grade Students of Madrasah Ibtidaiyah

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Yuswa Istikomayanti

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The development of learning tools for Environmental Education to develop students' environmental literacy skills are indispensable. Methods of research and development using 4-D Thiagarajan (Define, Design, Develop and Disseminate. The result of the development of the device include syllabi, lesson plans, modules, and assessment instruments tested in class IV A Lesson Study by performing well. The trial results actually (validation testing with pre-experiment (class IV B can improve the literacy skills of students include aspects of environmental knowledge, attitudes, and skills and habituation. The trial results actually (class IV B obtained N-Score Gain knowledge and attitude tests of 0.64 (medium, and N-Gain Score of the attitude scale questionnaire 0.67 (moderate. While aspects of the student's skills include practical activities seed, move into the growing medium, and the practice of making compost with N-Gain Score of 0.54 (medium and 0.69 (moderate. Activity habituation maintain plants and credible form of checks compost with N-Gain Score of 0.48 (moderate. The results of research and development is expected to be utilized by the school and can be distributed to other schools

Exploring Nutrition Literacy and Knowledge among a National Sample of School Nutrition Managers

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Zoellner, Jamie; Carr, Deborah

2010-01-01

Purpose/Objectives: The purpose of this national study was to describe nutrition literacy levels and nutrition knowledge among school nutrition (SN) managers, and explore if barriers to seeking SN information, perceived role in school wellness, and confidence in SN decision making varied by nutrition literacy and knowledge scores. Methods: An…

Digital Literacies Go to School: A Cross-Case Analysis of the Literacy Practices Used in a Classroom-Based Social Network Site

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Lindstrom, Denise L.; Niederhauser, Dale S.

2016-01-01

The authors, working from a "new literacies studies" perspective, suggest that educators can better teach their students if they develop their own knowledge of the purposes, types, and language conventions students use in their informal out-of-school literacy practices. The purpose of this study was to identify the literacy practices…

Student’s STEM Literacy in Biotechnology Learning at Junior High School

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Nurlaely, N.; Permanasari, A.; Riandi, R.

2017-09-01

A considerable study to student’s STEM literacy achievement profile, especially in biotechnology learning, has been conducted to make the innovation of the STEM-based learning. The study aims to find out the STEM literacy. The sample is taken through purposive sampling technique to 45 students of 9th grade of a junior high school in Tasikmalaya district. The instruments are multiple choice questions. Data are analysed by calculating mean score of students’ STEM literacy achievement. The results show that student’s STEM literacy achievement was low. Science literacy aspect was the lowest, while mathematical literacy gained better than another aspect. The low achievement of students’ STEM literacy was because of learning activities that have not been able to integrate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in science learning. The literacy profile indicates the importance of applying STEM approach to science learning, and it is recommended to improve students’ STEM literacy achievement.

The Essence of the Distributed Leadership Experience of a High School Literacy Coaching Team: A Phenomenological Study

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Spaniak, Nancy Milwee

2012-01-01

This is a phenomenological study of a high school literacy coaching team's experience during the 2010-2011 school year, the first year of its existence. As a distributed leadership organizational routine, the practice of literacy coaching was adopted by a large suburban high school to promote its initiative to infuse literacy strategies into…

Measuring the environmental literacy of teachers

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Erna Kinsey

researchers have made an effort to define it or to refine descriptions of it. Examples can be found in, inter alia, Clacherty (1992:26), Roth. (1992:1) and Subbarini (1998:245). Although we are aware of the possibility of being labelled positivistic, a definition of environmental literacy was developed from the various efforts of ...

The Association of School Climate, Depression Literacy, and Mental Health Stigma among High School Students

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Townsend, Lisa; Musci, Rashelle; Stuart, Elizabeth; Ruble, Anne; Beaudry, Mary B.; Schweizer, Barbara; Owen, Megan; Goode, Carly; Johnson, Sarah L.; Bradshaw, Catherine; Wilcox, Holly; Swartz, Karen

2017-01-01

Background: Although school climate is linked with youth educational, socioemotional, behavioral, and health outcomes, there has been limited research on the association between school climate and mental health education efforts. We explored whether school climate was associated with students' depression literacy and mental health stigma beliefs.…

Personal Financial Literacy among High School Students in New Zealand, Japan and the USA

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Cameron, Michael P.; Calderwood, Richard; Cox, Ashleigh; Lim, Steven; Yamaoka, Michio

2013-01-01

Personal financial literacy is becoming increasingly important in the modern world, especially for young people. In this article, the authors compare the financial literacy of high school students in Hamilton, New Zealand, with samples from Japan and the USA. The authors compare not only overall financial literacy, but also literacy across five…

Making a Literacy Plan: Developing an Integrated Curriculum That Meets Your School's Needs

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Schutte, Annie

2016-01-01

Literacy does not happen in a single lesson or course. There are no shortcuts to gaining mastery over a skill set, whether it is reading literacy, information literacy and research skills, online literacy and digital citizenship, or visual literacy. School librarians dream about a perfect integrated curriculum: there is ample time for…

Financial Literacy of Secondary Students, and Its Place within Secondary Schools

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Neill, Alex; Berg, Melanie; Stevens, Liesje

2014-01-01

This report investigates the behaviour, attitudes and experiences of New Zealand secondary students with money and financial products. It also looks at financial literacy programmes in New Zealand secondary schools and explores barriers to the implementation of financial literacy teaching. The research was commissioned by the Commission for…

A shifting paradigm: Teachers' beliefs and methods for fostering ecological literacy in two public charter schools

Science.gov (United States)

Sterling, Evan P.

Ecological literacy is measured by a person's ability to understand the natural systems that make life on earth possible and how to live in accordance with those systems. The emergence of the pedagogies of place- and community-based education during the past two decades provides a possible avenue for fostering ecological literacy in schools. This thesis explores the following research questions: 1) How is ecological literacy fostered in two Alaskan public charter schools? 2) What are teachers' beliefs in these two schools about the way children and youth develop ecological literacy? 3) What are effective teaching methods and what are the challenges in engaging students in ecological literacy? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six K--12 teachers in two public charter schools in Alaska in order to investigate these questions, and relevant examples of student work were collected for study as well. Qualitative data analysis revealed several emergent themes: the need for real-world connections to curriculum; the necessity of time spent outdoors at a young age; the long-term and holistic nature of ecological literacy development; and the importance of family and community role models in developing connections with the natural world. Based upon the research findings, several recommendations are made to support the efforts of teachers in these schools and elsewhere for fostering ecological literacy in children and youth.

Oral language supports early literacy: a pilot cluster randomized trial in disadvantaged schools.

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Snow, Pamela C; Eadie, Patricia A; Connell, Judy; Dalheim, Brenda; McCusker, Hugh J; Munro, John K

2014-10-01

This study examined the impact of teacher professional development aimed at improving the capacity of primary teachers in disadvantaged schools to strengthen children's expressive and receptive oral language skills and early literacy success in the first 2 years of school. Fourteen low-SES schools in Victoria, Australia were randomly allocated to a research (n = 8) or control arm (n = 6), resulting in an initial sample of 1254 students, (n = 602 in research arm and n = 652 in control arm). The intervention comprised 6 days of teacher and principal professional development (delivered by language and literacy experts), school-based continuing contact with the research team and completion by one staff member of each research school of a postgraduate unit on early language and literacy. Schools in the control arm received standard teaching according to state auspiced curriculum guidelines. Full data were available on 979 students at follow-up (time 2). Students in the research arm performed significantly better on Test of Language Development: Primary (Fourth Edition) sub-tests (p ≤ .002) and the Reading Progress Test (F = 10.4(1); p = .001) than students in the control arm at time 2. Narrative scores were not significantly different at time 2, although students in research schools showed greater gains. Findings provide "proof of concept" for this approach, and are discussed with respect to implications for teacher professional development and pre-service education concerning the psycholinguistic competencies that underpin the transition to literacy.

Turning Schools Inside Out: Connecting Schools and Communities through Public Arts and Literacies

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Charest, Brian C.; Bell, Lauren D.; Gonzalez, Marialuisa; Parker, Veronica L.

2014-01-01

In this paper we tell a story about how we partnered with a Chicago high school in order to turn the school inside out by displaying larger-than-life teacher portraits and statements at street level throughout the community. This paper explores how public art and activism can help teachers and students develop notions of civic literacy and…

An Implementing Strategy for Promoting Environmental Literacy as an OFCM Crosscutting Priority

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McCalla, M. R.

2005-12-01

The National Environmental Education Advisory Council of the Environmental Protection Agency defines environmental education as "the interdisciplinary process of developing a citizenry that is knowledgeable about the total environment in its natural and built aspects and has the capacity and commitment to insure environmental quality by engaging in inquiry, problem solving, decision making and action." This definition calls for providing citizens (whether child or adult) with a basic understanding of the concepts within science in order to manage their lives. Literacy defined in this manner is the foundation of national security, economic growth, health, and prosperity. Promoting science literacy, therefore, is absolutely critical to every citizen. It is not just about ensuring that people become scientists or have a career that is engaged in the sciences. Promoting environmental literacy means providing people with a means of confronting the science as it confronts them in their personal and/or professional lives. The Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research (OFCM) is an interdepartmental office established in response to Public Law 87-843 with the mission to ensure the effective use of federal meteorological resources by leading the systematic coordination of operational weather and climate requirements, services, products, and supporting research among the federal agencies. Through interdepartmental collaboration, the OFCM and the agencies within its coordinating infrastructure have a direct environmental literacy impact on the public, private, and academic sectors. For example, governmental departments and agencies within the OFCM infrastructure have provided a number of education, outreach, and training opportunities to end users, helping them understand and apply weather and climate information in their endeavors. Thus promoting environmental literacy is not new to the OFCM. What is new, however, is that for the

The Effect of Using a Mobile Literacy Game to Improve Literacy Levels of Grade One Students in Zambian Schools

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Jere-Folotiya, Jacqueline; Chansa-Kabali, Tamara; Munachaka, Jonathan C.; Sampa, Francis; Yalukanda, Christopher; Westerholm, Jari; Richardson, Ulla; Serpell, Robert; Lyytinen, Heikki

2014-01-01

This intervention study was conducted to document conditions under which a computer based literacy game (GraphoGame™) could enhance literacy skills of first grade students in an African city. The participants were first grade students from Government schools (N = 573). These students were randomly sampled into control (N = 314) and various…

Internet at school: possibility for information literacy

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Maria Conceição da Silva Linhares

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In this work the contribution of teaching practices using social networking tools and computer literacy of high school students the Internet is analyzed. According to authors like Gasque (2012, Cervero (2007 Area (2006, Smith (2002 and Freire (1987, knowing how to use the information and the means to express it, a creative approach, understanding of what we read in conjunction keywords, concepts and ideas on how to intertextuality. This knowledge is evaluative in today's society, adjective by the exponential increase of information available in various formats and languages device through information and communication, including Internet technologies. The qualitative approach in the perspective of participant observation is the option that the object of this study suits to consider in its analysis, the relationships between subjects and cultural mediations, objectified by Internet spaces and tools to illuminate computer literacy. Develop pedagogical practices using social media and Internet tools for computer literacy work contributes to a significant experience with information.

Developing and evaluating a relevant and feasible instrument for measuring health literacy of Canadian high school students.

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Wu, Amery D; Begoray, Deborah L; Macdonald, Marjorie; Wharf Higgins, Joan; Frankish, Jim; Kwan, Brenda; Fung, Winny; Rootman, Irving

2010-12-01

Health literacy has come to play a critical role in health education and promotion, yet it is poorly understood in adolescents and few measurement tools exist. Standardized instruments to measure health literacy in adults assume it to be a derivative of general literacy. This paper reports on the development and the early-stage validation of a health literacy tool for high school students that measured skills to understand and evaluate health information. A systematic process was used to develop, score and validate items. Questionnaire data were collected from 275, primarily 10th grade students in three secondary schools in Vancouver, Canada that reflected variation in demographic profile. Forty-eight percent were male, and 69.1% spoke a language other than English. Bivariate correlations between background variables and the domain and overall health literacy scores were calculated. A regression model was developed using 15 explanatory variables. The R(2) value was 0.567. Key findings were that lower scores were achieved by males, students speaking a second language other than English, those who immigrated to Canada at a later age and those who skipped school more often. Unlike in general literacy where the family factors of mother's education and family affluence both played significant roles, these two factors failed to predict the health literacy of our school-aged sample. The most significant contributions of this work include the creation of an instrument for measuring adolescent health literacy and further emphasizing the distinction between health literacy and general literacy.

The Need for Focused Literacy Training in the Medical School Curriculum

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Kling, Joyce; Larsen, Sanne; Thomsen, Simon Francis

2017-01-01

Introduction. Medical education programs have increasingly included compulsory research skills components but rarely include explicit academic literacy instruction for medical research. This article presents results from a project that developed methods of bridging the gap between textbook literacy...... and scientific literacy in a setting where English coexists with the local language. Methods. A paper-based, revised version of a validated self-report instrument (32 questions) designed to assess readers’ metacognitive awareness and perceived use of academic reading strategies was used to collect information...... for inclusion of focused training on academic and scientific literacy, in particular, strategy instruction in relation to foreign language reading comprehension skills in medical school curricula....

A Comparison of Financial Literacy between Native and Immigrant School Students

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Grama?ki, Iulian

2017-01-01

This paper investigates the gap in Financial Literacy (FL) between native and immigrant 15-year-old school students using data from the 2012 PISA Financial Literacy Assessment. The size of the gap is about 0.15 standard deviations, going up to 0.3 for first-generation immigrants. This is partly because immigrants have poorer economic background,…

Sustained improvements in students' mental health literacy with use of a mental health curriculum in Canadian schools.

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Mcluckie, Alan; Kutcher, Stan; Wei, Yifeng; Weaver, Cynthia

2014-12-31

Enhancement of mental health literacy for youth is a focus of increasing interest for mental health professionals and educators alike. Schools are an ideal site for addressing mental health literacy in young people. Currently, there is limited evidence regarding the impact of curriculum-based interventions within high school settings. We examined the effect of a high-school mental health curriculum (The Guide) in enhancing mental health literacy in Canadian schools. We conducted a secondary analysis on surveys of students who participated in a classroom mental health course taught by their usual teachers. Evaluation of students' mental health literacy (knowledge/attitudes) was completed before and after classroom implementation and at 2-month follow-up. We used paired-samples t-tests and Cohen's d value to determine the significance and impact of change. There were 265 students who completed all surveys. Students' knowledge significantly improved between pre- and post-tests (p mental health. This is the first study to demonstrate the positive impact of a curriculum-based mental health literacy program in a Canadian high school population.

Preservice Teachers' Knowledge of Information Literacy and Their Perceptions of the School Library Program

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Lee, Elizabeth A.; Reed, Brenda; Laverty, Corinne

2012-01-01

Graduating preservice teachers were surveyed regarding their knowledge of information literacy concepts, the pedagogy of information literacy, and the role of the teacher librarian and school library programs. The preservice teachers felt poorly prepared to teach information literacy to pupils, had a limited array of information skills, and held a…

Portuguese School Libraries Evaluation Model: An Analysis of Primary Schools' Results for the "Reading and Literacy" Domain

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Martins, Jorge Tiago; Martins, Rosa Maria

2012-01-01

This paper reports the implementation results of the Portuguese School Libraries Evaluation Model, more specifically the results of primary schools self-evaluation of their libraries' reading promotion and information literacy development activities. School libraries that rated their performance as either "Excellent" or "Poor"…

reflecting on socially transformative environmental literacy for lesotho

African Journals Online (AJOL)

project on education for environmental literacy within the integrated science curriculum in Lesotho. ... research project involving teachers and university ... Here we identify one orientation to or perspective on ... (Kincheloe & Steinberg, 1993); a post-modern per- spective ... The transformative potential of socially critical theo-.

Emerging Literacy during "Day in the Life" in the Transition to School

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Cameron, Catherine Ann; Pinto, Giuliana; Hunt, Anne Kathryn; Léger, Paul-David

2016-01-01

The transition to school, marked by significant moves towards print literacy, is a crucial school-life milestone that can be both exhilarating and daunting. This case study, extracted from an international, quasi-ecological examination of thriving kindergarten children in transition to school films participants, their families, schools and…

Data Literacy is Statistical Literacy

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Gould, Robert

2017-01-01

Past definitions of statistical literacy should be updated in order to account for the greatly amplified role that data now play in our lives. Experience working with high-school students in an innovative data science curriculum has shown that teaching statistical literacy, augmented by data literacy, can begin early.

Economic literacy amongst the secondary school teachers in Perak Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nek Kamal Yeop Yunus, Norasibah Abdul Jalil

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between economics education exposure, saving, expenditure, investment and economics literacy amongst teachers in secondary schools in Perak. The theoretical framework was designed based on the literature and hence five hypotheses for the study were formulated. The samples were selected by quota sampling methods. The data were collected by distributing structured 35 items questionnaires to 100 teachers in secondary schools in eight districts in Perak. The instrument was adapted form Leader Behaviour Description Questionnaires which were used to measure economic literacy. Only 60 questionnaires were returned and analysed which gave 60% respond rate. Data collected were sorted out and keyed in into SPSS version 17. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics to answer the research questions. The result of the analyses showed that there was significant relationship between economics education and its predictors. Together the independent variables explained 81.7% of the variance in the dependent variables. The remaining 18.3% was due to unidentified variables. In relation to that, the study had contributed some knowledge about the understanding of economic of literacy. For future research, it is recommended that other than the above variables might influence economic literacy perhaps with a bigger samples and wider scope.

Teaching Electronic Literacy A Concepts-Based Approach for School Library Media Specialists

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Craver, Kathleen W

1997-01-01

School library media specialists will find this concepts-based approach to teaching electronic literacy an indispensable basic tool for instructing students and teachers. It provides step-by-step instruction on how to find and evaluate needed information from electronic databases and the Internet, how to formulate successful electronic search strategies and retrieve relevant results, and how to interpret and critically analyze search results. The chapters contain a suggested lesson plan and sample assignments for the school library media specialist to use in teaching electronic literacy skills

Measuring functional, interactive and critical health literacy of Chinese secondary school students: reliable, valid and feasible?

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Shuaijun; Davis, Elise; Yu, Xiaoming; Naccarella, Lucio; Armstrong, Rebecca; Abel, Thomas; Browne, Geoffrey; Shi, Yanqin

2018-04-01

Health literacy is an increasingly important topic in the global context. In mainland China, health literacy measures mainly focus on health knowledge and practices or on the functional domain for adolescents. However, little is known about interactive and critical domains. This study aimed to adopt a skills-based and three-domain (functional, interactive and critical) instrument to measure health literacy in Chinese adolescents and to examine the status and determinants of each domain. Using a systematic review, the eight-item Health Literacy Assessment Tool (HLAT-8) was selected and translated from English to Chinese (c-HLAT-8). Following the translation process, a cross-sectional study was conducted in four secondary schools in Beijing, China. A total of 650 students in Years 7-9 were recruited to complete a self-administered questionnaire that assessed socio-demographics, self-efficacy, social support, school environment, community environment and health literacy. Results showed that the c-HLAT-8 had satisfactory reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.79; intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.72) and strong validity (translation validity index (TVI) ≥0.95; χ 2 / df = 3.388, p students had an average score of 26.37 (±5.89) for the c-HLAT-8. When the determinants of each domain of health literacy were examined, social support was the strongest predictor of interactive and critical health literacy. On the contrary, self-efficacy and school environment played more dominant roles in predicting functional health literacy. The c-HLAT-8 was demonstrated to be a reliable, valid and feasible instrument for measuring functional, interactive and critical health literacy among Chinese students. The current findings indicate that increasing self-efficacy, social support and creating supportive environments are important for promoting health literacy in secondary school settings in China.

Supporting Literacy Across the Sunshine State: A Study of Florida Middle School Reading Coaches

Science.gov (United States)

Marsh, Julie A.; McCombs, Jennifer Sloan; Lockwood, J. R.; Martorell, Francisco; Gershwin, Daniel; Naftel, Scott; Le, Vi-Nhuan; Shea, Molly; Barney, Heather; Crego, Al

2008-01-01

Although literacy skills needed to engage in the economy and public life have grown, the literacy skills of many adolescents remain low. One popular approach to improving student literacy is using school-based reading coaches; however, there is little empirical evidence regarding the nature of coaching and its effectiveness in changing teacher…

A Study on the Legal Literacy of Urban Public School Administrators

Science.gov (United States)

Tie, Fatt Hee

2014-01-01

This study investigates the legal literacy of urban public school administrators in Malaysia. Data were collected from 109 school administrators. The instrument that was administered to the respondents comprised two parts: Part 1, the background information of the respondents; and Part 2, items on the law related to schools, such as teachers' duty…

Strategies for Developing Literacy-Focused Family-School Partnerships

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Wilkins, Julia; Terlitsky, Amy B.

2016-01-01

Student achievement increases when parents are involved in their child's education. This article describes the benefits of building partnerships with parents around child literacy activities. Tips for teachers provide ideas for sustaining communication with parents, involving parents in the school community, and conducting home visits along with…

Improving Financial Literacy : case Study of Financial Education in Schools in Estonia

OpenAIRE

Rabtsinski, Deniss

2010-01-01

The thesis discusses the problem of low financial literacy levels that people have in today's world and how financial literacy levels can be improved through school education. It is identified that financial literacy is a complex problem requiring a complex solution (which is yet to be discovered). Financial education can only be part of this complex solution. Even so, financial education encounters similar problems as traditional education: the decay of knowledge and effective retention of l...

Confucian Learning and Literacy in Japan’s Schools of the Edo Period

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Kristina HMELJAK SANGAWA

2017-06-01

Full Text Available With the political stability, economic growth and cultural revitalisation of Japan after its unification by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the educational infrastructure also grew to meet new literacy demands. Governmental schools endowed by the shogunate (Shōheikō and by the domains (hankō, which catered to the upper military class of the samurai, focused on classical Chinese studies, particularly the Neo-Confucian canon taught in kanbun, a style of classical Chinese. Given the prestige of Neo-Confucian Chinese learning and of the kanbun writing style, these were taught also in temple schools (terakoya and private academies (juku that were open to the lower classes, thus contributing to the spread of this particular type of literacy. However, Chinese learning in these schools often involved memorising rather than reading, both because of educational traditions and socio-ideological factors, and also because of the sheer difficulty of reading kanbun, a de facto foreign language. The present article investigates the contrasting implications of Neo-Confucian learning and of the kanbun writing style for the development of education and literacy in Japanese society: while the prestige of Chinese learning contributed to the demand for and development of educational facilities, its complexity also acted as an obstacle to the development of widespread functional literacy.

A National Investigation of Teachers' Environmental Literacy as a Reference for Promoting Environmental Education in Taiwan

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Liu, Shiang-Yao; Yeh, Shin-Cheng; Liang, Shi-Wu; Fang, Wei-Ta; Tsai, Huei-Min

2015-01-01

Taiwan's government enacted the Environmental Education Act in June 2011. In the beginning of the implementation of the Act, a national assessment of schoolteachers' environmental literacy was performed in order to establish the baseline for evaluating the effectiveness of environmental education policy. This large-scale assessment involved a…

Geography literacy can develop Geography skills for high school students: is it true?

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Utami, W. S.; Zain, I. M.; Sumarmi

2018-01-01

The most important issue related to education in Indonesia is the low quality of student learning and competence. The basic thing that is important to be studied is the demands of 21st-century skills that are difficult to fulfil with the low competence of student learning. Low competence of student learning demonstrated by low capacity of scientific literacy includes geography literacy. Geography skills of Indonesian students are also low. It is shown from the students’ ability to use maps to describe and to analyze is low. The purpose of this study is to determine the correlation between the literacy skills of geography to develop geography skills of high school students in Surabaya. Written and performance tests were given to the sample of 29 high school students. The results of the tests we analyzed based on Geography literacy and its correlation to Geography skills in terms of the ability to use the media, map, and analyze the phenomenon of the geosphere. The results showed that the students who have low literacy geography have difficulty in using map.

Connecting Knowledge, Belief, Values and Action: Informing Climate Literacy by Using Autobiographies to Articulate Environmental Worldviews

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Owens, M. A.

2011-12-01

Climate literacy is evolving as a specific subset of science and environmental literacy. Through a longitudinal analysis of environmental autobiographies of an internationally and religiously diverse group of environmental sciences majors at a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the southern U.S., this presentation will explore: 1) sources and impact of religious beliefs on students' environmental worldview; 2) conflicts between religious, community and scientific values; and 3) navigating the tensions between trust in a religious deity as well as scientific methods and processes. Lester Milbrath states that "beliefs empower and deceive us." The media, as well as significant people and institutions, including religious institutions, socialize us and contribute to individual and societal worldviews. "We so thoroughly accept our culture's beliefs about how the world works that we hardly ever think about them even though they underlie everything we think and do." Beliefs, attitudes, and values comprise an important component of environmental literacy, a praxis-oriented concept from the field of environmental education, which is defined as: [T]he capacity to perceive and interpret the relative health of environmental systems and take appropriate action to maintain, restore, or improve the health of those systems . . . Environmental literacy should be defined in terms of observable behaviors. (Disinger and Roth 1992, 2). Environmental literacy draws upon six areas: environmental sensitivity; knowledge; skills; beliefs, attitudes and values; personal investment and responsibility; and active involvement. It involves particular ways of thinking, acting, and valuing (Roth 1992). Religious beliefs, or lack thereof, shape worldviews, thereby influencing individual and societal environmental and more specifically, climate literacy. For example, Western Christianity espouses a hierarchical anthropocentric worldview, putting God infinitely above human beings, and

Functional health literacy and quality of life of high-school adolescents in state schools in Belo Horizonte.

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Rocha, Poliana Cristina; Rocha, Dálian Cristina; Lemos, Stela Maris Aguiar

2017-08-10

To investigate the association between functional health literacy and sociodemographic factors, quality of life, self-perception of health, and perception of contexts of violence in adolescents in state schools in Belo Horizonte. This is a cross-sectional analytical observational study with a probabilistic sample of 384 adolescents between 15 and 19 years old. Data collection was carried out in schools and included self-reporting questionnaires to assess the functional health literacy, socioeconomic classification, self-perceived health, and quality of life. The reliability of internal consistency of the functional health literacy instrument was determined by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed using hierarchical data entry according to the level of determination of the theoretical model established. In order to evaluate the association, a significance level of 5% was considered, while the Odds Ratio used as a measure of the magnitude of the associations. The functional health literacy instrument presented a coefficient of 0.766, indicating adequate internal consistency. More than half of teenagers presented good functional health literacy. In the final model of multivariate analysis, the variables not practicing a religion (p = 0.006; OR = 2.108); social domain of quality of life (p = 0.004; OR = 1.022); and educational domain of quality of life (p = 0.009; OR = 1.019) remained associated with functional health literacy. Not practicing a religion and the increase in the scores of social and educational domains of quality of life increased the chances of better functional health literacy.

Environmental health literacy within the Italian Asbestos Project: experience in Italy and Latin American contexts

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Daniela Marsili

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The adoption of multidisciplinary approaches to foster scientific research in public health and strengthen its impact on society is nowadays unavoidable. Environmental health literacy (EHL may be defined as the ability to search for, understand, evaluate, and use environmental health information to promote the adoption of informed choices, the reduction of health risks, the improvement of quality of life and the protection of the environment. Both public health and environmental health literacy involve access to and dissemination of scientific information (including research findings, individual and collective decision-making and critical thinking. Specific experiences in environmental health literacy have been developed within the Italian National Asbestos Project (Progetto Amianto in Latin American countries where the use of asbestos is still permitted, and in Italy where a specific effort in EHL has been dedicated to the risks caused by the presence of fluoro-edenite fibers in the town of Biancavilla (Sicily. Taking into account the different geographical and socio-economic contexts, both public health and environmental health literacy were addressed to a wide range of stakeholders, within and outside the health domain.

Literacy in a Bag: Colorado School for the Deaf Sends Reading Home

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Branch, Deborah

2009-01-01

To assist parents with deaf or hard of hearing children who may need help supporting their child's learning, the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind developed Family Literacy Packs. These literacy packs, available to families within the state of Colorado, provide fun, interactive activities that help parents support their children's…

Teacher Mathematical Literacy: Case Study of Junior High School Teachers in Pasaman

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Ahmad, D.; Suherman, S.; Maulana, H.

2018-04-01

The aim of this paper was to examine the ability of junior high school mathematics teachers to solve mathematical literacy base Problems (PISA and PISA-like problems) for the case Pasaman regency. The data was collected by interviews and test. As the results of this study, teacher ability in solving mathematical literacy base problems for level 1 until 3 has been good, but for level 4 or above is still low. It is caused by teacher knowledge about mathematical literacy still few.

Promoting Mental Health Literacy through Bibliotherapy in School-Based Settings

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Mumbauer, Janyna; Kelchner, Viki

2018-01-01

Considering that one in five children has or has had a mental disorder in a given year (National Institute of Mental Health, 2010), the demand for mental health services within the school setting is immense. Bibliotherapy can serve as a preventative and responsive treatment for increasing mental health literacy within the school setting. The…

EPISTEMOLOGICAL PERCEPTION AND SCIENTIFIC LITERACY IN LEVEL HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS

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Ramiro Álvarez-Valenzuela

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Research in science education has helped to find some difficulties that hinder the teaching-learning process. These problems include conceptual content of school subjects, the influence of prior knowledge of the student and the teachers have not been trained in their university education epistemologically. This research presents the epistemological conceptions of a sample of 114 high school teachers university science area, which refer the ideas about the role of observation in scientific knowledge development and the work of scientists in the process of knowledge generation. It also includes the level of scientific literacy from the literature that is used as a source of information on the teaching. The result also identifies the level of scientific literacy in students and their influence on learning.

The association of patients' oral health literacy and dental school communication tools: a pilot study.

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Tam, Amy; Yue, Olivia; Atchison, Kathryn A; Richards, Jessica K; Holtzman, Jennifer S

2015-05-01

The aim of this pilot study was to assess adult patients' ability to read and understand two communication tools at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Dentistry: the dental school clinic website and a patient education brochure pertaining to sedation in children that was written by dental school personnel. A convenience sample of 100 adults seeking treatment at the school's general dental clinic during 2012-13 completed a health literacy screening instrument. They were then asked to read clinic educational and informational materials and complete a survey. Analyses were conducted to determine the association between the subjects' oral health literacy and sociodemographics and their ability to locate and interpret information in written oral health information materials. SMOG and Flesch-Kincade formulas were used to assess the readability level of the electronic and written communication tools. The results demonstrated an association between these adults' oral health literacy and their dental knowledge and ability to navigate health information website resources and understand health education materials. Health literacy was not associated with age or gender, but was associated with education and race/ethnicity. The SMOG Readability Index determined that the website and the sedation form were written at a ninth grade reading level. These results suggest that dental schools and other health care organizations should incorporate a health-literate approach for their digital and written materials to enhance patients' ability to navigate and understand health information, regardless of their health literacy.

STUDENTS’ SCIENCE LITERACY ABILITY PROFILE IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AND GLOBAL WARMING MATERIAL

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Laela Ulfa

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This research head for measure profile of students’ science literacy ability in environmental pollution and global warming material. The study was conducted in one of SMP Negeri Semarang with samples of 70 students from grade VII D and VII E. The profile of literacy science of students from the highest percentage till the lowest was science as a body of a knowledge was 70,36%, science as a way of thinking was 61,71%, the interaction between science, technology, and society was 61,43% categorized enough level, and science as a way for investigating was 38,21 categorized too less. keywords: science literacy, scince literacy ability

Modeling the Relationships between Subdimensions of Environmental Literacy

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Genc, Murat; Akilli, Mustafa

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the relationships between subdimensions of environmental literacy using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The study was conducted by the analysis of students' answers to questionnaires data using SEM. Initially, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and Bartlett's tests were done to test appropriateness of subdimensions to…

Health literacy and the determinants of obesity: a population-based survey of sixth grade school children in Taiwan.

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Shih, Shu-Fang; Liu, Chieh-Hsing; Liao, Li-Ling; Osborne, Richard H

2016-03-22

Health literacy has become an important health policy and health promotion agenda item in recent years. It had been seen as a means to reduce health disparities and a critical empowerment strategy to increase people's control over their health. So far, most of health literacy studies mainly focus on adults with few studies investigating associations between child health literacy and health status. This study aimed to investigate the association between health literacy and body weight in Taiwan's sixth grade school children. Using a population-based survey, 162,209 sixth grade (11-12 years old) school children were assessed. The response rate at school level was 83%, with 70% of all students completing the survey. The Taiwan child health literacy assessment tool was applied and information on sex, ethnicity, self-reported health, and health behaviors were also collected. BMI was used to classify the children as underweight, normal, overweight, or obese. A multinomial logit model with robust estimation was used to explore associations between health literacy and the body weight with an adjustment for covariates. The sample consisted of 48.9% girls, 3.8% were indigenous and the mean BMI was 19.55 (SD = 3.93). About 6% of children self-reported bad or very bad health. The mean child health literacy score was 24.03 (SD = 6.12, scale range from 0 to 32). The overall proportion of obese children was 15.2%. Children in the highest health literacy quartile were less likely to be obese (12.4%) compared with the lowest quartile (17.4%). After controlling for gender, ethnicity, self-rated health, and health behaviors, children with higher health literacy were less likely to be obese (Relative Risk Ratio (RRR) = 0.94, p 1.10, p obese. This study demonstrates strong links between health literacy and obesity, even after adjusting for key potential confounders, and provides new insights into potential intervention points in school education for obesity prevention. Systematic

Evaluation of National Geographic School Publishing Nonfiction Literacy Materials. Summary Report.

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Metcalf, Kim K.; Smith, Carl B.; Legan, Natalie A.

During the 2001-02 academic year, a purposive, national evaluation was undertaken of "Windows on Literacy" and "Reading Expeditions," two new school-based programs produced by the School Publishing Division of the National Geographic Society (NGS). The evaluation sought to determine the efficacy of the new materials for…

Setting up Information Literacy Workshops in School Libraries: Imperatives, Principles and Methods

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Reza Mokhtarpour

2010-09-01

Full Text Available While many professional literature have talked at length about the importance of dealing with information literacy in school libraries in ICT dominated era, but few have dealt with the nature and mode of implementation nor offered a road map. The strategy emphasized in this paper is to hold information literacy sessions through effective workshops. While explaining the reasons behind such workshops being essential in enhancing information literacy skills, the most important principles and stages for setting up of such workshops are offered in a step-by-step manner.

Is the Environmental Literacy of University Students Measurable?

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Shephard, Kerry; Harraway, John; Lovelock, Brent; Skeaff, Sheila; Slooten, Liz; Strack, Mick; Furnari, Mary; Jowett, Tim

2014-01-01

We report the development and piloting of an evaluative instrument and process for monitoring the environmental literacy (EL) of undergraduate students in one large research-led university in New Zealand. The instrument addresses knowledge, affect and competencies in the general area of EL in line with this institution's adoption of EL as a…

Elementary School Principals' Knowledge of Literacy Development and Instruction and Students' Reading Achievement

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Sherrill, Carol A.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine if the knowledge of literacy development and reading instruction practices an elementary school principal possesses impacts the level of reading achievement of his/her students. Principals' scores on an assessment of knowledge of literacy development and instruction were compared to students'…

Analysis on the science literacy ability of vocational school physics teacher using NOSLiT indicators

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Rahayu, P. P.; Masykuri, M.; Soeparmi

2018-04-01

Professional Physics teacher must be able to manage science learning process by associating science itself with the daily life. At first the teacher must have competency in the ability of science literacy. The target of this research is vocational school Physics teachers for the purpose to describe their ability on science literacy. This research is a survey research using test method. The test instrument is The NOSLiT by Wenning.Research results are: 1) Scientific Nomenclature : 38.46 %, 2) Basic experimental and observational abilities : 38.46 %, 3) Rules of scientific evidence : 0%, 4) Postulate science: 15.38%, 5) scientific disposition: 7. 69%.Conclusion: The result of each indicator shows that the ability of science literacy of vocational school Physics teachers has not met the expectations yet. It’s can be used as the reflection for education experts to improve their science literacy ability so that can be applied to the learning process that directly or indirectly will have an impact on improving the students’ science literacy.

Environmental Literacy and Attitudes among Malaysian Business Educators

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Joseph, Corina; Nichol, Esmie Obrin; Janggu, Tamoi; Madi, Nero

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of environmental literacy among business lecturers in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach: A survey, which involved a combination of newly developed items and items adopted from past studies, was used to collect data from 35 respondents (out of 70). Findings: The overall mean score for…

A Reconstructed Vision of Environmental Science Literacy: The Case of Qatar

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Khishfe, Rola

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) develop a conceptual framework for environmental science literacy; and consequently (b) examine the potential of science standards/curricula to prepare environmentally literate citizens. The framework comprised four pillars: science content knowledge, scientific inquiry, nature of science (NOS), and…

Multimodal genres in textbooks: are students being schooled for visual literacy?

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Cláudia Graziano Paes de Barros

2012-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we discuss some issues involved in teaching and learning reading, especially schooling in visual literacy. We seek to observe the work developed with genres that combine verbal and visual languages, found in the reading activities of two high school textbook series for Portuguese language teaching. Our goal was to understand to what extent these activities contribute towards the development of reading skills needed to deal with the specificities of these genres. Therefore, we used the enunciative and discursive assumptions of the socio-historical approach of Bakhtin Circle, as well as the Social Semiotics perspective to understand multimodality. Data analysis revealed that the incidence of multimodal genres studied in the two textbook series is hardly representative. The didactic treatment these genres receive in reading activities does not favor the mobilization of specific reading skills and contributes little to students‟ visual literacy schooling.

Science Literacy: How do High School Students Solve PISA Test Items?

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Wati, F.; Sinaga, P.; Priyandoko, D.

2017-09-01

The Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) does assess students’ science literacy in a real-life contexts and wide variety of situation. Therefore, the results do not provide adequate information for the teacher to excavate students’ science literacy because the range of materials taught at schools depends on the curriculum used. This study aims to investigate the way how junior high school students in Indonesia solve PISA test items. Data was collected by using PISA test items in greenhouse unit employed to 36 students of 9th grade. Students’ answer was analyzed qualitatively for each item based on competence tested in the problem. The way how students answer the problem exhibits their ability in particular competence which is influenced by a number of factors. Those are students’ unfamiliarity with test construction, low performance on reading, low in connecting available information and question, and limitation on expressing their ideas effectively and easy-read. As the effort, selected PISA test items can be used in accordance teaching topic taught to familiarize students with science literacy.

The Relationship between Health Literacy, Perceived Self-efficacy and Self-care Performance of Female Senior High School Students in Health Promoting Schools of Miyaneh, 2016-2017

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Mahnaz Khodabandeh

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Background and objective: Self-care in adolescents is considered as an effective measure in line with the promotion of health in each community. In this regard, the role of health promoting schools is of great importance. Furthermore, health literacy, as one of the basic tools for promoting community health, has been given much attention by policymakers. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between the health literacy, perceived self-efficacy and self-care performance of female senior high school students in the health promoting schools of Miyaneh in 2016-2017. Methods: In this descriptive-correlational study, 320 female senior high school students were selected randomly using the multi –stage cluster sampling method. Data were collected by using the questionnaires of Health Literacy Measure for Adolescents (HELMA, General Self-efficacy Scale, and the Adolescent Health Promotion (AHP scale. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 21 using the statistical tests of Pearson correlation coefficient and Multiple Regression (ENTER method. Results: The results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the health literacy and perceived self-efficacy and the self-care performance of female students in the health promoting schools, as well as between the components of health literacy and self-care components. No significant relationship was found between the component of health literacy calculation and the self-care components of nutrition, responsibility for health, spiritual growth, and physical activity. The results of regression analysis indicated that the dimensions of self-efficacy, use and correlation of health literacy are good predictors of self-care performance (R2 = 0.605. Moreover, the health literacy and the perceived self-efficacy can predict the self-care performance of students by 51 percent. Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that a student with high levels of

Determining Effect of Digital And Media Activities On Media And Science Literacy Of Middle-School Students And Parents

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Bilge CAN

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This research aims determining effect of digital and media activities on media and science literacy of middle-school students and parents and identifying the relationship between them. Quasi- experimental model has been used by which pretest-posttest studies have been held on one group by using quantitative data during research. The sample of the research consists of 60 students and 119 parents who attend a school in the province of Bursa in the academic year of 2013-2014. According to data analysis obtained in the research, there is a significant relation between pretests and posttests about scientific literacy of middle-school students and parents relating to Digital and Media Activities. There is a relation between media and scientific literacy of students and mothers as parents. There is a difference between the applied PISA and TIMSS exams and the students' science literacy. In the light of these results, some suggestion has been offered with regard to focusing on the importance of 21st century skills and literacy, developing scientific and media literacy level and obtaining more comprehensive results.

A Case Study on Mathematical Literacy of Prospective Elementary School Teachers

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Suharta, I. Gusti Putu; Suarjana, I. Made

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study is to describe Mathematical Literacy (ML) of Prospective Elementary School Teachers with attention to aspects of mathematical skills and gender. The type of research is qualitative with the research design of Case Study. Respondents are assigned 12 Prospective Elementary School Teachers, consisting of 6 men and 6 women.…

Reading and Writing Gains for Maori Students in Mainstream Schools: Effective Partnerships in the Rotorua Home and School Literacy Project.

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Glynn, Ted; Berryman, Mere; Glynn, Vin

The Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust with support from the Ministry of Education funded a home and school literacy project in nine Rotorua primary schools. The project funded each school to train a home-school liaison worker (either a school staff member or a community person) to assist schools in developing a working partnership with the students'…

Early literacy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Anders Skriver

2012-01-01

This paper discusses findings from the Danish contribution to the EASE project, a European research project running from 2008 to 2010 on early literacy in relation to the transition from childcare to school. It explores a holistic, inclusive approach to early literacy that resists a narrow...... and schools. The paper also draws on Gee’s (2001, 2003, 2004, 2008) sociocultural approach to literacy, and Honneth’s (2003, 2006) concept of recognition. Emphasizing participation and recognition as key elements, it claims that stakeholders in early liter- acy must pay attention to how diverse early literacy...... opportunities empower children, especially when these opportunities are employed in a project-based learning environ- ment in which each child is able to contribute to the shared literacy events....

Health literacy and the determinants of obesity: a population-based survey of sixth grade school children in Taiwan

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Shu-Fang Shih

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Health literacy has become an important health policy and health promotion agenda item in recent years. It had been seen as a means to reduce health disparities and a critical empowerment strategy to increase people’s control over their health. So far, most of health literacy studies mainly focus on adults with few studies investigating associations between child health literacy and health status. This study aimed to investigate the association between health literacy and body weight in Taiwan’s sixth grade school children. Methods Using a population-based survey, 162,209 sixth grade (11–12 years old school children were assessed. The response rate at school level was 83 %, with 70 % of all students completing the survey. The Taiwan child health literacy assessment tool was applied and information on sex, ethnicity, self-reported health, and health behaviors were also collected. BMI was used to classify the children as underweight, normal, overweight, or obese. A multinomial logit model with robust estimation was used to explore associations between health literacy and the body weight with an adjustment for covariates. Results The sample consisted of 48.9 % girls, 3.8 % were indigenous and the mean BMI was 19.55 (SD = 3.93. About 6 % of children self-reported bad or very bad health. The mean child health literacy score was 24.03 (SD = 6.12, scale range from 0 to 32. The overall proportion of obese children was 15.2 %. Children in the highest health literacy quartile were less likely to be obese (12.4 % compared with the lowest quartile (17.4 %. After controlling for gender, ethnicity, self-rated health, and health behaviors, children with higher health literacy were less likely to be obese (Relative Risk Ratio (RRR = 0.94, p  1.10, p < 0.0001 were more likely to report being overweight or obese. Conclusions This study demonstrates strong links between health literacy and obesity, even after

Latina Mothers' School Preparation Activities and Their Relation to Children's Literacy Skills

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Durand, Tina M.

2010-01-01

Few studies have examined the link between children's early school achievement and parents' at-home practices exclusively among Latino groups. This study examined the relation between Latina mothers' reported at-home practices regarding school preparation and their children's literacy skills. Participants included 56 kindergarten children and…

The Validation of a Food Label Literacy Questionnaire for Elementary School Children

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Reynolds, Jesse S.; Treu, Judith A.; Njike, Valentine; Walker, Jennifer; Smith, Erica; Katz, Catherine S.; Katz, David L.

2012-01-01

Objective: To determine the reliability and validity of a 10-item questionnaire, the Food Label Literacy for Applied Nutrition Knowledge questionnaire. Methods: Participants were elementary school children exposed to a 90-minute school-based nutrition program. Reliability was assessed via Cronbach alpha and intraclass correlation coefficient…

On the Money: High School Mathematics Activities to Build Financial Literacy

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Peters, Susan A.; Bay-Williams, Jennifer M.; Martinie, Sherri L.

2016-01-01

As high school students make more and more important decisions, their need for financial literacy increases significantly. To succeed in life, they need both an understanding of financial issues and the math skills to make financially sound choices. With all the requirements and standards to be met in high schools today, how can teachers find room…

What can Parents' Self-report of Reading Difficulties Tell Us about Their Children's Emergent Literacy at School Entry?

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Esmaeeli, Zahra; Lundetrae, Kjersti; Kyle, Fiona E

2018-02-01

Research has linked family risk (FR) of reading difficulties (RD) with children's difficulties in emergent literacy development. This study is the first to apply parents' self-report of RD as a proxy for FR in a large sample (n = 1171) in order to test group differences in children's emergent literacy. Emergent literacy, the home literacy environment and children's interest in literacy and letters were compared across different groups of FR children around the school entry. The FR children performed lower in emergent literacy compared with not-FR children. Furthermore, when comparing FR children with one parent reporting RD and children with both parents reporting RD, moderate group differences were found in Emergent Literacy. Finally, parents' self-report of RD was a significant contributor of emergent literacy after controlling for the home literacy environment, children's gender, their interest in literacy and letters, months in kindergarten, vocabulary and parents' education. Our findings suggest that schools should monitor the reading development of children with parents self-reporting RD closely - especially if both parents self-report RD. © 2017 The Authors. Dyslexia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. © 2017 The Authors. Dyslexia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Literacy in America.

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Graubard, Stephen R., Ed.

1990-01-01

This collection of essays addresses issues related to basic literacy and mathematical competence in the United States. Articles include the following: "The Roots of Literacy" (David Hawkins); "Historical Perspectives on Literacy and Schooling" (Daniel P. Resnick); "Reconciling the Literacies of Generations" (William…

Teachers' Stages of Concern for Media Literacy Education and the Integration of MLE in Chinese Primary Schools

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Zhang, Hui; Zhu, Chang; Sang, Guoyuan

2014-01-01

Media literacy is an essential skill for living in the twenty-first century. School-based instruction is a critical part of media literacy education (MLE), while research on teachers' concerns and integration of MLE is not sufficient. The objective of this study is to investigate teachers' stages of concern (SoC), perceived need, school context,…

Stepping Stones to Evaluating Your Own School Literacy Program

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Levesque, Jeri; Carnahan, Danielle

2005-01-01

Stepping Stones to Literacy is a tool for elementary school improvement teams to evaluate and strengthen their reading programs. Each Stepping Stone is a guided activity to stimulate reflection and guide systematic inquiry. It is a collaborative, active research approach to evaluation (Levesque & Hinton 2001). The goal is to eliminate the gap…

Failure to Thrive? The Community Literacy Strand of the Additive Bilingual Project at an Eastern Cape Community School, South Africa

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Hunt, George

2007-01-01

This paper discusses an attempt to establish community literacy procedures in an Eastern Cape community school. The school hosts the Additive Bilingual Education (ABLE) project, a cooperation between UK and South African universities and the school trust. The community literacy strand of the project encourages family members to contribute oral…

The African Guide: One Year Impact and Outcomes from the Implementation of a School Mental Health Literacy Curriculum Resource in Tanzania

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Kutcher, Stanley; Wei, Yifeng; Gilberds, Heather; Brown, Adena; Ubuguyu, Omary; Njau, Tasiana; Sabuni, Norman; Magimba, Ayoub; Perkins, Kevin

2017-01-01

Despite the need for improving mental health literacy (MHL) among young people in low- and middle-income countries little research is available. Schools are an ideal location in which to address mental health literacy. A Canadian school-based mental health literacy resource was adapted for application in sub-Saharan Africa called the African Guide…

Engaging Families in Cross-Cultural Connections through a School-Based Literacy Fair

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Ceprano, Maria A.; Chicola, Nancy A.

2012-01-01

This paper describes how 20 pre-service teachers enrolled in two social studies methods courses at Buffalo State College worked collaboratively to produce a Cross-cultural Literacy Fair at an urban-based elementary school. The participatory activities created for the event were provided in conjunction with a community after-school program and…

Assessing the impact participation in science journalism activities has on scientific literacy among high school students

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Farrar, Cathy

As part of the National Science Foundation Science Literacy through Science Journalism (SciJourn) research and development initiative (http://www.scijourn.org ; Polman, Saul, Newman, and Farrar, 2008) a quasi-experimental design was used to investigate what impact incorporating science journalism activities had on students' scientific literacy. Over the course of a school year students participated in a variety of activities culminating in the production of science news articles for Scijourner, a regional print and online high school science news magazine. Participating teachers and SciJourn team members collaboratively developed activities focused on five aspects of scientific literacy: placing information into context, recognizing relevance, evaluating factual accuracy, use of multiple credible sources and information seeking processes. This study details the development process for the Scientific Literacy Assessment (SLA) including validity and reliability studies, evaluates student scientific literacy using the SLA, examines student SLA responses to provide a description of high school students' scientific literacy, and outlines implications of the findings in relation to the National Research Council's A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (2012) and classroom science teaching practices. Scientifically literate adults acting as experts in the assessment development phase informed the creation of a scoring guide that was used to analyze student responses. Experts tended to draw on both their understanding of science concepts and life experiences to formulate answers; paying close attention to scientific factual inaccuracies, sources of information, how new information fit into their view of science and society as well as targeted strategies for information seeking. Novices (i.e., students), in contrast, tended to ignore factual inaccuracies, showed little understanding about source credibility and suggested

Health literacy profile of high school students based on knowledge, attitude and behavior to health of respiration

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Widiyawati, W.; Fitriani, A.; Priyandoko, D.

2018-05-01

This research aims to describe the high school student’s health literacy profile based on their knowledge, attitude, and behavior to health of respiration. This descriptive study involved 65 participants of senior high school students of Ciamis city. Research instruments for collecting data are test and questionnaires sheets. The data were analyzed using quantitative descriptive analysis. The results showed that student’s health literacy of respiration get mean 109.94, moderate category. Based on the above results, it can be concluded that student’s health literacy of respiration is enough because student’s health literacy are in the moderate category, but it needs to be improved by the classroom learning in accompanied by changing some of the lesser habits in maintaining respiratory health.

The Contribution of Trade Books to Early Science Literacy: In and out of School

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Schroeder, Meadow; Mckeough, Anne; Graham, Susan; Stock, Hayli; Bisanz, Gay

2009-01-01

Lifelong science literacy begins with attitudes and interests established early in childhood. The use of trade books (i.e., a literary work intended for sale to the general public) in North American school classrooms to support the development of science literacy invites an examination of the quality of science content disseminated to students. A…

A school intervention for mental health literacy in adolescents: effects of a non-randomized cluster controlled trial

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background “Mental health for everyone” is a school program for mental health literacy and prevention aimed at secondary schools (13–15 yrs). The main aim was to investigate whether mental health literacy, could be improved by a 3-days universal education programme by: a) improving naming of symptom profiles of mental disorder, b) reducing prejudiced beliefs, and c) improving knowledge about where to seek help for mental health problems. A secondary aim was to investigate whether adolescent sex and age influenced the above mentioned variables. A third aim was to investigate whether prejudiced beliefs influenced knowledge about available help. Method This non-randomized cluster controlled trial included 1070 adolescents (53.9% boys, M age14 yrs) from three schools in a Norwegian town. One school (n = 520) received the intervention, and two schools (n = 550) formed the control group. Pre-test and follow-up were three months apart. Linear mixed models and generalized estimating equations models were employed for analysis. Results Mental health literacy improved contingent on the intervention, and there was a shift towards suggesting primary health care as a place to seek help. Those with more prejudiced beleifs did not suggest places to seek help for mental health problems. Generally, girls and older adolescents recognized symptom profiles better and had lower levels of prejudiced beliefs. Conclusions A low cost general school program may improve mental health literacy in adolescents. Gender specific programs and attention to the age and maturity of the students should be considered when mental health literacy programmes are designed and tried out. Prejudice should be addressed before imparting information about mental health issues. PMID:24053381

Teaching Journalistic Texts in Science Classes: the Importance of Media Literacy

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Ginosar, Avshalom; Tal, Tali

2017-11-01

This study employs a single framework for investigating both environmental journalistic texts published on news websites, and science teachers' choices of such texts for their teaching. We analyzed 188 environmental items published during 2 months in seven news websites to determine popularity of topics. Then, 64 science junior high school teachers responded to a closed questionnaire to identify their preferred topics for using in the classroom and patterns of using environmental news items. In a second, open-ended questionnaire, responded by 50 teachers, we investigated the teachers' media literacy in terms of identifying text types and writers of environmental news items. Good alignment was found between the published topics on the websites and teachers' choices, with somewhat different distribution of topics, which could be explained by curriculum requirements. Teachers' identification of text types and writer types was inaccurate, which implied that their media literacy is inadequate. We argue that media literacy is required for effective use of journalistic texts in science teaching.

Attitudes of parents and teachers to financial literacy of primary school students

OpenAIRE

Tisovec, Anja

2017-01-01

In the master’s thesis, we analysed the attitudes of parents and teachers of mathematics and home economics towards financial education in elementary school. Firstly, we considered the concept of financial literacy, as was defined by different authors, and the importance of formal financial education of young people. We presented the results of the researches on financial literacy that were carried out in Slovenia, and continued with the review of financial education in some countries around ...

The Nature and Outcomes of Students' Longitudinal Participatory Research on Literacy Motivations and Schooling.

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Oldfather, Penny; Thomas, Sally; Eckert, Lizz; Garcia, Florencia; Grannis, Nicki; Kilgore, John; Newman-Gonchar, Andy; Petersen, Brian; Rodriguez, Paul; Tjioe, Marcel

1999-01-01

Describes outcomes of a six-year study of students' participatory research on literacy motivations and schooling. Suggests the need for a fundamental shift of the dominant epistemology in society and schools to one based on trusting, listening to, and respecting the integrity of the minds of all participants in schooling. (NH)

Literacy in the contemporary scene

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela B. Kleiman

2014-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper I examine the relationship between literacy and contemporaneity. I take as a point of departure for my discussion school literacy and its links with literacies in other institutions of the contemporary scene, in order to determine the relation between contemporary ends of reading and writing (in other words, the meaning of being literate in contemporary society and the practices and activities effectively realized at school in order to reach those objectives. Using various examples from teaching and learning situations, I discuss digital literacy practices and multimodal texts and multiliteracies from both printed and digital cultures. Throughout, I keep as a background for the discussion the functions and objectives of school literacy and the professional training of teachers who would like to be effective literacy agents in the contemporary world.

An Investigation of Literacy Practices in High School Science Classrooms

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Wexler, Jade; Mitchell, Marisa A.; Clancy, Erin E.; Silverman, Rebecca D.

2017-01-01

This study reports findings from an exploration of the literacy practices of 10 high school science teachers. Based on observations of teachers' instruction, we report teachers' use of text, evidence-based vocabulary and comprehension practices, and grouping practices. Based on interviews with teachers, we also report teachers' perceptions…

Hip-Hop, Social Justice, and Environmental Education: Toward a Critical Ecological Literacy

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Cermak, Michael J.

2012-01-01

This essay describes an educational initiative that used environmentally themed (green) hip-hop to stimulate learning in an environmental science classroom. Students were then challenged to compose their own green hip-hop and their lyrics demonstrated skills that have thematic consistency around what is called a Critical Ecological Literacy (CEL).…

Responses to Struggling, K-2 Readers and Writers: Early Literacy Intervention in Three Urban Schools

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Mooney, Kathleen C.

2009-01-01

An abundance of research on early literacy intervention indicates that struggling, K-2 readers and writers can be effectively supported through the receipt of intervention services in school; however, research in the area has not yet addressed study of the unique, contextualized design and implementation of early literacy intervention in different…

Reading literacy and reading self-concept of year 6 primary school students

OpenAIRE

Cegnar, Katja

2017-01-01

In the present Master thesis, we research the relation between the reading literacy and its components and the reading self-concept in grade 6 elementary school students. Sixth grade students were chosen because they are partially taught by class teachers and because we assume that they are already familiar with the reading comprehension technique and have a more-or-less stable reading self-concept. In the theoretical part, we present the importance of functional literacy and of other types o...

Veterinary School Applicants: Financial Literacy and Behaviors.

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Carr, McKensie M; Greenhill, Lisa M

2015-01-01

Each year the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) conducts a survey after the close of the Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS) application. The survey provides a glimpse into applicant behavior surrounding the veterinary school application process. Additional survey questions probe into applicant financial behaviors, use of financial products and services, and pet ownership. This article examines the 2013 survey data from applicants who successfully completed the application, with a focus on applicant financial literacy and behaviors. Data from the study revealed a disconnect between applicants' perception of their ability to deal with day-to-day finances and their actual financial behaviors, particularly for first-generation college student applicants and applicants who are racially/ethnically underrepresented in veterinary medicine (URVM). Many applicants were not able to accurately report the average veterinary school graduate's student debt level, which suggests the potential need for better education about the costs associated with attending veterinary school.

School-Based Smoking Prevention with Media Literacy: A Pilot Study

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Bier, Melinda C.; Schmidt, Spring J.; Shields, David; Zwarun, Lara; Sherblom, Stephen; Pulley, Cynthia; Rucker, Billy

2011-01-01

School-based tobacco prevention programs have had limited success reducing smoking rates in the long term. Media literacy programs offer an innovative vehicle for delivery of potentially more efficacious anti-tobacco education. However, these programs have been neither widely implemented nor well evaluated. We conducted a pre-post evaluation of a…

Environmental literacy with green chemistry oriented in 21st century learning

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Mitarlis, Ibnu, Suhadi; Rahayu, Sri; Sutrisno

2017-12-01

The aim of this study is to analyze the design of chemistry subject with green chemistry oriented to improve students' environmental literacy as one of the important requirements of 21st century learning. This research used R&D design which consisted of four stages, i.e. preliminary study, the study of literature, development of materials, and expert and empirical validation. This article presents the results of preliminary study and the study of literature. It can be concluded from the results of an analysis that environmental literacy is one of the important components of learning outcomes which should be pursued in 21st century teaching. Philosophy of green chemistry plays an important role to reduce and prevent pollution of environment. Principles of green chemistry can be integrated into learning environment as learning outcomes or nurturant effects of learning.

Improving educational achievement and anaemia of school children: design of a cluster randomised trial of school-based malaria prevention and enhanced literacy instruction in Kenya

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Halliday Katherine E

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Improving the health of school-aged children can yield substantial benefits for cognitive development and educational achievement. However, there is limited experimental evidence on the benefits of school-based malaria prevention or how health interventions interact with other efforts to improve education quality. This study aims to evaluate the impact of school-based malaria prevention and enhanced literacy instruction on the health and educational achievement of school children in Kenya. Design A factorial, cluster randomised trial is being implemented in 101 government primary schools on the coast of Kenya. The interventions are (i intermittent screening and treatment of malaria in schools by public health workers and (ii training workshops and support for teachers to promote explicit and systematic literacy instruction. Schools are randomised to one of four groups: receiving either (i the malaria intervention alone; (ii the literacy intervention alone; (iii both interventions combined; or (iv control group where neither intervention is implemented. Children from classes 1 and 5 are randomly selected and followed up for 24 months. The primary outcomes are educational achievement and anaemia, the hypothesised mediating variables through which education is affected. Secondary outcomes include malaria parasitaemia, school attendance and school performance. A nested process evaluation, using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion and a stakeholder analysis will investigate the community acceptability, feasibility and cost-effectiveness of the interventions. Discussion Across Africa, governments are committed to improve health and education of school-aged children, but seek clear policy and technical guidance as to the optimal approach to address malaria and improved literacy. This evaluation will be one of the first to simultaneously evaluate the impact of health and education interventions in the improvement of

Assessing Environmental Literacy of Pre-Vocational Education Teachers in Jordan

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Al-Dajeh, Hesham I.

2012-01-01

This study assesses the environmental literacy (knowledge, attitudes, and concerns) of pre-vocational education teachers. A total of 124 teachers participated in the study. Data was collected through a closed ended questionnaire. Questionnaire validity was established by content and a Cranach's alpha coefficient used to determine reliability. The…

A Professional Learning Community to Improve Literacy at a Minority Urban High School

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McCallum, Salimah A.

2012-01-01

Despite No Child Left Behind legislation, there has been little significant progress in literacy for African American and Hispanic high school students. This issue reflects a failing school system and an urgent need for educational reform in the United States. Using social cognitive theory as the conceptual framework, this qualitative study…

Does Formal Environmental Knowledge Inform the Everyday ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

How do senior secondary biology learners from three schools in Lesotho use this ... environmental literacy as a goal of science education is mentioned. ..... formal schooling context) or actions informed by informal information, which we ...

Delivering Technological Literacy to a Class for Elementary School Pre-Service Teachers in South Korea

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Kwon, Hyuksoo

2017-01-01

This study was conducted with the aim of creating a new introductory course emphasizing the development of technological literacy for elementary school pre-service teachers. This study also aimed to investigate elementary school pre-service teachers' attitudinal transition toward elementary school technology education (ESTE) and its…

How Financial Literacy Affects Household Wealth Accumulation.

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Behrman, Jere R; Mitchell, Olivia S; Soo, Cindy K; Bravo, David

2012-05-01

This study isolates the causal effects of financial literacy and schooling on wealth accumulation using a new household dataset and an instrumental variables (IV) approach. Financial literacy and schooling attainment are both strongly positively associated with wealth outcomes in linear regression models, whereas the IV estimates reveal even more potent effects of financial literacy. They also indicate that the schooling effect only becomes positive when interacted with financial literacy. Estimated impacts are substantial enough to imply that investments in financial literacy could have large wealth payoffs.

Community Resilience Education: Lessons Learned from an Emerging Community of Practice - NOAA's Environmental Literacy Grantees

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Schoedinger, S. E.; McDougall, C.

2017-12-01

NOAA supports community resilience to extreme weather events, climate change and other environmental hazards by preparing communities through Weather Ready Nation and through programs addressing coastal community needs. These programs primarily target adult decisions makers in a professional capacity (emergency managers, city planners, et al.), leaving non-professional audiences without opportunities to understand and develop the skills to prepare for the threats and vulnerabilities that their communities face. As a result, resilience became the focus of NOAA's Environmental Literacy Grants in 2015. The goal of these investments is to strengthen the public's and/or K-12 students' environmental literacy to enable informed decision-making necessary for community resilience to extreme weather events and other environmental hazards. Funded projects build an understanding of Earth systems and the threats and vulnerabilities that are associated with a community's location, are aligned with existing adaptation/resilience plans, and connect audiences to relevant tools and resources to prepare for and respond to these hazards. These first few years of investment will create new models for how education can improve community resilience. Although these projects incorporate a variety of approaches, a few common themes stand out: empowering youth and adults to increase their understanding of locally relevant natural hazards and stresses; giving youth a voice in resilience planning; and student-led vulnerability assessments of their schools and communities. In this session we will report on the first convening of the principal investigators of our 13 funded projects, which represents the beginning of a new community of practice focused on resilience education. We will specifically share lessons learned about: engaging youth and adults about climate change and resiliency; working with local resilience/adaptation planners; and case studies on the use of NOAA's Digital Coast and

A Comparison between Homeschooled and Formally Schooled Kindergartners: Children's Early Literacy, Mothers' Beliefs, and Writing Mediation

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Aram, Dorit; Meidan, Inbal Cohen; Deitcher, Deborah Bergman

2016-01-01

The study characterized children's literacy, mothers' beliefs, and writing mediation of homeschooled compared to formally schooled kindergartners. Participants were 60 children (ages 4-6) and their mothers (30 in homeschooling). At the children's home, we assessed children's literacy, maternal beliefs, and video-recorded mother-child joint writing…

Manga High: Literacy, Identity, and Coming of Age in an Urban High School

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Bitz, Michael

2009-01-01

Based on a four-year study, "Manga High" explores the convergence of literacy, creativity, social development, and personal identity in one of New York City's largest high schools. Since 2004, students at Martin Luther King, Jr., High School in Manhattan have been creating manga--Japanese comic books. They write the stories, design the…

The effects of environmental and classroom noise on the academic attainments of primary school children.

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Shield, Bridget M; Dockrell, Julie E

2008-01-01

While at school children are exposed to various types of noise including external, environmental noise and noise generated within the classroom. Previous research has shown that noise has detrimental effects upon children's performance at school, including reduced memory, motivation, and reading ability. In England and Wales, children's academic performance is assessed using standardized tests of literacy, mathematics, and science. A study has been conducted to examine the impact, if any, of chronic exposure to external and internal noise on the test results of children aged 7 and 11 in London (UK) primary schools. External noise was found to have a significant negative impact upon performance, the effect being greater for the older children. The analysis suggested that children are particularly affected by the noise of individual external events. Test scores were also affected by internal classroom noise, background levels being significantly related to test results. Negative relationships between performance and noise levels were maintained when the data were corrected for socio-economic factors relating to social deprivation, language, and special educational needs. Linear regression analysis has been used to estimate the maximum levels of external and internal noise which allow the schools surveyed to achieve required standards of literacy and numeracy.

Middle school special education teachers' perceptions and use of assistive technology in literacy instruction.

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Flanagan, Sara; Bouck, Emily C; Richardson, Jennifer

2013-01-01

In this research the authors examined middle school special education teachers' perceptions of assistive technology during literacy instruction with students with high incidence disabilities. A survey explored the use, effectiveness, and factors impacting use or effectiveness of assistive technology for literacy teaching and learning. Results suggested teachers' perceived assistive technology to be an effective tool for literacy, but use it minimally. When assistive technology was used, teachers indicated it was an effective literacy support. Teachers also reported barriers to using assistive technology in literacy including cost, usability, and lack of training/experience. However, factors such as previous successful experiences with assistive technology and assistive technology supporting students' learning encouraged assistive technology use. The consistency of teachers' reports of needing more experience and knowledge in assistive technology to fully use it suggests implications for preservice preparation such as providing additional experiences and information on assistive technology.

Luther and the Foundations of Literacy, Secular Schooling and Educational Administration.

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Luke, Carmen

1989-01-01

Outlines antecedents and consequences of typography and Sixteenth Century Protestant educational reform to show how curricular innovation led to a bureaucratic discourse of social control. Argues that compulsory schooling for mass literacy gave rise to the institutionalization of childhood, and to state-controlled techniques of normalization and…

Students’ Information Literacy: A Perspective from Mathematical Literacy

OpenAIRE

Ariyadi Wijaya

2016-01-01

Information literacy is mostly seen from the perspective of library science or information and communication technology. Taking another point of view, this study was aimed to explore students’ information literacy from the perspective of mathematical literacy. For this purpose, a test addressing Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) mathematics tasks were administered to 381 eighth and ninth graders from nine junior high schools in the Province of Yogyakarta. PISA mathematics ...

Health Literacy Teaching Beliefs, Attitudes, Efficacy, and Intentions of Middle School Health and Physical Education Teachers

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Lai, Hsiang-Ru; Wu, Der-Min; Lee, Pi-Hsia; Jhang, Yu-Siang

2018-01-01

Background: Health education (HE) courses in schools are vital paths for improving teenagers' health literacy. HE and physical education (PE) teachers lead HE courses, and their teaching intentions and competency influence the effectiveness of the courses and the ability to promote students' health literacy. This study attempted to understand HE…

Stability of Language and Literacy Profiles of Children with Language Impairment in the Public Schools

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Tambyraja, Sherine R.; Schmitt, Mary Beth; Farquharson, Kelly; Justice, Laura M.

2015-01-01

Purpose: The present study focused on the identification and stability of language and literacy profiles of primary school children receiving school-based language therapy over the course of one academic year. Method: Participants included 272 early elementary school-age children (144 boys, 128 girls) who had been clinically identified as having a…

Access to Science and Literacy through Inquiry and School Yard Habitats

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Cox-Petersen, Anne; Spencer, Brenda

2006-01-01

In this article, the authors describe an integrated science and literacy instructional model in which students build background knowledge by engaging in free-choice learning options during an investigation of school yard habitats. Students interact with their peers while inquiring, discussing findings, and using print resources to enhance learning.

Investigating middle school students’ difficulties in mathematical literacy problems level 1 and 2

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Setiawati, S.; Herman, T.; Jupri, A.

2017-11-01

The background of this study is the lack of mathematical literacy skills of students. The proficiency of students’ mathematical literacy skills based on the results of the PISA 2015 study shows that Indonesian students at the proficiency level 1. This fact gave rise to this study which aims to investigate middle school students’ difficulties in mathematical literacy problems level 1 and 2. Qualitative research was used in this study. An individual written test on mathematical literacy problems was administered, followed by interviews. The subjects of the study were 61 students grade VII in Bandung and 26 of them were interviewed afterward. Data analysis revealed that students’ error in performing arithmetic most frequently observed. Other observed difficulties concerned understanding about algebra concept, applying arithmetic operation in algebraic expressions, and interpreting symbols to represent the unknown. In solving mathematical literacy problems, students use their prior knowledge, although sometimes not relevant to the questions. Based on the results, we suggest that mathematics learning in contextual learning and which invites students to participate in the processes of understanding the concepts.

The Status of Science Education in Illinois Scientific Literacy Target Schools, K-6, 1994. A Study.

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Finson, Kevin D.; Beaver, John B.

The Illinois State Board of Education's Scientific Literacy Project provided extra funds to certain schools with the intent of creating demonstration schools useful as models for other schools to improve their science education programs. The study described in this document examined the impact of these funds on the target schools and attempted to…

The effectiveness of multi modal representation text books to improve student's scientific literacy of senior high school students

Science.gov (United States)

Zakiya, Hanifah; Sinaga, Parlindungan; Hamidah, Ida

2017-05-01

The results of field studies showed the ability of science literacy of students was still low. One root of the problem lies in the books used in learning is not oriented toward science literacy component. This study focused on the effectiveness of the use of textbook-oriented provisioning capability science literacy by using multi modal representation. The text books development method used Design Representational Approach Learning to Write (DRALW). Textbook design which was applied to the topic of "Kinetic Theory of Gases" is implemented in XI grade students of high school learning. Effectiveness is determined by consideration of the effect and the normalized percentage gain value, while the hypothesis was tested using Independent T-test. The results showed that the textbooks which were developed using multi-mode representation science can improve the literacy skills of students. Based on the size of the effect size textbooks developed with representation multi modal was found effective in improving students' science literacy skills. The improvement was occurred in all the competence and knowledge of scientific literacy. The hypothesis testing showed that there was a significant difference on the ability of science literacy between class that uses textbooks with multi modal representation and the class that uses the regular textbook used in schools.

The Effect of Technology Integration on High School Students' Literacy Achievement

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Robinson, Kara

2016-01-01

This literature review presents a critical appraisal of current research on the role technology integration plays in high school students' literacy achievement. It identifies the gaps within the research through comprehensive analysis. The review develops an argument that the use of laptops in secondary English classrooms has a significant impact…

Ethical underpinnings for the development of health literacy in schools: ethical premises ('why'), orientations ('what') and tone ('how').

Science.gov (United States)

Paakkari, Leena; George, Shanti

2018-03-06

Schools are seen as crucial environments to influence and develop the health literacy of new generations, but without sufficient reflection on the ethical underpinnings of intentions and interventions around health literacy. In contrast, we argue here that ethics are fundamental to all education. The article adopts a 'One world' approach that generalizes broadly across the so-called Global North and Global South. It also generalizes across various age groups among school pupils, advocating age appropriate application of the arguments advanced. Our analysis examines why health literacy should be promoted in schools and argues that the purpose should embrace the values of social justice and should not stop at individual and national cost benefit analysis. Discussion about the orientation of health literacy highlights meta-cognitive skills around critical thinking, self-awareness and citizenship rather than lists of practical skills. Finally, approaches to health literacy in classrooms are presented with an ethical tone that draws attention to the power relations responsible for health inequities and that does not assume that such power relations are the given framework for health literacy interventions and activities. These arguments are reinforced by urging that related debates address dynamic social realities such as international migration. We reiterate the need for ethical questions to be consciously and systematically addressed from early on, beginning with intentions to promote health literacy even before these intentions are translated into action, within the political space where education meets public health and health promotion. We underline again the context of fluidity and dynamism, as new challenges emerge within pedagogies and curricula, especially in response to changing populations in the society around.

Information Literacy: Partnerships for Power.

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Breivik, Patricia Senn; Senn, J. A.

1993-01-01

Describes the partnerships between teacher-librarians and principals, teachers, community members, public librarians, and businesses that school children need to gain information literacy skills. Descriptions, which are adapted from the forthcoming book "Information Literacy: Resources for Elementary School Leaders," include the…

Living and Leading in a Digital Age: A Narrative Study of the Attitudes and Perceptions of School Leaders about Media Literacy

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Mahoney, Kerrigan R.; Khwaja, Tehmina

2016-01-01

Students graduating from K-12 education need media literacy skills to engage, participate, and learn in a world in which literacy must keep pace with rapidly changing technologies. Given the significant roles school administrators play in providing leadership and vision to their schools, this narrative study addresses the research question: What…

Factors of progress in reading literacy test

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Jovanović Vitomir

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The main goal of this study was to identify the factors which are most associated with the progress in reading literacy assessed in the PISA survey. In the preliminary sample, students from ten schools (N=235 were retested two years after the 2009 PISA original study. There were measured intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, school self-efficacy, epistemological beliefs, metacognitive strategies, socio-economic status, enjoyment and preference for reading and motivation and self-regulation. The examined factors explain 27% of the variance in reading literacy progress. Factors that contribute most to this progress are school self-efficacy, proper use of metacognitive strategies and low extrinsic motivation. Socio-economic status explained a negligible amount of variance, while some effect of type of school on progress in reading literacy (η2=7% was observed. Achievement in reading literacy is correlated with school marks. Students who attend secondary schools are more likely to make progress in reading literacy than those who attend vocational schools. An attempt was made to formulate the implications for education policy based on this research.

DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS’ MEDIA LITERACY IN THE PROCESS OF CREATING SCHOOL MEDIA

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Julia Rybina

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, a rapid development of information and communication technologies enables combine a number of formats for presenting information into one communication unit. That is why the media (Internet especially is not just tools for young generation for learning the modern world. Children enjoy in dealing with modern technologies. However not everyone has sufficient skills to objectively assess the true meaning of the information received. That is why children are more inclined for their mind to be manipulated and they are more inclined for blind imitating of attractive images. Owning to the above, the most priority-driven of modern education is the usage of information and communication technologies and media education for forming the skills of students' orientation in the information field and for forming the development of media immunity of the personality which makes the personality able to resist to the aggressive media space. Teachers face the challenge of introducing media education in middle and high schools. To implement the media education at the municipal institution regional specialized residential school “Giftedness” the pedagogical experiment was carried out there. The basis of the experiment is the generalized model of media literacy development for students that was used during for making and functioning the school newspaper «D.A.R-media». Theoretical aspects of the implementation of media education in the teaching and educational process of a specialized educational institution are considered in this study. A model for the development of the media literacy of students in the process of creating a school printed publication is proposed. Some results of research on the level of media literacy of students are highlighted and prospects for work on introducing media education of teachers and teachers are outlined.

Childhood roots of financial literacy

OpenAIRE

Grohmann, Antonia; Kouwenberg, Roy; Menkhoff, Lukas

2015-01-01

Financial literacy predicts informed financial decisions, but what explains financial literacy? We use the concept of financial socialization and aim to represent three major agents of financial socialization: family, school and work. Thus we compile twelve relevant childhood characteristics in a new survey study and examine their relation to financial literacy, while controlling for established socio-demographic characteristics. We find in a mediation analysis that both family and school pos...

Development and validation of the computer technology literacy self-assessment scale for Taiwanese elementary school students.

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Chang, Chiung-Sui

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to describe the development and validation of an instrument to identify various dimensions of the computer technology literacy self-assessment scale (CTLS) for elementary school students. The instrument included five CTLS dimensions (subscales): the technology operation skills, the computer usages concepts, the attitudes toward computer technology, the learning with technology, and the Internet operation skills. Participants were 1,539 elementary school students in Taiwan. Data analysis indicated that the instrument developed in the study had satisfactory validity and reliability. Correlations analysis supported the legitimacy of using multiple dimensions in representing students' computer technology literacy. Significant differences were found between male and female students, and between grades on some CTLS dimensions. Suggestions are made for use of the instrument to examine complicated interplays between students' computer behaviors and their computer technology literacy.

Do infant vocabulary skills predict school-age language and literacy outcomes?

Science.gov (United States)

Duff, Fiona J; Reen, Gurpreet; Plunkett, Kim; Nation, Kate

2015-01-01

Background Strong associations between infant vocabulary and school-age language and literacy skills would have important practical and theoretical implications: Preschool assessment of vocabulary skills could be used to identify children at risk of reading and language difficulties, and vocabulary could be viewed as a cognitive foundation for reading. However, evidence to date suggests predictive ability from infant vocabulary to later language and literacy is low. This study provides an investigation into, and interpretation of, the magnitude of such infant to school-age relationships. Methods Three hundred British infants whose vocabularies were assessed by parent report in the 2nd year of life (between 16 and 24 months) were followed up on average 5 years later (ages ranged from 4 to 9 years), when their vocabulary, phonological and reading skills were measured. Results Structural equation modelling of age-regressed scores was used to assess the strength of longitudinal relationships. Infant vocabulary (a latent factor of receptive and expressive vocabulary) was a statistically significant predictor of later vocabulary, phonological awareness, reading accuracy and reading comprehension (accounting for between 4% and 18% of variance). Family risk for language or literacy difficulties explained additional variance in reading (approximately 10%) but not language outcomes. Conclusions Significant longitudinal relationships between preliteracy vocabulary knowledge and subsequent reading support the theory that vocabulary is a cognitive foundation of both reading accuracy and reading comprehension. Importantly however, the stability of vocabulary skills from infancy to later childhood is too low to be sufficiently predictive of language outcomes at an individual level – a finding that fits well with the observation that the majority of ‘late talkers’ resolve their early language difficulties. For reading outcomes, prediction of future difficulties is likely to

The Case of Three Karen Refugee Women and Their Children: Literacy Practices in a Family Literacy Context

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Quadros, Sabrina; Sarroub, Loukia K.

2016-01-01

The lack of research about the Karen, one of 135 ethnic groups from Myanmar limits literacy educators charged with educating this refugee population in public schools. In this case study the authors explore the literacy practices of Karen families when at school and in their homes and within an ESL family literacy program. The case of these…

African literacies: Which of them matter, and why?

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Kate Parry

2010-05-01

Full Text Available This paper draws on data collected at the Kitengesa Community Library in Masaka District of Uganda to discuss some of the different literacies that are important in African environments. First, the literacies associated with different languages are analysed, these being classified assupralanguages (English in Uganda, lingua francas (such as Kiswahili, and local languages (Luganda in Kitengesa. Literacies also vary with social context, and the paper considers the cases of school, family, peer group, and private literacies. Work at Kitengesa has shown that although literacy is generally thought of as part of school life, other literacies are developing in response to the opportunities provided by the library. Supralanguage and school literacies remain dominant, but it is argued that they will become much more productive if supported by other literacies and that it is a major function of a community library to help such other literacies to develop

Information literacy progression within the Environmental science program at Linköping University

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Kajsa Gustafsson Åman

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Since the Environmental Science program at Linköping University started 1998 the author has been liaison librarian. The program is a three-year candidate program with approximately 60 students enrolled per year. Information literacy is of vital importance for the teachers and the students. Collaboration between the liaison librarian, the teachers and the administrator is the fundament. During the years a curriculum for Information literacy has evolved. The initiative for the evolvement comes from both librarian and teachers. The program consists today of fifteen different parts with education in information literacy with a progression during the three-year program. Special concern is given to progression, learning design, learning environments and quality development. An important part is appendixes in connection to the student essay. The appendixes consist of reflections on the search of information for the essay in order to make the students more conscious about their Information Literacy processes.

The Impact of a School's Literacy Program on a Primary Classroom

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Costello, David Ambrose Roy

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine how my reading instruction had been situated within my school's literacy program. As a way to investigate this study, I employed qualitative teacher research. I used reading theory (Whole Language and Direct Instruction) as the analytical lens for my analysis. The results illustrated how the Direct…

Critical Media Literacy in Middle School: Exploring the Politics of Representation

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Gainer, Jesse S.

2010-01-01

This article explores issues of critical media literacy with middle school students in an urban setting in the United States. The author focuses on data from a qualitative study engaging students in the reading and writing of video texts. The article examines intersections of issues relating to the "crisis of representation" in social science…

Literacy and Arts-Integrated Science Lessons Engage Urban Elementary Students in Exploring Environmental Issues

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Gray, P.; Elser, C. F.; Klein, J. L.; Rule, A. C.

2016-01-01

This descriptive case study examined student attitudes, writing skills and content knowledge of urban fourth and fifth graders (6 males, 9 female) during a six-week literacy, thinking skill, and art-integrated environmental science unit. Pre- and post-test questions were used to address knowledge of environmental problems and student environmental…

An Exploratory Study of the Factors Associated with Literacy Teachers' Integration of Technology: A Study of Lebanese Schools

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Chaaban, Youmen; Moloney, Robyn

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study is to explore Lebanese teachers' perceptions of the factors determining their integration of technology into literacy classrooms. A quantitative survey examining literacy teachers' individual characteristics and their perceptions of contextual factors was conducted at Lebanese schools. The survey collected data on the…

Reading the Terrain: Environmental Factors Influencing Religious Literacy Initiatives in Educator Preparation.

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Waggoner, Michael D.

2003-01-01

Environmental conditions that influence the development of religious literacy initiatives in preservice teacher education include parochialism and Christian privilege, the challenge of foreign traditions, the legacy of church-state separation, shifting bases of authority, the ethos of individualism, and the complexity of public education.…

Evidence-Based Literacy Support: The "Literacy Octopus" Trial. Evaluation Report and Executive Summary

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Lord, Pippa; Rabiasz, Adam; Roy, Palak; Harland, Jennie; Styles, Ben; Fowler, Katherine

2017-01-01

The Evidence-based Literacy Support-"Literacy Octopus" Trial tested a range of dissemination interventions and resources, all of which aimed to engage schools in using evidence-based materials to improve teaching and learning in Key Stage 2 literacy. Four delivery partners provided interventions. These included light-touch,…

Using realistic mathematics education and the DAPIC problem-solving process to enhance secondary school students' mathematical literacy

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Sunisa Sumirattana

2017-09-01

This study was based on research and development design. The main purposes of this study were to develop an instructional process for enhancing mathematical literacy among students in secondary school and to study the effects of the developed instructional process on mathematical literacy. The instructional process was developed by analyzing and synthesizing realistic mathematics education and the DAPIC problem-solving process. The developed instructional process was verified by experts and was trialed. The designated pre-test/post-test control method was used to study the effectiveness of the developed instructional process on mathematical literacy. The sample consisted of 104 ninth grade students from a secondary school in Bangkok, Thailand. The developed instructional process consisted of five steps, namely (1 posing real life problems, (2 solving problems individually or in a group, (3 presenting and discussing, (4 developing formal mathematics, and (5 applying knowledge. The mathematical literacy of the experimental group was significantly higher after being taught through the instructional process. The same results were obtained when comparing the results of the experimental group with the control group.

Digital literacies at school. Students' digital profiles

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Valentina Pennazio

2013-04-01

Full Text Available L’articolo presenta una ricerca volta a focalizzare le modalità in cui la Digital Literacy si traduce a scuola. Lo studio ha inteso sottolineare le molteplici dimensioni della Digital Literacy: Information Technology Literacy; Information Literacy; Visual Literacy e Media Literacy ed è stato effettuato nelle scuole primarie e secondarie di primo grado in Liguria. Sono state organizzate settimane di attività di ricerca, analisi e rielaborazione di informazioni, in classe e in rete, individualmente e in gruppo. Dalle autovalutazione degli studenti, svolte al termine di ogni attività, sono emersi i profili digitali che gli studenti tendono ad assumere quando utilizzano le tecnologie digitali. Tali profili possono essere utilizzati dagli insegnanti per progettare in maniera più mirata e significativa le attività con le tecnologie a scuola.

Effect of school eye health promotion on children's eye health literacy in Vietnam.

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Paudel, Prakash; Yen, Phung Thi; Kovai, Vilas; Naduvilath, Thomas; Ho, Suit May; Giap, Nguyen Viet; Holden, Brien A

2017-10-06

Health promotion intervention in schools is a useful strategy to improve students' health awareness. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of eye health promotion interventions on eye health literacy in school children in Vietnam. A piloted questionnaire was administered to 300 children from five secondary schools in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Vietnam at baseline and re-administered after the eye health promotion interventions. McNemar chi-square and logistic regression were used for statistical analysis. A total of 300 children aged 12-15 years (mean, 13.3 ± 1.3 years; 60% female) participated in the baseline survey. The participation rate in the post-health promotion survey was 94.7%. After the health promotion interventions, number of children who had correct eye health knowledge increased by 10-20% (60-75% to 70-95%), more children reported having had an eye examination (63.3% to 84.7%; p promotion interventions significantly improve eye health knowledge, attitudes and practices of school children. Additionally, participation of parents and teachers as change agents may further improve children's health literacy. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

What Digital Games and Literacy Have in Common: A Heuristic for Understanding Pupils' Gaming Literacy

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Apperley, Thomas; Walsh, Christopher

2012-01-01

This article argues that digital games and school-based literacy practices have much more in common than is reported in the research literature. We describe the role digital game paratexts--ancillary print and multimodal texts about digital games--can play in connecting pupils' gaming literacy practices to "traditional" school-based literacies…

Batman and Batwoman Go to School: Popular Culture in the Literacy Curriculum.

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Marsh, Jackie

1999-01-01

This case study investigated the introduction of a theme from popular culture into a sociodramatic role-play area in a northern England Nursery Infant school, focusing on its effects on 6- to 7-year olds' literacy activities. Findings indicated that the incorporation of themes from popular culture into the curriculum motivated children whose…

Attendance, Performance and the Acquisition of Early Literacy Skills: A Comparison of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous School Children

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Ehrich, John; Wolgemuth, Jennifer R.; Helmer, Janet; Oteng, Georges; Lea, Tess; Bartlett, Claire; Smith, Heather; Emmett, Sue

2010-01-01

As part of an evaluation of a web-based early literacy intervention, ABRACADABRA, a small exploratory study was conducted over one term in three primary schools in the Northern Territory. Of particular concern was the relationship between attendance and the acquisition of early literacy skills of Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. Using the…

Students’ Information Literacy: A Perspective from Mathematical Literacy

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Ariyadi Wijaya

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Information literacy is mostly seen from the perspective of library science or information and communication technology. Taking another point of view, this study was aimed to explore students’ information literacy from the perspective of mathematical literacy. For this purpose, a test addressing Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA mathematics tasks were administered to 381 eighth and ninth graders from nine junior high schools in the Province of Yogyakarta. PISA mathematics tasks which were used in this test had specific characteristics regarding information processing, i.e. containing superfluous information, having missing information, and requiring connection across information sources. An error analysis was performed to analyze students’ incorrect responses. The result of this study shows that students did not acquire three characteristics of information literacy; i.e. recognizing information needs, locating and evaluating the quality of information, and making effective and ethical use of information. This result indicates students’ low ability in information literacy.Keywords: information literacy, mathematical literacy, Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22342/jme.7.2.3532.73-82

Do infant vocabulary skills predict school-age language and literacy outcomes?

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Duff, Fiona J; Reen, Gurpreet; Plunkett, Kim; Nation, Kate

2015-08-01

Strong associations between infant vocabulary and school-age language and literacy skills would have important practical and theoretical implications: Preschool assessment of vocabulary skills could be used to identify children at risk of reading and language difficulties, and vocabulary could be viewed as a cognitive foundation for reading. However, evidence to date suggests predictive ability from infant vocabulary to later language and literacy is low. This study provides an investigation into, and interpretation of, the magnitude of such infant to school-age relationships. Three hundred British infants whose vocabularies were assessed by parent report in the 2nd year of life (between 16 and 24 months) were followed up on average 5 years later (ages ranged from 4 to 9 years), when their vocabulary, phonological and reading skills were measured. Structural equation modelling of age-regressed scores was used to assess the strength of longitudinal relationships. Infant vocabulary (a latent factor of receptive and expressive vocabulary) was a statistically significant predictor of later vocabulary, phonological awareness, reading accuracy and reading comprehension (accounting for between 4% and 18% of variance). Family risk for language or literacy difficulties explained additional variance in reading (approximately 10%) but not language outcomes. Significant longitudinal relationships between preliteracy vocabulary knowledge and subsequent reading support the theory that vocabulary is a cognitive foundation of both reading accuracy and reading comprehension. Importantly however, the stability of vocabulary skills from infancy to later childhood is too low to be sufficiently predictive of language outcomes at an individual level - a finding that fits well with the observation that the majority of 'late talkers' resolve their early language difficulties. For reading outcomes, prediction of future difficulties is likely to be improved when considering family

Evaluation of a school-based violence prevention media literacy curriculum.

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Fingar, Kathryn R; Jolls, Tessa

2014-06-01

Evaluate whether Beyond Blame, a violence prevention media literacy curriculum, is associated with improved knowledge, beliefs and behaviours related to media use and aggression. Using a quasi-experimental design, from 2007 to 2008, teachers from schools across Southern California administered the curriculum with or without training or served as controls. Students were tested before and after the curriculum was implemented, and during the fall semester of the next academic year. Multivariate hierarchical regression was used to compare changes from baseline to follow-up between the intervention and control groups. Compared with controls, at the first post-test, students in the trained and untrained groups reported increased knowledge of five core concepts/key questions of media literacy, increased self-rated exposure to media violence, as well as stronger beliefs that media violence affects viewers and that people can protect themselves by watching less. Regarding behaviours, controls were more likely to report ≥8 h of media consumption at the second post-test than at baseline (OR=2.11; 95% CI 1.13 to 3.97), pushing or shoving another student (OR=2.16; 95% CI 1.16 to 4.02) and threatening to hit or hurt someone (OR=2.32; 95% CI 1.13 to 4.78). In comparison, there was no increase in these behaviours in the trained and untrained groups. This study suggests media literacy can be feasibly integrated into schools as an approach to improving critical analysis of media, media consumption and aggression. Changing the way youth engage media may impact many aspects of health, and an important next step will be to apply this framework to other topics. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

"When Do We Get to Read?" Reading Instruction and Literacy Coaching in a "Failed" Urban Elementary School

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Pomerantz, Francesca; Pierce, Michelle

2013-01-01

From 2005-2009, the state determined that the Williams School had made no progress in raising its poor performance on the state English language arts test. In the fall of 2009, the state awarded literacy partnership grants to provide professional development to low-performing schools, and the Williams School partnered with our institution of…

Literacy Coaches' Perspectives of Themselves as Literacy Leaders: Results from a National Study of K-12 Literacy Coaching and Leadership

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Calo, Kristine M.; Sturtevant, Elizabeth G.; Kopfman, Kimberly M.

2015-01-01

As the face of education and the demands on teachers continues to change in the 21st century, so does the role of the literacy coach in schools across the country. This article explores the changing roles and responsibilities of literacy coaches by sharing the results of a study of 270 literacy coaches around the country. In this article, we share…

Reading and Writing with a Public Purpose: Fostering Middle School Students' Academic and Critical Community Literacies through Debate

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Mirra, Nicole; Honoroff, Benjamin; Elgendy, Suzanne; Pietrzak, Gabriel

2016-01-01

Middle school is a crucial transition period for adolescents; in addition to beginning to grapple with the academic literacy demands of college and career readiness, they are working to find their place in public life and developing opinions about civic issues. This article presents debate as a literacy practice that is uniquely suited to helping…

Environmental Education, a Way to Introduce and Improve Urban Environmental Pollution

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Karami

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Background In this study, high school students in Tehran were selected to investigate the role of environmental education in the prevention and control of pollution. Objectives In this regard, 10 high schools from different areas of Tehran City were used to implement an Environmental Education (EE intervention program. Patients and Methods The students of 5 high schools (first group were trained by the paper-based guidebook and students of other 5 high schools (second group trained by a teacher (EE expert. This study has been designed as a quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design with comparison groups. The impact on the participant’s environmental literacy was assessed by measuring a number of environmental literacy components, including knowledge, attitude, values, and concerns as well as behavioral intention/behavior. The results were presented in a bipolar 5-point Likert response format, with an "undecided" category. Relationships among variables were examined using the general linear model formulation with subsequent ANOVA analyses. Results Results for the participants show a significant increase in the scores of knowledge and attitude about air pollution. Educational program and training tools had no effect on the concern indexes, values, and behavior toward air pollution. Review of the score changes toward waste component, shows that posttest scores (in comparison with pretest ones increases in 4 indicators of knowledge, attitude, concern, and behavior, however the value index did not change so much. Conclusions We can conclude that educational program can be used to convey the knowledge of the environment and in this regard, its implementation is necessary.

Educational laptops in public schools: digital literacy and possibilities of transforming pedagogical practices

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Carla Beatris Valentini

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The presence of educational laptops in the routine of students and teachers might contribute for the construction of innovative alternatives for the teaching practice. With that in mind, this paper starts with the idea that the insertion of educational laptops in 1:1 model might be a disturbing element, triggering a process of reflection and awareness of the teaching practice on teachers themselves. That could lead to redimensioning the pedagogical practice in a movement towards including the laptop significantly in the school routine. We present a case study from an exploratory perspective about the insertion of laptops in a public school (from elementary to junior high, analyzing the process of digital literacy taking place in that school community. In that sense, digital literacy implies on the interaction in social networks that allow exploration and research, teaching and criticizing in a construction process of learning and knowing mediated by digital technologies. To do so, from the non-linearity that accompanies the communication flows emerging from these technologies, students and teachers are instigated to find new meanings, where reading and writing consist in sharing knowledge and opinions and not only an assignment to hand in.

The Social Construction of "Struggle": Influences of School Literacy Contexts, Curriculum, and Relationships

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Triplett, Cheri F.

2007-01-01

In this study, social constructionism provided a theoretical framework for investigating how students' struggles with reading are socially constructed in school literacy contexts, curriculum, and relationships. The study also sought to discover how "struggling reader" is a socially constructed subjectivity or identity that begins in the early…

Teaching children digital literacy through design-based learning with digital toolkits in schools

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bekker, T.; Bakker, S.; Douma, I.; van der Poel, J.E.C.; Scheltenaar, K.J.

2015-01-01

The paper presents our work on how to teach digital literacy and design thinking to children at primary and secondary schools, with a particular focus on exploring the tools that may support children’s learning in these domains. We have conducted design explorations with input from diverse

New food product consumer's behaviour: Health literacy and neophobia

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Luis Soares Luis

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background The development of a new food product aims to respond to consumer ́s concerns related to food and health promotion. Education plays a fundamental role in consumer’s behavior by providing tools that allows them to make informed decisions. Consumer’s empowerment is essential to the success of a health promotion strategy, also the knowledge of health literacy level is important to define a proper health policy. The aim of this study is to evaluate health literacy level and new foods consumption behavior (especially neophobic and neophilic behavior of the Lisbon area residents in Portugal. Methods A questionnaire, that includes the Portuguese version of the Newest Vital Sign, was applied to a stratified sample of 384 individuals (over 15 years old living in the Lisbon area in Portugal distributed accordingly to 2001 Census. Health literacy was evaluated by the Portuguese version of NVS, a tool by which a number of health-related information, in this case nutritional information written in a food label, is used to demonstrate one’s ability to use it to answer to questions. Data analysis was performed in SPSS®, version 19. Results Study results show that there is a close relationship between health literacy and general literacy. It is also clear that health literacy level is low for the majority of the participants and that this factor is relevant in new foods consumption, by positively affecting neophilia. Older individuals, with lower school years attendance and health literacy, are the main consumers with neophobic behavior. Higher health literacy is also directly associated with consumers concerns on how the product was manufactured and on environmental characteristics. There is no statistical association between gender and health literacy, but it is of relevance the fact that an association between health literacy and food neophilia is statistically significant. Conclusion Considering that new food products may improve health

The effects of an educational program on depression literacy and stigma among students of secondary schools in Jazan city, 2016: A cluster-randomized controlled trial study protocol.

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Darraj, Hussain; Mahfouz, Mohamed Salih; Al Sanosi, Rashad; Badedi, Mohammed; Sabai, Abdullah

2018-05-01

Depression is a serious mental health disorder and characterized by sadness, loss of interest in activities, and decreased energy. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the school intervention program on depression literacy and stigma among students of secondary schools. A cluster randomized trial will be conducted on sample of 360 students to assess the depression literacy and stigma towards depression before and after a designed intervention educational program. The intervention consists of a package of 2 lectures, 1 video contact, and group discussion of 5 myths about depression, posters, and brochure. The target population consists of all secondary school students in Jazan, where there are 13 secondary schools will be stratified according to sex (6 schools for boys and 7 schools for girls). The results of the study will provide evidence of the efficacy of educational intervention programs on increasing depression literacy among students of secondary schools in Jazan City. The expected outcome of this study is to increase the depression literacy rate among high school students in the intervention group.

Take II--Information Literacy: Revolution in Education.

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Breivik, Patricia Senn

1999-01-01

Discussion of information literacy focuses on resource-based learning. Considers library instruction versus information literacy; documenting value added; the workforce and information literacy; user-friendly library systems; and educational reform. Information literacy standards, endorsed by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL)…

Health literacy and participation in sports club activities among adolescents.

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Paakkari, Leena; Kokko, Sami; Villberg, Jari; Paakkari, Olli; Tynjälä, Jorma

2017-12-01

The aim of this research was to compare the levels of perceived health literacy among adolescents who do or do not participate in sports club activities. Organized sport club activities reach a high proportion of adolescents, and have the potential to contribute to the development of their health literacy. The cross-sectional data on health literacy among school children in Finland (aged 13 and 15, n=3852) were measured, as a part of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study, using the Health Literacy for School-aged Children (HLSAC) instrument. Sports club participation and its association with health literacy were examined in relation to age, gender, family affluence, school achievement, and physical activity. The statistical analyses included cross-tabulation and the multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analyses. Perceived health literacy was higher among adolescents who participated in sports club activities. This conclusion was valid for boys and girls, for both age groups, among those who were physically active 6-7 days a week, had at least moderate school achievement, and those who belonged to the middle or high affluence families. From the health literacy perspective, participation in sports club activities was especially beneficial for those having low or moderate school achievement level. The sports club setting may work towards equalizing health literacy differences related to school achievement. However, the clubs should ensure that access is available to as many adolescents as possible; by this means they may spread beneficial influences, supporting the development of health literacy among broader population groups.

Fostering Environmental Literacy For A Changing Earth: Interactive and Participatory Outreach Programs at Biosphere 2

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Pavao-Zuckerman, M.; Huxman, T.; Morehouse, B.

2008-12-01

Earth system and ecological sustainability problems are complex outcomes of biological, physical, social, and economic interactions. A common goal of outreach and education programs is to foster a scientifically literate community that possesses the knowledge to contribute to environmental policies and decision making. Uncertainty and variability that is both inherent in Earth system and ecological sciences can confound such goals of improved ecological literacy. Public programs provide an opportunity to engage lay-persons in the scientific method, allowing them to experience science in action and confront these uncertainties face-on. We begin with a definition of scientific literacy that expands its conceptualization of science beyond just a collection of facts and concepts to one that views science as a process to aid understanding of natural phenomena. A process-based scientific literacy allows the public, teachers, and students to assimilate new information, evaluate climate research, and to ultimately make decisions that are informed by science. The Biosphere 2 facility (B2) is uniquely suited for such outreach programs because it allows linking Earth system and ecological science research activities in a large scale controlled environment setting with outreach and education opportunities. A primary outreach goal is to demonstrate science in action to an audience that ranges from K-12 groups to retired citizens. Here we discuss approaches to outreach programs that focus on soil-water-atmosphere-plant interactions and their roles in the impacts and causes of global environmental change. We describe a suite of programs designed to vary the amount of participation a visitor has with the science process (from passive learning to data collection to helping design experiments) to test the hypothesis that active learning fosters increased scientific literacy and the creation of science advocates. We argue that a revised framing of the scientific method with a more

Fostering Ecological Literacy: A Case Study of the Saint John Harbour in Two High School English Language Arts Classrooms

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Douglas, Velta

Integrating environmental education into curriculum in a way that tackles the holistic and complicated nature of multi-dimensional issues continues to be a challenge for educators and administrators. There is potential in using ecological literacy to introduce local environmental case studies into English Language Arts high school classrooms. This research examines the experiences of two ELA classrooms in one Saint John, NB, high school with a two-week unit based on stakeholder relationships within the Saint John Harbour. Through presentations by guest speakers and research sourced from local community groups, students learned about the highly complex environmental issues that inform management decisions for the Harbour. Using these materials as background, students participated in a mock stakeholders meeting. Case study methodology was used to explore student learning in both a higher-level and a lower-level grade 10 ELA class. Data for the analysis included: cognitive mapping exercises; oral and written classroom assignments and activities; a videotape of the mock stakeholder meetings; a focus group interview with selected students; and researcher field notes. Data demonstrated significant student learning about environmental issues including increased sophistication in describing links between and among environmental issues affecting the harbour, and much more complex understandings of the positions and roles of the various stakeholder groups. Some important areas of resistance to new learning were also evident. Implications for practice and policy and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Literacy in the Welcoming Classroom: Creating Family-School Partnerships that Support Student Learning (Kindergarten through Grade 5). Language & Literacy Series (Practitioner's Bookshelf)

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Allen, JoBeth

2010-01-01

Nearly every reform effort espouses the importance of "parent involvement." This research-based guide is essential reading for teachers and administrators who want to make welcoming classrooms a reality. With a focus on literacy instruction, it showcases stories of "what works" when teachers in elementary school classrooms throughout the country…

Level of health literacy and factors associated with it among school teachers in an education zone in Colombo, Sri Lanka

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H. M. B. H. Denuwara

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Health literacy refers to people's competencies to access, understand, judge and apply health information in healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion. This study aimed to describe the level of health literacy and the factors associated with it among school teachers in an Education Zone in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Methods A cross-sectional study among 520 teachers measured health literacy using the selfadministered, culturally adapted Sinhalese translation of Health Literacy Survey-European Union (HLS-EU. Health literacy assessment was based on self-reported competencies to access, understand, judge and apply health information in the domains of disease prevention, healthcare and health promotion. Based on a score, respondents were divided into four levels of health literacy as 'inadequate', 'problematic', 'sufficient' and 'excellent' as well as into two levels as 'limited' and 'adequate'. Factors associated with 'limited' health literacy was determined by using univariate analysis and assessing their associations using chi square test. Multivariate analysis was also done using multiple logistic regression to determine factors associated with limited health literacy controlled for confounding effects. A p value of 0.05 determined the significance. Results The response rate was 96.5%. Mean age was 43years (SD = +9.75, 81.7% (n = 410 were females and 66.1% (n = 332 were graduates. Only 3.6% (n = 18 taught the subject health while 18.3% (n = 92 taught science. 'Limited' health literacy was found in 32.5% (95% CI 28.4%–36.6% while 67.5% (95% CI 63.4%–71.6%, 61.2% (95% CI 56.9%-65.5% and 6.4% (95% CI 4.3%–8.5% showed 'adequate', 'sufficient' and 'excellent' levels, respectively. 'Problematic' and 'inadequate' health literacy were 31.5% (95% CI 27.4%-35.6% and 1% (95% CI 0.1%–1.9%. Univariate analysis showed not being a member of health club/welfare group (p = 0.002, having not done any special course on health (p = 0

Level of health literacy and factors associated with it among school teachers in an education zone in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

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Denuwara, H M B H; Gunawardena, Nalika Sepali

2017-07-06

Health literacy refers to people's competencies to access, understand, judge and apply health information in healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion. This study aimed to describe the level of health literacy and the factors associated with it among school teachers in an Education Zone in Colombo, Sri Lanka. A cross-sectional study among 520 teachers measured health literacy using the selfadministered, culturally adapted Sinhalese translation of Health Literacy Survey-European Union (HLS-EU). Health literacy assessment was based on self-reported competencies to access, understand, judge and apply health information in the domains of disease prevention, healthcare and health promotion. Based on a score, respondents were divided into four levels of health literacy as 'inadequate', 'problematic', 'sufficient' and 'excellent' as well as into two levels as 'limited' and 'adequate'. Factors associated with 'limited' health literacy was determined by using univariate analysis and assessing their associations using chi square test. Multivariate analysis was also done using multiple logistic regression to determine factors associated with limited health literacy controlled for confounding effects. A p value of 0.05 determined the significance. The response rate was 96.5%. Mean age was 43years (SD = +9.75), 81.7% (n = 410) were females and 66.1% (n = 332) were graduates. Only 3.6% (n = 18) taught the subject health while 18.3% (n = 92) taught science. 'Limited' health literacy was found in 32.5% (95% CI 28.4%-36.6%) while 67.5% (95% CI 63.4%-71.6%), 61.2% (95% CI 56.9%-65.5%) and 6.4% (95% CI 4.3%-8.5%) showed 'adequate', 'sufficient' and 'excellent' levels, respectively. 'Problematic' and 'inadequate' health literacy were 31.5% (95% CI 27.4%-35.6%) and 1% (95% CI 0.1%-1.9%). Univariate analysis showed not being a member of health club/welfare group (p = 0.002), having not done any special course on health (p = 0.009), not getting an opportunity to participate

An Instrument to Determine the Technological Literacy Levels of Upper Secondary School Students

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Luckay, Melanie B.; Collier-Reed, Brandon I.

2014-01-01

In this article, an instrument for assessing upper secondary school students' levels of technological literacy is presented. The items making up the instrument emerged from a previous study that employed a phenomenographic research approach to explore students' conceptions of technology in terms of their understanding of the "nature…

Promoting Mental Health Literacy among Educators: Critical in School-Based Prevention and Intervention

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Whitley, Jessica; Smith, J. David; Vaillancourt, Tracy

2013-01-01

Teachers and other school staff play key roles as partners in the prevention, identification, and intervention of mental health difficulties among children and youth. However, it is essential that teachers are equipped with sufficient mental health literacy to engender effective practices in these areas. This article reviews the literature related…

Literacy in a 'Broad and Balanced' Primary School Curriculum: The Potential of a Disciplinary Approach in Irish Classrooms

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Burke, Patrick; Welsch, Jodi G.

2018-01-01

The prominence afforded to literacy in the Irish Primary School Curriculum has received considerable attention in recent years, spurred by Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings, governmental priorities, public commentary and academic debate. At times, this discourse has presented literacy as a separate and distinct entity…

Literacy Coaching: Middle School Academic Achievement and Teacher Perceptions Regarding Content Area Literacy Strategy Instruction

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Edwards, Anjell H.; Neill, Patricia; Faust, Phyllis B.

2015-01-01

This study examined differences in perceptions of content area teachers receiving literacy coaching and teachers receiving no literacy coaching regarding implementation of literacy instruction. It also examined student achievement on standardized tests relative to literacy coaching. A survey measured teachers' perceptions regarding their…

SOME ASPECTS OF TEACHING MEDIA LITERACY TO PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN IN SLOVENIA FROM A PERCEPTION STANDPOINT OF TEACHERS AND PARENTS

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Jurka Lepičnik Vodopivec

2011-11-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with media literacy as a multidimensional skill that parents and teachers possess. In this context we warn of the media-technical aspect of this skill and, within this aspect, of parents’ and teachers’ opinion on the presence of media in children’s lives. Following that, the paper explores teachers’ media-didactic competence as a component of educators’ media literacy. In the empiric part we used two aspects of fostering media literacy. One is the media-technical competence of parents and educators, while the other is the media-didactic competence of educators. We found that both parents and teachers believe that media have a strong presence in everyday lives of pre-school children and that they play an important role in teaching pre-school children. Teachers are aware of the importance of early teaching with media, for media and about media with the purpose of developing children’s media literacy, so they will not be afraid of media when they grow up.

LEARN-TEACH: a pilot to boost Ocean Literacy in High Schools

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Grigorov, Ivo; Payne, Diana; Vogt, Bynna; Knappe, Charlotte; Riedel, Werner

2017-04-01

Raising the Ocean Literacy of all levels of society is now a policy priority for the European Commission. The long-term objective is better appreciation of the socio-economic benefits and ecosystem services that the marine environment provides, and encourage better stewardship of the seas. One long-term, and potentially self-sustainable, concept is to put sufficient mutual incentives in place so that researchers, teachers and students in high-schools science and mathematics classes accessorize school curricula with the latest marine research results and knowledge. Summary of preliminary teachers consultations at Copenhagen International School suggest that teachers are prepared and willing to include recent marine research, research data and knowledge in high school science classes and carry over the research data to mathematics/statistics classes and exercises. However the active participation of researchers is sought to provide guidance and translation of latest research findings, and point to real data sources. LEARN-TEACH Pilot`s main objective is to test a long-term scalable and locally applicable solution for engaging young people in marine environment issues and challenges. LEARN-TEACH sustainability of concept relies on mutual training and clear mutual incentives. For the teachers, it allows an opportunity to understand and inject recent research in the school curriculum in order to "increase the level of knowledge among the population of the marine environment". For the researchers, LEARN-TEACH is tailored as a tool for outreach and dissmination, as well as exposing young marine researchers to the challenges of translating and communicating research to non-academic audiences, and potentially an alternative career. The presentation will demonstrate how LEARN-TEACH can be embedded in every research grant in any EU region, and how it can add a competitive edge at research grant proposal evaluation. The content is based on the "Blue Schools" initiative of

Boys' Literacy Development: Navigating the Intersection of Popular Culture, New Literacies, and High-Stakes Assessments

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Yeung, Daniel; Curwood, Jen Scott

2015-01-01

Prior scholarship suggests that many boys are disengaged from school-based literacy because they do not see its value or significance in their lives. In response, this study investigates the role of popular culture and new literacies in motivating adolescent boys within secondary English. Drawing on sociocultural approaches to literacy research,…

Functional literacy of Young Guyanese Adults

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Jennings, Zellyne

2000-05-01

Functional literacy is interpreted as the ability of the individual to apply skills in reading, writing, calculation and basic problem-solving in those activities in which literacy is required for effective functioning in his/her own group and community. The paper describes the rationale, development and administration of the test used for measuring levels (high, moderate, low) of achievement in functional literacy in three domains (document, prose and quantitative). An assumption of the study was that a high level of functional literacy was required for the individual to function effectively in his/her own group and community. The context of the study is Guyana the most underdeveloped and impoverished country in the English-speaking Caribbean. The subjects are out of school youth in Guyana aged 14-25. Amongst the main findings are: only approximately 11% of the young people show a high level of functional literacy; females tend to have a higher level of functional literacy than males: and most of those at the low level never went beyond primary and low status secondary schools and usually end up unemployed or in semi- or unskilled jobs. Attention is drawn to the difficulty of attracting funding for literacy programmes from international aid agencies, given the inflated adult literacy rate which is reported for Guyana in international statistics. While they credit Guyana with an adult literacy rate of 97.5%, the study suggests that a more realistic figure is in the 70s. The importance of adult and continuing education is underscored in view of the need to help those who are out of school to meet the ever-changing demands of society for improved skills in literacy and numeracy.

Comparing Health Literacy in High School Female Students and Their Mothers Regarding Women’s Health

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Marzieh Saeedi Koupai

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Methods: the present study is descriptive-analytical with comparative type and the statistical population included 200 secondary female school students and their mothers who were randomly selected. The tool to collect data was a two-part researcher-made questionnaire the first part whereof involved demographic information and the second part includes 41 questions of health literacy about women’s health in 5 aspects of menstruation hygiene, nutrition, breast self-examination, body activity, iron deficiency anemia. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire were confirmed and the data were analyzed via SPSS22 software. Results: there was not observed any significant difference in three aspects of menstruation hygiene, nutrition and breast self-examination between mean scores of two female groups and their mothers according to Mann-Whitney instability test (p>0.05; however, there was a significant difference in the aspects of body activities and iron deficiency anomia (p<0.05. Conclusion: taking the results of the study, high school female students under study and their mothers have average healthy literacy level regarding women’s health. Therefore, considering the fact that the girls receive greatest education in the field of women’s hygiene from their mothers in the adolescence, the necessity of diagnosing limiters of health literacy in the society and specific attention to the mothers’ teaching and including curriculum of health literacy for female students are advised to promote health. Paper Type: Research Article.

Promoting School Success: Developing Social Skills and Early Literacy in Head Start Classrooms

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Gunn, Barbara; Feil, Ed; Seeley, John; Severson, Herb; Walker, Hill M.

2006-01-01

This article reports the results of a pilot intervention to improve the social skills and literacy preparation of behaviorally at-risk Head Start children. Teachers in eight Head Start classrooms in two Oregon communities participated during the 2002-03 school year. Children in eight classrooms were screened and identified for participation using…

Emergent Literacy and Reading Acquisition: A Longitudinal Study from Kindergarten to Primary School

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Pinto, Giuliana; Bigozzi, Lucia; Vezzani, Claudio; Tarchi, Christian

2017-01-01

This study explores the predictivity of an emergent literacy model on the acquisition of reading in primary school in a language with a transparent writing system. As writing systems have different levels of transparency, results cannot be easily transferred between languages. In this study, we explored the predictivity of phonological awareness,…

Evolving Digital Divides in Information Literacy and Learning Outcomes: A BYOD Journey in a Scondary School

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Adhikari, Janak; Scogings, Chris; Mathrani, Anuradha; Sofat, Indu

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to seek answers to questions on how equity of information literacy and learning outcomes have evolved with the ongoing advances in technologies in teaching and learning across schools. The authors' report on a five-year long bring your own device (BYOD) journey of one school, which was one of the earliest…

Initiation to scientific literacy in early years of elementary school: contributions of a didactic sequence

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Juliana Pinto Viecheneski

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This article presents the results of a research professional, which was developed in the context of the early years of elementary school, from the application of a didactic sequence, with a view to initiation of scientific literacy of students in the literacy process of language. The methodological approach was qualitative, interpretative nature. The subjects were the students of 1st year 1st Cycle of Basic Education in a public school in Ponta Grossa - PR. The data were collected through observation, application of diagnostic testing, audio recordings, photographs, written records, illustrations and posttest. The theory History Cultural Development made the analysis of pedagogical actions and reflections on them. The main results indicate that the activities of the instructional sequence, contributed to the progressive advancement of the students' knowledge in relation to the area of science and basic scientific literacy, and also contributed to make learning the language more contextualized and interdisciplinary. It is noted that this work requires a teacher to assume the role of mediator between the scientific and the children, as well as requires the understanding that, as the subject entered the technological means, students in the early years have a right to access scientific culture. In this perspective, respecting the level of development of the children, the teacher can provide challenges and mediations necessary for the gradual construction of scientific knowledge, the first years of elementary school.

Suitability of asthma education materials for school-age children: Implications for health literacy.

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Tzeng, Yu-Fen; Gau, Bih-Shya

2018-03-01

To investigate the suitability of asthma education materials for school-age children with asthma and elucidate how these children used their health-literacy abilities to identify whether the materials can be accepted, comprehended and applied. Effective asthma self-management education is influenced by the suitability of materials and an individual's health literacy. A mixed-method research design was developed using quantitative and qualitative surveys. The suitability of the materials was assessed on the basis of the Chinese version of the Suitability Assessment of Materials by five experts. In addition, five school-age children (age: 8-12 years) were recruited and interviewed. In total, 25 pieces of asthma education material for children were collected. On the basis of their type, the materials were categorised as nine brochures, 11 leaflets and five videos. Of the 25 materials, 17 were rated as superior materials, whereas eight were rated as adequate materials. The suitability scores of the video-based materials were significantly higher than those of the brochures and leaflets (p = .006). One print material was considered to have a reading level suitable for fifth-grade or younger children, whereas the remaining materials were considered suitable for sixth-grade or older children. The following six health-literacy domains were identified: recognising asthma through body knowledge, posing reflective questions, identifying self-care difficulties, receiving adult guidance, learning with enjoyment and addressing learning requirements. The video-based materials had integrated content and were appealing to children. Cartoon animations, interactive computer games, and skill demonstrations may enhance learning stimulation and motivation and increase learning effects in children. The present results may help healthcare providers to understand children's capacities to manage their disease, effectively address children's requirements and function as a key resource for

Understanding of Information about Medicines Use among Parents of Pre-School Children in Serbia: Parental Pharmacotherapy Literacy Questionnaire (PTHL-SR).

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Ubavić, Stana; Bogavac-Stanojević, Nataša; Jović-Vraneš, Aleksandra; Krajnović, Dušanka

2018-05-14

Parental health literacy plays an important role in children’s health, Experiences from pharmacy practice show that is necessary to check if parents understand instructions about use of medicines for children. This study aimed to assess pharmacotherapy literacy of parents of pre-school children and to examine association of parental pharmacotherapy literacy level with parent’s socio-demographic characteristics. The study was cross-sectional, conducted among parents of pre-school children (1⁻7 years of age), in kindergartens in several municipalities of Belgrade, Serbia, during regular parents meetings, from May to October 2016. Functional health literacy was measured by the Serbian version of the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA). Parental pharmacotherapy literacy was assessed with newly constructed PTHL-SR questionnaire with good psychometric characteristics (Parental pharmacotherapy literacy questionnaire—Serbian). Overall, 813 parents participated in the study, mostly females (81.30%), between 30 to 40 years of age (70.85%) with two children (56.70%). Almost all of our study participants (99%) had adequate health literacy as assessed by S-TOFHLA. Mean score on PTHL-SR was 72.83% (standard deviation was 13.37), with better results among females than males (72% of women were in the group of highest PTHL-SR results). Our study showed that many parents (76.5%) knew the appropriate usage of non-prescription medicine for children, 57.2% parents were able to correctly calculate the dose of oral syrup for a child, and only 43.3% were able to interpret non-prescription dosage information written on the package. The majority of parents (61.3%) would make a dosage to child based on age and not on their weight. Every fifth parent with adequate functional health literacy measured by S-TOFHLA test, achieved the lowest results measured by PTHL-SR. Higher performance of the PTHL-SR was significantly correlated with education ( p information

Emergent literacy activities, instructional adaptations and school absence of children with cerebral palsy in special education.

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Peeters, Marieke; de Moor, Jan; Verhoeven, Ludo

2011-01-01

The goal of the present study was to get an overview of the emergent literacy activities, instructional adaptations and school absence of children with cerebral palsy (CP) compared to normally developing peers. The results showed that there were differences between the groups regarding the amount of emergent literacy instruction. While time dedicated to storybook reading and independent picture-book reading was comparable, the children with CP received fewer opportunities to work with educational software and more time was dedicated to rhyming games and singing. For the children with CP, the level of speech, intellectual, and physical impairments were all related to the amount of time in emergent literacy instruction. Additionally, the amount of time reading precursors is trained and the number of specific reading precursors that is trained is all related to skills of emergent literacy. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preschool literacy and second language learners

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Lars

in the literacy events they meet in their day-care centers and kindergartens? Examining these social practices in pre-schools might illuminate the interplay between language and literacy and the learning processes of second language learners and contribute to the discussion about the need for re...... intending to enhance children´s language and literacy learning. The poor results of the PISA-measurement have in Denmark, Norway and Sweden drawn much attention to literacy and language in day-care centers and kindergartens and resulted in the development of a considerable number of social technologies...... (programs and concepts) intended to improve pre-school children’s literacy and language skills. Seen in a knowledge-society perspective the development might be characterized as an expansion of a life-long-learning evidence-based strategy into early childhood. The importance of development of early...

Hymns, Prayers and Bible Stories: The Role of Religious Literacy Practices in Children's Literacy Learning

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Papen, Uta

2018-01-01

This paper examines the role of religious literacy practices such as hymns, prayers and Bible stories in the context of literacy teaching in primary schools in England. Drawing on data collected through a classroom ethnography of a year 1 class (five and six-year-olds) conducted in a Catholic primary school in 2013 and 2014, I suggest that…

Literacy Benefits for Latina/o Parents Engaged in a Spanish Literacy Project

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Larrotta, Clarena; Ramirez, Ysabel

2009-01-01

This qualitative study reports on a Latina/o parent literacy project teaching literacy lessons in Spanish to Latina mothers and their children enrolled at a public elementary school. The participating mothers study and practice reading strategies to later put them into practice with their children. Data sources include: Parents' reflective…

Country, School and Students Factors Associated with Extreme Levels of Science Literacy Across 25 Countries

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Alivernini, F.; Manganelli, S.

2015-08-01

A huge gap in science literacy is between students who do not show the competencies that are necessary to participate effectively in life situations related to science and technology and students who have the skills which would give them the potential to create new technology. The objective of this paper is to identify, for 25 countries, distinct subgroups of students with characteristics that appear to be associated with this proficiency gap. Data were based on the answers of 46,131 PISA 2006 students with scores classified below level 2 or above level 4, as well as the answers of their principals to school questionnaire and the OECD indicators of the financial and human resources invested in education at the national level for secondary school. The dependent variable of the analysis was a dichotomous variable the values of which represent the two different groups of students. The independent variables were the OECD indicators, and the items and indices derived from the student and school questionnaires. The analysis was based on classification trees and the findings were replicated and extended by the means of a multilevel logistic regression model. The results show that very specific levels of teachers' salaries, parental pressure on schools, school size, awareness of environmental issues, science self-efficacy and socio-economic status have a very important role in predicting whether 15 year olds in OECD countries will belong to the lower or the highest proficiency groups as regards their aptitude in the context of life situations involving problems of a scientific nature.

Adolescent Literacy Programs: Costs of Implementation. Final Report from Carnegie Corporation of New York's Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy

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Levin, Henry M.; Catlin, Doran; Elson, Alex

2010-01-01

Many educators and researchers have proposed reforms for dealing with the ongoing adolescent literacy crisis. Progress in strengthening young people's literacy now depends on schools a) choosing appropriate programs and b) implementing them consistently and effectively. Yet the history of school reform is littered with reforms that were adopted…

The Continuum of Literacy in American Indian Communities.

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Zepeda, Ofelia

1995-01-01

Describes the O'odham language and oral tradition of the Tohono O'odham Indians of southern Arizona, relating it to the development of O'odham children's English literacy. Oral tradition and school literacy constitute opposite ends of a literacy continuum, in which English literacy is often isolated from and in conflict with O'odham literacy. (10…

Using Health Literacy in School to Overcome Inequalities

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Flecha, Ainhoa; Garcia, Rocio; Rudd, Rima

2011-01-01

Health literacy has firmly established the links between literacy skills and health outcomes and is subsequently considered a key strategy for improving the health of disadvantaged populations and addressing social inequality. However, current research findings for improving health literacy have primarily focused on adults and actions within…

Stability of Language and Literacy Profiles of Children With Language Impairment in the Public Schools.

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Tambyraja, Sherine R; Schmitt, Mary Beth; Farquharson, Kelly; Justice, Laura M

2015-08-01

The present study focused on the identification and stability of language and literacy profiles of primary school children receiving school-based language therapy over the course of one academic year. Participants included 272 early elementary school-age children (144 boys, 128 girls) who had been clinically identified as having a language impairment. A latent profile analysis was used to identify distinct profiles on the basis of a battery of language and literacy assessments in the fall and spring of the academic year. Four profiles were identified in both fall and spring that could be best described as representing high, average, and low overall abilities. Two average groups were identified that differentiated according to phonological awareness abilities. Children's profile membership was variable from fall to spring with nearly 60% of children shifting into a higher profile. The results of t tests comparing children who shifted into higher profiles from those who remained stable in profile membership revealed group differences regarding language severity, socio-economic status, and proportion of therapy sessions received in the classroom. These results provide further evidence regarding the heterogeneity of children with language impairment served in the public schools, indicating that differences may be best conceptualized along a continuum of severity.

Information Literacy, Learning, and the Public Library: A Study of Danish High School Students

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Nielsen, Bo Gerner; Borlund, Pia

2011-01-01

The paper reports on a study of 12 Danish high school students' perceptions of public libraries' role in learning, user education, information literacy, and librarians' information competencies. The study is undertaken by use of literature review and interviews with a purposive select sample of public library users in Denmark. The study…

Do you Mini-Med School? Leveraging library resources to improve Internet consumer health information literacy.

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Van Moorsel, G

2001-01-01

Popular for engaging public interest in medical science while promoting health awareness, Mini-Med School (MMS) programs also afford important if largely unrealized opportunities to improve the health information literacy of attendees. With a growing population using the Internet to make health decisions, needed venues for improving Internet Consumer Health Information (CHI) literacy may be found in the MMS platform. Surveyed directors of MMS programs understand the need to include CHI, and successful programs at SUNY Stony Brook and elsewhere demonstrate the potential for collaboration with affiliated health sciences libraries to integrate CHI instruction into MMS curricula.

Final Evaluation of Assignment: Media Literacy. A Report to the Discovery Channel.

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Kubey, Robert; Serafin, Gina Marcello

The Assignment: Media Literacy curriculum is a 6-module media literacy curriculum developed by Renee Hobbs of Babson College and her staff in collaboration with the Discovery Channel. There are three versions of Assignment: Media Literacy, one for elementary school students, one for middle school students, and one for high school students. Close…

A Case Study On Media Literacy Levels Of Secondary Students Who Attend Media Literacy Course

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Erhan GÖRMEZ

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to determine the media literacy levels of secondary school students who attend media literacy courses. In this qualitative study, interview method was used to gather required data. In this qualitative study, interview method was used to gather required data. The interviews were conducted with 10 secondary school students of grade 8 attending media literacy courses by using semi-structured interview forms developed by the researcher. The questions used in semi-structured interview forms were prepared considering the outcomes of Media Literacy program related to units in Media Literacy Lesson Teacher Guide Book such as What is Communication?, Mass Communication, Media, Television, Newspaper and the Internet. The data gathered through the student's interviews were analyzed by applying content analysis method. Having evaluated the research results, it was concluded that the students who attend Media Literacy courses have a bit data and skills as knowing what communication is, using media and knowing its functions, telling the difference between TV program sorts in terms of their functions, knowing smart signs and explanations and obeying them, knowing basic concepts about newspaper and knowing and applying basic concepts concerning internet usage.

The Construction of Mathematical Literacy Problems for Geometry

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Malasari, P. N.; Herman, T.; Jupri, A.

2017-09-01

The students of junior high school should have mathematical literacy ability to formulate, apply, and interpret mathematics in problem solving of daily life. Teaching these students are not enough by giving them ordinary mathematics problems. Teaching activities for these students brings consequence for teacher to construct mathematical literacy problems. Therefore, the aim of this study is to construct mathematical literacy problems to assess mathematical literacy ability. The steps of this study that consists of analysing, designing, theoretical validation, revising, limited testing to students, and evaluating. The data was collected with written test to 38 students of grade IX at one of state junior high school. Mathematical literacy problems consist of three essays with three indicators and three levels at polyhedron subject. The Indicators are formulating and employing mathematics. The results show that: (1) mathematical literacy problems which are constructed have been valid and practical, (2) mathematical literacy problems have good distinguishing characteristics and adequate distinguishing characteristics, (3) difficulty levels of problems are easy and moderate. The final conclusion is mathematical literacy problems which are constructed can be used to assess mathematical literacy ability.

“Alms of the Sea” at Teleng Ria Beach Pacitan: Alternative Literacy Ethnoscience for Junior High School

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Novitasari, Linda; Astya Agustina, Puput; Sukesti, Ria; Faizal Nazri, Muhammad; Handhika, Jeffry

2017-11-01

The purpose of this research is to explore the potential of ethnoscience and the value of local wisdom contained in the tradition of “sea alms” in Teleng Ria Pacitan Beach, to profile as a science literacy in junior high school. The qualitative descriptive method used, where the researcher conducts the study on group culture under natural conditions through observation, interview, and documentation. The profile obtained in a booklet and socialized in students of Junior High School (SMPN 3 Tegalombo and SMPN 1 Pacitan). From this activity obtained information that the ability of students in interpreting ethnoscience in the tradition of “alms sea” in scientific science knowledge increases. It can conclude that the ethnoscience profile and the value of local wisdom can be used as an alternative science literacy in junior high school and has the potential to be used as a reference provider of data related traditions “Sea alms” and its integration with scientific knowledge.

Promoting Learning in Libraries through Information Literacy.

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Breivik, Patricia Senn; Ford, Barbara J.

1993-01-01

Discusses information literacy and describes activities under the sponsorship of the National Forum on Information Literacy (NFIL) that promotes information literacy in schools and libraries. Activities of member organizations of the NFIL are described, including policy formation, publications, and programs; and the role of the American Library…

Impetus and barriers to teaching ocean literacy: A perspective from landlocked middle school science teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Gillan, Amy Larrison

The demand for a more ocean literate citizenry is growing rapidly in response to an ocean increasingly in peril. Discovering how to include students far removed from the ocean in our teaching about the ocean is imperative to meeting that charge. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the extent to which middle school science teachers in landlocked states addressed important ocean literacy concepts and what they perceived to be barriers and motivators to their doing so. This descriptive study was based on a nation-wide survey of middle school science teachers and content analyses of their most commonly used science textbooks and their state science standards. Data was analyzed quantitatively. Results indicated that landlocked and coastal teachers are similar in terms of their infrequency of teaching about the ocean, yet a number of their perceptions of barriers and motivators to do so vary. The barrier most often mentioned was middle school state science standards, which characteristically ignore the ocean sciences. The results are discussed in terms of their impact on ocean literacy professional development providers, science textbook publishers, and state science standards revision committees.

Family Literacy Night: A Celebration of Reading!

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Becky; Morton, Shirley; Rumschlag, Hella

2011-01-01

Family Literacy Night is an exciting way to engage students and their parents in meaningful literacy activities while building community spirit and strengthening the partnership between school and home. It is an opportunity for students to show their parents what they do in school; how they create in the computer lab, how they work in the art…

Understanding game-based literacy practices in a school context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bremholm, Jesper; Brok, Lene Storgaard

methodology, and the interventions will be carried out at 20 schools in Denmark and will consist of 4 specially designed game-based units in each of the subjects Danish (as L1), mathematics, and science in both 5th and 7th grade. Games include digital as well as analogue games, and we understand game...... in the 21st Century (GBL21), a five years large-scale intervention project launched in December 2017. The overall aim is to explore how and to what degree students develop 21st century skills through a game-based pedagogy in different school subjects. The GBL21 project is based on a mixed methods......-based learning as relating to the process of designing games, exploring game worlds, and reflecting on game activities in an educational context. The purpose of the qualitative strand is to explore how the game-based learning activities influence the literacy practices in the different classrooms. This includes...

Modeling the Influences of Upper-Elementary School Students' Digital Reading Literacy, Socioeconomic Factors, and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Shin-Feng

2017-01-01

Background: Reading is an interactive and constructive process of making meaning by engaging a variety of materials and sources and by participating in reading communities at school or in daily life. Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore the factors affecting digital reading literacy among upper-elementary school students. Method: A…

The Effect of Environmental Education on the Ecological Literacy of First-Year College Students

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Bruyere, Brett L.

2008-01-01

This article assesses the viability of a value-attitude-behavior hierarchy within the context of four environmentally responsible behavior types of first-year college students. The research also studies the effect of knowledge on attitude and behavior, and discusses the implications of the results for understanding the ecological literacy of…

Invest in Financial Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Bush, Sarah B.; McGatha, Maggie B.; Bay-Williams, Jennifer M.

2012-01-01

The current state of the economy elevates the need to build awareness of financial markets and personal finance among the nation's young people through implementing a financial literacy curriculum in schools. A limited amount of time spent on financial literacy can have a positive effect on students' budgeting skills. This knowledge will only add…

Development of school energy policy and energy education plans: A comparative case study in three Wisconsin school communities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lane, Jennie F.; Floress, Kristin; Rickert, Melissa

2014-01-01

Through a qualitative comparative case study, this investigation examined the process by which three school districts in Wisconsin, U.S.A., developed a school energy policy and complementary energy education plan. To guide the process, the researchers created an outline of recommended steps for the districts to follow. Although there were variations in the sequence and perceived ease of the steps, the Energy Task Force members involved in the process found the outline to be a supportive guide. Further analysis of the cases involved interviewing members of the Energy Task Forces to identify facilitating and obstructing factors. The study concluded that factors such as level of environmental literacy, along with aspects of the school culture and leadership, interacted to influence the successful drafting of school energy policies and education plans. In addition to introducing an outline of recommended steps that can be used by other school policy development teams interested in promoting energy efficiency, this study adds insights into the analysis of energy policy work within the context of a school setting. - Highlights: • School energy policy and complementary energy education plans can be successfully developed with guidelines for policy team membership. • Teacher agency, including environmental literacy, helps overcome barriers in developing school policy and energy education plans. • Administrative support of energy conservation is a key to the development of school energy policies and complementary energy education plans

On the relationship between dynamic visual and auditory processing and literacy skills; results from a large primary-school study.

Science.gov (United States)

Talcott, Joel B; Witton, Caroline; Hebb, Gillian S; Stoodley, Catherine J; Westwood, Elizabeth A; France, Susan J; Hansen, Peter C; Stein, John F

2002-01-01

Three hundred and fifty randomly selected primary school children completed a psychometric and psychophysical test battery to ascertain relationships between reading ability and sensitivity to dynamic visual and auditory stimuli. The first analysis examined whether sensitivity to visual coherent motion and auditory frequency resolution differed between groups of children with different literacy and cognitive skills. For both tasks, a main effect of literacy group was found in the absence of a main effect for intelligence or an interaction between these factors. To assess the potential confounding effects of attention, a second analysis of the frequency discrimination data was conducted with performance on catch trials entered as a covariate. Significant effects for both the covariate and literacy skill was found, but again there was no main effect of intelligence, nor was there an interaction between intelligence and literacy skill. Regression analyses were conducted to determine the magnitude of the relationship between sensory and literacy skills in the entire sample. Both visual motion sensitivity and auditory sensitivity to frequency differences were robust predictors of children's literacy skills and their orthographic and phonological skills.

Family Literacy and Second Language Literacy Research: Focus on Language Minority Children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Özgür Yıldırım

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Problem Statement: Countries like the U. S. A. or Canada have citizens from various ethnic backgrounds. Although English is the dominant language in many parts of these countries, immigrants generally prefer speaking their native language when they are in their homes. Whatever the reason for using native language at home is, when we consider the children in these families, we can say that being exposed to different languages at home and at school may be a problem for their language development.Purpose of Study: There are many studies conducted in order to better understand the problems of language minority children. A great deal of literature on language minority students focuses on the ties between these children‟s literacy development and their literacy practices at home. In other words, these studies aim to see how the literacy events these children are exposed to at home affect their literacy learning in the second language.Methods: This paper is an attempt to put together and discuss various theoretical and empirical studies conducted on the literacy development of language minority children in English speaking countries.Findings: Literacy education of language minority students is not an easy task. It is very complicated and difficult to achieve as it requires a complete collaboration among all the responsible parties (teachers, families, researchers, education policy makers, school administrators. Conclusion and Recommendations: Successful collaboration among all the involved parties would bring successful outcomes in terms of children‟s healthy literacy development. The collaboration between teachers and families is the most vital one because these two parties are the ones that have one-to-one interaction with children.

An Implementing Strategy for Improving Wildland Fire Environmental Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

McCalla, M. R.; Andrus, D.; Barnett, K.

2007-12-01

Wildland fire is any planned or unplanned fire which occurs in wildland ecosystems. Wildland fires affect millions of acres annually in the U.S. An average of 5.4 million acres a year were burned in the U.S. between 1995 and 2004, approximately 142 percent of the average burned area between 1984 and 1994. In 2005 alone, Federal agencies spent nearly $1 billion on fire suppression and state and local agencies contributed millions more. Many Americans prefer to live and vacation in relatively remote surroundings, (i.e., woods and rangelands). These choices offer many benefits, but they also present significant risks. Most of North America is fire-prone and every day developed areas and home sites are extending further into natural wildlands, which increases the chances of catastrophic fire. In addition, an abundance of accumulated biomass in forests and rangelands and persistent drought conditions are contributing to larger, costlier wildland fires. To effectively prevent, manage, suppress, respond to, and recover from wildland fires, fire managers, and other communities which are impacted by wildland fires (e.g., the business community; healthcare providers; federal, state, and local policymakers; the media; the public, etc.) need timely, accurate, and detailed wildland fire weather and climate information to support their decision-making activities. But what are the wildland fire weather and climate data, products, and information, as well as information dissemination technologies, needed to reach out and promote wildland fire environmental literacy in these communities? The Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research (OFCM) conducted a comprehensive review and assessment of weather and climate needs of providers and users in their wildland fire and fuels management activities. The assessment has nine focus areas, one of which is environmental literacy (e.g., education, training, outreach, partnering, and collaboration

Addressing Health Literacy Challenges With a Cutting-Edge Infectious Disease Curriculum for the High School Biology Classroom.

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Jacque, Berri; Koch-Weser, Susan; Faux, Russell; Meiri, Karina

2016-02-01

This study reports the secondary analysis of evaluation data from an innovative high school biology curriculum focused on infectious disease (ID) to examine the health literacy implications of teaching claims evaluation, data interpretation, and risk assessment skills in the context of 21st-Century health science. The curriculum was implemented between 2010 and 2013 in Biology II classes held in four public high schools (three in Massachusetts and one in Ohio), plus a private school in Virginia. A quasi-experimental design was used in which student participants (n = 273) were compared to an age-matched, nonparticipant, peer group (N = 125). Participants in each school setting demonstrated increases in conceptual content knowledge (Cohen's d > 1.89) as well as in understanding how to apply scientific principles to health claims evaluation and risk assessment (Cohen's d > 1.76) and in self-efficacy toward learning about ID (Cohen's d > 2.27). Participants also displayed enhanced communication about ID within their social networks relative to the comparison group (p biology classrooms is effective at fostering both the skills and self-efficacy pertinent to health literacy learning in diverse populations. © 2015 Society for Public Health Education.

Information literacy and library information skills in high school

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Majda Steinbuch

1999-01-01

Full Text Available As information literacy has become a necessity for active involvement in the life of 21st century, it has been set as one of the aims of reformed grammar school. The schoollibrary, through its programme of library information ski1ls, can cosiderably influence students' independence at searching, working with or learning from information sources. The programme of Iibrary & information skilIs has been designed on current knowledge of the developing information literacy, implemented with the assistance of teachers and integrated into the teaching process.The pre-test, the experiment and the post-test of the experimental group (EG and the control group (CG, support the hypothesis that an implemented library information ski1ls programe has a major effect on the independence of the students. The Hest has shown that the knowledge of the students in the EG after the experiment and after practical dealing with problems has changed. The t-test has also proved that the difference in the knowledge of the students in the EG is statistically significant, whi1e the knowledge of the students in the CG, who have not carried out the programme, has also changed, but the difference in the knowledge is not statistically significant.

The Relationship between Health Literacy, Perceived Self-efficacy and Self-care Performance of Female Senior High School Students in Health Promoting Schools of Miyaneh, 2016-2017

OpenAIRE

Mahnaz Khodabandeh; Sadegh Maleki Avarasin; Leila Nikniaz

2017-01-01

Background and objective: Self-care in adolescents is considered as an effective measure in line with the promotion of health in each community. In this regard, the role of health promoting schools is of great importance. Furthermore, health literacy, as one of the basic tools for promoting community health, has been given much attention by policymakers. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between the health literacy, perceived self-efficacy and self-care performance of fe...

Information literacy training for teachers in a developing South ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Information literacy and skills in Internet searching are important for teachers. There exists a large body of literature on information literacy in schools and universities and there are many guidelines and standards on information literacy. Little has, however, been published on information literacy training for teachers per se.

Traditional Literacy and Critical Thinking

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Dando, Priscille

2016-01-01

How school librarians focus on activating critical thinking through traditional literacy development can proactively set the stage for the deep thinking that occurs in all literacy development. The critical-thinking skills students build while becoming accomplished readers and writers provide the foundation for learning in a variety of…

Scientific literacy and public education about high-level radioactive waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meyers, F.D.

1991-01-01

The citizens of the United States, and the author would tend to believe of other countries, must be sufficiently science literate to make intelligent, rational decisions regarding energy and mineral resource development policy; the social, economic and environmental impact of the policy; and, the treatment of waste products from these developments. The schools, higher education and community must, through a collaborative effort, establish programs for scientific literacy. This would include developing extensive in-service programs and the development of curriculum and materials to foster state-of-the-art centers for science, math and technology. To make a difference, to achieve scientific literacy, to assist citizens in making difficult, but extremely important, decisions about energy and nuclear waste will take determination, resources, leadership and time

Investigation on current statuses of radiation literacy of teachers and their radiation teaching in elementary and junior high schools in Kagoshima prefecture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukutoku, Yasuo

2010-01-01

From the present state of the expansion of radiation application base, it has been required to proceed with the correct radiation teaching in school education and teacher's radiation literacy will be questioned. In order to propose more effective ways of radiation teaching, the questionnaire survey on current statuses of radiation literacy of teachers and their radiation teaching in the public elementary and junior high schools in Kagoshima prefecture was carried out. The results of the questionnaire survey are summarized and the proposal is described in the present paper. (K. Kato)

Lessons learnt: Observation of Grade 4 reading comprehension teaching in South African schools across the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2006 achievement spectrum

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Lisa Zimmerman

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The evidence of the huge challenges of literacy development faced by South African learners is primarily gleaned from the results of learners’ external assessments. There is little research which explores, in-depth, the strategies used by teachers to teach reading literacy and reading comprehension specifically. Questions remain about what is going wrong and, most importantly,what can be changed to rectify the poor outcomes of learners. To gain insight into the poor achievement of Grade 4 learners, in South Africa in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2006, six case studies were undertaken. Each school case had a different class average achievement profile ranging from low to high on the PIRLS achievement scale.This article presents findings from the observation of Grade 4 reading comprehension lessons in six schools. The comparison of observations of teaching practices aligned to higher achieving schools, against those of lower performing schools, indicates the discrepancies in the quality of teaching reading comprehension across the schools, and reveals potential foci for teacher development. The value of comparative lesson observation for these purposes is highlighted.

Home Literacy Environments and Foundational Literacy Skills for Struggling and Nonstruggling Readers in Rural Early Elementary Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Tichnor-Wagner, Ariel; Garwood, Justin D.; Bratsch-Hines, Mary; Vernon-Feagans, Lynne

2016-01-01

Factors such as weak early literacy skills and living in poverty may put young students at risk for reading disabilities. While home literacy activities and access to literacy materials have been associated with positive reading outcomes for urban and suburban students, little is known about home literacy environments of rural early elementary…

A study of the development of scientific literacy in students of conservative Christian schools

Science.gov (United States)

Johns, Christopher D.

A collision of concepts often occurs within the science classrooms of Christian schools. Students are faced with the task of accommodating biblical teachings with science theories that are not only incompatible but often directly conflicting. Teachers in the Christian school must choose to what extent and how this conflicting information will be addressed. Students must manage the tension caused by this conflict and then determine their own belief systems. High-stakes achievement testing also plays a role in the curriculum and instruction of science in the Christian school as well as public schools. Science literacy, a lifelong pursuit of understanding of the physical world, can be a victim of instructional strategies aimed at promoting student success on a specific test covering a specific set of facts instead of a comprehensive plan developed for individual-specific growth. This study was designed to gain an understanding of science literacy development of the middle school student in the Christian school. This was accomplished by comparing the individual component scores of the science Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus achievement test for a 3-year period of 5 Christian schools in Indiana to the overall state averages. Armed with this information, the study, in its second phase, included interviews of the 7th-grade science teachers of the included schools. The goal of the interviews was to provide meaning and substance to the score comparisons. The purpose of the study was to understand how the students in Christian schools compared to the overall population of students in areas of science that may conflict with their Biblical beliefs. Additionally, this study was developed to understand how the science teachers in Christian schools managed the conflict that develops between the Bible and theories of science. Findings from this study showed that students in Christian schools continue to score higher than the overall population of students

Relative effect of environmental factors, information literacy, course

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Computer literacy, as an aspect of information literacy refers to effectiveness in searching for ... study, that researchers in the sciences use ICT facilities in their information .... Human Kinetics and Health Education, Creative Arts, Chemical Engineering, ... Questions were asked to obtain information on the relative effect of.

Literacy-Related Professional Development Preferences of Secondary Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Shara L.; Lee, Elizabeth A.

2014-01-01

A survey of 100 teachers in one Ontario school board examined their literacy-related professional development preferences. The majority preferred short durations of literacy-related professional development. A small number did not want any literacy-related professional development. The most preferred forms of professional development were shared…

Effects of school-based mental health literacy education for secondary school students to be delivered by school teachers: A preliminary study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ojio, Yasutaka; Yonehara, Hiromi; Taneichi, Setsuko; Yamasaki, Syudo; Ando, Shuntaro; Togo, Fumiharu; Nishida, Atsushi; Sasaki, Tsukasa

2015-09-01

Improving knowledge and beliefs about mental health (or mental health literacy [MHL]) may promote appropriate help-seeking by adolescents who are suffering from mental health problems. We developed a concise, school-staff-led MHL program and examined its effects. The participants comprised 118 grade-9 students (61 boys and 57 girls). The program consisted of two 50-min sessions, and was given by a schoolteacher. The effects of the program were evaluated before, immediately after and 3 months after the program, using a self-report questionnaire. Knowledge of mental health/illnesses and desirable behavior for help-seeking were significantly improved immediately after (post-test, P mental health problems were also significantly (P school-staff-led program may have a significant effect on the improvement of MHL in secondary school students. © 2015 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2015 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Analyzing Patterns of Community Interest at a Legacy Mining Waste Site to Assess and Inform Environmental Health Literacy Efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Ramirez-Andreotta, Monica D.; Lothrop, Nathan; Wilkinson, Sarah T.; Root, Robert A.; Artiola, Janick F.; Klimecki, Walter; Loh, Miranda

2015-01-01

Understanding a community’s concerns and informational needs is crucial to conducting and improving environmental health research and literacy initiatives. We hypothesized that analysis of community inquiries over time at a legacy mining site would be an effective method for assessing environmental health literacy efforts and determining whether community concerns were thoroughly addressed. Through a qualitative analysis, we determined community concerns at the time of being listed as a Superfund site. We analyzed how community concerns changed from this starting point over the subsequent years, and whether: 1) communication materials produced by the USEPA and other media were aligned with community concerns; and 2) these changes demonstrated a progression of the community’s understanding resulting from community involvement and engaged research efforts. We observed that when the Superfund site was first listed, community members were most concerned with USEPA management, remediation, site-specific issues, health effects, and environmental monitoring efforts related to air/dust and water. Over the next five years, community inquiries shifted significantly to include exposure assessment and reduction methods and issues unrelated to the site, particularly the local public water supply and home water treatment systems. Such documentation of community inquiries over time at contaminated sites is a novel method to assess environmental health literacy efforts and determine whether community concerns were thoroughly addressed. PMID:27595054

The development of scientific literacy assessment to measure student’s scientific literacy skills in energy theme

Science.gov (United States)

Rusilowati, A.; Nugroho, S. E.; Susilowati, E. S. M.; Mustika, T.; Harfiyani, N.; Prabowo, H. T.

2018-03-01

The research were aimed to develop and find out of validity, reliability, characteristic of scientific literacy assessment, and find out of the profile of students’ scientific literacy skills in Energy themed. The research is conducted in 7th grade of Secondary School at Demak, Central of Java Indonesia. The research design used R&D (Research and Development). The results of the research showed that the scientific literacy assessment was valid and reliable with 0.68 value in the first try out and 0.73 value in the last try out. The characteristics of the scientific literacy assessment are the difficulty index and the discrimination power. The difficulty index and distinguishing are 56.25% easy, 31.25% medium, and 12.5% very difficult with good discrimination power. The proportion of category of scientific literacy as the body of knowledge, the science as a way of investigating, science as a way of thinking, and the interaction among science, environment, technology, and society was 37.5%:25%:18.75%:18.75%. The highest to the lowest profile of students’ scientific literacy skills at Secondary School Demak was 72% in the category of science as a way of thinking and the lowest was 59% in the category of science as the body of knowledge.

Evaluation of Emotional Literacy Activities: A Phenomenological Study

Science.gov (United States)

Oksuz, Yucel

2016-01-01

The present study aims to evaluate impact of the emotional literacy activities through participant student's experiences. Emotional literacy activities, including social-emotional skills Goleman's emotional intelligence and Fapuel's emotional literacy model designed and conducted for 2 months on primary school students, who study in 4th grade. The…

A school-randomized clinical trial of an integrated social-emotional learning and literacy intervention: impacts after 1 school year.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Stephanie M; Brown, Joshua L; Hoglund, Wendy L G; Aber, J Lawrence

2010-12-01

To report experimental impacts of a universal, integrated school-based intervention in social-emotional learning and literacy development on change over 1 school year in 3rd-grade children's social-emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes. This study employed a school-randomized, experimental design and included 942 3rd-grade children (49% boys; 45.6% Hispanic/Latino, 41.1% Black/African American, 4.7% non-Hispanic White, and 8.6% other racial/ethnic groups, including Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American) in 18 New York City public elementary schools. Data on children's social-cognitive processes (e.g., hostile attribution biases), behavioral symptomatology (e.g., conduct problems), and literacy skills and academic achievement (e.g., reading achievement) were collected in the fall and spring of 1 school year. There were main effects of the 4Rs Program after 1 year on only 2 of the 13 outcomes examined. These include children's self-reports of hostile attributional biases (Cohen's d = 0.20) and depression (d = 0.24). As expected based on program and developmental theory, there were impacts of the intervention for those children identified by teachers at baseline with the highest levels of aggression (d = 0.32-0.59) on 4 other outcomes: children's self-reports of aggressive fantasies, teacher reports of academic skills, reading achievement scaled scores, and children's attendance. This report of effects of the 4Rs intervention on individual children across domains of functioning after 1 school year represents an important first step in establishing a better understanding of what is achievable by a schoolwide intervention such as the 4Rs in its earliest stages of unfolding. The first-year impacts, combined with our knowledge of sustained and expanded effects after a second year, provide evidence that this intervention may be initiating positive developmental cascades both in the general population of students and among those at highest behavioral risk. (Psyc

Literacy testing practices in transition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Lars

Literacy testing has been researched as a social practice from different perspectives (McNamara & Roewer, 2006; Shohamy, 2001). Drawing on a Faucault inspired concept og governmentality in which literacy testing practices are seen as social technologies (Dean, 1999) and as a phenomenon closely...... related to supra- and transnational agencies this paper investigates the relation between state, pedagogy and conceptualizations of literacy. Drawing on data and findings from three ethnographic oriented studies of institutional testing practices of literacy in preschool, primary school and adult second...... language teaching in Denmark (Holm, 2004; 2007; 2009) this paper reveals the construction of values, ideologies and practices around institutional testing of litaracy in education. The analyses of testing instruments and assessment practices indicate among other things that testing of literacy have become...

Literacy: a discussion of graphocentrism in microculture

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Michelle Donizeth Euzébio

2010-03-01

Full Text Available This study focuses on the characterization of graphocentrism in microculture. We aim to describe, based on literacy studies, the presence of written language in the life of socially and historically situated subjects, thematizing the axiological capital of less favored socioeconomic contexts. Subjects are children undergoing schooling process, living in a district of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Discussions on the theme are based on Barton (1994, Barton, Hamilton and Ivanic (2000, Heath (1982, and Street (1994, 2003. Looking at literacy from a sociocultural perspective implies understanding that subjects deal with written language in their daily life in different ways. It seems that school tends to teach subject matters defined beforehand, and this hampers the dialog with different social practices played by students who come from family environments with different schooling levels. This study is inserted in a project whose focus is the defense of a more sensible look of school concerning the different realities which constitute school itself, regarding the teaching of written language. The present research aims to answer the following questions: How can we configure the microculture (family, school, church, neighborhood – more or less graphocentric – where children attending 1st to 5th grade live, in an economically less privileged community of Florianópolis? How can we delineate the axiological capital regarding the mastering of written language by those children? What literacy events are more recurrent within that microculture? The data were collected by means of interviews, observations and field annotations, focusing on the visible elements of literacy events, similarly to what has been done by Hamiton (2000, such as participants, environments, artifacts, and activities. On the hand, the non-visible constituents of literacy practices, such as hidden participants, domain, resources, and routines, were observed during

A Pre-Post Evaluation of OpenMinds: a Sustainable, Peer-Led Mental Health Literacy Programme in Universities and Secondary Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Patalay, Praveetha; Annis, Jennifer; Sharpe, Helen; Newman, Robbie; Main, Dominic; Ragunathan, Thivvia; Parkes, Mary; Clarke, Kelly

2017-11-01

Engaging young people in the design and delivery of mental health education could lead to more effective interventions; however, few of these interventions have been evaluated. This study aimed to gain preliminary evidence with regards to the efficacy and acceptability of OpenMinds: a peer-designed and facilitated mental health literacy programme for university and secondary school students. The programme involves a structured programme of education and training for university medical students, who then deliver workshops in secondary schools. Pre- and post-surveys were completed by 234 school students who received two workshops and 40 university medical students who completed the OpenMinds programme and delivered the workshops. The main outcomes in both groups were components of mental health literacy (non-stigmatising attitudes, knowledge, social distance and helping attitudes). Perceived teaching efficacy and interest in mental health careers (university medical students) and workshop acceptability (school students) were also examined. University and school student participation in OpenMinds was associated with significant improvements in three of four mental health literacy elements in both samples. Knowledge and attitudes improved in both samples, social distance improved only in the university sample and knowledge of helping behaviours increased in the school sample. University students' perceived teaching efficacy improved but there was no change in their reported interest in pursuing psychiatry in their career. Acceptability was high; over 70% of the school students agreed that they enjoyed the workshops and liked being taught by a university student. This study provides preliminary evidence for the acceptability and efficacy of OpenMinds as a sustainable peer-led model of mental health education for young people. The OpenMinds programme is ready for efficacy testing in a randomised trial.

Secondary School Teachers Don’t Have Time to Engage in the Most Important Aspects of Information Literacy Due to Curricular Pressures. A Review of: Williams, D. and C. Wavell. “Secondary School Teachers’ Conceptions of Student Information Literacy.” Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 39.4 (2007: 199-212.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lotta Haglund

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Objective – To examine school teachers’ understanding of student information literacy and to look at the implications of the findings for developing information literacy in students.Design – Qualitative research design (group discussions; verbal and written reflections.Setting – Secondary schools in the United Kingdom.Subjects – Secondary school teachers with various subject specializations.Methods – The study initially involved 31 secondary school teachers; 24 from seven schools in Scotland and seven from two schools in England. Participant teachers were self-selecting. The study took a phenomenographic approach. Teachers’ perceptions of their students’ abilities and their experiences and perceptions of their role in developing these abilities were examined through data collection in three stages. During the first stage, group discussions established the teacher’s initial conceptions of information literacy. Participants also filled out an information task grid which, together with focus questions, ensured that discussions were kept in the realm of practice. During the second stage of data collection, teachers observed and reflected on their students’ use of information in classroom activities. This was accompanied by informal site visits during which 26 of the participants were introduced to information literacy frameworks and definitions in order to contextualize reflections and discussions. Field notes were used to record these informal meetings. Six participants provided written feedback on reflections. In the third and final stage, a summary of themes from the first two stages was sent to 23 of the participants prior to a second group discussion in order to try to stimulate further reflection. Discussions were audio recorded and transcribed. The transcribed data were analyzed for the dimensions of variation of teachers’ conceptions of student information literacy and key elements associated with each category of

Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling to Examine How Individual SLPs Differentially Contribute to Children's Language and Literacy Gains in Public Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Farquharson, Kelly; Tambyraja, Sherine R; Logan, Jessica; Justice, Laura M; Schmitt, Mary Beth

2015-08-01

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to determine the unique contributions in children's language and literacy gains, over 1 academic year, that are attributable to the individual speech-language pathologist (SLP) and (b) to explore possible child- and SLP-level factors that may further explain SLPs' contributions to children's language and literacy gains. Participants were 288 kindergarten and 1st-grade children with language impairment who were currently receiving school-based language intervention from SLPs. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we partitioned the variance in children's gains in language (i.e., grammar, vocabulary) and literacy (i.e., word decoding) that could be attributed to their individual SLP. Results revealed a significant contribution of individual SLPs to children's gains in grammar, vocabulary, and word decoding. Children's fall language scores and grade were significant predictors of SLPs' contributions, although no SLP-level predictors were significant. The present study makes a first step toward incorporating implementation science and suggests that, for children receiving school-based language intervention, variance in child language and literacy gains in an academic year is at least partially attributable to SLPs. Continued work in this area should examine the possible SLP-level characteristics that may further explicate the relative contributions of SLPs.

''Feeling Like a Different Kind of Smart'': Twitter as Digital Literacy Mediates Learning for Urban Youth and Literacy Specialist Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Jevon D.; Silvestri, Katarina N.; Ackerman, Madison L.

2018-01-01

This article shares the qualitative research findings of an emerging professional development schools partnership that investigated the way Twitter, as a type of digital literacy, mediated literature discussions of Lois Lowry's "The Giver" between urban high school students and master's degree literacy specialist candidates. The findings…

Financial Literacy: Getting beyond the Markets

Science.gov (United States)

Stanford, Jim

2010-01-01

Recently, several Canadian provinces have added financial literacy into core curriculum for high school students, and in his 2009 budget, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced the creation of a Task Force to evaluate current financial literacy initiatives. Typically, these initiatives focus on "individual responsibility",…

Visual Literacy and Visual Culture.

Science.gov (United States)

Messaris, Paul

Familiarity with specific images or sets of images plays a role in a culture's visual heritage. Two questions can be asked about this type of visual literacy: Is this a type of knowledge that is worth building into the formal educational curriculum of our schools? What are the educational implications of visual literacy? There is a three-part…

Environmental Literacy Components and Their Promotion by Institutions of Higher Education: An Israeli Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Arnon, Sara; Orion, Nir; Carmi, Nurit

2015-01-01

The recognition of the key role and moral responsibility of higher education institutions (HEIs) in cultivating the environmental literacy (EL) of their students is growing globally. The current research examined the contribution of HEIs to their students' EL by focusing on an Israeli college as a case-study. A survey was conducted among a…

Preschool Early Literacy Programs in Ontario Public Libraries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shelley Stagg Peterson

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on research examining how library staff in 10 Ontario libraries’ preschool literacy programs support three- and four-year-old children’s early literacy and school readiness as well as their parents’ and caregivers’ literacy interactions with their children. Multiple data sources included surveys of 82 parents/caregivers, observations of a sample of 65 of the 198 children at the sessions we visited, and interviews with10 library staff. Observations were analyzed for evidence of children’s development of print motivation, phonological awareness, vocabulary, narrative skills, and print awareness: early literacy skills and knowledge that have been shown to be reliably and significantly correlated with future reading success. Analysis of the observational and interview data showed that the programs have been very successful in fostering children’s readiness to participate in school activities and their motivation to read. Participating children learned new vocabulary, demonstrated an awareness of rhymes and sounds of language, and showed an understanding of books that were read by library staff: all early literacy behaviours that are foundational to later literacy development. The programs have also provided parents/caregivers with new ways to interact with children to engage them with books and with print at home. The development of children’s school readiness skills and parents’ awareness of how to support their children’s literacy are outcomes extending beyond library staff goals for their library programs and should be included in literature advertising the programs. Print awareness is an area of literacy development that library staff could encourage to a greater extent, however. Very few instances of such behaviour were observed, with most of the observations taking place in two of the preschool early literacy programs. Concomitantly, developing children’s print awareness is a recommended topic for

Techno-Literacy Practices of Emergent Readers

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Razeale G. Fernandez

2015-12-01

Full Text Available – This research explored the techno-literacy practices of emergent readers. The study found that young children experienced a multi-literate practices in their homes that comprised not only print and paper-based literacies but also techno-literacies. That television, games on tablets and phones are the sources of textual pleasure of young children.Families reported that children watched television and play games on tablets/phones regularly. This is due to the limited options of leisure activities available to younger children. Emergent readers are highly focused to televisual text as they demonstrate meaningmaking practices when they constantly ask questions and talk about what they are watching,hence they are active meaning-makers. The learning opportunities which include hand eye coordination, parallel processing, and problem solving skills young children acquired through playing computer games and games on tablet/iPad . Aside from these, they also developed a number of literacy skills as well as how to behave as players.It can be concluded thatexposure to imagery in electronic technologies contributed to the children’s literacy development. The literate identities of emergent readers can be further enhanced as they begin formal schooling. Data indicated that young children are developing techno-literacy practices and this concurs to the findings of Marsh (2010. Therefore, technology serves as a tool for the literacy development of young children. That techno-literacy practices of young children should be valued in school. Future research should also consider attitude, behavior and practices of parents towards the use of technology by children.

Not Just Numeracy and Literacy: Theory of Mind Development and School Readiness among Low-Income Children

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Cavadel, Elizabeth Woodburn; Frye, Douglas A.

2017-01-01

The current study investigated the role of theory of mind development in school readiness among 120 low-income preschool and kindergarten children. A short-term longitudinal design was used to examine relations among theory of mind, the understanding of teaching, and learning behaviors and their collective role in children's literacy and numeracy…

The Association of Latino Children's Kindergarten School Readiness Profiles with Grade 2-5 Literacy Achievement Trajectories

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Quirk, Matthew; Grimm, Ryan; Furlong, Michael J.; Nylund-Gibson, Karen; Swami, Sruthi

2016-01-01

This study utilized latent class analysis (LCA) to identify 5 discernible profiles of Latino children's (N = 1,253) social-emotional, physical, and cognitive school readiness at the time of kindergarten entry. In addition, a growth mixture modeling (GMM) approach was used to identify 3 unique literacy achievement trajectories, across Grades 2-5,…

The Effect of Principals' Technological Leadership on Teachers' Technological Literacy and Teaching Effectiveness in Taiwanese Elementary Schools

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Chang, I-Hua

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among principals' technological leadership, teachers' technological literacy, and teaching effectiveness. The survey target population consists of 1,000 teachers randomly selected from Taiwanese elementary schools. The survey asked teachers to measure the effectiveness of principals'…

Literacy Integration of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) in Elementary Schools: A Case Study of Collaborative Leadership

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Mason, Charlene A.

2016-01-01

Integration of educational technology in the context of e-books has experienced slow implementation in elementary schools, specifically in early literacy instruction. Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) is a framework for metacognitive reflection on how the learning of subject matter can be facilitated through the use of…

The Influence of Administrators on Literacy Instruction through the Promotion and Selection of Professional Development

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Johnston-Josey, Lucy Katherine

2017-01-01

Literacy is a key component to success in school and in life. Literacy has been a focus of education since 1965 when President Jimmy Carter announced a "war on poverty." Since then, history has shown that educators should place an emphasis on literacy within schools. Because literacy is so important, I set out to explore how…

The Development of Adolescent Online Reading Literacy Assessments

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Kuei-Lin Chang

2013-12-01

Full Text Available By adopting the constructs of reading literacy and with the use of information and communication technology, the purpose of this study is to develop two adolescent online reading literacy assessments (ORLA and examine the preliminary validity of ORLA. In addition, samples of online reading literacy performance are described. The design of ORLA is based on PISA electronic reading assessment framework and Leu et al. (2004’s online reading comprehension definition. A total of 601 eighth graders from junior high schools and 618 tenth graders from senior high schools in Taiwan City participated in this study. This study uses Rasch IRT model to calibrate the item parameter and scale scores. The results indicated: the online reading literacy assessments had adequate difficulty level, reasonable validity evidences, and students’ online reading literacy performance contains ICT element which is different from offline reading; the gender effect exists in the online reading environment by grades.

STEM LEARNING IN MATERIAL OF TEMPERATURE AND ITS CHANGE TO IMPROVE SCIENTIFIC LITERACY OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

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N. Khaeroningtyas

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This research aims to determine the improvement of students’ scientific literacy after STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics learning using 6E Learning by DesignTM Model on temperature and its changes material. The research was conducted in SMP Negeri (State Junior High School 1 Bumiayu in the academic year 2015/2016. The method used was quasi-experimental design with The Matching Only - pretest posttest control group design. This study used two group of experiment group of students who learned the material with STEM learning using 6E Learning by DesignTM, while the control group students learned with non-STEM learning. The analysis showed that the students' scientific literacy in experiment group is better than control group. The conclusion that can be drawn is STEM learning using 6E Learning by DesignTM on temperature and its changes material can improve students’ scientific literacy.

IMPACT OF EDUCATION ON THE FINANCIAL LITERACY: A CASE OF SLOVAKIA

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Marián Tóth

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The Financial crisis in 2008 increased the focus of financial intermediaries and also national authorities for financial education and financial literacy of households. Bank association in Slovakia started to measure and increase the financial literacy of population and government implemented the National standard of financial literacy into the curriculum of grammar schools and high schools. This paper examines the level of financial literacy of students in Slovakia and the influence of determinants education level and education focus. We performed a questionnaire with 10 questions on a sample of 608 students from two Faculties of Slovak University of Agriculture. The questions were linked to 4 areas: interest, risk management, financial market and personal finance. To measure the level of financial literacy we use Index of financial literacy IFIG. Using Index of financial literacy and Mann-Whitney U test techniques we find that education level and education focus are relevant determinants of financial literacy level. Students with bachelor degree have better results when compared to high school students. The success rate measured by the IFIG of bachelor students was 0,658 and the success rate of high school students was 0,577. We also found differences based on the education focus. We compared two groups: students with economic focus of education with students with non-economic focus of education. Based on our results we can conclude that economic focus of education increases the level of financial literacy. The success rate of students with economic focus of education was significantly higher (0,674 compared to the students with non-economic focus of education (0,553.

Information literacy: uma análise nas bibliotecas escolares da rede privada em Natal/RN Information literacy: an analysis of the school library of the private schools network in Natal/RN p. 110-133

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Gabriela Farias

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Apresenta a information literacy, como competência em informação, relata, de forma geral, seu surgimento, desenvolvimento e importância de sua prática na biblioteca escolar. Aborda-se os principais focos da competência em informação: tecnologia da informação, processos cognitivos, e aprendizado ao longo da vida. Relata-se a análise dos dados dos questionários aplicados nas bibliotecas escolares da rede de escolas privadas da cidade de Natal RN com fins de identificar e analisar a competência em informação neste ambiente. Apresenta-se a necessidade de integração entre escola-biblioteca, e a inserção do bibliotecário na comunidade educacional para criação de programas educacionais voltados para a competência em informação. Palavras-chave Competência em informação; Habilidades informativas; Biblioteca escolar; Educação e aprendizagem Abstract It presents information literacy as information competence, as well as reporting, in a general way its appearance, development and the importance of its practice in the school library. Focuses on the main information competences: information technology, cognitive processes and life long learning. It reports on the analysis of data obtained from the questionnaire applied in school libraries of the private schools network in the city of Natal RN, as a means to identify and analyze information competence in this environment. The need for school-library integration is presented, as is the need for the insertion of the librarian in the educational community for the creation of educational programs directed towards information competence. Key words Information competence; Informative skills; School library; Education and learning

Comparison of Reading Literacy in Hearing Impaired and Normal Hearing Students

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Dr. Ali Asghar Kakojoibari

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: listening, speaking, reading and writing are considered the lingual skills. These skills are in direct relation with each other. Listening is the first skill learnt by the individual through development. If damaged by hearing impairment, listening can cause serious defect to lingual skills. The goal of our research was to study the effect of hearing loss on reading literacy in hearing impairment students in comparison with normal hearing students.Methods: Study was performed using the examination booklets of Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2001. 119 hearing impairment students of 4th grade primary school, last year guidance school, and last year high school levels in schools providing exceptional student education were included. These individuals were compared to 46 normal hearing students of 4th grade primary school of ordinary schools. Comparative statistical analysis was performed using t-test.Results: Reading literacy and literal contents understanding was shown to have a significant difference between normal hearing and whole hearing impaired student (p<0.05, except the ones in high school level with moderate hearing loss. There was also seen a significant difference between normal hearing and hearing impairment students in understanding of information contents (p=0.03.Conclusion: Hearing loss has a negative effect on reading literacy. Consequently, curriculum change and evolution of educational programs in exceptional centers is needed, in order to promote reading literacy and to enhance rest hearing

Indoor Environmental Contaminants in Schools

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A wide range of environmental contaminants can affect the health and safety of a school environment. This page covers the basics on issues your school may face, including asbestos, chemicals, formaldehyde, lead, mercury, PCBs and radon.

Lessons Learned: Collaborative Symbiosis and Responsive Disciplinary Literacy Teaching

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Wilder, Phillip; Herro, Danielle

2016-01-01

This paper describes a case study of how a middle school literacy coach and a science teacher attempted to improve disciplinary literacy teaching in a sixth-grade science class. The collaborative inquiry exposed the disciplinary knowledge gap of the literacy coach (a former language arts teacher) and the science teacher's limited knowledge of…

Investigation on the Relationship between Information Communication Technology and Reading Literacy for Northeast Asian Students

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Lai Yi-Horng

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of internet communication technologies (ICT usage and reading literacy of Northeast Asian Students in PISA 2009. ICT was crucial for all governments in the world towards promoting equity. ICT had been considered a low cost opportunity towards equalizing educational systems. A multilevel modelling (MLM was applied to identify at which school-level the largest variations in the three indicators exist in this study. With MLM, it could be examine simultaneously the effects of different hierarchical school-level variables; to take account of possible correlations of students’ reading literacy in this study within higher levels (Urbanization, Total number of students Computers for education which may otherwise lead to incorrect standard errors and inefficient estimates; to treat higher levels as related; and to examine inter-area variations at each level. The empirical results include the different between group components was significant. Self-confidence in ICT high level tasks was positive with students’ reading literacy, and self-confidence in ICT high level tasks was negative with students’ reading literacy. The urbanization of schools’ area and total number of students of schools were positive with students’ reading literacy. The urbanization of schools’ area was negative with the relationship of ICT for school related tasks and students’ reading literacy. Total number of students was negative with the relationship of ICT for school related tasks and students’ reading literacy, and ICT availability in school and students’ reading literacy.

Parental Involvement in Language and Literacy Acquisition: A Bilingual Journaling Approach

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Caesar, Lena G.; Nelson, Nickola Wolf

2014-01-01

This pilot study examined the feasibility of a home-school partnership for improving emergent literacy skills in Spanish-speaking pre-school children of migrant farmworkers. Parents were requested to send labeled drawings of family activities to their children's classroom for supplementing bilingual language and literacy instruction. Participants…

Constructing literacy identity through social interaction

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Laursen, Helle Pia

2014-01-01

Constructing literacy identity through social interaction Helle Pia Laursen Department of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark In a discussion of policy claims about ”what literacy is” and ”what literacy does”, Bartlett (2008) notes that ” we should not consider literacy as an actor with some...... figured worlds as interactional resources when constructing their identity and generating meaning in their social worlds. The empirical basis for this paper consists of interviews with three children in year 1 a few months after school start focusing on the children’s perceptions of reading and writing...... are also shaped and undergo change through interactional negotiation, through which different possible social identity positions are tested....

Developing Students' Critical Thinking Skills through Visual Literacy in the New Secondary School Curriculum in Hong Kong

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Cheung, Chi-Kim; Jhaveri, Aditi Dubey

2016-01-01

This paper argues that the planned introduction of visual literacy into the New Secondary School Curriculum can play a crucial role in enabling students to think critically and creatively in Hong Kong's highly visual landscape. As Hong Kong's educational system remains entrenched in long-established and conventional pedagogies, the primacy given…

The Impact of Professional Development on Poverty, Schooling, and Literacy Practices: Teacher Narratives and Reformation of Mindset

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Ciuffetelli Parker, Darlene

2017-01-01

The study examines the impact of professional development on the topic of poverty in one high poverty school community located in a small city in southern Ontario, Canada. It considers narrative-based experiences of teachers' collaborative inquiry on literacy practices after a significant amount of professional development was provided to…

Year 7 Students, Information Literacy, and Transfer: A Grounded Theory

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Herring, James E.

2011-01-01

This study examined the views of year 7 students, teacher librarians, and teachers in three state secondary schools in rural New South Wales, Australia, on information literacy and transfer. The aims of the study included the development of a grounded theory in relation to information literacy and transfer in these schools. The study's perspective…

Media literacy between primary and secondary students in Andalusia (Spain

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Ignacio Aguaded

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The media consumption by children and young people in our society is a fact. Since 2010 there has been an R&D project that aims to assess media literacy in compulsory education in Andalusia. The content was defined in terms of six dimensions developed to assess the skill levels of citizenship. This article analyzes the degree of media literacy in primary and secondary school population in Andalusia. It is an important challenge for the information society to prepare media literate students. The study reports the comparative results of two surveys conducted in a varied sample of Andalusian schools. Both tools are designed to be implemented online with real-time tracking of the platform, to identify needs and gaps and plan for future strategies at school. The study defines media literacy and analysis of its dimensions and various categories of the quantitative study. This research concludes that the population of primary and secondary media literacy lacks the dimensions analyzed. It is, therefore, necessary to develop a course in media education in the school curriculum.

Growth in Literacy and Numeracy in the First Three Years of School. ACER Research Monograph No. 61

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Meiers, Marion; Khoo, Siek Toon; Rowe, Ken; Stephanou, Andrew; Anderson, Prue; Nolan, Kathy

2006-01-01

The development of strong foundational literacy and numeracy skills for all students is a very high priority for schools, education systems and governments. The ways in which children develop these skills during the crucial years of primary education are of major interest to all concerned with students' learning and development. The ACER…

Improving Dementia Health Literacy Using the FLOW Mnemonic: Pilot Findings from the Old SCHOOL Hip-Hop Program

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Noble, James M.; Hedmann, Monique G.; Williams, Olajide

2015-01-01

Background: Dementia health literacy is low among the public and likely poses a significant barrier to Alzheimer's disease (AD) symptom recognition and treatment, particularly among minority populations already facing higher AD burden. We evaluated the pilot phase of a novel AD health education program, Old SCHOOL (Seniors Can Have Optimal…

Debates about the Future of Media Literacy in Turkey

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Cakmak, Ebubekir; Tuzel, Sait

2015-01-01

Media literacy has been widely debated in Turkey since the early 2000s and has been in the curriculum of the secondary schools as an optional subject for nearly a decade. During this time period, about four million students have received media literacy education. The multidisciplinary structure of media literacy has contributed to the interest of…

Science literacy and meaningful learning: status of public high school students from Rio de Janeiro face to molecular biology concepts

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Daniel Alves Escodino

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In this work we aimed to determine the level of Molecular Biology (MB science literacy of students from two Brazilian public schools which do not consider the rogerian theory for class planning and from another institution, Cap UERJ, which favours this theory. We applied semiclosed questionnaires specific to the different groups of science literacy levels. Besides, we have asked them to perform conceptual maps with MB concepts in order to observe if they have experienced meaningful learning. Finally, we prepared MB classes for students of the three schools, considering their conceptual maps and tried to evaluate, through a second map execution, if the use of alternative didactics material, which consider meaningful learning process, would have any effect over the appropriation of new concepts. We observed that most students are placed at Functional literacy level. Nonetheless, several students from CAp were also settled at the higher Conceptual and Procedural levels. We found that most students have not experienced meaningful learning and that the employment of didactic material and implementation of proposals which consider the cognitive structure of the students had a significant effect on the appropriation of several concepts.

Literacy for Youth: Programs, Problems and Perspectives. Proceedings of the Youth Literacy Forum (Melbourne, Australia, July 30, 1999).

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Sanguinetti, Jill, Ed.; Jones, Myfanwy, Ed.

These proceedings document some of the work and the stories of literacy teachers who work with youth outside the school system and help to paint the educational and policy context of their work. "Professionalism and Passion: A Report on Teachers Working with the Literacy Needs of Unemployed Youth" (Beverley Campbell) introduces the…

Sustainable Environmental Management Indicators in South African Primary Schools

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Luiza O. de Sousa

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This research explores sustainable environmental management indicators in South African primary schools. Of key interest is the comparison of a township, farm and urban primary school that identify indicators that promote education for sustainable development in schools that implement an environmental management system. Data are drawn from one-on-one interviews, focus group interviews, observations and document analysis from 35 participants in three schools. A comparison of the three schools was done by content and thematic analysis of a within-case analysis. Data from the township school revealed that socioeconomic factors and organisational structure promote education for sustainable development. The farm school data revealed that health promotion can be managed within an environmental management system within a hierarchical school structure. The urban school data revealed that an economic inducement brings a school to realise that it can reduce its carbon footprint, gain financially and utilize its resources with innovation. A case is made that the four pillars of sustainable development (environment, society, economy, and governance endorse education for sustainable development. Furthermore, the objectives of environmental education ought to remain nested in an environmental management system to ensure that the global goal of quality education is achieved.

'Literacy Octopus' Dissemination Trial: Evaluation Report and Executive Summary

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Lord, Pippa; Rabiasz, Adam; Styles, Ben

2017-01-01

The "'Literacy Octopus' Dissemination Trial" aimed to test the impact on pupil outcomes of disseminating research summaries and evidence-based resources to schools. The materials aimed to support teaching and learning of Key Stage 2 literacy and were created by leading organisations with experience of engaging schools in evidence use.…

Putting the "Shop" in Reading Workshop: Building Reading Stamina in a Ninth-Grade Literacy Class in a Bronx Vocational High School

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Gulla, Amanda N.

2012-01-01

For many teachers of middle school and high school, the greatest challenge they face in trying to help struggling readers improve their skills can be students' self-perception. When young people do not see themselves as members of the "literacy club," it is not just a simple matter of persuading them that becoming a fluent reader is…

The Impact of Formal Education on Computer Literacy

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Melita Milić

2010-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper we will present the survey conducted on 149 students in Croatia. This research includes eight grade students of elementary schools, fourth-grade students of secondary schools and second year university students, as the relevant age groups. Given that these age groups through the course of their schooling to some extent pass some form of IT training, we wanted to explore how it affected their overcoming of computer literacy. The main goal was to investigate how and how much formal education affect the knowledge of computer literacy in diffrent age groups.

Glocalization, Representation and Literacy Education

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Lotherington, Heather

2009-01-01

This article uses a comic program to graphically summarize a collaborative action research project that brings together York University researchers and elementary school teachers at Joyce Public School in northwest Toronto to experimentally develop multiliteracies pedagogies in a context of emergent literacy education. The project, which has been…

A Program for Introducing Information Literacy to Commercial Art and Design Students

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David A. Walczak

2010-03-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the process of developing and implementing a comprehensive, school-wide, and sustainable information literacy program at a commercial art and design school. The program requires that information literacy student learning outcomes be included in specific General Education and art and design courses across the curriculum. The results of this multi-year effort indicate that while the program is sound, teaching information literacy is an on-going effort requiring much more training of faculty and students. Best practices in information literacy in library science and art and design literature are reviewed

Teaching Literacy Skills to French Minimally Verbal School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders with the Serious Game SEMA-TIC: An Exploratory Study.

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Serret, Sylvie; Hun, Stéphanie; Thümmler, Susanne; Pierron, Prescillia; Santos, Andreia; Bourgeois, Jérémy; Askenazy, Florence

2017-01-01

Learning to read is very challenging for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), but also very important, as it can give them access to new knowledge. This is even more challenging in minimally verbal children, who do not have the verbal abilities to learn through usual methods. To address the learning of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD, we designed the serious game SEMA-TIC, which relies on non-verbal cognitive skills and uses specific learning strategies adapted to the features of autistic individuals. This study investigated the usability of SEMA-TIC (in terms of adaptability, efficiency, and effectiveness) for the acquisition of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD. Twenty-five children with ASD and no functional language participated in the study. Children in the training group received the SEMA-TIC training over 23 weeks (on average), while no intervention was provided to children in the non-training group. Results indicated that SEMA-TIC presents a suitable usability, as all participants were able to play (adaptability), to complete the training (efficiency) and to acquire significant literacy skills (effectiveness). Indeed, the literacy skills in the training group significantly improved after the training, as measured by specific experimental tasks (alphabet knowledge, word reading, word-non-word discrimination, sentence reading and word segmentation; all p ≤ 0.001) compared to the non-training group. More importantly, 3 out of 12 children of the training group could be considered as word decoders at the end of the intervention, whereas no children of the non-training group became able to decode words efficiently. The present study thus brings preliminary evidence that French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD are able to learn literacy skills through SEMA-TIC, a specific computerized intervention consisting in a serious game based on non-verbal cognitive

Teaching Literacy Skills to French Minimally Verbal School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders with the Serious Game SEMA-TIC: An Exploratory Study

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Serret, Sylvie; Hun, Stéphanie; Thümmler, Susanne; Pierron, Prescillia; Santos, Andreia; Bourgeois, Jérémy; Askenazy, Florence

2017-01-01

Learning to read is very challenging for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), but also very important, as it can give them access to new knowledge. This is even more challenging in minimally verbal children, who do not have the verbal abilities to learn through usual methods. To address the learning of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD, we designed the serious game SEMA-TIC, which relies on non-verbal cognitive skills and uses specific learning strategies adapted to the features of autistic individuals. This study investigated the usability of SEMA-TIC (in terms of adaptability, efficiency, and effectiveness) for the acquisition of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD. Twenty-five children with ASD and no functional language participated in the study. Children in the training group received the SEMA-TIC training over 23 weeks (on average), while no intervention was provided to children in the non-training group. Results indicated that SEMA-TIC presents a suitable usability, as all participants were able to play (adaptability), to complete the training (efficiency) and to acquire significant literacy skills (effectiveness). Indeed, the literacy skills in the training group significantly improved after the training, as measured by specific experimental tasks (alphabet knowledge, word reading, word-non-word discrimination, sentence reading and word segmentation; all p ≤ 0.001) compared to the non-training group. More importantly, 3 out of 12 children of the training group could be considered as word decoders at the end of the intervention, whereas no children of the non-training group became able to decode words efficiently. The present study thus brings preliminary evidence that French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD are able to learn literacy skills through SEMA-TIC, a specific computerized intervention consisting in a serious game based on non-verbal cognitive

Teaching Literacy Skills to French Minimally Verbal School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders with the Serious Game SEMA-TIC: An Exploratory Study

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Sylvie Serret

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Learning to read is very challenging for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD, but also very important, as it can give them access to new knowledge. This is even more challenging in minimally verbal children, who do not have the verbal abilities to learn through usual methods. To address the learning of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD, we designed the serious game SEMA-TIC, which relies on non-verbal cognitive skills and uses specific learning strategies adapted to the features of autistic individuals. This study investigated the usability of SEMA-TIC (in terms of adaptability, efficiency, and effectiveness for the acquisition of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD. Twenty-five children with ASD and no functional language participated in the study. Children in the training group received the SEMA-TIC training over 23 weeks (on average, while no intervention was provided to children in the non-training group. Results indicated that SEMA-TIC presents a suitable usability, as all participants were able to play (adaptability, to complete the training (efficiency and to acquire significant literacy skills (effectiveness. Indeed, the literacy skills in the training group significantly improved after the training, as measured by specific experimental tasks (alphabet knowledge, word reading, word-non-word discrimination, sentence reading and word segmentation; all p ≤ 0.001 compared to the non-training group. More importantly, 3 out of 12 children of the training group could be considered as word decoders at the end of the intervention, whereas no children of the non-training group became able to decode words efficiently. The present study thus brings preliminary evidence that French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD are able to learn literacy skills through SEMA-TIC, a specific computerized intervention consisting in a serious game based on non

Life-Cycle Thinking in Inquiry-Based Sustainability Education--Effects on Students' Attitudes towards Chemistry and Environmental Literacy

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Juntunen, Marianne; Aksela, Maija

2013-01-01

The aim of the present study is to improve the quality of students' environmental literacy and sustainability education in chemistry teaching by combining the socio-scientific issue of life-cycle thinking with inquiry-based learning approaches. This case study presents results from an inquiry-based life-cycle thinking project: an interdisciplinary…

Effects of Language of Instruction on Learning of Literacy Skills among Pre-Primary School Children from Low-Income Urban Communities in Kenya

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Hungi, Njora; Njagi, Joan; Wekulo, Patricia; Ngware, Moses

2018-01-01

This study investigates the relationship between the language of instruction and learning of literacy skills among pre-primary school children in a multilingual environment. The sample consists of 1867 learners from low-income urban households, attending 147 low-cost private pre-primary schools located in low-income areas of Nairobi, Kenya. About…

National Standards for Financial Literacy: Rationale and Content

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Bosshardt, William; Walstad, William B.

2014-01-01

The "National Standards for Financial Literacy" describe the knowledge, understanding, and skills that are important for students to learn about personal finance. They are designed to guide teachers, school administrators, and other educators in developing curriculum and educational materials for teaching financial literacy. In this…

Thrown Together: Incorporating Place and Sustainability into Early Literacy Education

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Schmidt, Catarina

2017-01-01

The development of language and literacy abilities of young multilingual children is important to their future educational engagement and success in school. In this study, the value of taking account of place and sustainability in early literacy education is considered. This research provides ideas for practice-based research on early literacy in…

Integration of literacy into speech-language therapy: a descriptive analysis of treatment practices.

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Tambyraja, Sherine R; Schmitt, Mary Beth; Justice, Laura M; Logan, Jessica A R; Schwarz, Sadie

2014-01-01

The purpose of the present study was: (a) to examine the extent to which speech-language therapy provided to children with language disorders in the schools targets code-based literacy skills (e.g., alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness) during business-as-usual treatment sessions, and (b) to determine whether literacy-focused therapy time was associated with factors specific to children and/or speech-language pathologists (SLPs). Participants were 151 kindergarten and first-grade children and 40 SLPs. Video-recorded therapy sessions were coded to determine the amount of time that addressed literacy. Assessments of children's literacy skills were administered as well as questionnaires regarding characteristics of SLPs (e.g., service delivery, professional development). Results showed that time spent addressing code-related literacy across therapy sessions was variable. Significant predictors included SLP years of experience, therapy location, and therapy session duration, such that children receiving services from SLPs with more years of experience, and/or who utilized the classroom for therapy, received more literacy-focused time. Additionally, children in longer therapy sessions received more therapy time on literacy skills. There is considerable variability in the extent to which children received literacy-focused time in therapy; however, SLP-level factors predict time spent in literacy more than child-level factors. Further research is needed to understand the nature of literacy-focused therapy in the public schools. Readers will be able to: (a) define code-based literacy skills, (b) discuss the role that speech-language pathologists have in fostering children's literacy development, and (c) identify key factors that may currently influence the inclusion of literacy targets in school-based speech-language therapy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Way of the Information Literacy Education in the Subject other than the Information Specialty

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Kawamura, Kazuki

Information Literacy is the word that combined Information and Literacy. It was the word that was used in the Temporary Educational Council at the beginning. Because of this, Information Literacy is used well in the meaning called Information Utilization Ability in the information education of an elementary school and junior high school and senior high school. On the other hand, it is positioning it with the first year Information Literacy Education in the university. In the General Information Processing Education Board of the Information Processing Society of Japan, we proposed the GEBOK (General Education Body of Knowledge) and the curriculum of GE. In this paper, we propose about the Information Literacy Education in the university, while introducing them.

Building 21st. Century literacies through digital animated storytelling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gjedde, Lisa

2016-01-01

, auditory and verbal with a fluency with digital tools. There is an interest to teach multimodal literacy in open schooling, while bridging informal and formal learning in hybrid environments, that is involving collaboration with libraries and museums. Designs for multimodal learning with animation may have......This paper will present the preliminary findings from a R&D project on developing 21st. Century literacies in a digital Storylab at a public library, doing digital animated storytelling, in collaboration with municipal schools. It will explore the implications for the approach to digital story......-based learning for learner’s engagement, motivation and multimodal learning in a mixed methods study based on surveys, interviews and observations. The key literacy skills needed for 21st. Century learners have shifted from a predominant focus on verbal text towards multimodal literacies, that combine the visual...

Defining contagion literacy: a Delphi study

Science.gov (United States)

Kilstadius, Margareta; Gericke, Niklas

2017-11-01

Against the background of climate change, which enables infectious diseases to move their frontiers and the increasing global mobility, which make people more exposed to contagion, we as citizens need to relate to this new scenario. A greater number of infectious diseases may also potentially lead to an increased need to use antibiotics and anti-parasitic substances. In view of this, the aim of this study was to identify the health literacy needed in the contemporary world and specify what should be taught in compulsory school. We present the findings of a Delphi study, performed in Sweden, regarding the opinions on contagion among experts in the field. We used Nutbeam's framework of health literacy and related it to Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives in order to analyse and categorise the experts' responses, which were categorised into six main content themes: contagions, transmission routes, sexually transmitted diseases, hygiene, vaccinations and use of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance. These themes were then divided into the three levels of Nutbeam's framework: functional health literacy, which is about knowledge and understanding, interactive health literacy, which is about developing personal qualities and skills that promote health, and critical health literacy, which is about social and cognitive skills related to analysis and critical reflection. The implications for communication and education are then discussed and what should be taught in compulsory school is identified.

Relationship Between Parental and Adolescent eHealth Literacy and Online Health Information Seeking in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Fong-Ching; Chiu, Chiung-Hui; Chen, Ping-Hung; Miao, Nae-Fang; Lee, Ching-Mei; Chiang, Jeng-Tung; Pan, Ying-Chun

2015-10-01

This study examined the relationship between parental and adolescent eHealth literacy and its impact on online health information seeking. Data were obtained from 1,869 junior high school students and 1,365 parents in Taiwan in 2013. Multivariate analysis results showed that higher levels of parental Internet skill and eHealth literacy were associated with an increase in parental online health information seeking. Parental eHealth literacy, parental active use Internet mediation, adolescent Internet literacy, and health information literacy were all related to adolescent eHealth literacy. Similarly, adolescent Internet/health information literacy, eHealth literacy, and parental active use Internet mediation, and parental online health information seeking were associated with an increase in adolescent online health information seeking. The incorporation of eHealth literacy courses into parenting programs and school education curricula is crucial to promote the eHealth literacy of parents and adolescents.

Lifelong Adaptability: A Cultural Literacy Perspective (Revised Edition)

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Moyer, John Thayer

2011-01-01

This revised 1997 ex post facto study attempted to identify a lifelong adaptability curriculum from a cultural literacy perspective. It investigated students' lifelong adaptability ratings of 15 general school subjects as predicted by family structure, parental age, parental educational level, student cultural literacy, and student gender;…

The Solution to the Financial Literacy Problem: What is the Answer?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sharon M. Taylor

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Over the last two decades the need for a financially literate population has grown in importance. Hence in Australia, it is imperative that individuals possess both the financial knowledge and capability to make sound financial decisions. In contrast, the results of the Australian & New Zealand Bank (ANZ surveys from 2003 to 2010 have demonstrated that there is a substantial deficiency in the level of financial literacy amongst many of the Australian population. Both the government and the private sector have encouraged the development of financial education programs as an important tool in remedying the detected low levels of financial literacy as reported in the ANZ research. The Australian Security and Investment Commission (ASIC, the government regulator, has strongly promoted the need to develop confident and informed consumers and investors through the provision of quality financial education. ASIC’s focus was reiterated in its Report 229, the National Financial Literacy Strategy. This report which was announced in March 2011 set out the strategy for the development and delivery of initiatives to improve financial literacy levels in Australia (ASIC 2011. In particular, the National Strategy has been developed to improve the level of financial literacy among Australian students. The focus is on incorporating financial education through the existing school curriculum, beginning in kindergarten through to year 12 students. The aim of this research paper is to challenge and ask questions relating to the Australian Government’s financial literacy strategy directed at schools. This direction would appear to have limited support of success, given the evidence published in the USA, and to a limited extent in the United Kingdom and Europe. This study reviews the current evidence available in both Australia and the USA in relation to financial literacy projects in schools. In respect of the international experience this paper explores the

Scientific literacy and the social constructivist perspective

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Antić Slobodanka

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The term scientific literacy is already common in our educational rhetoric. Although the term is widely used, there are no papers that analyse the definition of the term and the rangeitencompasses in Serbia. If scientific literacy is a necessary outcome of education, this analysis is an important base for designing the teaching/learning process which is intended to develop such an outcome. Therefore, this paper provides an analysis of the concept of scientific literacy (SL, the different viewpoints on SL and the nature of the concept. Furthermore, five key lines as courses of action in the teaching/learning process, necessary for the development of these competencies, are defined: appreciation ofstudents' previous knowledge, encouragement of students' basic functional literacy and reading comprehension skills, the development of students' understanding of the socio-cultural perspective on the origin and use of scientific knowledge and technological products, and practicing of scientific research, either through school science or science applied in the context of cooperation between school and the local community, i.e. in the socio-cultural background where students live.

Exploring Social Networking: Developing Critical Literacies

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Watson, Pauline

2012-01-01

While schools have been using computers within their classrooms for years now, there has been a purposeful ignoring of the growing power of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Many schools ban students from accessing and using sites such as Facebook at school and many English and literacy teachers ignore or deny their value as a teaching…

Dimensions of Deaf/Hard-of Hearing and Hearing Adolescents’ Health Literacy and Health Knowledge

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Smith, Scott R.; Samar, Vincent J.

2016-01-01

Deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) adults have lower health literacy compared to hearing adults but it is unclear if this disparity also occurs in adolescence. We used the Health Literacy Skills Instrument-Short Form (HLSI-SF), Short Form of the Test of Functional Health Literacy (S-TOFHLA), Comprehensive Heart Disease Knowledge Questionnaire (CHDKQ) and newly constructed interactive and critical health literacy survey items to quantify D/HH and hearing adolescents’ health literacy. We adapted and translated survey materials into sign language and spoken English to reduce testing bias due to variable English language skills. Participants were 187 D/HH and 94 hearing college-bound high school students. Adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, school grade, and SES, D/HH adolescents demonstrated weaker general and functional health literacy and cardiovascular health knowledge than hearing adolescents on the HLSI, S-TOFHLA, and CHDKQ (all p’s<.0001). Standard health literacy or knowledge scores were associated with several interactive and critical health literacy skills (all p’s<.05). D/HH adolescents who reported greater hearing-culture identity, having hearing aids, experiencing better hearing with assistive devices, having good quality of communication with parents, and attending hearing schools at least half of the time had higher functional health literacy (all p’s<.025). Those who reported English as their best language and attending hearing schools at least half the time had higher cardiovascular health knowledge scores (all p’s< .03). Results suggest that interventions to improve D/HH adolescents’ health literacy should target their health-related conversations with their families, access to printed health information, and access to health information from other people, especially health care providers and educators. PMID:27548284

Dimensions of Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing and Hearing Adolescents' Health Literacy and Health Knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Scott R; Samar, Vincent J

2016-01-01

Deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) adults have lower health literacy compared to hearing adults, but it is unclear whether this disparity also occurs in adolescence. We used the Health Literacy Skills Instrument-Short Form (HLSI-SF), Short Form of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA), Comprehensive Heart Disease Knowledge Questionnaire (CHDKQ), and newly constructed interactive and critical health literacy survey items to quantify D/HH and hearing adolescents' health literacy. We adapted and translated survey materials into sign language and spoken English to reduce testing bias due to variable English language skills. Participants were 187 D/HH and 94 hearing college-bound high school students. When we adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, school grade, and socioeconomic status, D/HH adolescents demonstrated weaker general and functional health literacy and cardiovascular health knowledge than hearing adolescents on the HLSI, S-TOFHLA, and CHDKQ (all ps < .0001). Standard health literacy or knowledge scores were associated with several interactive and critical health literacy skills (all ps < .05). D/HH adolescents who reported greater hearing-culture identity, having hearing aids, experiencing better hearing with assistive devices, having good quality of communication with parents, and attending hearing schools at least half of the time had higher functional health literacy (all ps < .025). Those who reported English as their best language and attending hearing schools at least half of the time had higher cardiovascular health knowledge scores (all ps < .03). Results suggest that interventions to improve D/HH adolescents' health literacy should target their health-related conversations with their families; access to printed health information; and access to health information from other people, especially health care providers and educators.

Health Literacy Assessment in an Otolaryngology Clinic Population.

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Megwalu, Uchechukwu C; Lee, Jennifer Y

2016-12-01

To assess health literacy in an adult tertiary care otolaryngology clinic population and to explore potential determinants of inadequate health literacy. Cross-sectional study. Tertiary care otolaryngology clinic. The study population included all adult patients treated at 3 of Stanford University's adult otolaryngology clinic sites between March 1 and 11, 2016. Data were collected via an anonymous questionnaire. Health literacy was assessed with the Brief Health Literacy Screen. Ten percent of patients had inadequate health literacy. White race (odds ratio [OR], 0.23) and having English as the primary language (OR, 0.12) were associated with adequate health literacy, while high school or lower level of education (OR, 3.2) was associated with inadequate health literacy. Age, sex, and Hispanic ethnicity were not associated with health literacy. Our study highlights the need for health literacy screening in the otolaryngology clinic setting and identifies sociodemographic risk factors for inadequate health literacy. Further studies are needed to assess the impact of health literacy on patient outcomes and to test specific interventions to address health literacy and health outcomes. © American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2016.

Promoting Health Literacy in the Classroom

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bruselius-Jensen, Maria; Bonde, Ane Høstgaard; Christensen, Julie Hellesøe

2017-01-01

counts and associated reflections positively influencing learning. However, in this study, classroom teaching was limited to a focus on cognitive skills and only partially supported the development of more critical health literacy skills. Our findings call for further research into approaches to support...... and teachers could change their daily practices. Only a limited number of discussions supported the development of critical health literacy. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that educators can successfully integrate health literacy development into classroom-based curriculum teaching, with pupils’ own step......Objective: Research has shown that developing health literacy in early life is critical to reducing lifestyle-related diseases, with schools being identified as central settings for this purpose. This paper examines how one classroom-based health educational programme, IMOVE, helped Danish primary...

Exploring the Literacy Beliefs of Refugee Mothers: Implications for Research and Practice

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Taylor, Nicole

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to utilize an exploratory and descriptive lens to examine the literacy beliefs of refugee mothers of preschool aged children, who were enrolled in a refugee family literacy program (n = 19). Through use of a survey, mothers' literacy beliefs as related to the home literacy environment and schooling were examined. Results…

Web-Based Media Literacy to Prevent Tobacco Use among High School Students

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Phelps-Tschang, Jane S.; Miller, Elizabeth; Rice, Kristen; Primack, Brian A.

2015-01-01

Facilitator-led smoking media literacy (SML) programs have improved media literacy and reduced intention to smoke. However, these programs face limitations including high costs and barriers to standardization. We examined the efficacy of a Web-based media literacy program in improving smoking media literacy skills among adolescents. Sixty-six 9th…

Rich Language Learning Environment and Young Learners' Literacy Skills in English

OpenAIRE

Artini, Luh Putu

2017-01-01

This research aimed at developing rich language learning environment to help elementary school students develop their literacy skills in English. Shortage of professional English teachers in primary school, limited time allocation, as well as the lack of tools and facilities that support English language teaching and learning for young learners had resulted in students’low literacy skills in English. It was tried out in six primary schools across Bali involving 12 teachers and 520 students. T...

Linguistics and Literacy.

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Kindell, Gloria

1983-01-01

Discusses four general areas of linguistics studies that are particularly relevant to literacy issues: (1) discourse analysis, including text analysis, spoken and written language, and home and school discourse; (2) relationships between speech and writing, the distance between dialects and written norms, and developmental writing; (3)…

Examining Media Literacy Levels of Prospective Teachers

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Taskın INAN

2012-04-01

Full Text Available As in many other countries, following the 2007-2008 education year when media literacy courses began to be included in the curricula, media literacy has become one of the discussion topics among educators and decision makers in Turkey. Discussion topics related to media literacy have included who is going to give the media literacy courses, what qualifications will be sought out in media literacy education teachers, what will be included in the media literacy curriculum in terms of its content, and at what level the media literacy course will be given. The current study which aims to examine media literacy levels of prospective teachers utilized thesurvey method. The sample of the study included prospective teachers (480 attending Elementary School Education, Social Studies Education and Turkish Language Education departments in the Education Faculty at the Dumlupinar University in the 2008-2009 education year. The results of the study showed that prospective teachers have a low level of reaction to media messages, do not educate people around enough about the effects of media, but make use of different sources of media to gain information, and are cognizant of media literacy.

Examining media literacy levels of prospective teachers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taşkın İnan

2012-03-01

Full Text Available As in many other countries, following the 2007-2008 education year when media literacy courses began to be included in the curricula, media literacy has become one of the discussion topics among educators and decision makers in Turkey. Discussion topics related to media literacy have included who is going to give the media literacy courses, what qualifications will be sought out in media literacy education teachers, what will be included in the media literacy curriculum in terms of its content, and at what level the media literacy course will be given. The current study which aims to examine media literacy levels of prospective teachers utilized the survey method. The sample of the study included prospective teachers (480 attending Elementary School Education, Social Studies Education and Turkish Language Education departments in the Education Faculty at the Dumlupinar University in the 2008-2009 education year. The results of the study showed that prospective teachers have a low level of reaction to media messages, do not educate people around enough about the effects of media, but make use of different sources of media to gain information, and are cognizant of media literacy.

Literature Circles and Primary Pupils' Literacy Development for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The literacy goal of primary education system appears to be eluding Nigerians in spite of government's consistent reforms in the sector. Educators are worried about the increasingly low literacy attainment of school leavers, some of whom cannot read, write or converse meaningfully in the English Language. A few of them ...

A Reconstructed Vision of Environmental Science Literacy: The case of Qatar

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Khishfe, Rola

2014-12-01

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) develop a conceptual framework for environmental science literacy; and consequently (b) examine the potential of science standards/curricula to prepare environmentally literate citizens. The framework comprised four pillars: science content knowledge, scientific inquiry, nature of science (NOS), and socioscientific issues (SSI). A conceptual understanding of these pillars as interconnected was presented and justified. Then the developed framework was used to examine the potential of the Qatari science standards to prepare environmentally literate citizens. Results showed that the secondary Qatari science standards generally take up the pillars of science content and scientific inquiry in an explicit manner. The NOS pillar is rarely addressed, while the SSI pillar is not addressed in the objectives and activities in a way that aligns with the heavy emphasis given in the overall aims. Moreover, the connections among pillars are mostly manifested within the activities and between the science content and scientific inquiry. The objectives and activities targeting the environment were less frequent among the four pillars across the Qatari standards. Again, the connections related to the environment were less frequent in conformity with the limited environmental objectives and activities. Implications from this study relate to the need for the distribution of the four pillars across the standards as well as the presentation of the different pillars as interconnected.

Differences in Student Information and Communication Technology Literacy Based on Socio-Economic Status, Ethnicity, and Gender: Evidence of a Digital Divide in Florida Schools

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Ritzhaupt, Albert D.; Liu, Feng; Dawson, Kara; Barron, Ann E.

2013-01-01

This research examines student information and communication technology (ICT) literacy and its relationships to a student's socio-economic status (SES), gender, and ethnicity of middle school students. We recruited 5,990 students from 13 school districts across the state of Florida. Student participants completed the Student Tool for Technology…

Policy and experiment in mother tongue literacy in Nigeria

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Akinnaso, F. Niyi

1993-07-01

The advocacy for initial mother tongue literacy in elementary schools and in adult education has been intensified within the past three decades, reflecting new attitudes to cultural diversity, especially to multilingual and multicultural education. This paper assesses the efforts made in one country, Nigeria, to achieve mother tongue literacy for its citizens, through a comparative analysis of the national policy on mother tongue literacy and the Ife experimental project, whose major purpose was to test the effectiveness of the use of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction throughout the six years of primary education. Although, like the Ife project, many experimental projects on mother tongue literacy in other countries are shown to have succeeded in realizing their objectives, the findings highlight the mediating effects of several non-linguistic variables. The findings indicate that its use as the medium of instruction in schools cannot compensate for the deficiencies in the educational system, particularly poor quality instructional facilities, or the social barriers in the wider society which prevent certain groups of minority children from learning well in school. The implications of the findings are discussed.

The Balanced Literacy Diet.

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Willows, Dale

2002-01-01

Describes professional development program in Ontario school district to improve student reading and writing skills. Program used food-pyramid concepts to help teacher learn to provide a balanced and flexible approach to literacy instruction based on student needs. (PKP)

Layering Literacies and Contemporary Learning

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Abrams, Sandra Schamroth; Russo, Michael P.

2015-01-01

This article explores how adolescents layer literacies in and outside school. Findings from a longitudinal study of gaming in a public library, as well as data related to the use of Portal 2 in a New York City middle school classroom, reveal how the students created, showcased, analyzed, and experimented with online and offline artifacts and…

Transforming Our World: Literacy for Sustainable Development

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Hanemann, Ulrike, Ed.

2015-01-01

This compilation offers global examples of innovative and promising literacy and numeracy programmes that link the teaching and learning of literacy to sustainable development challenges such as health, social equality, economic empowerment and environmental sustainability. This publication is a timely contribution to the 2030 Agenda for…

A Kaleidoscopic View of Change: Bringing Emotional Literacy into the Library Learning Experience.

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Toben, Janice

1997-01-01

Discusses emotional literacy, which combines emotions, intelligence, and literacy, and suggests ways to increase emotional intelligence in school libraries and classrooms. Emotional literacy skills include self-awareness, empathy, social problem solving, mood management, and the understanding of motivation. (LRW)

The Comprehensive Emergent Literacy Model

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Leigh Rohde

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The early skills of Emergent Literacy include the knowledge and abilities related to the alphabet, phonological awareness, symbolic representation, and communication. However, existing models of emergent literacy focus on discrete skills and miss the perspective of the surrounding environment. Early literacy skills, including their relationship to one another, and the substantial impact of the setting and context, are critical in ensuring that children gain all of the preliminary skills and awareness they will need to become successful readers and writers. Research findings over the last few decades have led to a fuller understanding of all that emergent literacy includes, resulting in a need for a new, more comprehensive model. A new model, described in this article, strives to explain how emergent literacy can be viewed as an interactive process of skills and context rather than a linear series of individual components. Early literacy learning opportunities are more likely to happen when teachers have a solid knowledge base of emergent literacy and child development. Research has shown that preschool teachers with limited knowledge about literacy development are significantly less able to provide such experiences for children. Teachers will be better able to facilitate all of the components of emergent literacy if they have access to, and understanding of, a model that describes the components, their interactions, and the importance of environmental factors in supporting children.

Determination of Media and Television Literacy Levels of Sport Consumers Filtered out of the Students of the School of Physical Education and Sports

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Unal, Hakan

2014-01-01

This study is aimed to determine the literacy levels of media and television and the level of addiction of sport consumers filtered out of the students of the School of Physical Education and Sports and to investigate the relationship between these two levels. Sport consumers studying in Mugla University, School of Physical Education and Sports…

Literacy Coaching through Teachers' Lenses: A Phenomenological Study

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Davis, Stephanie Lee

2016-01-01

With the federal initiatives of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, many school districts are employing literacy coaching in their quest to improve reading test scores. This study seeks sought to understand teachers' perceptions of literacy coaching to answer this primary research question: "What meanings do teachers make of literacy…

Climate Literacy Ambassadors

Science.gov (United States)

Ackerman, S. A.; Mooney, M. E.

2011-12-01

The Climate Literacy Ambassadors program is a collaborative effort to advance climate literacy led by the Cooperative Institute of Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With support from NASA, CIMSS is coordinating a three-tiered program to train G6-12 teachers to be Ambassadors of Climate Literacy in their schools and communities. The complete training involves participation at a teacher workshop combined with web-based professional development content around Global and Regional Climate Change. The on-line course utilizes e-learning technology to clarify graphs and concepts from the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Summary for Policy Makers with content intricately linked to the Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science. Educators who take the course for credit can develop lesson plans or opt for a project of their choosing. This session will showcase select lesson plans and projects, ranging from a district-wide action plan that engaged dozens of teachers to Ambassadors volunteering at the Aldo Leopold Climate Change Nature Center to a teacher who tested a GLOBE Student Climate Research Campaign (SCRC) learning project with plans to participate in the SCRC program. Along with sharing successes from the CIMSS Climate Literacy Ambassadors project, we will share lessons learned related to the challenges of sustaining on-line virtual educator communities.

Literacy Education and Interprofessional Collaboration

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Joron Pihl

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to explore inter-professional collaboration in literacy education. It examines factors that facilitate collaboration between teachers and librarians and the contributions to literacy education. The study was designed as a research and development project in multicultural schools in Norway (2007-2011. Its theoretical framework was cultural-historical theory of activity theory, and the theory of expansive learning. The methods were formative intervention, interviews, participant observation, and qualitative and quantitative analysis of student literacy. In the study, interprofessional collaboration made significant contributions to professional development and literacy education. Interprofessional collaboration was developed as a collective learning process. It was facilitated by research interventions, development of a shared object of activity and work with new theoretical concepts and cultural artefacts. The findings indicate that inter-professional collaboration can make important contributions to realization of the mandate of the teaching and library profession.

Rich Language Learning Environment and Young Learners’ Literacy Skills in English

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Luh Putu Artini

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This research aimed at developing rich language learning environment to help elementary school students develop their literacy skills in English. Shortage of professional English teachers in primary school, limited time allocation, as well as the lack of tools and facilities that support English language teaching and learning for young learners had resulted in students’low literacy skills in English. It was tried out in six primary schools across Bali involving 12 teachers and 520 students. The data were collected through questionnaires, observation, interview, English literacy tests, and students’ literacy journals. Research finds that young learners should have the opportunity to learn by doing without too much intervention so that anatural process of learning could occur. The product comprises multiple literacy experiences in the form of five different texts. The findings revealed that the readability of the material was in the category of high. The systematic exposures of these materials to beginner learners of English have been proven to have the significant impact on their literacy skills. Thehighest improvement is found in word level (87,1%, followed by sentence level (56,2%, and discourse level (46,8%. The improvements are all confirmed at the significance level of 0,05. The research also finds that RLLE has the positive impact on the development of self-directed learning skills.

Patient attitudes and preferences regarding literacy screening in ambulatory cancer care clinics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elizabeth A Hahn

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Elizabeth A Hahn1, Sofia F Garcia1, Hongyan Du2, David Cella11Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago; 2Center on Outcomes, Research and Education, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, IL, USAObjectives: To evaluate patient attitudes towards literacy screening, agreement between literacy tests, and associations between literacy, informed consent comprehension, and health-related quality of life (HRQL.Methods: Participants completed three literacy tests, read a sample consent form, and reported their HRQL, experiences, and attitudes.Results: We enrolled 97 cancer patients, of whom 66% were female, 67% were African American, and 65% were high school graduates. Sixty percent of patients with lower reading comprehension had trouble reading health information, and 31% had trouble reading everyday written material. Even patients with higher reading comprehension had trouble reading health information (29% and everyday written material (10%. Low-literacy patients were more likely to feel anxious about literacy screening. However, the majority of patients (84% would be willing to have literacy results given to providers. Comprehension of informed consent increased with higher literacy. There were no HRQL differences.Conclusions: Patients report difficulty comprehending written health information. Literacy assessment is acceptable and it is considered important for providers to be aware of their patients’ reading abilities. Patient preference data should be used to improve literacy testing strategies and measures. Enhancing detection of low literacy can facilitate interventions to reduce health disparities.Keywords: health literacy, screening, informed consent, reading, writing

The View from the Principal's Office: An Observation Protocol Boosts Literacy :eadership

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Novak, Sandi; Houck, Bonnie

2016-01-01

The Minnesota Elementary School Principals' Association offered Minnesota principals professional learning that placed a high priority on literacy instruction and developing a collegial culture. A key component is the literacy classroom visit, an observation protocol used to gather data to determine the status of literacy teaching and student…

A Prospective Curriculum Using Visual Literacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hortin, John A.

This report describes the uses of visual literacy programs in the schools and outlines four categories for incorporating training in visual thinking into school curriculums as part of the back to basics movement in education. The report recommends that curriculum writers include materials pertaining to: (1) reading visual language and…

ICT Literacy of Vocational High School Students

Science.gov (United States)

Miraj, Y. Z.; Rohendi, D.; Yannuar; Nurhabibah; Wendi, H. F.

2018-02-01

The development of information and communication technology (ICT) has brought about change in education in Indonesia. With ICT students can easily access a variety of information in supporting the learning process. But there was a problem where ICT infrastructure across Indonesia including in the uneven Siak Regency, this can lead to gaps in technology and also weak ICT literacy. This research aims to know the ICT literacy of the students of SMK in Siak Regency. The research method used was survey with the quantitative approach. The results of this study showed that the use of ICT (computers, Internet) has been used by students of SMK, but usability of ICT has not been fullest support the learning process.

Environmental analysis applied to schools. Methodologies for data acquisition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andriola, L.; Ceccacci, R.

2001-01-01

The environment analysis is the basis of environmental management for organizations and it is considered as the first step in EMAS. It allows to identify, deal with the issues and have a clear knowledge on environmental performances of organizations. Schools can be included in the organizations. Nevertheless, the complexity of environmental issues and applicable regulations makes very difficult for a school, that wants to implement an environmental management system (EMAS, ISO 14001, etc.), to face this first step. So, it has been defined an instrument, that is easy but complete and coherent with reference standard, to let schools choose their process for elaborating the initial environmental revue. This instrument consists, essentially, in cards that, if completed, facilitate the drafting of the environmental analysis report [it

A Science-Technology-Society Paradigm and Cross River State Secondary School Students' Scientific Literacy: Problem Solving and Decision Making

Science.gov (United States)

Umoren, Grace

2007-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Science-Technology-Society (STS) curriculum on students' scientific literacy, problem solving and decision making. Four hundred and eighty (480) Senior Secondary two science and non-science students were randomly selected from intact classes in six secondary schools in Calabar Municipality of…

Impact of contact on adolescents’ mental health literacy and stigma: the SchoolSpace cluster randomised controlled trial

Science.gov (United States)

Chisholm, Katharine; Patterson, Paul; Torgerson, Carole; Turner, Erin; Jenkinson, David; Birchwood, Max

2016-01-01

Objectives To investigate whether intergroup contact in addition to education is more effective than education alone in reducing stigma of mental illness in adolescents. Design A pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial compared education alone with education plus contact. Blocking was used to randomly stratify classes within schools to condition. Random allocation was concealed, generated by a computer algorithm, and undertaken after pretest. Data was collected at pretest and 2-week follow-up. Analyses use an intention-to-treat basis. Setting Secondary schools in Birmingham, UK. Participants The parents and guardians of all students in year 8 (age 12–13 years) were approached to take part. Interventions A 1-day educational programme in each school led by mental health professional staff. Students in the ‘contact’ condition received an interactive session with a young person with lived experience of mental illness. Outcomes The primary outcome was students’ attitudinal stigma of mental illness. Secondary outcomes included knowledge-based stigma, mental health literacy, emotional well-being and resilience, and help-seeking attitudes. Results Participants were recruited between 1 May 2011 and 30 April 2012. 769 participants completed the pretest and were randomised to condition. 657 (85%) provided follow-up data. At 2-week follow-up, attitudinal stigma improved in both conditions with no significant effect of condition (95% CI −0.40 to 0.22, p=0.5, d=0.01). Significant improvements were found in the education-alone condition compared with the contact and education condition for the secondary outcomes of knowledge-based stigma, mental health literacy, emotional well-being and resilience, and help-seeking attitudes. Conclusions Contact was found to reduce the impact of the intervention for a number of outcomes. Caution is advised before employing intergroup contact with younger student age groups. The education intervention appeared to be successful in

Blue Sky Funders Forum - Advancing Environmental Literacy through Funder Collaboration

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, A.

2015-12-01

The Blue Sky Funders Forum inspires, deepens, and expands private funding and philanthropic leadership to promote learning opportunities that connect people and nature and promote environmental literacy. Being prepared for the future requires all of us to understand the consequences of how we live on where we live - the connection between people and nature. Learning about the true meaning of that connection is a process that starts in early childhood and lasts a lifetime. Blue Sky brings supporters of this work together to learn from one another and to strategize how to scale up the impact of the effective programs that transform how people interact with their surroundings. By making these essential learning opportunities more accessible in all communities, we broaden and strengthen the constituency that makes well-informed choices, balancing the needs of today with the needs of future generations.

Mexican parents' and teachers' literacy perspectives and practices: construction of cultural capital.

Science.gov (United States)

Reese, Leslie; Arauz, Rebeca Mejía; Bazán, Antonio Ray

2012-01-01

This article examines the relationships among the literacy practices engaged in by first-grade children and parents at home and the ways in which these practices are communicated, shaped, and fostered by teachers and administrators in two different sociocultural environments in urban Mexico. The differences observed between the home literacy experiences of children in a working class and a middle class community included transgenerational communication of assumptions regarding literacy and schooling, as well as attitudes associated with the parents' own school experiences. Class-based expectations on the part of teachers not only shaped interactions with parents, but were also reflected in the way the national curriculum was delivered, with a greater emphasis on rote skills and traditional reading instruction in the working class community. The authors argue that the school plays a role in the co-production of cultural capital in the home through its shaping of some of the literacy practices that children and families undertake.

Curricula for Media Literacy Education According to International Experts

Science.gov (United States)

Fedorov, Alexander; Levitskaya, Anastasia; Camarero, Emma

2016-01-01

The article analyzes the results of the international experts' survey regarding the curriculum of media literacy education, which was administrated by the authors in September-October 2015. The expert panel includes specialists actively involved in the real process of media literacy education in schools, universities and other educational…

The "Test of Financial Literacy": Development and Measurement Characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Walstad, William B.; Rebeck, Ken

2017-01-01

The "Test of Financial Literacy" (TFL) was created to measure the financial knowledge of high school students. Its content is based on the standards and benchmarks stated in the "National Standards for Financial Literacy" (Council for Economic Education 2013). The test development process involved extensive item writing and…

Broadening the Conceptualization of Literacy in the Lives of Adults with Intellectual Disability

Science.gov (United States)

Morgan, Michelle F.; Cuskelly, Monica; Moni, Karen B.

2011-01-01

Current pedagogical approaches recognize literacy as a social practice and yet school-based conceptualizations continue to dominate understandings of literacy learning of individuals with intellectual disability. Such understandings lead to local or everyday literacy practices being devalued and overlooked. Thus, for adults with intellectual…

A case study of the development of environmental action projects from the framework of participatory action research within two middle school classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Charmatz, Kim

The purpose of this study was to understand student and teacher empowerment through a socially critical environmental education perspective. The main research question guiding this study was: How do participants make sense of a learning experience in which students design and carry out an environmental action project in their community? This study used participatory action research and critical theory as practical and theoretical frameworks. These frameworks were relevant as this study sought to examine social change, power, and relationships through participants' experiences. The context of this study was within one seventh and one eighth grade classroom participating in environmental projects. The study was conducted in spring 2005 with an additional follow-up data collection period during spring 2006. The school was located in a densely populated metropolitan suburb. Fifty-three students, a teacher researcher, and three science teachers participated. Data sources were written surveys, scores on Middle School Environmental Literacy Survey Instrument (MSELI), observations, interviews, and student work. This study used a mixed methodological approach. Quantitative data analysis involved dependent samples t-test scores on the MSELI before and after the completion of the projects. Qualitative data were analyzed using an inductive analysis approach. This study has implications for educators interested in democratic education. Environmental action projects provide a context for students and teachers to learn interdisciplinary content knowledge, develop personal beliefs, and learn ways to take action in their communities. This pedagogy has the potential to increase cooperation, communication, and tensions within school communities. Students' participation in the development of environmental action projects may lead to feelings of empowerment or being able to make a difference in their community, as an individual or member of a group. Future research is needed to discern

Justifying the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Whitehead

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Criteria for the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools that allow educators to justifywhat they do are described within a wider framework of learning theory and research into bestpractice. Based on a meta-analysis of best practice, results from a three year project designedto evaluate the effectiveness of a secondary school literacy initiative in New Zealand, togetherwith recent research from cognitive and neuro-psychologists, it is argued that the design andselection of literacy and thinking tools used in elementary schools should be consistent with (iteaching focused (ii learner focused, (iii thought linked (iv neurologically consistent, (vsubject specific, (vi text linked, (vii developmentally appropriate, and (viii assessment linkedcriteria.

Environmental Science for All? Considering Environmental Science for Inclusion in the High School Core Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Edelson, Daniel C.

2007-01-01

With the dramatic growth of environmental science as an elective in high schools over the last decade, educators have the opportunity to realistically consider the possibility of incorporating environmental science into the core high school curriculum. Environmental science has several characteristics that make it a candidate for the core…

"So we would all help pitch in:" The family literacy practices of low-income African American mothers of preschoolers.

Science.gov (United States)

Jarrett, Robin L; Hamilton, Megan-Brette; Coba-Rodriguez, Sarai

2015-01-01

The development of emergent literacy skills are important for the development of later literacy competencies and affect school readiness. Quantitative researchers document race- and social class-based disparities in emergent literacy competence between low-income African American and middle-income White children. Some researchers suggest that deficits in parenting practices account for limited literacy skills among low-income African American children. A small body of qualitative research on low-income African American families finds that despite economic challenges, some African American families were actively engaged in promoting child literacy development. Using qualitative interviews that emphasize family strengths, we add to this small body of research to highlight positive family practices obscured in many quantitative analyses that concentrate on family shortcomings. Specifically, we examine in-home literacy practices and child literacy development with a sample of low-income African American mothers (families) of preschoolers. Key findings include identification of various literacy activities promoting child literacy development and inclusion of multiple family members assisting in literacy activities. These findings add to substantive discussions of emergent literacy and resilience. Insights from the qualitative interviews also provide culturally-sensitive recommendations to childhood educators and speech-language pathologists (SLP) who work with low-income African American families and children. Reader should recognize that (1) there is not a 'right' phenotype and therefore not a right form of environmental input and (2) that context matters (at both the level of the cell and the individual organism). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Promoting School and Life Success through Early Childhood Family Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Swick, Kevin J.

2009-01-01

Early childhood family literacy programs have great potential to positively influence children and families. This article presents the core values and key components of high quality early childhood family literacy programs. The benefits and cost effectiveness of these programs are also discussed.

Literacy Practices in the Homes of African American Families and the Perceived Affects on the Language and Literacy Development of Their Children

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Delilah A.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the tenacities, practices, and discourse of family-based literacy practices and their connection in African American families. It scrutinized the influence of the practices of African American families on the multiple contexts of literacy practices in their passageway across the school-community periphery.…

Library and school partnership on the move - a study of second language learners’ early literacy development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Damber Ulla

2015-05-01

Full Text Available A study of eight multicultural suburban Swedish classes forms the backdrop of an analysis of the role of the library in students’ development towards becoming skilled readers. In-depth interviews with five teachers and one librarian involved in the classes provide empirical data, even though background information was collected with mixed research methods. The librarian’s narrative is the primary source of data in this article. The children′s educational trajectory from the preschool class to third grade is in focus. The present meta-analysis highlights the role of the library and the librarian, with respect to linkages made to the children’s overall literacy development. As a tool for analysis critical literacy theory was used, thus extending the influence of the librarian′s participation beyond the actual literacy practice, to the surrounding society. The results indicate that the library played a vital role in several ways, for teachers and students as well as for the parents. The collaboration between the librarian and the teachers started with the librarian having book talks with the children. However, she became a participant in the team’s planning and follow-up activities, linking the worlds in and out of school.

A Study of the Environmental Risk Perceptions and Environmental Awareness Levels of High School Students

Science.gov (United States)

Anilan, Burcu

2014-01-01

This descriptive research was conducted to determine the levels of environmental risk perceptions and environmental awareness of high school students in Eskisehir. High school students in the towns Tepebasi and Odunpazari in the 2010-2011 school years constitute the universe of the research. The sample of the research is composed of 413 high…

Divine Interventions: Needs Analysis for Post-Graduate Academic Literacy and Curriculum Development, in a South African School of Theology

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Fiona

2005-01-01

This paper provides a critical exploration of work in progress to develop a genre based academic support that promotes post-graduate academic literacies among new EIL and EAL Hons and Masters students in the School of Theology, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. It traces the path of an action research project, using an eclectic needs analysis…

A Path Model of Factors Affecting Secondary School Students' Technological Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Avsec, Stanislav; Jamšek, Janez

2018-01-01

Technological literacy defines a competitive vision for technology education. Working together with competitive supremacy, technological literacy shapes the actions of technology educators. Rationalised by the dictates of industry, technological literacy was constructed as a product of the marketplace. There are many models that visualise…

Habituation Model of Implementing Environmental Education in Elementary School

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zaenuri, Z.; Sudarmin, S.; Utomo, Y.

2017-01-01

is designed using a qualitative approach. This study is focused on the implementation of environmental education in primary schools. Data collection uses observation sheet instrument (observation), focused interview, and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The research data were analyzed descriptively. The results......The purpose of this study is to analyze the implementation of environmental education in Elementary School. The study was conducted at SDN 1 Kota Banda Aceh. The research subjects are school residents (students, teachers, education personnel, principals, and school committees). This research...... show that the implementation of environmental education can be realized in habituation to maintain personal hygiene, class cleanliness, and worship together according to his beliefs and sports....

Healthful School Living: Environmental Health in the School.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowe, Daryl E.

1987-01-01

Environmental health, as it relates to schools, is defined. Site, chemical, biological, and physical health hazards are identified. Recommendations and precautions to help achieve optimal health, safety, and comfort are presented. Resources are noted. (Author/MT)

Figured worlds as a lens to explore literacies in transition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Laursen, Helle Pia

For children, beginning school is also a specific transition time which involves transformations of the understanding of what literacy is and negotiations of how they perceive themselves as readers and writers. My presentation will address literacies in transition by studying how children, in the...

The Importance of SES, Home and School Language and Literacy Practices, and Oral Vocabulary in Bilingual Children's English Reading Development

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, Elizabeth R.; Páez, Mariela M.; August, Diane L.; Barr, Christopher D.; Kenyon, Dorry; Malabonga, Valerie

2014-01-01

This study explores the role that socioeconomic status (SES), home and school language and literacy practices, and oral vocabulary play in the development of English reading skills in Latino English language learners (ELLs) and how these factors contribute differentially to English reading outcomes for children of different ages and in different…

Exploring Adult Digital Literacy Using Learners' and Educators' Perceptions and Experiences: The Case of the Second Chance Schools in Greece

Science.gov (United States)

Jimoyiannis, Athanassios; Gravani, Maria

2011-01-01

The research reported in this paper aspires to shed light into adult digital literacy using learners' and educators' experiences and perceptions at Second Chance Schools, a project in Greece aiming at combating social exclusion through education. In exploring the above, this investigation uses a case-study approach within a qualitative paradigm…

Qualitative process evaluation of an Australian alcohol media literacy study: recommendations for designing culturally responsive school-based programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chloe S. Gordon

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Alcohol media literacy programs seek to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of alcohol advertising on children’s drinking intentions and behaviours through equipping them with skills to challenge media messages. In order for such programs to be effective, the teaching and learning experiences must be tailored to their specific cultural context. Media in the Spotlight is an alcohol media literacy program aimed at 9 to 12 year old Australian children. This study evaluates the process and implementation of the program, outlining the factors that facilitated and inhibited implementation. From this evaluation, a pedagogical framework has been developed for health professionals implementing culturally responsive programs in school settings. Methods Process measures included: semi-structured interviews with teachers before and after the program was implemented (n = 11 interviews, program evaluation questionnaires completed by children (n = 166, lesson observations completed by teachers (n = 35 observations, and reflective journal entries completed by the researcher (n = 44 entries. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyse all of the data sets using NVivo. Inductive coding was used, whereby the findings were derived from the research objectives and multiple readings and interpretations of the data. Results Five key pedagogical considerations were identified that facilitated implementation. These were: connecting to the students’ life worlds to achieve cultural significance; empowering students with real-world skills to ensure relevance; ensuring programs are well structured with strong connections to the school curriculum; creating developmentally appropriate activities while providing a range of assessment opportunities; and including hands-on and interactive activities to promote student engagement. Three potential inhibitors to implementing the alcohol media literacy program in upper

Qualitative process evaluation of an Australian alcohol media literacy study: recommendations for designing culturally responsive school-based programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, Chloe S; Kervin, Lisa K; Jones, Sandra C; Howard, Steven J

2017-02-02

Alcohol media literacy programs seek to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of alcohol advertising on children's drinking intentions and behaviours through equipping them with skills to challenge media messages. In order for such programs to be effective, the teaching and learning experiences must be tailored to their specific cultural context. Media in the Spotlight is an alcohol media literacy program aimed at 9 to 12 year old Australian children. This study evaluates the process and implementation of the program, outlining the factors that facilitated and inhibited implementation. From this evaluation, a pedagogical framework has been developed for health professionals implementing culturally responsive programs in school settings. Process measures included: semi-structured interviews with teachers before and after the program was implemented (n = 11 interviews), program evaluation questionnaires completed by children (n = 166), lesson observations completed by teachers (n = 35 observations), and reflective journal entries completed by the researcher (n = 44 entries). A thematic analysis approach was used to analyse all of the data sets using NVivo. Inductive coding was used, whereby the findings were derived from the research objectives and multiple readings and interpretations of the data. Five key pedagogical considerations were identified that facilitated implementation. These were: connecting to the students' life worlds to achieve cultural significance; empowering students with real-world skills to ensure relevance; ensuring programs are well structured with strong connections to the school curriculum; creating developmentally appropriate activities while providing a range of assessment opportunities; and including hands-on and interactive activities to promote student engagement. Three potential inhibitors to implementing the alcohol media literacy program in upper-elementary school classrooms were identified. These included topic

Teacher Perceptions of Music as a Supplemental Teaching Method for Reading and Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Monroe, Ronald J.

2017-01-01

Supplemental instructional methods are needed to help students achieve grade-level proficiency in reading and literacy in inner-city elementary schools. Teachers employ music concepts and skills during literacy instruction as a motivator for students to acquire proficiency in literacy and reading. Interviews, informal observations and focus group…

Impact of the Systemic Approach on Literacy Achievement of Jordanian 1st Graders at Mu'tah University Model School

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Hajaya, Nail

2012-01-01

This study investigates the effect of the systemic approach in literacy achievement of the first grade students at Mu'tah University's Model School. The sample (N = 45) consisted of all first grade students, who were assigned into two groups; a control group taught traditionally while the other group was exposed to the system approach during the…

ANA as part of a comprehensive reading literacy school assessment ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... to report on the results of an exploratory action research study that indicate that the Annual National Assessment is overstepping its boundaries in terms of supporting the development of a systematic, dynamic and effective reading literacy assessment system to address the early literacy skills of foundation phase learners.

A Bull Market for Financial Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Finkel, Ed

2010-01-01

School districts across the country have been taking a harder look at what they are teaching students about financial literacy in the wake of the financial crisis of the past few years, caused in part by excessive credit card and mortgage debt. While economics courses have been common for many years, particularly at the high school level,…

Digital Worlds as Sites of Belonging for Third Culture Kids: A New Literacies Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Hannaford, Jeanette

2016-01-01

Literacies developed in digital worlds are part of the out-of-school experiences that students bring into their classrooms every day. This article, which draws from a multiple case study undertaken in an international school, calls on a sociocultural--new literacies approach to explore identity, discourse and space within the online practices of…

Justifying the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Whitehead

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Criteria for the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools that allow educators to justify what they do are described within a wider framework of learning theory and research into best practice. Based on a meta-analysis of best practice, results from a three year project designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a secondary school literacy initiative in New Zealand, together with recent research from cognitive and neuro-psychologists, it is argued that the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools used in elementary schools should be consistent with (i teaching focused (ii learner focused, (iii thought linked (iv neurologically consistent, (v subject specific, (vi text linked, (vii developmentally appropriate, and (viii assessment linked criteria.

An overview of Grade R literacy teaching and learning in inclusive classrooms in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohangi, Kesh

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Pre-school literacy teaching in Early Childhood Education (ECD inclusive classrooms is crucial in preparing learners for the transition to formal literacy teaching and learning. This article describes a collaborative exploratory research project between a university in South Africa and one in China, in order to gain an overview of early literacy teaching and learning in the two countries. In the case of South Africa, the focus was on Grade R literacy teaching and learning. Teacher participants in three rural schools, three township schools and four inner city schools in Mpumalanga and Gauteng were purposively selected. Data were gathered by means of open-ended questions in a questionnaire, individual interviews with Heads of Departments (HOD and classroom observations. Coding, categorising and identifying themes were manually conducted. Persistent challenges were identified of which limited resources, low socio-economic conditions, English as the language of learning and teaching (LoLT, inadequate teaching strategies used to implement the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS and barriers to learning were highlighted. This overview of early literacy teaching and learning in South Africa served as a precursor for the second phase of the project between the two countries.

Technological literacy of fifth and sixth grade pupils of primary school

OpenAIRE

Keše, Jaka

2016-01-01

The first part of this thesis contains a theoretical description of the importance of technology and technological literacy. It introduces the dimensions and standards of technological literacy for pupils aged 9 to 12, followed by a comparative analysis of the Slovenian curriculums of technical subjects (natural science, technical studies, engineering and technology). The thesis has two goals. The first is to evaluate the technological literacy rates among students in the 5th and 6th grade of...

Needed: Critics of Literacy Education with a More Inclusive Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph Sanacore

2007-02-01

Full Text Available Journalists, book authors, and think tank members have been extremely critical of how literacy is presented in schools. Many of these critics who are inexperienced in literacy education believe that educators are inadequately teaching reading and writing. Those most critical of the “inadequate skills perspective” are usually experts in their respective fields, including neuroscience, speech-language pathology, and educational psychology. Not surprisingly, their fields of expertise are not fine-tuned in the field of literacy. These critics are more likely to promote balanced and constructive criticisms if they (a hold graduate degrees in the areas in which they serve as critics, (b collaborate with colleagues who believe in different points of view, (c maintain rigorous peer-review standards before releasing research findings to the media, (d have practical experience in schools, and (e attend professional development sessions concerning big-picture perspectives and make observations in schools where these perspectives have been effectively implemented.

Promoting Climate And Data Literacy: University Courses Engaging Students In Effective Teaching, Learning, Communication And Outreach Practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Halversen, C.; McDonnell, J. D.; Apple, J. K.; Weiss, E. L.

2016-02-01

Two university courses, 1) Promoting Climate Literacy and 2) Climate and Data Literacy, developed by the University of California Berkeley provide faculty across the country with course materials to help their students delve into the science underlying global environmental change. The courses include culturally responsive content, such as indigenous and place-based knowledge, and examine how people learn and consequently, how we should teach and communicate science. Promoting Climate Literacy was developed working with Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of Washington, and Western Washington University. Climate and Data Literacy was developed with Rutgers University and Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, WA. The Climate and Data Literacy course also focuses on helping students in science majors participating in U-Teach programs and students in pre-service teacher education programs gain skills in using real and near-real time data through engaging in investigations using web-based and locally-relevant data resources. The course helps these students understand and apply the scientific practices, disciplinary concepts and big ideas described in the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). This course focuses on students interested in teaching middle school science for three reasons: (1) teachers often have relatively weak understandings of the practices of science, and of complex Earth systems science and climate change; (2) the concepts that underlie climate change align well with the NGSS; and (3) middle school is a critical time for promoting student interest in science and for recruitment to STEM careers and lifelong climate literacy. This course is now being field tested in a number of U-Teach programs including Florida State University, Louisiana State University, as well as pre-service teacher education programs at California State University East Bay, and Western Washington University

Family Literacy Project: Bilingual Picture Books by English Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Louie, Belinda; Davis-Welton, Karlyn

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to describe a family literacy project involving a partnership of school-aged children and their families with in-service and pre-service teachers enrolled in a university course on literacy instruction for English language learners. This project consists of family members sharing their stories with their children to…

The Effect of Eco-Schools on Children's Environmental Values and Behaviour

Science.gov (United States)

Boeve-de Pauw, Jelle; Van Petegem, Peter

2013-01-01

The study examines the effectiveness of eco-schools concerning their students' environmental values and environmental behaviour, and includes 1287 children from fifty-nine schools (thirty-eight eco-schools and twenty-one control schools) in Flanders. Controlling for effects of gender and socio-economic status, analyses show that eco-schools have…

Reading Success: Validation of a Specialized Literacy Program (1978-2007)

Science.gov (United States)

Idol, Lorna

2010-01-01

Reading Success is an individualized teacher-guided literacy program proven for 663 students who experienced difficulty with reading. The students had learning disabilities, mild mental retardation, and behavior challenges; were at risk for school failure; or were transitioning from speaking Spanish to English and experiencing literacy problems.…

Parents' Engagement in Adult Literacy and its Impact on their ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study examined the positive impact of adults' engagement in literacy classes and its relation to the retention and performance of their children's schooling. It was hypothesized that adults who are pursuing personal goals by engaging and attending literacy classes when perceiving the instrumentality value of the ...

Pokémon GO: Implications for Literacy in the Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Howell, Emily

2017-01-01

This teaching tip gives teachers practical applications of the game Pokémon GO for literacy teaching and learning. The author discusses applications of the game for teaching multimodality in upper elementary-school classrooms. The author situates these applications in relevant theoretical perspectives as well as current literacy research.

The effects of financial education on financial literacy and savings behavior : Evidence from a controlled field experiment in Dutch primary schools

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kalwij, A.S.; Alessie, Rob; Dinkova, M.; Schonewille, Gea; van der Schors, Anna; van der Werf, Minou

In this paper, we report the results of a controlled field experiment designed to estimate the short-term effects of a 45-minute financial education program on financial literacy and savings behavior in Dutch primary schools. Among fifth and sixth graders, the program led to a pre- to posttest

Media Literacy in the Classroom. Aturuxo Films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergio CLAVERO IBÁÑEZ DE GARAYO

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This article tackles the ongoing discussion on the implemetation of media literacy related contents into the education system. It introduces “Aturuxo Films”, an educational project developed within a secondary school curriculum which may be used as a reference point by other learning centres. “Aturuxo Films” has been recognised, amongst others, by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, which awarded it their Media Literacy Prize in 2014.

Imagination, Waldorf, and critical literacies: Possibilities for transformative education in mainstream schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monica Shank

2016-07-01

Full Text Available In the face of transmission-oriented national curricula, this study explores possibilities for claiming space for imagination, as ‘the most powerful and energetic of learning tools’ (Egan 1986, in early childhood education in mainstream Kenyan schools. Drawing from Egan’s work on imagination and Cummins’ Nested Pedagogical Orientations framework, this study interrogates the indispensable role of imagination in transformative education, as well as its utility in the ‘transmission’ of the government curriculum. This study draws insights from an initiative integrating imaginative, Waldorf-inspired pedagogies into mainstream pre-primary and early primary classrooms to explore how imagination-based pedagogies, including storytelling, creative play, poems and verses, drawing and painting, can support the development of critical literacies in young children.

The Effects of In-Nature and Virtual-Nature Field Trip Experiences On Proenvironmental Attitudes and Behaviors, And Environmental Knowledge Of Middle School Students

Science.gov (United States)

Ferderbar, Catherine A.

To develop sustainable solutions to remediate the complex ecological problems of earth's soil, water, and air degradation requires the talents and skills of knowledgeable, motivated people (UNESCO, 1977; UNESCO, 2010). Researchers historically emphasized that time spent in outdoor, nature activities (Wells & Lekies, 2006), particularly with an adult mentor (Chawla & Cushing, 2007), promotes environmental knowledge and nature-relatedness, precursors to environmental literacy. Research has also demonstrated that technology is integral to the lives of youth, who spend 7:38 hours daily (Rideout, et al., 2010), engaged in electronics. Educators would benefit from knowing if in-nature and virtual-nature field trip experiences provide comparable levels of knowledge and connectedness, to nurture student proenvironmentalism. To investigate field trip phenomena, the researcher studied the impact of virtual-nature and in-nature experiences during which students analyzed water quality along Midwestern rivers. The quasi-experimental, mixed method convergent parallel design with a purposeful sample (n=131) of middle school students from two Midwestern K-8 schools, utilized scientist participant observer field records and narrative response, written assessment aligned to field trip content to evaluate knowledge acquisition. To gain insight into student environmental dispositions, participant observers recorded student comments and behaviors throughout field trips. A survey, administered Pre-Treatment, Post-Treatment 1 and Post-Treatment 2, focused on family water-related behaviors and student perceptions of the need for local government water protection. The findings demonstrated both field trips increased content knowledge significantly, with large effect size. Content knowledge gain from one experience transferred to and was augmented by the second experience. Skill gain (technical and observational) varied by type of field trip and did not transfer. Technical skill was often

Secondary School Students' Interests, Attitudes and Values Concerning School Science Related to Environmental Issues in Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Uitto, Anna; Juuti, Kalle; Lavonen, Jari; Byman, Reijo; Meisalo, Veijo

2011-01-01

This paper explores the relationship between students' interests in environmental issues, attitudes to environmental responsibility and biocentric values in school science education. The factors were investigated within the framework of three moderators: gender, school and residential area of the school. The survey was carried out using the…

Patterns of students' computer use and relations to their computer and information literacy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bundsgaard, Jeppe; Gerick, Julia

2017-01-01

Background: Previous studies have shown that there is a complex relationship between students’ computer and information literacy (CIL) and their use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for both recreational and school use. Methods: This study seeks to dig deeper into these complex...... relations by identifying different patterns of students’ school-related and recreational computer use in the 21 countries participating in the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS 2013). Results: Latent class analysis (LCA) of the student questionnaire and performance data from......, raising important questions about differences in contexts. Keywords: ICILS, Computer use, Latent class analysis (LCA), Computer and information literacy....

Association of Various Components of Media Literacy and Adolescent Smoking

Science.gov (United States)

Primack, Brian A.; Hobbs, Renee

2009-01-01

Objective: To determine which specific aspects of media literacy were most strongly associated with smoking outcomes. Methods: Students at a public high school responded to cross-sectional survey items measuring smoking outcomes, components of media literacy, and other variables. Results: Of the 1211 participants, 19% were current smokers (N =…

Coaching to Support Disciplinary Literacy Instruction: Navigating Complexity and Challenges for Sustained Teacher Change

Science.gov (United States)

Di Domenico, Paula M.; Elish-Piper, Laurie; Manderino, Michael; L'Allier, Susan K.

2018-01-01

This study investigated how a high school literacy coach provided coaching to support teachers' understanding and implementation of disciplinary literacy instruction. With a focus on collaborations between the literacy coach and teachers in the disciplines of social studies, math, and English, this article presents three case studies that…

Literacy through Photography: Multimodal and Visual Literacy in a Third Grade Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Wiseman, Angela M.; Mäkinen, Marita; Kupiainen, Reijo

2016-01-01

This article reports findings from a diverse third grade classroom that integrates a literacy through photography (LTP) curriculum as a central component of writing instruction in an urban public school. A case study approach was used in order to provide an in-depth, multi-dimensional consideration of phenomena by drawing on multiple data sources…

The Resilient Schools Consortium (RiSC): Linking Climate Literacy, Resilience Thinking and Service Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Branco, B. F.; Fano, E.; Adams, J.; Shon, L.; Zimmermann, A.; Sioux, H.; Gillis, A.

2017-12-01

Public schools and youth voices are largely absent from climate resilience planning and projects in New York City. Additionally, research shows that U.S. science teachers' understanding of climate science is lacking, hence there is not only an urgent need to train and support teachers on both the science and pedagogy of climate change, but to link climate literacy, resilience thinking and service learning in K-12 education. However, research on participation of students and teachers in authentic, civic-oriented experiences points to increased engagement and learning outcomes in science. The Resilient Schools Consortium (RiSC) Project will address all these needs through an afterschool program in six coastal Brooklyn schools that engages teachers and urban youth (grades 6-12), in school and community climate resilience assessment and project design. The RiSC climate curriculum, co-designed by New York City school teachers with Brooklyn College, the National Wildlife Federation, New York Sea Grant and the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay, will begin by helping students to understand the difference between climate and weather. The curriculum makes extensive use of existing resources such as NOAA's Digital Coast and the Coastal Resilience Mapping Portal. Through a series of four modules over two school years, the six RiSC teams will; 1. explore and understand the human-induced drivers of climate change and, particularly, the significant climate and extreme weather related risks to their schools and surrounding communities; 2. complete a climate vulnerability assessment within the school and the community that is aligned to OneNYC - the city's resilience planning document; 3. design and execute a school-based resilience project; and 4. propose resilience guidelines for NYC Department of Education schools. At the end of each school year, the six RiSC teams will convene a RiSC summit with city officials and resilience practitioners to share ideas and

Classroom Promotion of Oral Language (CPOL): protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial of a school-based intervention to improve children’s literacy outcomes at grade 3, oral language and mental health

Science.gov (United States)

Goldfeld, Sharon; Snow, Pamela; Eadie, Patricia; Munro, John; Gold, Lisa; Le, Ha N D; Orsini, Francesca; Shingles, Beth; Lee, Katherine; Connell, Judy; Watts, Amy

2017-01-01

Introduction Oral language and literacy competence are major influences on children’s developmental pathways and life success. Children who do not develop the necessary language and literacy skills in the early years of school then go on to face long-term difficulties. Improving teacher effectiveness may be a critical step in lifting oral language and literacy outcomes. The Classroom Promotion of Oral Language trial aims to determine whether a specifically designed teacher professional learning programme focusing on promoting oral language can lead to improved teacher knowledge and practice, and advance outcomes in oral language and literacy for early years school children, compared with usual practice. Methods and analysis This is a two-arm cluster multisite randomised controlled trial conducted within Catholic and Government primary schools across Victoria, Australia. The intervention comprises 4 days of face-to-face professional learning for teachers and ongoing implementation support via a specific worker. The primary outcome is reading ability of the students at grade 3, and the secondary outcomes are teacher knowledge and practice, student mental health, reading comprehension and language ability at grade 1; and literacy, writing and numeracy at grade 3. Economic evaluation will compare the incremental costs of the intervention to the measured primary and secondary outcomes. Ethics and dissemination This trial was approved by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee #CF13/2634-2013001403 and later transferred to the University of Melbourne #1545540. The investigators (including Government and Catholic partners) will communicate trial results to stakeholders, collaborators and participating schools and teachers via appropriate presentations and publications. Trial registration number ISRCTN77681972; Pre-results. PMID:29162571

A model for evaluating the environmental benefits of elementary school facilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Changyoon; Hong, Taehoon; Jeong, Kwangbok; Leigh, Seung-Bok

2014-01-01

In this study, a model that is capable of evaluating the environmental benefits of a new elementary school facility was developed. The model is composed of three steps: (i) retrieval of elementary school facilities having similar characteristics as the new elementary school facility using case-based reasoning; (ii) creation of energy consumption and material data for the benchmark elementary school facility using the retrieved similar elementary school facilities; and (iii) evaluation of the environmental benefits of the new elementary school facility by assessing and comparing the environmental impact of the new and created benchmark elementary school facility using life cycle assessment. The developed model can present the environmental benefits of a new elementary school facility in terms of monetary values using Environmental Priority Strategy 2000, a damage-oriented life cycle impact assessment method. The developed model can be used for the following: (i) as criteria for a green-building rating system; (ii) as criteria for setting the support plan and size, such as the government's incentives for promoting green-building projects; and (iii) as criteria for determining the feasibility of green building projects in key business sectors. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Literacy competence based on fiction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Broström, Stig

tool towards children's general Bildung and more specific development of literacy competence in the first years of school, in 2007 we carried out an investigation about fiction as a part of mother-tongue teaching and the process of children's learning to read. Via the investigation and general studies...... we want to get more knowledge ablout following questions:   How to define fiction which holds a personal and language "Bildung"? How to define the importance of fiction related to children's literacy competence? What kind of fiction do teachers use? How do teachers mediate fiction, how and in what...... extend do teachers make use of drawing and play activities? How to find a balance between to maintain the aesthetical and narrative methods and expressions AND gaining a literacy competence?   This paper has focus on the fourth question....

Measuring Ocean Literacy: What teens understand about the ocean using the Survey of Ocean Literacy and Engagement (SOLE)

Science.gov (United States)

Greely, T. M.; Lodge, A.

2009-12-01

Ocean issues with conceptual ties to science and global society have captured the attention, imagination, and concern of an international audience. Climate change, over fishing, marine pollution, freshwater shortages and alternative energy sources are a few ocean issues highlighted in our media and casual conversations. The ocean plays a role in our life in some way everyday, however, disconnect exists between what scientists know and the public understands about the ocean as revealed by numerous ocean and coastal literacy surveys. While the public exhibits emotive responses through care, concern and connection with the ocean, there remains a critical need for a baseline of ocean knowledge. However, knowledge about the ocean must be balanced with understanding about how to apply ocean information to daily decisions and actions. The present study analyzed underlying factors and patterns contributing to ocean literacy and reasoning within the context of an ocean education program, the Oceanography Camp for Girls. The OCG is designed to advance ocean conceptual understanding and decision making by engagement in a series of experiential learning and stewardship activities from authentic research settings in the field and lab. The present study measured a) what understanding teens currently hold about the ocean (content), b) how teens feel toward the ocean environment (environmental attitudes and morality), and c) how understanding and feelings are organized when reasoning about ocean socioscientific issues (e.g. climate change, over fishing, energy). The Survey of Ocean Literacy and Engagement (SOLE), was used to measure teens understanding about the ocean. SOLE is a 57-item survey instrument aligned with the Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts of Ocean Literacy (NGS, 2007). Rasch analysis was used to refine and validate SOLE as a reasonable measure of ocean content knowledge (reliability, 0.91). Results revealed that content knowledge and environmental

Impact of contact on adolescents' mental health literacy and stigma: the SchoolSpace cluster randomised controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Chisholm, Katharine; Patterson, Paul; Torgerson, Carole; Turner, Erin; Jenkinson, David; Birchwood, Max

2016-02-19

To investigate whether intergroup contact in addition to education is more effective than education alone in reducing stigma of mental illness in adolescents. A pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial compared education alone with education plus contact. Blocking was used to randomly stratify classes within schools to condition. Random allocation was concealed, generated by a computer algorithm, and undertaken after pretest. Data was collected at pretest and 2-week follow-up. Analyses use an intention-to-treat basis. Secondary schools in Birmingham, UK. The parents and guardians of all students in year 8 (age 12-13 years) were approached to take part. A 1-day educational programme in each school led by mental health professional staff. Students in the 'contact' condition received an interactive session with a young person with lived experience of mental illness. The primary outcome was students' attitudinal stigma of mental illness. Secondary outcomes included knowledge-based stigma, mental health literacy, emotional well-being and resilience, and help-seeking attitudes. Participants were recruited between 1 May 2011 and 30 April 2012. 769 participants completed the pretest and were randomised to condition. 657 (85%) provided follow-up data. At 2-week follow-up, attitudinal stigma improved in both conditions with no significant effect of condition (95% CI -0.40 to 0.22, p=0.5, d=0.01). Significant improvements were found in the education-alone condition compared with the contact and education condition for the secondary outcomes of knowledge-based stigma, mental health literacy, emotional well-being and resilience, and help-seeking attitudes. Contact was found to reduce the impact of the intervention for a number of outcomes. Caution is advised before employing intergroup contact with younger student age groups. The education intervention appeared to be successful in reducing stigma, promoting mental health knowledge, and increasing mental health literacy, as

The Effectiveness of Project-based E-learning to Improve Ict Literacy

OpenAIRE

Eliana, E. D. S; Senam, Senam; Wilujeng, I; Jumadi, Jumadi

2016-01-01

This study aims to reveal the effectiveness of science teaching based on project-based learning to improve ICT literacy learners in the junior high school with the category of high, medium and low. This research uses descriptive method to describe the students’ equipness of ICT literacy in the science learning based on the project-based learning that is integrated with e-learning. All of the population in this study are junior high school of curriculum pilot project in 2013 in Singkawang. The...

Classroom Promotion of Oral Language (CPOL): protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial of a school-based intervention to improve children's literacy outcomes at grade 3, oral language and mental health.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldfeld, Sharon; Snow, Pamela; Eadie, Patricia; Munro, John; Gold, Lisa; Le, Ha N D; Orsini, Francesca; Shingles, Beth; Lee, Katherine; Connell, Judy; Watts, Amy

2017-11-20

Oral language and literacy competence are major influences on children's developmental pathways and life success. Children who do not develop the necessary language and literacy skills in the early years of school then go on to face long-term difficulties. Improving teacher effectiveness may be a critical step in lifting oral language and literacy outcomes. The Classroom Promotion of Oral Language trial aims to determine whether a specifically designed teacher professional learning programme focusing on promoting oral language can lead to improved teacher knowledge and practice, and advance outcomes in oral language and literacy for early years school children, compared with usual practice. This is a two-arm cluster multisite randomised controlled trial conducted within Catholic and Government primary schools across Victoria, Australia. The intervention comprises 4 days of face-to-face professional learning for teachers and ongoing implementation support via a specific worker. The primary outcome is reading ability of the students at grade 3, and the secondary outcomes are teacher knowledge and practice, student mental health, reading comprehension and language ability at grade 1; and literacy, writing and numeracy at grade 3. Economic evaluation will compare the incremental costs of the intervention to the measured primary and secondary outcomes. This trial was approved by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee #CF13/2634-2013001403 and later transferred to the University of Melbourne #1545540. The investigators (including Government and Catholic partners) will communicate trial results to stakeholders, collaborators and participating schools and teachers via appropriate presentations and publications. ISRCTN77681972; Pre-results. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

STEM LEARNING IN MATERIAL OF TEMPERATURE AND ITS CHANGE TO IMPROVE SCIENTIFIC LITERACY OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

OpenAIRE

N. Khaeroningtyas; A. Permanasari; I. Hamidah

2016-01-01

This research aims to determine the improvement of students’ scientific literacy after STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning using 6E Learning by DesignTM Model on temperature and its changes material. The research was conducted in SMP Negeri (State Junior High School) 1 Bumiayu in the academic year 2015/2016. The method used was quasi-experimental design with The Matching Only - pretest posttest control group design. This study used two group of experiment group o...

Research partnership between South Africa and China: Emergent literacy teaching and learning in early childhood education in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nel, Norma

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Due to concern about the literacy situation in South Africa (schools being near the bottom of the international systemic measures of performance in literacy, and the important role that literacy plays in China, the researchers of both countries embarked on a collaborative research project. The overall aim is to explore the literacy perceptions and classroom practices of teachers in primary schools in both countries. In this article, the second of a series, the researchers explored Grade R teachers’ attitudes towards reading literacy in primary schools and what the reading-literacy teaching practices are that they employ, with particular emphasis on reading comprehension. The expected outcome was to provide an overview of the literacy situation in Grade R in South Africa as a precursor for the next phase of the project. An exploratory, mixed methods design was employed of which the quantitative part is reported in this article. Grade R teachers were selected from ten schools which had Grade R classrooms in two cities in Gauteng Province and one city in Mpumalanga Province. Data was collected through the use of questionnaires. The statistical analyses were conducted using the SAS/STATS module of the Statistical Software System (SAS, version 9.4 statistical package. The findings are presented as part of the overview.

Inclusive Literacy Teaching: Differentiating Approaches in Multilingual Elementary Classrooms. Language and Literacy Series