Potential for play in a primary literacy curriculum

Abstract

The benefits of play in the learning and development of young children has long been recognized by researchers and early childhood educators. As new teachers face the challenges of increasingly diverse classrooms, in an increasingly demanding political climate, the potential of play has implications for teacher educators who prepare those new teachers. This study investigated literacy use during play in the researcher's culturally diverse first grade classroom, finding that children applied various functions of print, practiced skills, and explored concepts that had been introduced in the formal curriculum. These observations reinforce the notion that play encompasses many of the conditions necessary for literacy development and is a useful means of extending and supporting the formal literacy curriculum. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.     

谈精品课程建设

前一阶段学习了教育部周济部长关于<以"质量工程"为抓手,全面提高教育质量>的讲话,研读了教育部高教司张尧学司长<扎实推进"质量工程"抓紧抓实精品课建设>一文,深有感触和体会.     

Talk in the primary curriculum: seeking pupil empowerment in current curriculum approaches

At the time of writing, primary English education is, once again, at a crossroads. Within the context of a continuing focus on underachievement in writing for key groups of learners and a large body of research, which suggests that classroom talk is a powerful means of improving children's success in all areas of the curriculum including writing, this article considers two current approaches to talk in the primary curriculum – Talk for Writing and Towards Dialogic Teaching. In doing so, it critically analyses these texts through the theoretical lens of education as social reproduction with a view to identifying their ideological assumptions about the purpose of talk in the curriculum. Discussion considers how such assumptions may influence classroom practice and contribute to the teachers’ understanding of the role of oracy within the primary classroom. The article concludes that whilst both texts might suggest a socially reproductive approach to education, both have the potential to empower the learner through the skilful implementation of oracy as the foundation of teaching and learning.     

略论大学生素质教育课程体系的构建

大学生素质教育课程体系的构建包括：构建大学生素质教育课程体系的内容;规范素质教育选修课课程建设.完善大学生素质教育课程建设的举措为：以提高素质教育教学质量为目标;强化应用对策研究,提高素质教育研究的时效性;以基础研究为主,在提高决策服务上有所建树;重视素质教育实践实训,提升大学生创造性思维;以激励措施为途径,提升师生素质.     

论精品课程的特征

"一流性"是精品课程最突出的特性和最重要的内涵,"五个一流"是精品课程的高层次与高水平特征;"先进性"是精品课程高质量和高水平的体现,"四项先进"是精品课程的高质量与示范性特征;"特色性"作为精品课程独有的风格和不可替代的品质,"三大特色"是精品课程的独特性与创新性特征。     

Staff meetings: Planning meaningful curriculum

Young children of the 80s feel a lack of involvement of significant others in their lives. They perceive the world as a place where important adults are not seriously involved in their lives even if the same adults would describe themselves as being very caring about their children. The reasons for this perception were developed in a Children of the 80s seminar at California State University, Fresno recently.Doris O. Smith is Coordinator of the Early Childhood Education Program of the School of Education and Human Development at California State University in Fresno.     

Interdisciplinary primary school curriculum units for sustainable development

Abstract

Education for sustainable development (ESD) provides crucial opportunities for young people to be involved in complex sustainability issues. This study contributes to existing knowledge about primary school teachers’ approaches to ESD across a range of subjects. Norwegian schools can join the Sustainable Backpack programme (SBP), which supports teachers to develop projects that promote a holistic understanding of sustainable development across school subjects. The present study set out to examines teachers’ interdisciplinary approach to ESD and the SBP teachers’ perceptions of how their curriculum units promote environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development. The study is a multi-case study, with curriculum units designed for students aged 10-13?years from 14 Norwegian schools. Content analysis suggest that the units used several subjects to ESD, but the teachers could have challenged the students’ reflection to a greater extent in terms of argumentation and critical thinking. The units succeeded to some extent in pursuing a holistic approach.     

以精品课程为龙头推进课程质量建设——绵阳师范学院课程质量建设的探索与实践

课程是教和学的纽带,是师生的互动平台,课程建设是质量工程的中心内容之一。绵阳师范学院在长期的探索中,走出了一条"以精品课程为龙头,阶梯式建设,整体性推进"的课程建设思路,并在课程建设中坚持"重建设,严过程,提质量"的原则,有力地提升了课程质量,确保了育人质量的提高。     

Mind the gap: vocabulary development in the primary curriculum

In the context of an on-going project emphasising the centrality of speaking and listening in the primary curriculum, the present article turns to vocabulary development: to the wide differences characterising primary age children in this regard, to their consequent unequal access to the wider curriculum, and to means by which such deficiencies may be addressed. This article reports how, given a variety of in-service supports, teachers in a small group of schools undertook to define relevant aims and objectives and to include a range of appropriate approaches in their teaching. Particular emphasis was placed upon active and ‘explicit’ vocabulary instruction. The viability and effectiveness of the strategies employed were assessed through analysis of a range of collected data; numerous examples of which are presented and evaluated here. This article concludes by reviewing such matters from teachers’ as well as pupils’ perspectives, and by emphasising the role of explicit instruction within the various approaches discussed.     

Weaving curriculum webs: Planning,guiding, and recording curriculum activities in the day care classroom

One Monday morning, Sandra walked into her day care classroom with a heavy box filled with rocks. She announced with pleasure to her four- and five-year-old classmates that she had begun a rock collection. Other children quickly came over and began making comments about the colors and sizes of the rocks and about rocks they had found themselves.Diane E. Levin is Associate Professor of Education at Wheelock College in Boston, MA.     

大学语文课程的人文素养教育

研究当代大学生人文素养问题,探讨通过加强大学语文教学,培养和提高学生的人文素养,通过改进大学语文教学,达到提升学生人文素养的目标。     

Planning, teaching and assessing the curriculum for pupils with learning difficulties: curriculum guidelines to support the revised National Curriculum

In this article, Ian Colwill and Nick Peacey provide an authoritative commentary on the publication of QCA's guidelines on developing the curriculum for pupils with learning difficulties. They link these guidelines to the recent review of the National Curriculum and identify some of the key contributions these guidelines can make to planning, teaching and assessment. The authors conclude by raising some challenging issues for future practice and enquiry.
Ian Colwill and Nick Peacey were both principal managers at QCA with responsibility for Curriculum Co-ordination and Support and Equal Opportunities and Access respectively. They co-chaired the Steering Group for the curriculum guidelines project. Ian Colwill supervised the production of the booklets and the website.     

Managing the primary curriculum: policy into practice in England

This paper reports on research into how effective non‐statutory guidance has been in managing the primary science curriculum in England. A small‐scale qualitative study was used to elicit the views of teachers, local education authority advisors, an Ofsted inspector and a policy‐maker. The findings indicate that the guidance is influencing the management of primary science teaching at both national and local level. The use of this guidance has been supported nationally and individual schools have found it supportive. The effect of this policy on pupil learning has still to be investigated by further classroom observational studies. It is also hypothesised that the long‐term effect of this guidance could be stagnation and a lack of creativity and this needs further study. Has this guidance reached the end of its useful life? Does it need replacing or are primary science teachers now in a position of not needing such support?