Literacy and Numeracy Events in Social Interactive Contexts

Experiences relevant to emergent literacy and numeracy in 2‐year‐ old and 3‐year‐old children were examined in 10public nurseries. The research was guided by three aims, ie. to describe the frequency and variety of such experiences and investigate the contexts in which they occur; to gauge the quality of the experiences in terms of the type of adult‐child interaction in which they are embedded: and to examine variation between nurseries with regard to the frequency of relevant experience. Observations showed numeracy experiences to be infrequent relative to literacy experiences; both were highly context‐ dependent and related to adult input. Variation between the nurseries on a number of measures was examined and showed consistent patterns between variables relating to staff background and nursery organisation on the one hand and the frequency of literacy and numeracy experiences provided for children on the other. In those nurseries with smaller groups, more effectively implemented staff‐child assignment systems and younger staff, the children were more frequently observed involved in some kind of literacy or numeracy experience, and more often seen having positive and less often negative interaction with adults around these experiences. The importance of the interactive basis of early learning is stressed by these findings.     

Parent and School Partnerships in Supporting Literacy and Numeracy

This study examined home literacy and numeracy practices. It also focused on the roles of home and school in fostering Year 3 children's literacy and numeracy development in Australian schools. A parent survey of 95 parents from four schools, and focus interviews of parents, teachers and a school administrator within one school, provided the data for this study. Results showed that parents helped their children with literacy and numeracy at home. Most of this assistance is given with reading, some with writing and some with routine mathematics. Both parents and school personnel held the children's learning interests at heart and advocated for the formation of parent/school partnerships. Yet the discourses relating to school and home roles for assisting children's literacy and numeracy development provided contrasting views. Implications for school personnel are drawn from the results of this study.     

澳大利亚全国读写计算能力考评计划述评

全国读写计算能力考评计划是澳大利亚学业成就评价改革的重要举措。其旨在促进澳大利亚课程标准的统一,提高学生学业成绩跨州跨地区的可比性,提升澳大利亚教育体质的透明度。其启示在于:作为全国性的学业成就考试必须公正、透明;学业成就评价的信息来源应该是多渠道的,不应将考评结果作为惟一的参考依据;全国性的学业成就评价的考评报告内容应翔实,应充分反映学生具体的学业水平;学业成就考评报告应立足多元化。     

Theoretical and Practical Integration of Literacy and Numeracy in a University Academic Programme

Abstract

This paper reports on research into the enhancement of generic skills in academic numeracy in the context of an Australian university teacher education programme. The project addressed issues of what constitutes academic numeracy, the design and implementation of appropriate numeracy strategies, and how best to integrate tertiary literacy and numeracy in university courses. This paper presents an overview of the key stages of the project, and the development of its outcomes. The major outcome is a framework for academic numeracy, which is a means for identifying and describing the numeracy demands of academic texts and tasks.     

Computer Literacy:

No abstract available for this article.     

Numeracy and Literacy in a Bilingual Context: Indigenous Teachers Education in Brazil

This paper presents the results of a study developed in the context of indigenous teachers education from Xingu Indian Park, Brazil. The indigenous bilingual (or multilingual in some cases) teachers that participated in this education program were from 14 ethnic groups. The research focused on a mathematics textbook production, written in indigenous language by indigenous teachers to be used at schools in the Park. The paper discusses the numeracy-literacy practices in this process and focuses on the meanings, values and ways of use that are related to numbers, writing and drawing. In particular, mathematics problems written by the indigenous teachers (in indigenous language and Portuguese) are analyzed. The analysis shows how aspects of orality influence the writing of these problems.     

Computer Literacy:

No abstract available for this article.     

The Multiple Subfunctions of Attention: Differential Developmental Gateways to Literacy and Numeracy

Attention is construed as multicomponential, but the roles of its distinct subfunctions in shaping the broader developing cognitive landscape are poorly understood. The current study assessed 3‐ to 6‐year‐olds (N = 83) to: (a) trace developmental trajectories of attentional processes and their structure in early childhood and (b) measure the impact of distinct attention subfunctions on concurrent and longitudinal abilities related to literacy and numeracy. Distinct trajectories across attention measures revealed the emergence of 2 attentional factors, encompassing “executive” and “sustained–selective” processes. Executive attention predicted concurrent abilities across domains at Time 1, whereas sustained–selective attention predicted basic numeracy 1 year later. These concurrent and longitudinal constraints cast a broader light on the unfolding relations between domain‐general and domain‐specific processes over early childhood.     

Little Evidence That Socioeconomic Status Modifies Heritability of Literacy and Numeracy in Australia

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been found to moderate the influence of genes and the environment on cognitive ability, such that genetic influence is greater when SES is higher, and the shared environment is greater when SES is lower, but not in all Western countries. The effects of both family and school SES on the heritability of literacy and numeracy in Australian twins aged 8, 10, 12, and 14 years with 1,307, 1,235, 1,076, and 930 pairs at each age, respectively, were tested. Shared environmental influences on Grade 3 literacy were greater with low family SES, and no other moderating effects of SES were significant. These findings are contrasted with results from the United States and the United Kingdom.     

Computer Literacy as Ideology

Some of the most prominent policies in schools throughout the industrialized world today relate to the rapid introduction of computers. The most common rationale for introducing educational microcomputing is the concept of ‘computer literacy’. It is a concept, however, which is so poorly defined and delineated, and so unclear as to purpose and procedure, that it may best be investigated as a form of ideology. The justificatory arguments for computers in classrooms are primarily vocational or practical. They are based on assumptions that computers will be pervasive in the workplace of the future, or that they are soon going to be ‘everywhere’. The more purely pedagogical arguments are secondary: that learning about computers is a worthwhile experience in and of itself, and that computers can be useful productivity tools for other academic work. Drawing upon empirical evidence from an evaluation of computer use in two Canadian high schools, this paper shows how a critical treatment of computer literacy as ideology raises important issues about the computerization of education. It suggests that educators should question whether they have simply taken the ideology of computer literacy at face value, and whether this almost universal policy has received the critical attention it deserves.     

Front Row Seats: What We've Learned from the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies in England

As the OISE/UT team has followed the literacyand numeracy reforms in England, they have beenexamining them in relation to large-scalereform using a model that considers both thepolicy levers and the local challengesassociated with any attempt to change schoolson a massive scale. In this paper, the authorsdescribe their findings from the first twoyears of what will be a four-year project. Theyconclude that the National Strategies forLiteracy and Numeracy have made significantchanges in primary education throughout Englandin a remarkably short period of time. Thechanges, however, are not yet deep-seatedenough to continue without consistent pressureand support. The next phase of NLS and NNSreform is crucial because it involves deepeningthe teaching practices in classrooms andschools, ensuring that other areas of thecurriculum are progressing apace and, attendingto the generic aspects of the broader structureof the profession.     

The impact of interactive whiteboards on teacher—pupil interaction in the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies

The study set out to investigate the impact of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) on teacher—pupil interaction at Key Stage 2 in the teaching of literacy and numeracy. As part of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies, IWBs have been made widely available as a pedagogic tool for promoting interactive whole class teaching. In order to investigate their impact, the project looked specifically at the interactive styles used by a national sample of primary teachers. A total of 184 lessons were observed over a two‐year period. Using a computerised observation schedule, teachers were observed in literacy and numeracy lessons, with and without an IWB. The findings suggest that IWBs appear to be having some impact on the discourse moves used in whole class teaching, but this impact is not as extensive as that claimed by the advocates of IWBs. Lessons which used IWBs had a faster pace and less time was spent on group work. The implications of the findings for classroom pedagogy, teachers' professional development and future research priorities are considered.     

摭谈卓越工程师的计算机科学素养培养

根据新一轮《计算机基础课程教学基本要求》,从我国公民的科学素养调查情况出发,以省属本科高校福建工程学院为例,分析了计算机基础教育现状,提出构建"一主两翼"的课程体系和"三层次四领域"知识体系。提倡将计算思维、信息素养等理念植入计算机教育课堂,进行有针对性的教学模式改进,以培养和提升卓越工程师的计算机科学素养。     

Numeracy for everyone

Most techniques in statistics are used in many disciplines besides ecology and have a wide range of applications from anthropology to zoology. They are used in industry, agriculture, social sciences and business. That is why we have called this series ’Numeracy for Everyone’. In the forthcoming parts, we will discuss applications of statistics in some of these fields. But some techniques are developed specially for ecological problems. Let us briefly look at a selection of those techniques.     

Implementing Computer Literacy in Our Schools:

No abstract available for this article.     

Computer Literacy for the 1990s:

No abstract available for this article.