La integración de los niños sordos en el sistema escolar. El caso de Adela G.

Resumen

Este artículo intenta mostrar la integration escolar de los niños sordos desde un enfoque distinto de los cánones corrientes. Nuestro interés no se centra exclusivamente en el rendimiento escolar ni en el rendimiento logopédico, sino que procuramos insertar estos aspectos en una perspectiva etnográfica y diacrónica donde estudiamos a la persona evolucionando en los distintos medios sociales en que se desenvuelve.

A través de este análisis apuntamos a la elaboración de una metodología que permita comprender la integración socioescolar de estos niños, más allá de la sintomatologia del déficit y de los sistemas tradicionales de evaluación del rendimiento escolar.     

Science curricula design: analysis of authors’ ideological and pedagogical principles

The study analyses the extent to which the sociological message transmitted by the Official Pedagogic Discourse of the curriculum for Portuguese middle schools contains the ideological and pedagogical principles of its authors. The research is epistemologically and sociologically grounded, placing particular emphasis on Bernstein theory of pedagogic discourse. The ideological principles underlie broad educational aims and the pedagogical principles underlie characteristics of the pedagogic practice. Data was obtained through a semi‐structured interview with the authors and documental analysis of their publications. The results suggest that the authors were distinct in the ideological and pedagogical principles they valued and that discontinuities were evident between those principles and the curriculum message. These results are discussed and their consequences in terms of scientific learning are explored.     

Ubiquitous computing in sports: A review and analysis

Abstract

Ubiquitous (pervasive) computing is a term for a synergetic use of sensing, communication and computing. Pervasive use of computing has seen a rapid increase in the current decade. This development has propagated in applied sport science and everyday life.

The work presents a survey of recent developments in sport and leisure with emphasis on technology and computational techniques. A detailed analysis on new technological developments is performed. Sensors for position and motion detection, and such for equipment and physiological monitoring are discussed. Aspects of novel trends in communication technologies and data processing are outlined.

Computational advancements have started a new trend – development of smart and intelligent systems for a wide range of applications – from model-based posture recognition to context awareness algorithms for nutrition monitoring. Examples particular to coaching and training are discussed. Selected tools for monitoring rules' compliance and automatic decision-making are outlined. Finally, applications in leisure and entertainment are presented, from systems supporting physical activity to systems providing motivation.

It is concluded that the emphasis in future will shift from technologies to intelligent systems that allow for enhanced social interaction as efforts need to be made to improve user-friendliness and standardisation of measurement and transmission protocols.     

Teacher education,graduates’ teaching commitment and entrance into the teaching profession

This study aimed to gain insight into the relationship between teacher education and graduating teachers (not) starting in the teaching profession (n=209). Predictor variables referred to teacher education, integration into teaching, and teaching commitment. To examine interrelationships between these variables, factors were also interlinked to test a theoretical model of graduates’ teaching commitment. Results reveal that graduates’ teaching commitment is strongly related to their entrance into the teaching profession. Furthermore, the perception of mentor teachers’ evaluative support is directly related to teaching commitment and other variables (e.g. faculty support, type of teacher training) are indirectly related through the mediation with graduates’ teacher efficacy and professional orientation.     

Enhancing teachers’ self-efficacy within full-service schools: a disregarded aspect by the District-Based Support Team

Teachers’ sense of self-efficacy is crucial for the success of implementation of inclusive education in schools. The Education White paper 6 mandated the District-Based Support Teams (DBSTs) to successfully support teachers to feel more equipped and be competent in their roles to address barriers to learning, which consequently will experience positive self-efficacy beliefs. The purpose of this article is to explore the competencies of the DBST in enhancing teachers’ sense of self-efficacy within Full-Service schools. Data were generated by means of interviews using a qualitative approach. Members of the DBST and teachers from the Full-Service schools in two provinces of South Africa participated in this research. The findings revealed that certain factors such as incompetent leadership, inefficient support, unavailability of structured programmes as well as poor communication and cooperation disable DBSTs with respect to enhancing teachers’ sense of self-efficacy in various ways. The authors recommend that by addressing these factors teachers’ sense of self-efficacy will be enhanced.     

A Teaching-Learning Sequence of Colour Informed by History and Philosophy of Science

In this work, we present a teaching-learning sequence on colour intended to a pre-service elementary teacher programme informed by History and Philosophy of Science. Working in a socio-constructivist framework, we made an excursion on the history of colour. Our excursion through history of colour, as well as the reported misconception on colour helps us to inform the constructions of the teaching-learning sequence. We apply a questionnaire both before and after each of the two cycles of action-research in order to assess students’ knowledge evolution on colour and to evaluate our teaching-learning sequence. Finally, we present a discussion on the persistence of deep-rooted alternative conceptions.     

Students’ interests for personalized learning: an analysis guide

The lack of alignment between, on the one hand, what schools seek to teach and, on the other, the students’ interests and learning objectives is leading to increasing numbers of students who are unable to derive meaning from school activities. Personalized learning strategies represent one of the most powerful ways to help students attribute meaning and personal value to their learning. This paper has two interrelated objectives. The first is to present a guide to the analysis of educational practices that work with and from students’ interests. This tool makes it possible to identify the potential of practices to reinforce and promote the meaning and personal value that students attach to their school learning. The guide is structured around three large blocks (personalization strategies, conceptions of interests, and design and development of practices), which describe the dimensions, subdimensions, questions, and levels for the analysis. The second objective is to illustrate use of the guide by analyzing two practices designed and implemented in primary school classrooms, characterized by a focus on students’ learning interests. The paper concludes by highlighting the main contributions of the guide presented, identifying some limitations, and pointing to future lines of research.

     

Towards an understanding of the shaping of research outcomes by contextual issues: reflections on the contributions of the ReMath project

In this paper, we react to Lagrange and Kynigos’s contribution to this special issue, in which they present some of their experiences from two cross-case studies in the ReMath project (associated respectively with the use of two dynamic digital artefacts, Casyopée and Cruislet). They described how the project, which involved teams from three different countries (France, Italy and Greece), working in different conditions and relying on different theoretical approaches, was structured in order to address the role played by contextual characteristics. We consider how the ReMath approach of using cross-studies, and especially the inclusion of a cross-analysis phase, served to identify particularities associated with designing and implementing mathematics learning scenarios using digital tools. In their discussion of the process of re-contextualising, one of the factors which appears to have been particularly influential in shaping research activities was theoretical framework and they show how this factor both influences and is influenced by institutional and cultural characteristics. To further explore some of the other important contextual factors they pinpoint, such as the role and engagement of teachers, student characteristics and issues related to the empirical settings, we reflect upon the processes of re-contextualisation that we could identify in our own research.     

Painting Hinemihi by numbers: Peoples-based conservation and the paint analysis of Hinemihi's carvings

This study describes the analysis of paint samples from carvings belonging to Hinemihi, the Maori meeting house, Clandon Park, Surrey, UK. The assessment of physical evidence contained within Hinemihi's built fabric (along with historiographic research of archival sources and oral histories) has formed a key part of the information gathering process during the current conservation project. The production of such data provides an opportunity for a dialogue that is essential for effective decision-making within participatory conservation projects. From this, it is evident that the use of paint analysis, in deciding the eventual painted scheme for a restored Hinemihi, is settled within a broader dialogue about the conception, use, and management of Hinemihi as a Maori cultural centre, as built heritage, and as an object of conservation. Therefore, the value of material analysis is considered in relation to the potential that this information has to engage a community of users in designing an effective conservation response that seeks to balance the opportunities and constraints of the cultural and physical landscapes that surround Hinemihi and Clandon Park.