What Do People Need to Know About Writing in Order to Write in Their Jobs?

This article considers the different kinds of learning that are appropriate for the rapidly expanding range of writing that constitutes an everyday part of most people' working lives. It discusses the importance and demands of everyday writing in work, and the role of formal education in preparing people for the localised learning about writing that is necessary upon entering work. It considers the issue of the transfer of knowledge, and argues that both metacognitive and conceptual understandings about writing are crucial elements in enabling people to transfer and adapt foundation literacy skills to the workplace.     

Advertising and Sexism with focus groups of preadolescents / Publicidad y sexismo analizados en grupos de discusión de preadolescentes

The main aim of this research is to understand the way advertising and sexism are analyzed by focus groups of 11 and 12 year old preadolescents. In order to achieve this aim we used commercials that reproduce sexism situations and that are based on persuasive strategies where brands and products are associated with happiness and family well-being. The research was developed through six focus groups, whose results were analyzed from a qualitative approach in order to define the classification criteria. The level of skepticism shown by the preadolescents regarding the persuasive advertising techniques is associated with their capacity for detecting sexism. Both skills seem require a certain level (that is needed, but not sufficient) of character analysis. The results support the importance of focus groups both as an evaluation procedure and as advertising literacy context that should include not only cognitive components but also evaluative aspects, such as skepticism and rejection of sexism.     

Training reading fluency in dysfluent readers with high reading accuracy: Word specific effects but low transfer to untrained words

The outcome of a training study attempting to increase German speaking poor readers’ reading fluency is reported. The aim of the training was to help children establish orthographic representations for a limited set of training words as well as for high-frequency onset clusters. A sample of 20 dysfluent readers (8 to 11 years) received a computerized training of repeated reading of a limited set of 32 training words over a period of up to 25 days. Each day, training words were presented up to six times with a special emphasis on the onset segment. Post-tests were carried out one and five weeks after the last training day. A considerable decrease in reading times could be achieved for the trained words that remained stable for both post-tests. However, even for the limited set of training words, a remarkable amount of repetitions did not lead to age adequate word recognition speed. Generalization to untrained words starting with a trained onset cluster (transfer words) was statistically reliable but small. The current study was funded by the Jubilee Fund of the Austrian National Bank (grant no. 8501). Karin Landerl is currently supported by an APART-grant of the Austrian Academy of Science.     

Mathematical discussion and perspective drawing in primary school

The aim of this paper is to analyse the functions of semiotic mediation in a long term teaching experiment on the plane representation of three-dimensional space by means of perspective drawing, that has been tried out from grade 2 to grade 5 in three different classrooms within the research project Mathematical Discussion. On the one side, drawing has a functional role in the overall development of the child; on the other side, perspective drawing has a phenomenological role in the genesis of modern geometry. The experiment aims at connecting (1) pupils' spatial experiences to the development of the geometry of three-dimensional space and (2) pupils' drawing experiences to the geometry of two-dimensional space, up to the mastery of early geometrical strategies of plane representation of space. Classroom activity alternates individual problems and classroom discussions orchestrated by the teacher. The paper is divided into several parts: after a brief introduction containing some contextual information (§§ 1, 2), the problem of the social construction of knowledge is addressed and some theoretical constructs mainly borrowed from the Vygotskian school are elaborated (§ 3); then two analyses of the experiment are made, according to the motives of activity (§ 4) and to the sequence of actions (§ 5); finally the role of semiotic mediation in the whole experiment is analysed (§ 6); in the final section (§ 7) some results are recapitulated and compared with the literature on the teaching and learning of geometry and the function of semiotic mediation is discussed with reference to the other distinctive features of the teaching experiment.     

Developing and sustaining an educative mentoring model of STEM teacher professional development through collaborative partnership

In this paper, we present details of a partnership undertaken by four universities with field-based, alternative STEM teacher preparation programs and a large urban school district to provide ongoing professional support for teachers serving as mentors for individuals preparing for careers in high-poverty schools. We also present key findings related to our implementation of an educative mentoring professional learning community (PLC) as a professional development (PD) model for these mentors. Our analysis reveals that mentors as well as candidates identified the PD program as addressing their specific interests and concerns, and that they were regularly and deeply engaged with key activities that were part of each session’s agenda. These findings signal how key elements of PD workshops can contribute to creating and sustaining a local but replicable PLC utilizing an educative mentoring model to support mentors and the future teachers whom they support.     

Observational studies about novices interacting in a Prolog environment based on tools

This paper examines the general issues related to the interaction of novices in a Prolog environment based on tools to support both the operational and the declarative aspects of the language. The tools are based on graphical representations for the Prolog program and for Prolog execution of programs. This research aims to investigate how students come to understand and integrate these different views of Prolog and how the tools affect their understanding of the language.Observations conducted during this study show that the novices had an initial conceptual model of the virtual machine. Such models guided their interpretation of the Prolog program and of the behavior of the machine. Their misunderstandings may be interpreted as having resulted from their current models. These models evolved during their interaction within the environment. The type of feedback created by the tools provided changes in the students perspective related to the knowledge being represented (program) and the interlocutor in the process (virtual machine), which led them to the construction of the conceptual model of the language.     

Technical teacher training in Greece: trends,concerns and innovative attempts

Any attempt to upgrade the status of a profession will focus on the qualification required and acquired by those who practice it. The technical teacher profession is no exception. This paper provides an analysis of trends and concerns associated with the initial training of technical teachers in Greece. The tone for the discussion is set by pointing out the role of higher education in the field and the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the two models in use. The curricular pathways the models aspire to offer are examined with reference to the School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (ASPETE), the sole higher institution in Greece for the education and training of teachers of technical and vocational subjects. Central to this is how the teaching practice system employed at ASPETE offers a powerful ‘tool’ for the preparation of prospective technical teachers and of the ‘learning’ professionals of the future.

Toute tentative de révision à la hausse du statut d'une profession se concentrera sur les qualifications requises et acquises par ceux qui la pratiquent. La profession de professeur de technique ne fait pas exception à la règle. Le texte offre une analyse des orientations et préoccupations associées avec la formation initiale des professeurs de technique en Grèce. Dans un premier temps, le ton de la discussion est fixé en soulignant le rôle que joue le système d'enseignement supérieur au sein du milieu ainsi que les forces et faiblesses des deux modèles utilisés. Les avenues pédagogiques que les modèles aspirent à offrir sont examinées en référence avec l'Ecole Supérieure d'Enseignement Pédagogique et Technologique (ASPETE), la seule institution d'études supérieures qui soit vouée à l'éducation et à la formation d'enseignants spécialisés en matières techniques. Un aspect central de cette étude concerne la façon dont le système de pratique à l'enseignement utilisé à l'ASPETE offre un outil important pour la préparation des futurs enseignants en technique, ou encore pour la préparation des professionnels ‘en apprentissage’ de l'avenir.

Todo intento de aumentar de nivel el status de una profesión, se enfoca en las cualidades requeridas y adquiridas por quienes la practican. La profesión del profesor técnico no es una excepción. Este articulo analiza tendencias y preocupaciones asociadas a la educación inicial de profesores técnicos en Grecia. Se establece el panorama para la discusión, puntualizando el papel de la educación superior en el tema, así como las fortalezas y debilidades que se perciben en cada uno de los dos modelos en aplicación. El camino curricular que los modelos intentan ofrecer, son examinados con referencia a la Escuela de Educación Pedagógica y Tecnológica (ASPETE), la única institución superior en Grecia dedicada a la educación y formación de profesores en materias técnicas y vocacionales. Es esencial para esto, cómo el sistema de práctica de la enseñanza aplicado por ASPETE, ofrece una herramienta poderosa para la formación de los futuros profesores técnicos o, en cambio, los profesionales del futuro que ‘aprenden’.

Jeder Versuch einen beruflichen Qualitätsstandard zu verbessern, wird sich auf die erforderliche und erworbene Qualifikation derjenigen konzentrieren, die den entsprechenden Beruf ausüben.Der Beruf des Techniklehrers macht da keine Ausnahme. Dieses Papier liefert eine Analyse von wesentlichen Aspekten der Erstausbildung von Techniklehrern in Griechenland und deren aktuellen Trends.Der Tenor der Diskussion wird durch den Hinweis auf die Rolle der Hochschulausbildung in diesem Bereich geprägt und durch die erkannten Stärken und Schwächen der beiden Ausbildungsmodelle, die zur Zeit in diesem Bereich angewandt werden.Die in den Modellen angebotenen curricularen Ausbildungsgänge werden unter Berücksichtigung der Situation an der Schule für Pädagogische und Technologische Ausbildung (ASPETE) untersucht. Die ASPETE ist die einzige Hochschuleinrichtung in Griechenland für die Ausbildung und Schulung von Lehrern von technischen und anderen berufsbildenden Fächern.Von zentraler Bedeutung für diesen Themenkomplex ist die Frage, inwieweit das ‘System der Begleiteten Praktischen Unterrichtserfahrung’, das an der ASPETE zur Anwendung kommt, eine effizientes ‘Instrument’ für die Vorbereitung der angehenden Techniklehrer ist, oder anders gesagt, für die ‘sich ständig selber weiterbildenden’ Ausbilder der Zukunft.