Pasifika Students: Teachers and Parents Voice Their Perceptions of What Provides Supports and Barriers to Pasifika Students' Achievement in Literacy and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fletcher, Jo; Parkhill, Faye; Fa'afoi, Amosa; Taleni, Leali'ie'e Tufulasi; O'Regan, Bridget

2009-01-01

The changing ethnic population of schools in New Zealand challenges our educators to respond proactively in reviewing how students from minority groups develop effective literacy and learning skills. Pasifika students' achievement levels in literacy, particularly reading and writing literacy, has been an area of national focus for the Ministry of…

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Design of Contents for ICT Literacy In-Service Training of Teachers in Korea

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Jong Hye; Jung, Soon Young; Lee, Won Gyu

2008-01-01

The importance of ICT literacy education for students and teachers in the information society cannot be overemphasized. The Korean government had developed an ICT literacy curriculum for students and teachers since 2000. It announced the ICT literacy curriculum for students in 2000 and the ISST for teachers in 2002. Most contents of the ICT…

Making Use of the New Student Assessment Standards To Enhance Technological Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russell, Jill

2003-01-01

Describes the student assessment standards outlined in "Advancing Excellence in Technological Literacy: Student Assessment, Professional Development, and Program Standards," a companion to the "Standards for Technological Literacy." Discusses how the standards apply to everyday teaching practices. (JOW)

The development of guided inquiry-based learning devices on photosynthesis and respiration matter to train science literacy skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choirunnisak; Ibrahim, M.; Yuliani

2018-01-01

The purpose of this research was to develop a guided inquiry-based learning devices on photosynthesis and respiration matter that are feasible (valid, practical, and effective) to train students’ science literacy. This research used 4D development model and tested on 15 students of biology education 2016 the State University of Surabaya with using one group pretest-posttest design. Learning devices developed include (a) Semester Lesson Plan (b) Lecture Schedule, (c) Student Activity Sheet, (d) Student Textbook, and (e) testability of science literacy. Research data obtained through validation method, observation, test, and questionnaire. The results were analyzed descriptively quantitative and qualitative. The ability of science literacy was analyzed by n-gain. The results of this research showed that (a) learning devices that developed was categorically very valid, (b) learning activities performed very well, (c) student’s science literacy skills improved that was a category as moderate, and (d) students responses were very positively to the learning that already held. Based on the results of the analysis and discussion, it is concluded that the development of guided inquiry-based learning devices on photosynthesis and respiration matter was feasible to train students literacy science skills.

Development Module Oriented Science Technology Society Indue Science Literacy Assessment for 7th-Grade Junior High School Students in 2nd -Semester

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arbi, Y. R.; Sumarmin, R.; Putri, D. H.

2018-04-01

The problem in the science learning process is the application of the scientific approach takes a long time in order to provide conceptual understanding to the students, there is no teaching materials that can measure students reasoning and thinking ability, and the assessment has not measured students reasoning and literacy skills.The effort can be done is to develop science technology society module indue science literacy assessment. The purpose of the research was to produce a module oriented society indue science science technology literacy assessment. The research is development research using Plomp model, consist of preliminary, prototyping, and assessment phase. Data collect by questionnare and documantion. The result there is science technology society module indue science literacy assessment is very valid.

Science literacy and academic identity formulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reveles, John M.; Cordova, Ralph; Kelly, Gregory J.

2004-12-01

The purpose of this article is to report findings from an ethnographic study that focused on the co-development of science literacy and academic identity formulation within a third-grade classroom. Our theoretical framework draws from sociocultural theory and studies of scientific literacy. Through analysis of classroom discourse, we identified opportunities afforded students to learn specific scientific knowledge and practices during a series of science investigations. The results of this study suggest that the collective practice of the scientific conversations and activities that took place within this classroom enabled students to engage in the construction of communal science knowledge through multiple textual forms. By examining the ways in which students contributed to the construction of scientific understanding, and then by examining their performances within and across events, we present evidence of the co-development of students' academic identities and scientific literacy. Students' communication and participation in science during the investigations enabled them to learn the structure of the discipline by identifying and engaging in scientific activities. The intersection of academic identities with the development of scientific literacy provides a basis for considering specific ways to achieve scientific literacy for all students.

What Matters for Elementary Literacy Coaching? Guiding Principles for Instructional Improvement and Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

L'Allier, Susan; Elish-Piper, Laurie; Bean, Rita M.

2010-01-01

Literacy coaches provide job-embedded professional development for teachers, and the number of literacy coaches in elementary schools is increasing. Although literacy coaching offers promise in terms of improving teacher practice and student achievement, guidance is needed regarding the qualifications, activities, and roles of literacy coaches.…

Considering Community Literacies in the Secondary Classroom: A Collaborative Teacher and Researcher Study Group

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carbone, Paula M.; Reynolds, Rema E.

2013-01-01

A year long study group brought teachers and researchers working in urban contexts in US public schools together to examine literacy practices incorporating students' community literacies into schooled tasks. The goal was to provide teacher development in making connections across their students' community literacies and the academic literacy they…

Active-learning strategies to develop health literacy knowledge and skills.

PubMed

Devraj, Radhika; Butler, Lakesha M; Gupchup, Gireesh V; Poirier, Therese I

2010-10-11

To implement active-learning exercises in a required pharmacy course and assess their impact on students' knowledge and confidence in identifying and communicating with patients with low health literacy, as part of a required course in cultural competency, health literacy, and health beliefs. Active-learning activities including administering health literacy assessments, identifying informal signs of low health literacy, conducting mock patient counseling sessions, rating the readability of drug information, analyzing information in drug advertisements, and writing patient education materials were incorporated into the 6-sesssion health literacy portion of the course. A pretest and posttest showed that students' knowledge of health literacy increased, and a retrospective pretest found improvement in students' confidence in their ability to care for patients with low health literacy. In-class discussions provided informal evidence that students gained new knowledge from the active-learning activities. The addition of active-learning activities was effective in teaching health literacy concepts to pharmacy students.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Writing Stories to Enhance Scientific Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritchie, Stephen M.; Tomas, Louisa; Tones, Megan

2011-01-01

In response to international concerns about scientific literacy and students' waning interest in school science, this study investigated the effects of a science-writing project about the socioscientific issue (SSI) of biosecurity on the development of students' scientific literacy. Students generated two "BioStories" each that merged…

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 unproductive information seeking strategies. However, similar to the experts, novices made references to both scientific and societal contexts. The expert/novice comparison provides a rough description of a developmental continuum of scientific literacy. The findings of this study including student results and Generalized Linear Mixed Modeling suggest that the incorporation of science journalism activities focused on STEM issues can improve student scientific literacy. Incorporation of a wide variety of strategies raised scores on the SLA. Teachers who included a writing and revision process that prioritized content had significantly larger gains in student scores. Future studies could broaden the description of high school student scientific literacy and measured by the SLA and provide alternative pathways for developing scientific literacy as envisioned by SciJourn and the NRC Frameworks.

"Those Anime Students": Foreign Language Literacy Development through Japanese Popular Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fukunaga, Natsuki

2006-01-01

Using multiliteracies and sociocultural perspectives on language and literacy learning, this article describes three Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) students' literacy development through involvement with Japanese popular culture. As part of a larger qualitative ethnographic study, the author interviewed JFL learners who have a particular…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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.…

Effective Literacy Instruction for Students with Moderate or Severe Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Copeland, Susan R.; Keefe, Elizabeth B.

2007-01-01

For students with moderate or severe disabilities, developing literacy skills is a critical component of successful communication, employment, and community participation. Finally, educators have a practical, concise guidebook for helping these students meet NCLB's academic standards for literacy. Appropriate for use in all settings, including…

The Development of Scientific Literacy through Nature of Science (NoS) within Inquiry Based Learning Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Widowati, A.; Widodo, E.; Anjarsari, P.; Setuju

2017-11-01

Understanding of science instructional leading to the formation of student scientific literacy, seems not yet fully understood well by science teachers. Because of this, certainly needs to be reformed because science literacy is a major goal in science education for science education reform. Efforts of development science literacy can be done by help students develop an information conception of the Nature of Science (NoS) and apply inquiry approach. It is expected that students’ science literacy can develop more optimal by combining NoS within inquiry approach. The purpose of this research is to produce scientific literacy development model of NoS within inquiry-based learning. The preparation of learning tools will be maked through Research and Development (R & D) following the 4-D model (Define, Design, Develop, and Disseminate) and Borg & Gall. This study is a follow-up of preliminary research results about the inquiry profile of junior high school students indicating that most categories are quite good. The design of the model NoS within inquiry approach for developing scientific literacy is using MER Model in development educational reconstruction. This research will still proceed to the next stage that is Develop.

Concepts of Information Literacy and Information Literacy Standards among Undergraduate Students in Public and Private Universities in the State of Kuwait

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Issa, Reham E.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of undergraduate college students attending a public and a private university in the State of Kuwait to understand how they develop their understanding and valuing of information literacy and information literacy standards. Data from student and faculty interviews and student…

Profile of middle school students on scientific literacy achievements by using scientific literacy assessments (SLA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rachmatullah, Arif; Diana, Sariwulan; Rustaman, Nuryani Y.

2016-02-01

Along with the development of science and technology, the basic ability to read, write and count is not enough just to be able to survive in the modern era that surrounded by the products of science and technology. Scientific literacy is an ability that might be added as basic ability for human in the modern era. Recently, Fives et al. developed a new scientific literacy assessment for students, named as SLA (Scientific Literacy Assessment). A pilot study on the achievements of scientific literacy of middle school students in Sumedang using SLA was conducted to investigate the profile scientific literacy achievement of 223 middle school students in Sumedang, and compare the outcomes between genders (159 girls and 64 boys) and school accreditation (A and B) using a quantitative method with descriptive research-school survey. Based on the results, the average achievement of scientific literacy Sumedang middle school students is 45.21 and classified as the low category. The five components of scientific literacy, which is only one component in the medium category, namely science motivation and beliefs, and the four other components are in the low and very low category. Boys have higher scientific literacy, but the differences not statistically significant. Student's scientific literacy in an accredited school is higher than B, and the differences are statistically significant. Recommendation for further are: involve more research subjects, add more number of questions for each indicator, and conduct an independent research for each component.

Collaborating with Librarians to Develop Lower Division Political Science Students' Information Literacy Competencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevens, Christy R.; Campbell, Patricia J.

2008-01-01

Studies suggest that course-integrated information literacy instruction is an effective way to enhance the quality of student research. However, many political science professors are unfamiliar with the growing information literacy movement in higher education today, with strategies for integrating information literacy into their courses and…

Using Digital Comics to Develop Digital Literacy: Fostering Functionally, Critically, and Rhetorically Literate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirchoff, Jeff

2017-01-01

Literacy scholarship has established the importance of teaching, supporting, and facilitating digital literacy education for 21st century students. Stuart Selber goes a step further, arguing that students must be functionally (using digital technology), critically (questioning digital technology), and rhetorically (producing effective digital…

Rhetorical Reading and the Development of Disciplinary Literacy across the High School Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warren, James E.

2013-01-01

Education researchers and literacy specialists have responded to declining reading scores among high school students by calling on teachers across subject areas to teach "disciplinary literacy," which introduces students to the ways discipline-specific knowledge is produced and communicated and teaches students to apply different reading…

Effects of a Two-Way Bilingual Program on the Literacy Development of Students in Kindergarten and First Grade

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lopez, Maria G.; Tashakkori, Abbas

2004-01-01

This study examines the short-term effects of a two-way bilingual education program on the literacy development of students in kindergarten and first grade. This study compared the literacy development of two groups of children who received different proportions of instruction in English and Spanish. Both the experimental and control groups…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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,…

Exploring the Challenge of Developing Student Teacher Data Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowie, Bronwen; Cooper, Beverley

2017-01-01

A number of trends are converging to drive the need for more informed teacher data use. These include advocacy for formative assessment and the need for teachers to account for student learning. In this context, assessment literacy and data literacy have emerged as a focus in research and professional development. Problematically, research signals…

"Our Door Is Always Open": Aligning Literacy Learning Practices in Writing Programs and Residential Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Voss, Julia

2016-01-01

Writing studies has considered college students' literacy development as a chronological progression and as influenced by their off-campus connections to various cultural and professional communities. This project considers students' literacy development across disciplines and university activity systems in which they're simultaneously involved to…

A Case Study of Parental Perceptions of Literacy Skill Development for Severe Speech Impairments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sweat, Karen

2014-01-01

Students exhibiting speech deficits may not have the appropriate skills or support structures necessary to obtain adequate or acceptable literacy development as mixed results from past research have indicated that some students with speech impairments have the capacity to gain appropriate literacy skills. The purpose of the qualitative holistic…

Information Literacy Advocates: developing student skills through a peer support approach.

PubMed

Curtis, Ruth

2016-12-01

Since 2013/2014, an Information Literacy Advocates (ILA) scheme has been running at the University of Nottingham as an extracurricular module on the Nottingham Advantage Award programme. The Information Literacy Advocates scheme, which recruits medicine and health sciences students in their second year or above, aims to facilitate development of information literacy skills and confidence, as well as communication, organisation and teamwork, through the provision of peer support. Previous research indicates peer assistance effectively enhances such skills and is valued by fellow students who welcome the opportunity to approach more experienced students for help. This article, written by guest writer Ruth Curtis from the University of Nottingham, provides an overview of administering the ILA scheme and explores its impact on the Information Literacy Advocates, peers and librarians, and discusses future developments for taking the scheme forward. H. S. © 2016 Health Libraries Group.

Fostering Counseling Students' Career Information Literacy through a Comprehensive Career Web Site

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zalaquett, Carlos P.; Osborn, Debra S.

2007-01-01

Counseling students need to become knowledgeable about existing online career development tools to provide effective career development services today. The authors describe the characteristics of a Web site developed to foster career information literacy among students taking graduate career courses and examine its academic usefulness. Student…

Curriculum Alignment with Vision and Change Improves Student Scientific Literacy

PubMed Central

Auerbach, Anna Jo; Schussler, Elisabeth E.

2017-01-01

The Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education final report challenged institutions to reform their biology courses to focus on process skills and student active learning, among other recommendations. A large southeastern university implemented curricular changes to its majors’ introductory biology sequence in alignment with these recommendations. Discussion sections focused on developing student process skills were added to both lectures and a lab, and one semester of lab was removed. This curriculum was implemented using active-learning techniques paired with student collaboration. This study determined whether these changes resulted in a higher gain of student scientific literacy by conducting pre/posttesting of scientific literacy for two cohorts: students experiencing the unreformed curriculum and students experiencing the reformed curriculum. Retention of student scientific literacy for each cohort was also assessed 4 months later. At the end of the academic year, scientific literacy gains were significantly higher for students in the reformed curriculum (p = 0.005), with those students having double the scientific literacy gains of the cohort in the unreformed curriculum. Retention of scientific literacy did not differ between the cohorts. PMID:28495933

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

PubMed

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.

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

PubMed

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.

Situating Information Literacy within the Curriculum: Using a Rubric to Shape a Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jastram, Iris; Leebaw, Danya; Tompkins, Heather

2014-01-01

Rubrics are a rapidly growing subfield of information literacy assessment, providing a powerful tool for understanding student learning. This paper explores the role that the creation and application of an information literacy rubric can play in program development. Because of the Information Literacy in Student Writing assessment project at…

Art Treasure Quests in Second Life: A Multi-Literacy Adventure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stokrocki, Mary

2014-01-01

Treasure quests in virtual worlds can help students develop multi-literacy communication skills and promote community, offering insights about art teaching and learning. As part of the new media literacy, students explore the offerings of Second Life (SL), a virtual world, as a series of quests. Multi-literacy involves communication. Through their…

Supporting students in developing literacy in science.

PubMed

Krajcik, Joseph S; Sutherland, LeeAnn M

2010-04-23

Reading, writing, and oral communication are critical literacy practices for participation in a global society. In the context of science inquiry, literacy practices support learners by enabling them to grapple with ideas, share their thoughts, enrich understanding, and solve problems. Here we suggest five instructional and curricular features that can support students in developing literacy in the context of science: (i) linking new ideas to prior knowledge and experiences, (ii) anchoring learning in questions that are meaningful in the lives of students, (iii) connecting multiple representations, (iv) providing opportunities for students to use science ideas, and (v) supporting students' engagement with the discourses of science. These five features will promote students' ability to read, write, and communicate about science so that they can engage in inquiry throughout their lives.

Using Communication Technology to Facilitate Scientific Literacy: A Framework for Engaged Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

VanBuskirk, Shireen Adele

The purpose of this research project is to describe how existing communication technologies are used to foster scientific literacy for secondary students. This study develops a new framework as an analytic tool to categorize the activities of teachers and students involved in scientific literacy to describe what elements of scientific literacy are facilitated by such technologies. Four case studies are analyzed using the framework to describe the scientific literacy initiatives. Data collection at each site included interviews with the teacher, student focus groups, student surveys, and classroom observations. Qualitative analysis of the data provided insight into the learning activities and student experiences in the four cases. This study intentionally provides a platform for student voice. Very few previous empirical studies in the area of scientific literacy include the student experience. This represents a significant gap in the current literature on scientific literacy. An interpretation of scientific literacy that promotes student engagement, interaction, and initiative corresponds to a need to listen to students' perspectives on these experiences. Findings of the study indicated that the classroom activities depended on the teacher's philosophy regarding scientific literacy. Communication technology was ubiquitous; where the teacher did not initiate the use of social media in the classroom, the students did. The goal of supporting scientific literacy in students is an objective that extends beyond the boundaries of classroom walls, and it can be facilitated by technologies that seem both abundant and underutilized. Technology-enhanced pedagogy altered the classroom practices and resulted in more student participation and engagement.

Creating Comic Books in Nigeria: International Reflections on Literacy, Creativity, and Student Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bitz, Michael; Emejulu, Obiajulu

2016-01-01

This article is an international reflection on literacy, creativity, and student engagement. The authors collaborated to help Nigerian youths and their teachers develop, design, and share original comic books. By leveraging student engagement for literacy learning, the authors highlighted the crucial role of creativity in the classroom. The…

Information Systems as a Social Space: Collaborative Teaching of Social Literacies to Technical Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalil, Claudia; Monson, Jo; Nodoba, Gaontebale

2010-01-01

This article describes a successful experimental collaborative teaching project to deliver a short course to develop work-relevant social literacies in technical students. Heterogeneous work contexts require both students and educators to find ways to integrate thinking and practices across disciplines. Teaching social literacies to information…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Journal entries facilitating preprofessional scientific literacy and mutualistic symbiotic relationships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vander Vliet, Valerie J.

This study explored journal writing as an alternative assessment to promote the development of pre-professional scientific literacy and mutualistic symbiotic relationships between teaching and learning, instruction and assessment, and students and teachers. The larger context of this study is an action reaction project of the attempted transformation of a traditional first year undergraduate pre-professional biology class to sociocultural constructivist principles. The participants were commuter and residential, full and part-time students ranging in age from 18 to 27 and 18/21 were female. The backgrounds of the students varied considerably, ranging from low to upper middle income, including students of Black and Asian heritage. The setting was a medium-sized Midwestern university. The instructor has twenty years of experience teaching Biology at the college level. The data were analyzed using the constant comparative method and the development of grounded theory. The journal entries were analyzed as to their function and form in relationship to the development of multiple aspects of pre-professional scientific literacy. The perceptions of the students as to the significance of the use of journal entries were also determined through the analysis of their use of journal entries in their portfolios and statements in surveys and portfolios. The analysis revealed that journal entries promoted multiple aspects of pre-professional scientific literacy in both students and the instructor and facilitated the development of mutualistic symbiotic relationships between teaching and learning, instruction and assessment, and students and teachers. The function analysis revealed that the journal entries fulfilled the functions intended for the development of multiple aspects of pre-professional scientific literacy. The complexity of journal writing emerged from the form analysis, which revealed the multiple form elements inherent in journal entries. Students perceived journal entries to act as cognitive, affective, and social catalysts of pre-professional scientific literacy. This study has shown that journal entries facilitate the development of multiple aspects of scientific literacy and mutualistic symbiotic relationships between teaching and learning, instruction and assessment, and students and teachers.

Facilitating Local Understanding and Literacy Development for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder through Teacher Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robledo, Jodi

2017-01-01

Developing literacy skills can liberate students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to engage with the world, connect with others, and communicate their experiences and their insights. It also allows individuals with ASD, regardless of the severity of their disability, to be included in literacy learning opportunities with their peers. With the…

Developing Valid and Reliable Map Literacy Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koç, Hakan; Demir, Selçuk Besir

2014-01-01

The purpose of the present study is to develop a valid and reliable map literacy scale that is able to determine map literacy of individuals, especially that of high school and university students. The study sample was composed of 518 students studying at various faculties at Cumhuriyet University and high schools in Sivas and its counties. With…

How Evident Are Student Efficacy Measures across Academic Tracks? A Student-Centered Analysis of Academic Tracking and Labeling as They Relate to Literacy Instruction, Conduct Development, and Mentorship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibson, Pandwe Aletha

2010-01-01

This empirical study quantified the effects of academic tracking and labeling on student efficacy in the three extended learning time (ELT) schools in Boston, Massachusetts. Prominent research on student efficacy implicates literacy instruction, conduct development, and student mentorship as key factors driving student achievement. These three…

Middle School Students' Statistical Literacy: Role of Grade Level and Gender

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yolcu, Ayse

2014-01-01

This study examined the role of gender and grade level on middle school students' statistical literacy. The study was conducted in the spring semester of the 2012-2013 academic year with 598 middle-school students (grades 6-8) from three public schools in Turkey. The data were collected using the Statistical Literacy Test, developed based on…

Language, Inquiry, and the Heart of Learning: Reflection in an English Methods Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaufman, Janet E.

2004-01-01

In this article, the author features the Family Literacy Center, a service-learning project at the University of Utah's English education program. For the author and her students, Family Literacy Center has become a place to investigate the role of teacher-student or mentor-student relationships in learning and literacy development. The goals of…

Assessing Student's Level of Scientific Literacy Using Interdisciplinary Scenarios

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soobard, Regina; Rannikmae, Miia

2011-01-01

The goal of this study was to develop an instrument for assessing grade 10 and 11 student's levels of scientific literacy in the areas of problem solving and decision making. In concentrating on determining the scientific literacy of gymnasium level students, it was taken as a first; previous international studies like PISA have focused on ninth…

Toward the Development of an Observation Measure of Interest and Attention for Literacy Tasks in Kindergarten Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coughlan, Kelly A.

2012-01-01

Kindergarten students (N = 95) in three schools and seven classrooms were observed for on-task versus off-task behavior during three literacy instruction opportunities; small group instruction, whole group instruction and the less structured library setting over the 2011-2012 school year. Students' early literacy skills were assessed before and…

The Challenges of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test for Second Language Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng, Liying; Klinger, Don A.; Zheng, Ying

2007-01-01

Results from the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) indicate that English as a Second Language (ESL) and English Literacy Development (ELD) students have comparatively low success and high deferral rates. This study examined the 2002 and 2003 OSSLT test performances of ESL/ELD and non-ESL/ELD students in order to identify and…

A Tailored Approach to Identifying and Addressing College Students' Online Health Information Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banas, Jennifer

2008-01-01

Background: College students may fail to practice information literacy skills because they are unaware of their skill level or are not concerned with the risks. Purpose: In order to develop an effective message that motivates college students to learn online health information literacy skills, a better understanding of perceptions about such…

What happens to reading between first and third grade? Implications for students who use AAC.

PubMed

Sturm, Janet M; Spadorcia, Stephanie A; Cunningham, James W; Cali, Kathleen S; Staples, Amy; Erickson, Karen; Yoder, David E; Koppenhaver, David A

2006-03-01

School-age students who use AAC need access to communication, reading, and writing tools that can support them to actively engage in literacy learning. They also require access to core literacy learning opportunities across grade levels that foster development of conventional literacy skills. The importance of the acquisition of conventional literacy skills for students who use AAC cannot be overemphasized. And yet, one of the critical challenges in supporting the literacy learning of students who use AAC has been a lack of knowledge about literacy curricula and supports to literacy learning for these students. Most students who use AAC do not become conventionally literate and few of those who do achieve literacy skills beyond the second grade level. This article will provide an overview of the most frequent reading instructional activities in first and third grade classrooms. To better understand the foundational experiences important to literacy learning, the results of a survey project that examined the reading activities of general education students and teachers during primary grade instruction are presented, and critical shifts in instruction that occurred between first and third grade are highlighted. The primary instructional focus of core reading activities is also examined, along with adaptations for students who use AAC.

The Development of STAR Early Literacy. Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

School Renaissance Inst., Inc., Madison, WI.

This report describes the development and testing of a computerized early literacy diagnostic assessment for students in prekindergarten to grade 3 that can measure skills across a variety of preliteracy and reading domains. The STAR Early Literacy assessment was developed by a team of more than 50 people, including literacy experts,…

Emergent Literacy Development and Computer Assisted Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trotti, Judy; Hendricks, Randy; Bledsoe, Christie

2017-01-01

In this mixed-methods study, researchers examined the literacy development of prekindergarten students (N = 162) randomly placed in one of two treatment groups with each receiving 15 minutes of computer-assisted literacy instruction for four months. Literacy development of a control group of children not receiving computer-assisted instruction was…

Jump-Starting Preschoolers' Emergent Literacy: The Entomologist Tool Kit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byington, Teresa A.; Kim, YaeBin

2017-01-01

Young children gain emergent literacy skills during the preschool years. Oral language development is enhanced as students engage in dialogue with teachers and peers. The use of topical vocabulary is linked to greater gains in students' vocabulary development. Students acquire emergent writing skills as they participate in spontaneous and guided…

Development of a Health Literacy Assessment for Young Adult College Students: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harper, Raquel

2014-01-01

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive health literacy assessment tool for young adult college students. Participants: Participants were 144 undergraduate students. Methods: Two hundred and twenty-nine questions were developed, which were based on concepts identified by the US Department of Health and Human Services,…

Improving Literacy for Diverse, Low Socioeconomic Status, Middle School Students in an Urban District

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Means, Vivian Fowler

2017-01-01

In an urban district, Surfside School personnel were concerned that student literacy proficiency levels were low during 2011-2014 and teachers had not been able to close the achievement gap despite a focus on literacy practices and literacy professional development (PD) provided by the district. The purpose of this case study was to explore the…

Teacher and student actions to construct biology literacy at a community college: A bounded case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Griesel, Patricia

2000-10-01

Science content area literacy, particularly literacy development in college level biology, is the focus of this study. The study investigates the actions and activities of an instructor and six students over the course of 16 weeks. The study is in response to interest in the literate practices in science classes (NSES, 1996) and to the call for contextual studies that facilitate the learning of science (Borasi & Siegel, 1999; Moje, 1996; Nist & Holschuh, 1996; Prentiss, 1998). A collaborative study between the biology teacher and the researcher, this study investigates the practices believed to be effective for the development of biology literacy. Data sources, in the qualitative bounded case study (Bogdin & Biklin, 1982; Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Miles & Huberman, 1994), include: field notes of classroom observations, in-depth interviews (Seidman, 1992), class surveys, and literate artifacts. The data were coded and analyzed using a constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The six students reveal similarities and differences regarding the actions, patterns, practices and use of materials and their beliefs about effective practice in the development of biology literacy. The results indicate that a variety of actions and activities are needed to facilitate the development of biology literacy. The common themes to develop from the students' data about effective teacher actions are the following: (a) involves and engages students in inquiry learning through group projects, hands-on, and group discussions; (b) relates examples, experiences, and stories; (c) exhibits expertise; (d) encourages a relaxed classroom atmosphere; (e) facilitates and coaches students; and (f) credits creativity. Further, students report their teacher to be an expert, in terms of science knowledge and literate practices, and that her expertise contributes to their understanding of biology literacy. The teachers' data reveals three themes embedded in her classroom actions: science as a language, science as a social activity, and science as an experiential activity. The researcher's role in the study suggests that other researchers may benefit from a similar collaborative effort where the teacher and researcher learn from each other and from their students while supporting content literacy development. Content literacy practice from a constructivist paradigm (Anders & Guzzetti, 1996; Staver, 1998) has merit beyond high school and powerful implications for practice at the college level.

Integration of Information and Scientific Literacy: Promoting Literacy in Undergraduates

PubMed Central

Wolbach, Kevin C.; Purzycki, Catherine B.; Bowman, Leslie A.; Agbada, Eva; Mostrom, Alison M.

2010-01-01

The Association of College and Research Libraries recommends incorporating information literacy (IL) skills across university and college curricula, for the goal of developing information literate graduates. Congruent with this goal, the Departments of Biological Sciences and Information Science developed an integrated IL and scientific literacy (SL) exercise for use in a first-year biology course. Students were provided the opportunity to access, retrieve, analyze, and evaluate primary scientific literature. By the completion of this project, student responses improved concerning knowledge and relevance of IL and SL skills. This project exposes students to IL and SL early in their undergraduate experience, preparing them for future academic advancement. PMID:21123700

How Expert Secondary Special Education Teachers Conceptualize Teaching Literacy in Their Content Area to Students with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lauterbach, Alexandra A.

2013-01-01

This study provides insight into the cognition of expert content area teachers with specialized knowledge in teaching literacy to students with learning disabilities (LD), with the purpose of developing an understanding of expertise in teaching literacy in the content areas to secondary students with LD. This study used hermeneutic phenomenology…

Assessing the Value-Added Effects of Literacy Collaborative Professional Development on Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biancarosa, Gina; Bryk, Anthony S.; Dexter, Emily R.

2010-01-01

This article reports on a 4-year longitudinal study of the effects of Literacy Collaborative (LC), a school-wide reform model that relies primarily on the one-on-one coaching of teachers as a lever for improving student literacy learning. Kindergarten through second-grade students in 17 schools were assessed twice annually with DIBELS and Terra…

Assessing Visual Literacy: A Case Study of Developing a Rubric for Identifying and Applying Criteria to Undergraduate Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowen, Tracey

2017-01-01

Higher education has traditionally privileged language-based text as evidence of students' levels of critical thinking and literacy. Twenty-first century education at all levels however, has focused on multimodal literacies and how educators can engage students who are seeing the world through diverse representations and a myriad of forms. Many…

The analysis of mathematics literacy on PMRI learning with media schoology of junior high school students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wardono; Mariani, S.

2018-03-01

Indonesia as a developing country in the future will have high competitiveness if its students have high mathematics literacy ability. The current reality from year to year rankings of PISA mathematics literacy Indonesian students are still not good. This research is motivated by the importance and low ability of the mathematics literacy. The purpose of this study is to: (1) analyze the effectiveness of PMRI learning with media Schoology, (2) describe the ability of students' mathematics literacy on PMRI learning with media Schoology which is reviewed based on seven components of mathematics literacy, namely communication, mathematizing, representation, reasoning, devising strategies, using symbols, and using mathematics tool. The method used in this research is the method of sequential design method mix. Techniques of data collection using observation, interviews, tests, and documentation. Data analysis techniques use proportion test, appellate test, and use descriptive analysis. Based on the data analysis, it can be concluded; (1) PMRI learning with media Schoology effectively improve the ability of mathematics literacy because of the achievement of classical completeness, students' mathematics literacy ability in PMRI learning with media Schoology is higher than expository learning, and there is increasing ability of mathematics literacy in PMRI learning with media Schoology of 30%. (2) Highly capable students attain excellent mathematics literacy skills, can work using broad thinking with appropriate resolution strategies. Students who are capable of achieving good mathematics literacy skills can summarize information, present problem-solving processes, and interpret solutions. low-ability students have reached the level of ability of mathematics literacy good enough that can solve the problem in a simple way.

Effectiveness of Adaptive Contextual Learning Model of Integrated Science by Integrating Digital Age Literacy on Grade VIII Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asrizal, A.; Amran, A.; Ananda, A.; Festiyed, F.

2018-04-01

Educational graduates should have good competencies to compete in the 21st century. Integrated learning is a good way to develop competence of students in this century. Besides that, literacy skills are very important for students to get success in their learning and daily life. For this reason, integrated science learning and literacy skills are important in 2013 curriculum. However, integrated science learning and integration of literacy in learning can’t be implemented well. Solution of this problem is to develop adaptive contextual learning model by integrating digital age literacy. The purpose of the research is to determine the effectiveness of adaptive contextual learning model to improve competence of grade VIII students in junior high school. This research is a part of the research and development or R&D. Research design which used in limited field testing was before and after treatment. The research instruments consist of three parts namely test sheet of learning outcome for assessing knowledge competence, observation sheet for assessing attitudes, and performance sheet for assessing skills of students. Data of student’s competence were analyzed by three kinds of analysis, namely descriptive statistics, normality test and homogeneity test, and paired comparison test. From the data analysis result, it can be stated that the implementation of adaptive contextual learning model of integrated science by integrating digital age literacy is effective to improve the knowledge, attitude, and literacy skills competences of grade VIII students in junior high school at 95% confidence level.

Student-Produced Movies as a Medium for Literacy Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Chase; Rasinski, Timothy V.

2013-01-01

In this article the authors integrate literacy with classroom-based technologies to create a student produced movie. The authors explain the steps to classroom movie production that deepens students' comprehension, engages students' in purposeful writing, and utilizes new technologies. (Contains 6 figures.)

Developing school-pharmacist partnerships to enhance correct medication use and pain medication literacy in Taiwan.

PubMed

Chang, Fong-Ching; Chi, Hsueh-Yun; Huang, Li-Jung; Lee, Chun-Hsien; Yang, Jyun-Long; Yeh, Ming-Kung

2015-01-01

To evaluate the effectiveness of the health promoting school (HPS)-community pharmacist partnership program that promotes students' correct medication use and enhances pain medication literacy in Taiwan. Pre- and post-studies and intervention/comparison group comparisons. Primary and middle schools, along with their communities, in Taiwan. In 2013, baseline and follow-up self-administered, online surveys were received from 5,373 students enrolled in intervention primary and middle schools and from 4,643 students enrolled in comparison primary and middle schools. The level of medication literacy, including correct medication use knowledge, self-efficacy, and skills. The development and implementation of the HPS-community pharmacist partnership program in primary and middle schools significantly enhanced students' knowledge, self-efficacy, and skills in correct medication use and pain medication literacy (P <0.001). The HPS-community pharmacist partnership had a positive impact on enhancing correct medication use and pain medication literacy in Taiwan.

Teaching information literacy skills to sophomore-level biology majors.

PubMed

Thompson, Leigh; Blankinship, Lisa Ann

2015-05-01

Many undergraduate students lack a sound understanding of information literacy. The skills that comprise information literacy are particularly important when combined with scientific writing for biology majors as they are the foundation skills necessary to complete upper-division biology course assignments, better train students for research projects, and prepare students for graduate and professional education. To help undergraduate biology students develop and practice information literacy and scientific writing skills, a series of three one-hour hands-on library sessions, discussions, and homework assignments were developed for Biological Literature, a one-credit, one-hour-per-week, required sophomore-level course. The embedded course librarian developed a learning exercise that reviewed how to conduct database and web searches, the difference between primary and secondary sources, source credibility, and how to access articles through the university's databases. Students used the skills gained in the library training sessions for later writing assignments including a formal lab report and annotated bibliography. By focusing on improving information literacy skills as well as providing practice in scientific writing, Biological Literature students are better able to meet the rigors of upper-division biology courses and communicate research findings in a more professional manner.

Teaching Information Literacy Skills to Sophomore-Level Biology Majors

PubMed Central

Thompson, Leigh; Blankinship, Lisa Ann

2015-01-01

Many undergraduate students lack a sound understanding of information literacy. The skills that comprise information literacy are particularly important when combined with scientific writing for biology majors as they are the foundation skills necessary to complete upper-division biology course assignments, better train students for research projects, and prepare students for graduate and professional education. To help undergraduate biology students develop and practice information literacy and scientific writing skills, a series of three one-hour hands-on library sessions, discussions, and homework assignments were developed for Biological Literature, a one-credit, one-hour-per-week, required sophomore-level course. The embedded course librarian developed a learning exercise that reviewed how to conduct database and web searches, the difference between primary and secondary sources, source credibility, and how to access articles through the university’s databases. Students used the skills gained in the library training sessions for later writing assignments including a formal lab report and annotated bibliography. By focusing on improving information literacy skills as well as providing practice in scientific writing, Biological Literature students are better able to meet the rigors of upper-division biology courses and communicate research findings in a more professional manner. PMID:25949754

Women Reading for Education, Affinity & Development (WREAD): An Evaluation of a Semistructured Reading Discussion Group for African American Female Adult-Literacy Students with Histories of Trauma

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Jayatta D.

2012-01-01

Women Reading for Education, Affinity & Development (WREAD), a reading discussion group geared toward African American female adult-literacy students with self-defined histories of trauma, was an outgrowth of research identifying links between trauma, women's struggles with literacy, and the need to be conscious of emotional health…

Mainstreaming English Language Learners: Does It Promote or Hinder Literacy Development?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Somé-Guiébré, Esther

2016-01-01

This study examines the interaction between African immigrant students and their mainstream teachers. I am particularly interested in the influence of classroom practices on the literacy development of Francophone African immigrant children in the U.S. classroom. The student participants in this study (two French speaking African students) were…

Library Research Skills: A Needs Assessment for Graduate Student Workshops

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffmann, Kristin; Antwi-Nsiah, Fred; Feng, Vivian; Stanley, Meagan

2008-01-01

Information literacy instruction programs for graduate students can be challenging to develop. One solution is to develop non-course-based, non-mandatory library instruction programs, in order to meet the information literacy needs of as many graduate students as possible. This was the approach taken by the Taylor Library at the University of…

Reading Skills of Students with Speech Sound Disorders at Three Stages of Literacy Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skebo, Crysten M.; Lewis, Barbara A.; Freebairn, Lisa A.; Tag, Jessica; Ciesla, Allison Avrich; Stein, Catherine M.

2013-01-01

Purpose: The relationship between phonological awareness, overall language, vocabulary, and nonlinguistic cognitive skills to decoding and reading comprehension was examined for students at 3 stages of literacy development (i.e., early elementary school, middle school, and high school). Students with histories of speech sound disorders (SSD) with…

Enhancing the Development of Statistical Literacy through the Robot Bioglyph

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bragg, Leicha A.; Koch, Jessica; Willis, Ashley

2017-01-01

One way to heighten students' interest in the classroom is by personalising tasks. Through designing Robot Bioglyphs students are able to explore personalised data through a creative and engaging process. By understanding, producing and interpreting data, students are able to develop their statistical literacy, which is an essential skill in…

The IDEALL Approach to Learning Development: A Model for Fostering Improved Literacy and Learning Outcomes for Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skillen, Jan; Merten, Margaret; Trivett, Neil; Percy, Alisa

A model of assisting students in the transition to university education is presented that takes a developmental approach. This Integrated Development of English Language and Academic Literacy and Learning (IDEALL) model recognizes that all students need to develop new or more sophisticated academic skills for the new environment and that the most…

Highlights from PISA 2006: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Science and Mathematics Literacy in an International Context. NCES 2008-016

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baldi, Stephane; Jin, Ying; Green, Patricia J.; Herget, Deborah

2007-01-01

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a system of international assessments administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that measures 15-year-olds' performance in reading literacy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy every 3 years. This report focuses on the performance of U.S.…

Developing Scientific Literacy in a Primary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Kathleen Veronica; Loughran, John; Berry, Amanda; Dimitrakopoulos, Cathy

2012-01-01

The science education literature demonstrates that scientific literacy is generally valued and acknowledged among educators as a desirable student learning outcome. However, what scientific literacy really means in terms of classroom practice and student learning is debatable due to the inherent complexity of the term and varying expectations of…

Healthy Reading: Teaching Strategies for Integrating Health and Literacy Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cummings, Carol A.; Obel-Omia, Carolyn

2016-01-01

Across the world, development of health literacy skills with elementary school students improves health outcomes, reduces health risks, and increases academic success. As elementary school classroom teachers are often responsible for delivering the health curriculum to their students, this article examines ways to integrate health literacy with…

Teaching OOP with Financial Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhu, Hongwei

2011-01-01

Students lose interest in learning programming when the materials are not related to their lives. A challenge facing most students is that they lack the financial literacy necessary to manage their debts. An approach is developed to integrate financial literacy into an object-oriented programming (OOP) course. The approach is effective in…

Financial Literacy of High School Students: Evidence from Germany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Project-Based Learning: An Approach to Promote Energy Literacy among Secondary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karpudewan, Mageswary; Ponniah, Jamunah; Md. Zain, Ahmad Nurulazam

2016-01-01

Globalization, rapid industrial development, and tremendous population growth have significantly increased the demand for energy. Sustaining the energy supply requires that society be energy literate. Existing studies on secondary school students' energy literacy suggest that effective teaching approaches can enhance energy literacy. This…

Establishing a Computer Literacy Requirement for All Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kieffer, Linda M.

Several factors have indicated the necessity of formally requiring computer literacy at the university level. This paper discusses the reasoning for, the development of, and content of two computer literacy courses required of all freshmen. The first course contains computer awareness and knowledge that students should have upon entering the…

Psychological Literacy Weakly Differentiates Students by Discipline and Year of Enrolment.

PubMed

Heritage, Brody; Roberts, Lynne D; Gasson, Natalie

2016-01-01

Psychological literacy, a construct developed to reflect the types of skills graduates of a psychology degree should possess and be capable of demonstrating, has recently been scrutinized in terms of its measurement adequacy. The recent development of a multi-item measure encompassing the facets of psychological literacy has provided the potential for improved validity in measuring the construct. We investigated the known-groups validity of this multi-item measure of psychological literacy to examine whether psychological literacy could predict (a) students' course of enrolment and (b) students' year of enrolment. Five hundred and fifteen undergraduate psychology students, 87 psychology/human resource management students, and 83 speech pathology students provided data. In the first year cohort, the reflective processes (RPs) factor significantly predicted psychology and psychology/human resource management course enrolment, although no facets significantly differentiated between psychology and speech pathology enrolment. Within the second year cohort, generic graduate attributes (GGAs) and RPs differentiated psychology and speech pathology course enrolment. GGAs differentiated first-year and second-year psychology students, with second-year students more likely to have higher scores on this factor. Due to weak support for known-groups validity, further measurement refinements are recommended to improve the construct's utility.

Assessing Information Literacy Skills Development in First Year Students: A Multi-Year Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fain, Margaret

2011-01-01

Assessment data from 5 years of a pretest/posttest with first-year students was analyzed using McNemar's test. The results show that revisiting previous assessment data can identify significant changes in information literacy skill development.

Exploring EFL Students' Visual Literacy Skills and Global Understanding through Their Analysis of Louis Vuitton's Advertisement Featuring Mikhail Gorbachev

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Takaya, Kentei

2016-01-01

Visual literacy is an important skill for students to have in order to interpret embedded messages on signs and in advertisements successfully. As advertisements today tend to feature iconic people or events that shaped the modern world, it is crucial to develop students' visual literacy skills so they can comprehend the intended messages. This…

The Challenge of Evaluating Students' Scientific Literacy in a Writing-to-Learn Context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tomas, Louisa; Ritchie, Stephen M.

2015-02-01

This paper reports on the challenge of evaluating students' scientific literacy in a writing-to-learn context, as illustrated by our experience with an online science-writing project. In this mixed methods study, year 9 students in a case study class (13-14 year olds, n = 26) authored a series of two `hybridised' short stories that merged scientific and narratives genres about the socioscientific issue of biosecurity. In seeking to measure the efficacy of the intervention, we sought evidence of students' conceptual understanding communicated through their stories. Finding a suitable instrument presented our first challenge. This led to the development of scoring matrices to evaluate students' derived sense of scientific literacy. Student interviews were also conducted to explore their understanding of concepts related to the biosecurity context. While the results of these analyses showed significant improvements in students' understanding arising from their participation in the writing tasks, the interviews highlighted a second challenge in evaluating students' scientific literacy: a disparity between their written and vocalised understandings. The majority of students expressed a deeper level of conceptual understanding during the interviews than they did in their stories. The interviews also revealed alternative conceptions and instances of superficial understanding that were not expressed in their writing. Aside from the methodological challenge of analysing stories quantitatively, these findings suggest that in a writing-to-learn context, evaluating students' scientific literacy can be difficult. An examination of these artefacts in combination with interviews about students' written work provided a more comprehensive evaluation of their developing scientific literacy. The implications of this study for our understanding of the derived sense of scientific literacy, as well as implications for classroom practice, are discussed.

Recostructing the Physics Teaching Didactic based on Marzano’s Learning Dimension on Training the Scientific Literacies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karim, S.; Prima, E. C.; Utari, S.; Saepuzaman, D.; Nugaha, M. G.

2017-02-01

Scientific literacy is currently considered as an important aspect supporting an useful citizenship ability for civilians inhabiting highly developed countries as well as developing countries. Consequently, certain countries recommended this scientific literacy to be applied at a national curricula. The PISA study showed the Indonesian scientific literacy level of 1, which means as just simple science phenomenon that could be exactly descibed by a student. This condition indicates that common science teachings do not optimally facillitate students to guide the scientific literacy. By proposing this research, the science didactic reconstruction will be offered in order to gain the students’ scientific literacy evaluated from the qualitative analysis of the action research and the students’ respons during learning science. The qualitative evaluation was developed based on the Marzano’s learning dimension about the scientific literacy. This research, involving 29 students as participants, analyzed the improved physics teaching didactic as described in the following sentences. The teaching reconstruction concerned a high attention to the development of the structural knowledge. The knowledge was acquired from a real phenomenon followed by giving the instructed questions as the second learning dimension. The third dimension of learning reconstruction aimed to provide the knowledge repetition on an appropriate science context. At the fourth dimension, the reconstruction should be improved in order to find the best treatment for the students. Hopefully, they can control the physical parameter and evaluate the result of their investigation related to the given science problems. It can be concluded that most of the students were interested in learning science. However, the productive learning didn’t accompany students to the Marzano’s second, third, and fourth learning dimensions.

Contemporary Literacy: Essential Skills for the 21st Century.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, Janet

2003-01-01

Defines contemporary literacy and examines what skills educators and library media specialists need to learn and impart to their students. Discusses using the Big6 skills to achieve contemporary literacy; developing information literacy curricula; and addressing the challenge of contemporary literacy. (AEF)

Fulfilling a Promise: Standards for Technological Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bybee, Rodger W.

2003-01-01

Discusses the place of standards in U.S. education, the development of the Standards for Technological Literacy, and the recent publication of "Advancing Excellence in Technological Literacy: Student Assessment, Professional Development, and Program Standards." (Contains 21 references.) (SK)

Graduate Students, Study of Environmental Literacy and Sustainable Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Özgurler, Safa; Cansaran, Arzu

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to explore the level of environmental literacy of the graduate students in Amasya University; their approach to environment and environmental issues; and to investigate their beliefs about the sustainable development. The sample of the study is 5 graduate students studying at Amasya University, 3 female and 2 male, in…

The Complexity of Scientific Literacy: The Development and Use of a Data Analysis Matrix

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garthwaite, Kathryn; France, Bev; Ward, Gillian

2014-01-01

Data were gathered from 95 Year 10 students in a New Zealand secondary school to explore how the indicators of scientific literacy are expressed in student responses. These students completed an activity based around the two contexts of lighting and health. A matrix, which incorporated descriptive indicators, was developed to analyse the student…

Preparing Students for Diverse Careers: Developing Career Literacy with Final-Year Writing Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennet, Dawn; Robertson, Rachel

2015-01-01

Graduates from generalist science and arts degrees can face diverse careers characterised by portfolios of simultaneous, self-managed roles. This paper reports from a study on identity and career literacy in which final-year professional writing and publishing students developed an ePortfolio and engaged in open blogging during their industry…

Let's Go to the Zoo: Guiding Elementary Students through Research; Ladders of Collaboration; Information Literacy and Assessment: Web Resources Too Good To Miss; Top Secret: Collaborative Efforts Really Do Make a Difference; What Is Collaboration to You?; Volunteering for Information Literacy; Getting an Early Start on Using Technology for Research; Collaborations: Working with Restrictions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Futch, Lynn; Asper, Vicki; Repman, Judi; Tschamler, Addie; Thomas, Melody; Kearns, Jodi; Farmer, Lesley S. J.; Buzzeo, Toni

2002-01-01

Includes eight articles that address the role of the elementary school librarian in developing information literacy, focusing on collaboration between media specialists and classroom teachers. Highlights include student research, including a research planning sheet; Web resources on information literacy and assessment; and helping students use…

The Financial Literacy of Social Work Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kindle, Peter A.

2013-01-01

The financial literacy of social work students has become the focus of curriculum development and research, but no study to date has attempted to assess the financial knowledge possessed by social work students. This study addressed that gap by assessing the level of objective financial knowledge reported by social work student respondents…

Contextual Shifting: Teachers Emphasizing Students' Academic Identity to Promote Scientific Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reveles, John M.; Brown, Bryan A.

2008-01-01

This research presents a case study of two teachers' emphasis on students' academic identity as a means of facilitating their science literacy development. These cases support a theoretical position that deconstructs the notion of normative science literacy into its constitutive components: (a) being scientific and (b) appropriating its literate…

Book Club Plus: A Conceptual Framework To Organize Literacy Instruction. CIERA Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raphael, Taffy; Florio-Ruane, Susan; George, MariAnne

This report addresses how literacy teachers can teach everything that their students need to develop the foundational skills and strategies of literacy, without sacrificing a focus on higher-level thinking about substantive content and good literature. It also addresses the impact on student learning when teachers use a literature-based reading…

Library Experience and Information Literacy Learning of First Year International Students: An Australian Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hughes, Hilary; Hall, Nerilee; Pozzi, Megan

2017-01-01

This qualitative case study provides fresh understandings about first year undergraduate international students' library and information use at an Australian university, and their associated information literacy learning needs. The findings provide evidence to inform the development of library spaces and information literacy responses that enhance…

Developing Statistical Literacy with Year 9 Students: A Collaborative Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharma, Sashi

2013-01-01

Advances in technology and communication have increased the amount of statistical information delivered through everyday media. The importance of statistics in everyday life has led to calls for increased attention to statistical literacy in the mathematics curriculum (Watson 2006). Gal (2004) sees statistical literacy as the need for students to…

New Literacy Implementation: The Impact of Professional Development on Middle School Student Science Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, Hui-Yin; Wang, Shaing-Kwei; Coster, Daniel

2017-01-01

With advancing technology, "literacy" evolves to include new forms of literacy made possible by digital technologies. "New literacy" refers to using technology to research, locate, evaluate, synthesize and communication information. The purpose of the study is to develop a framework to guide science teachers' new literacy…

Health literacy and digital media use: Assessing the Health Literacy Skills Instrument – Short Form and its correlates among African American college students

PubMed Central

Rosenbaum, Judith E.; Deane, Amber E.

2018-01-01

Improving health literacy is increasingly seen as a solution to health problems and inequalities. This study assesses how one of the more recent measures of health literacy, the Health Literacy Skills Instrument – Short Form, performs among African American college students, and ascertains if and how media use relates to health literacy. Results indicate that both the use of health-related websites and apps as well as overall time spent with the media were positively, but conditionally, linked to health literacy. However, findings also pointed to the need for further test development. PMID:29942630

Use of a UDL Literacy Environment by Middle School Students With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

PubMed

Coyne, Peggy; Evans, Miriam; Karger, Joanne

2017-02-01

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has been shown to have benefits for students with disabilities. However, little is known about its potential to support literacy for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). This qualitative study explored (a) to what extent students with IDD are able to use Udio, an online UDL literacy environment; and (b) how students with IDD experienced and perceived Udio. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze classroom observations, as well as teacher and student interviews. Electronic usage logs and student-produced discussions and projects were analyzed descriptively. Students independently navigated the environment and used embedded supports, including audio-assisted reading and sentence starters. In addition, findings indicate that age-relevant content, choice, and opportunities to socialize in online discussions were especially engaging for students. Further research is warranted to determine how UDL environments affect the literacy development of students with IDD.

Media-Savvy Scientific Literacy: Developing Critical Evaluation Skills by Investigating Scientific Claims

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brickman, Peggy; Gormally, Cara; Francom, Greg; Jardeleza, Sarah E.; Schutte, Virginia G. W.; Jordan, Carly; Kanizay, Lisa

2012-01-01

Students must learn content knowledge and develop scientific literacy skills to evaluate and use scientific information in real-world situations. Recognizing the accessibility of scientific information to the average citizen, we developed an instructional approach to help students learn how to judge the quality of claims. We describe a…

Computer literacy among first year medical students in a developing country: a cross sectional study.

PubMed

Ranasinghe, Priyanga; Wickramasinghe, Sashimali A; Pieris, Wa Rasanga; Karunathilake, Indika; Constantine, Godwin R

2012-09-14

The use of computer assisted learning (CAL) has enhanced undergraduate medical education. CAL improves performance at examinations, develops problem solving skills and increases student satisfaction. The study evaluates computer literacy among first year medical students in Sri Lanka. The study was conducted at Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka between August-September 2008. First year medical students (n = 190) were invited for the study. Data on computer literacy and associated factors were collected by an expert-validated pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. Computer literacy was evaluated by testing knowledge on 6 domains; common software packages, operating systems, database management and the usage of internet and E-mail. A linear regression was conducted using total score for computer literacy as the continuous dependant variable and other independent covariates. Sample size-181 (Response rate-95.3%), 49.7% were Males. Majority of the students (77.3%) owned a computer (Males-74.4%, Females-80.2%). Students have gained their present computer knowledge by; a formal training programme (64.1%), self learning (63.0%) or by peer learning (49.2%). The students used computers for predominately; word processing (95.6%), entertainment (95.0%), web browsing (80.1%) and preparing presentations (76.8%). Majority of the students (75.7%) expressed their willingness for a formal computer training programme at the faculty.Mean score for the computer literacy questionnaire was 48.4 ± 20.3, with no significant gender difference (Males-47.8 ± 21.1, Females-48.9 ± 19.6). There were 47.9% students that had a score less than 50% for the computer literacy questionnaire. Students from Colombo district, Western Province and Student owning a computer had a significantly higher mean score in comparison to other students (p < 0.001). In the linear regression analysis, formal computer training was the strongest predictor of computer literacy (β = 13.034), followed by using internet facility, being from Western province, using computers for Web browsing and computer programming, computer ownership and doing IT (Information Technology) as a subject in GCE (A/L) examination. Sri Lankan medical undergraduates had a low-intermediate level of computer literacy. There is a need to improve computer literacy, by increasing computer training in schools, or by introducing computer training in the initial stages of the undergraduate programme. These two options require improvement in infrastructure and other resources.

The effects of professional development related to classroom assessment on student achievement in science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzie, Dawn Danielle

This study investigated the relationship between students' standardized test scores in science and (a) increases in teacher assessment literacy and (b) teacher participation in a Teacher Quality Research (TQR) project on classroom assessment. The samples for these studies were teachers from underperforming schools who volunteered to take part in a professional development program in classroom assessment. School groups were randomly assigned to the treatment group. For Study 1, teachers in the treatment received professional development in classroom assessment from a trained assessment coach. Teachers in the control received no professional development. For Study 2, teachers in Treatment 1 received professional development in classroom assessment from a trained assessment coach and teachers in Treatment 2 received professional development in classroom assessment from a facilitator with one day of training. Teachers in both groups completed a measure of assessment literacy, the Teacher Quality Research Test of Assessment Literacy Skills (TQR_TALS), prior to the beginning and then again at the conclusion of the four month professional development program. A hierarchical linear model (HLM) analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between students' standardized test scores in science and (a) increases in teacher assessment literacy and (b) teacher TQR status. Based upon these analyses, the professional development program increased teachers' assessment literacy skills; however, the professional development had no significant impact on students' achievement.

Students' Developing Understanding of Water in Environmental Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Covitt, Beth A.; Gunckel, Kristin L.; Anderson, Charles W.

2009-01-01

The authors developed a framework of empirically grounded curricular goals for water-science literacy and documented the challenges that students face in achieving these goals. Water-related environmental science literacy requires an understanding of connected natural and human-engineered systems at multiple scales ranging from atomic-molecular…

Helping Your Students To Understand Complex Social Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valentine, Tom, Ed.; Sandlin, Jenny, Ed.

1998-01-01

This document, which was developed to assist individuals working in publicly sponsored literacy programs in Georgia, offers instructional plans and practical strategies designed to help teachers help students of adult literacy, adult basic education, General Educational Development, and English as a second language understand complex social…

Virtual laboratory learning media development to improve science literacy skills of mechanical engineering students on basic physics concept of material measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jannati, E. D.; Setiawan, A.; Siahaan, P.; Rochman, C.

2018-05-01

This study aims to determine the description of virtual laboratory learning media development to improve science literacy skills of Mechanical Engineering students on the concept of basic Physics. Quasi experimental method was employed in this research. The participants of this research were first semester students of mechanical engineering in Majalengka University. The research instrument was readability test of instructional media. The results of virtual laboratory learning media readability test show that the average score is 78.5%. It indicates that virtual laboratory learning media development are feasible to be used in improving science literacy skill of Mechanical Engineering students in Majalengka University, specifically on basic Physics concepts of material measurement.

Sex, Literacy and Videotape: Learning, Identity and Language Development through Documentary Production with "Overage" Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodman, Steven

2010-01-01

This case study examines the learning, identity and language development experienced by "overage" 8th-grade students who have been left behind two or more years in their New York City middle school and are participating in an extended-day video documentary program. The students practise a range of literacy skills naturally embedded in…

Supporting Deaf Students with Intellectual Disabilities through a Specialized Literacy Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berchin-Weiss, Janice; Falk, Jodi L.; Cunningham, Katherine Egan

2016-01-01

The incidence of d/Deaf students with intellectual disabilities in schools for the d/Deaf has increased; however, the development of curricula for this population has not kept up with this trend. A literacy curriculum was developed at St. Joseph's School for the Deaf (SJSD) to address the special needs of these students using a reading and writing…

Literacy Skills among Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students and Students with Cochlear Implants in Bilingual/bicultural Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dammeyer, Jesper

2014-01-01

Research has shown that many deaf students do not develop age-appropriate reading and writing abilities. This study evaluates the literacy skills of deaf students, hard of hearing students, and students with cochlear implants in bilingual/bicultural schools in Denmark. The results show that 45 per cent of the students did not have any reading and…

Literacy and Numeracy in Victorian Schools: 1988. Report of a Study Commissioned by the Victorian Ministry of Education. ACER Research Monograph No. 34.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGaw, Barry; And Others

Most of the criticism of Australian schools focuses on students' skills in literacy and numeracy. This study assessed levels of student achievement in Victoria's primary and secondary schools in 1988 in some key areas of literacy and numeracy. This report maps the performances of students in Years 5 and 9 on scales of development in mathematics,…

Gaming, Student Literacies, and the Composition Classroom: Some Possibilities for Transformation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alexander, Jonathan

2009-01-01

This article explores the literacy narratives of two "gamers" to demonstrate the kinds of literacy skills that many students actively involved in computer and video gaming are developing during their play. This analysis becomes part of a larger claim about the necessity of re-visioning the place of gaming in composition curricula.…

Identity and Literacy Practices in a Bilingual Classroom: An Exploration of Leveraging Community Cultural Wealth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lynch, Anissa Wicktor

2018-01-01

This case study focused on transitional bilingual class and explored connections between the literacy practices co-constructed in this figured world and one student's developing identity. Yanet, a newcomer student from Cuba, was encouraged to draw on community cultural wealth to support her own and her classmates' language, literacy and identity…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Assessing the Impact Participation in Science Journalism Activities Has on Scientific Literacy among High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farrar, Cathy

2012-01-01

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.…

Inclusive Literacy Teaching: Differentiating Approaches in Multilingual Elementary Classrooms. Language and Literacy Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helman, Lori; Rogers, Carrie; Frederick, Amy; Struck, Maggie

2016-01-01

Responding to the need to prepare elementary teachers for the increasing linguistic diversity in schools, this book presents key foundational principles in language and literacy development for linguistically diverse students. Readers see these ideas enacted through the journeys of real students as they progress from 1st through 6th grade. What…

Information Literacy in the Tension between School's Discursive Practice and Students' Self-Directed Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gärdén, Cecilia

2016-01-01

Introduction: Self-guided learning has had a major impact on adult education, where information seeking and use are key aspects of learning. With their lack of experience in study contexts, the students are nevertheless assumed to develop information literacy. Method: The paper aims to create an understanding of how information literacy can be…

Developing Deep Understanding and Literacy while Addressing a Gender-Based Literacy Gap

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Yanqing; Zhang, Jianwei; Scardamalia, Marlene

2010-01-01

Online discourse from a class of 22 students (11 boys and 11 girls) was analysed to assess advances in conceptual understanding and literacy. The students worked over a two-year period (Grades 3-4), during which they contributed notes to an online Knowledge Building environment--Knowledge Forum[R]. Contributions revealed that both boys and girls…

Art Education, Literacy, and English Language Learners: Visual Arts Curriculum to Aid Literacy Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Renish, Angela J.

2016-01-01

Nineteen students whose first language is not English (English Language Learners, ELL) participated in an action research study that focused on the marriage of an art education curriculum and literacy practice. The study introduced students to the consistent use of language in art education as a means to discuss, inform, explain, and demonstrate…

Critical Thinking: Foundational for Digital Literacies and Democracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gainer, Jesse

2012-01-01

This column addresses the importance of developing critical thinking to meet the demands of 21st-century literacies and participatory democracy. The author argues for a critical approach to digital literacies that explores the sociological nature of literacy practices. Students examine examples of new literacies and analyze how ideologies are…

Psychological Literacy Weakly Differentiates Students by Discipline and Year of Enrolment

PubMed Central

Heritage, Brody; Roberts, Lynne D.; Gasson, Natalie

2016-01-01

Psychological literacy, a construct developed to reflect the types of skills graduates of a psychology degree should possess and be capable of demonstrating, has recently been scrutinized in terms of its measurement adequacy. The recent development of a multi-item measure encompassing the facets of psychological literacy has provided the potential for improved validity in measuring the construct. We investigated the known-groups validity of this multi-item measure of psychological literacy to examine whether psychological literacy could predict (a) students’ course of enrolment and (b) students’ year of enrolment. Five hundred and fifteen undergraduate psychology students, 87 psychology/human resource management students, and 83 speech pathology students provided data. In the first year cohort, the reflective processes (RPs) factor significantly predicted psychology and psychology/human resource management course enrolment, although no facets significantly differentiated between psychology and speech pathology enrolment. Within the second year cohort, generic graduate attributes (GGAs) and RPs differentiated psychology and speech pathology course enrolment. GGAs differentiated first-year and second-year psychology students, with second-year students more likely to have higher scores on this factor. Due to weak support for known-groups validity, further measurement refinements are recommended to improve the construct’s utility. PMID:26909058

The effect of first written language on the acquisition of English literacy.

PubMed

Holm, A; Dodd, B

1996-05-01

The relationship between first and second language literacy was examined by identifying the skills and processes developed in the first language that were transferred to the second language. The performance of 40 university students from The People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Australia were compared on a series of tasks that assessed phonological awareness and reading and spelling skills in English. The results indicated that the Hong Kong students (with non-alphabetic first language literacy) had limited phonological awareness compared to those students with alphabetic first language literacy. The reading and spelling tasks showed no differences between the groups on real word processing. However, the students from Hong Kong had difficulty processing nonwords because of their poor phonological awareness. The results supported the hypothesis that people learning English as a second language (ESL) transfer their literacy processing skills from their first language to English. When the phonological awareness required in English had not been developed in the first language, ESL students were limited to a whole-word, visual strategy. The findings indicate that students from non-alphabetic written language backgrounds might have difficulties with new, or unfamiliar words when attending universities where English is the medium of instruction.

Developing an Instrument of Scientific Literacy Assessment on the Cycle Theme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rusilowati, Ani; Kurniawati, Lina; Nugroho, Sunyoto E.; Widiyatmoko, Arif

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study is to develop scientific literacy evaluation instrument that tested its validity, reliability, and characteristics to measure the skill of student's scientific literacy used four scientific literacy, categories as follow:science as a body of knowledge (category A), science as a way of thinking (category B), science as a…

Stories from LIFE at Falls Church High School. Literacy Is For Everyone (LIFE) Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cruz, Jane

The report describes the development and implementation of Literacy Is For Everyone (LIFE), an English-as-a-Second-Language literacy program for limited-English-speaking immigrant families of students at Falls Church High School (Virginia). Participating families attended evening classes, groups, and workshops to develop literacy skills and become…

Developing a Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS): Measuring Undergraduates' Evaluation of Scientific Information and Arguments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gormally, Cara; Brickman, Peggy; Lutz, Mary

2012-01-01

Life sciences faculty agree that developing scientific literacy is an integral part of undergraduate education and report that they teach these skills. However, few measures of scientific literacy are available to assess students' proficiency in using scientific literacy skills to solve scenarios in and beyond the undergraduate biology classroom.…

Effectiveness of integrated science instructional material on pressure in daily life theme to improve digital age literacy of students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asrizal; Amran, A.; Ananda, A.; Festiyed; Khairani, S.

2018-04-01

Integrated science learning and literacy skills are relevant issues in Indonesian’s education. However, the use of the integrated science learning and the integration of literacy in learning cannot be implemented well. An alternative solution of this problem is to develop integrated science instructional material on pressure in daily life theme by integrating digital age literacy. Purpose of research is to investigate the effectiveness of the use of integrated science instructional material on pressure in daily life theme to improve knowledge competence, attitudes competence and literacy skills of students. This research was a part of development research which has been conducted. In the product testing stage of this research and development was used before and after design of treatment for one sample group. Instruments to collect the data consist of learning outcomes test sheet, attitude observation sheet, and performance assessment sheet of students. Data analysis techniques include descriptive statistics analysis, normality test, homogeneity test, and paired comparison test. Therefore, the important result of research is the use of integrated science instructional material on pressure in daily life theme is effective in scientific approach to improve knowledge competence, attitudes competence, and digital age literacy skills of grade VIII students at 95% confidence level.

Literacies for Life.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaker, Paul

2001-01-01

To prosper as adults, students must develop varied literacies, including personal economic skills (understandings of credit, home ownership, retirement planning, taxation, and investing) and social and emotional literacies such as family and personal coping skills. Regarding aesthetic literacy, art should permeate the school environment through…

Constructing Literacy in the Kindergarten: Task Structure, Collaboration, and Motivation

PubMed Central

Nolen, Susan Bobbitt

2009-01-01

This ethnographic study explores kindergarten children’s emergent motivation to read and write, its relation to their developing concepts of reading and writing (Guice & Johnston, 1994; Johnston, 1997; Turner, 1995), and to their teachers instructional goals and classroom norms. Teachers and students together constructed legitimate literate activity in their classrooms, and this construction framed the motivation of students who were at risk for developing learning disabilities in reading and writing. Specifically, the kinds of reading and writing activity that were sanctioned in each class and the role of student–student collaboration colored students’ views of the purposes of literacy and their own ability to learn. Findings extend our understanding of how young children’s literacy motivation influences, and is influenced by, their classroom literacy culture. Implications for early literacy instruction for children with learning disabilities, and for their continuing motivation to read and write, are discussed. PMID:19727336

The Balanced Literacy Diet.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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)

Developing information literacy with first year oral health students.

PubMed

Ford, P J; Foxlee, N; Green, W

2009-02-01

In this time of rapid expansion of the scientific knowledge base, subject matter runs the risk of becoming outdated within a relatively short time. Instead of adding more content to already crowded curricula, the focus should be on equipping students to adapt to their changing world. The ability to access, evaluate and apply new knowledge for the benefit of patients has been acknowledged as an important goal for dental education. Information literacy is key to achieving this. An information literacy programme for first year oral health students was instituted. This was integrated within a biosciences course and linked with its assessment. Small group instruction reinforced by the use of a tailored online Assignment Guide was used in the context of a specific task. Effectiveness was measured in terms of assessment outcome, processes used and student experience. Twenty-seven students participated in the intervention which was effective in enhancing foundation literacy skills and confidence of students in accessing and evaluating information sources in the context of a clinical problem. Improvement in higher level literacy skills required to articulate this information in the synthesis of a scientific review was not demonstrated. Integration of this information literacy programme within the learning activities and assessment of a basic sciences course resulted in significantly enhanced information literacy skills. As this is highly relevant for higher education students in general, the wider promotion of information literacy should be encouraged.

Methods and Strategies:Students as Authors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Varelas, Maria; Pappas, Christine C.; Kokkino, Sofia; Ortiz, Ibett

2008-01-01

Are you looking for ways to effectively integrate--and assess--science and literacy learning? Try having your students create their own books! The Integrated Science Literacy Enactments (ISLE) approach to teaching and learning science is one way to develop students' science understandings while simultaneously enhancing their communication skills.…

Developing a Geoscience Literacy Exam: Pushing Geoscience Literacy Assessment to New Levels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iverson, E. A.; Steer, D. N.; Manduca, C. A.

2012-12-01

InTeGrate is a community effort aimed at improving geoscience literacy and building a workforce that can use geoscience to solve societal issues. As part of this work we have developed a geoscience literacy assessment instrument to measure students' higher order thinking. This assessment is an important part of the development of curricula designed to increase geoscience literacy for all undergraduate students. To this end, we developed the Geoscience Literacy Exam (GLE) as one of the tools to quantify the effectiveness of these materials on students' understandings of geoscience literacy. The InTeGrate project is a 5-year, NSF-funded STEP Center grant in its first year of funding. Details concerning the project are found at http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/index.html. The GLE instrument addresses content and concepts in the Earth, Climate, and Ocean Science literacy documents. The testing schema is organized into three levels of increasing complexity. Level 1 questions are single answer, understanding- or application-level multiple choice questions. For example, selecting which type of energy transfer is most responsible for the movement of tectonic plates. They are designed such that most introductory level students should be able to correctly answer after taking an introductory geoscience course. Level 2 questions are more advanced multiple answer/matching questions, at the understanding- through analysis-level. Students might be asked to determine the types of earth-atmosphere interactions that could result in changes to global temperatures in the event of a major volcanic eruption. Because the answers are more complicated, some introductory students and most advanced students should be able to respond correctly. Level 3 questions are analyzing- to evaluating-level short essays, such as describe the ways in which the atmosphere sustains life on Earth. These questions are designed such that introductory students could probably formulate a rudimentary response. We anticipate the detail and sophistication of the response will increase as students progress through the InTeGrate curriculum. A team of 14 community members and assessment experts were assembled to develop the questions and complete validity and reliability testing. An initial set of questions was vetted, revised by the assessment team, and sent for external review. Students can score one point for correct Level 1 answers. For Level 2 questions, students can score from zero to two points, depending on the number of correct answers selected. Rubrics are under development for Level 3 essay questions using a 3 point scale that assigns points based both on the accuracy of the response and the quality of the written response. The final instrument will be used to measure geoscience literacy from introductory, non-science students to upper-level geoscience majors. In addition to covering geoscience content knowledge and understanding, GLE+ is also intended to probe InTeGrate students' ability and motivation to use their geoscience expertise to address problems of environmental sustainability. This final instrument will be made available to the geoscience education community as an assessment to be used in conjunction with InTeGrate teaching materials or as a stand-alone tool for departments to measure student learning gains across the major.

Development of a health literacy assessment for young adult college students: a pilot study.

PubMed

Harper, Raquel

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive health literacy assessment tool for young adult college students. Participants were 144 undergraduate students. Two hundred and twenty-nine questions were developed, which were based on concepts identified by the US Department of Health and Human Services, the World Health Organization, and health communication scholars. Four health education experts reviewed this pool of items and helped select 87 questions for testing. Students completed an online assessment consisting of these 87 questions in June and October of 2012. Item response theory and goodness-of-fit values were used to help eliminate nonperforming questions. Fifty-one questions were selected based on good item response theory discrimination parameter values. The instrument has 51 questions that look promising for measuring health literacy in college students, but needs additional testing with a larger student population to see how these questions continue to perform.

Process skills approach to develop primary students’ scientific literacy: A case study with low achieving students on water cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suryanti; Ibrahim, M.; Lede, N. S.

2018-01-01

The results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study on the scientific literacy of Indonesian students since the year 2000 have been still far below the international average score of 500. This could also be seen from the results of the science literacy test of 5th-grade students of primary school in Indonesia which showed that 60% of students are still at level ≤ 3 (value < 500). The students’ science literacy skills need to be improved by applying learning with a process skills approach. This study aims to describe the findings of classroom action research using a process skills approach to the science literacy level of primary students (n = 23). This research was conducted in 2 cycles with stages of planning, implementation, observation, and reflection. Students’ ability in scientific literacy was measured by using description and subjective tests of context domains, knowledge, competencies, and attitudes. In this study, researchers found an improvement in students’ science literacy skills when learning using a process skills approach. In addition, students’ scientific attitude is also more positive. In activities for learning science, students should be challenged as often as possible so that they have more practice using their scientific knowledge and skills to solve problems presented by teachers in the classroom.

A Longitudinal Investigation of Reading Development from Kindergarten to Grade Eight in a Spanish-Speaking Bilingual Population

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grimm, Ryan P.; Solari, Emily J.; Gerber, Michael M.

2018-01-01

This longitudinal study used latent growth curve modeling to investigate English literacy development in a sample of Spanish-speaking language minority students from third through eighth grade. This study also compared the sample's literacy development to the entire population of California students using state standardized test data. Second, this…

Effects of Two-Way Bilingual Education on the Literacy Development of Students in Kindergarten and the First Grade.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lopez, Maria G.; Tashakkori, Abbas

The purpose of this study was to examine the short-term effects of a two-way bilingual education program on the literacy development of students in kindergarten and first grade. Two groups of children were compared in terms of their academic achievement in English language arts. The groups included students with limited English proficiency (LEP)…

A Quantitative and Qualitative Inquiry into Future Teachers' Use of Information and Communications Technology to Develop Students' Information Literacy Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simard, Stéphanie; Karsenti, Thierry

2016-01-01

This study aims to understand how preservice programs prepare future teachers to use ICT to develop students' information literacy skills. A survey was conducted from January 2014 through May 2014 with 413 future teachers in four French Canadian universities. In the spring of 2015, qualitative data were also collected from 48 students in their…

The Effects of the System of Least Prompts on Teaching Comprehension Skills during a Shared Story to Students with Significant Intellectual Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mims, Pamela Joanne

2009-01-01

The development of literacy skills is a crucial skill that all students are entitled to develop (Browder, Gibbs, Ahlgrim-Delzell, Courtade, Mraz, Flowers, in press). Currently limited research has been conducted on the acquisition of early literacy skills for students with significant disabilities (Browder, Mims, Spooner, Ahlgrim-Delzell, & Lee,…

Traditional Literacy and Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Developing Professional Skills in STEM Students: Data Information Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zilinski, Lisa D.; Sapp Nelson, Megan; Van Epps, Amy S.

2014-01-01

Undergraduate STEM students are increasingly expected to have some data use skills upon graduation, whether they pursue post-graduate education or move into industry. This project was an initial foray into the application of data information literacy competencies to training undergraduate students to identify markers of data and information…

Thinking around the Corner: The Power of Information Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bush, Gail

2009-01-01

Twenty-first century students are fully engaged in technology, with abundant information flowing from various sources. Educators need to develop thinking dispositions in their students that will serve them "around the corner," beyond what we can see today. An essential skill is information literacy. Students who are information literate develop…

Tessellating with Logo: Effects on Visual Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knupfer, Nancy Nelson; Clark, Barbara I.

This investigation of the potential of a Logo environment to develop visual literacy skills in elementary school students focused on the recognition of Escher-type geometric constructions by second and sixth grade students. Four research questions were addressed: (1) whether students can use higher-order and creative thinking skills in using…

Student Problems. Adult Literacy Independent Learning Packet.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koefer, Ann M.

This independent learning packet, which is designed for administrators, teachers, counselors, and tutors in Pennsylvania's Region 7 Tri-Valley Literacy Staff Development area as well as for their adult students, examines the following seven problems encountered by students: the job market, child care, single parenting/parenting skills, divorce,…

Literacy through Literature. Proceedings of the Annual Conference and Course on Literacy (38th, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 1991).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koebler, Saundra, Comp.; And Others

This conference proceedings is the result of a week-long conference and course focusing on the use of literature programs in the development of literacy skills and the attainment of broader educational outcomes. The proceedings includes speeches by keynote speakers, session presentations, graduate student papers, and middle school student papers.…

Impact of Attending Jump Start Literacy Camp on Reading Achievement among Third and Fourth Grade Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Padgett, Carrie B.

2010-01-01

The Jump Start Literacy Camp was developed as a means to combat summer learning loss. The camp utilized high-energy activities to target phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. This study examined the effects of the Jump Start Literacy Camp on reading achievement for rising third and fourth grade students in an urban…

Information Behaviors and Information Literacy Skills of LIS Students: An International Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saunders, Laura; Kurbanoglu, Serap; Boustany, Joumana; Dogan, Guleda; Becker, Peter; Blumer, Eliane; Chowdhury, Sudatta; Dobreva, Milena; Gendina, Natalia; Grgic, Ivana Hebrang; Haddow, Gaby; Koltay, Tibor; Kortelainen, Terttu; Krakowska, Monika; Majid, Shaheen; Mezhova, Marina; Repanovici, Angela; Rudžioniene, Jurgita; Schneider, Rene; Terra, Ana Lucia; Todorova, Tania Y.

2015-01-01

Librarians are expected to be expert searchers, and developing information literacy skills to navigate the vast world of information is a focus of most library and information science (LIS) programs. It is important to understand the information literacy and behaviors of LIS students to see if they are employing the skills they will need to assist…

Secondary Science Teachers' Implementation of CCSS and NGSS Literacy Practices: A Survey Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drew, Sally Valentino; Thomas, Jeffrey

2018-01-01

Most middle and high school students struggle with reading and writing in science. This may be because science teachers are reluctant to teach literacy in science class. New standards now require a shift in the way science teachers develop students' literacy in science. This survey study examined the extent to which science teachers report…

Exercise: Benefits for Body and Mind. Student Workbook. Health Promotion for Adult Literacy Students: An Empowering Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson River Center for Program Development, Glenmont, NY.

This workbook was developed to help adult literacy students learn about exercise and physical fitness. It contains information sheets and student worksheets, coordinated with an audiotape that is available. Some of the topics covered in the workbook are the following: benefits of exercise; stress; aerobic versus anaerobic exercise; exercise…

The Computer Student Worksheet Based Mathematical Literacy for Statistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manoy, J. T.; Indarasati, N. A.

2018-01-01

The student worksheet is one of media teaching which is able to improve teaching an activity in the classroom. Indicators in mathematical literacy were included in a student worksheet is able to help the students for applying the concept in daily life. Then, the use of computers in learning can create learning with environment-friendly. This research used developmental research which was Thiagarajan (Four-D) development design. There are 4 stages in the Four-D, define, design, develop, and disseminate. However, this research was finish until the third stage, develop stage. The computer student worksheet based mathematical literacy for statistics executed good quality. This student worksheet is achieving the criteria if able to achieve three aspects, validity, practicality, and effectiveness. The subject in this research was the students at The 1st State Senior High School of Driyorejo, Gresik, grade eleven of The 5th Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The computer student worksheet products based mathematical literacy for statistics executed good quality, while it achieved the aspects for validity, practical, and effectiveness. This student worksheet achieved the validity aspects with an average of 3.79 (94.72%), and practical aspects with an average of 2.85 (71.43%). Besides, it achieved the effectiveness aspects with a percentage of the classical complete students of 94.74% and a percentage of the student positive response of 75%.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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. The Promoting Climate Literacy course is focused on graduate and undergraduate science students interested in learning how to more effectively communicate climate science, while participating in outreach opportunities with the public. The course has been disseminated through a workshop for faculty at 17 universities.

The Complete Picture: "Standards for Technological Literacy" and "Advancing Excellence in Technological Literacy."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Technology Teacher, 2003

2003-01-01

Provides an overview of the "Standards for Technological Literacy: Content for the Study of Technology" (STL) and "Advancing Excellence in Technological Literacy: Student Assessment, Professional Development, and Program Standards" (AETL). Shows how the documents work together to advance the technological literacy of technology educators and K-12…

Getting Them on Their Literate Feet.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Safwat, Yvonne; And Others

1986-01-01

The adult English literacy program at the Phanat Nikhom Refugee Camp has developed techniques for actively engaging the sometimes reluctant students in the skill development process leading to literacy. A literacy warm-up chart used daily for five minutes develops the prereading skills of sequencing and left-to-right eye coordination; a variety of…

A social ecological conceptual framework for understanding adolescent health literacy in the health education classroom.

PubMed

Wharf Higgins, Joan; Begoray, Deborah; MacDonald, Marjorie

2009-12-01

With the rising concern over chronic health conditions and their prevention and management, health literacy is emerging as an important public health issue. As with the development of other forms of literacy, the ability for students to be able to access, understand, evaluate and communicate health information is a skill best developed during their years of public schooling. Health education curricula offer one approach to develop health literacy, yet little is known about its influence on neither students nor their experiences within an educational context. In this article, we describe our experience applying a social ecological model to investigating the implementation of a health education curriculum in four high schools in British Columbia, Canada. We used the model to guide a conceptual understanding of health literacy, develop research questions, select data collection strategies, and interpret the findings. Reflections and recommendations for using the model are offered.

Development and Validation of Scientific Literacy Achievement Test to Assess Senior Secondary School Students' Literacy Acquisition in Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adeleke, A. A.; Joshua, E. O.

2015-01-01

Physics literacy plays a crucial part in global technological development as several aspects of science and technology apply concepts and principles of physics in their operations. However, the acquisition of scientific literacy in physics in our society today is not encouraging enough to the desirable standard. Therefore, this study focuses on…

Curriculum Alignment with Vision and Change Improves Student Scientific Literacy.

PubMed

Auerbach, Anna Jo; Schussler, Elisabeth E

2017-01-01

The Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education final report challenged institutions to reform their biology courses to focus on process skills and student active learning, among other recommendations. A large southeastern university implemented curricular changes to its majors' introductory biology sequence in alignment with these recommendations. Discussion sections focused on developing student process skills were added to both lectures and a lab, and one semester of lab was removed. This curriculum was implemented using active-learning techniques paired with student collaboration. This study determined whether these changes resulted in a higher gain of student scientific literacy by conducting pre/posttesting of scientific literacy for two cohorts: students experiencing the unreformed curriculum and students experiencing the reformed curriculum. Retention of student scientific literacy for each cohort was also assessed 4 months later. At the end of the academic year, scientific literacy gains were significantly higher for students in the reformed curriculum ( p = 0.005), with those students having double the scientific literacy gains of the cohort in the unreformed curriculum. Retention of scientific literacy did not differ between the cohorts. © 2017 A. J. Auerbach and E. E. Schussler. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Enhancing RN-to-BSN students' information literacy skills through the use of instructional technology.

PubMed

Schutt, Michelle A; Hightower, Barbara

2009-02-01

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing advocates that professional nurses have the information literacy skills essential for evidence-based practice. As nursing schools embrace evidence-based models to prepare students for nursing careers, faculty can collaborate with librarians to create engaging learning activities focused on the development of information literacy skills. Instructional technology tools such as course management systems, virtual classrooms, and online tutorials provide opportunities to reach students outside the traditional campus classroom. This article discusses the collaborative process between faculty and a library instruction coordinator and strategies used to create literacy learning activities focused on the development of basic database search skills for a Computers in Nursing course. The activities and an online tutorial were included in a library database module incorporated into WebCT. In addition, synchronous classroom meeting software was used by the librarian to reach students in the distance learning environment. Recommendations for module modifications and faculty, librarian, and student evaluations are offered.

Developing non-routine problems for assessing students’ mathematical literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murdiyani, N. M.

2018-03-01

The purpose of this study is to develop non-routine problems for assessing the mathematics literacy skills of students, which is valid, practical, and effective. It is based on the previous research said that Indonesian students’ mathematical literacy is still low. The results of this study can be used as a guide in developing the evaluation questions that can train students to improve the ability of solving non-routine problems in everyday life. This research type is formative evaluation that consists of preliminary, self evaluation, expert reviews, one-to-one, small group, and field test. The sample of this research is grade 8 students at one of Junior High School in Yogyakarta. This study results in mathematics literacy problems prototype consisting of level 1 to level 6 problems similar to PISA problems. This study also discusses the examples of students’ answer and their reasoning.

Pocket Cartoons: Learning Financial Literacy with Mobile Cartoons in Malaysia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khoo, Yin Yin; Malim, Tanjung; Fitzgerald, Robert

2017-01-01

This study examines the impact of using cartoons shared through mobile devices to promote awareness and to aid in the development of financial literacy among Economics students in Malaysia. The study also investigates the use of these "mobile cartoons" to develop students' communication skills. The study involved a quasi-experimental…

Using lesson study to integrate information literacy throughout the curriculum.

PubMed

Stombaugh, Angie; Sperstad, Rita; Vanwormer, Arin; Jennings, Eric; Kishel, Hans; Vogh, Bryan

2013-01-01

To develop evidence-based practice skills, students need to be capable of retrieving various levels of scholarly information, evaluating its usefulness, and applying it to clinical practice. The authors discuss the process of developing an information literacy curriculum for a cohort of students over a 5-semester nursing program using lesson study.

Achieving Digital Literacy through Game Development: An Authentic Learning Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frydenberg, Mark

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to argue that the process of making an original game develops digital literacy skills and provides an authentic learning experience as students create, publish and deploy interactive games. Teaching students to create computer games has become common in both K-12 and tertiary education to introducing programming concepts,…

A Writer-Respondent Intervention as a Means of Developing Academic Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bharuthram, S.; Mckenna, S.

2006-01-01

This paper discusses the implementation of a project in which a writer-respondent intervention was used to develop the academic literacy practices of students. Writer-respondent projects are based on the idea that detailed developmental comments and questions on students' draft writing can assist them in acquiring the peculiar norms of academic…

Literacy Integration through Seminars: Teacher and Student Perspectives on Efforts to Nurture Deep Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strahan, David; Melville, Celia; Hedt, Melissa

2014-01-01

When teachers at an urban middle school received a professional development grant to design challenging seminars, researchers explored the dynamics of curriculum development toward literacy integration and examined students' responses. As they prepared to implement Common Core Standards, teachers selected Paideia seminars as an approach to…

Developing a Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS): Measuring Undergraduates’ Evaluation of Scientific Information and Arguments

PubMed Central

Gormally, Cara; Brickman, Peggy; Lutz, Mary

2012-01-01

Life sciences faculty agree that developing scientific literacy is an integral part of undergraduate education and report that they teach these skills. However, few measures of scientific literacy are available to assess students’ proficiency in using scientific literacy skills to solve scenarios in and beyond the undergraduate biology classroom. In this paper, we describe the development, validation, and testing of the Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS) in five general education biology classes at three undergraduate institutions. The test measures skills related to major aspects of scientific literacy: recognizing and analyzing the use of methods of inquiry that lead to scientific knowledge and the ability to organize, analyze, and interpret quantitative data and scientific information. Measures of validity included correspondence between items and scientific literacy goals of the National Research Council and Project 2061, findings from a survey of biology faculty, expert biology educator reviews, student interviews, and statistical analyses. Classroom testing contexts varied both in terms of student demographics and pedagogical approaches. We propose that biology instructors can use the TOSLS to evaluate their students’ proficiencies in using scientific literacy skills and to document the impacts of curricular reform on students’ scientific literacy. PMID:23222832

Developing health information literacy: a needs analysis from the perspective of preprofessional health students.

PubMed

Ivanitskaya, Lana V; Hanisko, Kaitlyn A; Garrison, Julie A; Janson, Samantha J; Vibbert, Danielle

2012-10-01

The research identified the skills, if any, that health preprofessional students wished to develop after receiving feedback on skill gaps as well as any strategies they intended to use to address these gaps. A qualitative approach was used to elicit students' reflections on building health information literacy skills. First, the students took the Research Readiness Self-Assessment instrument, which measured their health information literacy, and then they received individually tailored feedback about their scores and skill gaps. Second, students completed a post-assessment survey asking how they intended to close identified gaps in their skills on these. Three trained coders analyzed qualitative comments by 181 students and grouped them into themes relating to "what skills to improve" and "how to improve them." Students intended to develop library skills (64% of respondents), Internet skills (63%), and information evaluation skills (63%). Most students reported that they would use library staff members' assistance (55%), but even more respondents (82%) planned to learn the skills by practicing on their own. Getting help from librarians was a much more popular learning strategy than getting assistance from peers (20%) or professors (17%). The study highlighted the importance of providing health preprofessional students with resources to improve skills on their own, remote access to library staff members, and instruction on the complexity of building health literacy skills, while also building relationships among students, librarians, and faculty.

Determining Relationships between Young Children's Cognitive Stage of Development and Art Stage of Development as They Relate to Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hale, Judy A.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate how children's responses to literature can help develop literacy. The subjects were 15 first-grade students at Overstreet Elementary School in Starkville (Mississippi). Two school observations were carried out prior to the collection of data on individual students. Case studies were conducted…

Effect of information literacy training course on information literacy skills of undergraduate students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences based on ACRL standards.

PubMed

Karimi, Zohreh; Ashrafi-Rizi, Hasan; Papi, Ahmad; Shahrzadi, Leila; Hassanzadeh, Akbar

2015-01-01

Information literacy is the basis for lifelong learning. Information literacy skills, especially for student in an environment that is full of information from multiple technologies are being developed is equally important. Information literacy is a set of cognitive and practical skills and like any other science, proper training is needed, and standard-based education is definitely better and evaluation would be easier. This study aimed to determine the impact of information literacy training course on information literacy skills of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences students based on ACRL standard in 2012. The study method is semi-experience with two group design (with pre-test and post-test) and applied. The data collection toll was a questionnaire assessing student's information literacy that developed by Davarpanah and Siamak and validity was confirmed by professional librarians and reliability as measured by Cronbach's alpha, was 0.83. The sample consisted of 50 undergraduate students from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences that by random sampling method was perch in both case and control groups. Before and after the training (once a week), a questionnaire was distributed between the two groups. This training was held in a classroom equipped with computers with internet access and in addition to training using brochures and librarian presentation, interactive methods such as discussion and exercises were used. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 software and two level of descriptive (mean and SD) and inferential statistics (t-test and t-paired). The results showed that the students' information literacy scores before the training was lower than average, so that in the control group was 32.96 and in the case group was 33.24; while information literacy scores in the case group significantly increased after the training (46.68). Also, the effect of education, respectively had a greater impact on the ability to access information (the second standard), ethics and legal use of information (the third standard), effective use of information (the fourth standard), critically evaluate information and its sources (the fifth standard). This study showed that the training was effective on enhancing students' information literacy skills as the greatest impact was on increasing the ability to access information. Due to low mean score information literacy in the context of object recognition, there is a need for more training in this area.

Computer literacy among first year medical students in a developing country: A cross sectional study

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The use of computer assisted learning (CAL) has enhanced undergraduate medical education. CAL improves performance at examinations, develops problem solving skills and increases student satisfaction. The study evaluates computer literacy among first year medical students in Sri Lanka. Methods The study was conducted at Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka between August-September 2008. First year medical students (n = 190) were invited for the study. Data on computer literacy and associated factors were collected by an expert-validated pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. Computer literacy was evaluated by testing knowledge on 6 domains; common software packages, operating systems, database management and the usage of internet and E-mail. A linear regression was conducted using total score for computer literacy as the continuous dependant variable and other independent covariates. Results Sample size-181 (Response rate-95.3%), 49.7% were Males. Majority of the students (77.3%) owned a computer (Males-74.4%, Females-80.2%). Students have gained their present computer knowledge by; a formal training programme (64.1%), self learning (63.0%) or by peer learning (49.2%). The students used computers for predominately; word processing (95.6%), entertainment (95.0%), web browsing (80.1%) and preparing presentations (76.8%). Majority of the students (75.7%) expressed their willingness for a formal computer training programme at the faculty. Mean score for the computer literacy questionnaire was 48.4 ± 20.3, with no significant gender difference (Males-47.8 ± 21.1, Females-48.9 ± 19.6). There were 47.9% students that had a score less than 50% for the computer literacy questionnaire. Students from Colombo district, Western Province and Student owning a computer had a significantly higher mean score in comparison to other students (p < 0.001). In the linear regression analysis, formal computer training was the strongest predictor of computer literacy (β = 13.034), followed by using internet facility, being from Western province, using computers for Web browsing and computer programming, computer ownership and doing IT (Information Technology) as a subject in GCE (A/L) examination. Conclusion Sri Lankan medical undergraduates had a low-intermediate level of computer literacy. There is a need to improve computer literacy, by increasing computer training in schools, or by introducing computer training in the initial stages of the undergraduate programme. These two options require improvement in infrastructure and other resources. PMID:22980096

A multidimensional evaluation of a nursing information-literacy program.

PubMed Central

Fox, L M; Richter, J M; White, N E

1996-01-01

The goal of an information-literacy program is to develop student skills in locating, evaluating, and applying information for use in critical thinking and problem solving. This paper describes a multidimensional evaluation process for determining nursing students' growth in cognitive and affective domains. Results indicate improvement in student skills as a result of a nursing information-literacy program. Multidimensional evaluation produces a well-rounded picture of student progress based on formal measurement as well as informal feedback. Developing new educational programs can be a time-consuming challenge. It is important, when expending so much effort, to ensure that the goals of the new program are achieved and benefits to students demonstrated. A multidimensional approach to evaluation can help to accomplish those ends. In 1988, The University of Northern Colorado School of Nursing began working with a librarian to integrate an information-literacy component, entitled Pathways to Information Literacy, into the curriculum. This article describes the program and discusses how a multidimensional evaluation process was used to assess program effectiveness. The evaluation process not only helped to measure the effectiveness of the program but also allowed the instructors to use several different approaches to evaluation. PMID:8826621

Integrating Language, Literacy, and Academic Development: Alternatives to Traditional English as a Second Language and Remedial English for Language Minority Students in Community Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bunch, George C.; Kibler, Amanda K.

2015-01-01

This article argues for the importance of integrating a focus on language, literacy, and academic development for United States-educated language minority (US-LM) students, sometimes called "Generation 1.5." It describes four initiatives at community colleges in California that aim to do so. US-LM students have completed some K-12…

Children's Behavioral Regulation and Literacy: the Impact of the First Grade Classroom Environment

PubMed Central

Day, Stephanie; Connor, Carol; McClelland, Megan

2015-01-01

Classroom learning environments are an important source of influence on children's development, particularly with regard to literacy achievement and behavioral regulation, both which requires the coordination of task inhibition, attention, and working memory. Classroom observations were conducted in 18 schools and 51 first grade classrooms for 500 children. The non-instructional activities were recorded for each student in the classroom. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that children with weaker fall behavioral regulation were more likely to attend classrooms where more time was spent in disruptions and wasted instructional time over the course of the school year, such as waiting for the teacher to gather materials before beginning instruction. For literacy outcomes, children who were in classrooms where more time in disruptions, transitions, and waiting was observed showed weaker literacy skill gains in the spring compared to children in classrooms with lesser amounts of such unproductive non-instructional time and this effect was generally greater for students with initial weaker skills. These results also reveal that the classroom environment and the incoming characteristics of the students themselves influence students' development of behavioral regulation and literacy. PMID:26407837

Analysis of preservice science teacher information literacy towards research skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Subekti, H.; Purnomo, A. R.; Susilo, H.; Ibrohim; Suwono, H.

2018-04-01

Information literacy is an important component for university students necessary to support personal development both in academic and real-life setting. This research aimed to analyze the drawing picture of information literacy ability among preservice science teacher in Universitas Negeri Surabaya related to research skills. Purposive sampling was used to determine the amount of participants, thereby involving 208 participants from class year 2014, 2015, and 2016. For gathering the data, the instruments being applied were questionnaire based information literacy test. The data then were analyzed in descriptive manner. The results indicated that the male students outperformed the female students by which they obtained 51.1% correct answer, 2% higher than the female students. Based on the duration of the study, the percentage of correct answers varies among students of class year 2014, 2015, and 2016; 56.2%, 45.1%, and 48.4% respectively. When looked at the average percentage of all students, however, most of items were scored in low category (below 50%) except for type of notification, strategy to accessing information, mastery of terminologies used in research and the essence of the copyright . To conclude, the literacy ability of preservice science teachers is still relatively low and the tendency of information literacy possessed by male students is relatively higher than female students.

Parents' Experiences of a Literacy Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wells, Sherry L.

2013-01-01

School districts often find it challenging to teach strategies and skills in literacy development to the parents of the students they serve. These challenges underscore the importance that parents understand the research-based strategies teachers use to assist their children at home with literacy development. In order to support parents'…

Disciplinary Literacy in Science: Developing Science Literacy through Trade Books

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fang, Zhihui

2014-01-01

Developing science literacy requires not only firsthand explorations of the material world but also secondhand investigations with text. A potentially powerful kind of text in science is trade books. This column describes four classroom ploys for using science trade books to enhance students' secondhand experiences.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Discomfort as a Means of Pre-Service Teachers' Professional Development--An Action Research as Part of the "Research Literacy" Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amir, Aliza; Mandler, Daphna; Hauptman, Sara; Gorev, Dvora

2017-01-01

This paper focus on defining a research question while conducting action research among third-year students attending a course on Research Literacy at a teacher education college. This paper discusses the process of preparing for and conducting action research among third-year students attending a course on Research Literacy at a teacher education…

Longitudinal Impacts of the Children's Literacy Initiative Professional Development, Coaching, and Model Classroom Intervention on Early Literacy Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parkinson, Julia; Meakin, John; Salinger, Terry

2015-01-01

Student achievement in literacy has been a focal concern in the United States for many years. Improving teachers' knowledge and skill that leads to improved student achievement, particularly in the early grades, can place children on an improved trajectory that can have long-term impacts on life outcomes. Over the past decade, a large body of…

Impacts of a STSE High School Biology Course on the Scientific Literacy of Hong Kong Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lau, Kwok-chi

2013-01-01

The PISA performance of Hong Kong has prompted this study to investigate if scientific literacy (SL) of Hong Kong students can be improved further through a high school biology course employing the STSE approach. A STSE course was developed in accordance to the contexts of Hong Kong and a framework for the assessment of scientific literacy was…

Nutrition: Eating for Better Health. Student Workbook. Health Promotion for Adult Literacy Students: An Empowering Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson River Center for Program Development, Glenmont, NY.

This workbook was developed to help adult literacy students learn about nutrition. It contains information sheets, student worksheets, and answers to the worksheets. The information sheets are coordinated with an available audiotape. Some of the topics covered in the workbook are the following: choosing good foods without spending a lot of money;…

Introducing Scientific Literature to Honors General Chemistry Students: Teaching Information Literacy and the Nature of Research to First-Year Chemistry Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferrer-Vinent, Ignacio J.; Bruehl, Margaret; Pan, Denise; Jones, Galin L.

2015-01-01

This paper describes the methodology and implementation of a case study introducing the scientific literature and creative experiment design to honors general chemistry laboratory students. The purpose of this study is to determine whether first-year chemistry students can develop information literacy skills while they engage with the primary…

First Aid: Helping Yourself, Helping Others. Student Workbook. Health Promotion for Adult Literacy Students: An Empowering Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson River Center for Program Development, Glenmont, NY.

This workbook was developed to help adult literacy students learn about first aid in order to help themselves and others. It contains information sheets, student worksheets, and answers to the worksheets. The information sheets are coordinated with an available audiotape. Some of the topics covered in the workbook are the following: handling an…

Delving into Critical Literacy in the Elementary Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Mark

2012-01-01

Developing critical literacy skills in students from an early age is vital and should be every teacher's goal. When students are taught how to evaluate a text in critical terms, they are empowered to consider and analyze the influences that are shaping their thoughts and ideas. Strong critical thinking skills enable students to question and…

Setting the Stage for Literacy. An Anthology of Adult Student Scripts. Volume 1, Number 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Setting the Stage for Literacy, 1994

1994-01-01

This document describes a collaborative learning project that investigated how theater and improvisational drama can help adult learners to develop basic literacy and English language abilities. Three teachers, working with an average of 10 students each for 6 months, conducted classes to increase students' skills in improvisation, creative…

Effects of Brief Integrated Information Literacy Education Sessions on Undergraduate Engineering Students' Interdisciplinary Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talikka, Marja; Soukka, Risto; Eskelinen, Harri

2018-01-01

Engineering students often conduct information searches without sufficient consideration of the context of their research topic. This article discusses how development of a new information literacy (IL) mindset through instruction in integrated IL education affects students' understanding of research problems and formulation of information search…

Developing Media Literacy Skills for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

James, Jessica Everett

2014-01-01

Students with specific learning disabilities (SLD), such as emotional disturbances, and speech or language impairment, attending high schools located in the rural Mississippi Delta lack media literacy skills that could impact the student's ability to successfully graduate from high school. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify…

Increasing Comprehension of Students with Significant Intellectual Disabilities and Visual Impairments during Shared Stories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mims, Pamela J.; Browder, Diane M.; Baker, Joshua N.; Lee, Angel; Spooner, Fred

2009-01-01

Shared stories have been shown to help increase emerging literacy skills in students with significant intellectual disabilities. One important literacy skill is the development of listening comprehension. In this study, least-to-most prompt system was used to promote listening comprehension during shared stories for two students with significant…

Korean Secondary Students' Perception of Scientific Literacy as Global Citizens: Using Global Scientific Literacy Questionnaire

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mun, Kongju; Shin, Namsoo; Lee, Hyunju; Kim, Sung-Won; Choi, Kyunghee; Choi, Sung-Youn; Krajcik, Joseph S.

2015-01-01

We re-conceptualized the meaning of scientific literacy and developed an instrument, which we call the Global Scientific Literacy Questionnaire (GSLQ) based on a new conceptual framework for scientific literacy in the twenty-first century. We identified five dimensions, each with key elements. The five dimensions are (1) content knowledge (core…

Integrating evidence-based practice and information literacy skills in teaching physical and occupational therapy students.

PubMed

Boruff, Jill T; Thomas, Aliki

2011-12-01

To ensure that physical and occupational therapy graduates develop evidence-based practice (EBP) competencies, their academic training must promote EBP skills, such as posing a clinical question and retrieving relevant literature, and the information literacy skills needed to practice these EBP skills. This article describes the collaborative process and outcome of integrating EBP and information literacy early in a professional physical therapy and occupational therapy programme. The liaison librarian and a faculty member designed an instructional activity that included a lecture, workshop and assignment that integrated EBP skills and information literacy skills in the first year of the programme. The assignment was designed to assess students' ability to conduct a search independently. The lecture and workshop were successful in their objectives, as 101 of the 104 students received at least 8 out of 10 points on the search assignment. The teaching activities developed for the students in this course appear to have achieved the goal of teaching students the EBP research cycle so that they might begin to emulate it. The collaboration between the faculty member and the librarian was integral to the success of this endeavour. Future work will include the evaluation of students' long-term retention of information literacy objectives. © 2011 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2011 Health Libraries Group.

Linguistically Based Inequality, Multilingual Education and a Genre-Based Literacy Development Pedagogy: Insights from the Australian Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Peter R. R.; Mammone, Giuseppe; Caldwell, David

2015-01-01

This chapter addresses the issue of pedagogy and bilingual/multilingual education: how best to match teaching-and-learning approaches to the literacy development needs of students in multilingual educational settings. More specifically, it makes the case for what is known as the "Sydney school" genre-based literacy development approach.…

Measuring Media Literacy for Media Education: Development of a Questionnaire for Teachers' Competencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simons, Mathea; Meeus, Will; T'Sas, Jan

2017-01-01

Effective media education requires that teachers have sufficient media literacy competencies as well as the competencies to promote media literacy in students. This article describes the development of a questionnaire to measure these competencies individually or as a team. The questionnaire was developed in five stages. A systematic and critical…

Teaching Strategies to Develop Inquiry and Literacy Skills: "Languaging" in Foreign Language Immersion Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Husbye, Nicholas; Dorner, Lisa M.

2017-01-01

One-way, or foreign language, immersion schools face unique challenges as they seek to support the literacy development of their students. This manuscript draws on sociocultural theories of literacy development and the concept of languaging, the process of using language to make meaning. Working with two classrooms over one semester, we asked:…

Preparing students for research: faculty/librarian collaboration in a pre-doctoral physical therapy research course.

PubMed

Brooks, Salome V; Bigelow, Susan

2015-12-01

In this article, guest writers Susan Bigelow and Dr Salome Brooks from Springfield College, Massachusetts, present an overview of their evaluative research study in which a faculty professor and the liaison librarian collaborated to develop an information literacy course entitled Physical Therapy (PT) and Health care Research Skills, in order to teach necessary information literacy skills to upper-level undergraduate PT students. Triangulation of the Physical Therapy and Information Literacy standards in alignment with the course objectives strengthened the collaboration, course development and expectations of student performance. Student performance was assessed through formal and expected evaluative means, and the preliminary evidence suggests some key successes in the course outcomes. © 2015 Health Libraries Group.

Mapping the Association of College and Research Libraries information literacy framework and nursing professional standards onto an assessment rubric.

PubMed

Willson, Gloria; Angell, Katelyn

2017-04-01

The authors developed a rubric for assessing undergraduate nursing research papers for information literacy skills critical to their development as researchers and health professionals. We developed a rubric mapping six American Nurses Association professional standards onto six related concepts of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. We used this rubric to evaluate fifty student research papers and assess inter-rater reliability. Students tended to score highest on the "Information Has Value" dimension and lowest on the "Scholarship as Conversation" dimension. However, we found a discrepancy between the grading patterns of the two investigators, with inter-rater reliability being "fair" or "poor" for all six rubric dimensions. The development of a rubric that dually assesses information literacy skills and maps relevant disciplinary competencies holds potential. This study offers a template for a rubric inspired by the ACRL Framework and outside professional standards. However, the overall low inter-rater reliability demands further calibration of the rubric. Following additional norming, this rubric can be used to help students identify the key information literacy competencies that they need in order to succeed as college students and future nurses. These skills include developing an authoritative voice, determining the scope of their information needs, and understanding the ramifications of their information choices.

Mapping the Association of College and Research Libraries information literacy framework and nursing professional standards onto an assessment rubric

PubMed Central

Willson, Gloria; Angell, Katelyn

2017-01-01

Objective The authors developed a rubric for assessing undergraduate nursing research papers for information literacy skills critical to their development as researchers and health professionals. Methods We developed a rubric mapping six American Nurses Association professional standards onto six related concepts of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. We used this rubric to evaluate fifty student research papers and assess inter-rater reliability. Results Students tended to score highest on the “Information Has Value” dimension and lowest on the “Scholarship as Conversation” dimension. However, we found a discrepancy between the grading patterns of the two investigators, with inter-rater reliability being “fair” or “poor” for all six rubric dimensions. Conclusions The development of a rubric that dually assesses information literacy skills and maps relevant disciplinary competencies holds potential. This study offers a template for a rubric inspired by the ACRL Framework and outside professional standards. However, the overall low inter-rater reliability demands further calibration of the rubric. Following additional norming, this rubric can be used to help students identify the key information literacy competencies that they need in order to succeed as college students and future nurses. These skills include developing an authoritative voice, determining the scope of their information needs, and understanding the ramifications of their information choices. PMID:28377678

Foreign language reading and spelling in gifted students with dyslexia in secondary education.

PubMed

van Viersen, Sietske; de Bree, Elise H; Kalee, Lilian; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H; de Jong, Peter F

2017-01-01

A few studies suggest that gifted children with dyslexia have better literacy skills than averagely intelligent children with dyslexia. This finding aligns with the hypothesis that giftedness-related factors provide compensation for poor reading. The present study investigated whether, as in the native language (NL), the level of foreign language (FL) literacy of gifted students with dyslexia is higher than the literacy level of averagely intelligent students with dyslexia and whether this difference can be accounted for by the difference in their NL literacy level. The sample consisted of 148 Dutch native speaking secondary school students divided in four groups: dyslexia, gifted/dyslexia, typically developing (TD), and gifted. All students were assessed on word reading and orthographic knowledge in Dutch and English when they were in 7th or 8th grade. A subsample ( n  = 71) was (re)assessed on Dutch, English, French, and German literacy one year later. Results showed that Dutch gifted students with dyslexia have higher NL literacy levels than averagely intelligent students with dyslexia. As in the NL, a stepwise pattern of group differences was found for English word reading and spelling, i.e., dyslexia < gifted/dyslexia < TD < gifted. However, it was not found for French and German literacy performance. These results point towards compensation: the higher English literacy levels of gifted/dyslexic students compared to their averagely intelligent dyslexic peers result from mechanisms that are unique to English as a FL. Differences in results between FLs are discussed in terms of variation in orthographic transparency and exposure.

Associations between Health Literacy and Health Behaviors among Urban High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Aesoon; Eckert, Tanya L.; Zaso, Michelle J.; Scott-Sheldon, Lori A. J.; Vanable, Peter A.; Carey, Kate B.; Ewart, Craig K.; Carey, Michael P.

2017-01-01

Background: Health literacy is crucial to develop health-related knowledge, adopt healthy lifestyles, and benefit from health care services. However, research on the association between health literacy and adolescent health outcomes, particularly on their prospective associations, is rare. We assessed health literacy using 3 validated measures,…

Health Literacy and Adult Basic Education Assessments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golbeck, Amanda L.; Ahlers-Schmidt, Carolyn R.; Paschal, Angelia M.

2005-01-01

Adult basic education (ABE) is an ideal venue for developing health literacy skills. Literacy and numeracy assessments used in ABE were identified and the most common were examined for health components. Only the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) included health. The two most common health literacy assessments used in general…

The effect of individual factors on health behaviors among college students: the mediating effects of eHealth literacy.

PubMed

Hsu, WanChen; Chiang, ChiaHsun; Yang, ShuChing

2014-12-12

College students' health behavior is a topic that deserves attention. Individual factors and eHealth literacy may affect an individual's health behaviors. The integrative model of eHealth use (IMeHU) provides a parsimonious account of the connections among the digital divide, health care disparities, and the unequal distribution and use of communication technologies. However, few studies have explored the associations among individual factors, eHealth literacy, and health behaviors, and IMeHU has not been empirically investigated. This study examines the associations among individual factors, eHealth literacy, and health behaviors using IMeHU. The Health Behavior Scale is a 12-item instrument developed to measure college students' eating, exercise, and sleep behaviors. The eHealth Literacy Scale is a 12-item instrument designed to measure college students' functional, interactive, and critical eHealth literacy. A nationally representative sample of 525 valid college students in Taiwan was surveyed. A questionnaire was administered to collect background information about participants' health status, degree of health concern, major, and the frequency with which they engaged in health-related discussions. This study used Amos 6.0 to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis to identify the best measurement models for the eHealth Literacy Scale and the Health Behavior Scale. We then conducted a multiple regression analysis to examine the associations among individual factors, eHealth literacy, and health behaviors. Additionally, causal steps approach was used to explore indirect (mediating) effects and Sobel tests were used to test the significance of the mediating effects. The study found that perceptions of better health status (t520=2.14-6.12, P<.001-.03) and greater concern for health (t520=2.58-6.95, P<.001-.003) influenced college students' development of 3 dimensions of eHealth literacy and adoption of healthy eating, exercise, and sleep behaviors. Moreover, eHealth literacy played an intermediary role in the association between individual factors and health behaviors (Sobel test=2.09-2.72, P<.001-.03). Specifically, higher levels of critical eHealth literacy promoted students' health status and their practice of multiple positive health behaviors, including eating, exercise, and sleep behaviors. Because this study showed that eHealth literacy mediates the association between individual factors and health behaviors, schools should aim to enhance students' eHealth literacy and promote their health behaviors to help them achieve high levels of critical eHealth literacy. Although some of the study's hypotheses were not supported in this study, the factors that influence health behaviors are complex and interdependent. Therefore, a follow-up study should be conducted to further explore how these factors influence one another.

Malaysian Rural ESL Students' Critical Thinking Literacy Level: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baki, Nurshila Umar; Rafik-Galea, Shameem; Nimehchisalem, Vahid

2016-01-01

In recent years, there has been much interest in the development of thinking skills in the education circles in Malaysia. Nevertheless, more effort needs to be placed on providing skills in developing the critical thinking literacy level of English as a second language (ESL) secondary school students, and its implication on the practice of…

Starting a New Technology Course?: An Opportunity to Develop Student Technological Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moye, Johnny J.

2008-01-01

Starting a new course can be intimidating, especially if the person is the first to teach it in his or her school district. A teacher must take many things into consideration when constructing the content for a new course. The primary focus should be on the development of student technological literacy. The International Technology Education…

Increasing Reading/Literacy Performance of At-Risk Elementary Students through Increased Access to Fiction/Non-Fiction Resources and Incorporating Readers Theater Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salas, Gayla L.

2008-01-01

This action research project was developed in order to increase student literacy, particularly in the area of reading, for students who were considered at-risk. The targeted student population was 2nd grade students who were served within a primary cross-categorical special education program. The classroom was housed in an elementary (K-2) school,…

The importance of academic literacy for undergraduate nursing students and its relationship to future professional clinical practice: A systematic review.

PubMed

Jefferies, Diana; McNally, Stephen; Roberts, Katriona; Wallace, Anna; Stunden, Annette; D'Souza, Suzanne; Glew, Paul

2018-01-01

This systematic review was designed to assess the importance of academic literacy for undergraduate nursing students and its relationship to future professional clinical practice. It aimed to explore the link between academic literacy and writing in an undergraduate nursing degree and the development of critical thinking skills for their future professional clinical practice. A systematic review of qualitative studies and expert opinion publications. A systematic literature search was undertaken of the following databases: ERIC, PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE and Scopus. All papers reviewed were from 2000 to 2016 and were written in English. We identified 981 studies and expert opinion papers from the selected databases. After reviewing key words and abstracts for the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 48 papers were selected for review. These were read and reread, with 22 papers, including one thesis, selected for quality appraisal. One paper was discarded due to the exclusion criteria. Three major themes were evident from this study. First, students need assistance to develop tertiary level academic literacy skills when they commence their undergraduate nursing degree. Second, that teaching practices need to be consistent in both designing assessments and in giving feedback to students, in order to assist improvement of academic literacy skills. And finally, academic literacy can facilitate critical thinking when students are assessed using discipline specific genres that relate to their future professional nursing practice. This review highlights the importance of critical thinking in clinical nursing practice and its strong relationship with academic writing skills. It has shown critical thinking is discipline specific and nursing students need to be taught discipline specific literacy genres in undergraduate nursing degrees. Nursing has a diverse educational and cultural mix of students, and educators should not assume academic literacy skills upon commencement of an undergraduate nursing programme. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Microcomputers and Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grice, R. D.

1986-01-01

The nature of literacy associated with the widely used new medium of microcomputers has not been fully exploited by schools to foster development of literacy programs. Microcomputer applications need integration with classroom activities where students construct language meaning. (19 references) (CJH)

The Impact of Learning with Laptops in 1:1 Classes on the Development of Learning Skills and Information Literacy among Middle School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spektor-Levy, Ornit; Granot-Gilat, Yael

2012-01-01

The goal of this study was to examine the impact of a one-to-one program on the implementation of learning skills, information literacy, and the usage of computerized tools among students. These skills are part of the demands placed upon schools to develop 21st century competencies. Seventh and ninth grade students participated in this study…

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

PubMed

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.

A Qualitative Study of Agricultural Literacy in Urban Youth: What Do Elementary Students Understand about the Agri-Food System?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hess, Alexander J.; Trexler, Cary J.

2011-01-01

Agricultural literacy of K-12 students is a national priority for both scientific and agricultural education professional organizations. Development of curricula to address this priority has not been informed by research on what K-12 students understand about the agri-food system. While students' knowledge of food and fiber system facts have been…

The Bronx Computer Literacy and Methodologies of Bilingual Education Program for Vietnamese and Cambodian High School Students: Project CLIMB. Evaluation Section Report. OREA Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berney, Tomi D.; Keyes, Jose L.

The Bronx Computer Literacy and Methodologies of Bilingual Education Program for Vietnamese and Cambodian High School Students (Project CLIMB) served 221 students of limited English proficiency (LEP) at Christopher Columbus and Walton High Schools in the Bronx (New York City). The objectives of the program were to develop the students' academic…

Computer Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

San Marcos Unified School District, CA.

THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT: After viewing many computer-literacy programs, we believe San Marcos Junior High School has developed a unique program which will truly develop computer literacy. Our hope is to give all students a comprehensive look at computers as they go through their two years here. They will not only learn the…

Cultivating Common Ground: Integrating Standards-Based Visual Arts, Math and Literacy in High-Poverty Urban Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cunnington, Marisol; Kantrowitz, Andrea; Harnett, Susanne; Hill-Ries, Aline

2014-01-01

The "Framing Student Success: Connecting Rigorous Visual Arts, Math and Literacy Learning" experimental demonstration project was designed to develop and test an instructional program integrating high-quality, standards-based instruction in the visual arts, math, and literacy. Developed and implemented by arts-in-education organization…

Describing Images: A Case Study of Visual Literacy among Library and Information Science Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beaudoin, Joan E.

2016-01-01

This paper reports on a study that examined the development of pedagogical methods for increasing the visual literacy skills of a group of library and information science students. Through a series of three assignments, students were asked to provide descriptive information for a set of historical photographs and record reflections on their…

Demystifying the Chemistry Literature: Building Information Literacy in First-Year Chemistry Students through Student-Centered Learning and Experiment Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bruehl, Margaret; Pan, Denise; Ferrer-Vinent, Ignacio J.

2015-01-01

This paper describes curriculum modules developed for first-year general chemistry laboratory courses that use scientific literature and creative experiment design to build information literacy in a student-centered learning environment. Two curriculum units are discussed: Exploring Scientific Literature and Design Your Own General Chemistry…

Library Research Success: Designing an Online Tutorial To Teach Information Literacy Skills to First-Year Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donaldson, Kelly A.

2000-01-01

Reports on a collaborative effort between librarians and faculty at Seneca College (Toronto) to develop and implement an online, interactive tutorial for first-year business students that used Web-based technology. Discusses objectives, including increasing student knowledge of library resources and to increase levels of information literacy and…

The Effects of Applying Authentic Learning Strategies to Develop Computational Thinking Skills in Computer Literacy Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mingo, Wendye Dianne

2013-01-01

This study attempts to determine if authentic learning strategies can be used to acquire knowledge of and increase motivation for computational thinking. Over 600 students enrolled in a computer literacy course participated in this study which involved completing a pretest, posttest and motivation survey. The students were divided into an…

Pro-Social Literacy: Are Educators Being Prepared to Teach Social and Emotional Competence?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marlow, Leslie; Inman, Duane

Educators are challenged to educate all students at an ever higher level of literacy to meet the demands of an internationally competitive global society, even though societal factors cause increasing numbers of students to attend school ill-equipped to learn. In addition to focusing on students' cognitive development, teachers also must be…

Fostering Students' Statistical Literacy through Significant Learning Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krishnan, Saras

2015-01-01

A major objective of statistics education is to develop students' statistical literacy that enables them to be educated users of data in context. Teaching statistics in today's educational settings is not an easy feat because teachers have a huge task in keeping up with the demands of the new generation of learners. The present day students have…

Shifting Deficit Paradigms of Latino Emerging Bilingual Students' Literacy Achievement: Documenting Biliterate Trajectories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butvilofsky, Sandra A.; Hopewell, Susan; Escamilla, Kathy; Sparrow, Wendy

2017-01-01

The purpose of this single-subject longitudinal study was to examine the Spanish and English biliterate development of U.S. Latino Spanish/English speaking students, who we call emerging bilingual students, as they participated in an innovative biliteracy instructional program titled Literacy Squared®. Findings indicate that across the three years…

Supporting the Literacy Development of Students Who Are Deaf/Hard of Hearing in Inclusive Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dostal, Hannah; Gabriel, Rachael; Weir, Joan

2017-01-01

Students who are deaf or hard of hearing present unique opportunities and challenges for literacy instruction in mainstream classrooms. By addressing the specific needs of this diverse student community, teachers are given the chance to sharpen instruction and create learning opportunities for the entire class. The authors discuss two…

Ingredients to Successful Students Presentations: It's More Than Just a Sum of Raw Materials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerns, H. Dan; Johnson, Nial

Recognizing the decline in student visual communication skills, faculty from different disciplines collaborated in the design of a visual literacy course. The visual literacy skills developed in the course are that students learn in the following ways: (1) through faculty presentation and demonstration of the various tools available; (2) with…

Information Behavior and Japanese Students: How Can an Understanding of the Research Process Lead to Better Information Literacy?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ishimura, Yusuke

2013-01-01

Academic librarians are striving to better serve international students as this emerging population grows on university campuses. Past studies of international students generally focus on linguistic and cultural differences in relation to information literacy skills development. However, it is necessary to go beyond these factors to better serve…

Using Clickers to Support Information Literacy Skills Development and Instruction in First-Year Business Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stagg, Adrian; Lane, Michael

2010-01-01

Course-integrated information literacy (IL) instruction can be enhanced via the use of student response devices, or "clickers". The first phase of this study focused on how first-year undergraduate students perceived the use of clickers as a mechanism to encourage active learning and engagement in order to establish a baseline of…

Student Development of Information Literacy Skills during Problem-Based Organic Chemistry Laboratory Experiments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shultz, Ginger V.; Li, Ye

2016-01-01

Problem-based learning methods support student learning of content as well as scientific skills. In the course of problem-based learning, students seek outside information related to the problem, and therefore, information literacy skills are practiced when problem-based learning is used. This work describes a mixed-methods approach to investigate…

Developing the IRIS: Toward Situated and Valid Assessment Measures in Collaborative Professional Development and School Reform in Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, Theresa; Winters, Kari Lynn; Bryan, Gregory; Price, John; McCormick, Frank; House, Liisa; Mezzarobba, Dianna; Sinclaire, Carollyne

2006-01-01

This article illustrates the development and use of a situated assessment tool in the context of a collaborative (university-school district) literacy reform effort in British Columbia, Canada. The three-year project was focused on improving literacy, including reading comprehension strategy use, among students in grades 4 through 8. It began in…

The Circle of Collaboration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burnham, Jacki; Discher, Stephanie; Ingle, Krista

This brief paper describes the Circle of Collaboration approach at one elementary school in Utah that is focusing on development of an inclusive school for all students and implementation of a program (Balance Literacy) to enhance students' reading skills. Balance Literacy incorporates phonemic awareness, phonic instruction, fluency, vocabulary,…

Technology and Current Reading/Literacy Assessment Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balajthy, Ernest

2007-01-01

Computer-based technologies offer promise as a means to assess students and provide teachers with better understandings of their students' achievement. This article describes recent developments in computer-based and web-based reading and literacy assessment, focusing on assessment administration, information management, and report creation. In…

Developing health information literacy: a needs analysis from the perspective of preprofessional health students*

PubMed Central

Ivanitskaya, Lana V.; Hanisko, Kaitlyn A.; Garrison, Julie A.; Janson, Samantha J.; Vibbert, Danielle

2012-01-01

Objective: The research identified the skills, if any, that health preprofessional students wished to develop after receiving feedback on skill gaps as well as any strategies they intended to use to address these gaps. Methods: A qualitative approach was used to elicit students' reflections on building health information literacy skills. First, the students took the Research Readiness Self-Assessment instrument, which measured their health information literacy, and then they received individually tailored feedback about their scores and skill gaps. Second, students completed a post-assessment survey asking how they intended to close identified gaps in their skills on these. Three trained coders analyzed qualitative comments by 181 students and grouped them into themes relating to “what skills to improve” and “how to improve them.” Results: Students intended to develop library skills (64% of respondents), Internet skills (63%), and information evaluation skills (63%). Most students reported that they would use library staff members' assistance (55%), but even more respondents (82%) planned to learn the skills by practicing on their own. Getting help from librarians was a much more popular learning strategy than getting assistance from peers (20%) or professors (17%). Conclusions: The study highlighted the importance of providing health preprofessional students with resources to improve skills on their own, remote access to library staff members, and instruction on the complexity of building health literacy skills, while also building relationships among students, librarians, and faculty. PMID:23133327

Undergraduate nursing students integrating health literacy in clinical settings.

PubMed

Zanchetta, Margareth; Taher, Yasmin; Fredericks, Suzanne; Waddell, Janice; Fine, Carol; Sales, Rona

2013-09-01

Analyzing students' performance and self-criticism of their roles in promoting health literacy can inform nursing education in a social environment that expects new graduates to be health promoters. The pilot study reported here aimed to a) analyze students' understanding of and sensitivity to issues of health literacy, (b) identify students' perceptions of structural, organizational, and political barriers to the promotion of health literacy in social and health care organizations, and (c) document students' suggestions for curriculum changes that would develop their skills and competencies as health-literacy promoters. A qualitative pilot study. A collaborative undergraduate nursing degree program in the metropolitan area of Toronto, Canada. Sixteen undergraduate, Year 4 nursing students. Signed informed consent was obtained from the participants. Participation was unpaid and voluntary. Recruitment was through an email invitation sent by the School of Nursing Student Affairs Coordinator. Three, one-time individual interviews and three focus groups were conducted. All were audio-recorded. Recordings were transcribed, and the transcriptions were coded using the qualitative software ATLAS ti 6.0. The interview data were submitted to thematic analysis. Additional data were gathered from the two-page self-assessments in students' academic portfolios. Sensitivity to health literacy was documented. Students performed best as health promoters in supportive teaching hospitals. Their performance was hindered by clinical settings unsupportive of health education, absence of role models, and insufficient theoretical preparation for health teaching. Students' sensitivity to their clients' diversity reportedly reinforced the interconnection, in multicultural healthcare settings, between health literacy and other social determinants of health and a growing demand for educating future nurses in expanding their role also as health promoters. Students recommended more socially inclusive and experiential learning initiatives related to health teaching to address education gaps in classrooms and practice. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Student Leadership and Climate Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lura, J.

2015-12-01

In this study, the author developed and provided opportunities for K-8 students to analyze energy consumption at school and devise and implement a plan to reduce it. Two questions were studied: Through student leadership opportunities and increased climate literacy, (1) will student habits and understanding change and (2) will energy consumption decrease? Students participated in a variety of activities from participating in a school-wide audit to school-wide presentations to the creation of Super Eco Heroes.

Is Literacy Enough? Pathways to Academic Success for Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snow, Catherine E.; Porche, Michelle V.; Tabors, Patton O.; Harris, Stephanie R.

2007-01-01

Four literacy experts lay out the evidence in this compelling book, based on the well-known Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development that inspired the landmark resource "Beginning Literacy with Language." Following a group of children living in low-income families from preschool through high school, the authors charted the students'…

But What Does It Look Like? Illustrations of Disciplinary Literacy Teaching in Two Content Areas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rainey, Emily C.; Maher, Bridget L.; Coupland, David; Franchi, Rod; Moje, Elizabeth Birr

2018-01-01

In this piece, the authors offer two illustrations of central features of disciplinary literacy teaching. One illustration describes an episode of history literacy teaching, and the other describes an episode of physics literacy teaching. Both examples show how teachers may support students' development of disciplinary inquiry, disciplinary…

The Research Circle as a Resource in Challenging Academics' Perceptions of How to Support Students' Literacy Development in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergman, Lotta

2014-01-01

This article deals with an action research project in which a group of academics from different disciplines reflect on and gradually extend their knowledge on how to support students' academic literacy development. The aim of this research is to understand how the collaborative work becomes a resource in challenging participants' initial…

The Development of the Functional Literacy Experience Scale Based upon Ecological Theory (FLESBUET) and Validity-Reliability Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Özenç, Emine Gül; Dogan, M. Cihangir

2014-01-01

This study aims to perform a validity-reliability test by developing the Functional Literacy Experience Scale based upon Ecological Theory (FLESBUET) for primary education students. The study group includes 209 fifth grade students at Sabri Taskin Primary School in the Kartal District of Istanbul, Turkey during the 2010-2011 academic year.…

The Associations Among Individual Factors, eHealth Literacy, and Health-Promoting Lifestyles Among College Students.

PubMed

Yang, Shu-Ching; Luo, Yi-Fang; Chiang, Chia-Hsun

2017-01-10

eHealth literacy is gaining importance for maintaining and promoting health. Studies have found that individuals with high eHealth literacy are more likely to adopt healthy eating, exercise, and sleep behaviors. In addition, previous studies have shown that various individual factors (eg, frequency of seeking information on health issues, degree of health concern, frequency of eating organic food, and students' college major) are associated with eHealth literacy and health-promoting lifestyles. Nevertheless, few studies have explored the associations among individual factors, eHealth literacy, and health-promoting lifestyles among college students. Moreover, there is a lack of studies that focus on eHealth literacy as a predictor of psychological health behaviors. To examine the associations among various individual factors, eHealth literacy, and health-promoting lifestyles. The eHealth Literacy Scale is a 12-item instrument designed to measure college students' functional, interactive, and critical eHealth literacy. The Health-promoting Lifestyle Scale is a 23-item instrument developed to measure college students' self-actualization, health responsibility, interpersonal support, exercise, nutrition, and stress management. A nationally representative sample of 556 valid college students in Taiwan was surveyed. A questionnaire was administered to gather the respondents' background information, including the frequency of seeking information on health issues, the frequency of eating organic food, the degree of health concern, and the students' major. We then conducted a multiple regression analysis to examine the associations among individual factors, eHealth literacy, and health-promoting lifestyles. The study found that factors such as medical majors (t 550 =2.47-7.55, P<.05) and greater concern with health (t 550 =2.15-9.01, P<.05) predicted college students' 4-6 health-promoting lifestyle dimensions and the 3 dimensions of eHealth literacy. Moreover, critical eHealth literacy positively predicted all 6 health-promoting lifestyle dimensions (t 547 =2.66-7.28, P<.01), functional literacy positively predicted 2 dimensions (t 547 =2.32-2.98, P<.05), and interactive literacy predicted only the self-actualization dimension (t 547 =2.81, P<.01). This study found that participants who majored in medical fields had greater concern with their health and frequently sought health information, exhibited better eHealth literacy, and had a positive health-promoting lifestyle. Moreover, this study showed that college students with a higher critical eHealth literacy engaged better in health-promoting activities than those with functional and interactive literacy. ©Shu-Ching Yang, Yi-Fang Luo, Chia-Hsun Chiang. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 10.01.2017.

Enhancing students' science literacy using solar cell learning multimedia containing science and nano technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eliyawati, Sunarya, Yayan; Mudzakir, Ahmad

2017-05-01

This research attempts to enhance students' science literacy in the aspects of students' science content, application context, process, and students' attitude using solar cell learning multimedia containing science and nano technology. The quasi-experimental method with pre-post test design was used to achieve these objectives. Seventy-two students of class XII at a high school were employed as research's subject. Thirty-six students were in control class and another thirty-six were in experiment class. Variance test (t-test) was performed on the average level of 95% to identify the differences of students' science literacy in both classes. As the result, there were significant different of learning outcomes between experiment class and control class. Almost half of students (41.67%) in experiment class are categorized as high. Therefore, the learning using solar cell learning multimedia can improve students' science literacy, especially in the students' science content, application context, and process aspects with n-gain(%) 59.19 (medium), 63.04 (medium), and 52.98 (medium). This study can be used to develop learning multimedia in other science context.

Children's behavioral regulation and literacy: The impact of the first grade classroom environment.

PubMed

Day, Stephanie L; Connor, Carol McDonald; McClelland, Megan M

2015-10-01

Classroom learning environments are an important source of influence on children's development, particularly with regard to literacy achievement and behavioral regulation, both of which require the coordination of task inhibition, attention, and working memory. Classroom observations were conducted in 18 schools and 51 first grade classrooms for 500 children. The non-instructional activities were recorded for each student in the classroom. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that children with weaker fall behavioral regulation were more likely to attend classrooms where more time was spent in disruptions and wasted instructional time over the course of the school year, such as waiting for the teacher to gather materials before beginning instruction. For literacy outcomes, children who were in classrooms where more time in disruptions, transitions, and waiting was observed showed weaker literacy skill gains in the spring compared to children in classrooms with lesser amounts of such unproductive non-instructional time and this effect was generally greater for students with initial weaker skills. These results also reveal that the classroom environment and the incoming characteristics of the students themselves influence students' development of behavioral regulation and literacy. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Modern Scientific Literacy: A Case Study of Multiliteracies and Scientific Practices in a Fifth Grade Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allison, Elizabeth; Goldston, M. Jenice

2018-01-01

This study investigates the convergence of multiliteracies and scientific practices in a fifth grade classroom. As students' lives become increasingly multimodal, diverse, and globalized, the traditional notions of literacy must be revisited (New London Group 1996). With the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States 2013a) in many states, either in their entirety or in adapted forms, it becomes useful to explore the interconnectedness multiliteracies and scientific practices and the resulting implications for scientific literacy. The case study included a fifth grade classroom, including the students and teacher. In order to create a rich description of the cases involved, data were collected and triangulated through teacher interviews, student interviews and focus groups, and classroom observations. Findings reveal that as science activities were enriched with multiliteracies and scientific practices, students were engaged in developing skills and knowledge central to being scientifically literate. Furthermore, this study establishes that characteristics of scientific literacy, by its intent and purpose, are a form of multiliteracies in elementary classrooms. Therefore, the teaching and learning of science and its practices for scientific literacy are in turn reinforcing the development of broader multiliteracies.

Electronic Performance Support Systems and Technological Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maughan, George R.

2005-01-01

Electronic performance support systems (EPSS) can provide alternative learning opportunities to supplement traditional classroom or training strategies. Today's students may benefit from educational settings and strategies that they will use in the future. In using EPSS to nurture the development of technological literacy, workers and students can…

Student information literacy: psychometric validation of a self-efficacy report.

PubMed

Brown, Gavin T L

2005-06-01

Psychometric characteristics of the Student Information Literacy Self-efficacy Report based on responses from 498 students ages 9 to 12 years are reported. Students report their self-efficacy (confidence and difficulty) in 11 different phases of being information literate, i.e., developing a topic, planning, self-management, locating sources, selecting sources, retrieving information, analysing information, evaluating information, synthesising knowledge, presenting knowledge, and self-evaluation using a positively packed rating scale. The data were strongly internally consistent (Cronbach alpha=.95) with a test-retest reliability of .78. The 11 phases, factors measured by a matching pair of self-efficacy questions, were confirmed (chi2=529.68; df= 198; RMSEA =.058; TLI=.940). Ratings were correlated low with teachers' ratings and test scores of information literacy skills and moderately correlated with academic self-concept. The test provides unique information about students' self-efficacy for information literacy. Its use in classrooms is warranted.

Biochemistry Instructors' Views toward Developing and Assessing Visual Literacy in Their Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linenberger, Kimberly J.; Holme, Thomas A.

2015-01-01

Biochemistry instructors are inundated with various representations from which to choose to depict biochemical phenomena. Because of the immense amount of visual know-how needed to be an expert biochemist in the 21st century, there have been calls for instructors to develop biochemistry students' visual literacy. However, visual literacy has…

Integrating the Liberal Arts and Chemistry: A Series of General Chemistry Assignments to Develop Science Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Diane M.; Chengelis Czegan, Demetra A.

2016-01-01

This paper describes assignments that have been implemented in a General Chemistry I course to promote science literacy. This course was chosen in particular because it reaches a broad audience, which includes nonscience majors. The assignment series begins with several discussions and tasks to develop information literacy, in which students find…

Using Popular Text to Develop Inquiry Projects: Supporting Preservice Teachers' Knowledge of Disciplinary Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cook, Kristin L.; Dinkins, Elizabeth G.

2015-01-01

Many educators support the idea that science requires a specific set of literacy skills and that all students should be equipped with those skills to become scientifically literate; however, this challenge requires science educators to develop methods to underscore the building of disciplinary literacy. In the presented curriculum for preservice…

Student Experiences and Perceptions of Digital Literacy Skills Development: Engaging Learners by Design?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Marion; Nix, Ingrid; Baker, Kirsty

2013-01-01

In the current digital environment, it is vital for learners to develop digital literacy skills. The UK's Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (HE) requires graduates to demonstrate digital literacy. Employers consider these skills essential. With the high cost of HE in the UK, learners themselves also expect university courses to…

Novice Explanations of Hurricane Formation Offer Insights into Scientific Literacy and the Development of Expert-Like Conceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arthurs, Leilani A.; Van Den Broeke, Matthew S.

2016-01-01

The ability to explain scientific phenomena is a key feature of scientific literacy, and engaging students' prior knowledge, especially their alternate conceptions, is an effective strategy for enhancing scientific literacy and developing expertise. The gap in knowledge about the alternate conceptions that novices have about many of Earth's…

Development of a Responsive Literacy Pedagogy Incorporating Technology for the Indigenous Learners in Malaysia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thanabalan, T. Vanitha; Siraj, Saedah; Alias, Norlidah

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to develop a literacy pedagogy to facilitate literacy learning among the Indigenous community in Malaysia. The Developmental Research Approach method was used and thus various groups of people participated in the study. They included subject matter experts, English language teachers from schools with indigenous students,…

The Impact of Project-Based Climate Change Learning Experiences on Students' Broad Climate Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeWaters, J.; Powers, S. E.; Dhaniyala, S.

2014-12-01

Evidence-based pedagogical approaches such as project- and inquiry-based techniques have been shown to promote effective learning in science and engineering. The impact of project-based learning experiences on middle school (MS), high school (HS), and undergraduate (UG) students' climate literacy was investigated as part of a NASA Innovations in Climate Education (NICE) project. Project-based modules were developed and taught by MS and HS teachers who participated in climate change education workshops. UG students enrolled in a climate science course completed independent research projects that provided the basis for several of the HS/MS modules. All modules required students to acquire and analyze historical temperature data and future climate predictions, and apply their analysis to the solution of a societal or environmental problem related to our changing climate. Three versions of a quantitative survey were developed and used in a pre-test/post-test research design to help evaluate the project's impact on MS, HS, and UG students' climate literacy, which includes broad climate knowledge as well as affective and behavioral aspects. Content objectives were guided primarily by the 2009 document, Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences. All three groups of students made modest but statistically significant cognitive (p<<0.001) and affective (p<0.01) gains; UG students also showed an increase in behavior scores (p=0.001). Results of an ANCOVA showed significant differences in students' cognitive (p<0.001), behavioral (p=0.005) and self-efficacy (p=0.012) outcomes among the 9 participating MS and HS classrooms, where both teacher and module content varied. The presentation will include a description of some key aspects of the project-based curricula developed and used in this research, the development and content of the climate literacy survey, and the interpretation of specific pre/post changes in participating students relative to the content of and approach used in the project-based modules.

Questions as Indicators of Ocean Literacy: Students' Online Asynchronous Discussion with a Marine Scientist

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fauville, Géraldine

2017-01-01

In this article, 61 high-school students learned about ocean acidification through a virtual laboratory followed by a virtual lecture and an asynchronous discussion with a marine scientist on an online platform: VoiceThread. This study focuses on the students' development of ocean literacy when prompted to ask questions to the scientist. The…

Supporting Disciplinary Talk from the Start of School: Teaching Students to Think and Talk Like Scientists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Tanya S.; Gotwals, Amelia Wenk

2017-01-01

In this article, the authors first review the research literature to show why supporting talk from the start of school is important for students' long-term literacy development. The authors then define and describe disciplinary talk and argue that it is an important entry point into science and disciplinary literacy learning for young students.…

Incorporation of Cross-Disciplinary Teaching and a Wiki Research Project to Engage Undergraduate Students' to Develop Information Literacy, Critical Thinking, and Communication Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crist, Courtney A.; Duncan, Susan E.; Bianchi, Laurie M.

2017-01-01

A Wiki research project was created in the Functional Foods for Health (FST/HNFE 2544) as an instructional tool and assignment for improving undergraduate students' proficiency in evaluating appropriate information sources for rapidly evolving science and research. The project design targeted improving students' information literacy skills…

Promotion of scientific literacy: Bangladeshi teachers' perspectives and practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarkar, Mahbub; Corrigan, Deborah

2014-05-01

Background: In Bangladesh, a common science curriculum caters for all students at the junior secondary level. Since this curriculum is for all students, its aims are both to build a strong foundation in science while still providing students with the opportunities to use science in everyday life - an aim consistent with the notion of scientific literacy. Purpose: This paper reports Bangladeshi science teachers' perspectives and practices in regard to the promotion of scientific literacy. Sample: Six science teachers representing a range of geographical locations, school types with different class sizes, lengths of teaching experience and educational qualifications. Design and method: This study employed a case study approach. The six teachers and their associated science classes (including students) were considered as six cases. Data were gathered through observing the teachers' science lessons, interviewing them twice - once before and once after the lesson observation, and interviewing their students in focus groups. Results: This study reveals that participating teachers held a range of perspectives on scientific literacy, including some naïve perspectives. In addition, their perspectives were often not seen to be realised in the classroom as for teachers the emphasis of learning science was more traditional in nature. Many of their teaching practices promoted a culture of academic science that resulted in students' difficulty in finding connections between the science they study in school and their everyday lives. This research also identified the tension which teachers encountered between their religious values and science values while they were teaching science in a culture with a religious tradition. Conclusions: The professional development practice for science teachers in Bangladesh with its emphasis on developing science content knowledge may limit the scope for promoting the concepts of scientific literacy. Opportunities for developing pedagogic knowledge is also limited and consequently impacts on teachers' ability to develop the concepts of scientific literacy and learn how to teach for its promotion.

Developing Disciplinary Literacy in a Multilingual History Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Achugar, Mariana; Carpenter, Brian D.

2012-01-01

This paper reports on a design experiment (Brown, 1992) where we explored how providing a linguistic support for understanding historical documents affected students comprehension of historical documents and their disciplinary literacy. The functional approach to disciplinary literacy parallels historians' reading practices while supporting…

Investigating Disciplinary Literacy: A Framework for Collaborative Professional Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dobbs, Christina L.; Ippolito, Jacy; Charner-Laird, Megin

2017-01-01

"Investigating Disciplinary Literacy" provides practical, research-based guidance for teachers seeking to strengthen students' reading, writing, and communication skills in subjects from the humanities to the sciences. The authors present a framework for conducting professional development cycles based on disciplinary literacy-related…

Preparing Students for the 21st Century through the Study of World Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beegle, Amy Christine

2014-01-01

This column provides examples of activities that general music teachers might use to weave global awareness into web-based lessons to promote the development of information literacy, media literacy, and communication literacy through the study of world music.

Building a Community of Literacy Practice with Young Adults with Intellectual Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moni, Karen B.

This paper describes the activities and outcomes of LATCH-ON (Literacy and Technology-Hands On), a literacy program for young adults with Down Syndrome based at the University of Queensland in Australia. The program's aims are to support literacy as a desirable and valued aspect in the students' quality of life through developing communication in…

The Teacher's Guide to Media Literacy: Critical Thinking in a Multimedia World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scheibe, Cyndy; Rogow, Faith

2011-01-01

"The Teacher's Guide to Media Literacy" starts by asking, "What does it mean to be literate in today's world, and how can those literacy skills be developed?" The authors answer those questions by providing concrete, innovative ways to integrate media literacy across the curriculum and teach students to be independent, skilled, and reflective…

Supporting the Literacy Learner: Promising Literacy Strategies in Alberta

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alberta Education, 2008

2008-01-01

Literacy has become much more than just the ability to read: recent literature related to literacy instruction suggests that an essential goal is to develop in students the ability to think deeply about what they read and to express themselves accurately and expressively in all contexts. There is a growing acceptance of the importance of lifelong…

Building an Adult Workplace Literacy Program for Spanish-Speaking Carpenters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Case, Rod E.; Ainsworth, John; Emerson, Rick

2004-01-01

This article provides a field-based account of how to develop and implement an adult workplace literacy program for English as a Second Language (ESL) students based upon the principles of a social practices definition of literacy. The purpose of the program is to provide basic literacy instruction for the growing population of Spanish-speaking…

Working to Improve Literacy Learning for All Students through School Leadership: An Analytic Autoethnography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carrico, Happy

2009-01-01

Teachers' expertise in literacy education has a direct impact on children's success in elementary school, yet school principals can also serve a major role by supporting the teachers' abilities to develop literacy expertise by facilitating the implementation of practices grounded in literacy theory and supporting teachers as they acquire and apply…

Making the Invisible Visible: Disciplinary Literacy in Secondary School Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

What Do Facts Have to Do with It? Exploring Instructional Emphasis in Stony Brook News Literacy Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fleming, Jennifer

2015-01-01

An analytic matrix comprised of multiple media literacy teaching and learning principles is conceptualized to examine a model of news literacy developed by journalism educators at Stony Brook University. The multidimensional analysis indicates that news literacy instructors focus on teaching students how to question and assess the veracity of news…

An Assessment of Civic Scientific Literacy in Japan: Development of a More Authentic Assessment Task and Scoring Rubric

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naganuma, Shotaro

2017-01-01

Scientific literacy has been measured by a variety of assessment tools in the past few decades. International surveys such as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) emphasize the importance of scientific literacy. Scientific literacy is now regarded as a…

Developing General Literacy Ability and Intercultural Sensitivity through English Literacy Instruction: Using Global Literature for Korean EFL Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bae, Jiyoung

2012-01-01

This study explored L2 literacy ability and intercultural sensitivity of Korean late elementary to early middle school students learning English as a foreign language. This study investigated the latent variable structure of L2 literacy abilities, including fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing abilities, and intercultural…

Promoting Literacy Development for Beginning English Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bauer, Eurydice Bouchereau; Arazi, Juliana

2011-01-01

Studies show that teachers struggle with meeting the needs of immigrant students, especially recent arrivals (Szente, Hoot, & Taylor, 2006; Tadesse, Hoot, & Watson-Thompson, 2009). To some extent, this is due to the instructional method and unfamiliar curriculum to the students. This column presents elements of one teacher's literacy instruction…

Dueling Complexities: Experiences of Dual-Lang Immersion Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Valerie

2017-01-01

Dual-language immersion is an educational practice in which "literacy and content instruction" is provided in two languages at school (Howard et al., 2007, p.1). The students in these programs have been the center of many studies including student literacy development (Genesee & Jared, 2008), academic achievement (Lindholm-Leary,…

A Visual Approach to Improved Literacy Skills for Special Education Adolescents: An Exploratory Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinatra, Richard; Venezia, Jennie F.

1986-01-01

"Academically disabled" adolescents (N=70) participated in a visual literacy approach to reading and writing development. The subgroup of learning disabled students significantly improved in reading comprehension and narrative and descriptive writing, while "borderline" students (intelligence quotient 70-89) improved in reading comprehension.…

The Principals as Literacy Leaders with Indigenous Communities: Professional Learning and Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Greer; Dempster, Neil; McKenzie, Lynanne

2013-01-01

The vast proportion of Australia's Indigenous students are represented persistently as well below the national benchmarks for literacy and numeracy. Recent national school-based research and development projects, funded by the Australian Government's "Closing the Gap" strategy, have again targeted improving Indigenous students' literacy…

Using an Interdisciplinary Approach to Teach Undergraduates Communication and Information Literacy Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dinkelman, Andrea L.; Aune, Jeanine E.; Nonnecke, Gail R.

2010-01-01

For successful and productive careers, undergraduate students need effective communication and critical thinking skills; information literacy is a substantial component in the development of these skills. Students often perceive communication courses as distinct and separate from their chosen discipline. Faculty from the Departments of English and…

Enhancing Students' Scientific and Quantitative Literacies through an Inquiry-Based Learning Project on Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCright, Aaron M.

2012-01-01

Promoting sustainability and dealing with complex environmental problems like climate change demand a citizenry with considerable scientific and quantitative literacy. In particular, students in the STEM disciplines of (biophysical) science, technology, engineering, and mathematics need to develop interdisciplinary skills that help them understand…

Biochemical Visual Literacy with Constructive Alignment: Outcomes, Assessment, and Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herraez, Angel; Costa, Manuel Joao

2013-01-01

Several contributions in "Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education" have highlighted the role of visualization tools and the importance of developing students' visual literacy in biochemistry education. In this forum, the authors suggest that more focus is needed on the assessment of student learning, and they advance…

Developing Media Literacy Skills To Challenge Television's Portrayal of Older Women.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cohen, Harriet L.

2002-01-01

Focus groups of 19 graduate social work students viewed two episodes of "The Golden Girls." Students had differing opinions on whether the program reinforced or challenged social stereotypes about older women. The need for positive media portrayals and for media literacy was identified. (Contains 46 references.) (SK)

Communication and Representation as Elements in Mathematical Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Denisse R.; Chappell, Michaele F.

2007-01-01

The process standards of communication and representation in the "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics" are critical tools to help students develop mathematical literacy. In the mathematics classroom, students need to be encouraged to use speaking, listening, reading, and writing to communicate their understanding of mathematics words,…

Social Science Boot Camp: Development and Assessment of a Foundational Course on Academic Literacy in the Social Sciences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eaton, Judy; Long, Jennifer; Morris, David

2018-01-01

We developed a course, as part of our institution's core program, which provides students with a foundation in academic literacy in the social sciences: how to find, read, critically assess, and communicate about social science research. It is not a research methods course; rather, it is intended to introduce students to the social sciences and be…

"Everybody Treated Him Like He Was from Another World": Bilingual Fourth Graders Develop Social Awareness through Interactive Read-Alouds Focused on Critical Literacies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Katie E.; Chamberlain, Katharine

2015-01-01

This study explores read-aloud discussions of students in a fourth grade, bilingual classroom located in a rural district in the Southwestern United States. This article argues that teachers can develop students' critical literacy skills through the use of interactive read-alouds with specific texts that problematize specific social issues for…

Applying innovative approach “Nature of Science (NoS) within inquiry” for developing scientific literacy in the student worksheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Widowati, A.; Anjarsari, P.; Zuhdan, K. P.; Dita, A.

2018-03-01

The challenges of the 21st century require innovative solutions. Education must able to make an understanding of science learning that leads to the formation of scientific literacy learners. This research was conducted to produce the prototype as science worksheet based on Nature of Science (NoS) within inquiry approach and to know the effectiveness its product for developing scientific literacy. This research was the development and research design, by pointing to Four D models and Borg & Gall Model. There were 4 main phases (define, design, develop, disseminate) and additional phases (preliminary field testing, main product revision, main field testing, and operational product revision). Research subjects were students of the junior high school in Yogyakarta. The instruments used included questionnaire sheet product validation and scientific literacy test. For the validation data were analyzed descriptively. The test result was analyzed by an N-gain score. The results showed that the appropriateness of worksheet applying NoS within inquiry-based learning approach is eligible based on the assessment from excellent by experts and teachers, students’ scientific literacy can improve high category of the N-gain score at 0.71 by using student worksheet with Nature of Science (NoS) within inquiry approach.

High School Science Teachers' Interpretations and Perceptions of Reform and Literacy in the Discipline of Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lesinski-Roscoe, Rachel A.

This qualitative study sought to gain an understanding of science teachers' perceptions of reform and their role in implementing reform and science-based literacy practices in the classroom, as well as gain an understanding of science teachers' knowledge of disciplinary literacy as the implied framework of reform (i.e., the Next Generation Science Standards). Four focal participants from a suburban, middle-class high school district comprised of two high schools participated in semi-structured interviews, observations, and a stimulated recall task and interview. Data analysis revealed some of the Discourse memberships in which participants claimed membership and the tensions that resulted from those memberships. From this data, a theory emerged of the role of third space in navigating these tensions, and a model for developing a third space is presented, which literacy professionals can reference when working to develop collaborative relationships with science teachers in order to scaffold science-specific literacy practices for student engagement. The information in this study prompts future research regarding the ability of science teachers and literacy professionals to navigate Discourses in a Field Code Changed third space using a disciplinary literacy approach to developing curriculum in order to apprentice students into the discipline of science and develop a citizenry of scientifically literate individuals.

Interactive basic mathematics web using Wordpress

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Septia, Tika; Husna; Cesaria, Anna

2017-12-01

Wordpress is a popular open source tool that can be used for developing learning media. Basic Mathematics is the difficult subject for a physics student. The students need an interactive learning to improve their knowledge. The aims of this study were to develop the interactive media using Wordpress and to know the effectiveness of web as a learning media to improve the ICT Literacy students. This study used ADDIE models. The effectiveness of interactive web can be described as the students’ equipness of ICT literacy. The population is physics students. The findings show that the interactive web is valid for the content, presentation, linguistic, and graphic aspects. The results concluded that basic mathematic interactive web is effective to equip the learners ICT literacy of categories of high, medium, and low with the observations and questionnaires are in very good criteria.

National Standards for Financial Literacy: Rationale and Content

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Evolution of an information literacy curriculum for third-year medical students.

PubMed

O'Dwyer, Linda; Kerns, Stephanie C

2011-01-01

Information literacy curriculum for third-year medical students at Northwestern University has evolved over several years under the guidance of librarians at the Galter Health Sciences Library. Starting as a series of rotation-specific information resource overviews, initial evaluation and feedback led to the curriculum being developed to include more focused and interactive clinical information sessions with a quiz-based assessment. Future enhancements will include web-based self-directed learning using online tutorials, additional search exercises that mimic the on-the-go clinical environment, and better assessment of the curriculum's impact on students' information literacy and clinical search skills.

Teachers' roles in supporting children's literacy development through play.

PubMed

Saracho, Olivia N

2002-04-01

This study focused on the roles five kindergarten teachers assumed to promote literacy. Data were collected through systematic videotaped observations during the children's play periods. Saracho's analysis of the transcriptions in identifying the roles of the teachers suggested teachers' roles in the children's literacy-play include director of instructions (instructing students to follow directions and learn concepts), transition director (directing students to make smooth transitions), supporter of learning (acknowledging and praising students' work to promote learning), storyteller (reading or telling a story and encouraging children to respond), and instructional guide (providing instructional guidance for learning).

The Emergent Literacy Skills of Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

PubMed

Westerveld, M F; Paynter, J; Trembath, D; Webster, A A; Hodge, A M; Roberts, J

2017-02-01

A high percentage of school-age students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have reading comprehension difficulties leading to academic disadvantage. These difficulties may be related to differences in children's emergent literacy development in the preschool years. In this study, we examined the relationship between emergent literacy skills, broader cognitive and language ability, autism severity, and home literacy environment factors in 57 preschoolers with ASD. The children showed strengths in code-related emergent literacy skills such as alphabet knowledge, but significant difficulties with meaning-related emergent literacy skills. There was a significant relationship between meaning-related skills, autism severity, general oral language skills, and nonverbal cognition. Identification of these meaning-related precursors will guide the targets for early intervention to help ensure reading success for students with ASD.

Unpacking Pandora's Box: Issues in the Assessment of English Learners' Literacy Skill Development in Multimodal Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pandya, Jessica Zacher

2012-01-01

In this commentary I unpack the Pandora's Box of issues related to the assessment of English language learners' literacy skill development in multimodal classrooms. I ask how we might quantify the benefits of multimodal composing, for k-12 as well as college students, given the existing complexity of assessing ELLs' traditional literacy skills. I…

Middle School Science Teachers' Confidence and Pedagogical Practice of New Literacies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsu, Hui-Yin; Wang, Shiang-Kwei; Runco, Lisa

2013-06-01

Due to the rapid advancements of information and communication technologies (ICTs), educational researchers argue that multimodal and new literacies should become common practices in schools. As new ICTs emerge and evolve, students need the new literacies skills and practices to successfully participate fully in the civic life of a global community. Are teachers prepared to integrate ICTs in the classroom to develop students' new literacies skills? The purpose of this study is to suggest a new literacies framework that guides ICTs integration and supports scientific inquiry, as well as investigate middle school teachers' confidence to practice new literacies in science classrooms. The study adopted mixed-methodology design, surveyed 32 middle school science teachers' ICTs and new literacies skills, and randomly observed 15 teachers' new literacies practices in the classrooms. The results revealed that even though teachers have high confidence in using ICTs, the meaningful technology integration and new literacies practices were scarcely observed in their classroom practices.

Information Literacy in the 21st Century Multicultural Classroom: Using Sociocultural Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blas, Elise A.

2014-01-01

Sociocultural literacy guides an instructor's pedagogy in the multicultural university classroom. By employing sociocultural literacy in the information literacy classroom, the instruction librarian can better teach students from all cultures including international students, first generation students, or students from a wide array of…

Living in Neighborhoods with High or Low Co-Ethnic Concentration: Turkish-Norwegian-Speaking Students' Vocabulary Skills and Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rydland, Veslemøy; Aukrust, Vibeke Grøver; Fulland, Helene

2013-01-01

Immigrant students may use and develop language and literacy skills differently depending on the dominance of the first and second language (L1 and L2) in the neighborhoods where they live. In this study, neighborhood effects on students' reported language use at home and with peers, and on measured language and literacy proficiency, were…

The Effect of Project-Based Learning on Students' Statistical Literacy Levels for Data Representation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koparan, Timur; Güven, Bülent

2015-01-01

The point of this study is to define the effect of project-based learning approach on 8th Grade secondary-school students' statistical literacy levels for data representation. To achieve this goal, a test which consists of 12 open-ended questions in accordance with the views of experts was developed. Seventy 8th grade secondary-school students, 35…

Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Few issues in higher education are as fundamental as the ability to search for, evaluate, and synthesize information. The need to develop information literacy, the process of finding, retrieving, organizing, and evaluating the ever-expanding collection of online information, has precipitated the need for training in skill-based competencies in higher education, as well as medical and dental education. Methods The current study evaluated the information literacy skills of first-year dental students, consisting of two, consecutive dental student cohorts (n = 160). An assignment designed to evaluate information literacy skills was conducted. In addition, a survey of student online search engine or database preferences was conducted to identify any significant associations. Subsequently, an intervention was developed, based upon the results of the assessment and survey, to address any deficiencies in information literacy. Results Nearly half of students (n = 70/160 or 43%) missed one or more question components that required finding an evidence-based citation. Analysis of the survey revealed a significantly higher percentage of students who provided incorrect responses (n = 53/70 or 75.7%) reported using Google as their preferred online search method (p < 0.01). In contrast, a significantly higher percentage of students who reported using PubMed (n = 39/45 or 86.7%) were able to provide correct responses (p < 0.01). Following a one-hour intervention by a health science librarian, virtually all students were able to find and retrieve evidence-based materials for subsequent coursework. Conclusions This study confirmed that information literacy among this student population was lacking and that integration of modules within the curriculum can help students to filter and establish the quality of online information, a critical component in the training of new health care professionals. Furthermore, incorporation of these modules early in the curriculum may be of significant value to other dental, medical, health care, and professional schools with similar goals of incorporating the evidence base into teaching and learning activities. PMID:21518448

Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum.

PubMed

Kingsley, Karl; Galbraith, Gillian M; Herring, Matthew; Stowers, Eva; Stewart, Tanis; Kingsley, Karla V

2011-04-25

Few issues in higher education are as fundamental as the ability to search for, evaluate, and synthesize information. The need to develop information literacy, the process of finding, retrieving, organizing, and evaluating the ever-expanding collection of online information, has precipitated the need for training in skill-based competencies in higher education, as well as medical and dental education. The current study evaluated the information literacy skills of first-year dental students, consisting of two, consecutive dental student cohorts (n = 160). An assignment designed to evaluate information literacy skills was conducted. In addition, a survey of student online search engine or database preferences was conducted to identify any significant associations. Subsequently, an intervention was developed, based upon the results of the assessment and survey, to address any deficiencies in information literacy. Nearly half of students (n = 70/160 or 43%) missed one or more question components that required finding an evidence-based citation. Analysis of the survey revealed a significantly higher percentage of students who provided incorrect responses (n = 53/70 or 75.7%) reported using Google as their preferred online search method (p < 0.01). In contrast, a significantly higher percentage of students who reported using PubMed (n = 39/45 or 86.7%) were able to provide correct responses (p < 0.01). Following a one-hour intervention by a health science librarian, virtually all students were able to find and retrieve evidence-based materials for subsequent coursework. This study confirmed that information literacy among this student population was lacking and that integration of modules within the curriculum can help students to filter and establish the quality of online information, a critical component in the training of new health care professionals. Furthermore, incorporation of these modules early in the curriculum may be of significant value to other dental, medical, health care, and professional schools with similar goals of incorporating the evidence base into teaching and learning activities.

Testing the Impact of Child Characteristics × Instruction Interactions on Third Graders’ Reading Comprehension by Differentiating Literacy Instruction

PubMed Central

Connor, Carol McDonald; Morrison, Fredrick J.; Fishman, Barry; Giuliani, Sarah; Luck, Melissa; Underwood, Phyllis S.; Bayraktar, Aysegul; Crowe, Elizabeth C.; Schatschneider, Christopher

2016-01-01

There is accumulating correlational evidence that the effect of specific types of reading instruction depends on children’s initial language and literacy skills, called child characteristics × instruction (C×I) interactions. There is, however, no experimental evidence beyond first grade. This randomized control study examined whether C×I interactions might present an underlying and predictable mechanism for explaining individual differences in how students respond to third-grade classroom literacy instruction. To this end, we designed and tested an instructional intervention (Individualizing Student Instruction [ISI]). Teachers (n = 33) and their students (n = 448) were randomly assigned to the ISI intervention or a vocabulary intervention, which was not individualized. Teachers in both conditions received professional development. Videotaped classroom observations conducted in the fall, winter, and spring documented the instruction that each student in the classroom received. Teachers in the ISI group were more likely to provide differentiated literacy instruction that considered C×I interactions than were the teachers in the vocabulary group. Students in the ISI intervention made greater gains on a standardized assessment of reading comprehension than did students in the vocabulary intervention. Results indicate that C×I interactions likely contribute to students’ varying response to literacy instruction with regard to their reading comprehension achievement and that the association between students’ profile of language and literacy skills and recommended instruction is nonlinear and dependent on a number of factors. Hence, dynamic and complex theories about classroom instruction and environment impacts on student learning appear to be warranted and should inform more effective literacy instruction in third grade. PMID:27867226

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Who Experiences Growth in News Media Literacy and Why Does It Matter? Examining Education, Individual Differences, and Democratic Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tully, Melissa; Vraga, Emily K.

2018-01-01

Developing news media literacy skills is recognized as an important part of becoming an informed citizen, but not enough research examines how growth in media literacy differs by individual characteristics. Using a panel study of undergraduate students, we examine which predispositions predict growth in news media literacy beliefs over the…

Intelligent Tutoring Systems for Literacy: Existing Technologies and Continuing Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacovina, Matthew E.; McNamara, Danielle S.

2017-01-01

In this chapter, we describe several intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) designed to support student literacy through reading comprehension and writing instruction and practice. Although adaptive instruction can be a powerful tool in the literacy domain, developing these technologies poses significant challenges. For example, evaluating the…

Preparing Preservice Educators to Teach Critical, Place-Based Literacies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mendoza, Anna

2018-01-01

Secondary education means helping students develop a diverse repertoire of literacy skills, but the focus has been on disciplinary and digital literacies practiced by geographically distributed communities (an international, middle class curriculum) rather than on practices associated with orality, the trades, and minority, immigrant, and…

Elementary School Literacy: Critical Issues.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dreher, Mariam Jean, Ed.; Slater, Wayne H., Ed.

Providing a thorough grounding on important topics in elementary school literacy for experienced teachers and graduate students early in their programs, this book addresses a number of critical issues such as grouping and reading instruction, emergent literacy, learning to read and write with at-risk children, developing vocabulary, learning in…

ICT Literacy of Vocational High School Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

The Role of Introductory Geosciences in Students' Quantitative Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wenner, J. M.; Manduca, C.; Baer, E. M.

2006-12-01

Quantitative literacy is more than mathematics; it is about reasoning with data. Colleges and universities have begun to recognize the distinction between mathematics and quantitative literacy, modifying curricula to reflect the need for numerate citizens. Although students may view geology as 'rocks for jocks', the geosciences are truthfully rife with data, making introductory geoscience topics excellent context for developing the quantitative literacy of students with diverse backgrounds. In addition, many news items that deal with quantitative skills, such as the global warming phenomenon, have their basis in the Earth sciences and can serve as timely examples of the importance of quantitative literacy for all students in introductory geology classrooms. Participants at a workshop held in 2006, 'Infusing Quantitative Literacy into Introductory Geoscience Courses,' discussed and explored the challenges and opportunities associated with the inclusion of quantitative material and brainstormed about effective practices for imparting quantitative literacy to students with diverse backgrounds. The tangible results of this workshop add to the growing collection of quantitative materials available through the DLESE- and NSF-supported Teaching Quantitative Skills in the Geosciences website, housed at SERC. There, faculty can find a collection of pages devoted to the successful incorporation of quantitative literacy in introductory geoscience. The resources on the website are designed to help faculty to increase their comfort with presenting quantitative ideas to students with diverse mathematical abilities. A methods section on "Teaching Quantitative Literacy" (http://serc.carleton.edu/quantskills/methods/quantlit/index.html) focuses on connecting quantitative concepts with geoscience context and provides tips, trouble-shooting advice and examples of quantitative activities. The goal in this section is to provide faculty with material that can be readily incorporated into existing introductory geoscience courses. In addition, participants at the workshop (http://serc.carleton.edu/quantskills/workshop06/index.html) submitted and modified more than 20 activities and model courses (with syllabi) designed to use best practices for helping introductory geoscience students to become quantitatively literate. We present insights from the workshop and other sources for a framework that can aid in increasing quantitative literacy of students from a variety of backgrounds in the introductory geoscience classroom.

Out of the classroom and into the community: medical students consolidate learning about health literacy through collaboration with Head Start.

PubMed

Milford, Emily; Morrison, Kristin; Teutsch, Carol; Nelson, Bergen B; Herman, Ariella; King, Mernell; Beucke, Nathan

2016-04-23

Medical schools need to teach future physicians about health literacy and patient-doctor communication, especially when working with vulnerable communities, but many fall short. In this article, we present a community-based, service learning experience over one academic year during the pre-clerkship portion of medical school as an innovative and successful model for medical students to learn about health literacy and practice effective communication strategies. "Eat Healthy, Stay Active!" (EHSA) is a 5-month pediatric obesity intervention designed for Head Start children, their parent (s), and staff. We hypothesized students' attitudes, knowledge, and skills confidence regarding healthy literacy and patient communication would improve from baseline after receiving training and serving as family mentors in the EHSA intervention. First- and second-year medical students were trained through a series of didactics and then partnered with Head Start children, parents, and staff to help educate and set goals with families during the EHSA intervention. Medical students were given a pre- and post-intervention survey designed to measure their attitudes, knowledge, and skills confidence regarding health literacy. The pre-survey was administered before the first didactic session and the post-survey was administered after the conclusion of the EHSA intervention. We compared students' pre- and post-intervention responses using paired t-tests. Throughout the project, the medical students were asked to complete a set of open-ended journal questions about their experiences. These responses were examined using qualitative, thematic analyses. Additionally, the Head Start parents and staff were asked to complete a survey about their experience working with the medical students. Participant (n=12) pre- and post-surveys revealed that medical students' attitudes about the importance of health literacy were ranked highly both pre- and post- intervention. However, knowledge and skills confidence regarding health literacy showed statistically significant improvement from baseline. Journal entries were categorized qualitatively to demonstrate medical students' insight about their growth and development throughout the project. Survey results from Head Start parents showed medical student participation to be highly valued. Providing medical students with a service learning opportunity to work with individuals with low health literacy in their pre-clerkship years increased students' knowledge and skills confidence regarding health literacy and communication.

Literacy Learning Cohorts: Content-Focused Approach to Improving Special Education Teachers' Reading Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brownell, Mary; Kiely, Mary Theresa; Haager, Diane; Boardman, Alison; Corbett, Nancy; Algina, James; Dingle, Mary Patricia; Urbach, Jennifer

2017-01-01

Two professional development (PD) models for teachers were compared on teacher and student outcomes. Special education teachers participated in Literacy Learning Cohorts (LLC), a PD innovation designed to improve content and pedagogical knowledge for providing reading instruction to upper elementary students with learning disabilities. The LLC,…

Developing Academic and Content Area Literacy: The Thai EFL Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charubusp, Sasima; Chinwonno, Apasara

2014-01-01

This study investigated the effects of Academic Literacy-Based Intervention (ALI) on 30 undergraduate Thai university students' English reading proficiency. Based on the English reading proficiency test, these students were sub-classified into 2 groups, 15 in the high English reading proficiency group and 15 in the low English reading proficiency…

Using ILIAC to Systematically Plan and Implement a Library Information Literacy Assessment Program for Freshman Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gustavson, Amy

2012-01-01

In order to prepare for the 2013 SACS reaffirmation, the Joyner Library instruction librarians developed a systematic assessment program using Oakleaf's Information Literacy Instruction Assessment Cycle (ILIAC) to plan for instruction, assess student learning and improve future student learning by reviewing data and enacting changes. The paper…

Developing Competent Readers and Writers in the Middle Grades.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Combs, Martha

This textbook is about engaging students from fourth through eighth grade in literacy experiences. It is intended to help teachers of adolescents expand their knowledge of this age group and explore ways of engaging these students in meaningful literacy learning. Part One (chapters 1-4) provides selected theoretical foundations for developmental…

Integrating Literacy and Math: Strategies for K-6 Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fogelberg, Ellen; Skalinder, Carole; Satz, Patti; Hiller, Barbara; Bernstein, Lisa; Vitantonio, Sandra

2008-01-01

Many K-6 teachers and students still think of mathematics as a totally separate subject from literacy. Yet incorporating math content into the language arts block helps students gain skills for reading many kinds of texts. Bringing reading, writing, and talking into the math classroom supports the development of conceptual knowledge and problem…

Evidence, Argument and Social Responsibility: First-Year Students' Experiences of Information Literacy when Researching an Essay

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lupton, Mandy

2008-01-01

This paper describes a phenomenographic study of undergraduates' experiences of information literacy when researching an essay in a first-year environmental studies course. Three hierarchical categories were identified that represented students' experiences: (i) seeking evidence; (ii) developing an argument; and (iii) learning as a social…

Early Development of Graphical Literacy through Knowledge Building

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gan, Yongcheng; Scardamalia, Marlene; Hong, Huang-Yao; Zhang, Jianwei

2010-01-01

This study examined growth in graphical literacy for students contributing to an online, multimedia, communal environment as they advanced their understanding of biology, history and optics. Their science and history studies started early in Grade 3 and continued to the end of Grade 4; students did not receive instruction in graphics production,…

Exploring 21st Century Literacy through Writing: Urban Educators' Use of Digital Storytelling with Struggling Writers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, Sarah A.

2017-01-01

This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of urban educators' integration of digital storytelling into supporting instruction, developing students' writing potential, and engaging students that struggle with writing literacy. Interviews, focus group interviews, review of documents, and audio-visual resources were the sources of data…

Developing Physically Literacy in K-12 Physical Education through Achievement Goal Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Jiling; Xiang, Ping; Lee, Jihye; Li, Weidong

2017-01-01

The goal of physical education is to instill physical literacy within students. As an important motivation framework, achievement goal theory has been widely used to understand and explain students' cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes. In this paper, we reviewed studies examining achievement goals and outcomes in K-12 physical education…

Motivating Every Student in Literacy (Including the Highly Unmotivated!), Grades 3-6

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Athans, Sandra K.; Devine, Denise Ashe

2010-01-01

"Motivating Every Student in Literacy (Including the Highly Unmotivated!), Grades 3-6" provides an effective model for improving reading levels and increasing motivation. Under the guidance of Athans and Devine, classroom leaders develop their own Motivation Improvement Action Plans, where small-group instruction, end-of-unit assessments, and…

Literacy Workshops: School Social Workers Enhancing Educational Connections between Educators, Early Childhood Students, and Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunter, William C.; Elswick, Susan E.; Perkins, J. Helen; Heroux, JoDell R.; Harte, Helene

2017-01-01

Parents and family members play an essential role in the literacy development of their children. Research indicates that children with disabilities enrolled in early childhood programs are likely to experience marginalization in terms of receiving educational services. This research emphasizes the importance of exposing students with disabilities…

Critical Media Literacies in the Twenty-First Century: Writing Autoethnographies, Making Connections, and Creating Virtual Identities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Song, Ah-Young

2017-01-01

Critical media literacies can help nurture students' creative agencies and engender positive, sustained change in local communities. Although students do need to develop faculties with digital technologies, they must also participate in critical readings of cultural artifacts and discriminate between various multimedia sources. It is important for…

Scaffolding Literacies across the Bachelor of Education Program: An Argument for a Course-Wide Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devereux, Linda; Wilson, Kate

2008-01-01

Contemporary teacher educators often find themselves teaching large numbers of students from increasingly diverse backgrounds an expanded curriculum in a university environment characterised by cost-cutting and a climate of "user pays". Ensuring that students graduate with sufficiently well-developed literacy skills to equip them to prepare future…

Inquiry, Engagement, and Literacy in Science: A Retrospective, Cross-National Analysis Using PISA 2006

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McConney, Andrew; Oliver, Mary C.; Woods-McConney, Amanda; Schibeci, Renato; Maor, Dorit

2014-01-01

In this study, we examine patterns of students' literacy and engagement in science associated with different levels of "inquiry-oriented" learning reported by students in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. To achieve this, we analyzed data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's 2006 Programme for International…

Pushing Library Information to First-Year Students: An Exploratory Study of Faculty/Library Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dobozy, Eva; Gross, Julia

2010-01-01

The authors contend that better information literacy and library skills development practice is needed for students entering university. This paper presents a case study of how a teacher education (TE) lecturer and a faculty librarian collaborated in an Australian university to provide information literacy practice. A mutual interest in…

Environmental Literacy through Relationships: Connecting Biomes and Society in a Sustainable City

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haverkos, Kimberly; Bautista, Nazan

2011-01-01

In this article, the authors share a project developed and implemented in an eighth-grade science classroom in which students apply what they have learned about biomes to create sustainable cities. This project promotes environmental literacy through helping students understand the interrelated elements of sustainable environmental systems and how…

Is the Environmental Literacy of University Students Measurable?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Embedding Information Literacy in a First-Year Business Undergraduate Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Robin; Becker, Karen; Clark, Lynette; Collins, Sue

2011-01-01

This article reports on a project to embed information literacy skills development in a first-year undergraduate business course at an Australian university. In accordance with prior research suggesting that first-year students are over-confident about their skills, the project used an optional online quiz to allow students to pre-test their…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Teaching the Presidential Elections Using Media Literacy in the LD Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siegel, Jaclyn Kahn

2017-01-01

This paper examines how an educator at a school for students with learning disabilities (LD) used various types of media to engage her students, to develop their academic and executive functioning skills, and to heighten their awareness of media literacy and the 2012 and 2106 Presidential elections. Teacher-created curriculum materials and…

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Environmental literacy of Hispanic, urban, middle school students in Houston, Texas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meuth, Amber M.

With the global crises facing the planet that bring major implications, (Hart & Nolan, 1999; Hungerford & Simmons, 2003) it is imperative that there be an environmentally literate citizenry who can identify, solve, and prevent environmental issues. Since middle school students are evolving into participating citizens and are developing the ability to think in abstract terms, they are a critical group to study regarding levels of environmental literacy. Additionally, with the increased resource needs and decreased air and water quality in highly populated urban areas, focusing on the environmental literacy of students living and attending school in urban areas is essential. The purpose of this study was to describe the levels of environmental literacy of a group of Hispanic, urban, middle school students in Houston, Texas. Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students who attend a charter school in Houston, Texas were given, the Middle School Environmental Literacy Survey (MSELS). This survey has been developed to measure components of environmental literacy as related to domains identified critical to environmental literacy (McBeth et al., 2008). The four domains include ecological knowledge, environmental affect, cognitive skills, and behavior. Data collected from the survey was used to determine levels of environmental literacy in the following variables: ecological knowledge, verbal commitment, actual commitment, environmental sensitivity, general environmental feelings, and environmental issue and action skills. Descriptive statistics were calculated and analyzed for each grade level and as an entire sample for each variable in order to generate a profile of the group. Composite scores were calculated in the four domains (ecological knowledge, environmental affect, cognitive skills, and behavior) and were compared to high, moderate, and low levels of environmental literacy set forth by top environmental education researchers (McBeth et al., 2008). Additionally, two secondary analyses were conducted. First, mean scores for each grade level were compared by gender to see if gender plays a role in environmental literacy variables. Second, mean scores in each environmental literacy variable were compared by grade level to investigate if significant differences occur between grade levels. The results indicate that the participants in this sample have high levels of ecological knowledge but convey only moderate feelings towards the environment. The students report that they are willing to engage in more pro-environmental behaviors than they actually report doing. They also display modest abilities to indentify and analyze environmental issues as well as select appropriate action plans. Regarding the domains critical to environmental literacy, the mean scores for this sample fell within the high range for ecological knowledge; scores for affect, cognitive skills, and behavior all fell within the moderate range. For each grade level, the overall environmental literacy composite scores also fell within the moderate range. When compared to students in a national study, generally, in the performance based sections of the MSELS, the 6 th and 8th grade students in this sample scored at or above the students in the national sample while on the self-report sections, the 6th and 8th grade students in this sample generally scored below the students in the national sample. That being said, however, when comparing composite scores for the Affect, Cognitive Skills, and Behavior domains, both sets of students scored within the moderate range. In the Knowledge domain, the students in this sample scored in the high range while the students in the national sample scored in the moderate range. Gender did not appear to play a part in the levels of the environmental literacy variables, while grade level may make a difference for certain variables such as verbal commitment, actual commitment, and environmental sensitivity.

Using a decade of data on medical student computer literacy for strategic planning

PubMed Central

Seago, Brenda L.; Schlesinger, Jeanne B.; Hampton, Carol L.

2002-01-01

Purpose: From 1991 through 2000, incoming medical students (M-Is) at the School of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University have been surveyed with a written questionnaire on their computer literacy. The survey's purpose is to learn the students' levels of knowledge, skill, and experience with computer technology to guide instructional services and facilities. Methodology: The questionnaire was administered during M-I orientation or mailed to students' homes after matriculation. It evolved from sixteen questions in 1991 to twenty-three questions in 2000, with fifteen questions common to all. Results: The average survey response rate was 81% from an average of 177 students. Six major changes were introduced based on information collected from the surveys and advances in technology: production of CD-ROMs distributed to students containing required computer-based instructional programs, delivery of evaluation instruments to students via the Internet, modification of the lab to a mostly PC-based environment, development of an electronic curriculum Website, development of computerized examinations for medical students to prepare them for the computerized national board examinations, and initiation of a personal digital assistant (PDA) project for students to evaluate PDAs' usefulness in clinical settings. Conclusion: The computer literacy survey provides a snapshot of students' past and present use of technology and guidance for the development of services and facilities. PMID:11999178

Using a decade of data on medical student computer literacy for strategic planning.

PubMed

Seago, Brenda L; Schlesinger, Jeanne B; Hampton, Carol L

2002-04-01

From 1991 through 2000, incoming medical students (M-Is) at the School of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University have been surveyed with a written questionnaire on their computer literacy. The survey's purpose is to learn the students' levels of knowledge, skill, and experience with computer technology to guide instructional services and facilities. The questionnaire was administered during M-I orientation or mailed to students' homes after matriculation. It evolved from sixteen questions in 1991 to twenty-three questions in 2000, with fifteen questions common to all. The average survey response rate was 81% from an average of 177 students. Six major changes were introduced based on information collected from the surveys and advances in technology: production of CD-ROMs distributed to students containing required computer-based instructional programs, delivery of evaluation instruments to students via the Internet, modification of the lab to a mostly PC-based environment, development of an electronic curriculum Website, development of computerized examinations for medical students to prepare them for the computerized national board examinations, and initiation of a personal digital assistant (PDA) project for students to evaluate PDAs' usefulness in clinical settings. The computer literacy survey provides a snapshot of students' past and present use of technology and guidance for the development of services and facilities.

Starting a learning progression for agricultural literacy: A qualitative study of urban elementary student understandings of agricultural and science education benchmarks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hess, Alexander Jay

Science and agriculture professional organizations have argued for agricultural literacy as a goal for K-12 public education. Due to the complexity of our modern agri-food system, with social, economic, and environmental concerns embedded, an agriculturally literate society is needed for informed decision making, democratic participation, and system reform. While grade-span specific benchmarks for gauging agri-food system literacy have been developed, little attention has been paid to existing ideas individuals hold about the agri-food system, how these existing ideas relate to benchmarks, how experience shapes such ideas, or how ideas change overtime. Developing a body of knowledge on students' agri-food system understandings as they develop across K-12 grades can ground efforts seeking to promote a learning progression toward agricultural literacy. This study compares existing perceptions held by 18 upper elementary students from a large urban center in California to agri-food system literacy benchmarks and examines the perceptions against student background and experiences. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the constant comparative method. Constructivist theoretical perspectives framed the study. No student had ever grown their own food, raised a plant, or cared for an animal. Participation in school fieldtrips to farms or visits to a relative's garden were agricultural experiences most frequently mentioned. Students were able to identify common food items, but could not elaborate on their origins, especially those that were highly processed. Students' understanding of post-production activities (i.e. food processing, manufacturing, or food marketing) was not apparent. Students' understanding of farms reflected a 1900's subsistence farming operation commonly found in a literature written for the primary grades. Students were unaware that plants and animals were selected for production based on desired genetic traits. Obtaining food from areas with favorable growing conditions and supporting technology (such as transportation and refrigeration) was an understanding lacking in the group. Furthermore, most spoilage prevention technologies employed today were not an expressed part of student's schema. Students' backgrounds and experiences did not appear to support the development of a robust agri-food system schema. An agricultural science and technology schema appears poorly developed in each of the students.

Adapting to Teach Climate Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilkening, B.; Schwartz, K. L.

2017-12-01

Adaptation is a key strategy to deal with the effects of climate change, and it can also be a key strategy in teaching climate literacy. Adapting curriculum to include utilizing new instructional practices, modifying existing lessons, evaluating evidence and engaging students in real-world projects are strategies employed in Recharge the Rain. Arizona Project WET and Watershed Management Group developed the Recharge the Rain project, through a NOAA Environmental Literacy Grant, to build community resiliency to hazards associated with increased temperatures, drought and flooding in Arizona. Sixth through twelfth grade teachers, students and the public will move through a continuum from awareness, to knowledge gain, to conceptual understanding, to action. During the first year of the project, through professional development and ongoing guidance, teachers developed a climate literacy curriculum to use in their classrooms. Using systems thinking language and structure from the Cabrera Research Labs, teachers and students gain the thinking tools necessary to increase understanding of Earth's climate system. Lessons and resources for teaching about climate change are abundant and many, such as those on the Climate Literacy Education Awareness Network (CLEAN), have gone through an extensive review process. By cataloguing online resources and sharing these with teachers through a social bookmarking tool, wakelet.com, teachers are easily able to find appropriate teaching material. Engaging students in evaluating evidence requires the data to be relevant to their everyday lives. Online data resources are readily available from NOAA and other sources at both the global and local levels. When teachers, students and the public contribute to the data collection process in citizen science projects such as CoCoRaHS, iSeeChange, and USA National Phenology Network, the data empowers them to act in ways to mitigate the climate threats in their community. Adapting to teach climate literacy can create a community of teachers, students and the public who are moving forward with making responsible decisions that affect the climate.

Google Earth in the middle school geography classroom: Its impact on spatial literacy and place geography understanding of students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Westgard, Kerri S. W.

Success in today's globalized, multi-dimensional, and connected world requires individuals to have a variety of skill sets -- i.e. oracy, numeracy, literacy, as well as the ability to think spatially. Student's spatial literacy, based on various national and international assessment results, indicates that even though there have been gains in U.S. scores over the past decade, overall performance, including those specific to spatial skills, are still below proficiency. Existing studies focused on the potential of virtual learning environment technology to reach students in a variety of academic areas, but a need still exists to study specifically the phenomenon of using Google Earth as a potentially more useful pedagogical tool to develop spatial literacy than the currently employed methods. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which graphicacy achievement scores of students who were immersed in a Google Earth environment were different from students who were provided with only two-dimensional instruction for developing spatial skills. Situated learning theory and the work of Piaget and Inhelder's Child's Conception of Space provided the theoretical grounding from which this study evolved. The National Research Council's call to develop spatial literacy, as seen in Learning to Think Spatially , provided the impetus to begin research. The target population (N = 84) for this study consisted of eighth grade geography students at an upper Midwest Jr. High School during the 2009-2010 academic year. Students were assigned to the control or experimental group based on when they had geography class. Control group students ( n = 44) used two-dimensional PowerPoint images to complete activities, while experimental group students (n = 40) were immersed in the three-dimensional Google Earth world for activity completion. Research data was then compiled and statistically analyzed to answer five research questions developed for this study. One-way ANOVAs were run on data collected and no statistically significant difference was found between the control and experimental group. However, two of the five research questions yielded practically significant data that indicates students who used Google Earth outperformed their counterparts who used PowerPoint on pattern prediction and spatial relationship understanding.

Immigrant Learners and Their Families: Literacy To Connect the Generations. Language in Education: Theory & Practice 84.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weinstein-Shr, Gail, Ed.; Quintero, Elizabeth, Ed.

Teachers' and developers' descriptions of intergenerational literacy programs for immigrants are collected here. Topics addressed include appropriate program design, the quality of intergenerational collaboration, student journals, learner-centered curriculum design, traditional and personal storytelling as a literacy approach, education and…

A UALR Computer Literacy Project to Determine Curricular Goals and Objectives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teeter, Thomas A.

The results of a study assessing departmental plans for hardware and software acquisitions, faculty development activities, and curricular modifications aimed at increasing student computer literacy at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) are reported. The study involved reviewing departmental definitions of computer literacy generated…

Reading Can You Dig It: Resources for Adult New Readers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ossolinski, Lynn, Comp.

The purpose of this bibliography is to advertise the availability of resources for adult literacy education in public libraries and reading centers throughout the state of Nevada. The literacy collections were developed in response to identified needs of students, tutors, and trainers involved in community literacy education programs. The…

Literacy Instruction for Young Children with Severe Speech and Physical Impairments: A Systematic Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stauter, Donna W.; Myers, Sarah R.; Classen, Audra I.

2017-01-01

Children with severe speech and physical impairment who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) present unique challenges in literacy development. Traditional reading instruction has not met these students' needs. Occupational therapy and speech therapy provide supports to mediate limitations to literacy instruction. A systematic…

Negotiating Critical Literacies in Classrooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Comber, Barbara, Ed.; Simpson, Anne, Ed.

This book brings together accounts of educators who have sought to make a difference in the lives of their students through literacy education--from university classrooms in the United States, England, and South Africa, to policy and curriculum development in Singapore and Australia. The literacy classrooms explored in the book range from the…

The Development of Statistical Literacy at School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Callingham, Rosemary; Watson, Jane M.

2017-01-01

Statistical literacy increasingly is considered an important outcome of schooling. There is little information, however, about appropriate expectations of students at different stages of schooling. Some progress towards this goal was made by Watson and Callingham (2005), who identified an empirical 6-level hierarchy of statistical literacy and the…

Seeing through Lies: Teaching Ideological Literacy as a Corrective Lens

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camangian, Patrick Roz

2013-01-01

Breaking down the social, political, and cultural processes through which race, class, and gender worldviews are established, ideological literacies help students look closely at the intricate, contradictory meanings in texts. The purpose of developing ideological literacies in urban youth is so they become more socially conscious of the…

Conference on Functional Literacy in the Community College Setting (Los Alamitos, California, July 1978).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knoell, Dorothy M.; And Others

The conference papers included in this collection address issues of concern to literacy development in the community college. "Functional Literacy and Persistence in the Community College," by Dorothy M. Knoell, raises questions about student persistence in the absence of requisite skills. "Training Perspective on Functional…

Developing Critical L2 Digital Literacy through the Use of Computer-Based Internet-Hosted Learning Management Systems such as Moodle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meurant, Robert C.

Second Language (L2) Digital Literacy is of emerging importance within English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Korea, and will evolve to become regarded as the most critical component of overall L2 English Literacy. Computer-based Internet-hosted Learning Management Systems (LMS), such as the popular open-source Moodle, are rapidly being adopted worldwide for distance education, and are also being applied to blended (hybrid) education. In EFL Education, they have a special potential: by setting the LMS to force English to be used exclusively throughout a course website, the meta-language can be made the target L2 language. Of necessity, students develop the ability to use English to navigate the Internet, access and contribute to online resources, and engage in computer-mediated communication. Through such pragmatic engagement with English, students significantly develop their L2 Digital Literacy.

A curricular approach to improve the information literacy and academic writing skills of part-time post-registration nursing students in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Tarrant, Marie; Dodgson, Joan E; Law, Beatrice V K K

2008-05-01

In today's environment of rapidly changing health care and information technology, nurses require a broad range of skills. One of the key skills required of all health professionals in this environment is information literacy. For registered nurses returning to a university setting to study for their baccalaureate degree, becoming information literate is one of many challenges they face. Also key to students' ability to use and communicate information in an appropriate and effective manner is their writing skills. This article describes a curricular intervention designed to develop and strengthen post-registration nurses' information literacy and academic writing competencies. An introductory information management module was developed and provided to three successive cohorts of students (n=159). Students were predominantly female (85.4%) with a mean age of 34.2 years (SD=6.8). Prior to commencing the program, students reported low information literacy and writing skills, especially in accessing and searching electronic databases and using referencing formats. The post-test evaluation of skills showed substantial and statistically significant increases in all assessed competencies. This intervention demonstrated that with structured but flexible learning activities early in the curriculum, post-registration nursing students can quickly become information literate.

Digital Literacy Development of Students Involved in an ICT Educational Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quintana, Maria Graciela Badilla; Pujol, Meritxell Cortada

The impact of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has become the core of a change that involves most of the society fields, consequently the technological and informational literacy are essential requirements in education. The research is a quasi-experimental and ex-post-facto study in schools from Spain. The aim was to describe and analyze the involvement showed by 219 students who participated in a development of ICT's Project named Ponte dos Brozos. The research objective was to respond if the students who usually worked with ICT, had better knowledge and management with computing tools, and if they are better prepared in researching and selecting information. Results showed that students who have a higher contact with ICTs know about the technology and how to use it, also better knowledge and control of the computer and operative systems, a high information management level trough the Internet, although their literacy in information is devoid.

The effect of project-based learning on students' statistical literacy levels for data representation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koparan, Timur; Güven, Bülent

2015-07-01

The point of this study is to define the effect of project-based learning approach on 8th Grade secondary-school students' statistical literacy levels for data representation. To achieve this goal, a test which consists of 12 open-ended questions in accordance with the views of experts was developed. Seventy 8th grade secondary-school students, 35 in the experimental group and 35 in the control group, took this test twice, one before the application and one after the application. All the raw scores were turned into linear points by using the Winsteps 3.72 modelling program that makes the Rasch analysis and t-tests, and an ANCOVA analysis was carried out with the linear points. Depending on the findings, it was concluded that the project-based learning approach increases students' level of statistical literacy for data representation. Students' levels of statistical literacy before and after the application were shown through the obtained person-item maps.

The measurement of psychological literacy: a first approximation

PubMed Central

Roberts, Lynne D.; Heritage, Brody; Gasson, Natalie

2015-01-01

Psychological literacy, the ability to apply psychological knowledge to personal, family, occupational, community and societal challenges, is promoted as the primary outcome of an undergraduate education in psychology. As the concept of psychological literacy becomes increasingly adopted as the core business of undergraduate psychology training courses world-wide, there is urgent need for the construct to be accurately measured so that student and institutional level progress can be assessed and monitored. Key to the measurement of psychological literacy is determining the underlying factor-structure of psychological literacy. In this paper we provide a first approximation of the measurement of psychological literacy by identifying and evaluating self-report measures for psychological literacy. Multi-item and single-item self-report measures of each of the proposed nine dimensions of psychological literacy were completed by two samples (N = 218 and N = 381) of undergraduate psychology students at an Australian university. Single and multi-item measures of each dimension were weakly to moderately correlated. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of multi-item measures indicated a higher order three factor solution best represented the construct of psychological literacy. The three factors were reflective processes, generic graduate attributes, and psychology as a helping profession. For the measurement of psychological literacy to progress there is a need to further develop self-report measures and to identify/develop and evaluate objective measures of psychological literacy. Further approximations of the measurement of psychological literacy remain an imperative, given the construct's ties to measuring institutional efficacy in teaching psychology to an undergraduate audience. PMID:25741300

Development of the literacy achievement gap: a longitudinal study of kindergarten through third grade.

PubMed

Foster, Wayne A; Miller, Merideth

2007-07-01

The major goal of this study was to specify the developmental trajectories for phonics and early text comprehension skills of children from kindergarten through third grade. Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (N = 12,261) were used in this study. The participants were divided into 3 school readiness groups based on an assessment of literacy skill development at the time of entrance into kindergarten. The different groups were tracked on phonics and text comprehension development through the third grade. Students in the average and high literacy readiness groups achieved high scores in decoding (phonics) by the end of the first grade. Students in the low readiness group did not match these scores until the third grade. Although the phonics gap was essentially closed in the third grade, a second, very significant text comprehension gap was exposed. The 3 readiness groups were analyzed to assess the relative contributions of parent education, income, and kindergarten literacy score to third-grade literacy achievement. The results of this study stress the need for speech-language pathologists to assess emergent literacy skills in their speech and language clients and to include appropriate literacy goals in the treatment regimen as a means for reducing the potential need for identification as learning disabled in reading in the later years of elementary school.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Teachers' Perceptions of Online Professional Development in Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garbe, Amber Yudchitz

2012-01-01

This study sought to describe perceptions of teachers regarding the influence of online professional development (oPD) in literacy on their instruction and students' learning. The following features of effective professional development were analyzed: content-focus; collectivity; coherence; duration; and active learning. As well, the study…

Teacher Perspectives on Literacy and Mathematics Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Christie; Polly, Drew; Mraz, Maryann; Algozzine, Robert

2018-01-01

This study examines teacher's perspectives of the most beneficial professional development they have participated in over the last three years in the content areas of literacy and mathematics. It also investigates teachers views on how professional development influences student learning. Specifically, this study is grounded in the following…

Pedagogical strategies to teach bachelor students evidence-based practice: A systematic review.

PubMed

Aglen, B

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to review international scientific articles about pedagogical strategies to teach nursing students at bachelor degree evidence-based practice (EBP). A literature review including peer reviewed, original, empirical articles describing pedagogical interventions aimed at teaching bachelor's degree nursing students EBP in the period 2004-2014. Theories of discretion, knowledge transfer and cognitive maturity development are used as analytical perspectives. The main challenge teaching evidence based practice is that the students fail to see how research findings contribute to nursing practice. The pedagogical strategies described are student active learning methods to teach the students information literacy and research topics. Information literacy is mainly taught according to the stages of EBP. These stages focus on how to elaborate evidence from research findings for implementation into nursing practice. The articles reviewed mainly use qualitative, descriptive designs and formative evaluations of the pedagogical interventions. Although a considerable effort in teaching information literacy and research topics, nursing students still struggle to see the relevance evidence for nursing practice. Before being introduced to information literacy and research topics, students need insight into knowledge transfer and their own epistemic assumptions. Knowledge transfer related to clinical problems should be the learning situations prioritized when teaching EBP at bachelor level. Theoretical perspectives of cognitive maturity development, knowledge transfer and discretion in professional practice give alternative ways of designing pedagogical strategies for EBP. More research is needed to develop and test pedagogical strategies for EBP in light of these theories. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Student Perceptions of Using Games to Address Science Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keller, Cara M.

The purpose of this qualitative evaluative case study was to gain insight into how students perceived the efficacy of using games to address their science literacy concerns. Scientists in the United States are concerned with the lack of science literacy. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires proficiency in reading, mathematics, language arts, and science by the completion of the 2013--2014 school year. The high school participating in this study received substandard test scores on both the 2009 state graduation test and the science portion of the ACT test. The research question included understanding how students perceive the use of games in addressing their science literacy needs. The data from the student journals, field notes, and transcribed class discussions were analyzed using a 6 step method that included coding the data into main themes. The triangulated data were used to both gain insight into student perspective and inform game development. Constructivist theories formed the conceptual framework of the study. The findings of the study suggested that games may prove a valuable tool in science literacy attainment. The study indicated that games were perceived by the students to be effective tools in meeting their learning needs. Implications for positive social change included providing students, educators, and administrators with game resources that can be used to meet the science learning needs of struggling students, thereby improving science scores on high stakes tests.

Teaching Comprehension and Exploring Multiple Literacies: Strategies from "The Reading Teacher."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rasinski, Timothy V., Ed.; Padak, Nancy D., Ed.; Church, Brenda Weible, Ed.; Fawcett, Gay, Ed.; Hendershot, Judith, Ed.; Henry, Justina M., Ed.; Moss, Barbara G., Ed.; Peck, Jacqueline K., Ed.; Pryor, Elizabeth, Ed.; Roskos, Kathleen A., Ed.

Whatever grade level, content, or texts that educators teach, their ultimate goal is to develop their students' understanding of what they read. The 29 articles in this anthology were published in "The Reading Teacher" from 1993 to 1999 and offer ideas to help students comprehend different types of texts and literacies, from technology…

Teaching Students to Think in the Digital Environment: Digital Literacy and Digital Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stripling, Barbara

2010-01-01

The digital world, much like any new or changing environment, demands an assessment of the situation and development of new ways of thinking or working. School librarians must, therefore, partner with other educators to identify and teach the digital literacy and inquiry skills that will enable all students to be effective digital learners.…

Administrators' Perceptions of Community College Students' Computer Literacy Skills in Beginner Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ragin, Tracey B.

2013-01-01

Fundamental computer skills are vital in the current technology-driven society. The purpose of this study was to investigate the development needs of students at a rural community college in the Southeast who lacked the computer literacy skills required in a basic computer course. Guided by Greenwood's pragmatic approach as a reformative force in…

Examining the Longitudinal Biliterate Trajectory of Emerging Bilingual Learners in a Paired Literacy Instructional Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sparrow, Wendy; Butvilofsky, Sandra; Escamilla, Kathy; Hopewell, Susan; Tolento, Teresa

2014-01-01

This longitudinal study examines the biliteracy results of Spanish-English emerging bilingual students who participated in a K-5 paired literacy model in a large school district in Oregon. Spanish and English reading and writing data show longitudinal gains in students' biliterate development, demonstrating the potential of the model in developing…

Using Empirical Data to Refine a Model for Information Literacy Instruction for Elementary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nesset, Valerie

2015-01-01

Introduction: As part of a larger study in 2006 of the information-seeking behaviour of third-grade students in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, a model of their information-seeking behaviour was developed. To further improve the model, an extensive examination of the literature into information-seeking behaviour and information literacy was conducted…

Informational Literacy and Information and Communication Technologies Use by Secondary Education Students in Spain: A Descriptive Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conde, Ma. José Rodríguez; Migueláñez, Susana Olmos; Molina, María Pinto; Abad, Fernando Martínez; Riaza, Blanca García

2011-01-01

Informational literacy and the use of technologies by Secondary Education students in Spain: A descriptive study. The development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), together with their application to research carried out on educational areas, are factors which contribute to the promotion of a new educative model constructed on…

Developing Scientific Literacy in Introductory Laboratory Courses: A Model for Course Design and Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Surpless, Benjamin; Bushey, Michelle; Halx, Mark

2014-01-01

Although science educators at all levels have focused on teaching students scientific literacy for nearly five decades, studies indicate that the average student remains far from scientifically literate. To address this issue at the local level, faculty at Trinity University, in San Antonio, Texas, significantly revised the curriculum of an…

Extending the Classroom Walls: Using Academic Blogging as an Intervention Strategy to Improve Critical Literacy Skills with Elementary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chamberlain, Elizabeth

2017-01-01

"Academic blogging" is a way of extending the primary classroom walls and enhancing learning through collaborative reflective responses to open-ended questions from prescribed text. Students learn from each other, develop critical literacy skills, voice their opinions and ask questions through blogging. This pedagogical approach broaches…

Teaching and Learning with the Internet: A Guide to Building Information Literacy Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kasowitz, Abby S.

This book is designed to prepare information mentors-educators, parents, educational concept developers, subject-matter experts, and others who guide K-12 students to information literacy to provide instruction, guidance, and services to teach K-12 students how to solve information problems using a variety of information tools and resources. The…

Radio Waves and Curriculum Pathways: Jamaican "At Risk" Learners Construct Media

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feraria, Paulette J.

2018-01-01

This paper explores radio play as an alternative space for learning language and literacy for Jamaican students labeled as 'at-risk' learners. Through the creation of a make-believe radio station in the classroom, students developed oral language skills as a necessary precursor for social literacy. They connected reading and writing activities and…

Student Writings for Home Care Challenge. Volumes I-II. National Workplace Literacy Grant.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carroll Community Coll., Westminster, MD.

These two volumes contain research papers and personal reflections developed as culminating projects by adult students involved in workplace literacy classes in nursing homes, hospitals, and home care agencies. The first volume contains 18 papers: "What You Need to Know about Cancer" (Grace Bopst); "What Nursing Assistants Need to Know about Heart…

Developing Scientific Literacy Skills through Interdisciplinary, Technology-Based Global Simulations: GlobalEd 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawless, Kimberly A.; Brown, Scott W.

2015-01-01

GlobalEd 2 (GE2) is a set of technology-mediated, problem-based learning (PBL) simulations for middle-grade students, that capitalises on the multidisciplinary nature of the social sciences as an expanded curricular space for students to learn and apply scientific literacies and concepts, while simultaneously also enriching their understanding of…

Cultural Literacy Based Critical Reading Teaching Material with Active Reader Strategy for Junior High School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Damaianti, Vismaia S.; Damaianti, Lira Fessia; Mulyati, Yeti

2017-01-01

This article describes the findings of a study aimed at producing a set of cultural literacy-oriented critical reading teaching material. This material is developed as a countermeasure to the increasingly thin sensitivity of society, especially the students toward noble values of religion, custom, and culture. With this material student get a…

Embedding Information Literacy Skills in the Psychology Curriculum: Supporting Students in Their Transition to Independent Researchers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bohan, Jason; Friel, Niamh; Szymanek, Larissa

2015-01-01

Here we report on a new initiative which supported first-year psychology undergraduates in developing their information literacy skills. These skills were taught in a small-group tutorial setting with tutor guidance and peer-supported activities. We measured student's Autonomous Learning and Academic Self-Efficacy before and after the teaching…

Using Educational Technology to Develop Early Literacy Skills in Sub-Saharan Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abrami, Philip C.; Wade, C. Anne; Lysenko, Larysa; Marsh, Jonathon; Gioko, Anthony

2016-01-01

The research explores the impact of interactive, multimedia literacy software (ABRA) on the reading skills of early elementary students in Kenya. Twelve grade two English teachers and their students from six schools were randomly divided in half: an experimental group (N = 180) where ABRA was part of their English Language instruction and a…

The Exploration of New York City High School Students' Global Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, Hui-Yin; Wang, Shiang-Kwei

2010-01-01

Purpose: When facing greater demands in the international job market and the innovative development and use of technologies, the youth needs a new set of skills and attitudes to succeed in an increasing well-educated global workforce. It is essential that educators prepare high school students' global literacy. In this paper, the authors survey…

Teaching Tech Literacy to the MySpace Generation: When It Comes to Sharpening Students' IT Skills, Districts Take Different Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heun, Christopher

2006-01-01

This article describes the approaches taken by various school districts in teaching technology literacy to their students. One such example is the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, developed in partnership with The Franklin Institute, a science museum, which teaches a curriculum that stresses science, technology, mathematics, and…

Writing for Science Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chamberlin, Shannon Marie

Scientific literacy is the foundation on which both California's currently adopted science standards and the recommended new standards for science are based (CDE, 2000; NRC, 2011). The Writing for Science Literacy (WSL) curriculum focuses on a series of writing and discussion tasks aimed at increasing students' scientific literacy. These tasks are based on three teaching and learning constructs: thought and language, scaffolding, and meta-cognition. To this end, WSL is focused on incorporating several strategies from the Rhetorical Approach to Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking to engage students in activities designed to increase their scientific literacy; their ability to both identify an author's claim and evidence and to develop their own arguments based on a claim and evidence. Students participated in scaffolded activities designed to strengthen their written and oral discourse, hone their rhetorical skills and improve their meta-cognition. These activities required students to participate in both writing and discussion tasks to create meaning and build their science content knowledge. Students who participated in the WSL curriculum increased their written and oral fluency and were able to accurately write an evidence-based conclusion all while increasing their conceptual knowledge. This finding implies that a discourse rich curriculum can lead to an increase in scientific knowledge.

Shaping Our Literate Lives: Examining the Role of Literacy Experiences in Shaping Positive Literacy Identities of Doctoral Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howard, Christy M.; Adams-Budde, Melissa; Myers, Joy; Jollif, Grant

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which literacy histories and present literacy experiences of doctoral students shaped their literacy identities. Data were collected through surveys, interviews, and visual identity representations. This paper focuses on the literacy stories of two doctoral students with positive literacy…

The effects of academic literacy instruction on engagement and conceptual understanding of biology of ninth-grade students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larson, Susan C.

Academic language, discourse, vocabulary, motivation, and comprehension of complex texts and concepts are keys to learning subject-area content. The need for a disciplinary literacy approach in high school classrooms accelerates as students become increasing disengaged in school and as content complexity increases. In the present quasi-experimental mixed-method study, a ninth-grade biology unit was designed with an emphasis on promoting academic literacy skills, discourse, meaningful constructivist learning, interest development, and positive learning experiences in order to learn science content. Quantitative and qualitative analyses on a variety of measures completed by 222 students in two high schools revealed that those who received academic literacy instruction in science class performed at significantly higher levels of conceptual understanding of biology content, academic language and vocabulary use, reasoned thought, engagement, and quality of learning experience than control-group students receiving traditionally-organized instruction. Academic literacy was embedded into biology instruction to engage students in meaning-making discourses of science to promote learning. Academic literacy activities were organized according the phases of interest development to trigger and sustain interest and goal-oriented engagement throughout the unit. Specific methods included the Generative Vocabulary Matrix (GVM), scenario-based writing, and involvement in a variety of strategically-placed discourse activities to sustain or "boost" engagement for learning. Traditional instruction for the control group included teacher lecture, whole-group discussion, a conceptual organizer, and textbook reading. Theoretical foundations include flow theory, sociocultural learning theory, and interest theory. Qualitative data were obtained from field notes and participants' journals. Quantitative survey data were collected and analyzed using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to measure cognitive and emotional states, revealing patterns of engagement, quality of experience, and flow over the course of the instructional unit. Conceptual understanding was measured using the state persuasive writing rubric to analyze science essays in which students supported a claim with scientific evidence. The study contributes an Engagement Model of Academic Literacy for Learning (EngageALL), a Rubric for Academic Persuasive Writing (RAPW), a unique classification system for analyzing academic vocabulary, and suggestions for situated professional development around a research-based planning framework. A discussion addresses a new direction for future research that explores academic identity development.

Adapted shared reading at school for minimally verbal students with autism.

PubMed

Mucchetti, Charlotte A

2013-05-01

Almost nothing is known about the capacity of minimally verbal students with autism to develop literacy skills. Shared reading is a regular practice in early education settings and is widely thought to encourage language and literacy development. There is some evidence that children with severe disabilities can be engaged in adapted shared reading activities. The current study examines the impact of teacher-led adapted shared reading activities on engagement and story comprehension in minimally verbal 5-6-year-old children with autism using a multiple baseline/alternating treatment design. Four students and three teachers participated. Teachers conducted adapted shared reading activities with modified books (visual supports, three-dimensional objects, simplified text) and used specific strategies for increasing student engagement. Student performance during adapted activities was compared to performance during standard shared reading sessions. All four students showed increased story comprehension and engagement during adapted shared reading. Average percentage of session engaged was 87%-100% during adapted sessions, compared with 41%-52% during baseline. Average number of correct responses to story comprehension questions was 4.2-4.8 out of 6 during adapted sessions compared with 1.2-2 during baseline. Visual supports, tactile objects, and specific teaching strategies offer ways for minimally verbal students to meaningfully participate in literacy activities. Future research should investigate adapted shared reading activities implemented classroom-wide as well as joint engagement, language, and literacy outcomes after using such activities over time.

Using the Geoscience Literacy Frameworks and Educational Technologies to Promote Science Literacy in Non-science Major Undergraduates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carley, S.; Tuddenham, P.; Bishop, K. O.

2008-12-01

In recent years several geoscience communities have been developing ocean, climate, atmosphere and earth science literacy frameworks as enhancements to the National Science Education Standards content standards. Like the older content standards these new geoscience literacy frameworks have focused on K-12 education although they are also intended for informal education and general public audiences. These geoscience literacy frameworks potentially provide a more integrated and less abstract approach to science literacy that may be more suitable for non-science major students that are not pursuing careers in science research or education. They provide a natural link to contemporary environmental issues - e.g., climate change, resource depletion, species and habitat loss, natural hazards, pollution, development of renewable energy, material recycling. The College of Exploration is an education research non-profit that has provided process and technical support for the development of most of these geoscience literacy frameworks. It has a unique perspective on their development. In the last ten years it has also gained considerable national and international expertise in facilitating web-based workshops that support in-depth conversations among educators and working scientists/researchers on important science topics. These workshops have been of enormous value to educators working in K-12, 4-year institutions and community colleges. How can these geoscience literacy frameworks promote more collaborative inquiry-based learning that enhances the appreciation of scientific thinking by non-majors? How can web- and mobile-based education technologies transform the undergraduate non-major survey course into a place where learners begin their passion for science literacy rather than end it? How do we assess science literacy in students and citizens?

Investigating the relationship between information literacy and academic performance among students.

PubMed

Soleymani, Mohammad Reza

2014-01-01

Nowadays, no student can ever pursue the ends of his studies unless he makes use of his information literacy skills. To become lifelong learners, they do need these skills. Information literacy is a set of information needed for searching, retrieval, evaluating, and making best use of information. This study uncovers the relationship between information literacy and academic performance among students at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. This is a practical study using a survey method. All MA students in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences make the statistical population for this study, according to the sample size determined by using Cochran formula 265 samples that were selected by stratified random sampling. Data collection was through information literacy questionnaires designed by Davarpanah and Siamak, verified by Library and Information Sciences experts; and finally, gave a Cronbach's alpha of 0.83. To determine academic performance, the average scores of the students in previous semesters were considered. The information literacy of all other students was significantly higher than medium except for students at Nursing and Nutrition faculties. The students of Management and Information Sciences faculty had the highest level of information literacy and students of nutrition faculty were attributed with the least level. There was no significant difference between male and female students' information literacy. We also found out that there was a significant positive relationship between information literacy and students' academic performance in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Information literacy is one of the most important factors that leads to educational success. As there is a significant positive relationship between information literacy and students' academic performance, we should necessarily provide them with relative skills dealing with information literacy to improve their academic performance.

Evaluating Changes in Climate Literacy among Middle and High School Students who Participate in Climate Change Education Modules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeWaters, J.; Powers, S.; Dhaniyala, S.; Small, M.

2012-12-01

Middle school (MS) and high school (HS) teachers have developed and taught instructional modules that were created through their participation in Clarkson University's NASA-funded Project-Based Global Climate Change Education project. A quantitative survey was developed to help evaluate the project's impact on students' climate literacy, which includes content knowledge as well as affective and behavioral attributes. Content objectives were guided primarily by the 2009 document, Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences. The survey was developed according to established psychometric principles and methodologies in the sociological and educational sciences which involved developing and evaluating a pool of survey items, adapted primarily from existing climate surveys and questionnaires; preparing, administering, and evaluating two rounds of pilot tests; and preparing a final instrument with revisions informed by both pilot assessments. The resulting survey contains three separate subscales: cognitive, affective, and behavioral, with five self-efficacy items embedded within the affective subscale. Cognitive items use a multiple choice format with one correct response; non-cognitive items use a 5-point Likert-type scale with options generally ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree" (affective), or "almost always" to "hardly ever" (behavioral). Three versions of the survey were developed and administered using an on-line Zoomerang™ platform to college students/adults; HS students; and MS students, respectively. Instrument validity was supported by using items drawn from existing surveys, by reviewing/applying prior research in climate literacy, and through comparative age-group analysis. The internal consistency reliability of each subscale, as measured by Cronbach's alpha, ranges from 0.78-0.86 (cognitive), 0.87-0.89 (affective) and 0.84-0.85 (behavioral), all satisfying generally accepted criteria for internal reliability of educational surveys. MS and HS students completed the on-line survey prior to and at least 3 weeks following participation in one of the newly developed project-based climate change modules. Surveys were completed anonymously. In all, 9 HS and 3 MS teachers successfully completed the educational programming and assessment protocol in AY2012, yielding 200 HS and 227 MS matched pre/post climate literacy surveys. Both groups of students demonstrated significant gains in climate-related content knowledge (p<<0.001) and affect (p<0.01). MS students also experienced significant gains in their climate-related self-efficacy (p=0.03), with no significant change in self-efficacy for HS students and no change in either group on the behavioral subscale. Post-scores were remarkably similar for the two groups of students; reported as percent of maximum attainable score for HS/MS students: 59%/58%, knowledge; 65%/64%, affect; 71%/72%, self-efficacy, and 63%/62%, behavior. The presentation will include a description of the development and content of the climate literacy survey used in this research, as well the interpretation of specific pre/post changes in participating MS and HS students relative to the content of and approach used in the project-based modules.

Scientific literacy and discursive identity: A theoretical framework for understanding science learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, Bryan A.; Reveles, John M.; Kelly, Gregory J.

2005-09-01

In this paper we propose the construct of discursive identity as a way to examine student discourse. We drew from the work of Gee (2001, Review of Research in Education, 25, 99-125) and Nasir and Saxe (2003, Educational Researcher, 32(5), 14-18) to consider the multiple contexts and developmental timescales of student discursive identity development. We argue that theories of scientific literacy need to consider the sociocultural contexts of language use in order to examine fully affiliation and alienation associated with appropriation of scientific discourse. As an illustrative case, we apply discursive identity to series of short exchanges in a fifth-grade classroom of African-American students. The discussion examines potential co-construction of student identity and scientific literacy.

Information and informatics literacies of first-year medical students

PubMed Central

Bouquin, Daina R.; Tmanova, Lyubov L.; Wright, Drew

2015-01-01

Purpose The study evaluated medical students' familiarity with information literacy and informatics during the health sciences library orientation. Methods A survey was fielded at the start of the 2013 school year. Results Seventy-two of 77 students (94%) completed the survey. Over one-half (57%) expected to use library research materials and services. About half (43%) expected to use library physical space. Students preferred accessing biomedical research on laptops and learning via online-asynchronous modes. Conclusions The library identified areas for service development and outreach to medical students and academic departments. PMID:26512221

Inquiring with Geoscience Datasets: Instruction and Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zalles, D.; Quellmalz, E.; Gobert, J.

2005-12-01

This session will describe a new NSF-funded project in Geoscience education, Inquiring with Geoscience Data Sets. The goals of the project are to (1) Study the impacts on student learning of Web-based supplementary curriculum modules that engage secondary-level students in inquiry projects addressing important geoscience problems using an Earth System Science approach. Students will use technologies to access real data sets in the geosciences and to interpret, analyze, and communicate findings based on the data sets. The standards addressed will include geoscience concepts, inquiry abilities in NSES and Benchmarks for Science Literacy, data literacy, NCTM standards, and 21st-century skills and technology proficiencies (NETTS/ISTE). (2) Develop design principles, specification templates, and prototype exemplars for technology-based performance assessments that provide evidence of students' geoscientific knowledge and inquiry skills (including data literacy skills) and students' ability to access, use, analyze, and interpret technology-based geoscience data sets. (3) Develop scenarios based on the specification templates that describe curriculum modules and performance assessments that could be developed for other Earth Science standards and curriculum programs. Also to be described in the session are the project's efforts to differentiate among the dimensions of data literacy and scientific inquiry that are relevant for the geoscience discplines, and how recognition and awareness of the differences can be effectively channelled for the betterment of geoscience education.

The Development of Authentic Assessments to Investigate Ninth Graders' Scientific Literacy: In the Case of Scientific Cognition Concerning the Concepts of Chemistry and Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Shu-Nu; Chiu, Mei-Hung

2005-01-01

Scientific literacy and authenticity have gained a lot of attention in the past few decades worldwide. The goal of the study was to develop various authentic assessments to investigate students' scientific literacy for corresponding to the new curriculum reform of Taiwan in 1997. In the process, whether ninth graders were able to apply school…

Rural Workplace Literacy Demonstration Project. Welding Curriculum. Dorsey Trailers, Inc.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enterprise State Junior Coll., AL.

This curriculum guide contains workplace-specific instructional materials developed for use in a rural workplace literacy demonstration project, specifically with welders. Contents include a student assessment form, instructional objectives, pre- and posttests, learning activities (some locally developed and some selected from commercially…

Computer Literacy Curriculum Guide. Bulletin 1739.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Louisiana State Dept. of Education, Baton Rouge.

Developed in response to a ruling by the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education that freshmen entering high school in 1985-86 must have one-half credit in computer literacy as a graduation requirement, this curriculum guide outlines a basal course in computer literacy for ninth grade students. The course may also be offered to…

Digital Literacy Learning in Higher Education through Digital Storytelling Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chan, Banny S. K.; Churchill, Daniel; Chiu, Thomas K. F.

2017-01-01

It is necessary to develop digital literacy skills with which students can communicate and express their ideas effectively using digital media. The educational sectors around the world are beginning to incorporate digital literacy into the curriculum. Digital storytelling, one of the possible classroom activities, is an approach which may help…

School to Work Program as a Contributor to Adult Literacy Skill Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nuno-Toledo, Elsa

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the learning of basic reading literacy skills in a contextualized, educational career technical training program, specifically the School to Work Program. The study explores whether adult literacy rates can change through students' participation in a contextualized, educational…

Learning from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms: Using Inquiry to Inform Practice. Language & Literacy Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fingon, Joan C., Ed.; Ulanoff, Sharon H., Ed.

2012-01-01

This resource guide looks at new classroom-based literacy research that supports "all" learners, including culturally and linguistically diverse students. The authors demonstrate how teachers and researchers develop instructional practices based on multiple languages and the literacy contexts of their schools. They describe classrooms where…

Development and Validation of the Information Literacy Assessment Scale for Education (ILAS-ED)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beile, Penny

2005-01-01

No population exists where it is more important to produce information literate individuals than teacher candidates, yet few would suggest that practitioners newly entering the field are adequately prepared to model and teach information literacy to their students. Consequently, information literacy has recently been established as a key outcome…

The Development of Student Learning and Information Literacy: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rahanu, Harjinder; Georgiadou, Elli; Khan, Nawaz; Colson, Robert; Hill, Vanessa; Edwards, J. Adam

2016-01-01

Literacy is a fundamental human right. When exercised it improves an individual's life chances by achieving their personal, social, occupational and educational goals, and opening opportunities for social, economic and political integration. In an information and knowledge society, there is a salient need for Information Literacy (IL). IL can be…

Learning Strategies and Motivational Factors Predicting Information Literacy Self-Efficacy of E-Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kilic-Cakmak, Ebru

2010-01-01

Rapid increase in information sources in different formats, developments in technology and need for lifelong learning have drawn increased attention to needs for information literacy. Although information literacy is significant for students of all educational levels, it has become even more significant for e-learners. Therefore, this study…

Assessing the Computational Literacy of Elementary Students on a National Level in Korea

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jun, SooJin; Han, SunGwan; Kim, HyeonCheol; Lee, WonGyu

2014-01-01

Information and communication technology (ICT) literacy education has become an important issue, and the necessity of computational literacy (CL) has been increasing in our growing information society. CL is becoming an important element for future talents, and many countries, including the USA, are developing programs for CL education.…

Argument to Foster Scientific Literacy: A Review of Argument Interventions in K-12 Science Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cavagnetto, Andy R.

2010-01-01

The goal of scientific literacy has led to a steady increase in argument-based interventions in science education contexts. It has been suggested that student participation in argument develops communication skills, metacognitive awareness, critical thinking, an understanding of the culture and practice of science, and scientific literacy.…

Professional development model for science teachers based on scientific literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rubini, B.; Ardianto, D.; Pursitasari, I. D.; Permana, I.

2017-01-01

Scientific literacy is considered as a benchmark of high and low quality of science education in a country. Teachers as a major component of learning at the forefront of building science literacy skills of students in the class. The primary purpose this study is development science teacher coaching model based on scientific literacy. In this article we describe about teacher science literacy and profile coaching model for science’ teachers based on scientific literacy which a part of study conducted in first year. The instrument used in this study consisted of tests, observation sheet, interview guides. The finding showed that problem of low scientific literacy is not only happen the students, but science’ teachers which is a major component in the learning process is still not satisfactory. Understanding science teacher is strongly associated with the background disciplinary. Science teacher was still weak when explaining scientific phenomena, mainly related to the material that relates to the concept of environmental. Coaching model generated from this study consisted of 8 stages by assuming the teacher is an independent learner, so the coaching is done with methods on and off, with time off for activities designed more.

Inquiry, New Literacies, and the Common Core

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stegman, Bridget

2014-01-01

For 21st century learning, students need to be well versed in techniques for inquiry using new literacies. Developing these skills also will meet the rigorous expectations of the Common Core State Standards.

Piloting a Geoscience Literacy Exam for Assessing Students' Understanding of Earth, Climate, Atmospheric and Ocean Science Concepts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steer, D. N.; Iverson, E. A.; Manduca, C. A.

2013-12-01

This research seeks to develop valid and reliable questions that faculty can use to assess geoscience literacy across the curriculum. We are particularly interested on effects of curricula developed to teach Earth, Climate, Atmospheric, and Ocean Science concepts in the context of societal issues across the disciplines. This effort is part of the InTeGrate project designed to create a population of college graduates who are poised to use geoscience knowledge in developing solutions to current and future environmental and resource challenges. Details concerning the project are found at http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/index.html. The Geoscience Literacy Exam (GLE) under development presently includes 90 questions. Each big idea from each literacy document can be probed using one or more of three independent questions: 1) a single answer, multiple choice question aimed at basic understanding or application of key concepts, 2) a multiple correct answer, multiple choice question targeting the analyzing to analysis levels and 3) a short essay question that tests analysis or evaluation cognitive levels. We anticipate multiple-choice scores and the detail and sophistication of essay responses will increase as students engage with the curriculum. As part of the field testing of InTeGrate curricula, faculty collected student responses from classes that involved over 700 students. These responses included eight pre- and post-test multiple-choice questions that covered various concepts across the four literacies. Discrimination indices calculated from the data suggest that the eight tested questions provide a valid measure of literacy within the scope of the concepts covered. Student normalized gains across an academic term with limited InTeGrate exposure (typically two or fewer weeks of InTeGrate curriculum out of 14 weeks) were found to average 16% gain. A small set of control data (250 students in classes from one institution where no InTeGrate curricula were used) was also collected from a larger bank of test questions. Discrimination indices across the full bank showed variation and additional work is underway to refine and field test in other settings these questions in the absence of InTeGrate curricula. When complete, faculty will be able to assemble sets of questions to track progress toward meeting literacy goals. In addition to covering geoscience content knowledge and understanding, a complementary attitudinal pre/post survey was also developed with the intent to probe InTeGrate students' ability and motivation to use their geoscience expertise to address problems of environmental sustainability. The final instruments will be made available to the geoscience education community as an assessment to be used in conjunction with InTeGrate teaching materials or as a stand-alone tool for departments to measure student learning and attitudinal gains across the major.

Problem-based learning through field investigation: Boosting questioning skill, biological literacy, and academic achievement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suwono, Hadi; Wibowo, Agung

2018-01-01

Biology learning emphasizes problem-based learning as a learning strategy to develop students ability in identifying and solving problems in the surrounding environment. Problem identification skills are closely correlated with questioning skills. By holding this skill, students tend to deliver a procedural question instead of the descriptive one. Problem-based learning through field investigation is an instruction model which directly exposes the students to problems or phenomena that occur in the environment, and then the students design the field investigation activities to solve these problems. The purpose of this research was to describe the improvement of undergraduate biology students on questioning skills, biological literacy, and academic achievement through problem-based learning through field investigation (PBFI) compared with the lecture-based instruction (LBI). This research was a time series quasi-experimental design. The research was conducted on August - December 2015 and involved 26 undergraduate biology students at the State University of Malang on the Freshwater Ecology course. The data were collected during the learning with LBI and PBFI, in which questioning skills, biological literacy, and academic achievement were collected 3 times in each learning model. The data showed that the procedural correlative and causal types of questions are produced by the students to guide them in conducting investigations and problem-solving in PBFI. The biological literacy and academic achievement of the students at PBFI are significantly higher than those at LBI. The results show that PBFI increases the questioning skill, biological literacy, and the academic achievement of undergraduate biology students.

Health Literacy in Transitions of Care: An Innovative Objective Structured Clinical Examination for Fourth-Year Medical Students in an Internship Preparation Course.

PubMed

Bloom-Feshbach, Kimberly; Casey, Dana; Schulson, Lucy; Gliatto, Peter; Giftos, Jonathan; Karani, Reena

2016-02-01

Low health literacy is associated with adverse health outcomes, especially during transitions of care. Competency-based assessments may improve communication during this time. To develop an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) for medical students to demonstrate communication skills to be used during the hospital discharge process with patients of low health literacy. The OSCE was integrated into the curriculum of an internship preparatory clerkship. One hundred and one fourth-year medical students participated. Students received a skills-based health literacy workshop. In the OSCE, learners counseled standardized patients regarding initiation of anticoagulation at discharge and wrote discharge instructions. Fifty-seven students completed the workshop prior to the OSCE, and 44 participated in the workshop after the completing the OSCE. Participants who completed the workshop first outperformed their peers on the checklist (15.1 vs. 13.4, p < 0.0001) and on the reading level of their written instructions (9.9 vs. 10.6, p = 0.01); 82% felt confident communicating with patients of low health literacy after the workshop and OSCE. This OSCE is a tool to train and evaluate future interns' ability to communicate with patients of limited health literacy levels at hospital discharge. Such innovations may make this period of time safer for patients, improving health outcomes.

Effect of information literacy training course on information literacy skills of undergraduate students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences based on ACRL standards

PubMed Central

Karimi, Zohreh; Ashrafi-rizi, Hasan; Papi, Ahmad; Shahrzadi, Leila; Hassanzadeh, Akbar

2015-01-01

Background: Information literacy is the basis for lifelong learning. Information literacy skills, especially for student in an environment that is full of information from multiple technologies are being developed is equally important. Information literacy is a set of cognitive and practical skills and like any other science, proper training is needed, and standard-based education is definitely better and evaluation would be easier. This study aimed to determine the impact of information literacy training course on information literacy skills of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences students based on ACRL standard in 2012. Materials and Methods: The study method is semi-experience with two group design (with pre-test and post-test) and applied. The data collection toll was a questionnaire assessing student's information literacy that developed by Davarpanah and Siamak and validity was confirmed by professional librarians and reliability as measured by Cronbach's alpha, was 0.83. The sample consisted of 50 undergraduate students from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences that by random sampling method was perch in both case and control groups. Before and after the training (once a week), a questionnaire was distributed between the two groups. This training was held in a classroom equipped with computers with internet access and in addition to training using brochures and librarian presentation, interactive methods such as discussion and exercises were used. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 software and two level of descriptive (mean and SD) and inferential statistics (t-test and t-paired). Results: The results showed that the students’ information literacy scores before the training was lower than average, so that in the control group was 32.96 and in the case group was 33.24; while information literacy scores in the case group significantly increased after the training (46.68). Also, the effect of education, respectively had a greater impact on the ability to access information (the second standard), ethics and legal use of information (the third standard), effective use of information (the fourth standard), critically evaluate information and its sources (the fifth standard). Conclusion: This study showed that the training was effective on enhancing students’ information literacy skills as the greatest impact was on increasing the ability to access information. Due to low mean score information literacy in the context of object recognition, there is a need for more training in this area. PMID:27462618

A Rubric to Track the Development of Secondary Pre-Service and Novice Teachers' Summative Assessment Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards, Frances

2017-01-01

Teachers require specialised assessment knowledge and skills in order to effectively assess student learning. These knowledge and skills develop over time through ongoing teacher learning and experiences. The first part of this paper presents a Summative Assessment Literacy Rubric (SALRubric) constructed to track the development of secondary…

Investigation of Elementary Teacher Capacity to Implement Environmental Literacy Requirements

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Melanie Denise

2017-01-01

To uphold Maryland's environmental literacy high school graduation requirement and curricular standards, local school districts must develop programs that graduate environmentally literate students and provide effective teacher professional development. This study focused on assessing the confidence and ability of elementary teachers in a Maryland…

Second Language Literacy Development From Theory to Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobson, Julie

2003-01-01

Discusses instructional strategies to: promote language and literacy development; enhance comprehension of content area material; and make informed decisions that effectively meet the individual needs of each second language student. Reviews six instructional principles in the area of second language learning and a lesson incorporating the…

Reading skills of students with speech sound disorders at three stages of literacy development.

PubMed

Skebo, Crysten M; Lewis, Barbara A; Freebairn, Lisa A; Tag, Jessica; Avrich Ciesla, Allison; Stein, Catherine M

2013-10-01

The relationship between phonological awareness, overall language, vocabulary, and nonlinguistic cognitive skills to decoding and reading comprehension was examined for students at 3 stages of literacy development (i.e., early elementary school, middle school, and high school). Students with histories of speech sound disorders (SSD) with and without language impairment (LI) were compared to students without histories of SSD or LI (typical language; TL). In a cross-sectional design, students ages 7;0 (years;months) to 17;9 completed tests that measured reading, language, and nonlinguistic cognitive skills. For the TL group, phonological awareness predicted decoding at early elementary school, and overall language predicted reading comprehension at early elementary school and both decoding and reading comprehension at middle school and high school. For the SSD-only group, vocabulary predicted both decoding and reading comprehension at early elementary school, and overall language predicted both decoding and reading comprehension at middle school and decoding at high school. For the SSD and LI group, overall language predicted decoding at all 3 literacy stages and reading comprehension at early elementary school and middle school, and vocabulary predicted reading comprehension at high school. Although similar skills contribute to reading across the age span, the relative importance of these skills changes with children's literacy stages.

Reading Skills of Students With Speech Sound Disorders at Three Stages of Literacy Development

PubMed Central

Skebo, Crysten M.; Lewis, Barbara A.; Freebairn, Lisa A.; Tag, Jessica; Ciesla, Allison Avrich; Stein, Catherine M.

2015-01-01

Purpose The relationship between phonological awareness, overall language, vocabulary, and nonlinguistic cognitive skills to decoding and reading comprehension was examined for students at 3 stages of literacy development (i.e., early elementary school, middle school, and high school). Students with histories of speech sound disorders (SSD) with and without language impairment (LI) were compared to students without histories of SSD or LI (typical language; TL). Method In a cross-sectional design, students ages 7;0 (years; months) to 17;9 completed tests that measured reading, language, and nonlinguistic cognitive skills. Results For the TL group, phonological awareness predicted decoding at early elementary school, and overall language predicted reading comprehension at early elementary school and both decoding and reading comprehension at middle school and high school. For the SSD-only group, vocabulary predicted both decoding and reading comprehension at early elementary school, and overall language predicted both decoding and reading comprehension at middle school and decoding at high school. For the SSD and LI group, overall language predicted decoding at all 3 literacy stages and reading comprehension at early elementary school and middle school, and vocabulary predicted reading comprehension at high school. Conclusion Although similar skills contribute to reading across the age span, the relative importance of these skills changes with children’s literacy stages. PMID:23833280

First-Language Longitudinal Predictors of Second-Language Literacy in Young L2 Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shum, Kathy Kar-man; Ho, Connie Suk-Han; Siegel, Linda S.; Au, Terry Kit-fong

2016-01-01

Can young students' early reading abilities in their first language (L1) predict later literacy development in a second language (L2)? The cross-language relationships between Chinese (L1) and English (L2) among 87 Hong Kong students were explored in a longitudinal study. Chinese word-reading fluency, Chinese rapid digit naming, and Chinese rhyme…

Exercise: Benefits for Body and Mind. Teacher's Guide. Health Promotion for Adult Literacy Students: An Empowering Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson River Center for Program Development, Glenmont, NY.

This teaching guide is part of a series of materials developed, with input from adult learners, to aid adult literacy teachers in incorporating health education into the curriculum. This guide aims to help teachers to provide adult students with information about good fitness habits and positive health behaviors that will substantially reduce the…

Feedback Study on Developing Critical Literacy among Malawian and Zambian Undergraduate University Students Using a Freirean Praxis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mkandawire, Matthews Tiwaone; Walubita, Gabriel

2015-01-01

Educators in Malawi and Zambia have always been concerned with their student's abilities to become analytical, logical and proficient readers of texts. This has been due to the fear that there is an increased overemphasis on knowledge of the fundamental literacy skills and other basics at the expense of critical thinking. This scenario has…

The Power of Story: Using Personal Narrative, Computer Technology and Podcasting with Young Adult English Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pierson, Susan Jacques

2014-01-01

One way to ensure a high quality, personalized literacy program for English language learners is to use the learners' own lives and experiences as curriculum. Creating spaces for students to compose and share stories results in a strong sense of community facilitates the development of authentic literacy skills and increases student motivation and…

Precursors of Teachers' Sense of Efficacy to Address the Literacy Learning of Diverse Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stroder, Miriam Elizabeth

2017-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore through the lens of culturally responsive instruction (CRI) the development of teachers' sense of efficacy, as defined by Bandura (1995), to address the literacy learning of diverse first, second, or third grade (i.e., primary grade level) students. In this process, I purposively selected…

Writing over Time: An Analysis of Texts Created by Year One Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mackenzie, Noella M.; Scull, Janet; Bowles, Terry

2015-01-01

Writing is a key area of literacy in the early years, however writing receives less research attention than reading despite its impact on students' learning generally, and literacy development specifically. Writing skills have also been shown to be quite stable--good writers in the early years stay good writers in the later years. Therefore it is…

First Aid: Helping Yourself, Helping Others. Teacher's Guide. Health Promotion for Adult Literacy Students: An Empowering Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson River Center for Program Development, Glenmont, NY.

This teaching guide is part of a series of materials developed, with input from adult learners, to aid adult literacy teachers in incorporating health education into the curriculum. This guide aims to help teachers to provide adult students with information about first-aid procedures that will substantially reduce the severity of accidents and…

Miscue Analysis of Students with Down Syndrome and Typically Developing Students with Reading Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pelatti, Christina Yeager

2010-01-01

Study of the language and literacy skills of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) has evolved over the past thirty years. Despite these advances, little research has explored the process of reading by incorporating an authentic text (i.e. storybook). This information is pertinent to assist in the understanding of language and literacy and the…

Nutrition: Eating for Better Health. Teacher's Guide. Health Promotion for Adult Literacy Students: An Empowering Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson River Center for Program Development, Glenmont, NY.

This teaching guide is part of a series of materials developed, with input from adult learners, to aid adult literacy teachers in incorporating health education into the curriculum. This guide aims to help teachers to provide adult students with information about good nutritional habits and positive health behaviors that will substantially reduce…

The Effect of Project Based Learning on the Statistical Literacy Levels of Student 8th Grade

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koparan, Timur; Güven, Bülent

2014-01-01

This study examines the effect of project based learning on 8th grade students' statistical literacy levels. A performance test was developed for this aim. Quasi-experimental research model was used in this article. In this context, the statistics were taught with traditional method in the control group and it was taught using project based…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Getting Connected: Finding Literacy Resources in the Common Core Era

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salloum, Serena J.; Benko, Susanna L.; Hodge, Emily M.

2017-01-01

The authors provide practical, evidence-based advice for teachers and educational leaders looking for helpful curricular and professional resources that support students' literacy development in the era of the Common Core State Standards.

Lighten the Load: Scaffolding Visual Literacy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

PubMed Central

Offerdahl, Erika G.; Arneson, Jessie B.; Byrne, Nicholas

2017-01-01

The development of scientific visual literacy has been identified as critical to the training of tomorrow’s scientists and citizens alike. Within the context of the molecular life sciences in particular, visual representations frequently incorporate various components, such as discipline-specific graphical and diagrammatic features, varied levels of abstraction, and spatial arrangements of visual elements to convey information. Visual literacy is achieved when an individual understands the various ways in which a discipline uses these components to represent a particular way of knowing. Owing to the complex nature of visual representations, the activities through which visual literacy is developed have high cognitive load. Cognitive load can be reduced by first helping students to become fluent with the discrete components of visual representations before asking them to simultaneously integrate these components to extract the intended meaning of a representation. We present a taxonomy for characterizing one component of visual representations—the level of abstraction—as a first step in understanding the opportunities afforded students to develop fluency. Further, we demonstrate how our taxonomy can be used to analyze course assessments and spur discussions regarding the extent to which the development of visual literacy skills is supported by instruction within an undergraduate biochemistry curriculum. PMID:28130273

Development of Science and Technology Literacy Materials at the Basic Level: Exemplar Materials. Revised during the Regional Workshop Organized within the Framework of Project 2000+: Scientific and Technological Literacy for All (Philippines, November 4-8, 1997).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Bangkok (Thailand). Principal Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

This collection of science activities is designed to supplement traditional science education by encompassing an issues-based approach to helping students develop scientific and technological literacy. Each unit can be used within an existing teaching sequence and includes an introduction specifying scientific issues and educational objectives, a…

A case study for teaching information literacy skills.

PubMed

Kingsley, Karla V; Kingsley, Karl

2009-01-29

The Internet has changed contemporary workplace skills, resulting in a need for proficiency with specific digital, online and web-based technologies within the fields of medicine, dentistry and public health. Although younger students, generally under 30 years of age, may appear inherently comfortable with the use of technology-intensive environments and digital or online search methods, competence in information literacy among these students may be lacking. This project involved the design and assessment of a research-based assignment to help first-year, graduate-level health science students to develop and integrate information literacy skills with clinical relevance. One cohort of dental students (n = 78) was evaluated for this project and the results demonstrate that although all students were able to provide the correct response from the content-specific, or technology-independent, portion of the assignment, more than half (54%) were unable to demonstrate competence with a web-based, technology-dependent section of this assignment. No correlation was found between any demographic variable measured (gender, age, or race). More evidence is emerging that demonstrates the need for developing curricula that integrates new knowledge and current evidence-based practices and technologies, traditionally isolated from graduate and health-care curricula, that can enhance biomedical and clinical training for students. This study provides evidence, critical for the evaluation of new practices, which can promote and facilitate the integration of information literacy into the curriculum.

A case study for teaching information literacy skills

PubMed Central

Kingsley, Karla V; Kingsley, Karl

2009-01-01

Background The Internet has changed contemporary workplace skills, resulting in a need for proficiency with specific digital, online and web-based technologies within the fields of medicine, dentistry and public health. Although younger students, generally under 30 years of age, may appear inherently comfortable with the use of technology-intensive environments and digital or online search methods, competence in information literacy among these students may be lacking. Methods This project involved the design and assessment of a research-based assignment to help first-year, graduate-level health science students to develop and integrate information literacy skills with clinical relevance. Results One cohort of dental students (n = 78) was evaluated for this project and the results demonstrate that although all students were able to provide the correct response from the content-specific, or technology-independent, portion of the assignment, more than half (54%) were unable to demonstrate competence with a web-based, technology-dependent section of this assignment. No correlation was found between any demographic variable measured (gender, age, or race). Conclusion More evidence is emerging that demonstrates the need for developing curricula that integrates new knowledge and current evidence-based practices and technologies, traditionally isolated from graduate and health-care curricula, that can enhance biomedical and clinical training for students. This study provides evidence, critical for the evaluation of new practices, which can promote and facilitate the integration of information literacy into the curriculum. PMID:19178715

The Envirothon and its effects on students' environmental literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weiser, Brenda Gayle

During the past thirty years, significant progress has been made in defining environmental education and its goals, and operationally by the emerging concept of environmental literacy. Environmental literacy includes affective, behavioral, and cognitive components. Roth (1992) includes environmental sensitivity, knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, personal investment and responsibility, and active involvement as components of environmental literacy. In addition, Simmons (1995) identifies affect, ecological knowledge, socio-political knowledge, knowledge of environmental issues, skills, environmentally responsible behaviors, and additional determinants of environmentally responsible behaviors as components of environmental literacy. Environmental education is the primary vehicle for promoting environmental literacy. Most K through 12 environmental education is delivered in non-formal programs outside traditional curriculum and instruction and is exemplified by the National Envirothon program. Student teams compete to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of ecological principles in aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife, and a selected environmental issue. Each year over 75,000 high school students participate in the Envirothon. The purpose of the study was to identify the effects of Envirothon participation on its high school students from 17 out of 43 states with Envirothon programs. One hundred forty eight students completed the Wisconsin Environmental Literacy Assessment Instrument; (Peri, 1996), to assess their environmental literacy status. Data were analyzed using an analysis of covariance where the pretest was the covariate. The results indicated the participation in the Envirothon program does make a statistically significant difference between the environmental literacy of those high school students who have participated in the Envirothon program and the environmental literacy of those high school students who have not participated in the Envirothon program in the cognitive component of environmental literacy but does not in the affective and behavioral components of environmental literacy. Results also indicated there was not a statistically significant difference between the environmental literacy of those high school students who have participated in one or more Envirothon competitions and the environmental literacy of those high school students who have participated in less than one Envirothon competition in regard to the cognitive, affective, or behavior components of environmental literacy. The implication is participating in the Envirothon program does make a difference in the environmental literacy of those high school students participating in the Envirothon program in the cognitive component of environmental literacy but participating in the Envirothon program does not increase the environmental literacy of those high school students participating in the Envirothon program in the affective or behavioral components of environmental literacy. This information is important to teachers, advisors, state and national Envirothon committee members, and sponsors relating to the international goals, objectives and key points, study materials, and training methodology as each is used to expand and strengthen Envirothon programs. Furthermore, many fenders are interested in the program and how it is affecting the students. Recommendations for further research include conducting a meta-analysis using this research and the research conducted by Meredith (1996), longitudinal studies, and case studies utilizing past Envirothon students. Documentation through news articles and interviews could assist in assessing the Envirothon program's impact on students. This would not evaluate the student's environmental literacy, but would provide information on how the Envirothon program influences students' life choices.

Learning Together: Creating a Community of Practice to Support English Language Learner Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peercy, Megan Madigan; Martin-Beltran, Melinda; Daniel, Shannon M.

2013-01-01

This qualitative case study examines an after-school, bilingual family literacy programme that brought together several groups to form a community of practice (CoP) that worked to support the literacy development of English language learners and their families. We explored the following question: How do parents, teachers, students, and other…

Thinking beyond Technology: Using the iSkills Assessment as Evidence to Support Institutional ICT Literacy Initiatives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Egan, Teresa; Katz, Irvin R.

2007-01-01

When Educational Testing Service (ETS) was first approached by college librarians, professors, and administrators to develop an assessment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy, there was a resounding concern: incoming students could use technology for entertainment purposes, but many did not have the ICT literacy skills to do…

A Review of Research on the Literacy of Students with Visual Impairments and Additional Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Amy T.; Pogrund, Rona L.

2009-01-01

Research on the development of literacy in children with visual impairments and additional disabilities is minimal even though these children make up approximately 65% of the population of children with visual impairments. This article reports on emerging themes that were explored after a review of the literature revealed nine literacy studies…

Academic Literacy and Cultural Familiarity: Developing and Assessing Academic Literacy Resources for Chinese Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henderson, Fiona; Whitelaw, Paul A.

2013-01-01

Academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, is a chronic problem. This paper reports the results of a project undertaken at a public funded university in Melbourne, Australia, in partnership with colleagues from a public funded university in Beijing, China, to combat this and other problems associated with academic literacy. The prime focus of the…

Perspectives of German and US Students as They Make Meaning of Science in Their Everyday Lives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preczewski, Paul J.; Mittler, Alexandra; Tillotson, John W.

2009-01-01

Scientific literacy is a major educational and political goal worldwide, yet the development and enhancement of scientific literacy is not well understood. In order to better understand scientific literacy at the level of everyday science meaning making and a person's ability to address scientific questions and issues, this study reports on…

Using Literacy Integration for Communicating Scientifically: Research Results on Teacher Efficacy and Student Achievement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fortino, Carol; Gerretson, Helen; Button, Linda J.; Johnson, Sharon

The professional development program Using Literacy Integration for Communicating Scientifically (ULINCS) is a joint program of the University of Northern Colorado and Adams Twelve Five Star School District. It had been noted that the increased emphasis on literacy skills was leading educators to place less emphasis on science. The ULINCS project…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Rewriting Identity: Social Meanings of Literacy and "Re-Visions" of Self.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahiri, Jabari; Godley, Amanda J.

1998-01-01

Studies the life story and perceptions of literacy of a highly literate Latina female college student who developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Finds that the woman's ability to write had been the foundation on which her social meanings of literacy rested: her life story revealed how her identity was influenced by societal values for writing and…

What Fifth-Grade Students Reveal about Their Literacies by Writing and Telling Narratives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Dennis S.

2013-01-01

Written and oral literacy narratives produced by seven fifth-grade students are examined to identify the literacy identities students construct when narrating their past and present experiences with reading and writing. The narrative analyses reveal four major findings: 1. The students who contributed to this study have experienced literacy in…

Uncovering One Trilingual Child's Multi-Literacies Development across Informal and Formal Learning Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Mi Song

2016-01-01

Due to globalisation and rapid technological change, today's educators need to help students develop multi-literacy competencies to enable them to function successfully in our culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) and increasingly connected global and digital society. A qualitative, longitudinal case study attempted to uncover the…

Designing an Energy Literacy Questionnaire for Middle and High School Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeWaters, Jan; Qaqish, Basil; Graham, Mary; Powers, Susan

2013-01-01

A measurement scale has been developed to assess secondary students' energy literacy--a citizenship understanding of energy that includes cognitive as well as affective and behavioral items. Instrument development procedures followed psychometric principles from educational and social psychology research. Initial exploration of the measure yielded…

Improving Vocabulary Development Through Balanced Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mlakar-Hillig, Mary Ellen; Malvin, Pam; Troy, Leonora

This report describes a program for improving vocabulary development thorough balanced literacy. The targeted population consisted of three elementary classrooms in a community located in a southern suburb of Chicago. A lack of vocabulary knowledge that interfered with student academic success was documented in state and standardized test results,…

English Learners: Reaching the Highest Level of English Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia, Gilbert C., Ed.

This collection of papers examines the critical literacy development of English learners, focusing on English reading instruction in an immersion setting, English language development, and cultural issues pertaining to English learners in and out of the classroom. The 16 papers include the following: (1) "Reading and the Bilingual Student: Fact…

Curricular Reforms in Mexico: Challenges for Developing Disciplinary Literacy in Upper Secondary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

López-Bonilla, Guadalupe

2015-01-01

In this article I present recent educational reforms implemented in Mexico and their implications for literacy instruction; in particular, I analyze changes to upper secondary education that seemingly want to promote the development of "disciplinary competences" among students enrolled in different educational tracks. The debates among…

Accommodating Technology in the Visual Literacy Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lloyd, Carla V.; Barnhurst, Kevin G.

The development of a visual literacy facility, the Creative Visual Lab, at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University (New York) is described. The facility was designed to provide students with the instruction that would develop their computer proficiency and visual sensitivity without being, in itself, completely…

Science Literacy and Prior Knowledge of Astronomy MOOC Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Impey, Chris David; Buxner, Sanlyn; Wenger, Matthew; Formanek, Martin

2018-01-01

Many of science classes offered on Coursera fall into fall into the category of general education or general interest classes for lifelong learners, including our own, Astronomy: Exploring Time and Space. Very little is known about the backgrounds and prior knowledge of these students. In this talk we present the results of a survey of our Astronomy MOOC students. We also compare these results to our previous work on undergraduate students in introductory astronomy courses. Survey questions examined student demographics and motivations as well as their science and information literacy (including basic science knowledge, interest, attitudes and beliefs, and where they get their information about science). We found that our MOOC students are different than the undergraduate students in more ways than demographics. Many MOOC students demonstrated high levels of science and information literacy. With a more comprehensive understanding of our students’ motivations and prior knowledge about science and how they get their information about science, we will be able to develop more tailored learning experiences for these lifelong learners.

Development of English and French Language and Literacy Skills in EL1 and EL French Immersion Students in the Early Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Au-Yeung, Karen; Hipfner-Boucher, Kathleen; Chen, Xi; Pasquarella, Adrian; D'Angelo, Nadia; Deacon, S. Hélène

2015-01-01

In this article, we report two studies that compared the development of English and French language and literacy skills in French immersion students identified as native English speakers (EL1s) and English learners (ELs). In study 1, 81 EL1s and 147 ELs were tested in the fall and spring terms of grade 1. The EL1s and ELs had similar outcomes and…

Capturing the complexity: Content, type, and amount of instruction and quality of the classroom learning environment synergistically predict third graders’ vocabulary and reading comprehension outcomes

PubMed Central

Connor, Carol McDonald; Spencer, Mercedes; Day, Stephanie L.; Giuliani, Sarah; Ingebrand, Sarah W.; McLean, Leigh; Morrison, Frederick J.

2014-01-01

We examined classrooms as complex systems that affect students’ literacy learning through interacting effects of content and amount of time individual students spent in literacy instruction along with the global quality of the classroom-learning environment. We observed 27 third grade classrooms serving 315 target students using two different observation systems. The first assessed instruction at a more micro-level; specifically, the amount of time individual students spent in literacy instruction defined by the type of instruction, role of the teacher, and content. The second assessed the quality of the classroom-learning environment at a more macro level focusing on classroom organization, teacher responsiveness, and support for vocabulary and language. Results revealed that both global quality of the classroom learning environment and time individual students spent in specific types of literacy instruction covering specific content interacted to predict students’ comprehension and vocabulary gains whereas neither system alone did. These findings support a dynamic systems model of how individual children learn in the context of classroom literacy instruction and the classroom-learning environment, which can help to improve observations systems, advance research, elevate teacher evaluation and professional development, and enhance student achievement. PMID:25400293

Social marketing meets health literacy: Innovative improvement of health care providers' comfort with patient interaction.

PubMed

Primack, Brian A; Bui, Thuy; Fertman, Carl I

2007-09-01

It is essential to train health care providers to deliver care sensitive to the needs of diverse individuals with varying degrees of health literacy. We aimed to evaluate an innovative, theory-based, educational intervention involving social marketing and health literacy. In 2006 at a large medical school, all first-year students were exposed to the intervention. They completed pre- and post-test anonymous surveys including demographic data, covariates, and key outcome variables. Paired t-tests and multiple linear regression were used to evaluate the intervention and to determine independent associations among the key outcome variables. Post-intervention scores were significantly higher than pre-intervention scores for social marketing (3.31 versus 1.90, p<0.001), health literacy (3.41 versus 2.98, p<0.001), and comfort in brochure development (3.11 versus 2.52, p<0.001) (N=83). After controlling for demographic and covariate data, health literacy and comfort in brochure development were independent predictors of comfort interacting with diverse populations. A brief intervention involving social marketing and health literacy can improve skills that improve medical students' comfort with patients of diverse backgrounds. Health care providers can be taught educational principles and skills involved in developing effective patient education materials. These skills may improve providers' comfort with direct patient interaction.

The essence of student visual-spatial literacy and higher order thinking skills in undergraduate biology.

PubMed

Milner-Bolotin, Marina; Nashon, Samson Madera

2012-02-01

Science, engineering and mathematics-related disciplines have relied heavily on a researcher's ability to visualize phenomena under study and being able to link and superimpose various abstract and concrete representations including visual, spatial, and temporal. The spatial representations are especially important in all branches of biology (in developmental biology time becomes an important dimension), where 3D and often 4D representations are crucial for understanding the phenomena. By the time biology students get to undergraduate education, they are supposed to have acquired visual-spatial thinking skills, yet it has been documented that very few undergraduates and a small percentage of graduate students have had a chance to develop these skills to a sufficient degree. The current paper discusses the literature that highlights the essence of visual-spatial thinking and the development of visual-spatial literacy, considers the application of the visual-spatial thinking to biology education, and proposes how modern technology can help to promote visual-spatial literacy and higher order thinking among undergraduate students of biology.

Investigating the relationship between information literacy and academic performance among students

PubMed Central

Soleymani, Mohammad Reza

2014-01-01

Background: Nowadays, no student can ever pursue the ends of his studies unless he makes use of his information literacy skills. To become lifelong learners, they do need these skills. Information literacy is a set of information needed for searching, retrieval, evaluating, and making best use of information. This study uncovers the relationship between information literacy and academic performance among students at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods: This is a practical study using a survey method. All MA students in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences make the statistical population for this study, according to the sample size determined by using Cochran formula 265 samples that were selected by stratified random sampling. Data collection was through information literacy questionnaires designed by Davarpanah and Siamak, verified by Library and Information Sciences experts; and finally, gave a Cronbach's alpha of 0.83. To determine academic performance, the average scores of the students in previous semesters were considered. Results: The information literacy of all other students was significantly higher than medium except for students at Nursing and Nutrition faculties. The students of Management and Information Sciences faculty had the highest level of information literacy and students of nutrition faculty were attributed with the least level. There was no significant difference between male and female students’ information literacy. We also found out that there was a significant positive relationship between information literacy and students’ academic performance in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Conclusion: Information literacy is one of the most important factors that leads to educational success. As there is a significant positive relationship between information literacy and students’ academic performance, we should necessarily provide them with relative skills dealing with information literacy to improve their academic performance. PMID:25250361

The Children's Lab at Northern State University. Elementary Teachers Moving toward Scientific Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knecht, Paul S.

The Children's Lab at Northern State University (South Dakota) is a science concept development laboratory for use by students in a physical science course for preservice elementary teachers. Its function is to develop science content knowledge in preservice elementary teachers, with the ultimate goal of developing science literacy in children.…

The Impact of a "Framework"-Aligned Science Professional Development Program on Literacy and Mathematics Achievement of K-3 Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paprzycki, Peter; Tuttle, Nicole; Czerniak, Charlene M.; Molitor, Scott; Kadervaek, Joan; Mendenhall, Robert

2017-01-01

This study investigates the effect of a Framework-aligned professional development program at the PreK-3 level. The NSF funded program integrated science with literacy and mathematics learning and provided teacher professional development, along with materials and programming for parents to encourage science investigations and discourse around…

Improving Young English Learners' Language and Literacy Skills through Teacher Professional Development: A Randomized Controlled Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Babinski, Leslie M.; Amendum, Steven J.; Knotek, Steven E.; Sánchez, Marta; Malone, Patrick

2018-01-01

Using a randomized controlled trial, we tested a new teacher professional development program for increasing the language and literacy skills of young Latino English learners with 45 teachers and 105 students in 12 elementary schools. School-based teams randomly assigned to the intervention received professional development focused on cultural…

Reading, writing, and phonological processing skills of adolescents with 10 or more years of cochlear implant experience.

PubMed

Geers, Ann E; Hayes, Heather

2011-02-01

This study had three goals: (1) to document the literacy skills of deaf adolescents who received cochlear implants (CIs) as preschoolers; (2) to examine reading growth from elementary grades to high school; (3) to assess the contribution of early literacy levels and phonological processing skills, among other factors, to literacy levels in high school. A battery of reading, spelling, expository writing, and phonological processing assessments were administered to 112 high school (CI-HS) students, ages 15.5 to 18.5 yrs, who had participated in a reading assessment battery in early elementary grades (CI-E), ages 8.0 to 9.9 yrs. The CI-HS students' performance was compared with either a control group of hearing peers (N = 46) or hearing norms provided by the assessment developer. Many of the CI-HS students (47 to 66%) performed within or above the average range for hearing peers on reading tests. When compared with their CI-E performance, good early readers were also good readers in high school. Importantly, the majority of CI-HS students maintained their reading levels over time compared with hearing peers, indicating that the gap in performance was, at the very least, not widening for most students. Written expression and phonological processing tasks posed a great deal of difficulty for the CI-HS students. They were poorer spellers, poorer expository writers, and displayed poorer phonological knowledge than hearing age-mates. Phonological processing skills were a critical predictor of high school literacy skills (reading, spelling, and expository writing), accounting for 39% of variance remaining after controlling for child, family, and implant characteristics. Many children who receive CIs as preschoolers achieve age-appropriate literacy levels as adolescents. However, significant delays in spelling and written expression are evident compared with hearing peers. For children with CIs, the development of phonological processing skills is not just important for early reading skills, such as decoding, but is critical for later literacy success as well.

Fortifying the Pipeline: A Quantitative Exploration of High School Factors Impacting the Information Literacy of First-Year College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fabbi, Jennifer L.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between a sample of first-time college freshmen students' high school experiences that are developmentally related to information literacy competency and their scores on the iSkills assessment. iSkills is an online evaluation developed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which tests…

Going Bananas over Fruit: Using Habits of Mind to Foster Nutritional Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Rachel; Hodges, Georgia Wood; Haddox, Anne; Arrington, Alejandro; Tippins, Deborah

2009-01-01

Science literacy for all students is an education goal in the United States, as well as in many other parts of the world. Habits of mind are the skills and attitudes that students need to develop in order to understand science as a way of thinking. In this standards-based era, habits of mind can be readily incorporated to teach multiple content…

Multimodal Representation Contributes to the Complex Development of Science Literacy in a College Biology Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, William Drew

2011-01-01

This study is an investigation into the science literacy of college genetics students who were given a modified curriculum to address specific teaching and learning problems from a previous class. This study arose out of an interest by the professor and researcher to determine how well students in the class Human Genetics in the 21st Century…

Digital Literacies and "Glee": The Role of Fan Fiction Virtual Writing and Social Commentary in Response to Bullying Themes with Adolescent Writers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Mandy

2017-01-01

As the education system turns its attention to climate, bullying, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) issues in the classroom, there is a focus on developing our student population abilities to be more accepting and tolerant of diversity. This study explored how ten students, aged 16-17, interacted with virtual literacy events on…

Developing Energy Literacy in US Middle-Level Students Using the Geospatial Curriculum Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bodzin, Alec M.; Fu, Qiong; Peffer, Tamara E.; Kulo, Violet

2013-06-01

This quantitative study examined the effectiveness of a geospatial curriculum approach to promote energy literacy in an urban school district and examined factors that may account for energy content knowledge achievement. An energy literacy measure was administered to 1,044 eighth-grade students (ages 13-15) in an urban school district in Pennsylvania, USA. One group of students received instruction with a geospatial curriculum approach (geospatial technologies (GT)) and another group of students received 'business as usual' (BAU) curriculum instruction. For the GT students, findings revealed statistically significant gains from pretest to posttest (p < 0.001) on knowledge of energy resource acquisition, energy generation, storage and transport, and energy consumption and conservation. The GT students had year-end energy content knowledge scores significantly higher than those who learned with the BAU curriculum (p < 0.001; effect size being large). A multiple regression found that prior energy content knowledge was the only significant predictor to the year-end energy content knowledge achievement for the GT students (p < 0.001). The findings support that the implementation of a geospatial curriculum approach that employs learning activities that focus on the spatial nature of energy resources can improve the energy literacy of urban middle-level education students.

The Beaverton School District Arts for Learning (A4L) Lessons Project, an Investing in Innovation (i3) Development Grant: Student Impact Findings from Years 1, 2, and 3

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nakamoto, Jonathan; Sobolew-Shubin, Sandy; Orland, Martin

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the Arts for Learning (A4L) Lessons Project on the literacy and life skills of students in grades 3, 4, and 5. A4L Lessons is a supplementary literacy curriculum designed to blend the creativity and discipline of the arts with learning science to raise student achievement in reading and…

Evaluating the effect of three teaching strategies on student nurses' moral sensitivity.

PubMed

Lee, Hsiao Lu; Huang, Shu-He; Huang, Chiu-Mieh

2017-09-01

The Taiwan Nursing Accreditation Council has proposed eight core professional nursing qualities including ethical literacy. Consequently, nursing ethics education is a required course for student nurses. These courses are intended to improve the ethical literacy. Moral sensitivity is the cornerstone of ethical literacy, and learning moral sensitivity is the initial step towards developing ethical literacy. To explore the effect of nursing ethics educational interventions based on multiple teaching strategies on student nurses moral sensitivity. Based on the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic model, three strategies were developed for determining the programme components and corresponding learning styles. This was a quasi-experimental study. A total of 234 junior-college student nurses participated in this study. All participants were aged 18-19 years. Ethical considerations: The study protocol was approved by the institutional review boards of Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital. Only the participants who signed an informed consent form took part in the study. The participants were permitted to withdraw from the study at any point if they wished to do so without affecting their academic score. The scores of Modified Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire for Student Nurses were significantly improved after the intervention of integrating multiple teaching strategies ( p = .042). Significant relationships were observed between the satisfaction scores of two teaching strategies and moral sensitivity. The results indicated that using multiple teaching strategies is effective for promoting nursing ethics learning. This strategy was consistent with the student nurses' preferred learning style and was used to correct their erroneous ethical conceptions, assisting in developing their ethical knowledge.

Evidence of the Value of the Smoking Media Literacy Framework for Middle School Students.

PubMed

Bier, Melinda C; Zwarun, Lara; Sherblom, Stephen A

2016-10-01

Susceptibility to future smoking, positive beliefs about smoking, and perceptions of antismoking norms are all factors that are associated with future smoking. In previous research, smoking media literacy (SML) has been associated with these variables, even when controlling for other known risk factors for smoking. However, these studies were performed with older teenagers, often in high school, not younger teens at a crucial developmental point with respect to the decision to begin smoking. This study uses survey data collected from 656 American public middle school students representing multiple zip codes, schools, and school districts. Smoking media literacy levels for middle school students were similar to those of high school students in earlier studies. Higher SML levels were associated with lower susceptibility to future smoking and predicted susceptibility to smoke when controlling for other risk factors. This suggests that the same relationships found with teenagers may exist with middle school students. Although follow-up studies using larger and more controlled administrations of the SML scale are warranted, this study suggests the utility of the SML framework and scale in the development and investigation of media literacy as a prevention strategy in students this age. © 2016, American School Health Association.

Is Health Education at University Associated with Students' Health Literacy? Evidence from Cross-Sectional Study Applying HLS-EU-Q

PubMed Central

Ossowsky, Zbigniew Marcin

2017-01-01

Background Despite the large number of studies assessing health literacy, little research has been conducted with young adults. Since health literacy is related to the setting in which health information is provided, our study aim was to measure health literacy competencies in a sample of university students and to evaluate the relationships between these competencies and their university health education. Methods A total of 912 university students (aged 18–24 years) completed the 47-item European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q47). Results Perceived difficulties with health information were related to gender, with male students reporting significantly lower health literacy scores. Studying more health education-related subjects was associated with a higher health literacy competency, due to these students' higher rates of accessing and understanding health information in the health promotion domain. Conclusion Health literacy among young adult university students is insufficient. The subjects they study are related to their university health education; in particular, the number of health-related subjects they study is positively related to students' health promotion domain-based competencies. PMID:29130048

Can You Read Me Now? Disciplinary Literacy Reading Strategies in the 7th Grade Science Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McQuaid, Kelly Kathleen

Adolescent readers require a broad range of reading skills to deal with the challenges of reading complex text. Some researchers argue for a discipline-specific focus to address the low reading proficiency rates among secondary students. Disciplinary literacy attends to the different ways disciplines, such as science, generate and communicate knowledge. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine if and to what degree disciplinary literacy reading strategies impact student learning outcomes in reading comprehension and science content knowledge for 132 7th grade science students in five Southern Arizona charter schools and whether reading ability moderates that impact. The theoretical foundation for this study rested on expert-novice theory and Halliday's theory of critical moments of language development. It is not known if and to what degree disciplinary literacy reading strategies impact student learning outcomes in reading comprehension and science content knowledge for 7th grade science students and whether or not reading ability has a moderating effect on those student learning outcomes. The results for MANCOVA did not produce statistically significant results nor did the moderation analysis for the influence of reading ability on reading comprehension in the disciplinary literacy group. However, the moderation analysis for the influence of reading ability on science content knowledge resulted in conditional significant results for low (p < .01) and average readers (p <. 05). Low to average readers in the disciplinary literacy group appeared to benefit the most from reading comprehension instruction focused on learning science content in the science classroom.

Expanded Territories of "Literacy": New Literacies and Multiliteracies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sang, Yuan

2017-01-01

Facing the radical change in society in the 21st century, the conventional view of literacy and literacy education may no longer satisfy students' needs in working and social lives, especially beyond classroom settings. Therefore, expanded territories of literacy have been proposed to better support teachers' and students' literacy education and…

Learning to See the Infinite: Measuring Visual Literacy Skills in a 1st-Year Seminar Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palmer, Michael S.; Matthews, Tatiana

2015-01-01

Visual literacy was a stated learning objective for the fall 2009 iteration of a first-year seminar course. To help students develop visual literacy skills, they received formal instruction throughout the semester and completed a series of carefully designed learning activities. The effects of these interventions were measured using a one-group…

How One School Has Developed a Metalinguistic Toolkit for Supporting Multilingual Students as Writers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Humphrey, Sally L.

2015-01-01

In this article, I report on the first stage of a whole school literacy project," Embedding Literacies in the KLAs" (ELK), which aims to support multilingual learners to access the literacies they need for high stakes curriculum learning. As it is "quality teaching" that has been found to have the greatest impact on student…

Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. Executive Summary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

August, Diane, Ed.; Shanahan, Timothy, Ed.

2006-01-01

Teaching language-minority students to read and write well in English is an urgent challenge in the nation's K-12 schools. Literacy in English is essential to achievement in every academic subject-and to educational and economic opportunities beyond schooling. Compounding this challenge are increasing numbers and diversity of language-minority…

The Impact Literacy Coaches Have on Mississippi's Lower-Performing Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trivelli-Bowen, Barbara

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact literacy coaches had on Mississippi's lower-performing schools. To guide the study, the researcher developed four research questions and four null hypotheses. The population of this study was derived from a sample of Mississippi students in Grades K-3 who were administered the Early Literacy STAR…

Identifying Scalable Policy Solutions: A State-Wide Cross-CDlassified Analysis of Factors Related to Early Childhood Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vagi, Robert L.; Collins, Clarin; Clark, Terri

2017-01-01

Given the critical role that literacy plays in children's academic and personal development, policymakers have increasingly focused on policies related to early childhood literacy, particularly among poor and minority students. In this study, authors use a census of data from Arizona, a state with a large and growing population of traditionally…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Professional Learning across Contexts for LESLLA Teachers: The Unlikely Meeting of Adult Educators in Kindergarten to Explore Early Literacy Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vinogradov, Patricia Egan

2013-01-01

In this case study of adult English as a Second Language (ESL) educators, the researcher facilitated a six-week professional development activity around the topic of early literacy instruction. The four participants in the study circle were all LESLLA (low-educated second language and literacy acquisition) teachers whose students are adult…

Basic ESL Literacy from a Freirian Perspective: A Curriculum Unit for Farmworker Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faigin, Sybil Barbara

This paper discusses the development and testing of a literacy unit in basic English as a second language (ESL) for Canadian farmworkers based on the Freirian principles of designing adult education curriculum. The Freirian approach looks at adult learners in the context of their daily reality and uses literacy as a vehicle for the students'…

Developing Digital and Media Literacies in Children and Adolescents.

PubMed

Turner, Kristen Hawley; Jolls, Tessa; Hagerman, Michelle Schira; O'Byrne, William; Hicks, Troy; Eisenstock, Bobbie; Pytash, Kristine E

2017-11-01

In today's global culture and economy, in which individuals have access to information at their fingertips at all times, digital and media literacy are essential to participate in society. But what specific competencies must young citizens acquire? How do these competencies influence pedagogy? How are student knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors changed? What are the best ways to assess students' digital and media literacy? These questions underscore what parents, educators, health professionals, and community leaders need to know to ensure that youth become digitally and media literate. Experimental and pilot programs in the digital and media literacy fields are yielding insights, but gaps in understanding and lack of support for research and development continue to impede growth in these areas. Learning environments no longer depend on seat time in factory-like school settings. Learning happens anywhere, anytime, and productivity in the workplace depends on digital and media literacy. To create the human capital necessary for success and sustainability in a technology-driven world, we must invest in the literacy practices of our youth. In this article, we make recommendations for research and policy priorities. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Mathematical literacy skills of students' in term of gender differences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lailiyah, Siti

2017-08-01

Good mathematical literacy skills will hopefully help maximize the tasks and role of the prospective teacher in activities. Mathematical literacy focus on students' ability to analyze, justify, and communicate ideas effectively, formulate, solve and interpret mathematical problems in a variety of forms and situations. The purpose of this study is to describe the mathematical literacy skills of the prospective teacher in term of gender differences. This research used a qualitative approach with a case study. Subjects of this study were taken from two male students and two female students of the mathematics education prospective teacher who have followed Community Service Program (CSP) in literacy. Data were collected through methods think a loud and interviews. Four prospective teachers were asked to fill mathematical literacy test and video taken during solving this test. Students are required to convey loud what he was thinking when solving problems. After students get the solution, researchers grouped the students' answers and results think aloud. Furthermore, the data are grouped and analyzed according to indicators of mathematical literacy skills. Male students have good of each indicator in mathematical literacy skills (the first indicator to the sixth indicator). Female students have good of mathematical literacy skills (the first indicator, the second indicator, the third indicator, the fourth indicator and the sixth indicator), except for the fifth indicators that are enough.

The Construction of Mathematical Literacy Problems for Geometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 and the need for researchers to expand the literacy framework to include oral discourse. A case study of teachers’ use of a specific literacy task and its influence on students revealed indications of robustness and effectiveness. Experiences revealed procedural difficulties and insights regarding community-based research and development approaches.

Socioscientific Issues: A Path Towards Advanced Scientific Literacy and Improved Conceptual Understanding of Socially Controversial Scientific Theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinzino, Dean William

This thesis investigates the use of socioscientific issues (SSI) in the high school science classroom as an introduction to argumentation and socioscientific reasoning, with the goal of improving students' scientific literacy (SL). Current research is reviewed that supports the likelihood of students developing a greater conceptual understanding of scientific theories as well as a deeper understanding of the nature of science (NOS), through participation in informal and formal forms of argumentation in the context of SSI. Significant gains in such understanding may improve a student's ability to recognize the rigor, legitimacy, and veracity of scientific claims and better discern science from pseudoscience. Furthermore, students that participate in significant SSI instruction by negotiating a range of science-related social issues can make significant gains in content knowledge and develop the life-long skills of argumentation and evidence-based reasoning, goals not possible in traditional lecture-based science instruction. SSI-based instruction may therefore help students become responsible citizens. This synthesis also suggests that that the improvements in science literacy and NOS understanding that develop from sustained engagement in SSI-based instruction will better prepare students to examine and scrutinize socially controversial scientific theories (i.e., evolution, global warming, and the Big Bang).

4: A STUDY ON THE RATE OF INFORMATION LITERACY OF FACULTY MEMBERS AND PHD STUDENTS OF FACULTY OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY, TABRIZ UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES, BASED ON SUCCESSFUL EVIDENCE HEALTHCARE

PubMed Central

Razmkhah, Maryam; Moghadam, Hadi Sharif; Ziaei, Soraya; Zarea, Vahideh; Narimani, Mohammad Reza

2017-01-01

Background and aims Evidence based care is an approach to clinical problem-solving in which merging the results of several studies and information on specialty clinical care as well as patients' wishes and values leads to effective decision making, to avoid seeking frequent care facilitating the patient cares, empowering healthcare workers, maintaining and improving the health of patients and the families. Results of the conducted studies suggest that using such an approach requires information literacy skills. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess information literacy of the faculty members and PhD students of Nursing and Midwifery School of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences about evidence based care. Methods In this cross-sectional survey 53 PhD students and faculty members were selected using census sampling method. Data gathering tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. This inventory was developed regarding valid scientific literature on information literacy and evidence-based care with 68 items and 5 standards of literacy prepared within some steps. After confirming the validity, its reliability was concluded by Cranach's Alpha (0.89). Data was analyzed using SPSS/22. Results Average information literacy skill level for faculty members and students related to evidence-based care and information literacy standards was higher than the average index, except for “information exchange” standard (50±10). The highest and lowest mean scores in evidence based care were for, respectively, questions formation (respectively, 96.18±18.6.17 and 48.51±14.69) and evaluation results (respectively 95.56±6.66 and 45.94±14.08). For information literacy standards there were calculated for (respectively) finding information as the highest score for (respectively, 95.56±6.66 and 72.44±13.62) and the lowest for information exchange (respectively, 74.19±11.83 and 48.51±11.35). Conclusion According to the results of this study and also regarding to this subject that PhD students' and faculty members' information literacy level was above the average; it is recommended to develop optimal measures to promote evidence based decision making.

Action Research Supporting Students' Oral Language in Northern Canadian Schools: A Professional Development Initiative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Shelley Stagg

2012-01-01

Interview, document, and observational data were used to examine grade K-2 teachers' and literacy coaches' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of collaborative action research as a professional development initiative in rural schools. Eleven teachers and five literacy coaches in five northern Ontario school districts participated in…

The Arts, the Common Core, and English Language Development in the Primary Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenfader, Christa Mulker; Brouillette, Liane

2017-01-01

Background/Context: Throughout schooling, English learners (ELs) perform well below their monolingual English-speaking peers on literacy assessments, and Hispanics make up the majority of EL students in the United States. There is a strong consensus about the importance of early English oral language skills for ELs' literacy development, yet…

Thinking in Hashtags: Exploring Teenagers' New Literacies Practices on Twitter

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gleason, Benjamin

2018-01-01

This research investigates how three high school students in the USA developed new literacies practices through their participation in teenage Twitter. Data was collected from two sources, including archival data from participants' Twitter over a two-year span, and semi-structured interviews. Results found that teenagers developed a number of…

Examining Professional Development and Teacher's Learning about Literacy Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maxwell, Melanie

2017-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative case study (Merriam, 1988; Stake, 1994) was to understand how teacher perceptions of their knowledge, practice and students' knowledge change in a professional development learning opportunity that is based on their background knowledge in literacy instruction and what is determined to be their zone of proximal…

Exploring Young Australian Adults' Asthma Management to Develop an Educational Video

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coombs, Nicole; Allen, Louise; Cooper, Simon; Cant, Robyn; Beauchamp, Alison; Laszcyk, Jacki; Giannis, Anita; Hopmans, Ruben; Bullock, Shane; Waller, Susan; McKenna, Lisa; Peck, Blake

2018-01-01

Objective: This study explored young university students' (aged 18-24 years) health literacy, asthma experiences and help-seeking behaviours to inform the development of a web-based asthma education intervention relevant to this age group. Design: Exploratory mixed-methods design incorporateing a health literacy survey and interviews, plus the…

Gaming Geography: Educational Games and Literacy Development in the Grade 4 Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lotherington, Heather; Ronda, Natalia Sinitskaya

2009-01-01

This paper outlines a case study conducted in two public schools in the greater Toronto area as a complementary component of a multisite experimental study exploring educational game development as a learning activity for motivating and engaging students in curriculum-related literacy activities (Owston et al., 2007). Researchers studied children…

Developing Research Skills with Low Stakes Assignments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart-Mailhiot, Amy

2014-01-01

A major responsibility of instruction librarians is to help students develop a more extensive and flexible information literacy repertoire. The teaching and learning of information literacy most often takes place in one of two ways: within the context of single 50-minute library sessions, or at the reference desk. In both cases, it usually takes…

The Third Eye.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eken, Ali Nihat

2002-01-01

Argues that in the contemporary world, literacy is not limited to the printed page and students need to interpret a variety of audio and visual texts. Concentrates on feature films, suggesting ways of improving students' film literacy. Examines effects film literacy has on students and their learning. Concludes that critical literacy and higher…

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Improving Middle School Students’ Quantitative Literacy through Inquiry Lab and Group Investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aisya, N. S. M.; Supriatno, B.; Saefudin; Anggraeni, S.

2017-02-01

The purpose of this study was to analyze the application of metacognitive strategies learning based Vee Diagram through Inquiry Lab and Group Investigation toward students’ quantitative literacy. This study compared two treatments on learning activity in middle school. The metacognitive strategies have applied to the content of environmental pollution at 7th grade. This study used a quantitative approach with quasi-experimental method. The research sample were the 7th grade students, involves 27 students in the experimental through Inquiry Lab and 27 students in the experimental through Group Investigation. The instruments that used in this research were pretest and posttest quantitative literacy skills, learning step observation sheets, and the questionnaire of teachers and students responses. As the result, N-gain average of pretest and posttest increased in both experimental groups. The average of posttest score was 61,11 for the Inquiry Lab and 54,01 to the Group Investigation. The average score of N-gain quantitative literacy skill of Inquiry Lab class was 0,492 and Group Investigation class was 0,426. Both classes of experiments showed an average N-gain in the medium category. The data has been analyzed statistically by using SPSS ver.23 and the results showed that although both the learning model can develop quantitative literacy, but there is not significantly different of improving students’ quantitative literacy between Inquiry Lab and Group Investigation in environmental pollution material.

Writing Learning Materials for Adult Literacy and Basic Education Students for Flexible Delivery: Some Challenges.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kindler, Jan

1998-01-01

Describes development of CD-ROM and print materials designed for learners with low literacy levels. Explains the importance of group work, incorporation of different learning styles, and the benefits of flexible delivery. (SK)

Associations Between Smoking and Media Literacy in College Students

PubMed Central

PRIMACK, BRIAN A.; SIDANI, JAIME; CARROLL, MARY V.; FINE, MICHAEL J.

2010-01-01

Organizations recommend media literacy to reduce tobacco use, and higher media literacy has been associated with lower smoking among high school students. The relationship between smoking media literacy and tobacco use, however, has not been systematically studied among college students. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between smoking and smoking media literacy among college students. We conducted the National College Health Assessment (NCHA) at a large, urban university, adding six items measuring smoking media literacy. A total of 657 students responded to this random sample e-mail survey. We used multiple logistic regression to determine independent associations between smoking media literacy items and current smoking. The media literacy scale was internally consistent (α = 0.79). Of the respondents, 21.5% reported smoking cigarettes over the past 30 days. In a fully adjusted multivariate model, participants with medium media literacy had an odds ratio (OR) for current smoking of 0.45 (95% CI = 0.29, 0.70), and those with high media literacy had an OR for current smoking of 0.38 (95% CI = 0.20, 0.70). High smoking media literacy is independently associated with lower odds of smoking. Smoking media literacy may be a valuable construct to address in college populations. PMID:19731126

Developing and validating a scale to measure Food and Nutrition Literacy (FNLIT) in elementary school children in Iran.

PubMed

Doustmohammadian, Aazam; Omidvar, Nasrin; Keshavarz-Mohammadi, Nastaran; Abdollahi, Morteza; Amini, Maryam; Eini-Zinab, Hassan

2017-01-01

Food and nutrition literacy is an emerging term which is increasingly used in policy and research. Though research in this area is growing, progression is limited by the lack of an accepted method to measure food and nutrition literacy. The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable questionnaire to assess food and nutrition literacy in elementary school children in the city of Tehran. The study was conducted in three phases. To develop Food and Nutrition Literacy (FNLIT) questionnaire, a comprehensive literature review and a qualitative study were initially performed to identify food and nutrition literacy dimensions and its components. Content and face validity of the questionnaire were evaluated by an expert panel as well as students. In the second phase, construct validity of the scale was evaluated using Explanatory Factor Analyses (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA). In the last phase (confirmatory phase), the final version of the questionnaire was evaluated on 400 students. Findings show Content Validity Ratio (CVR) and Content Validity Index (CVI) of the 62-item questionnaire at acceptable levels of 0.87 and 0.92, respectively. EFA suggested a six-factor construct, namely, understanding food and nutrition information, knowledge, functional, interactive, food choice, and critical. The results of CFA indicated acceptable fit indices for the proposed models. All subscales demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha≥0.70), except for critical skill subscale (0.48). The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC = 0.90, CI: 0.83-0.94) indicated that Food and Nutrition Literacy (FNLIT) scale had satisfactory stability. Each phase of development progressively improved the questionnaire, which resulted in a 46-item (42 likert-type items and 4 true-false items) Food and Nutrition Literacy (FNLIT) scale. The questionnaire measured two domains with 6 subscales, including: 1) cognitive domain: understanding and knowledge; 2) skill domain: functional, food choice, interactive, and critical skills. The developed food and nutrition literacy scale is a valid and reliable instrument to measure food and nutrition literacy in children. This measure lays a solid empirical and theoretical foundation for future research and tailored interventions to promote food and nutrition literacy in this age group.

Toward a More Dialogic Pedagogy: Changing Teachers' Beliefs and Practices through Professional Development in Language Arts Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilkinson, Ian A. G.; Reznitskaya, Alina; Bourdage, Kristin; Oyler, Joseph; Glina, Monica; Drewry, Robert; Kim, Min-Young; Nelson, Kathryn

2017-01-01

In this paper, we report findings from the second year of a three-year research and professional development program designed to help elementary school teachers engage in dialogic teaching to support the development of students' argument literacy. We define argument literacy as the ability to comprehend and formulate arguments through speaking,…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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…

Implementing the No Child Left Behind Act: Using Student Engagement to Improve Adolescent Literacy. NCREL Quick Key 10 Action Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Learning Point Associates / North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL), 2005

2005-01-01

Literacy instruction does not end with reading success in early grades. As students move to middle and high school, new challenges emerge that can affect literacy achievement. Even for students who achieve early reading and writing success, the literacy demands of middle and high school can pose substantial challenges. Older students must be able…

Financial Literacy and Economic Outcomes: Evidence and Policy Implications.

PubMed

Mitchell, Olivia S; Lusardi, Annamaria

2015-01-01

This paper reviews what we have learned over the past decade about financial literacy and its relationship to financial decision-making around the world. Using three questions, we have surveyed people in several countries to determine whether they have the fundamental knowledge of economics and finance needed to function as effective decision-makers. We find that levels of financial literacy are low not only in the United States. but also in many other countries including those with well-developed financial markets. Moreover, financial illiteracy is particularly acute for some demographic groups, especially women and the less-educated. These findings are important since financial literacy is linked to borrowing, saving, and spending patterns. We also offer new evidence on financial literacy among high school students drawing on the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment implemented in 18 countries. Last, we discuss the implications of this research for policy.

Financial Literacy and Economic Outcomes: Evidence and Policy Implications

PubMed Central

Mitchell, Olivia S.; Lusardi, Annamaria

2017-01-01

This paper reviews what we have learned over the past decade about financial literacy and its relationship to financial decision-making around the world. Using three questions, we have surveyed people in several countries to determine whether they have the fundamental knowledge of economics and finance needed to function as effective decision-makers. We find that levels of financial literacy are low not only in the United States. but also in many other countries including those with well-developed financial markets. Moreover, financial illiteracy is particularly acute for some demographic groups, especially women and the less-educated. These findings are important since financial literacy is linked to borrowing, saving, and spending patterns. We also offer new evidence on financial literacy among high school students drawing on the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment implemented in 18 countries. Last, we discuss the implications of this research for policy. PMID:28553655

The Effect of Using Activities Improving Scientific Literacy on Students' Achievement in Science and Technology Lesson

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gucluer, Efe; Kesercioglu, Teoman

2012-01-01

The aim of this study is examining the effect of the using scientific literacy development activities on students' achievement. The study was carried out in a primary school in Buca Izmir for 2010-2011 academic years. System of our body was chosen as a study topic in our search which took 6 weeks. Pre-post test semi experimental control model was…

Language, Literacy, and the Institutional Dynamics of Racism: Late-1960s Writing Instruction for "High-Risk" African American Undergraduate Students at One Predominantly White University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lamos, Steve

2008-01-01

This essay analyzes the ways in which subtly but powerfully racist ideologies of language and literacy shaped the institutional development of one writing program for "high-risk" African American college students during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It further theorizes the value of such institutional analysis for counteracting racism…

Studying Students' Science Literacy: Non-Scientific Beliefs and Science Literacy Measures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Impey, C.; Buxner, S.

2015-11-01

We have been conducting a study of university students' science literacy for the past 24 years. Based on the work of the National Science Board's ongoing national survey of the US public, we have administered the same survey to undergraduate science students at the University of Arizona almost every year since 1989. Results have shown relatively little change in students' overall science literacy, descriptions of science, and knowledge of basic science topics for almost a quarter of a century despite an increase in education interventions, the rise of the internet, and increased access to knowledge. Several trends do exist in students' science literacy and descriptions of science. Students who exhibit beliefs in non-scientific phenomenon (e.g., lucky numbers, creationism) consistently have lower science literacy scores and less correct descriptions of scientific phenomenon. Although not surprising, our results support ongoing efforts to help students generate evidence based thinking.

Examining the effects of technology-infused issue investigations on high school students' environmental and ocean literacies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plankis, Brian J.

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of technology-infused issue investigations on high school students' environmental and ocean literacies. This study explored the effects of a new educational enrichment program termed Connecting the Ocean, Reefs, Aquariums, Literacy, and Stewardship (CORALS) on high school science students. The study utilized a mixed methods approach combining a quantitative quasi-experimental pre-post test design with qualitative case studies. The CORALS program is a new educational program that combines materials based on the Investigating and Evaluating Environmental Issues and Actions (IEEIA) curriculum program with the digital storytelling process. Over an 18-week period four high school science teachers and their approximately 169 students investigated environmental issues impacting coral reefs through the IEEIA framework. An additional approximately 224 students, taught by the same teachers, were the control group exposed to standard curriculum. Students' environmental literacy was measured through the Secondary School Environmental Literacy Instrument (SSELI) and students' ocean literacy was measured through the Students' Ocean Literacy Viewpoints and Engagement (SOLVE) instrument. Two classrooms were selected as case studies and examined through classroom observations and student and teacher interviews. The results indicated the CORALS program increased the knowledge of ecological principles, knowledge of environmental problems/issues, and environmental attitudes components of environmental literacy for the experimental group students. For ocean literacy, the experimental group students' scores increased for knowledge of ocean literacy principles, ability to identify oceanic environmental problems, and attitudes concerning the ocean. The SSELI measure of Responsible Environmental Behaviors (REB) was found to be significant for the interaction of teacher and class type (experimental or control). The students for Teachers A and B reported a statistically significant increase in the self-reported REB subscales of ecomanagement and consumer/economic action. This indicates the students reported an increase in the REBs they could change within their lifestyles. This study provides baseline data in an area where few quality studies exist to date. Recommendations for practice and administration of the research study instruments are explored. Recommendations for further research include CORALS program modifications, revising the instruments utilized, and what areas of students' environmental and ocean literacies warrant further exploration.

Looking below the surface: developing critical literacy skills to reduce the stigma of mental disorders.

PubMed

McAllister, Margaret

2008-09-01

Although clinicians and the public are more informed about the factors that give rise to mental disorders, stigmatization does not seem to be abating. This article argues for one solution: altering the way students are taught, moving beyond content toward a focus on enticing attitudinal shifts, such as empathy and personal commitment to social change. This article describes a strategy for learners to develop critical literacy skills and to acknowledge and develop their role in encouraging students to become critical agents who possess the knowledge and courage to struggle against despair and to embrace hope.

Not Another Trend: Secondary-Level Literacy Coaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gross, Patricia A.

2010-01-01

Literacy coaching is a current trend meant to broaden instructional repertoires and student engagement. Designed for professional growth through inquiry, collaboration, and experimentation, literacy coaches offer literacy strategies to enliven student interest in all subjects. Literacy coaches meet with teachers one-on-one to discuss current…

The Relationship between Self-Efficacy and Perceptions of Different Literacy Types among College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bui, Ngoc H.

2017-01-01

Studies on reading literacy have yet to connect how students perceive the importance of different literacy areas to their ability perception in those areas. This article analyzes students' importance ranking of four different areas of literacy: prose (comprehending written information), document (interpreting information in forms, schedules,…

How Information Literate Are Junior and Senior Class Biology Students?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schiffl, Iris

2018-03-01

Information literacy—i.e. obtaining, evaluating and using information—is a key element of scientific literacy. However, students are frequently equipped with poor information literacy skills—even at university level—as information literacy is often not explicitly taught in schools. Little is known about students' information skills in science at junior and senior class level, and about teachers' competences in dealing with information literacy in science class. This study examines the information literacy of Austrian 8th, 10th and 12th grade students. Information literacy is important for science education in Austria, because it is listed as a basic competence in Austria's science standards. Two different aspects of information literacy are examined: obtaining information and extracting information from texts. An additional research focus of this study is teachers' competences in diagnosing information skills. The results reveal that students mostly rely on online sources for obtaining information. However, they also use books and consult with people they trust. The younger the students, the more they rely on personal sources. Students' abilities to evaluate sources are poor, especially among younger students. Although teachers claim to use information research in class, their ability to assess their students' information competences is limited.

Improving Literacy Instruction in Kenya through Teacher Professional Development and Text Messages Support: A Cluster Randomized Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jukes, Matthew C. H.; Turner, Elizabeth L.; Dubeck, Margaret M.; Halliday, Katherine E.; Inyega, Hellen N.; Wolf, Sharon; Zuilkowski, Stephanie Simmons; Brooker, Simon J.

2017-01-01

We evaluated a program to improve literacy instruction on the Kenyan coast using training workshops, semiscripted lesson plans, and weekly text-message support for teachers to understand its impact on students' literacy outcomes and on the classroom practices leading to those outcomes. The evaluation ran from the beginning of Grade 1 to the end of…

Learning to Engage: How Positive Attitudes about the News, Media Literacy, and Video Production Contribute to Adolescent Civic Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hobbs, Renee; Donnelly, Katie; Friesem, Jonathan; Moen, Mary

2013-01-01

Many students enroll in video production courses in high school as part of a vocational, career, or technical program. While there has been an explosion of scholarly work in digital literacy in informal settings, less is known about how digital and media literacy competencies are developed through school-based video production courses. This study…