Browsing by Subject "Social constructivism"
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Item Chalk talks: Case study on using storytelling for literacy learning(2005-12) Wilson, Regina Lynn; Johnson, Holly; Akrofi, Amma; Halsey, Pamela; Iber, Jorge; Price, Margaret A.Reading is an active process in which the reader shifts between the information, elaborates meaning and strategies, checks his/her interpretation and uses the social context to focus on his/her response. In order for students to be successful at reading, they need opportunities to interact socially with their teachers, one another and the text. Language plays a critical role in children’s learning by helping them organize their understandings. This study investigated Chalk Talks, a form of storytelling, as a viable option for providing students with opportunities to enhance their reading skills through language and social interactions. The research participants were minority students from a Title One School. The kindergarten and first grade students participated voluntarily after school in the Chalk Talk activities. A combination of two research designs- action research and case study were implemented. Because I was a primary teacher at the time, I employed aspects of action research to explore the phenomenon of using Chalk Talks with primary students and case study to deeply investigate the two questions: 1.What happens when one teacher uses Chalk Talks with four primary students? 2.What are the perceptions of the four participants involved in the Chalk Talks? As a participant observer, information was collected through observations, interviews, questionnaires, and artifacts. The findings revealed that by using Chalk Talks with primary students: -Social environments were formed. -The students had interactions with the session materials. -The students were identified in relation to the test materials. The results were most extensive during the students’ reactions with the session materials. Their active involvements with the Chalk Talks assisted them in developing their oral language, organizing data, becoming more consciously aware of information, and sharing and creating their own stories. In the end, the students had positive comments about participating with Chalk Talk stories.Item Chalk talks: case study on using storytelling for literacy learning(Texas Tech University, 2005-12) Wilson, Regina L.; Johnson, Holly; Akrofi, AmmaReading is an active process in which the reader shifts between the information, elaborates meaning and strategies, checks his/her interpretation and uses the social context to focus on his/her response. In order for students to be successful at reading, they need opportunities to interact socially with their teachers, one another and the text. Language plays a critical role in children’s learning by helping them organize their understandings. This study investigated Chalk Talks, a form of storytelling, as a viable option for providing students with opportunities to enhance their reading skills through language and social interactions. The research participants were minority students from a Title One School. The kindergarten and first grade students participated voluntarily after school in the Chalk Talk activities. A combination of two research designs- action research and case study were implemented. Because I was a primary teacher at the time, I employed aspects of action research to explore the phenomenon of using Chalk Talks with primary students and case study to deeply investigate the two questions: 1.What happens when one teacher uses Chalk Talks with four primary students? 2.What are the perceptions of the four participants involved in the Chalk Talks? As a participant observer, information was collected through observations, interviews, questionnaires, and artifacts. The findings revealed that by using Chalk Talks with primary students: -Social environments were formed. -The students had interactions with the session materials. -The students were identified in relation to the test materials. The results were most extensive during the students’ reactions with the session materials. Their active involvements with the Chalk Talks assisted them in developing their oral language, organizing data, becoming more consciously aware of information, and sharing and creating their own stories. In the end, the students had positive comments about participating with Chalk Talk stories.Item Participants' Perspectives of Training Experiences: An Exploratory Qualitative Study(2010-07-14) Mathis, Robin S.Perceptions concerning training and development continue to appear in practitioner literature; however, the fact that those perceptions are not explored in HRD literature is a problem. The purpose of this study was to examine perspectives of participants in organization-sponsored training. A general qualitative methodology was utilized in this study. Then, through a social constructivism lens, the researcher looked closely at the interactions described in the trainees? experiences in order to understand their assumptions and how they made sense of their experiences. The researcher collected 10 interviews from participants representing various types of training experiences. The 10 interviewees identified shared experiences that led to the formation of four themes: (1) relevance and applicability, (2) attitudes and preferences, (3) immediacy, and (4) relational learning. Within the first theme, there were three subthemes: (1) responsibility for relevance and application, (2) communicating relevance, and (3) trainees? recognition of relevance and application. Theme 2, immediacy, consisted of three subthemes as well. Immediacy was explained by trainees as verbal, nonverbal, and environmental. No subthemes emerged from the other two themes. Finally, the themes revealed two episodic narratives. The two narratives were "Time is money--Is this worth the time?" and "If you don't care, I don't care." The two episodic narratives, pieced together, disclose the idea of the desired training described by the 10 participants. In conclusion, the findings of the study lead to a number of implications for practice and research. This study demonstrated the importance of trainers and instructional designers to develop clear understandings regarding what trainees think of face-to-face and online training and why they hold those opinions. Also, trainers and/or instructional designers should explore the use of communication and technology theories to develop training modules. In addition to practice, scholars should conduct more qualitative studies exploring trainee perceptions in online organizational training. Finally, the findings of the study showed that instructional communication researchers have not explored the issue of the importance of out-of-the classroom learning experiences in the field of human resource development.Item Public memory and political history : news media and collective memory construction after the deaths of former presidents(2014-05) Patterson, Jeffery Randolph; Johnson, Thomas J., 1960-In recent years, scholars have shown increasing interest in the concept of collective memory for structuring modern social understanding and political dialogue. However, surprisingly few studies have looked at the role that news media play the processes of collective political memory construction, reinterpretation, and change. This study contributes to the literature on collective memory construction, by helping clarify the means by which different news media serve as a site where collective memory is constructed, reinforced, and revised; and, 2) to identify which political actors and institutions act as sources to assert particular memory frames and what media subsidies they offer to influence the memory construction process. Specifically, the study undertook a two-stage longitudinal content analysis of news media to discern the ways former U.S. presidents (i.e., Truman, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, and Ford) were memorialized in news media coverage at the time of their funerals, and then again in subsequent news media stories through 2012. The content analysis identified dominant news media frames and secondary attribute sub-frames as applied to former U.S. Presidents, and which news media sources and frame advocates are engaged in setting those frames. As a result, the study identified patterns of change and resilience in particular presidential memory frames as represented in news media, and found journalists—beyond other sources and frame advocates—play a significant role in both creating and revising those memories over time. A range of opportunities for further research are discussed.