The effectiveness of play therapy in a school-based counseling program

This research project attempted to determine whether play therapy used to treat elementary and junior high school children in a School-Based Counseling program is effective. There is conflicting evidence in the literature as to the effectiveness of therapy with children, especially play therapy. This project used a qualitative design to evaluate play therapy used in a School-Base Counseling program (SBC). Randomly selected case files from the 1998-99 academic year were analyzed using questions considering demographic information for each child, the reason the child was referred to the program, the intervention used by the therapist, and the outcomes of therapy. The results of this project are inconclusive, but support the need for more research to be conducted in the area of play therapy

Studies of Child Perspectives in Methodology and Practice with ‘Osallisuus’ as a Finnish Approach to Children’s Reciprocal Cultural Participation

Peer reviewe

Childhood Cultures in Transformation

This book investigates and uncover paradoxes and ambivalences that are actualised when seeking to make the right choices in the best interests of the child. The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child established a milestone for the 20th century. Many of these ideas still stand, but time calls for new reflections, empirical descriptions and knowledge as provided in this book. Special attention is directed to the conceptualisation of children and childhood cultures, the missing voices of infants and fragile children, as well as transformations during times of globalisation and change. All chapters contribute to understand and discuss aspects of societal demands and cultural conditions for modern-day children age 0–18, accompanied by pointers to their future. Readership: All engaged in children’s rights, children’s culture, generations, arts and public health education and those interested in understanding and change the paradoxes and complexity in children’s lives

Teacher cognition and classroom practice in the context of curricular reform

This study investigates how teacher cognition-what language teachers think, know, and believe-contributes to the practices of eight secondary school EFL teachers in Iran within the context of constructivist/communicative-oriented teaching (CCOT) curriculum reform. Specifically, highlighting the influence of both macro- and micro-contexts, this study takes into account the contextual factors influencing teachers’ beliefs and the role they play in pedagogic practice and curriculum delivery. To gain a better understanding of the complex features of teacher beliefs and dynamic interactions among beliefs, practices, and context, this inquiry used a qualitative case study approach. Data were collected using multiple instruments, namely, in-depth semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and stimulated recall interviews, which have allowed for triangulation of the findings. Findings reveal that language teachers’ practices are shaped in unique and often unpredictable ways by their beliefs that have emerged from teachers’ diverse personal and language learning histories, language teacher education experiences, and the specific contexts in which they do or learn to do their work. These contextual factors are interrelated and collectively broaden the mismatch between teachers’ stated beliefs and their actual practice of CCOT and to the limited uptake of reform implementation. The research interestingly reveals that the less experienced teachers introduced a stronger element of CCOT recommended by the curriculum into their lessons, while the more experienced teachers displayed more traditional approach to teaching. This study advances thinking on teachers’ beliefs and practice by highlighting the need to view teachers’ beliefs as a system, to explore the interactive features of teachers’ beliefs, and how such interactions impact their practice. The study also highlights the situated nature of teachers’ beliefs with significant implications for teachers as well as other stakeholders such as teacher educators, policy makers, curriculum developers, and many other important issues in secondary foreign language education in Iran and other similar contexts internationally

Childhood Cultures in Transformation

This book investigates and uncover paradoxes and ambivalences that are actualised when seeking to make the right choices in the best interests of the child. The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child established a milestone for the 20th century. Many of these ideas still stand, but time calls for new reflections, empirical descriptions and knowledge as provided in this book. Special attention is directed to the conceptualisation of children and childhood cultures, the missing voices of infants and fragile children, as well as transformations during times of globalisation and change. All chapters contribute to understand and discuss aspects of societal demands and cultural conditions for modern-day children age 0–18, accompanied by pointers to their future. Readership: All engaged in children’s rights, children’s culture, generations, arts and public health education and those interested in understanding and change the paradoxes and complexity in children’s lives

O digital storytelling como técnica de marketing : os casos Repetto, Carel e Josefinas

O presente trabalho de investigação tem como objectivo compreender de que forma o storytelling digital pode ser uma mais valia para as marcas. Procuramos circunscrever a análise teórica ao campo do stortytelling, branding, marketing de conteúdos e storytelling digital para que se possa construir uma base científica para posterior análise empírica das marcas Repetto, Carel e Josefinas. Baseando a investigação científica no campo interpretativista, procurou-se perceber como é que storytelling pode ser indissociável da comunicação humana e como pode atuar no contexto publicitário digital. A análise qualitativa de texto é a abordagem escolhida para a análise dos estudos de caso e procurou determinar se as marcas recorrem ao storytelling digital enquanto técnica de marketing de conteúdos. Procurou-se também fazer uma análise comparativa entre as três marcas para averigurar se alguma usa o storytelling de forma mais acentuada do que as restantes.This research work aims at understanding the ways in which digital storytelling can be a valuable asset for brands. Our theoretical analysis focuses on the fields of storytelling, branding, content marketing and digital storytelling in order to build up scientific grounds on which to sustain the empirical analysis of the Repetto, Carel and Josefinas brands. By focusing the scientific research on the interpretative field, we will attempt to understand how can storytelling be connected to human communication and how it can act in a digital advertisement context. Qualitative text analysis is the chosen approach for the case study analysis and it will attempt to show whether brands use digital storytelling as a content marketing technique. A comparative analysis of all three brands is also performed, in order to investigate whether any of them resorts to storytelling more often

What Story Circles Reveal about Preschool Children's Storytelling.

Documented disparities in children’s facility using language emerge early and hold consequences for children’s composition and comprehension of text. Though advocates conceptualize early education contexts as ideal for intervening in language disparities, research demonstrates that the quality of language use in low income preschool settings remains too low to support language development, let alone produce the accelerated learning needed to ameliorate early disparities. In this dissertation, I explore the affordances of a small group storytelling activity as a way to engage children in linguistically demanding learning. Using systemic functional linguistics, I analyze children’s stories in terms of ideational meanings and organizational features. Then, I examine the interactive features of the storytelling activity, analyzing how children’s stories constitute rhetorical action in the larger classroom context. Results from this study indicate that children tell stories that are structured, cohesive, and marshal stress and intonation to engage listeners, emphasize parts of the text, and express an evaluative stance on events. Children’s stories vary along a continuum of complexity from incipient, single event story turns to multi-event stories. Through their stories, children negotiate aspects of their identity and the culture of the classroom. This dissertation research holds implications for research by showing story as taking multiple forms and presenting multiple sources of complexity for children to manage, a conceptualization that contrasts with research that elevates true narrative to the exclusion of other forms. By studying children’s stories in context, this study moves beyond research that considers stories only in terms of their textual instantiation. Instead, a study of stories in a small group activity shows storytelling as purposive, rhetorical action through which children mediate private intentions and meet social goals. This dissertation research informs teaching practice by describing the degrees of language complexity that characterize children’s contributions, by identifying developmental trajectories in learning to tell stories, and by recognizing how interactional factors contribute to the ability to present a cohesive story. This linguistic analysis provides the insight needed to reshape early learning contexts into laboratories for language development because it provides the rigorous evidence needed to recommend broader use of storytelling activities.PHDEducational StudiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102401/1/erinfly_1.pd