Collaboration, creativity and the co-construction of oral and written texts

In this paper we explore how primary school children ‘learn to collaborate’ and ‘collaborate to learn’ on creative writing projects by using diverse cultural artefacts—including oracy, literacy and ICT. We begin by reviewing some key sociocultural concepts which serve as a theoretical framework for the research reported. Secondly, we describe the context in which the children talked and worked together to create their projects. This context is a ‘learning community’ developed as part of an innovative educational programme with the aim of promoting the social construction of knowledge among all participants. We then present microgenetic analyses of the quality of the interaction and dialogues taking place as peers worked together on their projects, and how these collaborative processes and uses of the mediational artefacts were taken up by the children. In order to exemplify these processes, our analyses centre on a selection of examples of dialogues, texts and multimedia products of stories created by groups of fourth grade (9–10 years old) children. Overall, the work reveals the dynamic functioning in educational settings of some central sociocultural concepts. These include: co-construction; intertextuality and intercontextuality amongst oracy, literacy and uses of ICT; collaborative creativity; development of dialogical and text production strategies and appropriation of diverse cultural artefacts for knowledge construction

Towards a global paradigm for research in early childhood education

Early years education is now a global activity, as school systems expand and diverse programmes become established in countries throughout the world. We inherit a rich legacy of theories, methodologies and evidence, from the vision of early childhood pioneers to the latest empirical research. I want to step back from particular initiatives and research evaluations to consider the underlying images of the child that inform early childhood research and practice. What would be an appropriate child development paradigm for promoting quality early years education in a global context? I question the adequacy of much theory and research to encompass global childhoods, especially the dangers inherent in current knowledge-imbalances. I ask about the way child development is conceptualised within early childhood work, and the potential of a sociocultural perspective. Finally, I ask about the status of young children themselves within early education research and practice; whether they are viewed as subjects in a child development project, as participants in a process or as consumers of a service. For each theme, I will argue that we are witnessing a paradigm shift which takes us beyond idealisations about normal development, children's nature and their needs. An alternative paradigm emphasises the plurality of pathways through childhood, the respects in which early development and education is a sociocultural process, and the status of children as active participants, with their own perspective on issues in their lives

Investigando a hipótese da paridade do poder de compra: um enfoque não linear Testing the long-run purchasing power parity hypothesis: a nonlinear approach

A hipótese da Paridade do Poder de Compra (PPP) é investigada analisando-se a dinâmica de longo prazo da taxa de câmbio real efetiva no Brasil. Com dados mensais, o objetivo principal do estudo é testar a hipótese da PPP com um enfoque não linear. A metodologia empregada baseou-se na aplicação de testes gerais (Keenan, 1985; Tsay, 1986) e específicos para não linearidade do tipo Threshold (Chan, 1990). Seguindo-se a metodologia de Hansen (1999), o estágio seguinte consistiu em testar o número de regimes necessários para descrever a dinâmica não linear da taxa de câmbio real. Os resultados das estimações sugerem a ocorrência de apenas dois regimes distintos, com persistência e volatilidade diferentes. Conclui-se que a hipótese da PPP é apoiada pelos resultados.<br>We consider a threshold time series model in order to test the PPP hypothesis with Brazilian effective real exchange rate dataset in the long run. By following Keenan (1985), Tsay (1986) and Chan (1990), we test Brazilian dataset for several types of nonlinearities. So, after apply Hansen's test to infer about the number of regimes, we apply the more recent methodology of Self-Exciting Threshold Autoregressive (SETAR) model to point out some threshold to which a signal of turning point could be given in the states of the exchange rate dynamics. All the tests suggest that the Brazilian real exchange rate is highly nonlinear. The skeleton of the SETAR models fitted shows that PPP hypothesis is supported in the long run in spite the deviations from short run