This stocktaking workshop provided an opportunity for several groups with active interest in impa... more This stocktaking workshop provided an opportunity for several groups with active interest in impact assessment relating to agricultural policy research to share experiences and views about what constitutes good practice in this field. The sponsoring organizations have had a long-standing concern for the relevance and effectiveness of agricultural and food policy research in general and at IFPRI in particular. That concern has been addressed in past meetings and the time seemed right for a further stocktaking. The focus of this 2004 meeting was on impact assessment experience at IFPRI. IFPRI has, since the mid-1990s, carried out a variety of activities aimed at assessing the impact of its policy research, capacity strengthening, and policy communications programs. The workshop brought together practitioners of such impact assessment work, users of such information, as well as researchers whose activities have been the subject of impact assessment. The cogency and necessity of such im...
In this article, we report on a study in which we interviewed working class families who were the... more In this article, we report on a study in which we interviewed working class families who were the first cohort in a family literacy program that had been locally developed and implemented in a small village in Canada more than two decades previously in response to community-identified needs. The study was framed by Tulving’s concept of episodic memory which he described as autobiographical and which allows one to recall and reflect on one’s past experiences because they are significant. Ten of the original 18 families were available, and they were interviewed in their homes using a semi-structured protocol. Interviews were transcribed and then coded according to themes. Findings include the following: families reported that the hands-on structure of the program in which they worked alongside their children helped them understand learning through play and developmentally appropriate curriculum and pedagogy; they gained insights as to how they could continue to support their children’...
This paper reports on an analysis of 60 print and online articles collected in a metropolitan are... more This paper reports on an analysis of 60 print and online articles collected in a metropolitan area in Canada that describe children’s digital engagement through a focus on ‘early literacy’ or ‘digital literacy’. Findings reveal mixed messages about children’s use of digital technology that create competing frames for adults supporting (or not) young children’s digital literacy practices. Digital technology was often characterized as something to limit/control, except in school, where digital literacy was characterized as holding a proper place when controlled by educators. Consistent across media messaging was the promotion of traditional, print-based texts as an essential early literacy practice.
In this article, we describe how the funds of knowledge in a community in rural Northern Canada w... more In this article, we describe how the funds of knowledge in a community in rural Northern Canada were actualized or leveraged in an early childhood classroom. We draw on a video recording of a First Nations elder demonstrating to the children (and early childhood educators) how to skin a marten, a historical cultural practice of the community. We argue that elders are an untapped source of knowledge that preschools and schools can call on to legitimize and bring to the forefront, Indigenous knowledge that has been ignored or undervalued by assimilationist and colonialist policies. We also argue that the elder’s demonstration is culturally congruent with First Nations traditions of sharing or passing on knowledge and that it is imperative that educators are aware of and implement culturally appropriate pedagogical practices. We conclude by sharing some ideas of how early childhood educators might facilitate through play, children’s taking up and appropriating cultural knowledge such a...
Documents the perceptions of literacy acquisition held by parents from three different cultural g... more Documents the perceptions of literacy acquisition held by parents from three different cultural groups (Chinese Canadian, Euro-Canadian, and Indo-Canadian). Suggests that cultural membership is a crucial variable to examine, and that communicating dimensions of literacy programs to parents may be very difficult given the ways in which cultural membership impacts parents' schemata. (RS)
This study compared the development of storybook reading in 15 kindergartners from working class ... more This study compared the development of storybook reading in 15 kindergartners from working class homes to that of kindergartners from middle class homes studied by Sulzby (1985). Nine girls and six boys from two kindergartens in a small, rural town in British Columbia, Canada, participated. Kindergarten teachers used a holistic approach to literacy acquisition and emphasized storybook reading in class; children took library books home at least once a week. In October and June, individual children were asked to select a favorite book from the classroom collection and "read" it to the researcher. The researcher audiotaped the storybook reenactment and made notes regarding the children's behavior. Audiotapes were transcribed, coded, and scored on an 11-point scale ranging from labeling and commenting to reading independently, developed by Barnhart (1991) and based on Sulzby's scheme. Mean scores for the October retellings were significantly lower in this study than in...
Early childhood education is a widely accepted term to describe a program aimed at providing all ... more Early childhood education is a widely accepted term to describe a program aimed at providing all round development for children between ages of 2 and 6 years. It paves the way for effective learning. The child is prepared in all respects to profit from schooling during this period. Enriched environment is to be provided for the receptive mind of the child.
Twelve fathers and 12 mothers of four year olds were presented with 14 children's books repre... more Twelve fathers and 12 mothers of four year olds were presented with 14 children's books representing various genres and were asked to select the five books they would read to their children in the coming week and to give reasons for their selections. They were then asked to identify those books they would not select and to provide reasons. There
This stocktaking workshop provided an opportunity for several groups with active interest in impa... more This stocktaking workshop provided an opportunity for several groups with active interest in impact assessment relating to agricultural policy research to share experiences and views about what constitutes good practice in this field. The sponsoring organizations have had a long-standing concern for the relevance and effectiveness of agricultural and food policy research in general and at IFPRI in particular. That concern has been addressed in past meetings and the time seemed right for a further stocktaking. The focus of this 2004 meeting was on impact assessment experience at IFPRI. IFPRI has, since the mid-1990s, carried out a variety of activities aimed at assessing the impact of its policy research, capacity strengthening, and policy communications programs. The workshop brought together practitioners of such impact assessment work, users of such information, as well as researchers whose activities have been the subject of impact assessment. The cogency and necessity of such im...
In this article, we report on a study in which we interviewed working class families who were the... more In this article, we report on a study in which we interviewed working class families who were the first cohort in a family literacy program that had been locally developed and implemented in a small village in Canada more than two decades previously in response to community-identified needs. The study was framed by Tulving’s concept of episodic memory which he described as autobiographical and which allows one to recall and reflect on one’s past experiences because they are significant. Ten of the original 18 families were available, and they were interviewed in their homes using a semi-structured protocol. Interviews were transcribed and then coded according to themes. Findings include the following: families reported that the hands-on structure of the program in which they worked alongside their children helped them understand learning through play and developmentally appropriate curriculum and pedagogy; they gained insights as to how they could continue to support their children’...
This paper reports on an analysis of 60 print and online articles collected in a metropolitan are... more This paper reports on an analysis of 60 print and online articles collected in a metropolitan area in Canada that describe children’s digital engagement through a focus on ‘early literacy’ or ‘digital literacy’. Findings reveal mixed messages about children’s use of digital technology that create competing frames for adults supporting (or not) young children’s digital literacy practices. Digital technology was often characterized as something to limit/control, except in school, where digital literacy was characterized as holding a proper place when controlled by educators. Consistent across media messaging was the promotion of traditional, print-based texts as an essential early literacy practice.
In this article, we describe how the funds of knowledge in a community in rural Northern Canada w... more In this article, we describe how the funds of knowledge in a community in rural Northern Canada were actualized or leveraged in an early childhood classroom. We draw on a video recording of a First Nations elder demonstrating to the children (and early childhood educators) how to skin a marten, a historical cultural practice of the community. We argue that elders are an untapped source of knowledge that preschools and schools can call on to legitimize and bring to the forefront, Indigenous knowledge that has been ignored or undervalued by assimilationist and colonialist policies. We also argue that the elder’s demonstration is culturally congruent with First Nations traditions of sharing or passing on knowledge and that it is imperative that educators are aware of and implement culturally appropriate pedagogical practices. We conclude by sharing some ideas of how early childhood educators might facilitate through play, children’s taking up and appropriating cultural knowledge such a...
Documents the perceptions of literacy acquisition held by parents from three different cultural g... more Documents the perceptions of literacy acquisition held by parents from three different cultural groups (Chinese Canadian, Euro-Canadian, and Indo-Canadian). Suggests that cultural membership is a crucial variable to examine, and that communicating dimensions of literacy programs to parents may be very difficult given the ways in which cultural membership impacts parents' schemata. (RS)
This study compared the development of storybook reading in 15 kindergartners from working class ... more This study compared the development of storybook reading in 15 kindergartners from working class homes to that of kindergartners from middle class homes studied by Sulzby (1985). Nine girls and six boys from two kindergartens in a small, rural town in British Columbia, Canada, participated. Kindergarten teachers used a holistic approach to literacy acquisition and emphasized storybook reading in class; children took library books home at least once a week. In October and June, individual children were asked to select a favorite book from the classroom collection and "read" it to the researcher. The researcher audiotaped the storybook reenactment and made notes regarding the children's behavior. Audiotapes were transcribed, coded, and scored on an 11-point scale ranging from labeling and commenting to reading independently, developed by Barnhart (1991) and based on Sulzby's scheme. Mean scores for the October retellings were significantly lower in this study than in...
Early childhood education is a widely accepted term to describe a program aimed at providing all ... more Early childhood education is a widely accepted term to describe a program aimed at providing all round development for children between ages of 2 and 6 years. It paves the way for effective learning. The child is prepared in all respects to profit from schooling during this period. Enriched environment is to be provided for the receptive mind of the child.
Twelve fathers and 12 mothers of four year olds were presented with 14 children's books repre... more Twelve fathers and 12 mothers of four year olds were presented with 14 children's books representing various genres and were asked to select the five books they would read to their children in the coming week and to give reasons for their selections. They were then asked to identify those books they would not select and to provide reasons. There
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