Navigation is an important aspect in web-site design to make information on web sites easy to find. Different navigation styles have been designed and employed on real-life web pages, most of the styles having good rationales as regards intuitiveness and ease of use. A study based on lay computer users investigates the theory that certain placement/presentation styles for menus are more preferred than others and the expectation that left bars are easiest to use.
Systematic observation was carried out in 12 classrooms (six in an innovative literacy programme which was a precursor to the Literacy Hour and six comparison classes) to explore teaching and learning which occurred after an intensive in-service programme for reception teachers. Altogether 216 children were observed in an inner-city authority, each for 15 minutes according to a schedule of time-sampled and event-sampled categories. Teaching behaviours were included in the observations as well as pupils' learning activities related to curriculum areas and also to play or 'domestic classroom' routines. Results showed that children devoted about equal amounts of time to English in the two types of classrooms and that staff-pupil ratios were also similar. There were no differences in the amount of whole class, group or individual learning observed. However, teachers in the intervention classrooms (Focused Literacy Teaching) were more likely to use 'direct teaching' methods which included managing children's activities and using questions to instruct. Teachers in the comparison classes spent more time in 'physical caring'. There were also differences in pupil learning activities. Although there were no differences in the amount of time children read to a teacher in the two types of classroom, children in the literacy programme spent more time reading to one other child, to a small group and on their own. Moreover, children in the literacy programme spent more time in shared reading and writing. In contrast, children in the comparison classrooms spent more time drawing, colouring and playing. Thus, a striking finding was the greater amount of peer literacy learning in the innovative classrooms. Teachers spent time setting up and managing the literacy activities of the groups, although often the groups continued under their own steam once the learning activity had been started. This led to a greater focus on reading, not only as a result of the teacher's direct teaching, but also through collaborative group work and children learning on their own.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.