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This article reports on how Quebec Francophone high school students, enrolled in a program which featured an environment rich in information and communication technologies (ICTs), appropriated the writing process over a four-year period (Grades 7-10) in the context of their ESL language arts courses. Data for the study were obtained using qualitative research methods, including in-class observation (field notes), videotaping, interviews, and collection of documents. Discussion of the issue of appropriation is framed in relation to sociocultural theory, in particular Engestrom's [Engestrom, Y. (1991). Non scolae sed vitae discimus: Toward overcoming the encapsulation of school learning. Learning and Instruction, 1, 243-259] version of activity theory and Tharp's [Tharp, R. (1993). Institutional & social context of educational practice and reform. In E. Forman, N. Minick, C. A. Stone, & M. S. Forman (Eds.), Contexts for learning: Sociocultural dynamics in children's development (pp. 269-282). New York: Oxford University Press] contention as to the relationship between innovative educational practice and nested activity settings. Analysis of the way activities were structured over the four-year period, especially in regard to the role of scaffolding, serves to foreground the historically transformative nature of the learning process. As part of this analysis, the Grade 10 ''History of Theatre'' web site project is presented as a ''telling case'' [Mitchell, J.C. (1984). Case studies. In R.F. Ellen (Ed.), Ethnographic research: A guide to general conduct (pp. 237-241). San Diego, CA: Academic Press; Putney, L. G., Green, J., Dixon, C., Duran, R., & Yeager, B. (2000). Consequential progressions: Exploring collective-individual development in a bilingual classroom. In C. D. Lee & P. Smagorinsky (Eds.), Vygotskian perspectives on literacy research: Constructing meaning through collaborative inquiry (pp. 86-126). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] to demonstrate how by this point enacting the writing process in an ICT-rich environment had become a highly self-regulated, routine cultural practice. Further evidence of appropriation is provided by the fact that, by Grade 10, students had begun on their own to transfer the use of the writing process to the completion of assignments in other school subjects, thus suggesting that this cultural tool had come to be valued as a means of helping them achieve the personal goal of producing a better written product and not merely fulfill a course requirement. The teacher's proleptic stance in terms of the way he viewed this developmental process is also discussed.

Focuses on an innovative program in a Quebec high school that involves project-based teaching in networked classroom equipped with laptop computers. One English-as--a Second-Language language arts and two French content teachers' use of computer technology is discussed in relation to their conceptualizations of teaching and the way in which the pedagogical innovations featured in this program were supported by the broader social context. (Author/VWL)

Numerous contaminants are produced and used daily, a significant fraction ultimately finding their way into natural waters. However, data on their distribution in lakes is lacking. To address this gap, the presence of 54 trace organic contaminants (TrOCs), representative of various human activities, was investigated in the surface water of 290 lakes across Canada. These lakes ranged from remote to highly impacted by human activities. In 88% of the sampled lakes, contaminants were detected, with up to 28 detections in a single lake. The compounds most frequently encountered were atrazine, cotinine, and deethylatrazine, each of which was present in more than a third of the lakes. The range of detected concentrations was from 0.23 ng/L to about 2200 ng/L for individual compounds, while the maximum cumulative concentration exceeded 8100 ng/L in a single lake. A risk assessment based on effect concentrations for three aquatic species (Pimephales promelas , Daphnia magna , and Tetrahymena pyriformis) was conducted, revealing that 6% of lakes exhibited a high potential risk for at least one species. In 59% of lakes, some contaminants with potential sub-lethal effects were detected, with the detection of up to 17 TrOCs with potential impacts. The results of this work provide the first reference point for monitoring the evolution of contamination in Canadian lakes by TrOCs. They demonstrate that a high proportion of the sampled lakes bear an environmentally relevant anthropogenic chemical footprint. [Display omitted] • Mixtures of trace organic contaminants are omnipresent in lake water across Canada. • 8 out of the 12 quantified pesticides exceeded acceptable water quality thresholds. • 6% of the sampled lakes exhibited potential risk of toxicity for aquatic organisms. • Sub-lethal effects can be expected from detected contaminants in 59% of lakes. • The results provide insights to improve water protection and conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Studies the use of riparian forest strips by small mammals in a boreal balsam fir forest, in Quebec, Canada. Absence of differences in the densities of resident small mammals' species among strip types and among years; Response shown by mammals regarding edge effects in large riparian strips; Role of riparian forest strips in maintaining biodiversity in the region.