Text in German, summaries in English and German / Die vorliegende Forschungsarbeit befasst sich mit den Erfahrungen, die Senioren im Alter von 60plus in einem evangelischen Kindergarten im niedersächsischen Apen in der Zusammenarbeit mit Kindern machen, wenn sie ihre Ressourcen an Wissen und Zeit ehrenamtlich einbringen. Das Engagement der Senioren in der Generationenarbeit erfolgt in Form von Workshops und weiteren verschiedenen Projekten und versteht sich als gemeinwesendiakonisches Projekt in Kooperation zwischen Kirche und Kindergarten. Die Studie untersucht die subjektiven Erfahrungen der ehrenamtlich tätigen Senioren mit Kindern, die aus den intergenerationellen Begegnungen hervorgehen und deutet diese auf ihre missionstheologische Relevanz. Unter Rückgriff auf praktisch-theologische Erkenntnisse aus der Lebenswelt der Senioren gehen wichtige Ergebnisse in die in der kontextuellen Theologie und Missiologie verorteten Arbeit ein. Diese münden wiederum in praktische Empfehlungen zur generationenübergreifenden Arbeit für Kirche und Kommune. / The current study aims at investigating the experiences of elderly at the age of 60plus, when contributing with their knowledge and time during their work with children. As a research setting, an evangelic kindergarden has been selected in Apen, the northern part of Lower Saxony, Germany. The engagement of seniors in this so-called generation work is understood as a diaconal practical project which is defined as social welfare work. It is implemented in form of different projects and performed in cooperation with the church and the kindergarden. The research explores firstly, the subjective experiences of the volunteering seniors during their intergenerational encounters. Secondly, the inter generational encounters are furthermore analyzed regarding its missiological-theological relevance. Practical theological insights, gained by analyzing the seniors’ lifeworld, result as relevant for the research in the domain of contextual theology and missiology. Finally, the results lead to practical recommendations for intergenerational work for both the church and community. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

The diploma thesis consists of theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part deals with a definition of important concepts such as philosophy for children, historical development of this program, personality of a child, communication and thinking of pre-school children. The practical part is conceived as a controlled dialogue with children in preschool education, with a great emphasis on expressing their emotions and experiencing a given situation.

Advocacy and leadership style are essential concepts in education. This qualitative case study was undertaken to demonstrate how Robert K. Greenleaf’s servant-leadership framework could be a useful framework to adopt by educational leaders and child advocates. Servant-leadership identifies the needs of others as a primary goal of leadership. The study contributes to understanding the value of exemplary servant-leadership and advocacy in public education as demonstrated by David Lawrence Jr. The researcher addressed questions regarding how Lawrence embodies servant-leadership traits and explored how a servant-leader has been positively influencing early childhood public educational policy in Florida to benefit all children. There were 16 interviews conducted with individuals from four interest groups in Florida: business leaders, political leaders, local South Florida leaders and educational leaders. In addition, data were gathered by observing and interviewing Lawrence. His speeches and other archival documents were also analyzed. The findings illustrated the ten traits of the servant-leadership framework and identified five additional traits modeled by Lawrence that have contributed to his influence on public educational policy. A paradigm shift from authoritarian leadership to an authentic servant-leadership style that advocates for young children and promotes the importance of early childhood educational policy. The dichotomy examined throughout this research focused on servant-leadership and advocacy that is instrumental to make a difference in education as an educational leader navigates through political agendas. Lawrence leads a “Children’s Movement” in Florida that includes an ongoing bi-partisan individuals movement that has changed early childhood education in Florida. The findings of this investigation validate that servant-leadership framework could influence the transformation of public education.

Les études longitudinales en milieu scolaire débutant en maternelle permettent une analyse des facteurs propres à l'enfant et à son environnement impliqués dans le développement de la lecture et de la réussite scolaire. Cependant, les études visant à analyser l'influence longitudinale de ces facteurs dès l'école maternelle restent exceptionnelles en France. Une étude épidémiologique initiée en 2001 dans la Communauté Urbaine de Creusot Montceau (Saône-et-Loire, France) avait comme objectif l'examen des contributions des facteurs propres à l'enfant et des variables environnementales dans l'acquisition de la lecture et la réussite scolaire dès la maternelle (3-6 ans) jusqu'au milieu de l'école élémentaire (CE2, 8-9 ans). Le travail de thèse présenté a permis le prolongement de la période de recueil de donnés jusqu'à la fin du collège (3ème, 14-15 ans) représentant une période de suivi de 10 ans dans la population générale. L'objectif principal de ce travail est d'identifier les facteurs propres à l'enfant (cognitifs, académiques et comportementaux) et des variables environnementales (facteurs sociodémographiques et caractéristiques familiales) dans le développement de la lecture à la fin de l'école primaire (CM2) et la réussite scolaire à la fin du collège (3ème). Les échantillons comprenaient 829 enfant inscrits en Grande Section de Maternelle pendant l'année scolaire 2001-2001 (Cohorte 1, 90% de l'échantillon initial) suivis jusqu'à la fin du collège (année scolaire 2010-2011) et 812 enfants de Grande Section de Maternelle durant l'année 2003-2004 (Cohorte 3) suivis jusqu'à la fin de l'école élémentaire (Cours Moyen 2, année scolaire 2008-2009). En Grande Section de Maternelle, le recueil de données a compris l'évaluation des compétences cognitives, académiques et comportementales des enfants, ainsi que le recueil des informations concernant le contexte familial. Les mesures de réussite scolaire ont compris les résultats des enfants dans les évaluations nationales réalisées à la fin du collège pour la Cohorte 1, (Diplôme National du Brevet) et les performances des enfants dans une mesure standardisée de lecture de mots à la fin de l'école élémentaire pour la Cohorte 3 (ODEDYS, Jacquier-Roux, Valdois & Zorman, 2002). Les compétences de traitement phonologique, la connaissance de lettres et le comportement attentif étaient les prédicteurs le plus significatifs de la lecture de mots au Cours Moyen 2. Le signalement par les parents d'antécédents familiaux de difficultés de lecture était associé simultanément avec des difficultés de lecture et le comportement inattentif à la fin de l'école élémentaire. En 3ème année du collège, les compétences de langage oral, la connaissance de lettres, la mémoire verbal à court terme, le raisonnement perceptif (facteur non-verbal) et le comportement attentif des enfants en maternelle, ainsi que le niveau d'éducation des parents et le type de famille, ont prédit significativement la mesure de réussite scolaire générale à la fin du collège. En outre, les résultats ont montré l'influence de plusieurs caractéristiques familiales dont la nationalité du père, le mode de garde avant la scolarisation, les rituels d'endormissement et les antécédents familiaux de difficultés de lecture. Ces caractéristiques renvoient à des facteurs qui mettent un enfant en risque d'échec scolaire à la fin du collège. Ce travail contribue à la littérature scientifique existante concernant les facteurs propres à l'enfant et à son environnent familial liés à l'acquisition de la lecture et à la réussite scolaire. Les résultats permettent l'identification des facteurs familiaux mettant un enfant à risque d'échec scolaire. Il ont des importantes implications pour repérer le plus précocement possible les enfants à risque de développer des difficultés de lecture et d'échec scolaire et pour mettre en place des programmes d'intervention adéquats à ses difficultés dès le début des trajectoires académiques de l'enfant. / Longitudinal studies starting during kindergarten provide an appropriate method to investigate the child- and environmental-level factors that account for children's reading and academic achievement later in their educational trajectories. In France, studies designed to follow-up children longitudinally from kindergarten onwards remain scarce. An epidemiological study started in 2001 in the Urban Community of Creusot Montceau (Saône-et-Loire, France) sought initially to identify the factors associated with children's reading acquisition and academic achievement from preschool (3-6 years) to the middle of elementary school (Grade 3, 8-9 years). The PhD project reported here aimed to extend the original design of data collection to the end of middle school (Grade 9, 14-15 years) spanning a 10-year follow-up period in the general population. This work aimed to investigate the specific contributions of child-level factors (cognitive-academic skills, behavior problems) and environment-level factors (sociodemographic and family characteristics) for children's subsequent reading acquisition at the end of elementary school (Grade 5), as well as academic achievement at the end of middle school (Grade 9). The samples of analysis comprised 829 kindergarteners in the 2001-2002 school year (Cohort 1, 90% of the initial sample) followed through the end of middle school (Cohort 1, 2010-2011 school year) and 812 kindergarteners in the 2003-2004 school year (Cohort 3), from which a sub-sample of 154 participants was followed through the end of elementary school (2008-2009 school year). At kindergarten, assessment included measures of children's cognitive-academic and behavioral skills, as well as family background characteristics. Outcome measures were composed of children's results in the national evaluations performed at the end of middle school for Cohort 1 ("Diplôme National du Brevet") and of children's scores in standardized measures of word reading achievement at the end of elementary school for Cohort 3 (ODEDYS, Jacquier-Roux, Valdois & Zorman, 2002). The results indicated that children's phonological processing skills, letter knowledge and attentive behavior were the most robust predictors of word reading achievement at Grade 5. In addition, parental reports of familial antecedents of reading difficulties also contributed to predict word reading at Grade 5 and were specifically associated with both reading difficulties and inattention behavior at this grade level. At Grade 9, children's oral language skills, letter knowledge, short-term verbal memory, perceptual reasoning (non-verbal cognitive ability) and attentive behavior at kindergarten predicted significantly the outcome measure of general academic achievement at Grade 9, together with parental educational level and family structure. Moreover, results indicated the influence of several family characteristics referring to father's nationality, type of early childcare, language-based bedtime routines and familial antecedents of reading difficulties as risk factors for children's subsequent academic underachievement. The present work contributes to the extant literature regarding the child- and family-level factors associated with subsequent reading acquisition and academic achievement from kindergarten to elementary and middle school. Importantly, these results allowed the identification of novel familial risk factors that influence negatively children's subsequent academic trajectories. These findings have important implications regarding the child and family factors that should be targeted during kindergarten in order to prevent children's subsequent reading and academic difficulties and to promote adequate intervention strategies early in children's educational trajectories.

Upon entering middle school, students within the study district in southeastern Tennessee had low literacy proficiency scores on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) for 3 consecutive years. Middle school administrators implemented a program called Lexile Framework (LF) into the literacy curriculum in 2011 to improve TCAP scores. However, the change in literacy scores had not been examined following the implementation of LF. The purpose of this quasi-experimental research study was to examine the differences in literacy scores on TCAP of students across the years of pre- and post-LF implementation into the curriculum (2009-2011 and 2012-2014). The theoretical framework for this research study was Vygotsky’s social development theory used within the LF to create student-centered learning in order for students to construct new knowledge by making connections with their literacy experiences. With a convenience sample of 225 students, a repeated-measure analysis of variance determined if there was a significant change in the archived matched literacy TCAP scores before and after the implementation of LF. The multivariate tests indicated a significant (Wilk’s Λ = .21, F (3, 222) = 276.85, p < .01) and linear effect (F (1, 224) = 709.75, p < .01) with partial eta squared (η2 = .76) of LF on literacy TCAP scores of students across the years of pre- and post-LF implementation. Positive social change implications include providing school administrators with research findings to inform district-wide decisions regarding the use of LF in the curricula in their middle schools. Increasing students’ literacy TCAP scores may ultimately improve graduation rates for students.

This diploma thesis deals with pressure losses in heating systems. The diploma thesis is divided into three sections. The first part is theoretical and deals with the occurrence of pressure losses. It discusses the properties of the fluid that affect pressure losses. It also deals with hydrodynamic phenomena, flow distribution, pressure loss distribution and its calculations. The aim of the second part, which is practical, was to create a heating project for a selected object. The object is a two-floor kindergarten building located in Velké Němčice. For this project, two heating variants were created. For the first variant, radiators and heating benches were designed and for the second variant, underfloor heating was installed in the building. The goal was to use a source which will gain heat mainly from renewable sources, so the air / water heat pump was chosen as the source of heat production. The project ends with a technical report. The third part of the thesis is dedicated to an experiment which purpose was to find out how the pressure losses of the connecting pieces are reacting to the change with the change of the heating water conditions (flow, temperature). Alongside, two pipes were created which differed in the type of connecting pieces so it allowed to compare how their pressure losses differ. Both pipes were connected by radial pressing, but the fittings differed in the quality of the brass, and therefore in the construction. Also, part of the experimental section of the diploma thesis is a description of the course of radial pressing of fittings from the Herz company.

The purpose of this case study was to examine how the K-5 elementary alternative program All Students Can Thrive (ASCT) used student-centered learning practices to influence the whole child. There is a lack of research on K-5 elementary alternative programs, such as ASCT, and specifically those that integrate student-centered learning practices to influence the whole child. Literature does not contain universally accepted interventions that are effective in the elementary alternative setting to help students return to the mainstream classroom setting better prepared to display appropriate behaviors when a student is removed from a mainstream classroom setting due to disruptive behaviors. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) has determined five major tenets that measure how educators influence the whole child and those are: healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged (ASCD, 2022). These five tenets will serve as the theoretical framework for this research on the whole child and ASCD will function as the scientific authority on the whole child for the purposes this case study. Data collection strategies included interviews, field notes, and a document review. Analysis of data occurred in three phases: (a) coding themes from participant responses during interviews (b) analysis of interview field notes (c) document review. The analysis of the case study data was based on the theoretical proposition that educating the whole child involves children being healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged (ASCD, 2022). The credibility of the analysis was protected by triangulation of data through the coding of interviews, interview field notes, and a document review. The results revealed that that all five tenets of the whole child were identified as a common theme or sub-theme from participant responses. Five common themes: (1) Engaged (2) Space to Thrive/Choices (3) Identify Needs/Skills (4) Confidence/Hope (5) Relationship and five sub-themes emerged from the analysis of data: (1) Challenged (2) Supported (3) Safe (4) Healthy (5) Communication.