This research examines the perceptions of program alumni from Class Afloat – a particular tall ship sailing study school – with a view for perceived personal and social development during the experience and since, through an Aristotelian virtue lens. Set at the disciplinary intersection of Aristotelian virtue theory and experiential education, self-reporting through survey and interview are analyzed to understand how program alumni perceive the experience as catalyzing or accelerating personal growth (including self-determination, responsibility, attentional flexibility, discipline, courage, moderate self-awareness, perspective, and realistic optimism) and social growth (including friendship, care for the other, empathy, humility, and loyalty) in a deeper attempt to assess perceived growth in practical wisdom, or phronesis, the practice of which mediates over and is constituted by these personal and social virtues. Program alumni are drawn from a large chronological range of cohorts (1985-2012) to best appreciate Aristotle’s notion that a flourishing life (one with developed and active practical wisdom) must be measured across a full life. In the end, the data suggests participation was significant in paradigmatic ways, leading to personal and social growth which extends far beyond the experience itself, impacting participant value commitments, personal identity, and ability to make practical wise decisions.

This is a participative case study of a self-facilitating, collaborative, women’s learning group. The group’s longevity afforded a unique opportunity to investigate, in depth, both what encouraged its members to join at its outset, and what has sustained the participation of its current members for thirteen years. Its longevity also provided an opportunity to explore the impact of sustained membership on the women in the group. These two components of the study are its most significant original contributions to the existing literature which does not appear to cover anything similar. The initial raison d’étre of the group was its members’ professional development and this forms a central strand of the investigation, along with identity and self-facilitation. A pragmatic research paradigm, the collaborative nature of the group and the writer’s dual role as both participant and researcher were all influential in the decision to use a participative approach. A range of methods, chosen by the participants, was utilised during the investigation which, whilst participatory, is not emancipatory research. This experimental divergence from how a participative approach is traditionally employed is offered for consideration by researchers who wish to work in a new way that minimises power in other, non-emancipatory situations. The findings support, contradict and add to the literature. The mutuality of longevity and the depth of discourse and learning experienced by group members is a particularly striking aspect of this study. As members of the group have aged, its focus has segued from professional development to encompass a much broader agenda: it has shifted from contributing to members’ professional identity to sustaining their perceptions of self as women who remain capable of complex, critical thinking as they move out of full-time work. The longevity of the group has also fostered deep attachments between group members, despite the differences between them: sustained membership of the group, in turn, provides sustenance for its members. The significance of grounding, ground rules and group composition are highlighted, as is the need to contemplate how members will leave a group during its formation. Alignment between participants in a group is identified as important for its continuation but not always possible. This research makes no claim to offer a definitive model for collaborative learning groups but, instead poses a series of questions for consideration by others who are interested in collaborative learning.

The work of Humanities & Social Sciences students involves learning to express disciplinary content in essay assessment to disciplinary norms. Though tutors use a genre for professional writing, literacy is often not part of the classroom discussion. Therefore, many students have difficulty appropriating the communicative tools of that disciplinary genre. This may be solved by a turn in pedagogy towards tutors’ awareness of students’ processes (Hornsby & Osman, 2014) which may, in turn, improve tutors’ feedback. Ethnography has provided insights into students’ attitudes, their impressions of feedback and experiences, largely through interview methods, and classroom observation (Saville-Troike, 1989), but assessment writing does not typically occur in class. What was needed was a closer examination of students’ literacy processes. This study looked at literacy work through Activity Theory (Leont’ev, 1978) which represents human activity as a contextualised system where a group works together towards an object. Group collaboration allows for concepts to be negotiated and for interpretations to be shared, which can aid understanding (Mercer, 1995). This cross-sectional study examined three L2-English Business Studies student groups’ collaborative writing with observation of activity as its primary instrument for capturing student literacy work. Using an Educational Talk framework (Mercer, 1995) to examine the qualities of negotiation, this study offers a new understanding of students’ processes of literacy work and their possible effect on literacy appropriation. The results showed how the task and other structural tensions drive literacy work, and how the particular attributes of Educational Talk, in a tertiary context, contribute to the negotiation of meaning in the resolution of tensions. It also showed how literacy work involves the inter-mingling of textual work, subject content (Tardy, 2006, 2009) and contextual factors. These indicate the importance of group literacy activity for students, and the importance of understanding group discussions involving literacy work.

Group work is commonly recommended as a student-centred instructional strategy which may enhance learning. Research in this area has predominantly used controlled interventions focusing on unproductive teacher assistance or specific strategies of doing group work to be applied by teachers. On the other hand, teachers’ own understanding and uses of group work in classrooms have been under-researched. Drawing on cultural-historical theory, this study scrutinises how and why teachers use group work, and how their enacted understanding is related to the broader contexts of teaching. The present study consists of four teachers of English in two secondary schools in Hong Kong to discern their rationales for and implementation of group work. The analysis delves into the dynamics within the activity of teaching, which comprise the interrelations between teachers' biographies, their purposes for group work in classrooms and what was expected from these teachers within the school practices. The Vygotskian perspective taken by this study entailed an inquiry into the teachers' intentional actions in everyday teaching. Each teacher was interviewed at the outset and end of the school-based fieldwork for their learning backgrounds and beliefs about teaching. In between these interviews each of them was observed in 15 lessons involving group work and undertook five to six stimulated recall (SR) interviews. These lesson video-recordings provided the stimuli for the SR interviews for probing the teacher’s pedagogic decisions while orchestrating students in small groups. The data was analysed by deploying concepts from cultural-historical theory, particularly two organising frameworks developed within the approach. One is a pedagogic sequence proposed by Edwards (1995; in press) as a descriptor to categorise the teachers’ purposes for and actions in group work. The other is an adaptation of Hedegaard's (2012) planes of analysis for identifying the various motives and demands in the multi-layered setting of teaching where group work was located. Group work as a pedagogic tool displayed the intra- and interpersonal dynamics in the activity of teaching. The findings indicate that the teachers' historically-constructed identities as learners of English oriented their intentions for group work and beliefs about teaching the subject. How the schools mediated societal expectations on teaching and learning had a considerable bearing on the teachers enacting their understanding. These institutional objectives and demands in practices created sets of opportunities for group work in the classrooms. The analysis thence was sited at the interface between the teachers' personal pedagogies and the multi-faceted social structure reflected in how education policy was mediated differently in different school contexts. The implications for teacher development are discussed.

Cette recherche se situe dans le domaine de la didactique des langues. Elle s’appuie sur une expérience d’enseignement du français à travers la mise en place d’un projet d’arts du cirque menée en classe d’initiation (CLIN). L’hypothèse est que les activités de cirque, par les émotions qu’elles mettent en jeu et les situations de communication qu’elles développent, sont déclencheuses d’une prise de parole spontanée et ont un effet positif sur la production orale des apprenants en L2. Les étapes de réalisation du projet tiennent compte de l’évolution de la place des émotions dans la pratique de cette activité artistique : Se mouvoir pour s’émouvoir ; Voir et s’émouvoir ; Donner à voir pour émouvoir. L’analyse des tâches mises en place à la lumière des théories de l’acquisition des langues permet de mesurer leur impact sur le développement de la production orale des apprenants en français. L’analyse de la production orale ainsi que de l’investissement des apprenants dans le projet et des émotions qu’ils ont exprimées, permet de mettre en évidence certains éléments du rapport émotion/investissement/acquisition d’une L2. En mesurant la portée et les limites de cette étude, je peux proposer quelques perspectives et conseils pour la mise en place d’un projet cirque visant l’acquisition d’une L2. / This research is situated in the field of language teaching. It is based on an experience of teaching French through a circus arts project, conducted in a primary school with a group of children aged 6 to 11, recently arrived in France. The hypothesis is that circus activities through the emotions involved and the implied situations of communication lead to spontaneous speech and have a positive effect of L2 oral production. The steps of the project take into account the evolution of emotions developed in these artistic activities: - Move to feel moved - See and feel moved – Give to see for spectators to feel moved. The analysis of the tasks in the light of language acquisition theories leads to a better understanding of the impact of this project on learners’ oral production of French. The analysis of the oral production, the examination of the investment of learners in the project and of emotions they expressed, allow me to highlight certain elements of the link between emotion, investment and L2 acquisition. After measuring the scope and limits of this study, I can suggest a few perspectives and advice for the establishment of a circus project involving L2 acquisition.

Observations of young children are conducted in an educational setting by practitioners to plan and assess activities based on the individual development and needs of the child. Challenges include: recording, how to be an observer rather than a participant, and connecting developmental theory to observable behaviour.Several projects have simulated children in their learning environments, aimed mainly at pre-service teachers, but these have neither been for young children where the activity is play-based nor where the adult is supportive of the child's interests. Some simulations have used 3D graphics to represent a child via a role-playing adult but there have been few attempts to use autonomous characters.A novel real-time interactive 3D graphical simulation—Observation—was developed, providing a physical sandbox for users to: add autonomous characters (representing children), add objects, and customise the play-based environment. The definitions of the characters were informed by the findings from early childhood research. The simulation was evaluated using two complementary serious game frameworks and its utility was evaluated by professionals within the field of early childhood education comprising university students and educators, and local education authority advisors. An explorative, mixed methods approach was taken, triangulating across: a pilot study and a main study; different research instruments (simulation activity plus questionnaire, focus groups, interviews); and a range of participants. The simulation has utility because: it is an interesting way to explore the behaviours of young children, the theoretical understanding behind children's play can be deepened, and observational skills can be developed. The simulation has wide appeal because the perceived utility of the simulation is not influenced by: professional experience, number of real-life observations of young children, or time spent playing video games. Age is considered to be the most important omission from the abstract character in the simulation.