The study aimed to examine whether lessons that combine different teaching styles (Visual, Auditory, Reading/writing and Kinaesthetic- VARK) assist or hinder the learning of primary school pupils with different personal learning styles according to the pupils' responses. These lessons were given to three classesin primary school G in Israel (two in Year 5 and one in Year 6), a total of 75 pupils, for an entire school year. Before the experimental lessons were implemented the pupils inthe research population completed the VARK questionnaire (in the form of a Hebrew questionnaire) to assess their learning styles. Mixed qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect data concerning the pupils' responses to these lessons with three research tools: questionnaires, observations and interviews. In the theoretical discourse on learning styles there is a controversy debating whether it is necessary to adapt teaching styles to the learning styles of pupils (Wehrwein, 2007; Carrier, 2009; Fountain & Alfred, 2009; Howles & Jeong, 2009; Naimie, et. al., 2010) or to teach with teaching styles that are different from pupils' learning styles in order to broaden the pupils' abilities (McCarthy, 1990; Tanner & Allen, 2004; Boella, 2010). The present research demonstrates that as long as the lesson integrates several different learning styles (VARK), each of them for a short duration during the lesson, pupils (even pupils who have special needs and new immigrant pupils) gain a lot in the lesson. The Visual element of the lesson was found to be especially meanningful in holding the pupils' attention and improving their understanding and motivation to learn, irrespective of their personal learning styles. Research results showed that the combination of learning styles provided a variety that the pupils enjoyed and helped them to feel a sense of capability to learn. It was also clear that the elements of the lesson that did not correspond with their personal learning style did not hinder them, but often actually assisted them, increasing motivation and improving achievements. This was especially so for the weakerpupils. In one particular case of a child with special needs there was evidence of dramatic improvements in academic achievements. The Kinaesthetic element, the teacher's Auditory explanations and the Reading element caused marginal problems for pupilswho lacked these elements in their learning style. There were no significant differences between pupils with a single-element learning style and those with multiple-element learning styles. The Visual element was found to be most significant for most pupils and facilitated attention, recall and a sense of self ability. Irrespective of their learning style all the pupils felt that they were assisted by all the elements of the lesson and although the teacher's oral explanations were seen as a slight hindrance, the pupils reported that these explanations supported their sense of capability and this was especially so for pupils diagnosed with a Kinaesthetic learning style. It was also found that most of the pupils did not enjoy the Kinaesthetic work although they completed it successfully.

This thesis investigated the application of enactive principles to the design of classroom technolo- gies for young children’s learning through play. This study identified the attributes of an enactive pedagogy, in order to develop a design framework to accommodate enactive learning processes. From an enactive perspective, the learner is defined as an autonomous agent, capable of adapta- tion via the recursive consumption of self generated meaning within the constraints of a social and material world. Adaptation is the parallel development of mind and body that occurs through inter- action, which renders knowledge contingent on the environment from which it emerged. Parallel development means that action and perception in learning are as critical as thinking. An enactive approach to design therefore aspires to make the physical and social interaction with technology meaningful to the learning objective, rather than an aside to cognitive tasks. The design framework considered in detail the necessary affordances in terms of interaction, activity and context. In a further interpretation of enactive principles, this thesis recognised play and pretence as vehicles for designing and evaluating enactive learning and the embodied use of technology. In answering the research question, the interpreted framework was applied as a novel approach to designing and analysing children’s engagement with technology for learning, and worked towards a paradigm where interaction is part of the learning experience. The aspiration for the framework was to inform the design of interaction modalities to allow users’ to exercise the inherent mechanisms they have for making sense of the world. However, before making the claim to support enactive learning processes, there was a question as to whether technologically mediated realities were suitable environments to apply this framework. Given the emphasis on the physical world and action, it was the intention of the research and design activities to explore whether digital artefacts and spaces were an impoverished reality for enactive learning; or if digital objects and spaces could afford sufficient ’reality’ to be referents in social play behaviours. The project embedded in this research was tasked with creating deployable technologies that could be used in the classroom. Consequently, this framework was applied in practice, whereby the design practice and deployed technologies served as pragmatic tools to investigate the potential for interactive technologies in children’s physical, social and cognitive learning. To understand the context, underpin the design framework, and evaluate the impact of any techno- logical interventions in school life, the design practice was informed by ethnographic methodologies. The design process responded to cascading findings from phased research activities. The initial fieldwork located meaning making activities within the classroom, with a view to to re-appropriating situated and familiar practices. In the next stage of the design practice, this formative analysis determined the objectives of the participatory sessions, which in turn contributed to the creation of technologies suitable for an inquiry of enactive learning. The final technologies used standard school equipment with bespoke software, enabling children to engage with real time compositing and tracking applications installed in the classrooms’ role play spaces. The evaluation of the play space technologies in the wild revealed under certain conditions, there was evidence of embodied presence in the children’s social, physical and affective behaviour - illustrating how mediated realities can extend physical spaces. These findings suggest that the attention to meaningful interaction, a presence in the environment as a result of an active role, and a social presence - as outlined in the design framework - can lead to the emergence of observable enactive learning processes. As the design framework was applied, these principles could be examined and revised. Two notable examples of revisions to the design framework, in light of the applied practice, related to: (1) a key affordance for meaningful action to emerge required opportunities for direct and immediate engagement; and (2) a situated awareness of the self and other inhabitants in the mediated space required support across the spectrum of social interaction. The application of the design framework enabled this investigation to move beyond a theoretical discourse.

There is concern around children’s lack of knowledge and understanding of food sources and production, and more broadly around their apparent disconnection from nature. Spending time in the outdoors has been shown to yield a range of benefits, although the mechanisms underpinning these are not well understood. Studies have suggested, however, that there has been a decline in time spent outdoors by children. The introduction of the ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ guidelines in Scotland was heralded as an opportunity to address this decline. Although the guidelines advocate the use of outdoor environments, little research has been conducted, and little guidance is available, on how teachers can and do use outdoor learning in relation to the guidelines, particularly beyond ‘adventure’ activities. Farms are utilised as an educational resource around the world. This research explored the use of educational farm visits, as an example of outdoor learning, in the context of Curriculum for Excellence. A qualitatively driven, mixed methods study, comprising survey and case study methodologies, was undertaken. A questionnaire for teachers informed subsequent interviews with teachers and farmers, and ‘group discussions’ with primary school pupils. The study found that teachers can link farm visits and associated topics with the Curriculum for Excellence guidelines in a range of ways, covering all curriculum areas. There was a tendency however for farm visits to be associated with food and farming topics at Primary 2-3 (age 6-7), rather than used more widely. Issues to consider in the planning and conduct of farm visits were identified, and barriers and motivations for teachers, and for farmers volunteering to host visits, were explored. As well as practical examples of the use of farm visiting, this research offers a perspective on some of the theoretical literature which seeks to explain the benefits of spending time outdoors. Furthermore, five main recommendations for farm visiting in the context of Curriculum for Excellence are given. These relate to the type of visit appropriate to different age groups, opportunities for teachers to become more familiar with what farms visits can offer, and raising awareness of the organisations and networks which can support volunteer farmers to host visits.

An intervention, which targeted three- and four-year-old children's oral language, was developed for this study. The intervention was run over twice-weekly sessions, for ten weeks. Incorporating good Early Years practice, the first session in the week was a group shared storybook reading session with a puppet, where dialogic discussion took place and the children practised sequencing the story using visual prompts. The second weekly session consisted of planning, acting out and reviewing a planned pretend play episode based on the storybook which was read in that week's first session. Ninety-four children were randomly assigned to a control or treatment group and were tested at pre- and post-test on a battery of vocabulary and narrative assessments. The results of a Randomised Control Trial were positive in favour of the intervention. The most important of these results was a statistically significant effect on the receptive vocabulary of the children in the treatment group, with a large effect size, as measured by the standardised British Picture Vocabulary Scales (Dunn et al., 1997). There was also a significant effect on productive vocabulary, as measured by a Researcher-Designed Vocabulary Test (RDVT). This test was devised for the purpose of this study, testing one-word vocabulary, taken directly from the storybooks in the intervention. As this is not a norm-referenced, standardised test, caution is advisable in the interpretation of this result. A further positive effect concerned the narrative skills of the children in the treatment group, when compared to the children in a control group - the Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) score was higher in the treatment group, with a medium effect size. By examining the intervention by Randomised Control Trial, this study responds to the call from Lillard et al (2013) for more experimental research on pretend play and narrative. The acknowledgement of the role of the adult in the intervention coupled with the positive effect on the children's MLU and receptive vocabulary mean that the intervention, with further development, has the potential to be used as a Professional Development tool for supporting language development in the Early Years in the UK, in the future.