In this master's thesis the proposal of the production technology of component – solar collector anchor element from steel 1.0038 (11 375) quality, 5 mm thickness is solved. For the manufacturing of the assigned part the shearing and bending technology and a progressive forming tool including a suitable forming machine of 8,000 kN rated power is selected. The proposed method of production is laid down by a technical-economic evaluation with respect to the production series of 150,000 units per year. The solar collector anchor element serves to hold the frame for the solar vacuum tube collector. In the scope of this master's thesis, an assessment of the current production method, including the selection of a suitable semi-finished product for production, was also carried out and their optimization was proposed.

The wall clamp is used for attaching columns or pillars to a concrete foundation. It is made from structural steel 11 375 in the form of sheets with a thickness of 4 mm in the production run of 150 000 pcs/year. A combination of shearing and bending technologies in a progressive forming tool was selected from various options as the most appropriate. On the basis of structural and technological calculations, an instrument was designed, for which the technical documentation was elaborated. Due to the total forming force and work, the forming machine LDO 800 A/S from Šmeral Brno a.s. was selected as the manufacturing machine. The production cost per one part 53.66 CZK was determined using economic evaluation; based on the break even point, the production becomes profitable for the production run with the minimum number of 13 065 pcs.

This thesis poses a number of questions about research and pedagogy with young children under three, with a particular focus on the opportunities for children’s ‘voices’ to be heard and for them to participate in the planning of the curriculum in early years’ settings. The persistent division between education and care has been an issue in many European countries for a long time (OECD, 2006). The thesis reports on the findings of a research project in both England and Greece. The research aims were to consider how the meaning of children’s participation is defined in the settings in the two countries; whether children use the resources provided according to adult expectation and initial planning and how practitioners react to children’s choices by supporting, ignoring or disapproving them. The theoretical underpinning for the thesis is drawn particularly from the work of Rogoff and Corsaro. Research focused on six children in both England and Greece who were observed during their involvement in both adult directed and child initiated activities in the settings. An ethnographic approach together with a range of ‘participatory’ methods were used including data gathered through video recordings made by both children and adults.This study has found that children express their perceptions during an activity in a very complicated way, elaborating and examining all the parameters that could place them in trouble. Additionally, the findings have shown that what the child is doing during an activity is not always what he is thinking, while many times children appeared to have their own agenda, thus ignoring or subverting adult plans. The main finding is that no matter what the differences and similarities in early years’ education and care between the two countries are, there is an urgent need to promote the children’s participatory rights, as adult’s authority and power is generally taken for granted. This thesis argues for ethical tensions in research with young children and for balanced pedagogy where both adults’ and children’s voices influence the curriculum.

The semantic model developed in this research was in response to the difficulty a group of mathematics learners had with conventional mathematical language and their interpretation of mathematical constructs. In order to develop the model ideas from linguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology, formal languages and natural language processing were investigated. This investigation led to the identification of four main processes: the parsing process, syntactic processing, semantic processing and conceptual processing. The model showed the complex interdependency between these four processes and provided a theoretical framework in which the behaviour of the mathematics learner could be analysed. The model was then extended to include the use of technological artefacts into the learning process. To facilitate this aspect of the research, the theory of instrumentation was incorporated into the semantic model. The conclusion of this research was that although the cognitive processes were interdependent, they could develop at different rates until mastery of a topic was achieved. It also found that the introduction of a technological artefact into the learning environment introduced another layer of complexity, both in terms of the learning process and the underlying relationship between the four cognitive processes.

The research studies school heads’ perception of the implementation of the new Moral and Civic Education (MCE) curriculum in Hong Kong primary schools. The MCE curriculum is positioned as a key task in curriculum reform since 2001. The present study recognises school leadership role in steering curriculum delivery in which school heads’ perception is one of the determinants in shaping curriculum execution. Qualitative approach is adopted to uncover the factors affecting the perception of school heads and subsequent implementation strategies. Purposive sampling of six primary school heads is identified for interview to collect data. Content analysis is employed to make inferences from the data reviewing how school heads’ personal belief and values orientation affect the delivery of the curriculum. The MCE curriculum, resting on virtue ethics projecting desirable values to be promoted, is appealing to the school heads. The MCE curriculum designed as values education, resonates Chinese culture emphasizing cultivation of virtue through education while at the same time addressing the societal expectation of the call for promoting national identity with the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997. Given the social and political context of Hong Kong, positive attitude is exhibited by all the sample school heads but they respond differently to the curricular role, reflecting a wide spectrum of understanding of the curriculum and pedagogical competency. The research findings propose the importance of a heightened awareness of school heads’ cognition of the curriculum but their attitude towards the curriculum is deterministic how the curriculum is implemented. The attitude taken hinges on the values and belief of school heads vis a vis organisation values of the school. A model portraying school heads’ awareness, attitude and action for curriculum implementation is recommended to further study school leadership with implications for theory building and practice.

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of personal, social and citizenship education (PSCE) in fostering positive self-esteem in two instrumental case studies which took place in two classrooms of 7-10 year old children (N=40) in France during the 2007-2008 school year. The study used a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methodologies including a self-esteem survey administered to pupils in the two case-study classrooms as well as to students in two control classrooms (N=47) at the beginning and end of the school year. Throughout the course of the year a series of semi-structured interviews was also conducted with six focus children selected from each class (2 high, 2 medium and 2 low self-esteem children) as well as with the two class teachers and the parents/step-parents of the focus children. In addition, the study included non-participant observation which focussed on the participation and behaviour of the focus children during PSCE lessons and other lessons through the use of three separate observation schedules. The study found evidence of the important influence of significant others, in particular, parents, peers and teachers, on the focus children’s self-esteem. Although the quantitative analysis of the self-esteem questionnaires showed no statistically significant increase in self-esteem at the group level over time, the qualitative findings indicate that teachers’ relationship with their students, their promotion of responsibility and self-efficacy, and their careful implementation of PSCE practices contributed to increases in individual children’s self-esteem. There was also evidence that the implementation of PSCE activities contributed to improvements in children’s peer relations.

In 2003 school geography was in a state of crisis: enrolment in GCSE geography courses had fallen by a third over the previous eight years. In response, a radical new ‘pilot’ geography GCSE course was designed and implemented in England. The GCSE was an attempt to rejuvenate a school subject that had become out of date, with little change to its content since the inauguration of the National Curriculum in 1988. With student-centred learning at its heart the GCSE aimed to make the subject much more exciting and relevant to young people. The following thesis examines alternative pedagogical approaches to teaching school geography that draw on young people’s experiences as citizens and consumers to make geography more relevant and interesting to them. Written as an unfolding story this multi-sited ethnography began by exploring the networks behind the pilot. This involved not only several different actors/groups of actors (including geography educators, academic geographers, geography teachers and school pupils) but also several different spaces (including schools, classrooms, organisation headquarters, working group meetings and publications). It moves on to examine how the GCSE’s approaches to teaching, learning and assessing were being played out in practice and to what extent its aims, claims and intentions were being realised in the classroom. Through exploring the pilot’s approach to the pedagogy of school geography my research became action-oriented in approach, and I became involved in co-creating critical, connective curriculum materials for the GCSE. The development of these new materials and teaching and learning strategies are situated within debates in human geography about critical pedagogy, young people’s geographies and public geographies and the thesis forges links between these different theoretical strands. I conclude by asking what lessons can be learnt from the pilot GCSE and its implications for the role of geography within a wider educational context. Written autoethnographically to reflect the collaborative and iterative nature of my research my intention has been to critically engage with multiple publics who are involved in this area.

The aim of this study originated with my role as a teacher wanting to research the impact of the European Language Portfolio, ELP, (2001) on a small group of minority language students, in Brussels’ Flemish region. In this exploratory case study, the European Language Portfolio (Spanish model) was administered to a small group of forty-five primary school students from the Bicultural Foyer Project in Brussels. In spite of the students’ positive attitudes towards this portfolio, the results suggest that the ELP has no validity for them because the Brussels’ Flemish educational community does not offer the appropriate conditions for a possible broader use of this portfolio. Belgium’s language policy environment, including its language policies, is the fundamental reason for the non-implementation of the European Language Portfolio.

The present study focuses on the degree to which an innovative GCSE course (the OCR Pilot GCSE in Geography) acted as a basis for active and innovative learning. Using a holistic framework intertwining curriculum, learning and assessment, a collaborative action research approach was used to develop an active and innovative learning environment, focusing on the work of two groups of GCSE students following the Pilot GCSE course. A conscious adoption of personalised learning approaches, linked to a radical notion of the nature and content of geography and an alternative assessment regime, led to the development of a course founded on the integrated use of information and communication technology alongside independent learning approaches. These developments in active engagement were based on student perceptions of their own preferences with regards to learning and assessment. The action research took place over three cycles, and the results demonstrate that with the curriculum approach inherent in the Pilot GCSE specification, the development of active learning and authentic assessment opportunities were not only possible, but in keeping with the philosophy of the course. There is less evidence that the emerging classroom pedagogy allowed students to deepen their investigation of geography, although there is some qualitative evidence for this.

Development over the past sixty years has created patterned growth and expansion outward from city centers, separating residences from commercial areas and employment centers. This separation of land uses has increased automobile dependency, which increases vehicle miles traveled and associated greenhouse gas emissions. California Senate Bill 375 mandates the development and implementation of a “Sustainable Communities Strategy” in order to plan regional land use and transportation in a coordinated fashion. In coordination with this effort, the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG) is developing the Regional Implementation Plan for Smart Growth Development Strategies, which entails the identification of smart growth strategies that offer the greatest potential to reduce vehicle miles traveled and meet the 5% greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for the Monterey Bay Area. The major goal of this project was to assist AMBAG in determining the political feasibility of smart growth development strategies and identifying the most feasible strategies for the region. Political feasibility was determined by two factors: 1) support from the public/stakeholders, 2) “low-hanging fruit” potential, and one technical criterion: the potential to reduce vehicle miles traveled and the associated greenhouse gas emissions. The Regional Advisory Committee provided ten months of knowledge and expertise on stakeholder opinions v about strategies, barriers, circumstances for gaining stakeholder support, and resources for implementation. Additionally, survey results from planning directors the “low-hanging fruit” strategies. The quantified VMT/GHG reduction potential of smart growth strategies was another evaluation criteria and was used to inventory quantified reduction measures and their ranges of potential. The analysis identified seventeen strategies that met a set of thresholds for political feasibility. Based on these results, it is recommended that AMBAG consider these strategies in the development of their plan, by addressing the barriers to implementation, the conditions or circumstances for overcoming those barriers and gaining support from stakeholders, and developing the resources to assist jurisdictions with implementation.