Diploma thesis is focused on pupils' coordination abilities on primary grade of elementary school. The main goal is comparison of pupils' levels in coordination skills, who attend dancing lessons in elementary art school and pupils who do not. It leads to be found out how dance and movement education influence coordination skills. The research part consists of motor tests, which find out levels of rhythmics, reacts, balances, orientations, associations and rebuilding. These tests are supplemented by questionnaire, which finds out information needed for processing of results. The questionnaire finds out what sports and how long the pupils do them in an organized way, whether the pupils do sports in an unorganized manner or not at all. In results there are compared measured values. Each test is described and evaluated. In the tests there are compared pupils of primary grade of elementary school and they are split to four categories - non-sporting pupils, unorganized sporting pupils, organized sporting pupils and elementary art school. For comparing results there were chosen values - arithmetic mean, minimum and maximum measured value and supplemented by graphical processing of comparison of selected four groups. From the measured values and their subsequent comparison, it turned out that pupils who...

The aim of the diploma thesis is to find out and compare the level of motor abilities of younger school age children attending dance lessons at Elementary Art school and then to compare it with the level of motor abilities of younger school age children which do sports only in Physical Education. It has been testing at the Elementary Art school in Chotěboř and at the Primary School Smetanova in Chotěboř and I used the battery test - Unifittest (6-60), which I completed by the holistic motoric test, called the Jacík test. I also used a questionnaire to find out what other sports activities do pupils of the dance branch. The research part of this work shows that the dance students achieved on average better results than the pupils of the Primary School dedicated to sports only in Physical Education. The biggest difference was between the test groups in the repeatedly "Leh-Sed", when the dance students were better by almost 30 %. Using a questionnaire survey I found out that 9 out of 14 pupils of the dance branch attend at least one other sports club. KEYWORDS motor abilities, primary school age, elementary art school, dance subject, UNIFITTEST (6-60)

Title: The influence of different kinds of warm-up on the speed skills of football players from the ontogenetic point of view. Aims: The main objective of this diploma thesis is to compare the results of the times achieved by football players in the U18 youth team with their previous times measured two years ago, and in this way to evaluate their development of speed capabilities. Another aim of the research is to evaluate the progress of these players' flexibility at a chosen time interval (two years) and to inquire into other possible connections of these outcomes. Methods: For the assessment of speed power performance, each player goes through two runs at a distance of 30 meters, with measurements in this section also at distances of 5, 10 and 15 meters. Before the measurement itself, all participants are being prepared by a selected type of stretching. Two standardized tests are used for secondary research dealing with potential connection between the attained speed and the degree of flexibility of lower limbs. Outcomes: Testing revealed that subjects had a deterioration in the average running time with a two-year interval at distances of up to 15 meters (5,10,15 meters). On the contrary, when analyzing the results of measuring the distance of 30 meters, a significant improvement in average...

Syftet med studien är att dels undersöka vilka coachkompetenser som coacher bör besitta enligt svenska ishockeyföreningar för att skapa en bra prestationsmiljö, dels att undersöka eventuella skillnader mellan elit- och breddföreningar angående coachkompetenser samt rekryteringsprocess. Studiens teoretiska perspektiv är dels coachkompetenser, i vilket det fokuseras på professionella-, interpersonella- och intrapersonella kunskaper och rekrytering. En kunskapslucka finns att se där det inte finns någon tidigare forskning kring coachkompetenser i ishockey- Sverige de senaste tjugo åren. Tidigare forskning har istället valt inriktningen att belysa vissa viktiga faktorer för coacher generellt, men inget specifikt för coacher inom ishockey- Sverige. Därför anses det finnas ett behov av att undersöka vad ishockeyföreningar i Sverige eftersöker för coachkompetenser vid rekrytering på juniornivå. För att besvara frågeställningarna och syftet användes både en enkätundersökning och intervjuer för att få djupgående och breda svar kring problematiken. Resultatet i studien visar på att det finns fyra kompetenser som är de viktigaste för en juniorcoach att besitta enligt ishockeyföreningar i Sverige. Dessa kompetenser är den pedagogiska kompetensen, kommunikationsförmågan, den ishockeytaktiska kompetensen samt att vara relationsinriktad. Resultatet i studien visar på att det inte finns en signifikant skillnad mellan elit- och breddföreningar angående dessa fyra coachkompetenser, utan dessa kompetenser var eftertraktade oavsett föreningens ambitionsnivåer. Studiens resultat indikerade på att synen på coachkompetenser har förändrats de senaste tjugo åren. Studiens resultat indikerade också att svenska ishockeyföreningar använder ett informellt kontaktnät, där en rekryteringskanal oftast används. Skillnaden mellan elit- och breddföreningar i rekryteringsprocessen var tillgänglighet, den ekonomiska faktorn och hur stora kontaktnät de har tillgång till. Däremot upplever föreningar oavsett ambitionsnivå att tidsaspekten i rekryteringsprocessen var den bidragande faktorn till svårigheten med att rekrytera coacher som besitter rätt kompetenser. / The purpose of this study is to investigate which coaching competencies coaches should possess according to Swedish ice hockey associations to create a satisfactory performance environment, and to examine any differences between elite and non-elite associations regarding coaching competencies and recruitment process. The studies theoretical perspective is partly coaching competencies, with focus on professional-, interpersonal- and intrapersonal knowledge and recruitment. A gap in the knowledge is visible where there is no previous research on coaching knowledges in Swedish ice hockey in the last twenty years. The previous research has instead chosen to focus on certain crucial factors for coaches in general, however nothing specific for coaches in Swedish ice hockey. Therefore, it is considered that there is a need to investigate what ice hockey associations in Sweden are looking for in coaching competencies when recruiting at junior level. To answer the questions and the purpose, both a questionnaire survey and interviews were used to receive in-depth and broad answers about the problems. The results of the study show that there are four competencies that are the most important for a junior coach to possess according to ice hockey associations in Sweden. These competencies are the pedagogical competence, the communication competence, the ice hockey tactical competence and being relationship oriented. The result of the study shows that there is no significant difference between elite and non-elite associations regarding these four coaching competencies, however these competencies were sought after regardless of the association’s ambition levels. The result of the study indicates that the view of coaching skills has changed in the last twenty years. The result of the study also indicates that Swedish ice hockey associations use an informal network of contacts, where a recruitment channel most often were used. The difference between elite and non-elite associations in the recruitment process is availability, the economic factors and how large a network of contacts they have access to. On the other hand, associations, regardless of their level of ambition, feel that the time aspect of the recruitment process is the contributing factor to the difficulty of recruiting coaches who possess the right skills.

In a challenging and constantly changing world, students are required to develop advanced thinking skills such as critical systematic thinking, decision making and problem solving. This challenge requires developing critical thinking abilities which are essential in unfamiliar situations. A central component in current reforms in mathematics and science studies worldwide is the transition from the traditional dominant instruction which focuses on algorithmic cognitive skills towards higher order cognitive skills. The transition includes, a component of scientific inquiry, learning science from the student''s personal, environmental and social contexts and the integration of critical thinking. The planning and implementation of learning strategies that encourage first order thinking among students is not a simple task. In an attempt to put the importance of this transition in mathematical education to a test, we propose a new method for mathematical instruction based on the infusion approach put forward by Swartz in 1992. In fact, the model is derived from two additional theories., that of Ennis (1989) and of Libermann and Tversky (2001). Union of the two latter is suggested by the infusion theory. The model consists of a learning unit (30h hours) that focuses primarily on statistics every day life situations, and implemented in an interactive and supportive environment. It was applied to mathematically gifted youth of the Kidumatica project at Ben Gurion University. Among the instructed subjects were bidimensional charts, Bayes law and conditional probability; Critical thinking skills such as raising questions, seeking for alternatives and doubting were evaluated. We used Cornell tests (Ennis 1985) to confirm that our students developed critical thinking skills.

Most of people have fatal attitude to Mathematics: some of them are capable to learn it form nature, but the others are not. So is their fate – to suffer from it for the whole of life… But it is a rude though natural mistake, as it results from means of mathematical education and its content. Most of parents and teachers are directed on these aspects both in kindergarten and at primary school. Of course, parents are different. Nevertheless so many parents can’t possibly but speak about achievements of their children. Some start making their own children learn better by the example of success of the others. They make their children learn long chains of figures with no understanding. It is even more sad to see how a mom asks her 4-year old son: “How much is two plus three?..’ But he replies just because he learned the answer but not calculated. Not only parents but also kindergarten tutors don’t want to understand that drilling for arithmetic has no sense. For a specialist it would take two days only…But teach him how to think logically – is a goal demanding from him, reached by different means.

L'objectif général de cette thèse est d'explorer comment les enfantes perçoivent des traits de surface du langage à différents niveaux. Plus spécifiquement, on a examiné dans une population typique et atypique 1) la perception des traits acoustiques de bas-niveau et sa relation avec le développement du vocabulaire, et 2) la sensibilité à la fréquence des mots pour générer la représentation linguistique abstraite des catégories lexicales et de leur ordre relatif. Selon les modèles de bootstrapping, il est possible d'extraire des informations structurelles et abstraites de la langue à partir de traits acoustiques disponibles dans l'input et corrélés avec la structure linguistique sous-jacente (p. ex. grammaire et syntaxe). Pour examiner le lien entre la perception de bas niveau, les traits de surfaces et les connaissances grammaticales plus abstraites, cette thèse s'articule en deux parties principales. Dans la première partie, deux études longitudinales sont présentées. Chaque enfant était testé sur son seuil de discrimination auditive (avec un paradigme de traitement rapide) et sur une tâche de reconnaissance visuelle pour contrôler les compétences cognitives. Le seuil acoustique était évalué en utilisant des sons non-linguistiques (tons) dans un groupe d'enfants et linguistiques (syllabes) dans un autre groupe d'enfants à 9 mois pour déterminer si l'impact du traitement auditif est spécifique au langage. Enfin, le niveau de vocabulaire a été mesuré à 12, 14, 18 et 24 mois et un test cognitif (Mullen Scale) a été réalisé entre 18 et 20 mois comme supplémentaire contrôle cognitif. Les résultats montrent que les capacités mesurées sont prédictives du développement du vocabulaire chez les enfantes typiques. De plus, les enfants atypiques ont montré des capacités de traitement moins efficaces dans les modalités visuelle et acoustique. Dans la deuxième partie, le rôle de la fréquence des mots dans l'amorçage des catégories lexicales des mots de fonction et de contenu et leur ordre relatif est explorée. Les deux catégories lexicales sont différentes dans leur fonction linguistique, leurs caractéristiques phonologiques et leur fréquence dans la parole. Ainsi, leur catégorisation basée sur la fréquence pourrait constituer un mécanisme initial robuste pour acquérir les constructions de base de la langue. Comme les mots de fonction constituent une classe fermée, alors que les mots de contenu constituent de classes ouvertes, nous avons examiné si les nourrissons français âgés de 8 mois étaient sensibles à la fréquence des mots pour catégoriser les mots de fonction et pour les traiter comme des éléments non-remplaçables dans des classes fermées, et les mots de contenu comme des éléments librement remplaçables dans des classes ouvertes. Les cinq expériences de grammaire artificielle menées ont confirmé cette hypothèse. De plus, les nourrissons associent l'ordre relatif de ces catégories avec l'ordre des mots de base de leur langue maternelle, le français. Les participants atypiques ont montré des capacités de discrimination, de codage et de mémoire inférieures à leurs pairs typiques. En conclusion, ce travail a permis une meilleure compréhension des capacités de perception contribuant au développement du langage. De plus, cette thèse a identifié de potentiels marqueurs comportementaux pouvant servir à l'identification précoce des apprenants atypiques. / The purpose of this work is to explore how infants perceive surface features of language at different levels of processing. Specifically, in both typical and atypical populations, we examined 1) the processing of low-level auditory cues and its relationship with later language outcomes and 2) the sensitivity to word frequency to create abstract linguistic representations of lexical categories and their relative word order. Accordingly to bootstrapping models learners are able to extract abstract, structural and hence directly unobservable properties of the target language from perceptually available surface cues in the input that correlate with the underlying structure. Indeed, infants are sensitive to certain acoustic and phonological properties of the speech input, which in turn correlate with specific grammatical/syntactic structures. In order to map the link between the perception of these low-level, surface cues and more abstract grammatical knowledge, this work is organized in two main parts. In the first part, two longitudinal studies are reported. Each infant received an auditory discrimination threshold task (using the rapid auditory processing paradigm) followed by a habituation/visual novelty detection task used as a control for general cognitive skills. The auditory discrimination threshold was evaluated using non-linguistic (tones) sounds in one cohort of infants and linguistic sounds (syllables) in another cohort of infants at 9 months in order to investigate the language-specificity of the process within the auditory modality. Subsequently, infants' vocabulary was assessed at 12-14-18 and 24 months and a cognitive test (Mullen scale) was performed at 18-20 months as another control measure for early processing competence. Results show that early processing abilities are predictive of later vocabulary size in typical infants. Importantly, atypical participants exhibited slower and less efficient processing abilities in both visual and acoustic modality. In the second part, the role of word frequency in bootstrapping the basic lexical categories of function and content words and their relative order is explored. The two lexical categories differ in their linguistic functions, phonological makeup and frequency of occurrence. Thus, their frequency-based discrimination could constitute a powerful initial mechanism for infants to acquire the basic building blocks of language. As functors constitute closed classes, while content words come in open classes, we examined whether 8 month-old French monolinguals relied on word frequency to categorize and track functors as non-replaceable items in a closed class, and content words as freely replaceable items in open classes. In five artificial grammar-learning experiments we have found that infants treat frequent words as belonging to closed classes, and infrequent words as belonging to open classes and they map the relative order of these categories onto the basic word order of their native language, French, a functor-initial language. Importantly, atypical participants showed lower ability of discrimination, encoding and memory when compared to typically developing peers. Overall this work contributes to a better understanding of the perceptual abilities that directly contribute to language development. Moreover, it proposes possible behavioural markers that can be potentially useful in the early identification of atypical learners.

Vid arbete med matematiska textuppgifter krävs det en god läsförmåga, läsförståelse och ett bra arbetsminne. Om en elev har brister såväl i läsningen som i arbetsminnet resulterar det i stora svårigheter när arbete med matematiska textuppgifter sker. Det finns ett flertal förklaringar till varför elever har svårigheter vid arbete med matematiska textuppgifter, dessa förklaringar belyses i den här studien. Den här systematiska litteraturstudien har som syfte att beskriva de underliggande faktorerna till svårigheter vid arbete i matematiken med textuppgifter samt hur lärare arbetar för att underlätta lärande i ämnet matematik för elever med svårigheter inom matematiska textuppgifter. Metoden som används för att besvara studiens frågeställningar är en innehållsanalys av tio vetenskapliga artiklar som har sökts fram på ett systematiskt och strukturerat sätt. Resultatet utgår från de tio vetenskapliga artiklar som analyserades genom innehållsanalys. I artiklarna identifieras följande teoretiska ramverk, (1) sociokulturellt perspektiv, (2) diskursanalys och (3) Kintschs teori om textförståelse. Flera artiklar förklarar svårigheter med matematiska textuppgifter som en konsekvens av antingen kognitiva nedsättningar eller överflödig information. Båda dessa försvårar för eleverna. Ett antal av artiklarna lyfter även metoder som lärare kan använda sig av när de ska stötta samt utmana elever när det gäller matematiska textuppgifter.

The subject of the thesis is the use of musical activities in the development of graphomotor skills of preschool children. The theoretical part of the thesis is devoted to the problem of harmonization of music and movement at the level of gross and fine motor skills. It also deals with the issue of laterality and its distinctness. The practical part contains a detailed case study of a boy with a disadvantageous type of laterality and follows the development of his graphomotor skills during 15 lessons, the core of which are musical activities for the development of graphomotor skills of preschool children. I used multiple complementary research methods in the in-depth case study, which were participant observation, mother interview, open-ended questionnaire, family and personal history, and PPP report. The action research was conducted over a ten-month period, with the boys being 4 years and 3 months old at the start of the research. The practical part of the thesis analyses the action research data and evaluates the overall impact of specific musical activities in the development of preschool children's graphomotor skills.

This dissertation develops virtual reality modules to capture individuals’ learning abilities and systems thinking skills in dynamic environments. In the first chapter, an immersive queuing theory teaching module is developed using virtual reality technology. The objective of the study is to present systems engineering concepts in a more sophisticated environment and measure students learning abilities. Furthermore, the study explores the performance gaps between male and female students in manufacturing systems concepts. To investigate the gender biases toward the performance of developed VR module, three efficacy measures (simulation sickness questionnaire, systems usability scale, and presence questionnaire) and two effectiveness measures (NASA TLX assessment and post-motivation questionnaire) were used. The second and third chapter aims to assess individuals’ systems thinking skills when they engage in complex multidimensional problems. A modern complex system comprises many interrelated subsystems and various dynamic attributes. Understanding and handling large complex problems requires holistic critical thinkers in modern workplaces. Systems Thinking (ST) is an interdisciplinary domain that offers different ways to better understand the behavior and structure of a complex system. The developed scenario-based instrument measures students’ cognitive tendency for complexity, change, and interaction when making decisions in a turbulent environment. The proposed complex systems scenarios are developed based on an established systems thinking instrument that can measure important aspects of systems thinking skills. The systems scenarios are built in a virtual environment that facilitate students to react to real-world situations and make decisions. The construct validity of the VR scenarios is assessed by comparing the high systematic scores between ST instrument and developed VR scenarios. Furthermore, the efficacy of the VR scenarios is investigated using the simulation sickness questionnaire, systems usability scale, presence questionnaire, and NASA TLX assessment.