Diss. Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2007.

In this narrative study, I explored the creative process of songwriting from learners’ perspectives. Much literature regarding the creative process in songwriting is taken from the perspective of the instructor. In this study I have focused primarily on how the participants experienced songwriting from their perspective. I examined whether the participants’ backgrounds impacted their perceptions of songwriting, whether participants valued songwriting, whether meanings emerged from the songwriting process, and what strategies emerged through the process. Qualitative methods were used in gathering data, which included interviews, journals, conversations, observation field notes, e-mails, and songwriting artifacts. The data were coded through a cyclical series of transcription and analysis and slowly a research story began to emerge (Saldaña, 2009). The seven participants were worship and music majors at a southern Christian University in an undergraduate songwriting survey class. Through narrative I endeavored to restory their songwriting experiences based on the themes that emerged through the codifying process. Narrative analysis revealed that participants constructed meaning through the process of songwriting. The backgrounds of the participants helped in shaping the subjects of their songs often involving hardships. Participants storied the tension between the initial stage of songwriting and the revisions to follow. Songwriting became a narrative expression of their experience of spiritual awakening. Through reflection during the songwriting process they found greater connection with God. In the process the participants constructed their songs using tone painting to shape their melodies to express their lyrics and metaphors to enliven their lyrics. Participants made use of various recording devices to capture initial ideas before they forgot them, and noted a preference for working with pen and paper in the songwriting process. Where much of previous research focused on songwriting approaches and methods of instruction, this study found that participants enjoyed the meaning making aspects of songwriting and the spiritual connection with God that it brought them.

Text in Afrikaans / The development of the person of the therapist is increasingly being highlighted in systemic therapeutic training. This emphasis on the person of the therapist can be traced back to the rise of constructivism. Constructivism represents the viewpoint that reality is created rather than discovered. As a result the therapist's contribution to the therapeutic process is considered cardinal. The personal style of the therapist is once more placed under the limelight. Exactly how this variable must be handled to ensure optimal efficiency is still unclear. Suggestions in this regard are mostly related to some therapeutic model. The objective of this study, on the contrary, is to determine the value of a more general approach. A procedure developed by the University of South Africa, accentuating the person of the therapist, has been evaluated. / Opleiding in sistemiese terapie word al hoe meer gekenmerk deur die ontwikkeling van die persoon van die terapeut. Die beklemtoning van die persoon van die terapeut kan veral na die opkoms van die onstruktivisme teruggevoer word. Hierdie denkrigting verteenwoordig die standpunt dat die werklikheid eerder geskep as ontdek word. Gevolglik word die terapeut se bydrae tot die terapeutiese proses as van deurslaggewend beskou. Die persoonlike styl van die terapeut word dus opnuut onder die soeklig geplaas. Hoedat hierdie veranderlike egter hanteer moet word om optimale effektiwiteit te verseker, is egter nie duidelik nie. Meeste voorstelle hou direk verband met een of ander terapeutiese model. Met hierdie studie is daar egter gepoog om die waarde van 'n meer algemene benadering te peil. 'n Prosedure wat met verloop van tyd aan die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika ontwikkel is, is gevolglik verder - en wei vanuit die gesigshoek van die terapeut - ondersoek. / M.A. (Voorligtingsielkunde)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:31:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-07-03Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:22:42Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 arruda_acjz_dr_bauru.pdf: 1273241 bytes, checksum: 732b6df8a598729f8d23a7a570d557d6 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Esta pesquisa possui como objetivo discutir a Noção de Inteligência na Epistemologia Genética de Piaget e possíveis implicações para o Ensino de Ciências que busca a construção de sujeitos autônomos e conscientes de sua importância histórica, isto é, de uma educação que não seja mera transmissão de conteúdos. Segundo Piaget as teorias clássicas que versam sobre a inteligência, não levam em conta que esta noção possui uma gênese. A inteligência nasce do esquematismo das ações e caracteriza-se como ação que coordena meios e fins (desde as ações sensório-motoras). Neste sentido, a inteligência expressa o aspecto dinâmico da construção da razão no sujeito, que possibilita o conhecimento / The purpose of this study is to discuss the Intelligence Notion of Piaget's Genetic Epistemology and possible implications to the Science Education, which searches for the building of independent subjects and it is aware of its historical significance, i.e., an education that is not just transmitting content. According to Piaget, the classic theories about intelligence do not considerer that this notion has genesis. Intelligent comes from the schematism of the actions and it is characterized as an action that coordinates centers and ends (since the motor sensory actions). In this way, the intelligent shows the dinamic aspect of the bulding of the reason on the subject, which enables the knowledge

This paper discusses schoollearning from a cognitive-motivational perspective. A number of relevant ideas are highlighted as relevant to undersrand the cognitive-motivational factors that influence school learning. / El artículo analiza el aprendizaje escolar donde una perspectiva cognitivo- motivacional, en la que se destacan una serie de ideas relevantes de profundizar en la comprensión de los factores cognitivo-motivacionales que inciden en el aprendizaje escolar.

At the center of all coach education initiatives and programming is the coach. Although the study of traditional coach education programs has yielded rather discouraging findings, coach education can be significant in its contribution to coach development when coaches are addressed as learners and their unique learning needs and orientations are recognized and prioritized. Indeed, the conversation has shifted to the application of learner-centered (LC) approaches. The purpose of this doctoral dissertation was twofold: to explore the contribution of using the LC theory, including a well-established learner-centered teaching (LCT) framework, to support coach education; and to examine the LC initiatives of a coach education program. An immersion in the LC literature was followed by the collection of multiple sources of data: program documents (n = 5), coach survey data, in-depth participant interviews (coach development administrators, n = 14; learning facilitators, n = 6; coaches, n = 10), and audio-visual material. Program documents (449 pages) were analyzed using a summative content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) based on Blumberg’s (2009) LCT framework, and the interview transcripts (521 single-spaced pages) were analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun, Clarke, & Weate, 2016). The findings are presented in three articles and an additional findings section. The first article presents a theoretical overview of the LC literature linked to current perspectives and issues in coach education, including validated framework for facilitating LC change and assessment. The second article looks at the evolution and current LC status of Canada’s golf coach education program, a distinguished program within the Canadian sport system. The third article, using composite vignettes, presents the coaches’ and learning facilitators’ perception of their experiences participating in the LC designed program. In the additional findings, the CDAs’ biographies and perceptions of their experiences participating and contributing to the design of the program are presented along with the challenges they faced. The main points from the findings in this dissertation are as follows: (a) given the strong conceptual links and evidence-based foundation, LCT offers a coherent and sensible framework to guide the study and design of coach education; (b) there were lessons to be learned when looking at the history and evolution of the coach education program; (c) the creation and implementation of LC program benefitted from leaders who understood and subscribed to a constructivist view of learning; (d) the LCT approaches were dependent on the role and effectiveness of the learning facilitators; (e) coaches’ and facilitators’ perceptions of LCT approaches and engagement in the program varied according to their cognitive structures, specifically their learning orientation; and (f) more broadly, the program’s impact and effectiveness was influenced by the dynamic and complex interplay between the program design, delivery, and coach engagement. The findings contribute to the emerging body of literature on the use of constructivist learning principles to support coach education; they provide scholars and practitioners with a robust framework to guide the study, design, delivery, and assessment of LC coach education; and they share the exemplary efforts, experiences, and challenges of a sport federation who successfully adopted a high degree of LCT within its coach education program. Finally, based on the findings and the coach education and LC literatures, a fourth article is presented in the discussion that offers a collection of practical recommendations for CDAs to support LC coach education.

M.A. / The essential nature of global politics has changed profoundly over the course of the past twenty years, becoming significantly more complex. The international system has evolved in such a way as to often render traditional, materially-determined theoretical approaches to International Relations ill-equipped to compellingly account for action. Increasingly, ideational concerns play a vital role as mobilising influences, causing actors to behave in an unprecedented manner. One of the phenomena most emblematic of this trend towards increased complexity and the rise of the power of ideas is that of contemporary transnational terrorism. Ideologically-motivated and often seemingly irrational, new terrorism confounds mainstream theoretical understandings of anticipated action and reaction and constitutes a particularly salient area of study, as security scholars grapple with effective means of counteraction. This exploratory study attempts to pave the way towards an appropriate understanding of contemporary transnational terrorism by utilising a theoretical perspective specifically tailored towards embracing the complexities of global political reality and championing the critical importance of ideational determinants of action, viz. constructivism. Constructivism is utilised as a basis to understand the intangible ideational mechanics informing the activities of the most significant contemporary transnational terrorist group, Al Qaeda, thereby simultaneously highlighting the value and appropriateness of constructivist enquiry compared to its outmoded theoretical peers and providing insight into more effective future counter-terrorist policy. The primary prescriptive finding of the investigation is that the key to combating Al Qaeda and, indeed, contemporary transnational terrorist groups in general, involves, through some intervention, heightening the perceived discordance between the espoused group norms which attract membership and actual group action. Such discordance has been seen in practice – in the case of Al Qaeda in Iraq – to cripple the efficacy and power of terrorist group functioning. Such an approach requires a comprehensive understanding of a terrorist organisation's worldview, coupled with a campaign of carefully directed public diplomacy tactics.

M.Litt. et Phil. / The shift from a modern to a postmodern culture that is still in the process, brings a new understanding of self and world. This understanding requires a reevaluation of the theory and practice of psychology. The challenges posed by postmodernism are explicated. Postmodernism serves as a epistemological background for the discussion of social 'constructionism. A narrative perspective in psychotherapy stresses the role of language, meaning and story. Social constructionst research is practically illustrated by way of including different stories, different conversations regarding a therapeutic meeting. In conclusion the implications and meanings of research and psychotherapy from a social constructionist perspective are explored.

M.A. / Jean Piaget (1896-1980) played a major role in laying the groundwork for many of our current beliefs about cognitive development. By examining children's answers to particular questions and how they reached those answers, Piaget concluded that children's thinking was qualitatively different from adults and that it had its own special logic. Piaget was concerned with explaining the universal aspects of cognitive development rather than individual differences between people. While specific beliefs and ideas of different cultures may vary, Piaget posited that the stages of cognitive development, namely, sensori-motor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational, unfold in the same sequence at roughly the same ages, irrespective of cultural and educational background. The new political changes in South Africa have transformed the education policies from the content-orientated, rote-learning based curriculum of the past, to a skills-based, interactive learning approach called OutcomesBased Education (OBE). OBE aims to move away from the old 'tabula rasa' education policy towards a dynamic learning system that involves learners at a critical level of intelligence. OBE presents itself as compatible with developments in cognitive psychology, particularly Piaget's theory of intellectual development. The aim of this study was to explore, on a theoretical level, whether OBE is a marked improvement on the old system, particularly with regard to cognitive development, or whether the old system is equivalent to or better than OBE as a facilitator of the development of the concrete operational and formal operational stages. As this was a literature survey, an extensive theoretical analysis on Piaget's theory as well as on the premises of OBE was done, in order to determine whether there are theoretical links between OBE and Piaget's theory. Theoretical links were found between OBE and Piaget's theory, hence the pertinent and salient aspects of both Piaget's theory and the premises of OBE were reformulated in terms of the following hypotheses for the next stage of the research: • Children exposed to OBE will show an accelerated cognitive development when compared to children who have not been exposed to OBE. • There is a relationship between OBE and cognitive development. These hypotheses will have to be followed up by an empirical study where the cognitive development of learners from an OBE system will have to be compared with the cognitive development of learners from a non-OBE system. The research design of such a study will have to be such that the proposed hypotheses could be tested.

This qualitative study answers the call to include students’ voices in research on learning by listening to students’ perspectives about their learning experiences. Student voice inquiries into learning typically explore students’ perspectives of their learning experiences in school for enhancing teaching practice. The present study explores students’ perspectives of their learning experiences both in and out of school and elicits students’ voices through written narrative, in combination with more common approaches to student voice inquiry. The purpose of which is to inform teaching practice that better supports and facilitates students’ learning. The two research questions that guide this inquiry are: What do senior high school students’ written narratives, focus group discussion, and related written comments about their most memorable learning experiences reveal about their learning? And what do these students’ voices reveal about what they have in common in their learning? The common themes across the 24 student participants are presented as a supportive framework for classroom discussion about most memorable learning experiences. Practical implications are discussed for teaching practice and research with participant co-researchers.