Thesis advisor: Patrick J. McQuillan / In the 2007-2008 school year, the author conducted a collaborative case study (Stake, 2000) with the goal of discovering and describing "emergent learning" in three high school classrooms. Emergent learning, defined as the acquisition of new knowledge by an entire group when no individual member of the group possessed it before, is implied by the work of many theorists working on an educational analog of a natural phenomenon called a complex adaptive system. Complex adaptive systems are well networked collectives of agents that are non-linear, bounded and synergistic. The author theorized that classes that maximized the features of complex adaptive systems could produce emergent learning (a form of synergy), and that there was a continuum of this complexity, producing a related continuum of emergence. After observing a co-curricular jazz group, an English class, and a geometry class for most of one academic year, collecting artifacts and interviewing three students and a teacher from each class, the author determined that there was indeed a continuum of complexity. He found that the actively complex nature of the Jazz Rock Ensemble produced an environment where emergence was the norm, with the ensemble producing works of music, new to the world, with each performance. The English section harnessed the chaotic tendencies of students to optimize cognitive dissonance and frequently produce emergent learning, while the mathematics section approached the learning process in a way that was too rigidly linear to allow detectable emergence to occur. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

As discussões sobre a formação profissional em Educação Física foram assíduas em dois momentos, a saber: a década de 80 e após o ano 2000, com a consolidação do Conselho de Educação Física e ampliação de oferta de cursos de graduação e pós-graduação na área, além de significativo aumento na produção do conhecimento. Dentre os tópicos questionados, a atuação do docente universitário passou a ser questionada, especialmente no fato do ensino transmissivo pairar sobre o trabalho daquele no ensino superior. Neste cenário, críticas e apontamentos passaram a ser apresentados no intuito de melhor balizar a atuação do docente universitário em prol de uma formação mais abrangente e contextualizada às necessidades da sociedade. Apoiados na base epistemológica da Teoria da Complexidade, na inter e na transdisciplinaridade como fundamentais para balizar a operacionalização de modalidades didáticas (estratégias metodológicas, avaliação, processo ensino-aprendizagem, dentre outros) do docente do ensino superior, o presente estudo investigou no discurso de 14 docentes que ministram disciplinas de ginástica em cursos de licenciatura em Educação Física do estado de São Paulo, se aqueles princípios estavam presentes e, caso positivo, como se apresentavam na prática educativa. Os dados revelaram indícios da preocupação dos docentes com a formação de seus alunos, entretanto, a atuação ainda está enraizada em modelos tradicionalistas, com interesse na apresentação de dados e de conceitos e, não necessariamente, na reflexão e apreensão dos conhecimentos da área. A estratégia que melhor se enquadrou aos princípios educativos da base epistêmica por nós defendida referiu-se aos seminários (sem clara alusão à discussão durante o mesmo) e as apresentações, em formatos de festivais e de coreografias, pautadas nos preceitos da ginástica geral. Observamos também superficialidade nas discussões da atuação sobre a perspectiva da inter e da transdisciplinaridade, importantes para diminuir a verticalidade e fragmentação do conhecimento, que dificulta o entendimento do fenômeno que se estuda, no caso, da ginástica. Afinal, acreditamos que as aulas de ginástica nas Universidades devem permear a valorização da iniciativa e da autonomia, da imaginação e da invenção, a ação em relação ao discurso e a apropriação do saber em relação à sua transmissão / Discussions on training in physical education were assiduous in two stages, namely: the 80\'s and after 2000 with the consolidation of the Council of Physical Education and extension of offer undergraduate and postgraduate area as well as significant increase in knowledge production. Among the topics questioned the performance of the professor at the university had to be questioned, especially focusing in the transmissive teaching over that work in higher education. In this scenario, critical notes began to be presented in order to better delimit in favor of a more comprehensive training and contextualized to the needs of society. Backed by Complexity Theory, inter and transdisciplinarity as fundamental to mark the operationalization of teaching methods (methodological strategies, assessment, teaching-learning process, and others) in higher education, this study investigated the discourse of 14 professor who teach disciplines of gymnastics in undergraduate courses in Physical Education of São Paulo state, if those principles were present and, if so, how it presented in their practice. The results revealed evidence of concern of them with the education of students, however, the performance is still rooted in traditionalist models, with interest in the presentation of concepts and not necessarily reflect the knowledge and understanding of the area. The strategy that best fit the educational principles of epistemic ideas defended by us referred to the seminars (without clear reference to the discussion during the same) and the presentations in formats of festivals and performances, rooted in the precepts of general gymnastics. We also observed superficial discussions about the prospect of action of inter and transdisciplinarity, important to reduce the verticality and fragmentation of knowledge, which complicates the understanding of the phenomenon being studied, in the case of gymnastics. After all, we believe that gymnastics classes in universities should permeate the valuation of autonomy and initiative, imagination and invention, the action with discouse and the appropriation of knowledge in relation to its transmission

No cenário de grandes transformações sociais, industriais e tecnológicas, os projetos e, mais recentemente, os portfolios, têm um papel fundamental no cumprimento dos objetivos estratégicos. A partir da profissionalização da gestão de projetos, métodos, técnicas e ferramentas passaram a ser utilizados para planejamento e controle, visando cumprir os requisitos planejados. Nos últimos anos, a gestão de portfolios, incorporou uma visão mais ampla e integrada, em prol de obter maior retorno para a organização. Entretanto, esta busca por mais planejamento e previsibilidade se choca com os mercados atuais, onde o intenso relacionamento entre as partes aliado a outros fatores, muda constantemente o ecossistema empresarial, levando a situações em que os planejamentos são elaborados no presente, visando atingir resultados futuros em cenários, quase sempre impossíveis de serem descritos completamente e imprevisíveis. Neste ponto, a Teoria da Complexidade (TdC) ressalta características que levam determinados tipos de sistemas a evoluir constantemente, de forma imprevisível, mas apresentando no todo padrões reconhecíveis de ordem, não observados nas partes. Dois ramos da TdC serão explorados: a dinâmica caótica e os sistemas adaptativos complexos. Suas metáforas serão a base para as inferências utilizadas na análise do aspecto de controle e para a pesquisa-piloto que explora a familiaridade dos entrevistados a cerca das idéias sobre imprevisibilidade, flexibilidade, auto-organização etc. Por fim, concluiremos que não é possível estabelecer uma receita simples para a gestão de portfolios em ambientes complexos, mas é possível enriquecer a forma de pensar, com visões alternativas que propõem enxergar as organizações sob diversos prismas, integrando-os numa visão ampla, embora parcial, e agindo para fazer emergir interativamente a complexa dinâmica desejada. / Projects and portfolios play a central role in attaining an organization\'s strategic objectives, particularly within the recent scenarios of huge social, economic and technological change. With the professionalization of Project Management (PM), various methods and techniques came into use to plan and control activities aiming at the fulfillment of anticipated requisites. Lately, Portfolio Management (PoM) has incorporated a wider and more integrated view to enhance the organization\'s result. However, this search for more planning and predictability clashes with the current reality of the markets, where the intense interaction between the parts, allied to other factors, puts the corporate ecosystem under permanent change, causing the situation where plans are made on-the-fly, aiming at future results in scenarios virtually impossible to describe or predict with any accuracy. At such juncture, Complexity Theories (CT) highlight the features that bring some types of system to evolve constantly, in an unpredictable manner, albeit displaying recognizable patterns of order not observable in their parts, but only in the whole. Two branches of CT shall be explored in the present work: chaotic dynamics, and complex adaptive systems. These metaphors will be the starting points for inferences used to analyze the control aspect of PoM, and also for a pilot study carried out with a group of professionals of PM to investigate their familiarity with the ideas of complexity (unpredictability, flexibility, self-organization etc). As a result, we argue that it is not possible to put forward any simple recipe for PoM under complex environments, but that it is possible to enhance the ways of thinking about it, with alternative views proposing to examine organizations under various prisms, integrating them into a wide, although always partial, vision, and acting to make emerge interactively the desired complex dynamics.

Submitted by Marlene Aparecida de Souza Cardozo (mcardozo@pucsp.br) on 2016-08-27T18:02:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruna Mazzer Nogueira.pdf: 418701 bytes, checksum: 11957f3efac0c000d36d74cc72c622c4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-27T18:02:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruna Mazzer Nogueira.pdf: 418701 bytes, checksum: 11957f3efac0c000d36d74cc72c622c4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This is a theoretical research that aims to identify approaches between the following theories: Semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce, historical-cultural of Lev S. Vygotsky, the complex theory of Edgar Morin and the connectivism of Siemens and Downes, prioritizing the issues surrounding education in the contemporary context. The method adopted included careful readings of the existant literature regarding the mentioned theories, the use of reading records and a case study that together allowed the careful and systematic analysis of the materials, as well as the organization of some of the key concepts of each theory, relevant to further discussions. The importance of the social nature of man was highlighted and related to its development. Language is understood as fundamental in the human development process and has been addressed here in a specific way, with emphasis on learning new words, considered linguistic signs, in a foreign language. It was analyzed and presented examples of both literature and real life, this experienced by the researcher, which allowed the establishment of approaches and reflections on the theories adopted. Finally, it became evident the need to promote an education able to reconcile different strategies, ideas and experiences of successful learning, recognizing the complexity of the phenomena and driving more discussions and studies for the existence of progress in the classroom and online education / Trata-se de uma pesquisa teórica que tem por objetivo identificar aproximações entre as teorias Semiótica de Charles Sanders Peirce, histórico-cultural de Lev S. Vigostski, o pensamento complexo de Edgar Morin e o conectivismo de Siemens e Downes, priorizando as questões que envolvem a educação no contexto contemporâneo. O método adotado contou com um cuidadoso levantamento bibliográfico das teorias mencionadas, a utilização de fichas de leitura e um estudo de campo que, juntos, permitiram a análise cuidadosa e sistemática dos materiais, além da organização de alguns dos principais conceitos de cada teoria, pertinentes às discussões posteriores. A importância do caráter social do homem foi destacada e relacionada ao seu desenvolvimento. A linguagem é compreendida como fundamental no processo de desenvolvimento humano e foi aqui abordada de maneira específica, com destaque para aprendizagem de palavras em idioma estrangeiro, consideradas signos linguísticos. São apresentados e analisados exemplos tanto da bibliografia quanto real, este vivenciado pela pesquisadora, que permitiram o estabelecimento de aproximações e reflexões sobre as teorias interacionistas adotadas. Por fim, tornou-se evidente a necessidade de se favorecer uma educação capaz de conciliar diferentes estratégias, ideias e experiências de aprendizagens de sucesso, reconhecendo a complexidade dos fenômenos e impulsionando mais discussões e estudos para a existência de progressos na Educação presencial e online

Este trabalho teórico busca uma nova forma de entender a saúde mais ampla e interdependente em relação ao meio no intuito de superar a forma atual cartesiana e antropocêntrica de ver a saúde e as dificuldades por ela enfrentadas. Faz isto se utilizando da Teoria da Complexidade, inspirada em Morin, e ao estudar suas características e compará-las com as da saúde, propõe a construção de uma Noção Complexa de Saúde, demonstra aspectos de sua importância e dá exemplos de sua abrangência, sugerindo que seja aplicada na educação, numa aprendizagem conjunta da Noção Complexa de Saúde com a Teoria da Complexidade, num processo de auxílio mútuo que estamos chamando de pedagogia recursiva. / This theoretical work seeks a new way of understanding the wider and interdependent health in relation to the environment in order to overcome the Cartesian and anthropocentric current way of seeing the health and the difficulties it faces. He does this by using the Complexity Theory, inspired by Morin, and by studying its characteristics and comparing them with those of health, proposes the construction of a Complex Notion of Health, demonstrates aspects of its importance and gives examples of its scope, suggesting That is applied in education, in a joint learning of the Complex Notion of Health with the Complexity Theory, in a process of mutual assistance that we are calling recursive pedagogy.

This study aims to examine what competencies are expected from a strategiccommunicator 2019, as well as how education and the work field is cooperating.Expectations on competencies regarding the strategic communication profession and thecooperation between education and work field is analyzed based upon empirical data. Thedata is conducted from a combined quantitative and qualitative online-survey withstudents at the strategic communication at Umeå University (N = 45), and semi-structuredqualitative interview with associate professor at the program for strategic communicationat Umeå University and a selection of employees from six different companies within theprivate sector. Two different Likert-scales is used for measuring collaboration andcompetencies in the online-survey. Strategic communication theory and complexity theoryare used for discussion of the analyzed data. The results show that students find the levelof collaboration between education and work field to be low (mean score falls under 3 outof 7 for all the variables). However, the majority have been in touch with companieswithin strategic communication (68 percent). Education and work field show a low levelof cooperation, but both parts want to increase the collaboration. The only competencythat is mentioned by all three parties is to be creative. Generally, for all three parties, thereis a focus on subjective characteristics rather than technical and practical ability andcompetence. There is a natural development of a higher demand on communicativeorganizations and strategic communicators must therefore practice communication in itscomplexity and leave the transmission model in order to move toward aprofessionalization. The variety of competencies required can be explained fromcomplexity theory that the strategic communicator benefits from being complex andflexible to meet the demands from a complex society. Thus, the conclusion is that theresults show a need for an increased level of communication between education and workfield.

As discussões sobre a formação profissional em Educação Física foram assíduas em dois momentos, a saber: a década de 80 e após o ano 2000, com a consolidação do Conselho de Educação Física e ampliação de oferta de cursos de graduação e pós-graduação na área, além de significativo aumento na produção do conhecimento. Dentre os tópicos questionados, a atuação do docente universitário passou a ser questionada, especialmente no fato do ensino transmissivo pairar sobre o trabalho daquele no ensino superior. Neste cenário, críticas e apontamentos passaram a ser apresentados no intuito de melhor balizar a atuação do docente universitário em prol de uma formação mais abrangente e contextualizada às necessidades da sociedade. Apoiados na base epistemológica da Teoria da Complexidade, na inter e na transdisciplinaridade como fundamentais para balizar a operacionalização de modalidades didáticas (estratégias metodológicas, avaliação, processo ensino-aprendizagem, dentre outros) do docente do ensino superior, o presente estudo investigou no discurso de 14 docentes que ministram disciplinas de ginástica em cursos de licenciatura em Educação Física do estado de São Paulo, se aqueles princípios estavam presentes e, caso positivo, como se apresentavam na prática educativa. Os dados revelaram indícios da preocupação dos docentes com a formação de seus alunos, entretanto, a atuação ainda está enraizada em modelos tradicionalistas, com interesse na apresentação de dados e de conceitos e, não necessariamente, na reflexão e apreensão dos conhecimentos da área. A estratégia que melhor se enquadrou aos princípios educativos da base epistêmica por nós defendida referiu-se aos seminários (sem clara alusão à discussão durante o mesmo) e as apresentações, em formatos de festivais e de coreografias, pautadas nos preceitos da ginástica geral. Observamos também superficialidade nas discussões da atuação sobre a perspectiva da inter e da transdisciplinaridade, importantes para diminuir a verticalidade e fragmentação do conhecimento, que dificulta o entendimento do fenômeno que se estuda, no caso, da ginástica. Afinal, acreditamos que as aulas de ginástica nas Universidades devem permear a valorização da iniciativa e da autonomia, da imaginação e da invenção, a ação em relação ao discurso e a apropriação do saber em relação à sua transmissão / Discussions on training in physical education were assiduous in two stages, namely: the 80\'s and after 2000 with the consolidation of the Council of Physical Education and extension of offer undergraduate and postgraduate area as well as significant increase in knowledge production. Among the topics questioned the performance of the professor at the university had to be questioned, especially focusing in the transmissive teaching over that work in higher education. In this scenario, critical notes began to be presented in order to better delimit in favor of a more comprehensive training and contextualized to the needs of society. Backed by Complexity Theory, inter and transdisciplinarity as fundamental to mark the operationalization of teaching methods (methodological strategies, assessment, teaching-learning process, and others) in higher education, this study investigated the discourse of 14 professor who teach disciplines of gymnastics in undergraduate courses in Physical Education of São Paulo state, if those principles were present and, if so, how it presented in their practice. The results revealed evidence of concern of them with the education of students, however, the performance is still rooted in traditionalist models, with interest in the presentation of concepts and not necessarily reflect the knowledge and understanding of the area. The strategy that best fit the educational principles of epistemic ideas defended by us referred to the seminars (without clear reference to the discussion during the same) and the presentations in formats of festivals and performances, rooted in the precepts of general gymnastics. We also observed superficial discussions about the prospect of action of inter and transdisciplinarity, important to reduce the verticality and fragmentation of knowledge, which complicates the understanding of the phenomenon being studied, in the case of gymnastics. After all, we believe that gymnastics classes in universities should permeate the valuation of autonomy and initiative, imagination and invention, the action with discouse and the appropriation of knowledge in relation to its transmission

Quantum computers promise to offer a considerable speed-up in solving certain problems, compared to the best classical algorithms. In many instances, the gap between quantum and classical running times is conjectured to be exponential. While this is great news for those applications where quantum computers would provide such an advantage, it also raises a significant challenge: how can classical computers verify the correctness of quantum computations? In attempting to answer this question, a number of protocols have been developed in which a classical client (referred to as verifier) can interact with one or more quantum servers (referred to as provers) in order to certify the correctness of a quantum computation performed by the server(s). These protocols are of one of two types: either there are multiple non-communicating provers, sharing entanglement, and the verifier is completely classical; or, there is a single prover and the classical verifier has a device for preparing or measuring quantum states. The latter type of protocols are, arguably, more relevant to near term quantum computers, since having multiple quantum computers that share a large amount of entanglement is, from a technological standpoint, extremely challenging. Before the realisation of practical single-prover protocols, a number of challenges need to be addressed: how robust are these protocols to noise on the verifier's device? Can the protocols be made fault-tolerant without significantly increasing the requirements of the verifier? How do we know that the verifier's device is operating correctly? Could this device be eliminated completely, thus having a protocol with a fully classical verifier and a single quantum prover? Our work attempts to provide answers to these questions. First, we consider a single-prover verification protocol developed by Fitzsimons and Kashefi and show that this protocol is indeed robust with respect to deviations on the quantum state prepared by the verifier. We show that this is true even if those deviations are the result of a correlation with the prover's system. We then use this result to give a verification protocol which is device- independent. The protocol consists of a verifier with a measurement device and a single prover. Device-independence means that the verifier need not trust the measurement device (nor the prover) which can be assumed to be fully malicious (though not communicating with the prover). A key element in realising this protocol is a robust technique of Reichardt, Unger and Vazirani for testing, using non-local correlations, that two untrusted devices share a large number of entangled states. This technique is referred to as rigidity of non-local correlations. Our second result is to prove a rigidity result for a type of quantum correlations known as steering correlations. To do this, we first show that steering correlations can be used in order to certify maximally entangled states, in a setting in which each test is independent of the previous one. We also show that the fidelity with which we characterise the state, in this specific test, is optimal. We then improve the previous result by removing the independence assumption. This then leads to our desired rigidity result. We make use of it, in a similar fashion to the device-independent case, in order to give a verification protocol that is one-sided device-independent. The importance of this application is to show how different trust assumptions affect the efficiency of the protocol. Next, we describe a protocol for fault-tolerantly verifying quantum computations, with minimal "quantum requirements" for the verifier. Specifically, the verifier only requires a device for measuring single-qubit states. Both this device, and the prover's operations are assumed to be prone to errors. We show that under standard assumptions about the error model, it is possible to achieve verification of quantum computation using fault-tolerant principles. As a proof of principle, and to better illustrate the inner workings of the protocol, we describe a toy implementation of the protocol in a quantum simulator, and present the results we obtained, when running it for a small computation. Finally, we explore the possibility of having a verification protocol, with a classical verifier and a single prover, such that the prover is blind with respect to the verifier's computation. We give evidence that this is not possible. In fact, our result is only concerned with blind quantum computation with a classical client, and uses complexity theoretic results to argue why it is improbable for such a protocol to exist. We then use these complexity theoretic techniques to show that a client, with the ability to prepare and send quantum states to a quantum server, would not be able to delegate arbitrary NP problems to that server. In other words, even a client with quantum capabilities cannot exploit those capabilities to delegate the computation of NP problems, while keeping the input, to that computation, private. This is again true, provided certain complexity theoretic conjectures are true.

This naturalistic exploratory multiple case study of the academic writing activity of L2 writers enrolled in an introductory Spanish literature course reveals the complex dynamicity of intertextual activity and L2 development. The writing tasks, designed for communicative practice rather than for mastery of a genre, required students to upload Microsoft Word documents to the learning management software’s dropbox, thus necessitating their engagement with multiple digitally mediated resources. Participants completed the assignment outside of class in a computer lab, where data were collected, including observational field notes, screen recordings, and stimulated recall, and semi-structured interviews about the participants’ use and perception of digital resources. Findings show that these students employed many strategies with a variety of resources, including online dictionaries, translators, and original and translated texts, when experiencing a lexical gap while writing. A close examination of second language writers’ intertextual engagement with the affordances provided by these digitally mediated resources through an analytical frame informed by dynamic systems theory (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008a) reveals idiosyncratic use and evidence of emergent word and strategy learning. Pedagogical implications, including the need to start where students are, are discussed.

School leaders are expected to make decisions that improve student mathematics achievement. However, one difficulty for school leaders has been the limited amount of research concerning content-specific (e.g., mathematics) school leadership and its effects on student achievement. School leaders do not make decisions in isolation; rather, they make decisions as part of a complex adaptive system (CAS), as proposed by complexity theory. The purpose of this study was to explore the role the school leader plays in students’ mathematics achievement through the lens of complexity theory. The researcher collected survey data from K-12 school leaders and conducted focus group interviews to answer the research questions. The researcher found a significant regression equation predicting the school-wide average SAGE mathematics proficiency scores based on several characteristics of the school leader and student demographics. Distinctive patterns emerged in the decisions and actions made by school leaders based on school-wide SAGE mathematics proficiency. Results suggest that the school leaders’ first role in promoting higher student mathematics achievement is to directly and indirectly facilitate a shared vision of mathematics education between stakeholders in the CAS. The school leader’s second role is to actively work to recruit and retain the highest quality teachers possible.