In musikklasser in the Swedish compulsory school a special musical training focusing on choral singing is offered students from the age of ten to sixteen. Regarding singing with children, choir teaching in these classes represents conventions developed in accordance with the Swedish choral tradition. Students are trained in large groups of (30-60); in parallel, they receive individual singing voice training in order for the choir to perform with a communal musical expression. This complexity places high demands on the choir teachers' ability to foster the specific musical skills required in a choir. Starting out from a cultural-psychological theoretical perspective, this study explores two choral teachers' interaction with their choir classes, respectively, by means of a method inspired by ethnography. Participating students were aged 10 and 11. Observation data of four lessons was collected, two with each teacher. Lessons were documented by field notes, one lesson of each teacher was video-documented. Analysis included three methods of data transcription: First of all, by writing thick descriptions. After that all events during the lesson were written down in a timetable and finally, a short representative sequence from each lesson was transcribed into a music score. Thus, the variety of methods enabled a deep analysis of data. The results show, on the one hand, that the teachers use a similar overall pattern for interaction. On the other hand, within this overall pattern they interact with their students in different ways that are being described as personal designs of interaction according to which each teacher uses the available cultural tools in individually different combinations when distributing knowledge to the students. In spite of this, differences in quality between the performances of the two choir classes were not recognised during the observed lessons. Accordingly, one conclusion of this study is that the overall music cultural context has a larger impact on students' ability to perform choral music than teachers' personal design of interaction.

Syftet med studien är att fördjupa kunskapen om hur lärare arbetar i sin matematikundervisning för att tillgodose olika varianter av lässvårigheter. En kvalitativ metod med hjälp av intervjuer har använts för att kunna presentera ett resultat. Forskningsfrågorna besvaras med hjälp av några huvudbegrepp från det sociokulturella perspektivet. De begrepp som huvudsakligen har benämnts i denna studie är mediering, proximal utvecklingszon och appropriering. I resultatet framkommer det hur lärare kan upptäcka lässvårigheter i matematik. Flerspråkighet, otillräcklig begreppsförståelse och bristande strategier är några av anledningarna till att eleverna är i lässvårigheter, vilket lärare oftast uppmärksammar vid textuppgifter i matematik. I resultatet redovisas även hur lärare arbetar med elever i lässvårigheter. Det gör de bland annat genom digitala verktyg och konkret material, exempelvis pengar, klossar och pizza. Slutsatsen av studien är att läraren behöver besitta kunskap om hur de kulturella verktygen ska användas för att ge eleverna möjlighet till att utvecklas inom textuppgifter i matematik. / The purpose of the study is to deepen the knowledge of how teachers work in their mathematics teaching to meet different variants of reading difficulties. A qualitative method with the help of interviews has been used to be able to present a result. The research questions are answered with the help of some main concepts from the sociocultural perspective. The concepts that have been mainly mentioned in this study are mediation, Zone of Proximal Development, and appropriation. The result shows how teachers can detect reading difficulties in mathematics. Multilingualism, insufficient conceptual understanding, and lack of strategies are some of the reasons why pupils have reading difficulties, which teachers often pay attention to when writing text assignments in mathematics. The results also report how teachers work with pupils with reading difficulties. They do this through digital tools and concrete materials, such as money, bricks, and, pizza. The conclusion of the study is that the teacher needs to possess knowledge of how the cultural tools should be used to give pupils the opportunity to develop in text assignments in mathematics.

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No. of bitstreams: 2 Gomes, Ivan Carlos Pereira-2013-dissertação.pdf: 2575901 bytes, checksum: 81613bef8918b3628ba33c4829ed8ca5 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-04-01 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This work is a qualitative research of empirical character carried out with high school students in the city of Goiania. Its purpose was to investigate and describe the response of the students in classroom when using different cultural tools in learning the concept of radioactivity, thus discursive dynamics has been the subject of study. The recurring debate on this issue, after the ocurrence of a tsunami in the first half of 2011 in Japan, became a reference for the elaboration of a didactic sequence titled "From nuclear instability to social instability". In the study, two interventions were conducted in different schools of Goiânia. Although only the second intervention has been analyzed, the experience gained in the first one helped us and had a close interplay with the following intervention. The data were collected from the field journal and audiovisual recordings of the classes, that were transcribed later. The whole conception of the research was strongly supported by the theory of mediated action of James Wertsch. In addition, we turned to the study of language of Bakhtin to perfom the analysis of the selected teaching episodes. Three categories of analysis were prepared a posteriori and showed, through the use of cultural tools and conceptual elaboration, recurrent features in dialogues that took place in classroom, between students and between students and the teacher. Although students have advanced on the macroscopic elaborations and extrapolated the limits of the selected cultural tools, which evidences assimilation, there were also restrictions and limits on microscopic elaborations. We understood that, unlike the textbook, which was intentionally produced to be used in the classroom, the cultural tools employed had other purposes; thus it is necessary methodological caution in the pedagogical action, when elaborating a didactic sequence with characteristics similar to the one developed here. We emphasize, then, the important role of the teacher in negotiating meanings and assisting students to move across different cultural tools. / Este trabalho se caracterizou por ser uma pesquisa qualitativa de caráter empírico, realizada com alunos do Ensino Médio de escolas da cidade de Goiânia. Teve como objetivo investigar e caracterizar a ação dos alunos em sala de aula ao utilizarem diferentes ferramentas culturais na aprendizagem do conceito de radioatividade, portanto a dinâmica discursiva foi objeto de estudo. O recorrente debate relativo a este tema, após o tsunami ocorrido no primeiro semestre de 2011 no Japão, passou a ser referência para a elaboração de uma sequência didática com o título "Da instabilidade nuclear a instabilidade social". No estudo, duas intervenções, em diferentes escolas de Goiânia, foram realizadas. Apesar de somente a segunda intervenção ter sido analisada, a experiência adquirida com a primeira nos auxiliou e dialogou continuamente com a intervenção seguinte. Os dados foram construídos a partir do diário de campo e dos registros audiovisuais das aulas, transcritos posteriormente. Toda a concepção da pesquisa foi amparada fortemente pela teoria da ação mediada de James Wertsch, além dela, recorremos aos estudos da linguagem de Bakhtin para realizarmos a análise dos episódios de ensino selecionados. Três categorias de análise foram elaboradas a posteriori e identificaram, a partir do uso das ferramentas culturais e da elaboração conceitual, características recorrentes nos diálogos que aconteceram em sala de aula, entre os alunos e entre os alunos e o professor. Embora os alunos tenham avançado nas elaborações macroscópicas e extrapolado os limites das ferramentas culturais selecionadas, caracterizando indícios de domínio, houve também, restrições e limites nas elaborações microscópicas. Entendemos que diferentemente do livro didático, que foi produzido intencionalmente para ser utilizado em sala de aula, as ferramentas culturais empregadas possuíam outros objetivos; por isso é necessário cautela metodológica na ação pedagógica, ao elaborar uma sequência didática com características semelhantes a que foi desenvolvida. Destacamos o importante papel do professor ao negociar significados e auxiliar no trânsito dos alunos entre as distintas ferramentas culturais.

“Childs pedagogic material – A qualitative study of child’s use of pedagogic materials available at five nursery schools and about their teachers thoughts about the display of the pedagogic material” In the nursery preschool the environment and the educational materials have always had a central place. That's why it has been chosen to study and observe five preschools and interview sex teachers, in an attempt to understand the teachers thought about the choice of material and the choices of material that the children used. The reason I do this is to see what the underlying idea about the materials the children use is, and why educators choose to make certain materials visible. The purpose of this study is to examine the educational materials that are used to stimulate children´s learning and examine what determines the choice of educational materials. In the assessment of the pedagogical scenario it has been used a socio-cultural perspective and a multimodal approach that allowed to conclude that children use most of the material with exception of what is often placed high up on shelves, locked in closets or a cabinets. Educational materials that children don't see are not commonly used by the children since they don’t of interest for them. When teachers display educational materials in the children’s level and make the material available for them, it results in awaking the children’s interest in using them. At the interviews all the teachers agreed that the educational material must be made available and that on the children's level.  The educational material has to be tempting and varying nature, furthermore, the material also has to be concrete and so designed that the children could make use of them without needs of supervising guidance of an adult that explaining everything to them.

Syftet med denna studie är att observera mitt lärande i studerande av irländsk musik. Studiens metod är att genom en mästare, lära repertoar som förmedlar stiltypiska drag. Som teoretisk utgångspunkt för studien har det sociokulturella perspektivet med fokus på mästarläran valts. Frågeställningarna som ligger till grund för studien undersöker vilka redskap som används för att appropriera den irländska musiken och vilka insikter och framsteg som gjorts i den irländska spelstilen under studiens gång. Efter analys av det under processen inhämtade material framkommer i resultatet användning av både materiella och teoretiska redskap som ofta samverkar. Vidare visar resultatet tecken på lärande inom områdena tempo, stråk och förståelse kring musiken. I diskussionen tas några av de slutsatser som framkommit i resultatet upp och kopplas till den litteratur och forskning som presenteras i arbetets bakgrundskapitel. Några av de punkter som tas upp i diskussionen är hur min musikaliska identitet utvecklas, lärande i sessions, vilken stil jag utvecklar under detta arbete och vad redskapen har för betydelse. / This study’s purpose is to observe the learning process of studying Irish traditional music. The method used in the study, is to learn repertoire mediating the Irish style from a master in the tradition. As a theoretical basis for the study a socio-cultural perspective with a focus on master-learning is used.  The study is based on research questions investigating how tools are used to learn the Irish style and how learning becomes visible and changes during the process. After analysing the material, collected during the process, the results show the use of both material and theoretical tools which often cooperate. Furthermore, the results show, how learning is achieved in the categories: tempo, bowing and understanding of the music. In the discussion some of the conclusions, appearing in the result, are brought up and connected to literature and research presented in the studies background chapter. Some of the topics discussed are how my musical identity develops, how learning takes place in sessions, how my style is affected during the study and what impact the tools have on learning.

O presente trabalho apresenta o estudo que visou a caracterização do processo de significação de conceitos químicos como domínio e apropriação de ferramentas culturais. O registro dos dados aconteceu durante a aplicação de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem que tinha a solubilidade dos materiais, como conceito central. Os sujeitos da investigação foram alunos do Ensino Médio da Rede Estadual de Ensino do Estado de São Paulo, que participavam do Programa de Pré-Iniciação Científica da USP. Todo o projeto foi planejado tomando como referenciais teóricos a teoria do desenvolvimento humano de Lev Vigotski, a teoria da linguagem de Mikhail Bakhtin, a teoria da ação mediada de James Wertsch e o modelo de organização do ensino de Marcelo Giordan. Este estudo buscou resposta para a seguinte questão de pesquisa: Compreender o processo de significação como domínio e apropriação de ferramentas culturais, permitirá que caracterizemos a aprendizagem como um processo de produção de significados? Para que pudéssemos responder a esta questão e alcançar nosso objeto, desenvolvemos uma sequência didática problematizadora, acompanhamos o processo de resolução do problema e reconstruímos este processo em busca dos conceitos utilizado para resolver o problema. Depois reconstruímos o processo histórico da significação dos conceitos químicos, analisamos os significados produzidos pelos alunos e caracterizamos esses significados como domínio e apropriação de ferramentas culturais. Verificamos que os alunos dominaram e se apropriaram dos conceitos químicos, da forma de organização dos enunciados própria da esfera científica e do uso de modelos como ferramentas capazes de realizar atividades concretas. / This paper presents a study that aimed to characterize the process of meaning of chemical concepts such as mastery and appropriation of cultural tools. Data registration occurred during the implementation of a virtual learning environment which had the solubility of the materials as a main concept. The subject of the investigation was a group of high school students from a State School in the State of São Paulo, who attended the Program of Pre-Scientific Initiation at USP. The entire project was designed taking as a theoretical framework to human development theory of Lev Vygotsky, the language theory of Mikhail Bakhtin, the mediated action theory of James Wertsch and the organizational model for teaching of Marcelo Giordan. This study sought answer for the following research question: To understand the process of meaning as mastery and appropriation of cultural tools, will we characterize learning as a process of producing meanings? So, in order to be able to answer this question and reach our goal, we developed a didactic problematical sequence, we follow the problem solving process and reconstruct this process in search of the concepts used to solve the problem. Then we reconstructed the historical process of chemical concept meanings, analyze the meanings produced by the students and we characterized these meanings as mastery and appropriation of cultural tools. We found that students have mastered and appropriated themselves of the chemical concepts, the organizational form of the statements used on its own scientific sphere and the use of models as tools capable of performing concret activities.

The aim of this thesis is to obtain a deeper understanding of students’ approaches to musical knowledge as it is distributed through one-to-one tuition in higher music education (HME). With a cultural-psychological perspective according to Bruner, the project was designed as a longitudinal, qualitative study of eight students in the performance program that concludes with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music. Two main musical genres were represented: Western classical music, and jazz and contemporary music. The students had one-to-one tuition on violin, classical guitar, saxophone and electric guitar, and were observed at three consecutive lessons per semester during one academic year. Many-sided data were collected: video recordings of instrumental lessons, semi-structured interviews with students and teachers, and the participants’ diary notes in connection with the observed lessons. In the analysis, the students’ approaches to knowledge of music cultural tools were focused. The results show that the students use three main approaches in relation to one-to-one tuition: adaptation, reflected navigation and indifference. These approaches vary and overlap, and are connected to the local cultural situations that are being studied, as well as to differences by instrument and genre. The different strategies used by the students are discussed in relation to apprenticeship in higher music education, and in relation to the consequences for students’ musical learning and knowledge development. The results are also connected to the Bologna process and the development of research-based teaching in HME. Methodological considerations and suggestions for further research are put forward. / Genom projektet, Instrumenatlisters musikaliska kunskapsutveckling. Finansierat av Vetenskapsrådet / Genom projektet, Vem äger lärandet? Finansierat av Myndigheten för nätverk och samarbete inom högre utbildning

The aim of this thesis is to obtain a deeper understanding of students’ approaches to musical knowledge as it is distributed through one-to-one tuition in higher music education (HME). With a cultural-psychological perspective according to Bruner, the project was designed as a longitudinal, qualitative study of eight students in the performance program that concludes with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music. Two main musical genres were represented: Western classical music, and jazz and contemporary music. The students had one-to-one tuition on violin, classical guitar, saxophone and electric guitar, and were observed at three consecutive lessons per semester during one academic year. Many-sided data were collected: video recordings of instrumental lessons, semi-structured interviews with students and teachers, and the participants’ diary notes in connection with the observed lessons. In the analysis, the students’ approaches to knowledge of music cultural tools were focused. The results show that the students use three main approaches in relation to one-to-one tuition: adaptation, reflected navigation and indifference. These approaches vary and overlap, and are connected to the local cultural situations that are being studied, as well as to differences by instrument and genre. The different strategies used by the students are discussed in relation to apprenticeship in higher music education, and in relation to the consequences for students’ musical learning and knowledge development. The results are also connected to the Bologna process and the development of research-based teaching in HME. Methodological considerations and suggestions for further research are put forward. / Genom projektet, Instrumenatlisters musikaliska kunskapsutveckling. Finansierat av Vetenskapsrådet / Genom projektet, Vem äger lärandet? Finansierat av Myndigheten för nätverk och samarbete inom högre utbildning

This thesis examines the persistent widespread discrimination against widows in Uganda and Nigeria that results from mandatory observance of harmful widowhood rituals, interpersonal violence, disinheritance, and forceful deprivation of property in marriage, in violation of and contrary to the provisions of international and regional human rights conventions and domestic laws. The thesis argues that international, regional, and domestic laws have not been effective to address the violation of widows’ rights because the terms in which these laws are expressed are not meaningful at the grassroots level. The thesis proposes social, cultural, economic, and legal measures to address the use of widows as cultural tools. In this thesis, I use the term ‘cultural tools’ to refer to the use of widows in Uganda and Nigeria, as in many other sub-Saharan African countries, as embodiments of cultural identity, especially in most parts of rural areas. Widows are used as tools to perpetuate traditional cultural customs such as widowhood rituals, levirate marriages, disinheritance, and widow cleansing. Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) proclaims that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. This provision is complemented by various international and regional instruments on discrimination and gender equality. Using the Igbo tribe of the Eastern part of Nigeria and the Baganda tribe of Uganda as case studies, my thesis examines to what extent widowhood rites amount to an infringement of the human rights of the widows in most part of the sub-Saharan African countries. The thesis examines the various international, regional, and domestic laws as they apply to or affect Nigerian and Ugandan widows either as a consequence of their status as widows or as members of the community. Thus, in light of the gap between international and state laws, on the one hand, and cultures and customary law on the other hand, this thesis draws insights from the concept of “vernacularization”. This approach combines the views espoused in Sally Engle Merry’s work and argues that to change the cultures and practices of customary law on the ground, initiatives must be taken at the grassroots level.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka min lärandeprocess när jag på det melodiska slagverksinstrumentet vibrafon studerar in tre folkmusiklåtar på gehör utifrån ljudinspelningar. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten för studien är det sociokulturella perspektivet och den decentrerade mästarläran. Studiens frågeställningar berör tillvägagångssätt, vilka kulturella redskap som används samt hur lärandet visar sig. I resultatet framkommer att många olika materiella och intellektuella redskap används i inlärningsprocessen och att lärandet visar sig genom exempelvis ökat tempo och tillägnande av fler och fler detaljer i musiken. I diskussionen ställs dessa resultat i relation till presenterad litteratur och forskning och aspekter som diskuteras är bland annat hur olika kulturella redskap samspelar och tillsammans främjar lärandet, hur den musikkulturella inramningen sätts utifrån den utövandes tidigare erfarenheter och kunskaper samt hur samspel och kommunikation kan visa sig i enskild övning utan tydlig praxisgemenskap. / The purpose of this studie is to analyse my learningprocess when learning three swedish folkmusic tunes by ear on the vibraphone, with the help of audio recordings. The theoretical basis of the studie is the sociocultural theory and a decentered view of master-learning. The issues of the studie has been to examine the ways in which I structure my practice to reach my goals, the use of different cultural tools and how the development can be seen. The result reveals that a lot of different tools, both material and intellectual, are being used in the learningprocess and that the development can be seen in increasing of tempo and appropriation of more and more details in the musical perfomance. In the discussion the results are put in relation to the litterature and theory which has been presented. Some aspects that is discussed is how the use of different cultural tools together can have a positive effect, how a musicians previous experience and knowledge affects the learningprocess and how interaction and communication can be seen in individual practice without a clear social context.