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The aim of the project is to redesign an adjustable table in collaboration with the company Form O Miljö from Stockholm, which develops, produces and markets high-quality furniture and interior design for public environments . The table is part of a biomechanical project developed by the company. It´s focus is school environments and designed for the students. The idea comes from the problems observed in children while using electronic devices or study in the current tables and a later ergonomic study about it. The bachelor thesis consists of looking for a new design that fits in its market, catches the users interest and meets his or her needs in order to be successful. Therefore, it is a project that has been carried out from a human-centered design approach. The result is a table adjustable in height thanks to the lifting system implemented, that has a drawer to store stuff and a tilting support for electronic devices. All its characteristics makes this new desk an innovative product in the market that fulfils the users’ requirements and solves the problems analyzed.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether feelings of school connectedness or educational value moderate the effect of cultural mistrust on academic achievement. It is hypothesized that the positive influence of school connectedness and educational value will protect against the potential negative impact of cultural mistrust on academic success. Multiple regression analysis will be used to analyze a model predicting academic achievement among African American middle school students based on their level of cultural mistrust, school connectedness, and educational value. Implications for educational programming and practice include early detection of students higher in cultural mistrust to prevent later academic disparities, recruitment of African American role models that allow for students to view that there are positive realistic outcomes, and finally foster positive interactions with school personal. / text

Racial inequalities in the education system are an issue that has yet to be adequately addressed. Given how discriminatory experiences adversely impact African American students, it is important to understand how their educational attitudes are impacted and ways that students can be protected from these harmful experiences. The study aims to answer six research questions: 1) How does racial discrimination predict African American college students’ value placed in education? 2) How does racial discrimination predict African American college students’ expectations for success? 3) How do preparation for bias messages predict the value they place in education? 4) How do preparation for bias messages predict African American college students’ expectations for success? 5) Do preparation for bias messages buffer the effect of racial discrimination on value placed in education? 6) Do preparation for bias messages buffer the effect of racial discrimination on expectations for success?

The thesis is concerned to explore whether and how ‘value added’ data analyses can contribute to school improvement, and to identify some of the conditions under which this might be so. In the course of conducting the study, the author experienced a tension between the ‘research’ and the ‘development’ dimensions of her work, and this is used to inform the outcomes of the thesis. The thesis is underpinned by three related aims: first, to provide a historical and evaluative overview of how the idea of ‘value added’ came to enter and influence the debate on educational quality in England. The study of the literature demonstrates that the main principles of ‘value added’ were already well developed before the term was in common use; it also reveals that the ambiguities in the term are not merely reflective of disagreements about how best to calculate value added but actually central to how the idea has been made to function within a particular political agenda for education having to do with ‘raising standards’. Because of the relentlessness of that agenda, ‘value added’ measures of attainment have undergone considerable methodological development over the past ten years, to the point where sophisticated statistical data on pupils’ and schools’ performance is being generated and used by government agencies, LEAs and schools themselves to an extent virtually unknown elsewhere. However, this thesis indicates that the technical and conceptual issues involved in putting such data to practical use in schools are likely to test the interpretative and organisational skills of users. The literature search confirms that not much investigation has been done into how data is actually used, but that what there is suggests some important lines of inquiry. The second aim of the thesis is accordingly to explore, through a small-scale empirical study, the use by secondary school staff of value-added data as exemplified by the NFER’s value added service QUASE. The study was conducted in nine schools, with staff at senior and middle management levels, and focused on mathematics, English and science departments. The third aim of the thesis is to assess how far the case-study findings might shed further light on the issues entailed in using such data for school improvement. The evidence suggested that value added data are seen as complex and often ‘high stakes’ and that – at the time of this study – the uses of value added data were rather more limited than expected; furthermore, the meanings of value added would seem to be socially constructed by the political and institutional environment, and to be closely related to individual teachers’ values and attitudes. This in turn suggests that better insights into, and management of, ‘the psychology and sociology’ of how value added data are perceived and used are necessary. Nonetheless, the study concludes that there is potential for value added analyses to contribute to school improvement under certain conditions; crucially, the study indicated that these included a culture which emphasised self-evaluation – rather than external accountability – within the school or subject department, combined with input from a ‘champion’ or facilitator who understood the technicalities and significance of the data. Value added analyses seemed to be used most actively by,staff who were able to use them ‘heuristically’, that is, to pose informed questions about teaching and learning (rather than as literal truths or statistical fictions). The study argues that ‘value added’ measures of performance are accordingly better understood as a technology than a science – that is, a practical application of knowledge which interacts dynamically with its social and cultural environment.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Gerald D. Bailey / The role and function of museums in education has been debated along several lines of inquiry. For the majority of museum institutions, the most vital, consistent audience they have comes from the public and private schools in their communities. This is critical for museums trying to maintain relevancy in the national education climate that has increased emphasis on curriculum and testing standards. Founded in 1990, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) in Kansas City, Missouri has preserved and taught African American baseball history from the late 1800s through the 1960s. Although the museum had received positive commentary from visitors, and well received attention from the international press, it had not undergone any major changes to its design since it opened its permanent facility in 1997. Of chief concern to the museum was its ability to attract school age learners with their teachers to the institution. The museum had a number of layers by which it presented historical information and each layer needed some level of evaluation. There were a number of informative examples of museum evaluation and assessment available for review, but no tool or model existed specifically designed to assist museums in evaluating exhibition content for educational value. This study reports on methods by which the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) could improve and enhance exhibitions. It explored the current trends and scholarship involving museums and education, museum exhibition evaluation, and Negro Leagues historical scholarship. A multi-step research processed evolved for use in the study, featuring detailed literature reviews and interviews from educators, historians, museum professionals, and a grant awarding foundation expert. This study targets museum professionals responsible for interpretation and creation of exhibitions, including curatorial staff and museum educators. The study also informs other museum leaders regarding the process by which high quality educational material is created for the museum environment. A set of important themes and evaluation questions were formed as a result of the interviews and literature review. The study offered critical thinking questions for the evaluation process and suggests recommendations for implementation. The study also implies action plan strategies for implementation of an evaluation process.

In Taiwan, even though we have sets of desks and chairs in different sizes for school children, due to the inconsistency of purchases and the number of students in the year, many students did not have the opportunity to use desks and chairs that fit their height. In such an environment, students have incorrect postures, cannot concentrate in class, and begin to neglect or even destroy the tables and chairs they use. In this project, I designed the furniture to be adjustable in height. It solves the inconvenience of school procurement and provides students with a more comfortable learning environment. Besides, I also introduced the concept of "Wood education" to cultivate students' understanding of Taiwan's native natural resources and develop the feeling of cherishing the furniture that students use from assembling their wooden furniture.

This study theoretically presupposes that the individual is an integral entity, therefore, education should take place according to the harmonious development of all the facets of a child's being. Even in antiquity, physical education and sport were seen to be important for a balanced education. Every society implements physical education and sport according to own needs and requirements, according certain values to sport, which values are reviewed in this study. A literature study corroborates that the intellectual, physical and social development of the child undoubtedly forms part of the total environment of the educative process. Exclusion of any facet could cause an imbalance in the development of the child. Incorporation of physical education and sport in the post-apartheid educational dispensation of South Africa forms the later part of the investigation. Various factors in South Africa have an influence on the role and place of physical education and sport within the curriculum. Government involvement in sport can determine the place of sport in society and in the curriculum. The readmittance of South Africa into international participation and changes in the political policy also play a role. These factors pose the challenge and facilitate the possibility to reinstate physical education and sport at schools. The structure of South African sport is undergoing a total change and the role players in the sports fraternity are now faced with numerous challenges and opportunities. Reinstating physical education and sport in the school curriculum serves a vital role in the reconstruction and development of a healthy and well-balanced society. Furthermore, reinstatement could reverse the consequences of social and economic injustices. Research undertaken in Australia, also provides some answers to problems for the South African situation. It proposes new initiatives that could be of help to the relevant role players in the planning of physical education and school sport in the post­ apartheid educational dispensation of South Africa. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Comparative Education)

This study theoretically presupposes that the individual is an integral entity, therefore, education should take place according to the harmonious development of all the facets of a child's being. Even in antiquity, physical education and sport were seen to be important for a balanced education. Every society implements physical education and sport according to own needs and requirements, according certain values to sport, which values are reviewed in this study. A literature study corroborates that the intellectual, physical and social development of the child undoubtedly forms part of the total environment of the educative process. Exclusion of any facet could cause an imbalance in the development of the child. Incorporation of physical education and sport in the post-apartheid educational dispensation of South Africa forms the later part of the investigation. Various factors in South Africa have an influence on the role and place of physical education and sport within the curriculum. Government involvement in sport can determine the place of sport in society and in the curriculum. The readmittance of South Africa into international participation and changes in the political policy also play a role. These factors pose the challenge and facilitate the possibility to reinstate physical education and sport at schools. The structure of South African sport is undergoing a total change and the role players in the sports fraternity are now faced with numerous challenges and opportunities. Reinstating physical education and sport in the school curriculum serves a vital role in the reconstruction and development of a healthy and well-balanced society. Furthermore, reinstatement could reverse the consequences of social and economic injustices. Research undertaken in Australia, also provides some answers to problems for the South African situation. It proposes new initiatives that could be of help to the relevant role players in the planning of physical education and school sport in the post­ apartheid educational dispensation of South Africa. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Comparative Education)