Embodied learning is a holistic approach to education that takes into consideration the inclusion of the body in learning, students’ awareness of self, and their connection with place and those around them. The current study sought to uncover ways in which elementary school teachers in British Columbia were adapting classroom spaces to engage student bodies in learning process. Two teachers from different regions of the province were interviewed about their experiences with embodied learning. Physical hurdles such as the restrictive nature of the space within which they worked, and systemic hurdles such as student / teacher expectations about teaching and learning experiences and relationships, assessment and pedagogy practices, and a lack of clarity about the purpose of education were identified as challenges that teachers hoping to embrace embodied learning would have to overcome. / Graduate

The aim of this thesis is to ascertain how primary school teachers would like to improve their mathematics teaching. The central questions for this research are: In what ways do teachers want to improve their mathematics teaching? How do the teachers justify their statements? What main features can be distinguished out of the teachers answers? Three interviews and seven surveys have been used to collect information from a total of nine teachers, at one primary school. Teaching pupils from preschool to sixth grade. The results have been analysed, interpreted and discussed using a drama pedagogical perspective, inspired by a holistic approach to learning. In order to investigate connections between drama pedagogic and holistic perspectives on learning in the teachers’ answers, three main characteristics of drama pedagogic usage have been defined: To embody (meaning: to act and/or create); Process (meaning: learning takes time and seeks deep understanding); Play (meaning: joyful activity which involves relatively little supervision by the teacher). The results show that teachers would like to work in more practical ways, where investigative and experimental activities are more commonplace. Although not supported by all responses, a significant majority of respondents expressed belief in working methods, and reasoning about learning, with fundamental connections to a drama pedagogic and holistic perspective on learning. This thesis concludes that the teachers surveyed believe in embodiment actions as a learning medium, and that knowledge can be highlighted by the principles of process. / <p>Examensarbete nr 1 (utav totalt 2) inom lärarprogrammet med inriktning drama mot skolår 5 - 9 samt gymnasieskolan.</p>

Professional military education is a well‐established system in most modern militaries. Like all things though, incremental and ad hoc improvements to legacy approaches typically lead to reduced quality. It is therefore, essential to periodically review the entire system for holistic effectiveness. For military education, this need is particularly important when the global security environment is experiencing such rapid change. Added to this is the emerging understanding of the ‘new sciences’ that provides a unique opportunity to improve cognitive agility when confronting complex adaptive systems. There is also an urgent need to acknowledge and enhance the intangible dimension of professional military education beyond mere content‐centric subject expertise. From the literature on hidden learning and constructivism, there are a number of opportunities available for modernizing the legacy paradigm of professional military education. This study investigated the role of holistic learning (formal, non‐formal, informal, selfdirected, and incidental learning) in the professional development of 29 mid‐career military officers. It involved detailed study of their participation on the seven‐month staff course at the New Zealand Defence College from May to December 2008. Mixed methodology data collection included observations, interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, and document analysis. Analytic procedures ranged from statistical comparisons through to qualitative theme constructs. The study found a number of dimensions (sources and influences) contributing to holistic learning. It also identified a number of opportunities to improve the learning experience. The findings identify a number of important factors in developing strategic artists. Of these, the greatest need is for a strategic plan to extend the current content‐centric syllabus into a full curriculum with intangible traits clearly linked to formal and informal learning activities. Specific components required in this strategic plan include an academic philosophy and a cross‐referencing matrix. The study also recommends reviewing time allocated to cross‐discipline learning of the profession and cognitive agility focused on deep learning. There is also a need to re‐examine the directing staff requirements, management of learner stress, and shaping practical‐value motivation strategies through cultural artefacts. Collectively, the findings recommend shifting from the traditional vessel‐filling paradigm of formal courses to a sociological approach of growing strategic leaders.

Professional military education is a well‐established system in most modern militaries. Like all things though, incremental and ad hoc improvements to legacy approaches typically lead to reduced quality. It is therefore, essential to periodically review the entire system for holistic effectiveness. For military education, this need is particularly important when the global security environment is experiencing such rapid change. Added to this is the emerging understanding of the ‘new sciences’ that provides a unique opportunity to improve cognitive agility when confronting complex adaptive systems. There is also an urgent need to acknowledge and enhance the intangible dimension of professional military education beyond mere content‐centric subject expertise. From the literature on hidden learning and constructivism, there are a number of opportunities available for modernizing the legacy paradigm of professional military education. This study investigated the role of holistic learning (formal, non‐formal, informal, selfdirected, and incidental learning) in the professional development of 29 mid‐career military officers. It involved detailed study of their participation on the seven‐month staff course at the New Zealand Defence College from May to December 2008. Mixed methodology data collection included observations, interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, and document analysis. Analytic procedures ranged from statistical comparisons through to qualitative theme constructs. The study found a number of dimensions (sources and influences) contributing to holistic learning. It also identified a number of opportunities to improve the learning experience. The findings identify a number of important factors in developing strategic artists. Of these, the greatest need is for a strategic plan to extend the current content‐centric syllabus into a full curriculum with intangible traits clearly linked to formal and informal learning activities. Specific components required in this strategic plan include an academic philosophy and a cross‐referencing matrix. The study also recommends reviewing time allocated to cross‐discipline learning of the profession and cognitive agility focused on deep learning. There is also a need to re‐examine the directing staff requirements, management of learner stress, and shaping practical‐value motivation strategies through cultural artefacts. Collectively, the findings recommend shifting from the traditional vessel‐filling paradigm of formal courses to a sociological approach of growing strategic leaders.

<p>The dissertation deals with the issue of reflection, democracy and educational drama. The overarching aim of the dissertation is to investigate whether educational drama may be perceived as fostering democratic values in the literature and curricula.</p><p>The dissertation shows that, based on various different theoretical and philosophical values, an interplay does exist between the goals for an activity and the choice of content and work method, which creates a number of opportunities for reflection in the various different perspectives of educational drama. It also indicates, however, that attitudes towards educational drama shift in the different curricula, where the artistically oriented perspective is the one most sought after. As a result, education in democratic values, which does not necessarily problemize social and political issues, is demanded from educational drama.</p><p>The literature analyses made in the dissertation reveal four perspectives. Within <i>the artistically oriented perspective,</i> a democratic potential exists in giving the individual tools with which to learn both how to achieve and to create knowledge. Every performance is a story about life and, for every performance the individual takes part in, his knowledge of art and human problems at different times and in different situations increases.</p><p>Within <i>the personal development perspective</i> the individual. acquires tools to understand himself in relation to others and to understand the connection between various dynamic processes occurring at individual, group and community levels. The aesthetic form as well as the participant s' own experience of life gives cause for adaptation and reflection.</p><p>The democratic potential contained in <i>the critically liberating perspective</i> are that the individual acquires the necessary tools to investigate both in word and deed power relationships in society and how such power relationships are made apparent in concrete human situations. </p><p>The idea of fostering democratic values contained in <i>the holistic learning perspective</i> is characterised by acquiring tools with which to understand the universal human significance behind every problem. In the communicative process, the varying language skills of the individual are developed, skills in which artistic expression is fundamental for understanding complex human situations.</p>

The dissertation deals with the issue of reflection, democracy and educational drama. The overarching aim of the dissertation is to investigate whether educational drama may be perceived as fostering democratic values in the literature and curricula. The dissertation shows that, based on various different theoretical and philosophical values, an interplay does exist between the goals for an activity and the choice of content and work method, which creates a number of opportunities for reflection in the various different perspectives of educational drama. It also indicates, however, that attitudes towards educational drama shift in the different curricula, where the artistically oriented perspective is the one most sought after. As a result, education in democratic values, which does not necessarily problemize social and political issues, is demanded from educational drama. The literature analyses made in the dissertation reveal four perspectives. Within the artistically oriented perspective, a democratic potential exists in giving the individual tools with which to learn both how to achieve and to create knowledge. Every performance is a story about life and, for every performance the individual takes part in, his knowledge of art and human problems at different times and in different situations increases. Within the personal development perspective the individual. acquires tools to understand himself in relation to others and to understand the connection between various dynamic processes occurring at individual, group and community levels. The aesthetic form as well as the participant s' own experience of life gives cause for adaptation and reflection. The democratic potential contained in the critically liberating perspective are that the individual acquires the necessary tools to investigate both in word and deed power relationships in society and how such power relationships are made apparent in concrete human situations. The idea of fostering democratic values contained in the holistic learning perspective is characterised by acquiring tools with which to understand the universal human significance behind every problem. In the communicative process, the varying language skills of the individual are developed, skills in which artistic expression is fundamental for understanding complex human situations.

There is an ongoing debate both in the United States and Europe about the need to develop a broader view of scholarship and the different activities connected with it, including “service to the community”. In Sweden, service takes the form of practice-oriented engagement and collaboration with the surrounding community, as stipulated by Swedish law regulating universities’ activities. Collaboration is frequently perceived as a supplementary task, in addition to education and research, hence the name ‘the third task’. Many academics, university teachers and researchers, are today involved in different collaborative partnerships. This thesis focuses academics’ learning in two different contexts: collaboration with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and in a multidisciplinary research programme at the National Institute for Working Life in Sweden (NIWL). The results of the first investigation reveal that the academics learn different strategies to instigate, accomplish, deepen and further develop collaboration between universities and SMEs. The results also show also that academic professionals engaged in this type of activity need to handle the rigid structures of the academic organisation, which neither encourage nor reward these individuals’ efforts to collaborate. However, this study shows that although academics and practioners from SMEs come from different working cultures with their various traditions associated with language and interaction, a continuous exchange and dialogue creates trust and competence for all parties, as well as learning in the form of new knowledge that is useful for both the academia and SMEs. Collaboration across disciplines is rapidly becoming an integral feature of research, due to the desire to explore problems and questions that are not confined to a single discipline and the need to solve societal problems. The second empirical investigation focuses on the workplace learning of researchers in a multidisciplinary research (MDR) programme at the National Institute for Working Life in Sweden (NIWL), and their collaboration with practitioners. The results show that academics in this multidisciplinary context reach a deepened awareness of the perspectives of their own and others’ fields of research, as well as a heightened curiosity to learn more. The learning also involves gaining new insights about their own learning and how this takes place; its impact on their own professional development, and discovering, sometimes surprisingly, how their competence can be used in new areas of research. The interaction of knowledge and experience with researchers of different disciplines and practitioners creates a context that demands a different type of learning for the academics, compared to working in their own disciplines. Both investigations give an understanding of how academics experience their learning in collaboration with practitioners and researchers from different disciplines. It shows how the holistic integration of knowledge deriving from the academic functions of collaboration, teaching and research contributes to development within the academia and in working environments outside it. / Det finns en pågående debatt, både i USA och i Europa om behovet att utveckla en bredare syn på akademisk kompetens och de olika aktiviteterna som den innefattar, bland annat det som kallas “tjänster riktade mot samhället”. I Sverige tar dessa samhällsorienterade tjänster formen av praktik orienterad involvering och samarbete med det omgivande samhället, i enlighet med den lagstiftning som reglerar högskolans verksamhet. Samarbete uppfattas ofta som en uppgift som ligger utöver utbildning och forskning; den kallas därför också “den tredje uppgiften”. Många akademiker, universitetslärare och forskare, är idag engagerade i olika former av samverkan. Avhandlingen fokuserar akademikers lärande i två olika sammanhang: samverkan med små och medelstora företag (SMF), och samverkan inom ramen för ett flervetenskapligt forskningsprogram vid Arbetslivsinstitutet (ALI). Resultaten från den första undersökningen visar att akademikerna lär sig olika strategier för att initiera, genomföra, fördjupa och vidareutveckla samverkan mellan högskolan och SMF. Resultaten visar också att akademikerna som är verksamma inom detta område behöver hantera den akademiska organisationens rigida strukturer, som varken uppmuntrar eller belönar dessa individers ansträngningar att samverka. Akademiker och praktiker i SMF kommer från olika arbetskulturer, med olika traditioner förknippade med språk och interaktion. Undersökningen visar dock att kontinuiteten i utbytet och dialogen skapar ett förtroende och kompetensutveckling för alla involverade parter, samt ett lärande i form av ny kunskap som är användbar både för akademin och för SMF. Tvärvetenskapligt samarbete håller på att bli en grundläggande del av all forskning, beroende på önskan att utforska problem och frågeställningar som inte är begränsade till ett enstaka ämnesområde, och behovet att lösa de problem samhället ställs inför. Den andra empiriska undersökningen fokuserar forskares lärande på arbetsplatsen inom ett flervetenskapligt forskningsprogram vid (ALI), samt deras samarbete med praktiker. Resultaten visar att det som akademiker lär i detta flervetenskapliga sammanhang är en fördjupad medvetenhet om perspektiven i deras egen och andras forskningsfält, samt en förstärkt nyfikenhet att lära mer. Lärandet innebär även att komma till nya insikter om deras eget lärande, och hur detta äger rum; hur det påverkar deras egen professionella utveckling, och att upptäcka - ibland överraskande – hur deras kompetens kan användas i nya forskningsområden. Samspelet mellan kunskap och erfarenhet hos forskare med olika ämnesbakgrund och med praktiker skapar ett sammanhang som kräver en annan typ av lärande for akademikerna, jämfört med deras inomdisciplinära arbete. Resultaten från båda undersökningarna ger en förståelse av hur akademiker upplever sitt lärande i samarbete med praktiker och andra forskare från olika ämnen. Det visar hur den holistiska kunskapsintegrationen som härrör från de tre akademiska funktionerna samverkan, undervisning och forskning, samtidigt bidrar till utveckling i arbetsmiljöer både inom och utanför akademin. / Populärvetenskaplig beskrivning på svenska av artiklarna I-IV.

<p>This study investigates the use of formulaic language in spoken French produced by native and non-native speakers. It aims at describing the development of formulaic sequences in learners ranging from beginners to very advanced users. It draws on data from the InterFra corpus, which includes both formal and semi-formal learners. Four measures are used to characterize this development: extent of formulaic language used, category distribution, type / token ratio and frequency of types. </p><p>It has been shown that a user’s knowledge of formulaic sequences impacts heavily on language proficiency and idiomaticity. Because these sequences follow neither grammatical nor lexical rules, they constitute the last threshold for advanced L2 learners. In second language acquisition, the term formulaic sequence not only applies to strict idiomatic constructions, but it is also used to refer to sequences that appear to be acquired in a holistic manner during the first phases of acquisition. A categorization is therefore proposed that can account for native and non-native usage of formulaic sequences (prefabs). Five categories of prefabs are included: Lexical, Grammatical, Discourse, Situational and Idiosyncratic. </p><p>The extent of a learner’s use of formulaic language increases as the learner progresses, the largest amount found in the production of native speakers and very advanced learners. The learner’s distribution of categories moves towards native speaker distribution, albeit slowly. Situational and Idiosyncratic prefabs are found to characterize the early phases of acquisition, while Lexical prefabs are mastered later and are a major difficulty for L2 learners. Only very advanced learners who have spent considerable time in France produce the same proportion of Lexical prefabs as native speakers. Discourse prefabs constitute the most important category for all groups, including natives and non-natives. It can therefore be postulated that the main function of formulaic sequences in spoken French is that of discourse structuring and speech management. The development and use of formulaic language is explained within a framework of Frequency Effects. Coupled with other factors, frequency can account for why Lexical prefabs are hard to acquire and why formulaic sequences take a long time to master.</p> / The thesis is published and can be purchased by Peter Lang http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?vID=11369&vLang=E&vHR=1&vUR=1&vUUR=38

This study investigates the use of formulaic language in spoken French produced by native and non-native speakers. It aims at describing the development of formulaic sequences in learners ranging from beginners to very advanced users. It draws on data from the InterFra corpus, which includes both formal and semi-formal learners. Four measures are used to characterize this development: extent of formulaic language used, category distribution, type / token ratio and frequency of types. It has been shown that a user’s knowledge of formulaic sequences impacts heavily on language proficiency and idiomaticity. Because these sequences follow neither grammatical nor lexical rules, they constitute the last threshold for advanced L2 learners. In second language acquisition, the term formulaic sequence not only applies to strict idiomatic constructions, but it is also used to refer to sequences that appear to be acquired in a holistic manner during the first phases of acquisition. A categorization is therefore proposed that can account for native and non-native usage of formulaic sequences (prefabs). Five categories of prefabs are included: Lexical, Grammatical, Discourse, Situational and Idiosyncratic. The extent of a learner’s use of formulaic language increases as the learner progresses, the largest amount found in the production of native speakers and very advanced learners. The learner’s distribution of categories moves towards native speaker distribution, albeit slowly. Situational and Idiosyncratic prefabs are found to characterize the early phases of acquisition, while Lexical prefabs are mastered later and are a major difficulty for L2 learners. Only very advanced learners who have spent considerable time in France produce the same proportion of Lexical prefabs as native speakers. Discourse prefabs constitute the most important category for all groups, including natives and non-natives. It can therefore be postulated that the main function of formulaic sequences in spoken French is that of discourse structuring and speech management. The development and use of formulaic language is explained within a framework of Frequency Effects. Coupled with other factors, frequency can account for why Lexical prefabs are hard to acquire and why formulaic sequences take a long time to master. / The thesis is published and can be purchased by Peter Lang http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?vID=11369&vLang=E&vHR=1&vUR=1&vUUR=38

This thesis explores women's learning in unpaid household work through the lenses of impairment and disability. Informal learning from this standpoint is a perspective that is not yet integrated into the adult learning literature. The impetus for the study came from dissatisfaction with the social undervaluing of unpaid housework and carework, and the largely unrecognized learning behind the work, which is predominantly done by women. Disability and impairment provide unique lenses for making visible what people learn and how they learn in this context. Those who have or acquire impairment in adulthood need to learn how to do things differently. For this study I have taken a segment of data from a 4-year, 4-phase project on Unpaid Housework and Lifelong Learning in which I participated. The participants in this segment are women and men with disabilities who took part in 2 focus groups (11 women), an on-line focus group (20 women), and individual interviews (10 women and 5 men). Learning is explored through three different themes: first, learning related to self-care; second, learning to accept the impaired body; and third, strategies and resources used in the learning process. Analysis of the data shows that the learning that happens through unpaid household work is multidimensional, fluid, and diverse. Learning is accomplished through a complex 4-dimensional process involving a blend of the body, mind, emotions, and the spiritual self. Furthermore, what participants learned and how they learned is influenced by the sociocultural context in which it takes place. Learning, when seen as a 4-dimensional process, provides a framework for challenging traditional Western cultural beliefs about what counts as learning and knowledge. Such beliefs have cultivated the viewpoint that learning is individualistic, cognitive, and based on reason. I contest these beliefs by disrupting the binaries that support them (e.g., mind vs. body, reason vs. emotion). Participants used both sides of the binaries in their learning processes, negating the oppositional and hierarchical categories they establish. The concepts in the binaries still exist but the relationship between them is not oppositional, nor is one concept privileged over another, either within or across binaries.