Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Laura A. Brannon / In a two-study thesis, the current project compares the effectiveness of various messages aimed at reducing unsafe high-end tanning behaviors. Study 1 used messages focused on either the appearance or health consequences of tanning in an effort to reduce the intention of unsafe high-end tanning behaviors. The results indicated that participants did not differ in their high-end sun tanning frequencies as a result of the message condition, but that there was an interaction effect between message type and gender, such that appearance messages were most effective at reducing unsafe tanning behaviors for females. However, upon further examination of the appearance messages, it was noted that there were two primary aspects of appearance content that were present: aging and blemishes. Therefore, Study 2 examined whether the gender effect that was present in Study 1 was being driven by either the aging or blemish content of the messages. Surprisingly, it was found in Study 2 that aging messages were more effective on male participants than female participants at reducing intention of unsafe high-end tanning behaviors. Additionally, it was found in Study 2 that graphic images effectively decreased intention to perform unsafe high-end tanning behaviors. These findings along with their implications are discussed.

Graphicacy is the fundamental human capability of communicating through still images. Graphicacy has been described as the fourth ace within education, alongside literacy, numeracy and articulacy. However, it has been neglected, both within education and the research field. This thesis investigates graphicacy and students learning, structured around 3 objectives: establishing what graphicacy is and how it is used in the school curriculum; demonstrating the wider significance of design and technology teaching and learning by collecting evidence of the importance of graphicacy across the curriculum; and establishing how the abilities to understand and create images affect students learning. A literature review was conducted focused on three areas. Firstly, identifying the meaning of graphicacy, elements contained within it and relevant prior studies including its use in different subject areas and image use within teaching. This formed the foundations for a new taxonomy of graphicacy. Secondly, the levels of drawing and developmental stages children go through were investigated and the need for further research on children s abilities aged 11 to 14 was identified. The well balanced arguments concerning the nature versus nurture debates are described. Thirdly, the methodology used to measure graphicacy, and map the results to reflect levels of different competencies were reviewed. A naturalistic and often opportunistic approach was followed in this research. The research methodology was based on the analysis of textbooks and later, on research within practice. The research included the development, validation and use of the taxonomy of graphicacy; case studies in Cyprus, the USA and England on identifying graphicacy use across the curriculum; and the creation of continuity and progression descriptors through the analysis of students work. This work covered: rendering, perspective drawing, logo designing, portrait drawing and star profile charts. Research methodologies developed and implemented for conducting co-research and the Delphi studies are also described. Through interviews with experts, the taxonomy was validated as an appropriate research tool to enable the identification of graphicacy use across the curriculum. These research studies identified links between design and technology and all other subject-areas studied. Similar patterns of graphicacy use were identified across 3 schools, one in Cyprus, USA and the UK. Photographs were the most commonly used graphicacy element across all subject areas studied. Design and technology within England was found to use the widest variety of graphicacy elements, providing evidence towards research objective 3; establishing how the ability to understand and create images affects students learning. Continuity and progression (CaP) descriptors were created for each area covered by this research. The success of the CaP descriptors relied on the technical complexity involved in the creation of each image. Some evidence was found concerning the limits of natural development and how nurture can further develop graphicacy skills. In addition, co-research as a methodology, its limitations and potentials are identified.

In this paper we investigate how the possibility of mobility affects the frequency of blogposts andthe use of pictures in blogs and the content of the pictures. The purpose of this paper is toinvestigate what bloggers do with the possibility of mobility and how it effects the blog. Here weonly focus on smartphones. We focused our theory on communications and what mobility can offerto communication. To investigaste our subject we chose an combination of a qualitative and aquantitative study. Two personal interviews and four interviews by email were made with bloggers,which all have posted at least one blogpost with a picture from their smartphone. The informationfrom the informants was also followed up by a check up on their blogs. We interpreted the result ofthe study that writing blogposts from a smartphone is common and even using images in theblogposts are common. But the technical resolution of pictures from smartphones seemed tointerfere a bit for some of the bloggers in the study. / I den här uppsatsen utreder vi hur möjligheten till mobilitet påverkar frekvensen av blogginlägg ochanvändandet av bilder på bloggar och bildernas innehåll. Syftet med uppsatsen är att ta reda på vadbloggare gör med möjligheten till mobilitet och hur det påverkar bloggen. Här fokuserar vi enbartpå smartphones. Vi fokuserade vår teori på kommunikation och vad mobilitet kan bidra med tillkommunikation. För att utreda vårt ämne har vi valt att göra en kombination av en kvalitativ och enkvantitativ studie. Vi gjorde två personliga intervjuer och fyra mailintervjuer med bloggare, vilkaalla har publicerat minst ett blogginlägg med en bild från deras smartphone. Informationen sominformanterna gav oss följde vi upp genom att kolla på informanternas bloggar. Vi tolkade resultatetav studien som att det är vanligt att skriva blogginlägg från en smartphone och även att användabilder i blogginläggen är vanligt. Men den tekniska upplösningen på bilder från smartphonesverkade till en viss del störa några av bloggarna i studien.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:39:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5920.pdf: 1305848 bytes, checksum: a273a7aa74ee99e31607cc97add93ae0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-18 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The main aim of this dissertation was to understand the perceptions of the educators involved in an investigation about the possibilities and importance of the use of visual culture images in the educational process within basic school spaces. The nature of the research was qualitative and exploratory. The empirical part was started by an extension course, a partnership between the Federal University of São Carlos and the local state school educational bureau, named: Image reading for medium and high school. Teachers lecturing at the four main areas of the national curriculum participated in the course. There were also school principals and pedagogical coordinators. From this group of educators, seven were selected to participate more directly of the investigation. The data collected were analyzed by the content analyses methodology, in which some aspects stood out, the ones we considered the obtained results: the cognitive development of the students and the application of specific school content has been one of the main image work objectives in the participants classrooms; such utilization occurs as a critical pedagogy strategy, directed mainly to perceptions of media influence; the school books available images have not been explored in all their possibilities, as knowledge facilitators and articulators towards critical attitudes; there is a content theorization need in critical perspectives, besides the thought diversity, fostered by collective appreciations of several images and artifact belonging to the visual culture, allowing the comprehension of plural thought importance and the difference concept, which may produce new basis to build a more democratic and inclusive basic school. / Esta dissertação teve como objetivo principal compreender a percepção dos(as) educadores(as) participantes da pesquisa a respeito das possibilidades e da importância da utilização de imagens da cultura visual no processo educativo em espaços escolares. A investigação, de natureza qualitativa e exploratória, foi dividida em duas partes: uma bibliográfica e outra empírica. A parte empírica iniciou-se com um curso de extensão, parceria estabelecida entre a Universidade Federal de São Carlos e a Diretoria de Ensino de São Carlos, denominado: Leitura de Imagens nos Ensinos Fundamental e Médio. Participaram da formação professores(as) das quatro áreas do conhecimento, de diferentes disciplinas, e membros da equipe gestora das escolas públicas estaduais; desse grupo de educadores(as), sete foram selecionados(as) para participar da pesquisa. Os dados coletados foram analisados utilizando-se a metodologia de análise de conteúdo, cabendo destaque para alguns aspectos, a título de resultados obtidos, a saber: o desenvolvimento cognitivo dos(as) alunos(as) e a aplicação de conteúdos disciplinares específicos têm sido um dos principais objetivos do trabalho com imagens em sala de aula; a sua utilização se dá como estratégia pedagógica crítica, direcionada principalmente à percepção das influências exercidas pela mídia; as imagens disponíveis nos materiais didáticos utilizados nas escolas acabavam não sendo utilizadas em todas as suas possibilidades, quer como facilitadoras e articuladoras de conhecimentos, ou como motivadoras para uma compreensão e desenvolvimento de uma atitude crítica; existe a necessidade de problematização de conteúdos com perspectivas de leituras críticas; além disso, a diversidade de pensamentos, propiciada por apreciações coletivas de diversas imagens e artefatos pertencentes à cultura visual, permite a compreensão da importância do pensamento plural e do conceito de diferença, o que pode produzir novas bases sobre as quais se podem constituir uma escola mais democrática e mais inclusiva.