The maker movement is a growing social phenomenon that is being embraced in various fields, including education. There are many advantages to incorporating making into education, especially in engineering design, such as supporting real-life application of knowledge, multidisciplinary collaboration, problem-solving and teamwork. Elements that have not been looked at in the literature are the impacts of these making elements on students, more specifically on their feelings of inclusion in making and engineering environments. The extent of the impacts of making on project outcomes and teamwork in project-based learning engineering design courses are also contested. This thesis fills those research gaps by exploring students’ feelings and behaviours in a university makerspace and cornerstone engineering design courses. The general objectives are to study the effects of the makerspace as well as team dynamics and personality traits on student perception and behaviour in the Faculty of Engineering, specifically in cornerstone engineering design courses. This will be achieved by exploring factors that lead to feelings of inclusion in making and engineering, identify reasons students participate in these communities and exploring factors that influence team performance in a project-based engineering design course. Three studies are then conducted to meet these objectives. The first study found that in both the making and engineering contexts, connecting with the identity, participation and distinctiveness were identified as themes that provide reasons for feeling or not feeling included. Sustained involvement was identified as being an important factor in leading to increased feelings of inclusion. The second study found a difference between men and women, where the adjusted project grade for male students can be in part explained by some personality traits, but no traits were found to be significant for female students. The average team conscientiousness was also found to be a predictor of the team project grade. The last study found that the course has an equalizing effect on feelings of inclusion for students in engineering. Making seems to have the same effect as engineering for male students; however, not for females. Adjusted project grade was also found to be a significant predictor of the change in scores for all students’ feelings of inclusion in making and for the female students’ feelings of inclusion in engineering.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how preschool teachers approach an inclusive approach in preschool and increase understanding of the concept. The survey is based on a survey that reached 11 trained preschool teachers in preschool and preschool class. Based on this method, previous research, theories from a sociocultural perspective and concrete examples based on the questionnaire form the basis for this study. Based on the results part of the study, it becomes clear that organization, preschool teachers' attitudes, and pedagogical environment are areas that are important for an inclusive approach to be followed. The results have been analyzed on the basis of theories with which we can link our study. The study has, among other things, been based on Nilholm and Göransson (2014) who describe the concept and discuss it through different perspectives and aspects. This is reported in theoretical points of departure.

This thesis investigates the use of Inclusive theatre to disengage the ‘disabled'/ ‘non-disabled' binary for transformation to inclusive cultures. The research extends existing scholarship in Inclusive and applied theatre practices by documenting selected case studies in west and southern Africa. A sociocultural lens defines disability as a social construct, problematizing community reactions, systemic oppression and societal barriers as the disabling force rather than any physical or cognitive impairment. A series of participatory action research projects explore inclusion through an applied theatre praxis and critical/performance ethnography. Progressive pedagogy informs the methods, ethics, and values of each cross-cultural inclusive project. Participants with neurodivergent, or atypical (dis)abilities are contextualized as heroes within the metaphoric framework of the hero's journey as popularized by Joseph Campbell. Campbell's stages are juxtaposed with project workshops and performances to emphasize the universal application of inclusion, and the educational power of storytelling. The primary journey follows the development of Nigeria's premier inclusive theatre company; from drama-as-therapy beginnings to their professional performance of How to be a Superhero: A Guide to Saving the World. Supplementary projects with Hijinx Theatre in Lesotho and the Oasis Association in South Africa provide stories of igniting hidden talents and overcoming the obstacles that create barriers to inclusion in both the arts and society. An enabled dramaturgy details accessibility, authenticity, engagement, transformation, and aesthetics to debate the allies/enemies of inclusive theatre. Each project reveals the boons of adapting practices through considerations of accessibility, accommodations, and modifications. The culminating performances of each project provide evidence that storytelling, building relationships, transforming and engaging participants and audiences through theatre forges empathy, increases representation, and encourages visibility. Psychologist Philip Zimbardo argues that “Heroism can be learned, can be taught, can be modeled, and can be a quality of being to which we all should aspire.” (2011). This research, inspired by Campbell and Zimbardo, argues that inclusion, like heroism, can be learned, taught and modeled through theatre to create a culture of inclusion.

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The curricula highlight the responsibility of the school to convey the norms and values that form the basis of the concept of inclusion. It is not just about students with disabilities or about special education, but about promoting diversity and understanding for other people. All students should be given meaningful teaching within the class framework as much as possible. This creates a good environment for socializing, respect and understanding for individual differences and diversity. This thesis aims to highlight teachers ' perception of the concept of integration/inclusion as well as their experience to integrate/include students in need of linguistic support in teaching.The theoretical approach of the study is based on the sociocultural perspective of Vygotsky, which highlights the importance of interaction between teacher and student as well as the interactions between the students themselves.five semi-structured interviews have been conducted with teachers from a multicultural secondary school. As a method, content analysis is used, that is, the interviews are systematically analyzed to quantify the content by categories to different themes. The following themes emerged in the framework of this study: (1) the concept of inclusion, (2) linguistic difficulties, (3) learning environment.The result shows that the teachers in the study have a similar definition of the concept of integration/inclusion although they have different perceptions of its value. Teachers experience both successes and setbacks with integration/inclusion. Success factors such as motivation, commitment, and participation are perceived as requirements for successful integration/inclusion. It also appears that teachers face some difficulties while integrating/including the students who need language support especially students who have Swedish as a second language. However, teachers use different methods and techniques to integrate/include the students.

This paper is a qualitative study written with an assignment description done in collaboration with the global home furnishing retailer organisation; the IKEA Group. The assignment information has worked as the foundation when constructing this paper. This paper contributes with analyses and discussions about the relationship between recruitment and inclusion. The research method was semi-structured interviews and these serve as the primary data for analysis and discussion. In this paper, inclusion is a part of sustainability, more specific social sustainability. The results from this paper show that there are several factors that can enable and optimise inclusion in a recruitment process. One way to promote inclusion can be achieved through the implementation and usage of digital tools and digital solutions in the recruitment process. To implement and use digital tools and digital solutions in the recruitment process. However, in order to enhance inclusiveness, the employee’s awareness and knowledge about inclusion and diversity on the workplace needs to be fostered.

An investigation was undertaken in some detail of three virus strains of insect pests of agricultural importance, viz. a nuclear-polyhedrosis virus of the lucerne caterpillar, Colias electo, and a granulosis virus of the bollworm, Heliothis armigera, both found in South Africa, and a nuclear-polyhedrosis virus of the bollworm, Heliothis zea, isolated in America, with a view to ascertaining a knowledge of some of the fundamental properties and basic biology of these infective agents. On the basis of the information gained the viruses could be differentiated and their broad classification was established. The morphology of the polyhedra, capsules and virus particles observed by light and electron microscopy has been completed and measurements of the viral elements have been made. Some biophysical properties of the virus particles and their inclusion bodies were recorded, i.e. their resistance to chemical and physical treatments and their relative mobility in an electric field under standard conditions. Observations were made on procedures which brought about varying degrees of purification and concentration of the virus particles from putrefying larvae and the most successful of these were found to be reproducible. They involved the purification of the inclusion bodies and their digestion by weak alkali to release the virus particles. Both preparations of the viral elements were further purified by zone electrophoresis in sucrose density gradients. Some information was gathered on the mode of transmission of the infection from insect to insect by contact or cannibalism, from one generation to the next through the eggs, and particularly from one area to another by virus survival in avian faeces. The incidence and rate of the infection in the larvae was increased by environmental changes such as raising the temperature and also to some extent by spraying with a suspension of endospores of Bacillus thuringiensis. Exposure to other stress conditions was not successful in initiating a fatal infection in the insects. Of particular interest, however, was the observation that by injecting a 'foreign' virus a fatal infection was induced by activation of a native occult virus in the larvae of the silkworm, Bornbyx mori. In the context of the possible application of these infective agents to future methods of biological control of economically disastrous pests, these preliminary experiments were not unrewarding.

Inclusion is a philosophy and practice of educating students with and without disabilities in the same learning environment. Previous researchers have indicated that principals play a key role in implementing successful and effective inclusive programs. However, there remains a gap in the literature regarding the attitudes of principals and assistant principals toward including students with disabilities at both elementary and secondary school levels. Therefore, the purpose of this nonexperimental, quantitative study, based on transformational leadership theory, was to examine the attitudes of principals toward the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms. An electronic version of The Principals' Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education Scale was used to collect data from principals in a southeastern school district (n = 73). The predictor variables were age; gender; years of administrative; teaching; special education experience; and having a friend or relative with a disability. The criterion variable was principal attitudes toward inclusion. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. Results indicated that overall principals had positive attitudes toward inclusion. Having relatives and/ or friends with disabilities and special education experience were significant predictors of favorable attitudes toward inclusion. This study contributes to positive social change by illuminating which variables are related to principals' positive attitudes toward inclusion programs. This information will assist principals, assistant principals, and school administration preparatory programs with understanding how special education training and experience with individuals with disabilities affect their attitudes toward the inclusion of students with disabilities.

Catholic schools in the United States have grappled with how to serve students with disabilities without the funding sources available to public schools. This mixed methods case study examines the driving forces, restraining forces, and social justice issues that influenced the development of an inclusion program at one Catholic elementary school. The case analyzed is the inclusion program at “St. Ignatius” Elementary School. Fourteen interviews with individuals heavily involved in the program were triangulated with qualitative analyses of the content of artifacts from the inclusion program and quantitative data from a rating scale on ideal inclusive practices completed by ten teachers at the school site. Themes from the literature on Catholic inclusive education were also used to illuminate the findings. The study identified the driving forces of leadership, teacher buy-in, the partnership between the school and parents, and the concept of the parish as “one big family.” Restraining forces included negative parent perceptions and deficits in capacity and resources. Current practices included increased professional development and resources, honest assessment, and the concept that inclusion serves all students. Interview participants felt that Catholic beliefs and teachings provided the social justice framework. The school site and archdiocese can further examine the paradigm shift required to implement Catholic school inclusion, increasing teacher professional development, the role of charismatic leadership, and serving gifted students. Further studies could explore socioeconomic variables, how inclusion affects other students, and whether the Catholic school environment provides advantages in implementing inclusion.

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