I ett flertal rapporter har det framkommit att det är vanligare med ohälsa bland individer med utvecklingsstörning än hos den övriga befolkningen. Dessutom visade det sig att funktionsnedsättningen i sig oftast inte var den påverkningsfaktor som bidrog till ohälsan. Istället handlade det om faktorer som kunde åtgärdas med hjälp av mer fysisk aktivitet och bättre hälsomedvetenhet. Därför riktades fokus mot skolan och ämnet idrott och hälsa för att finna vad som gjordes inom denna arena gällande hälsoundervisning. Syftet med studien blev således att undersöka hälsoundervisningen i idrott och hälsa på gymnasiesärskolan ur ett sociokulturellt perspektiv, samt att studera de beståndsdelar som kunde försvåra eller befrämja hälsoundervisningen. För att besvara syftet användes en kvalitativ metod i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer, där urvalet utgjordes av sex lärare vilka undervisar idrott och hälsa i gymnasiesärskolan. Studiens empiri bearbetades genom en tematisk analys med utgångspunkt i det sociokulturella perspektivet. I resultatet framkom fyra övergripande teman som tillsammans gav en bild av hur lärare resonerar kring och bedriver hälsoundervisning. Lärarna uttryckte en viss oro om elevers rådande och framtida hälsa men yttrade sig positivt gällande elevers möjlighet till hälsoförståelse. Vidare ansåg lärarna deras utbildning vara bristfällig, information gällande elevers funktionsnedsättningar otillräcklig och att samarbetet mellan lärare i idrott och hälsa och särskolan lämnade mycket övrigt att önska. För att öka delaktigheten, aktivitetsnivån och hälsoförståelsen använde sig lärarna av olika stödjande strategier som assisterade elever i deras kunskapsutveckling. Dessutom användes olika verktyg och redskap för att bättre konkretisera undervisningen samt höja delaktigheten, aktivitetsnivån och elevmotivationen. Slutligen framkom i resultatet att lärare uppfattade det sociala samspelet emellan eleverna vara viktigt och att de försökte utforma en undervisningsmiljö som främjade det sociala samspelet. / In several reports it has been shown that illness is more common among individuals with intellectual disabilities then with the general population. The reports also showed that the disability in itself usually did not constitute the influential factor which contributed to illness. Instead, the factors which were emphasized on could all be resolved with more physical activity and better health awareness. Due to these findings the focus was directed towards the school environment and the physical education subject in order to uncover what was being done in this arena regarding health education. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate health education in the field of physical education in the upper secondary special school from a sociocultural perspective, and to study the elements which may hinder or promote health education. A qualitative approach, based on interviews with six teachers who teach physical education at special upper secondary schools was used as it provided the most conductive way to answer the questions established in the aim of the study.   The empirical data of the study was processed through a thematic analysis on the basis of the sociocultural perspective. The result revealed four broad themes that together illustrated how teachers reason about and conduct health education. The teachers expressed some concern about students’ current and future health, but were positive about the outlook regarding students’ ability to understand health. Furthermore, the teachers found their educational background to be inadequate and information regarding students’ disabilities insufficient, also the cooperation between physical education teachers and special schools left much to be desired. To increase participation, activity level and health understanding, various supporting strategies were used which assisted students in their knowledge acquirement. Different tools were also used to concretize teaching and raise participation, activity level as well as students’ motivation. Lastly, the results showed that teachers were aware of the positive effects that social interaction between the students could generate and that they tried to create a learning environment that promoted social interaction.

Current sociocultural educational research is reconceptualising literacy and learning. For example, New Literacy theorists (e.g., Kress, 2003; Lankshear & Knobel, 2003; Leander, 2007; Jewitt, 2008) propose that literacy is no longer just about mastering traditional forms of reading and writing, but it also involves acquiring communicative functionality using multiple modes and across increasingly diverse and rapidly changing cultural and linguistic contexts. Street (2001) and the New London Group (1996) calls for research that qualitatively identifies and investigates the significance of this cultural and linguistic diversity, and the development of instructional models and practices that will help educators shape curriculum to be more relevant to students’ current and future lived worlds. Grounded in sociocultural learning theory, this ethnographic study responds to Street’s call by investigating the patterns and principles of learning and teaching demonstrated by 5-year-old children while using new Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in their homes. Questions posed are: (a) what home teaching/learning contexts exist for 5-year-olds learning to use new ICTs? (b) who is teaching 5-year-olds how to use new home-based ICTs?; and (c) what learning and/or teaching principles do subjects demonstrate in the interactions between family members, friends and 5-year-old learners as they directly or indirectly teach the 5-year old to use new ICTs in the home setting?? Data revealed that 5-year-olds accessed an average of 14 different types of new ICTs in their homes; and they learned to use new ICTs from parents, siblings, peers, and, to a degree, from the new ICTs themselves. Additionally, the analysis of data found that participants’ social interactions could be qualitatively described as aligning with 16 (at least) unique teaching and learning principles. These principles were grouped into four general categories, and discussed in relation to the literature reviewed. It was found that participants learned to use new ICTs through: (a) just-in-time mentoring which corroborated learning theory by Lave and Wegner (1991) and Vygotsky (1978); (b) student centered instruction that was unstructured, playful, and encouraged participants’ independence; (c) multiple communication modes (Kress, 2003); and (d) instruction that developed children’s ability to be flexible and adapt to change. Teaching and learning models reflective of the observed interactions were developed, and a socially distributed model of teaching and learning for young children was presented. Implications for educators, curriculum designers, parents, and theory were discussed. It is suggested that teachers, administrators and curriculum designers incorporate as many of the participants’ 16 teaching and learning principles as possible into their primary classroom curriculum. It was also argued that Vygotskian learning theory be re/conceptualized to incorporate a more pluralistic exploration and explanation of the relationship between thought and the multiple meaning making modes exhibited by the 5-year-olds in this study. Moreover, it was suggested that the incorporation of these principles not be done in a manner that co-opted young children’s out-of-school ICT-mediated discourse practices, but instead encouraged young children to develop skills, information and understandings that could be distributed and applied across larger sets of networked discourses. / Graduate

The growth, benefits, and challenges of international students in higher education provide compelling reasons to closely examine the social, cultural, and introspective aspects of learning for this population. One area of research that provides insight into the learning experiences of international students is investigations on conceptions of learning. Previous research has found that conceptions of learning guide primary beliefs, experiences, interpretations, and outcomes of learning. Conceptions of learning also provide insight into the ways students choose to approach learning and influence how they interact with courses, classroom environment, teachers, and peers (Marshall et al., 1999). However, research on conceptions of learning has predominantly been with students from Europe, North America, Australia, and Asia with little attention on other geographical locations such as Africa and South America. The purpose of this study was to examine Brazilian and Nigerian international students’ conceptions of learning while enrolled in an American university. No study to date has investigated Brazilian and Nigerian students’ conceptions of learning within the context of the United States, and no other research has examined both groups within the same study. Reflective diaries and interviews reveal an awareness of learning as a process not limited to inside the classroom. Clear themes emerged from both Brazilian and Nigerian students’ regarding their conceptions of learning and what constitutes good teaching. Importantly, findings of this study indicate differences and similarities between Brazilian and Nigerian students’ ideas about learning and actual learning experiences. Participants generally characterized their learning experiences as challenging and the process of adaptation as difficult. Findings of this study provide valuable information to instructors and international programs regarding academic support and assistance for two growing international populations on American campuses, Brazilian and Nigerian students.

The context of this study lies in the fact that in Australia, compared to learners of Japanese language in Japan, learners tend to have fewer opportunities to use Japanese. For many learners in Australia, especially beginners, it is difficult to find a variety of opportunities and maintain motivation to seek out and participate in such opportunities to use Japanese. In the present study, the researcher exploits sociocultural approaches (SCT) in a beginning-level Japanese language program in an institutional setting in order to enable language learners to become language users in Australia. Based on Lave and Wenger (1999), the study considers that learning a foreign/second language brings about not only the acquisition of linguistic structures but also leads to changes in participation in communities. Adopting SCT, the researcher created Japanese language revision courses at an Australian university and designed participant roles, rules, and artefacts in the revision courses as well as devising activities that aimed to develop the classroom into a community and to enhance the use of Japanese as a means of self-expression for learners. The results of the study show that the learners developed a sense of community in the classroom through a variety of activities in the revision course. One of the new roles introduced for this study, the role of the nicchoku, had a significant effect on making classroom interaction learner-centred and authentic. Under the leadership of the nicchoku, other learners engaged in learning activities, while the teacher stepped aside to take a support role. The nicchoku altered the typical teacher-fronted classroom sequence of Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF) and helped redistribute classroom turns more evenly among classroom members. The study suggests that interactions are important not only to learn language but also to build human relationships. Thus, if the course aims to build both language proficiency and a learning community, it is necessary to create a variety of interaction opportunities in the classroom so that learners can acquire interactional competence/social skills to build a good relationship in a target language in/outside of the classroom. The results of the SPOT show a significant improvement in the Japanese proficiency of all the learners in the revision course. In addition, the study described an acquisition process of the verb ??ogoru?? as an example. The learners encountered the expression, learned its linguistic structure, applied it to a variety of contexts to learn its usage, and used it as a means of self-expression. The process showed that using the linguistic structure as a means of self-expression occurred through, first, acquisition of the linguistic structure, second, exposure to appropriate applications including sociolinguistic aspects in a given context and, third, experiences of a variety of interactions though activities. Thus, all stages of classroom activities are necessary to help learners enhance their ability to use Japanese as a means of self-expression. These findings suggest the classroom can provide learners with opportunities to use Japanese as a means of self-expression if the roles and activities in the classroom are carefully designed to bring learners into learner-centred interaction sequences, which are both qualitatively and quantitatively different from the typical teacher-fronted IRF sequences. In addition, the study indicates that learning a foreign language and becoming a language user is a complex and dynamic process of learners participating in communities that are created, maintained, and changed by their members, the acquisition of linguistic structures and appropriate application to context, and individual learners?? personal attributes and experience.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This study looked at the implementation of a collaborative learning model at two schools in Sydney designed to realise the principles recommended by reform documents such as the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 2000) and policy documents including Numeracy, A Priority for All (DETYA, 2000). A total of 158 year seven and year eight students ranging in age from 12 to 15 years old from two schools participated in the study. In all, seven classroom teachers participated in the study each completing two topics using the collaborative learning model. Four research questions were the focus of the current study. Three research questions were drawn from eight principles identified in the literature regarding what constitutes effective mathematics learning. These questions related to the nature of collaboration evident in each classroom, the level of motivation and self-regulation displayed by students in the different types of classrooms and the relationship between learning mathematics within the collaborative learning model and real-world mathematics. A final research question examined the degree to which the concerns of teachers relating to preparing students for examinations are met within the collaborative learning model. Several different data collection strategies were adopted to develop a picture of the different forms of activity evident in each classroom and the changes that took place in each classroom during and after the implementation of the collaborative learning model. These included classroom observations, interviews with student and teacher participants, questionnaires and obtaining test results. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used to reduce the data collected. Factor scores and test results were compared using t-tests, ANOVAs and Mann Whitney nonparametric tests. Data collected from interviews and classroom observations were analysed using a grounded approach beginning with the open coding of phenomena. Leont’ev’s theoretical approach to activity systems (1972; 1978) was then used to describe the changing nature of classroom activity with the introduction of the collaborative learning model. Within the collaborative classrooms there were a greater number of mathematical voices participating in classroom discussions, a breaking down of traditional roles held by teachers and students, and dominant patterns of collaboration evident in each classroom reflecting pre-existing cultural ways of doing. Furthermore, there was some quantitative evidence suggesting that student levels of critical thinking, self-regulation and help seeking increased and students were also observed regulating their own learning as well as the learning of others. Classroom practice was also embedded in the cultural practice of preparing topic tests, enabling students to use mathematics within the context of a work group producing a shared outcome. Finally, there was quantitative evidence that students in some of the collaborative classes did not perform as well as students in traditional classrooms on topic tests. Comments from students and teachers, however, suggested that for some students the collaborative learning model enabled them to learn more effectively, although other students were frustrated by the greater freedom and lack of direction. Future research could investigate the effectiveness of strategies to overcome this frustration and the relationship between different types of collaboration and developing mathematical understanding.

In the Swedish Curriculum (Lpfö 1998, revised 2010) it is directly stated that childrens learning should be documented, a tool for this is to document by a pedagogical documentation. Therefore it is of great importance for preschool teachers to relate to a pedagogical documentation, in any aspect of it. I have in this study done a research on how preschool teachers use pedagogical documentation as a tool, and what their opinions are of implementing pedagogical documentation in their daily practice. This study is based on a qualitative method and six low-structured interviews executed in three different preschools. I have also used Vygotskijs sociocultural perspective as a theory in this study. The results of the study show that preschool teachers are using pedagogical documentation as a tool in their practice. They have a positive attitude towards it, and one interesting fact is that all of the preschool teachers find pedagogical documentation important for a childs development and learning. The aim is to use pedagogical documentation more often and always put the child in focus, when an educational documentation is in its process. / I läroplanen för förskolan (Lpfö 1998, rev. 2010) står det klart och tydligt att barns lärande och utveckling bör dokumenteras, ett verktyg för att möjliggöra detta är att dokumentera med hjälp av pedagogisk dokumentation. Således är det av stor vikt att som förskollärare relatera till en pedagogisk dokumentation, utifrån varje aspekt av den. Jag har i denna studie gjort en undersökning kring hur förskollärare använder pedagogisk dokumentation som ett verktyg i deras vardagliga pedagogiska arbete, samt vilka åsikter pedagoger har när det gäller att implementera den pedagogiska dokumentationen som ett arbetsverktyg i praktiken. Denna studie är baserad på en kvalitativ metod och sex låg-strukturerade intervjuer utförda på tre olika förskolor. Jag har även som teoretisk utgångspunkt redogjort kring Vygotskijs sociokulturella perspektiv i denna studie. Resultatet i denna studie visar på att förskollärare använder pedagogisk dokumentation som ett verktyg i deras pedagogiska arbete. De har en positiv attityd, och ett intressant faktum är att alla förskollärare i denna studie finner pedagogisk dokumentation av stor vikt, vad gäller ett barns utveckling och lärande. Målet är att använda den pedagogiska dokumentationen oftare och alltid sätta barnet i fokus, när en pedagogisk dokumentation är i sin process.

abstract: Bisexuality is a unique kind of sexual identity, as a gray area between heterosexuality and homosexuality. The piece You made up the Story and I Played with all the Parts explores bisexuality as a lived artistic experience based on my sexual journey within a society that advocates heterosexuality. The piece includes movement phrases and text derived from conversations with intimate partners, characters based on former partners, storytelling, a 1950s-style sex education video parody, and audience participation via dialogue. The creation of movement and dialogue manipulated heteronormative social stigmas into a canny social acceptance of bisexuality. The multifaceted nature of the piece provokes viewers to consider how sexuality is constructed socially through my own interpretation. As a result, the work suggests that bisexuality is a legitimate sexual identity and represents a culture within American society. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.F.A. Dance 2011

Mother tongue in preschool    This study seeks to create an understanding of how preschool educators can participate in promoting and encouraging children's mother tongue in their activities to strengthen the children's identity. It explores the ways in which educators actively promote the children's mother tongue in their work approach and how they perceive the importance of cooperation between preschool and home regarding the children's mother tongue. The study investigates using the case study method, specifically conducted through qualitative interviews and observations. Survey sampled was of two preschools where two educators of varying job positions and length of work experience which have been interviewed and observed. The study analyzes from a sociocultural perspective, which takes into account how learning takes place through interactions among individuals and the social and cultural factors surrounding them.  Based on the reported results of the interviews and observations, it appears that the educators are positively related to mother tongue in preschool and use mother tongue support in the activities in a deliberate way to promote the child's identity. There were spontaneous situations in which mother tongue was included in the activity, and there were situations where the educators deliberately used mother tongue to clarify concepts that the children do not understand in swedish. In instances where the identity expresses characteristics of children's mother tongue, the educators sees that these register on the child's posture and facial expressions. The educators note that children feel a sense of accomplishment and ownership when they claim competence to express “my language”, indicating self-awareness of their individuality and unique language. The educators use conversations and planned singing and reading lessons in different mother tongue as part of the daily activities and tools such as digital learning tablets, the computer and the smart board facilitate mother tongue support in preschool activities. Educators believe that, through the various available tools in preschool, cooperation with parents, and the educators’ multilingual abilities are contributory factors of great importance, that support mother tongue development and encourages a multilingual environment in preschool.

As práticas socioculturais, entendidas como processos sociais, ao serem analisadas, muito nos dizem a respeito de um determinado grupo. Os espaços de fronteiras nacionais são ricos em elementos constitutivos de uma cultura local, construída e sustentada pelos sujeitos e reforçada pelas instituições inseridas neste meio. O rádio FM de fronteira está acompanhando o fluxo das transformações proporcionadas pelas novas tecnologias. Hoje somos cidadãos do mundo e já não temos uma identidade, mas identidades. Ao ingressar na web, o rádio não só ampliou sua audiência como reafirmou seu papel de difundir as representações das práticas culturais da região da fronteira no espaço virtual. O objetivo desta tese é analisar como as práticas socioculturais da região estão sendo representadas na programação de quatro emissoras: RCC FM Santana do Livramento-Rivera (Brasil-Uruguai), Rádio 96 FM, Uruguaiana-Libres (Brasil-Argentina), Amambay FM, Ponta Porã-Pedro Juan Caballero (Brasil-Paraguai) e Transamérica Hits, Corumbá-Puerto Quijarro (Brasil-Bolívia). / The sociocultural practical, understood as social processes, when being analysed, much in say them regarding one definitive group. The spaces of national borders are rich in constituent elements of a culture local, constructed and supported for the citizens and strengthened for the inserted institutions in this way. The FM radio of border is following the flow of the proportionate transformations for the new technologies. Today we are citizens of the world and already we do not have an identity, but identities. When entering web, the radio not only extended its hearing as it reaffirmed its paper to spread out the practical representations of the cultural ones of the region of the border in the virtual space. The objective of this thesis is to analyse as the sociocultural practical of the border are represented in the programming of four broadcasting: RCC FM, Santana do Livramento-Rivera (Brazil- Uruguay), 96 FM Radio, Uruguaiana-Libres (Brazil-Argentina), Amambay FM, Ponta Porã- Peter Juan Caballero (Brazil-Paraguay) and Transamerica Hits, Corumba-Puerto Quijarro (Brazil-Bolivia).

O presente trabalho apresenta um modelo alternativo para analisar a dinâmica das concepções no ensino de ciências, baseado na noção de “distribuição conceitual”. O objetivo central desse estudo é reconsiderar o problema da mudança conceitual a partir de uma perspectiva sociocultural. De acordo com o nosso modelo de distribuição conceitual, as concepções em ciências, tanto as alternativas como as científicas, são vistas como sendo “distribuídas” entre agentes e os recursos textuais que eles empregam; especialmente recursos textuais na forma de explicação – escrita ou falada. A partir dessa perspectiva, as concepções são distribuídas: (1) socialmente, na interação em pequenos grupos; (2) instrumentalmente, no sentido de que envolvem tanto pessoas (agindo individual ou coletivamente) como instrumentos de conhecimento tais como mapas, simulações computacionais ou explicações. Esse modelo difere das teorias clássicas e re-enquadradas de mudança conceitual ao sugerir que diferentes grupos podem gerar diferentes representações da realidade física, mesmo na comunidade científica. A partir dessa perspectiva, as concepções em ciências são vistas como um processo ativo que frequentemente envolve disputa e contestação entre pessoas, mais do que como um corpo estruturado de conhecimento que elas possuem. As afirmações básicas desse modelo são ilustradas a partir de exemplos da física quântica. A física quântica é um caso exemplar de arena científica onde ocorrem disputas e contestação sobre a realidade física. Os debates sobre os fundamentos dessa teoria sofreram mudanças fundamentais durante a transição do período de “monocracia da escola de Copenhague” (Jammer, 1974, p. 250) para o período atual, em que comunidade de físicos reconhece e legitima a existência de uma controvérsia científica acerca da interpretação da mecânica quântica (Freire, 2003). Inicialmente, esboçamos uma síntese da história sociocultural de contestação na física quântica. A seguir, são discutidos alguns exemplos referentes à produção e ao consumo das explicações oficiais da física quântica no contexto da formação inicial de professores de Física. Implicações para a pesquisa em ensino de física quântica são delineadas ao final. / In this doctoral dissertation, a particular model to analyze the dynamic of conceptions in sciences teaching, based on the notion of “conceptual distribution”, is outlined. The general goal of this study is to reconsider the problem of conceptual change from a sociocultural perspective. According to our model of conceptual distribution, both naïve and scientific conceptions are viewed as being “distributed” between agents and the textual resources they employ, especially textual resources in the form of explanation – written or spoken. From this perspective, conceptions are distributed: (1) socially, in small group interaction; and (3) instrumentally in the sense that it involve both people (acting individually or collectively) and instruments of knowledge such as maps, computer simulations or explanations. This model differs from classical e reframed approaches to conceptual change in suggesting that different groups have quite different accounts of physical reality, even within science community. From this perspective, conceptions are viewed as an active process that often involves contention and contestation among people rather than a structured body of knowledge they possess. The basic claims of this model are illustrated with examples of quantum mechanics. This theory is an exemplary case of scientific arena in which dispute and contestation about physical reality take place. Discussions about the foundations of quantum mechanics have undergone fundamental changes during the transition from the period of “monocracy of the Copenhagen School” (Jammer, 1974, p. 250) to the present time, identified as the physics community recognizing and legitimating the existence of a scientific controversy about the interpretation of quantum mechanics (Freire, 2003). First, we present a synthesis of the sociocultural history of contestation in quantum mechanics. Then, discuss some examples concerning the production and the consumption of official explanations of quantum physics in the training of pre-service physics teachers. Implications for research on the teaching of quantum physics are outlined.