In what ways and under what circumstances can a movie be a resource for individuals and their thoughts about existential matters? This central research question has been investigated using a both quantitative and qualitative approach. First, a questionnaire was distributed amongst 179 Swedish students to provide a preliminary overview of film habits. The questionnaire was also used as a tool for selecting respondents to individual interviews. Second, thirteen interviews were conducted, with viewers choosing their favourite movie of all time. In the study socio-cognitive theory and a schema-based theoretical tool is adopted to analyze how different viewers make use of movies as cultural products in an interplay between culture and cognition in three contexts; a socio-historic process, a socio-cultural interaction with the world and inner psychological processes. Summarizing the interviews some existential matters dominated. Matters of immanent orientation were in the foreground. Transcendental questions received much less attention. Summarizing the schema-based theoretical question, assessing which cognitive schema structures the narratives were processed through, the study found an emphasis on a combination of two main cognitive structures, person schema and self schema. Detailed person schematic cognitive processes about fictitious characters on the screen and their role model behaviour were combined by the respondents with dynamic cross-references to detailed self schematic introspections about their own characteristics, related to existential matters at some very specific moments in their lives. The viewers in the study seem to be inspired by movies as a mediated cultural resource, promoting the development of a personal moral framework with references to values deeply fostered by a humanistic tradition. It is argued that these findings support theories discussing individualised meaning making, developing ‘self-expression values’ and ‘altruistic individualism’ in contemporary western society.

Bakgrund Syftet med denna avhandling är att få veta mer om hur elever skapar mening i mötet med innehållet i skolans naturvetenskap. De resultat som presenteras i avhandlingen är resultat som visar hur eleverna uttrycker sig under utvalda interaktioner från naturvetenskaplig undervisning. Elevernas uttryck för meningsskapande jämförs också med vad som tidigare forskning rapporterat som svårt i skolans naturvetenskap. Lärandet betraktas genomgående som en sociokulturell aktivitet. Metoder För att kunna besvara frågan om hur ett meningsskapande uttrycks har elevernas uttalanden under interaktioner karaktäriserats kvalitativt och med objektet för undervisningen i förgrunden. Datainsamlingen har gjorts med ljud- eller videoinspelningar. Ämnesinnehållet i interaktionerna är i fokus och hur eleverna samtalar om genetik, cellandning, blodomlopp eller genomförandet av en laboration är centralt i avhandlingens delstudier. De deltagande eleverna är från grundskolans årskurs fem, årskurs nio och från gymnasiet. Resultat Resultaten visar en variation i hur ofta elever diskuterar och uttrycker någon egen mening om de naturvetenskapliga förklaringsmodellerna. När elever konstruerar begreppskartor med utvalda begrepp uttrycker gruppen sitt meningsskapande på sätt som många gånger närmar sig det vetenskapliga. En undervisningsfilm presenterar många vetenskapliga förklaringsmodeller av blodomloppets funktion, men få av dem används av eleverna i det efterföljande samtalet. I interaktioner under laborationer uttrycker elever inte så ofta ett meningsskapande av de naturvetenskapliga förklaringsmodellerna. Sammanfattning Avhandlingens delstudier ger prov på flera tillfällen när eleverna diskuterar ett meningsskapande av de naturvetenskapliga förklaringsmodellerna. Det finns också exempel när förklaringsmodellerna inte diskuteras, även om de för en skolad naturvetare helt uppenbart presenteras. En viktig faktor för att elevernas naturvetenskapliga meningsskapande ska ske är i studierna om undervisningen uppmärksammar hur naturvetenskapliga förklaringsmodeller knyter samman synliga fenomen med molekylära förklaringar och symboler. En annan faktor är om undervisningen lyfter fram naturvetenskapens sätt att kommunicera. Ytterligare en viktig faktor för att de naturvetenskapliga förklaringsmodellerna ska bli ett verktyg för elevernas meningsskapande är om det nya innehållet knyter an till elevernas tidigare vardagserfarenheter eller erfarenheter från tidigare undervisning.

Som övergripande syfte vill denna studie undersöka hur två förskolegrupper kan meningsskapa i två olika utställningar genom att beskriva, analysera och jämföra dessa två förskolegruppers multimodala kommunikation vid utställningsbesök. Genom syftet vill denna studie ge ökad kunskap om multimodal kommunikation hos två förskolegrupper i två olika utställningar. I syftet ingår att studien önskar öka kunskapen om hur semiotiska resurser kan användas och vad som fokuseras genom språkbruk, som kommunikativa villkor för lärande i utställningar. Studien har en design av en komparativ etnografisk fallstudie. Videoinspelningar, MP-3 ljudinspelningar, deltagande observation och fältanteckningar har använts som instrument för datainsamling. Genom strategiska urval valdes 11 stycken treåriga förskolebarn och tre pedagoger för att besöka en utställning vid Naturhistoriska Museet och nio femåriga förskolebarn med två pedagoger for att besöka en utställning vid Tom Tits Experiment (science center). Det insamlade materialet transkriberades multimodalt och kunde därefter analyseras som text. Multimodal interaktionsanalys (Norris 2004, 2014) och ett språkbruksraster (Rostvall & West 2001) användes för analys. Resultatet visade markanta skillnader mellan utställningarna. Av den multimodala interaktionsanalysen visade utställningen vid ett science center en bredare användning av semiotiska resurser, då alla artefakters meningserbjudanden var både visuella och taktila, en del artefakter erbjöd även auditiva meningserbjudanden. Språkbruket i samma utställning var mycket varierat och barnen anmodade varandra. Slutsatsen blir av detta att förskolegruppernas a) meningsskapande villkoras av språkbruk och att b) om meningsskapandet ska ske i samarbete ökas den möjligheten dess mer symmetriska de sociala relationerna är.

This is an empirical study that aims to contribute to knowledge about the opportunities the career counselling conversation offers young migrants in shaping their future. Conversations play a central role in career counselling activities in Swedish schools; furthermore, the question of how the Swedish society promotes the inclusion of its immigrants has become an increasingly urgent issue. The study draws on a dialogical framework on interaction and meaning making and seeks to gain insight into how meaning about the future is formed in career counselling conversations. The following questions were formulated: How is the interaction between migrant students and their counsellors formed in counselling conversations? How can the interaction be understood in relation to the participants and their contexts? What seems to enable or constrain students’ meaning making about the future in these conversations? The study was conducted in an introductory course for newly arrived immigrants at the upper secondary level. Researcher followed a series of two career counselling conversations between five students and five counsellors, respectively. The empirical material comprises three parts: audio-recordings of conversations, observations of these conversations and audio-recorded interviews with counsellors and students. The students, three men and two women, have a non-European background and had been in Sweden between one and three years. All except one can be considered a refugee. The material was transcribed, and the conversations were analysed with the concepts of communicative projects and strategies. The conversations are the primary empirical material. The results show that the counsellors’ and the students’ communicative projects primarily are complementary. Both the counsellor and the conversations appear as crucial for students learning about Swedish opportunity structures and meaning making about the future. The analysis also elucidated interactional patterns and interplay that seem to constrain the students’ possibilities to shape a future with their own conditions within the conversations. The conversations focused on Swedish career opportunities and lacked a transnational perspective. Furthermore, the students’ migrant background was not made relevant in the conversations; hence, the conversations risk contributing to students’ stigmatisation. The counsellors’ methods also seem at risk of individualising issues related to institutional preconditions and structural constraints. However, the analysis also displayed how the counsellor can counteract these constraining effects. The result implicates, in alignment with other studies, that the responsibility for the students’ career processes cannot be put on counselling conversations alone; more comprehensive and integrated activities for career learning in the schools are necessary to provide immigrant students with reasonable possibilities for shaping a future. Moreover, the conclusion is drawn that counsellor’s conversation skills are important for the students meaning making about the future but that counsellors also must have, among other things, the ability to comprehend migrants’ feelings and existential issues regarding the future and, not least, knowledge about the conditions of migrants and the ability to both comprehend and actively recognize injustices and different expressions of power. There are seldom others advocating for the rights of migrants. / Vägledning mellan erkännande, rättvisa och skillnadsskapande

The aim of this thesis is to analyse offered meaning, that is, what and how subject content is communicated to the recipients. In this case the subject content is biological diversity and the communicative artefacts are biology books for the latter grades in the Swedish compulsory school. The four papers cover aspects of biodiversity in biology books (I), connections between biology books and the world outside school (II), the definition of the species concept and the use of the concept species in textbooks and in pupils' assertions (III), and finally how instances of modes are connected in a multimodal text and how the design of texts may affect the possibilities of meaning making (IV). The biology books used for data collection are multimodal texts with different types of written text and a rich amount of illustrations. The collected data was primarily used for content analysis but also to explore the design of the books. In paper III and IV data was also obtained by two questionnaires to students. Data is analysed and the results are discussed on the basis of a social semiotic theory of communication and meaning making. The books contain many facts about biological diversity, but the concept is not defined explicitly in several of them. In relation to human beings and human activities are beneficial aspects of biological diversity given precedence over ethical, aesthetic and economic aspects. The results also show that the books contain inaccuracies and questionable formulations regarding biodiversity, as well as simplifications and colloquial expressions rather than scientifically accurate terminology. Direct address, anthropomorphism, analogies and connections to life outside school are also found in the books. To recognize themselves in many of the connections to everyday life, pupils need to have visited many habitats in different seasons. The use of concepts is an area where there is a great potential for change. The species concept can be seen as an example of how a concept is introduced early and that understanding is taken for granted in the remaining text. Responses from the questionnaires suggest that more time needs to be given to basic biological concepts and that a big amount of instances of modes may impede meaning making. Textbooks are compromise products created to suit a diverse audience. There is a risk that the offered meaning of the books is not consistent with the perceived meaning of the students. The results of the thesis may contribute to reduce the gap between offered and perceived meaning. If awareness is raised about the problems pupils may face when using textbooks, the teachers' and the authors' ability to support meaning making may increase. / <p>Akademisk avhandling för filosofie doktorsexamen i Naturvetenskap, inriktning utbildningsvetenskap, som med tillstånd från Naturvetenskapliga fakulteten kommer att offentligt försvaras fredag den 7 november, 2014 kl. 10.00 i Föreläsningssalen, Institutionen för biologi och miljövetenskap, Medicinaregatan 18, Göteborg.</p><p>I. Ferlin, M. (2011). Biologisk mångfald i svenska läroböcker för skolår 6–9. NorDiNa, 7(1), 71–84</p><p>II. Ferlin, M. (2013). Vardagsanknytning i biologiböcker. Paideia 5, 52–61</p><p>III. Ferlin, M. &amp; Sundberg, P. (Accepterat manuskript). Grundskoleelevers uppfattningar om begreppet art relaterade till formuleringar i läroböcker i biologi. Publiceras i NorDiNa våren 2015.</p><p>IV. Ferlin, M. (Manuskript). Connections between instances of modes in multimodal texts.</p>

ABSTRACT In this dissertation, I explore my role as an administrator in higher education admissions at a major university and as a working mother who faces many real world challenges. The grueling travel demands, lofty enrollment goals, campus and inter-office politics, as well as the weekend and late night hours required, made it extremely difficult to achieve a healthy work life balance in admissions while also raising a small child. Additionally, "admissions" is increasingly becoming the "hot seat" within institutions of higher education. Gone are the days of an almost tenure like quality to enrollment professionals. If an enrollment director or vice president does not meet his numbers, their position is gone. Through Scholarly Personal Narrative methodology, I seek to inquire into my experiences and to understand and focus on my resilience and spirituality and how I have come to harness this power in my work with students and their parents in one of the most anticipated and often dreaded parts of individuation-- the college admissions process. I share how becoming a working (single) mother in this profession was especially challenging amidst the highest-ranking professional women where I worked, many of whom were not mothers. I could not find a role model at the top that had small children. In this process, I discovered that I could use my experience and education in a more family-friendly role--higher education consulting.

This thesis examines how different types of connection – intimacy, community, and compassion – can positively impact the cultivation of well-being and ways of knowing. Using Scholarly Personal Narrative methodology (narrative storytelling supported by scholarship) I describe my journey from the 15-years I lived as a monastic yogic nun, followed by a period of heartbreak, to my recent experience as a tip-toeing Buddhist and mid-life graduate student who yearned for community, a place to belong, and an opportunity to be heard, seen and valued. I explore how the pain and suffering of loneliness, grief, loss, and change, when met by presence, patience, awareness, care and flexibility, can help to strengthen one's relationships with the self, others and surrounding environment. I close by outlining how contemplative pedagogy (learner-oriented, introspective and experiential learning) can help to create new ways of knowing, improve cognitive functioning and well-being, and cultivate compassion. I demonstrate how these three connections can transform the higher education learning experience from an abstract, impersonal view of reality to an authentic, interconnected, and intimate one that help students develop long-lasting and meaningful relationships well beyond the classroom walls.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad tidigare forskning säger om hur lärare kan organisera fysikundervisningen för att stödja elever, i årskurs 4 – 9, till meningsskapande samtal om fysikens begrepp. I denna systematiska litteraturstudie presenteras resultat utifrån litteratur som noggrant valts ut genom en systematisk sökningsprocess i databaserna Summon, ERIC, Nordina och avhandlingar.se där all litteratur har genomgått peer review. Studiens resultat visar att elever tillsammans bidrar till meningsskapande samtal genom att tillföra egna erfarenheter och förkunskaper om fysikens begrepp. Studien visar hur eleverna kan diskutera fritt så länge de har något att diskutera utifrån, exempelvis praktiska experiment, bilder, artefakter eller texter. Lärarens roll är sedan att stödja eleverna till att använda och förstå de korrekta vetenskapliga begreppen. Studien visar att läraren kan göra detta genom att koppla till vardagliga objekt och företeelser, ställa utmanande frågor, synliggöra nyckelbegrepp och elevers förförståelse samt återkoppla till elevers lärande. Med dessa olika metoder agerar läraren som en riktningsgivare som guidar eleven i en kunskapsutvecklande riktning. Genom att utgå från samt synliggöra elevernas förförståelse får både elever och lärare kunskap om eventuella missuppfattningar. Detta bidrar i sin tur till meningsskapande samtal då eleverna börjar ifrågasätta samt förändra och utveckla sin förståelse för fysiken begrepp.

Esta dissertação investiga o processo de formação da identidade, através do trabalho artístico/musical da banda de hip-hop norte-americano: Black Eyed Peas, formada na década de 80, nos Estados Unidos da América. Essa investigação diz respeito às questões de identidades discutidas pela temática do hip-hop, bem como a releitura que esta banda apresenta de elementos tidos como essenciais no gênero em questão. Ainda, visa uma maior compreensão da problemática envolvida na obra artística popular e racial e sua relação com a teoria de massa, para à partir daí, analisar seu potencial de resistência, de criatividade e de protesto. / This research ivestigates the process of meaning meaking/ signifyin(g) in the musical work of a North-american hip-hop band: Black Eyed Peas, founded in the decade of 1980, in the United States of America. This investigation is based on the identity questions discussed by the hip-hop themes, as well as the reelaboration/revisionism that this specific band shows about elements considered essences in the gender studied. Yet, this research intends a better understanding of the matters involved in the popular and racial artistic creation and its relation with the mass theories, in order to analyse its potencial of political resistance, criativity and protest.

<p>The overall aim of this dissertation is to investigate how students engage with visual representations as a signifying practice in an educational context. This question is scrutinized through two young girls’ three video films and interviews with the producers. The study is guided by an interest in what these young students communicate with their films, how this is done and how they relate to the cultural and social world in their representation. The title, Ambiguous Images, alludes to the signifying work with film, images and words done by the two girls. The films raise topics such as sexuality, equality and gender which set their mark on the situation of young females, both in school and in their leisure time. The result shows that moving images fulfil the function of negotiating the significations as well as making it possible for the girls to create their own alternative representations. Each film contributes an alternative discourse, in contrast to dominant texts that apply to the constitution of the cultural and social context they address. The study demonstrates that learning is a process of selection, adaptation and transformation motivated by the interests of the pupils and the context of learning. Other important issues are also raised concerning the students’ possibilities to participate in and influence the school subject in question. This involves both the opportunity of engagement with a multiplicity of modes and the possibility to adopt their own voice and view of the world. Both the methodological and the theoretical approach in the dissertation have multimodal and social-semiotic perspectives, which are combined with a design approach. These combinations are united in a presentation of representation and communication as a social process of sign-making.</p>