Master of Science / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Bronwyn Fees / For young children and their families, transitions between classrooms are a normative part of the child care experience, yet these types of transitions are seldom studied. In the United States, there are approximately 144,000 child care centers for children birth to five years of age (Child Care Aware, 2014). Nearly 60% of infants and toddlers participate in some form of nonparental child care arrangement (Iruka & Carver, 2006). In particular, how parents experience their child’s transitions between classrooms within child care centers is not well understood. Children aged birth to three years face challenges when separating from trusted caregivers and forming new relationships. This study explored the unfolding of perceptions of five families as their children turned two-years-old and moved between a one-year-old to a two-year-old classroom in the same child care setting. Drawing from a systems approach, the parental perception of the transition was examined in relation to their children’s experience. Structured interviews took place with families before, during, and after their children’s transition to the new classroom. Mothers were interviewed in four out of the five cases, and one couple chose to participate in the interviews together. Families reported unique concerns such as worry regarding the child’s adjustment or concern about how the child would be accepted in the new peer environment, based on certain factors of influence including past experiences with transitions and the temperament and behavior of their child in the child care setting. However, parents regarded the transition positively due to the perceived benefits of a classroom with older peers and advanced learning opportunities. Parents expressed this positive viewpoint to their children through conversations. Interviews suggested that the way parents perceived the transition was closely connected to the child’s behaviors in the new environment as well as the quality of relationships formed with the teachers and peers. The findings indicate the importance of individualizing the transition experience for families, remaining mindful of the family system during the transition, and implementing strategies to support the relationship building process. Keywords: qualitative, transitions, two-year-old, early childhood education, parents

The preface to this collection, "Speculation and Silence," argues that confessional poetry remains integral to contemporary poetics, though the implications of the term have changed since its "first-generation." Confessional poetry must not be dependent on simply the transmission of sensational details and the emotional consequences, but on poets' implementation of silence and restraint in both the diffusion of ideas and in the crafting of the piece. Vulgar Moon is a collection of poems in which I explore the implications of events ranging from erotic love and motherhood, to the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, and Jewish history. In addition, these pieces explore the inner workings of the human psyche, both tender and malignant, and the inherent human need for absolution.

Forskning visar att taluppfattning är grundläggande för elevers förståelse och utveckling av matematik. Läraren har en central roll i att utveckla elevers taluppfattning. Denna kvalitativa studie undersöker hur nio lärare arbetar med och för taluppfattning hos elever i förskoleklass och årskurs 1. Studien syftar till att komplettera det aktuella forskningsläget med lärares kunskaper och erfarenheter och utgår från frågeställningen: Hur uttrycker dessa lärare att de arbetar med och för taluppfattning i förskoleklass och årskurs 1? Kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med lärarna genomfördes och analyserades genom tematisk analys varpå resultatet ytterligare analyserades genom det teoretiska ramverket FONS och dess åtta komponenter av taluppfattning. Sedan diskuterades resultatanalysen i relation till det aktuella forskningsläget. Resultatet visar att lärares arbete med och för taluppfattning till stor del överensstämmer med både tidigare forskning och det teoretiska ramverket FONS. Lärarnas arbete sammanfattas inom följande teman: planering, grunden, begrepp, instruktioner, samlärande, matteboken, metoder, färdighetsträning och talsystemet. Det resultat som särskiljer sig från tidigare forskning och det teoretiska ramverket är lärarens avsikt och förmåga att arbeta med automatisering av taluppfattning, användandet av matteböcker för utveckling av taluppfattning, samt förmågan att anpassa undervisningen utefter elevgruppen. / Research shows that foundational number sense is vital to children’s understanding and development of mathematics. Teachers have an essential role in the development of children’s foundational number sense. This qualitative study investigates how nine teachers in Sweden work to develop foundational number sense with six- and seven-year-olds (corresponding grade 0 and grade 1 in Sweden). The research question: How do these teachers express their work to develop foundational number sense for six- and seven-year-olds? is answered by qualitative semi structured interviews with the teachers. The teacher interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis, establishing the following themes: Planning, The foundation, Concept, Instructions, Co-learning, The math book, Methods, Skill training and Number system. These themes were then analyzed by the theoretical framework FONS and its eight components of foundational number sense, establishing several corresponding results. The results were discussed in relation to previous research within the field and concluded that the teachers' work to develop foundational number sense is mainly in line with both previous research and the theoretical framework FONS. Results that stand out are the teachers' abilities to adjust their teachings to their particular group of students/children, their work with automatization of number sense and the use of math books.

<p>Syftet med mitt arbete var att undersöka sexåringars miljömedvetenhet, samt hur de har tillförskaffat sig denna kunskap. Jag har genomfört kvalitativa intervjuer med samtliga 13 elever i en förskoleklass. Genom att diskutera kring 7 saker glasburk, läskedrycksburk, löv, papptallrik, plastmugg, tidning och äppelskrutt som vi lade ut i skogen under en månad fick jag kunskap om vad barnen trodde skulle ske med sakerna under tiden i skogen, var barnen skulle ha slängt sakerna samt hur de hade erhållit denna kunskap.</p><p>Barnen trodde att det var vädret som påverkade processen med sakerna i skogen. De utgår från vad de har sett och sätter in det i ett sammanhang. Det har lärt mig att utgå från barnens vardag när det gäller naturvetenskapliga fenomen.</p><p>När det gäller återvinning var kunskapen större om glasåtervinning än om plaståtervinning hos sexåringarna. Kunskapen om kompostering var obefintlig. Genom detta arbete tror jag att kompostering kan vara ett bra sätt att väcka miljöintresse hos barn.</p><p>Jag fann att mamman var en viktig kunskapsförmedlare inom detta område. 10 av 13 barn svarade att någon anhörig hade lärt dem det som de svarade i denna studie. Av dessa 10 barn nämnde 8 mamma eller mamma och pappa som anhörig. Två av barnen svarade att de hade erhållit kunskapen genom TV. Ingen av barnen nämnde förskolan eller förskoleklassen som kunskapsförmedlare.</p> / <p>The purpose of my study was to examine the environmental awareness of six-year-olds and how they have acquired this knowledge. I have carried out qualitative interviews with all the thirteen pupils in one pre-school class.</p><p>By discussing seven things, a glass jar, a soda can, a leaf, a paper plate, a plastic mug, a newspaper, and an apple core, which we put away in the forest for a month, I gained the knowledge of what the children thought would happen to the seven different things and where they had acquired their knowledge.</p><p>The children thought it was the weather that affected the process of the seven things. Their assumptions were based on what they see and put into a context. I have learnt to start from children’s everyday life when explaining scientific phenomena, to children.</p><p>When it comes to recycling, the fact was that the knowledge of recycling glass was more widely spread than the knowledge of recycling plastics among the six-year-olds. The knowledge of composting was nonexistent. As a result of this study, I think that composting might be a good idea in order to raise an environmental interest among children.</p><p>I found that mothers were important contributors to knowledge in this field. When questioned who had taught them what they knew in this field, ten of thirteen children answered that a close relative had taught them what they knew, i.e. what they had answered in the study. Eight out of these ten pupils mentioned their mothers or their mothers and fathers as this/these close relative/s. Two of the children said that they had acquired this knowledge through TV. None of the children mentioned day care centre, nursery school or pre-school class as contributors to any environmental awareness.</p>

WILD EMBRACE is a collection of poetry that explores the themes of abuse, survival, and fragility. The speaker of these poems, older and distanced from the abuse, asks what it means to be a survivor, and explores our obligation of compassion that, as human beings, we owe one another. While much of the work in this collection is rooted in personal experience, it is not intended to be read as memoir or autobiography. Many of these poems may have begun as lived experience, but between memory, the transcription of memory, and their final form on the printed page, they have been run through a variety of embellishment, artistic license, and shifting narrative forms. The poems in this collection attempt to capture a heightened emotional truth that can’t be attained by mere reporting of fact. WILD EMBRACE sifts through the ashes of suffering and loss, and constructs a mythology as personal as it is collective.

Syftet med mitt arbete var att undersöka sexåringars miljömedvetenhet, samt hur de har tillförskaffat sig denna kunskap. Jag har genomfört kvalitativa intervjuer med samtliga 13 elever i en förskoleklass. Genom att diskutera kring 7 saker glasburk, läskedrycksburk, löv, papptallrik, plastmugg, tidning och äppelskrutt som vi lade ut i skogen under en månad fick jag kunskap om vad barnen trodde skulle ske med sakerna under tiden i skogen, var barnen skulle ha slängt sakerna samt hur de hade erhållit denna kunskap. Barnen trodde att det var vädret som påverkade processen med sakerna i skogen. De utgår från vad de har sett och sätter in det i ett sammanhang. Det har lärt mig att utgå från barnens vardag när det gäller naturvetenskapliga fenomen. När det gäller återvinning var kunskapen större om glasåtervinning än om plaståtervinning hos sexåringarna. Kunskapen om kompostering var obefintlig. Genom detta arbete tror jag att kompostering kan vara ett bra sätt att väcka miljöintresse hos barn. Jag fann att mamman var en viktig kunskapsförmedlare inom detta område. 10 av 13 barn svarade att någon anhörig hade lärt dem det som de svarade i denna studie. Av dessa 10 barn nämnde 8 mamma eller mamma och pappa som anhörig. Två av barnen svarade att de hade erhållit kunskapen genom TV. Ingen av barnen nämnde förskolan eller förskoleklassen som kunskapsförmedlare. / The purpose of my study was to examine the environmental awareness of six-year-olds and how they have acquired this knowledge. I have carried out qualitative interviews with all the thirteen pupils in one pre-school class. By discussing seven things, a glass jar, a soda can, a leaf, a paper plate, a plastic mug, a newspaper, and an apple core, which we put away in the forest for a month, I gained the knowledge of what the children thought would happen to the seven different things and where they had acquired their knowledge. The children thought it was the weather that affected the process of the seven things. Their assumptions were based on what they see and put into a context. I have learnt to start from children’s everyday life when explaining scientific phenomena, to children. When it comes to recycling, the fact was that the knowledge of recycling glass was more widely spread than the knowledge of recycling plastics among the six-year-olds. The knowledge of composting was nonexistent. As a result of this study, I think that composting might be a good idea in order to raise an environmental interest among children. I found that mothers were important contributors to knowledge in this field. When questioned who had taught them what they knew in this field, ten of thirteen children answered that a close relative had taught them what they knew, i.e. what they had answered in the study. Eight out of these ten pupils mentioned their mothers or their mothers and fathers as this/these close relative/s. Two of the children said that they had acquired this knowledge through TV. None of the children mentioned day care centre, nursery school or pre-school class as contributors to any environmental awareness.

Föreliggande studie syftade till att undersöka fonologin hos svensktalande barn mellan 3 och 4 år. I studien medverkar 69 barn, varav 33 pojkar och 36 flickor. Bedömningen genomfördes med ett nytt fonologisk bedömningsmaterial, LINUS kortversion. Testerna utfördes i områden belägna i tre kommuner i sydöstra Sverige där socioekonomisk status låg nära riksgenomsnittet. Bedömningarna spelades in, transkriberades och analyserades av två bedömare. Analysen bestod av Percentage of Word Correct (PWC), Percentage of Phonemes Correct (PPC), förekomst av assimilation, metates och epentes, förenkling av konsonantförbindelse, vokal- och konsonantsubstitution, reduplikation samt utelämning av obetonad stavelse och enskild konsonant. Vidare bedömdes vilka fonem som var etablerade hos barnen. Kriteriet för etablering av fonem sattes till &gt; 90 % korrekt producerat fonem hos &gt; 90 % av barnen. Tolv av svenskans 18 konsonantfonem var etablerade hos svensktalande treåringar med typisk språkutveckling. De fonem som vållade mest svårigheter var /ɧ/, /r/, /ʈ/ och /ɕ/. Genomsnittlig PWC var 61,3 % och genomsnittlig PPC var 88,7 %.  Inga statistiskt signifikanta skillnader hittades mellan könen eller halvårsgrupperna gällande PWC och PPC. Förekomst av assimilation, metates och epentes, förenkling av konsonantförbindelse, vokal- och konsonantsubstitution, reduplikation samt utelämning av obetonad stavelse och enskild konsonant hittades. Den mest förekommande avvikelsen var substitution medan den minst förekommande var reduplikation. / The present study aimed to examine the phonology of typically developed Swedish-speaking children between 3 and 4 years of age. Sixty-nine children; 33 boys and 36 girls were assessed with the short version of a new phonological assessment material called LINUS. The tests were conducted in areas located in three municipalities in southeastern Sweden, where socioeconomic status was close to the national average. Audio-recordings of the assessments were transcribed and analyzed by the authors. The analysis consisted of Percentage of Word Correct (PWC), Percentage of Phonemes Correct (PPC), the presence of assimilation, metathesis and epenthesis, cluster reduction, vowel and consonant substitution, reduplication and deletion of unstressed syllables or single consonants. Further identification was made of the phonemes that were established. The criterion for the establishment of phonemes was set to &gt; 90 % correct produced phonemes in &gt; 90 % of the children. Twelve of the 18 Swedish consonant phonemes were established by Swedish-speaking three year olds with typical language development. The phonemes which caused most trouble were /ɧ/, /r/, /ʈ/ and /ɕ/. Average PWC was 61.3 % and average PPC was 88.7 %. No significant differences were found between gender or the two age groups regarding PWC and PPC. Presence of assimilation, metathesis and epenthesis, cluster reduction, vowel and consonant substitution, reduplication and deletion of unstressed syllables or single consonants were found. The most common deviation was found to be substitution and the least occurring deviation was reduplication.

This thesis presents a cross-sectional study of psychological meaning making processes involving religious beliefs and the construction of a sense of purpose in life. Previous research has studied the connection between religiosity and purpose in life, but has failed to adequately represent the multidimensionality of meaning and religion, resulting in a lack of understanding of the psychological processes involved in the construction of a sense of purpose in life.  The purpose of this study was to research the connection between specific religious beliefs and a sense of purpose in life in individuals aged 25-40, by testing one hypothesis: There is a significant, positive correlation between the strength of religious belief and purpose in life, and answering two research questions: 1. What specific religious beliefs show a significant correlation to purpose in life?, and 2. How are religious beliefs used in a meaning system for the construction of purpose in life? The study employed a two-phase, mixed methods sequential exploratory design, and a meaning system theory framework, complemented by additional theoretical perspectives in phase 2. The weighting of the data was on the first, qualitative phase of the study  and the data were mixed in the final, joint analysis of both types of data.  Phase 1 consisted of a survey, measuring the strength of religious beliefs (measured by the BVS scale) and sense of purpose in life (measured by the LAP-R and one item of the WHOQOL-BRIEF). The survey was completed by 40 respondents who self-identified as Christian and were members of various Christian congregations in the city of Stockholm and surrounding areas. The results of phase 1 of the study firstly showed a significant, moderate, positive correlation between the strength of religious belief and purpose in life, confirming the hypothesis. The results also showed that purpose in life was positively and significantly correlated to a belief that God is an all pervading presence (tau = 0.35, p&lt;0.05), belief in forces for evil in the universe (tau = 0.40, p&lt;0.01), belief that human physical contact can be a spiritual experience (tau = 0.27, p&lt;0.05), belief in life after death (tau = 0.31, p&lt;0.05), belief that one's life has been planned out (tau = 0.33, p&lt;0.05), belief that there is a heaven (tau = 0.30, p&lt;0,05), belief that the human spirit is immortal (tau = 0.30, p&lt;0.05), and belief that there is a God (tau = 0.32, p&lt;0.05). Phase 2 consisted of interviews with 9 of the survey respondents, yielding qualitative data that were analysed through an interpretative framework based on two hermeneutic theories. The qualitative analysis showed that religious beliefs are used to construct purpose in a meaning making process consisting primarily of three elements in a meaning system. Beliefs regarding what is ultimately good (ultimate concerns) and beliefs regarding the purpose and role of humanity (overall purpose) provides a foundation for the construction of purpose in life. The individual constructs purpose by locating himself/herself (self-definition) in relation to ultimate concerns and overall purpose. The results of phase 2 also showed that both the content and conviction of religious beliefs influence their use in the construction of purpose in life, further explicating the results of phase 1.  The joint analysis of the two phases showed that the results from phase 2 supported the results from phase 1, both regarding the beliefs involved in the construction of purpose in life and the importance of both content and conviction in meaning making processes.  Suggestions for further research include additional research on the connections between the various elements of a meaning system, research on the connection between religious beliefs, purpose and the development of self-definition, as well as further theoretical developments of meaning system theory, and harmonisation of meaning system theory with other, complementary theoretical perspectives.

An early childhood assessment tool was developed by the author to fill a need for an observational, authentic, child assessment instrument that would include the measurement of social and emotional development, help guide teachers towards best curriculum practices, and meet common criteria for effective, appropriate, and equitable assessment. Theoretical constructs of interactionalism, multiple intelligences, dispositions, and developmentally appropriate practices were used to inform the construction of the tool. In addition, the author hoped to develop a tool that would be effective for use as a Head Start program evaluation research instrument. Research methods involved a representative random sample of 200 children in four early childhood programs in two northwest states and the use of two different surveys, one completed by 15 early childhood experts and one by 114 users of the assessment. The Oregon Assessment was found to be an instrument with an acceptable degree of item, curricula, and construct validity; a high level of test-retest, inter-rater, and internal reliability (coefficient alpha = .879); and an acceptable degree utility. Only one item out of 60 was found to have low item validity, and three other items were rated lower than others (although generally positive) on both item and curricula validity. It was found to have significant but moderate congruent validity with total scores on The McCarthy Scales for Children and The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Users throughout the U.S. found it generally useful – nearly 87 of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the results accurately reflect the skills, behaviors, and abilities of their children. The length of time it takes to administer emerged as a concern from some users. Recommendations were made to refine the instrument and user manual and to develop a shorter version. It was found to have great potential use as a research instrument for program evaluation and for promoting best practices in early childhood programs.

The aims of this study are threefold. First, the study aims to understand the main reasons that stop 18-24-year-olds from communicating condom use and safer sex. Based on findings supported by empirical studies in the literature and interviews with sexual health researchers in Canada, this study describes how a collaborative serious game integrates the principles of serious games with practices of safer sexual communication and negotiation. Finally, it includes an analysis of how 18- to 24-year-olds report practicing safer sexual communication and negotiation skills through participation in the collaborative serious game and what insights (a) 18-24-year-old participants and (b) sexual health experts share about the game that can inform future design iterations of this game. Forty participants aged 18-24 played the game and reported enhanced communication and language skills, raised awareness and reduced stigma around safer sex communication and condom use. The potential of the game in enhancing the participants' language skills (i.e., learning the language such as words, phrases, expressions) of communication and negotiation showed the highest frequency. Language skills and communications skills together comprised 28.5% of the overall feedback. The second most frequent theme was about the efficiency of the game in normalizing conversations around sex and condom use and removing the awkwardness around such topics. The game seemed to allow participants to practice dialogue and scenarios that extend beyond what they experienced in formal sex education in school. Participants also provided a range of recommendations for the next iteration of the game. To design the serious game, I followed a process of Design-Based Research (DBR) (Anderson & Shattuck, 2012) model and followed the four phases of DBR proposed by Reeves (2006). The study's findings aid other researchers in the field and offer insights to enhance sexual health education. With the increasing STIs in Canada, COVID-19's impact, and young people's reliance on online resources for answers, this research is timely. Moreover, the study contributes to the scarce research on collaborative serious games to improve 18-24-year-olds' sexual communication and negotiation skills. Limitations and implications of the design and of the game, as experienced by participants are discussed.