<p>Nondirective counseling is to listen, support, and advise, without directing a client’s course of action. It has been influenced by humanistic theories in the tradition of Carl Rogers, but techniques used in nondirective counseling are common in many forms of psychological counseling and treatment today. There are, however, few conclusions as to what the results of training nondirective counseling are. The purpose of the present thesis is to examine effects of nondirective counseling training, and to analyze how such effects are moderated by the characteristics of clients. Three quasi-experimental or experimental studies (Paper I­III) are presented. In Paper I, trained and untrained insurance company employees were compared on their Reflective listening (RL; a subskill of nondirective counseling) skills before and after a training program. Training increased RL, and the skills were transferred to authentic settings. Trained employees were, however, not evaluated differently than untrained. In Paper II, psychology students were compared before and after RL training of three time lengths. All training times increased skills equally, but clients disclosed more information to those with longer training, the students remembered the information better, and external judges perceived the therapeutic relationship as better, especially if the judge was socially competent. In Paper III, two nondirective counseling techniques, RL and open-ended questions, were evaluated by judges who differed in social skills and cognitive ability. RL received positive ratings, whereas open-ended questions did not, and the judges’ ratings were moderated by their social skills and cognitive ability. In the Discussion, it is proposed that even short training has effects, that trained skills generalize to authentic contexts, but that the usefulness of the examined subskills of nondirective counseling depends on client characteristics such as social skills and cognitive ability.</p>

Nondirective counseling is to listen, support, and advise, without directing a client’s course of action. It has been influenced by humanistic theories in the tradition of Carl Rogers, but techniques used in nondirective counseling are common in many forms of psychological counseling and treatment today. There are, however, few conclusions as to what the results of training nondirective counseling are. The purpose of the present thesis is to examine effects of nondirective counseling training, and to analyze how such effects are moderated by the characteristics of clients. Three quasi-experimental or experimental studies (Paper I­III) are presented. In Paper I, trained and untrained insurance company employees were compared on their Reflective listening (RL; a subskill of nondirective counseling) skills before and after a training program. Training increased RL, and the skills were transferred to authentic settings. Trained employees were, however, not evaluated differently than untrained. In Paper II, psychology students were compared before and after RL training of three time lengths. All training times increased skills equally, but clients disclosed more information to those with longer training, the students remembered the information better, and external judges perceived the therapeutic relationship as better, especially if the judge was socially competent. In Paper III, two nondirective counseling techniques, RL and open-ended questions, were evaluated by judges who differed in social skills and cognitive ability. RL received positive ratings, whereas open-ended questions did not, and the judges’ ratings were moderated by their social skills and cognitive ability. In the Discussion, it is proposed that even short training has effects, that trained skills generalize to authentic contexts, but that the usefulness of the examined subskills of nondirective counseling depends on client characteristics such as social skills and cognitive ability.

Öppna uppgifter kan generera flera lösningar och låter även eleverna utveckla sin problemlösningsförmåga. Syftet med undersökningen har varit att ta del av erfarenheter som lärare gjort genom att delta i ÄlMa, ett fortbildningsprojekt med fokus på öppna uppgifter. Undersökningens frågeställning är: Vad behöver lärare kunna för att arbeta med öppna uppgifter och hur har lärarna utvecklats genom att delta i projektet? Undersökningen har bestått av intervjuer där sex lärare som deltagit i projektet, beskriver sitt arbete med öppna uppgifter. För att arbeta med öppna uppgifter anser lärarna att de behöver kunskaper som flexibilitet, att läraren låter eleverna diskutera, att läraren vågar släppa kontrollen, samt att läraren har matematisk kunskap. I intervjuerna framgår att deltagarna saknar detta i sin lärarutbildning, utan har stället, fått utveckla dessa kunskaper genom erfarenheter i arbetslivet. Undersökningen synliggör även faktorer som påverkat lärarnas arbete med öppna uppgifter. Det handlar om arbete med öppna uppgifter i praktiken, lärarens egen kunskap och erfarenhet, kunskap om läroplanen, matematiska sammanhang, instruktioner, lärarnas syn på elevers förmåga att lösa problem, reflektion, samt läromedel. Deltagandet i projektgrupperna har lett till att lärarna har utvecklat praktikgemenskaper. De känner en ökad gemenskap och inser vikten av att ta del av andras erfarenheter. De har insett att för att kunna utvecklas i sitt arbete med öppna uppgifter behöver de få fortsatta möjligheter att träffas och diskutera. För att lärarna ska känna större säkerhet när de arbetar med öppna uppgifter, bör de få möjlighet att utveckla kunskaper för det, under sin lärarutbildning.

Problem solving has been a core theme in education for several decades. Educators and policy makers agree on the importance of the role of problem solving skills for school and real life success. A primary purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of cognitive abilities on mathematical problem solving performance of students. The author investigated this relationship by separating performance in open-ended and closed situations. The second purpose of this study was to explore how these relationships were different or similar in boys and girls. No significant difference was found between girls and boys in cognitive abilities including general intelligence, general creativity, working memory, mathematical knowledge, reading ability, mathematical problem solving performance, verbal ability, quantitative ability, and spatial ability. After controlling for the influence of gender, the cognitive abilities explained 51.3% (ITBS) and 53.3% (CTBS) of the variance in MPSP in closed problems as a whole. Mathematical knowledge and general intelligence were found to be the only variables that contributed significant variance to MPSP in closed problems. Similarly, after controlling for the influence of gender, the cognitive abilities explained 51.3% (ITBS) and 46.3% (CTBS) of the variance in mathematical problem solving performance in open-ended problems. General creativity and verbal ability were found to be the only variables that contributed significant variance to MPSP in open problems. The author concluded that closed and open-ended problems require different cognitive abilities for reaching correct solutions. In addition, when combining all of these findings the author proposed that the relationship between cognitive abilities and problem solving performance may vary depending on the structure (type) and content of a problem. The author suggested that the content of problems that are used in instruments should be analyzed carefully before using them as a measure of problem solving performance.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

This thesis presents an e-learning solution to facilitate formative assessment of electronically submitted open-ended written assignments.It is widely accepted that formative assessment is highly beneficial to student leaning. A number of researchers are active in developing specialized approaches and software systems for assisting formative assessment of student work. However, no comprehensive e-learning solution exists for facilitating formative assessment of students' open-ended written work. The project presented in this thesis has developed a new approach for using computers to facilitate formative assessment of electronically submitted open-ended written assignments.Based on the literature review of the education theories around formative assessment and current computer software technologies, this project has developed three principles for e-learning support for formative assessment of open-ended written assignments:1. It needs to facilitate all the activities that are potentially required for formative assessment of student assignments (for example, the creation of assessment criteria, the submission of assignments, and the analysis of the assessment results), not only the marking activity to create feedback on assignments.2. It needs to provide an onscreen marking tool which enables human markers to mark open-ended written assignments in an intuitive and efficient way by replicating their paper-based assessment approaches.3. It needs to provide a generic solution for facilitating formative assessment of open-ended written assignments from all disciplines, not a limited solution restricted to some specific domains (for example, computers science or business courses).Based on these principles, a specification of an e-learning system for facilitating formative assessment of open-ended written assignment was developed and a system was implemented accordingly. This system, called the Written Assignment Assessment (WAA) system, has been already used in the assignment marking of several courses at Massey University.

This thesis presents an e-learning solution to facilitate formative assessment of electronically submitted open-ended written assignments.It is widely accepted that formative assessment is highly beneficial to student leaning. A number of researchers are active in developing specialized approaches and software systems for assisting formative assessment of student work. However, no comprehensive e-learning solution exists for facilitating formative assessment of students' open-ended written work. The project presented in this thesis has developed a new approach for using computers to facilitate formative assessment of electronically submitted open-ended written assignments.Based on the literature review of the education theories around formative assessment and current computer software technologies, this project has developed three principles for e-learning support for formative assessment of open-ended written assignments:1. It needs to facilitate all the activities that are potentially required for formative assessment of student assignments (for example, the creation of assessment criteria, the submission of assignments, and the analysis of the assessment results), not only the marking activity to create feedback on assignments.2. It needs to provide an onscreen marking tool which enables human markers to mark open-ended written assignments in an intuitive and efficient way by replicating their paper-based assessment approaches.3. It needs to provide a generic solution for facilitating formative assessment of open-ended written assignments from all disciplines, not a limited solution restricted to some specific domains (for example, computers science or business courses).Based on these principles, a specification of an e-learning system for facilitating formative assessment of open-ended written assignment was developed and a system was implemented accordingly. This system, called the Written Assignment Assessment (WAA) system, has been already used in the assignment marking of several courses at Massey University.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the use of an Alternative-Solution Worksheet (ASW) on American ninth-grade students' problem solving performance, and to determine the extent to which instruction in alternative solutions promotes "look back" strategies. "Look back" strategies are based on Polya's (1973) problem solving steps, and they are an examination of what was done or learned previously. The ASW was designed to encourage students to utilize "look back" strategies by generating alternative solutions to the problems. This mixed-methods study was conducted with two existing groups of ninth-grade Algebra I students. An experimental group of 18 students received instruction in utilizing the ASW for two 55-minute class periods a week for a period of four weeks. A comparison group of 14 students did not receive any instruction. Data for this study were collected by pre- and post-testing, ASWs, focus groups, and one student's "think aloud" process. For the quantitative analysis, a one-way ANCOVA was conducted to determine if there was a significant difference in the mean post-test scores between the experimental group and the comparison group. The students' pre-test score was the covariate. The findings indicated that the experimental group scored slightly better on the post-test, and R2=.345, a medium effect size. There were no significant correlations between the ASW scores and the pre- and post-test scores, but the ASW scores were significantly correlated with the students' EXPLORE9 math and reading percentiles. The qualitative findings indicated that "look back" occurred at all six levels of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy, but it is the "look back" that occurs at the upper three levels, in the context of higher order thinking skills, that results in better mathematical problem solving abilities. In addition, positive affective changes were evident despite little improvement in students' mathematical problem solving abilities. The results of this study indicated that higher order thinking skills need to be practiced regularly so students can use them effectively.

This study focuses on how an open-ended process of learning can affect education as well as our relationship with knowledge production. Nearing the classroom as a site of important moments this work tries to exemplify what a shift from an epistemic to an ontological pedagogy can mean. The two questions at issue are, What takes place in learning processes when we center conceptual creativity? and, What can the open-ended mean for esthetic methods within educational science? The fieldwork is based in a Swedish elementary school where a group of 10-year olds take on the task of designing objects and performing them for a dinner that is sort of out of the ordinary. An imaginary menu of green beets in lava sauce, roasted earth cakes with stardust and sweet flames with lemon twigs works as an inlet for the participants creative different processes. Using an assemblage of methods and theories this study aims to research how pedagogy can become a site that centers conceptual creativity. Artistic research, design and craft offers a closeness to what Karen Barad calls ”matter that matters”. And for the pedagogical this means a closeness to material culture and how things play a part in the making of our society. It´s called ”Performing difference” because it looks at what the production of differences in relation to knowledge and creativity can mean for pedagogy. The conclusion is partly an understanding of what this setting asks from an educational context and of what happens when we introduce and work with pedagogy from a performative angle. What this study comes to is that a pedagogy that blends theory with practice by turning to new-materialism presents exciting possibilities for education. When the un-disputable is made subject to question and open to interpretation knowledge becomes something we are allowed to enact, engage and provoke. In conclusion the open-ended can mean many things for an educational discourse but I believe one thing is clear - it presents inlets for creativity and our understanding of culture and society.