This thesis examines the social media habits and preferences of female representatives of older Generation Z. The study aims to explore how individuals of this fraction of Gen Z choose social media platforms and content, interact with them and how social media is connected to their offline lives to understand female representatives of older Gen Z as a media audience. Using semi-structured interviews and observations data were gathered to be analyzed through the prism of a constructed theoretical framework uniting lifeworld theory, media repertoires theory, and worthwhileness theory to contextualize participants' experiences and motivations.  The findings reveal that regardless of similar needs older Gen Z women seek to satisfy on social media, they distribute functions between platforms differently and need no fewer than 3 platforms in their social media repertoires to meet their varied needs. The selection of these platforms is influenced by factors such as the capacity for public connection, normative pressures, technological aspects, situational fit, and content format offered. Emotional engagement, authenticity, and relatability were found to be key drivers of content consumption and interaction, with a preference for visual and short- form video content. The study also highlights the reciprocal relationship between online and offline experiences, showing how social media shapes and is shaped by participants' real-life contexts, which contextualizes criteria they measure social media platforms and content against in their offline lives and makes this study relevant beyond the digital sphere.  The findings contribute to understanding Gen Z as a social media audience and inform marketing strategies and audience engagement efforts, but also contribute to the understanding of digital anthropology, cultural transmission, and identity formation in the digital age. It underscores the evolving dynamics of social interaction, the need for data security awareness, and the potential to predict social trends.

What is the nature and purpose of Family Learning? The discourses relating to how a strong home-school relationship affects attitudes to Lifelong Learning and the impact of paternal involvement in young children's development have been well researched and document clear links and positive, enduring benefits for families and professionals. In spite, or perhaps because of this focus, the means by which these connections are achieved and maintained remains less well explored. The issues that need addressing now are more tangible challenges, such as: what does good practice look like, who decides which notions are consolidated, when and why? Coupled with questions such as how do we get more fathers more involved and what will enable these relationships to flourish, this research reports on the initial findings from a small-scale exploratory inquiry, conducted as part of a professional doctorate, which considers a possible approach to these issues. It is an illuminative case study, located within an interpretive research paradigm, based on ontological assumptions of empowerment and emancipation for participants. A sociocultural epistemology informs and frames the work. The study sets out to explore the value and potential of Family Learning as a means of focused intervention in response to the questions raised, whilst also examining and increasing awareness of the issues involved, as seen by participants, to facilitate the expression of paternal agency and voice within the research process. The data collection, conducted over a period of six months, focuses on an existing Fathers’ Group, as they participate in a Family Learning project. It seeks to establish the nature and purpose of this type of provision, by clarifying the processes, outcomes and determinants of involvement through the eyes of the fathers, as they define and ultimately come to terms with their own identity and roles, in relation to their young children's development. The research centres on two workshops supported by several participant-led focus meetings. Two semi-structured staff interviews offer insight into the role that both professional and personal cultural and historical understandings of Family Learning play in the process, whilst the data analysis illuminates and describes the relationships between parents and practitioners, policy and pedagogy. The research observations could be used to inform approaches to both the establishment and the development of individual, personalised family frameworks for Lifelong Learning. The findings may also contribute towards a fresh perspective and offer creative approaches for professionals, in which pedagogical practice is not pre-determined but constantly evolving, on an equal and collaborative basis, between professionals and participants. This study offers a critical examination of grassroots Family Learning in practice. It is firmly embedded within and responsive to the needs of its local community. It aims to provide independent evidence to reinforce and extend the current knowledge base and ultimately, to maintain, strengthen and expand the connections between Family and Lifelong Learning.

The implementation of a new curriculum is a challenging issue to educators in many countries. In this country training for an implementation of a curriculum is done in one week and it takes a form of one a size fits all. The study investigated how I transform my content knowledge when teaching a new topic in the new curriculum. The aim of this study was to carry a self- study of how I transformed my content knowledge when teaching energy resources and its uses to make it comprehensible to learners. The following research question guided the study:  How did my PCK develop as I developed the broad content of the energy resources and its uses into focused, teachable and comprehensible content?  How did my planning and reflecting on practice change as I participated in the process of planning, developing and implementing the lesson plans? When teachers teach, they draw upon knowledge of their subject matter, general pedagogy as well as context. This could be improved by the contribution of the concept of pedagogical content knowledge where content and pedagogy are blended. Therefore, for this study I have chosen PCK as a theoretical framework because I will be looking at how my content knowledge can be transformed into content knowledge for teaching. The study employed a qualitative research, which uses multiple realities that are socially constructed through collective and individual definitions of the situations. It is a self –study focusing on my own teaching and intending to improve my practice as a teacher. The focus is myself teaching two grade 11 classes in a township school. Khumalo M. iv Data was collected in a form of concept maps, reflective journals, lesson plan and CoRE s and PaPeRs. CoRes and PaPe-Rs were used to capture and portray my PCK. The methodological tools used to document and portray my Pedagogical Content Knowledge when teaching energy and resources, used representations called Content Representation (CoRe) and Pedagogical and Professional – experience Repertoires (PaP-eRs). The CoRe elaborated on my construction of content, which framed the topic and each Pa-PeR, was a narrative derived from the classroom observations and the journal. Findings in this study indicate that using the CoRe and PaPeR as a tool to portray PCK helps in the development of content knowledge. Some elements of PCK could be identified and the implementation of developed lessons led to insight into my teaching. Learners participated more freely and develop confidence when home language was used. I gained confidence using the CoRe to develop lessons.

The South African government that was elected in 1994 made tremendous changes in the Education system. The new government came up with the new curriculum for Basic Education (grade R- 12). The new curriculum had new topics in physical science. This made me as a teacher doubt whether I would be able to teach new topics. During my time as a student, I was not taught mining at school or college. As a result, I decided to do a self study in order to investigate how I would learn gold mining as a topic in order for me to be able to teach it to my learners. My study involved studying my own teaching practice while learning and also finding out the key things that made me understand the content knowledge involved in the topic of gold mining. The self study was done in order to ensure that I understood the content knowledge and how best to teach it to the learners. I used a collaboration team, reflective journal, group interviews classroom observation and learners’ responses to collect data. The participants were my grade 11 learners and myself. My data was analysed using a PCK model, CoRes and PaPeRs. I had to learn the content knowledge and transform it to make it understandable to learners. I designed lessons using the prior knowledge of learners and integrating Physical Science and Geography. Lessons did not go as smoothly as I had expected. Learners wanted some of their existing knowledge to be included. The classroom activities depended entirely on the relationship between the teacher and learners. I carried out my study bearing in mind that implementation of the new curriculum depends not only on classroom interactions (DoE, 2002) but most importantly on the content knowledge that the teacher has and how it is transformed. Learners taught me to understand gold mining from the geographical point of view as well from the scientific point of view. From the beginning of the study they were really excited and were looking forward to new things. Using the learners’ science prior knowledge helped me design lessons that allowed me to learn to be a facilitator.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:17:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jan Luiz Leonardi.pdf: 974669 bytes, checksum: ff14eae278e1093b0a83b8d1bf2d5ea9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Insight has been interpreted in behavior analysis as the sudden resolution of a problem when two or more different repertoires, previously learned separately, interconnect in a new situation without direct training, producing original sequences of behavior. A small body of research has shown some variables which appear to contribute to the production of this phenomenon, but methodological problems, in particular the use of arbitrary objects in the problem-situation and the delay between response and reinforcer, limit its relevance. Under the light of these considerations, the objective of this research was to investigate the phenomenon of spontaneous interconnection of repertoires (or insight ) with variations in the procedures employed in the area. These were: (a) the object that should be reached by the subjects in the problem-situation was established as a reinforcing stimulus before the phases of testing and training; (b) the delay between the target response (from training and testing) and consumption of the primary reinforcer (water) was reduced by the construction of a drinking magazine that could be moved toward the subject. Two Wistar rats were used as experimental subjects. The equipment and materials were a circular chamber of 69 cm in diameter and 50 cm high, four acrylic cubes coated with black cardboard, a nylon string that drove the movement of the cube along the camera, and a buzzer. The procedure was divided in six phases: (a) training to the drinking magazine, (b) pre-test of insight, (c) training to push the cube, (d) intermediate test of insight, (e) training to climb on the cube and rise, (f) final test of insight. In the test of insight situation, the subject should reach the drinking magazine positioned at the top of the chamber by pushing an acrylic cube in its direction and climbing on the cube to drink. Water were used as reinforcement in a continuous schedule of reinforcement. The results showed that none of the subjects solved the problem in a sudden, direct and continuous way, criteria used to qualify the performance as insight . Nevertheless, the procedure used in this experiment has heuristic value as it represents an attempt to produce the phenomenon without the use of arbitrary objects (which significantly reduces the number of training sessions), and rendered the concept of functional generalization unnecessary. Finally, this research points out obstacles that the area faces in the study of insight , such as the difficulty in replicating Epstein s research and the problems generated by the use of arbitrary objects in the problem-situation, not to mention the limitations imposed by the behavioral interpretation of the phenomenon / O insight tem sido interpretado na análise do comportamento como a resolução súbita de um problema quando dois ou mais repertórios diferentes, previamente aprendidos em separado, se interconectam sem treino direto em uma nova situação, produzindo sequências originais de comportamento. Um pequeno conjunto de pesquisas evidenciou algumas variáveis que parecem contribuir para a produção desse fenômeno, mas problemas metodológicos, em especial o uso de objetos arbitrários na situação-problema e o atraso entre resposta e reforçador, limitam sua relevância. Em vista disso, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi investigar o fenômeno de interconexão espontânea de repertórios (ou insight ) implementando algumas variações nos procedimentos empregados pela área. Foram elas: (a) o objeto que deveria ser alcançado pelos sujeitos na situação-problema foi estabelecido como estímulo reforçador antes das fases de teste e de treino; (b) o atraso entre a resposta-alvo (dos treinos e dos testes) e o consumo do reforçador primário (água) foi reduzido por meio da construção de um bebedouro que podia ser deslocado até o sujeito. Dois ratos Wistar foram utilizados como sujeitos experimentais. Os equipamentos e materiais foram uma câmara circular de 69 cm de diâmetro e 50 cm de altura, quatro cubos de acrílico revestidos com cartolina preta, um fio de náilon que guiava o movimento do cubo ao longo da câmara e um buzzer. O procedimento foi dividido em seis fases: (a) treino ao bebedouro; (b) pré-teste de insight; (c) treino de empurrar o cubo; (d) teste intermediário de insight; (e) treino de subir no cubo e erguer-se; (f) teste final de insight. Na situação de teste de insight, o sujeito deveria alcançar o bebedouro, posicionado no alto da câmara, empurrando um cubo de acrílico em direção a ele e subindo no cubo para beber. Gotas de água foram utilizadas como reforçador em esquema de reforçamento contínuo. Os resultados demonstraram que nenhum dos sujeitos resolveu o problema de forma súbita, direta e contínua, critérios empregados para qualificar o desempenho como insight . Apesar disso, o procedimento empregado neste experimento tem valor heurístico, na medida em que representa uma tentativa de produzir o fenômeno sem o uso de objetos arbitrários (o que reduz significativamente o número de sessões de treino necessárias), além de tornar desnecessário o conceito de generalização funcional. Por fim, são apontados alguns obstáculos que a área enfrenta no estudo do insight , como a dificuldade em replicar as pesquisas de Epstein e os problemas gerados pelo uso de objetos arbitrários na situação-problema, além de limitações impostas pela própria interpretação comportamental do fenômeno

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:18:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Juliana de Souza Ferreira.pdf: 3589110 bytes, checksum: c8e5dedeebec46a11c8bc2a721d030a0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-05-09 / The present study replies Epstein, Kirshnit, Lanza and Rubin s (1984) research in which pigeons solved a problem by pushing a box beneath an unattainable target, climbing this box and pecking the target. It was investigated if new behaviors emerge from the interconnection of two trained repertoires with rats and if changes in the sequence order in which these two repertoires was taught would modify subjects performance in the final test. The research was carried out with 3 rats. The equipments were a cylindrical chamber with 69 cm in diameter, one triangle and a green led used as targets, and an acrylic box. Two skills were trained, with the 3 subjects, separated. 1 subject has learned 1) to climb a box and pull a triangle and 2) to push a box toward a green light. This training order associated with individual distinction implicated in a longer training of both skills. The other 2 subjects have learned 1) to push a box toward a green light and 2) to climb a box and pull a triangle. This training order implicated in a shorter training of both skills. Finally, an insight test was carried out: the triangle was fixed out of reach and the box was placed in the other side of the chamber. The subjects should push the box beneath the target, climb the box and pull the triangle. The results showed that one subject that was submitted to a longer training, solved the problem with suddenness, directness and continuousness and satisfied the insight s criterion; another subject that was submitted to a shorter training, solved the problem, but between pushing the box and climbing it, a 2 minutes interval has passed over, the response chain didn t occur continuously; and a third subject didn t solve the problem even when the training was similar to the subject that solved the problem discontinuously / O presente estudo replicou a pesquisa de Epstein, Kirshnit, Lanza e Rubin (1984) no qual pombos conseguiram resolver um problema ao empurrar uma caixa até um alvo que estava fora do alcance, subir na caixa e bicar o alvo. Foi investigado se comportamentos novos surgem por meio da interconexão de dois repertórios previamente treinados em ratos e se mudanças na ordem do treino desses dois repertórios alteram o desempenho do sujeito no teste. A pesquisa foi realizada com 3 ratos. O equipamento utilizado foi uma câmara circular de 69 cm de diâmetro, um triângulo, um led verde (luz) e uma caixa de acrílico. Foram treinadas duas habilidades, com os 3 sujeitos, separadamente. 1 sujeito aprendeu a: 1) subir na caixa e puxar o triângulo e 2) empurrar a caixa direcionadamente a uma luz. Esta ordem do treino associada às diferenças individuais implicou em um maior número de sessões de treino das 2 habilidades para este sujeito. Os outros 2 sujeitos aprenderam a: 1) empurrar a caixa direcionadamente a uma luz e 2) subir na caixa e puxar o triângulo. Esta ordem do treino implicou em um menor número de sessões de treino das 2 habilidades para os 2 sujeitos. Por fim, foi realizado um teste de insight: o triângulo foi colocado fora de alcance e a caixa foi colocada do outro lado da câmara. O sujeito deveria empurrar a caixa até debaixo do triângulo, subir na caixa e puxá-lo. Os resultados mostraram que o sujeito que teve um treino mais longo, resolveu o problema de forma direcionada, contínua e súbita e satisfez os critérios para considerar a solução um insight; um outro sujeito que passou pelo treino mais curto resolveu o problema, no entanto, entre a resposta de empurrar a caixa e as respostas de subir na caixa e puxar o triângulo transcorreu um intervalo de 2 minutos, a cadeia de respostas não ocorreu de forma contínua; e um terceiro sujeito não resolveu o problema, apesar de ter passado por um treino parecido ao do sujeito que resolveu de forma descontínua

Issues concerning gender equality are today an integral part of Swedish society. Because of this, even traditionally male-dominated actors are forced to incorporate a focus on gender equality. What kind of tensions may this provoke, and how are these tensions visible in the gender equality policy making of traditionally male-dominated organizations? Against this background, the aim of this dissertation is to analyse how issues of gender equality are “problematized” by three organizations that originate from masculine environments; Män för jämställdhet, IF Metall  and Rikpolisstyrelsen. I wish to analyse the meaning that these actors incorporate into the issue of gender equality and from which discourses these meanings are derived. This focus entails a specific theoretical standpoint. Thus, another aim of the study is to discuss the advantages of a post-structuralist approach to the study of public policy. More specifically, I want to develop the use of a range of discourse analytical modes of analysis and to evaluate their utility in capturing the dynamic of problematization processes. The empirical focus of the dissertation is on the years between 2000 and 2008. The research material consists of both formal and informal documents. The analysis shows that questions of gender equality can be problematized in a number of ways. Issues concerning gender equality can be tied to issues of men’s hegemony, men’s gender-specific problems, class-based problems and organizational problems. This wide array of problematizations also illustrates ways in which there still seems to be an underlying conflict over the meanings tied to the concept, even though nobody openly challenges the importance of gender equality reform efforts. I call this situation a “conflictual consensus” and point to the importance of deconstructing this supposed unity and illuminating the kind of power relations that lay hidden beneath it.

The strive for control over employees has developed throughout the years. This paper has its focus on how normative control can work as a powerful method to create and uphold a sought for behavior. Many companies have found an interest in a higher moral stance to get competitive advantages, and offer their customers and partners a more ethical product. This phenomenon has in Sweden resulted in a sphere of companies who has earned the R-licens. The R-licens is earned by companies if they fulfill ethical and cultural criteria. This paper explores how a telemarketing company reinforce these ethical guidelines and how the company use normative control to reassure what they consider ethical behavior. The paper has a social constructionist view and the data was gathered by semi-structured interviews. The data was analyzed via discourse analysis.The conclusion is that the normative control effectively has created an environment of a ethical perspective in the company. The control is due to a dualistic surveillance (horizontal and vertical) and that the employees take a stand against external conceptions of how telemarketing works and how competing companies operate. Their beliefs and trust in their moral standings and methods of selling is better and more honest (compare to their competition) makes them justify and reinforce the culture and its surveillance over them. Their shared beliefs are so strong that actions outside the culture are unacceptable and may result in lay-offs. The contribution of this paper is a window of observation, how normative control works to ground the ethical phenomenon on the company.

Background. The research on management in Swedish home care has been conductedmainly from sociological perspectives where structural conditions have been of interest (see for example Hagerman et al., 2013; Andersson, 2014; Österlind, 2013). The conditions impacting on management are described as differing ideals where the main ideals are the care perspective and the cost perspective (see for example Andersson, 2014; Österlind, 2013). The conflict between ideals create tensions between ideology and practice and different expectations (Antonsson, 2013) and may also create problems, dilemmas and paradoxes (Österlind, 2013). The rules impacting on the home care activities are bureaucratic rules stemming from the state and municipality. However, Trydegård (2000) argues that at the same time there is room for autonomy and path-dependence in the home care units. Purpose and research approach. There seems to be a lack of studies on management control in home care, and more especially no study combining a discourse, structures and theories on management control. The purpose of this thesis is to explore management control in home care in the relation between structures and managers’ interpretative repertoires in a social-constructionist perspective. The purpose is also to create a prototype model for further research. The ontological positioning and theoretical framework are building on Giddens’ structuration theory (1979, 1984) in which structures are seen as both the medium and outcome of social interaction and rules are important. The units of analysis are the managers’ accounts on management control in semi-structured interviews. The accounts are analysed in a so called case cluster analysis (McClintock et al., 1979) in the software program NVivo. The codes are building on Ouchi’s theory of management control (1979) as ‘input control’, ‘behaviour control’, ‘output control’ and ‘clan control’, and also building on Giddens’ structuration theory (1978, 1984) defined as 8 characteristics of rules, ‘normative sanctions’, ‘signification of meaning’, ‘authoritative’ or ‘allocative resources’. Findings. The findings reveal that home care is highly bureaucratic in input and output control by the use of formal rules stemming from municipality or state. In behaviour control home care has a medium-low degree of bureaucracy if exercised through ‘signification of meaning’ and medium-high when exercised through ‘authoritative resources’. In clan control home care has a low degree of bureaucracy and can either be positive or negative depending on how informal leaders in the unit impact on cooperation between care personnel and if there is trust and a good communication between manager and care personnel. Two main patterns of structuration appear: creation of structures for an efficient process flow of home care to increase efficiency, and co-creation of new rules for behaviour to increase cooperation. Managers focus on different situations of management control depending on conditions in the home care unit and own interpretations. Two interpretative repertoires are identified; the discourse on hard matters is created in relation to matters that are more rigid in structure, such as legislation and municipal goals and that are difficult to interpret differently, whereas soft matters are created in discourse around dilemmas and human or relational aspects of control.

Hiphopen har i alla dess tider varit en mansdominerad musikgenre och bransch men detta har under de senaste åren kommit att förändras, inte minst inom den svenska kontexten. Svensk hiphop karakteriseras idag av en utpräglad feminism, då till exempel det kvinnliga kollektivet Femtastic har växt fram. Att kvinnor idag har en minst lika stor roll som män inom den svenska hiphopen och att denna har en stark relation till feminism, visar på att den sexism vänd emot kvinnor som har präglat många raptexter skrivna av män här har kommit att förlora sin popularitet. Vi har genom att använda Edleys kritiska diskurspsykologi undersökt hur svenska kvinnliga rappare uttrycker sig och positionerar sig själva och andra i sina låttexter utifrån aspekterna kön och sexualitet, aspekter som manliga rappare ofta har använt vid beskrivning av kvinnor. Vi har med hjälp av tolkningsrepertoarer, subjektspositioner, ideologiska dilemman och Judith Butlers begrepp subversivitet kunnat urskilja olika mönster i konstruktioner av kön och sexualitet och funnit att artisterna i fråga många gånger agerar på ett sätt som bryter eller frångår köns- och sexualitetsbundna normer. Vi har även kunnat uttyda hur artisterna använder språkliga resurser som ett verktyg för att till exempel framhäva en kvinnlig styrka, såväl individuell som kollektiv. / Hip hop has throughout the years been a male dominated music genre and industry but this has recently come to change, not least within the Swedish context. Today Swedish hip hop is largely characterized by its pronounced feminism, partly because of the development of the female collective Femtastic. The fact that women today have an at least equally clear role in the Swedish hip hop industry as men indicates that sexism, which has been a frequently reoccurring theme in male rap lyrics, has come to lose its popularity. We have, through the use of Edleys critical discourse psychology, examined how Swedish female rappers express gender and sexuality and how they position themselves and others with regard to these aspects, aspects that male rappers often have used to describe women. By using interpretative repertoires, subject positions, ideological dilemmas and Judith Butlers term subversivity, we have been able to distinguish certain patterns in the constructions of gender and sexuality. We have found that the artists frequently express themselves in ways that digresses from stereotypical norms of gender and sexuality and distinguished how they use linguistic resources as tools with which they, among other things, accentuate female strength, individual as well as collective.