Quality online health information/knowledge is globally in high demand. Achieving such quality necessitates a multi-disciplinary requirements engineering approach that enables elicitation, analysis and representation of the viewpoints from a broad variety of related sources. These sources include health and health education/promotion professionals, health informaticians and application design experts, and health consumers, the primary users of such knowledge. In addition, maintaining and improving quality over time requires such a large set of viewpoints to be updated regularly. This dissertation endeavors to provide an enabling methodology to address the above needs specifically in the field of eHealth. This research was conducted in two steps. In the first step, the existing methods of requirements engineering applicable into our particular scope of eHealth applications, aimed at health promotion/education, were reviewed to develop a framework for knowledge requirements engineering. In the second step, the usability and usefulness of the proposed framework were evaluated throughout a four-phase study (0-III). During this study, knowledge requirements engineering was used to specify the pieces of information that should be included in a quality health Web site targeting university students. Within the established framework, requirements data was gathered from various sources, including literature, existing Web sites, and interviews with local health professionals and university students. The evaluation results showed that the pieces of information and health topics specified using the framework consistently matched those the subjects preferred. In addition, the findings provided evidence that such information, when used by health search engines to index and retrieve online health resources, helped the subjects choose the resources that actually matched their interest. Finally, the data showed a higher satisfaction of the subjects with the health Web site that was built based on the knowledge requirements specified, as compared to the other selected health Web sites. This dissertation makes significant contributions to the fields of health informatics, health promotion, and requirements engineering. It contributes to the field of health informatics by expanding the scope of requirements engineering to include the field of eHealth and knowledge provision. The approach presented illustrates how various viewpoints related to requirements knowledge should be elicited, analyzed, and reasoned to build valid knowledge requirements specifications representing viewpoints of all sources consulted. It also illustrates how such specifications can be used as a basis to build quality eHealth applications. In the field of health promotion, this dissertation demonstrates a knowledge provision methodology that is grounded in the models of health behaviour change. This methodology allows health educators to rationally and accurately specify not only the health topics of high interests to health consumers, but also the type of knowledge they would prefer to be provided in the related knowledge artifacts. More particularly, this research has specified the health knowledge content of preference to adolescent consumers. These specifications highlight the particular knowledge needs of this age group, which can be used as a basis for local to national health promotion activities targeting these consumers. Finally, the research contributes to the field of requirements engineering by illustrating an integrated requirements engineering approach that accommodates multiple viewpoints and allows transparent reasoning and representation of requirements. It is anticipated that the concept of knowledge requirements engineering introduced and discussed in this dissertation will open a new area of research and practice for health informaticians. Subsequently, the methodology demonstrated can be improved and further advanced to address the needs of other domains of health and health-related knowledge.

Using interaction analysis and discourse analysis as a method of data analysis, I take a cultural-historical approach to explore teacher-student and student-student interactions during out-of-classroom science projects. The database is composed of my fieldnotes, videotaped science fieldtrips, and videotaped computer sessions where students worked collaboratively to produce science digital videos, highlighting their experiences during science fieldtrips. This thesis is formed by three studies I conducted with elementary students from a public school in British Columbia, Canada. These three independent and yet interrelated studies have implications for science learning and instruction in general. More specifically, this thesis contributes to the understanding of student-student and teacher-student interactions during collaborative work when they are engaged in science activities that occurred out of the classroom settings, such as fieldtrips and in the computer laboratory.

The vitality of most Indigenous languages in North America, like minority languages in many parts of the world, is at risk due to the pressures of majority (in most cases colonial) languages and cultures. The transmission of Indigenous languages through school-based programs is a wide-spread approach to maintaining and revitalizing threatened languages in Canada and the U.S., where a large majority of Indigenous children attend public schools. Policy for Indigenous language education (ILE) in public schools is controlled primarily on the regional (province/ state/ territory) level, and there is a lack of shared knowledge about policy approaches in different regions, as well as a lack of knowledge about effective ILE policy in general. While no ideal policy model is possible due to the diversity of different language and community contexts, there are several factors that have been identified through language acquisition research and years of practice in ILE as being closely linked to the success of ILE; immersion approaches to education and community control of education. One framework within which to analyze ILE policy is thus the degree of support present for immersion methods and community control. This study analyzes regional, national, and international policies impacting ILE in Canadian and U.S. public schools, and shows that although there are many regions lacking ILE policy, there are a growing number of supportive ILE policies currently in place. The varying levels of support that different policies provide, and a discussion of different ways in which immersion and community control may be supported in ILE policy are illustrated through examples of existing policies. Several recommendations for the development of future ILE policy are offered, including the importance of diverse policy approaches, support for bilingual education in general, and further development of Indigenous language teacher training and Indigenous control of ILE. Through this specific area of research, the study aims to contribute to knowledge about approaches to the transmission, and ultimate revitalization, of threatened Indigenous languages.

Die Arbeit begründet durch die Betrachtung empirischer Befunde die Notwendigkeit von naturwissenschaftlicher Vorschulbildung, hinterfragt und analysiert bestehendes Bildungsmaterial und entwickelt einen Umsetzungsvorschlag in Form einer Broschüre für die Bildungspraxis von Erzieher_innen. Dazu werden in dieser Arbeit Qualitätsmerkmale naturwissenschaftlicher Bildungsprozesse und naturwissenschaftlichen Bildungsmaterials herausgearbeitet und auf bestehendes Bildungsmaterial angewendet. Das Fazit diagnostiziert den bestehenden Bildungskonzepten ein naturwissenschaftliches Defizit und ein mangelndes Verständnis dafür, was naturwissenschaftliches Vorgehen ausmacht. Es stellt die Anschlussfähigkeit des erworbenen Wissens in Frage und fordert ein Umdenken in der naturwissenschaftlichen Ausbildung von Erzieher_innen.:1. Einleitung 1.1 Problembeschreibung 1.2 Fragestellung 1.3 Methodische Vorgehensweise 2. Naturwissenschaftliche Vorschulbildung in Studien, Lehr- und Bildungsplänen 2.1 Vorschulbildung in empirischen Studien 2.2 Naturwissenschaften im sächsischen Bildungsplan 2.3 Naturwissenschaft im Lehrplan der sächsischen Fachschule für Sozialwesen 3. Theoretische Betrachtung naturwissenschaftlicher Bildung 3.1 Scientific Literacy 3.2 Nature of Science 3.3 Naturwissenschaftliche Konzepte 3.4 Conceptual Change Theorie 3.5 Situationsansatz 3.6 Ziele naturwissenschaftlicher Vorschulbildung 3.7 Qualitätsdimensionen naturwissenschaftlicher Bildung in der Kita 4. Analyse und Bewertung bestehenden Materials für die Kita 4.1 Experimentierbücher 4.2 Broschüren der Stiftung Haus der kleinen Forscher 4.3 Experimentierkästen 5. Entwicklung eines didaktischen Mediums 5.1 Identifikation physikalischer Konzepte 5.1.1 Basiskonzept Materie 5.1.2 Basiskonzept Energie 5.1.3 Basiskonzept Wellen und Schwingungen 5.1.4 Basiskonzept Kräfte und Wechselwirkungen 5.2 Naturwissenschaftliche Denk- und Arbeitsweisen 5.3 Die physikalische Grundbildung der Fachkraft 5.4 Konzipierung des didaktischen Materials 6. Implementierung einer geeigneten naturwissenschaftlichen Bildungspraxis in der Kita 6.1 Gesellschaftliche Akzeptanz 6.2 Entwicklung professioneller Kompetenz 6.3 Verfügbarkeit geeigneten Materials 7. Zusammenfassung 8. Weiterführende Fragen Literaturverzeichnis Anhänge Anhang 1 – Übersicht der empirischen Studien zur vorschulischen Bildung Anhang 2 – Soziale Disparität in der PISA 2015 Studie Anhang 3 – Das Struktur-Prozessmodell nach Roux und Tietze Anhang 4 – Kriterien zur Bewertung naturwissenschaftlichen Bildungsmaterials Anhang 5 – Mathematische Herleitung des Archimedischen Prinzips Anhang 6 – Schatten in unterschiedlichen Beleuchtungssituationen Anhang 7 – Übersicht der physikalischen Realschulbildung Anhang 8 – Broschüre „Physik in der Kita“

Emotions play a significant role in the lives of teachers, especially in their interactions with their workplace peers. This research uses a case study approach to explore this topic through the medium of an asynchronous on-line discussion group. Twelve public school teachers, eight women and four men, from BC, Canada, volunteered to participate anonymously in a 12 week on-line forum. The study was guided by three research questions: 1) How do teachers make sense of their emotional interactions with their peers? 2) How do these understandings change through discussion with a group of peers over 12 weeks? 3) What understandings of the emotional processes of school culture emerge when teachers discuss and reflect on these emotional aspects of their work in a collaborative setting? The participants responded to weekly focus questions and also initiated their own discussion topics. They were introduced to alternative perspectives of emotion, including the social constructionist, feminist, and discursive. They were asked to focus on everyday interactions with their peers and to suggest what the emotions they experienced and observed achieved within the group. They were also encouraged to pay attention to the feeling rules in their staff meetings and to notice which emotions they thought were deemed appropriate to be expressed and which were deemed inappropriate. Initially the participants used a number of strategies based on the individualized and psychological perspectives of emotions to make sense of their interactions. During the discussion group they were able to discuss their interactions in a safe non-judgemental setting and to reinterpret them in light of new information. Competition, patriarchy, and neo-liberal education policies were seen to influence the dynamics of the workplace. Two mechanisms which appeared to link the teachers’ individual, private experiences of emotions with the culture of the school were the use of the words “positive” and “negative” and the norms embedded in the feeling rules of each school. These mechanisms both constrained and allowed the expression of certain emotions, opinions, and points of view in the workplace, thereby highlighting the political role of emotions. Symbolically the forum represented a collective space within an individualized world.

To improve the performance and capabilities of athletes, augmented reality could play an important role in exercise training. During training, these technologies support athletes in analyzing their training over all phases. Regardless of all potential advantages, the vergence-accommodation-conflict (VAC) could affect the effectiveness of training and performance. This work is aimed to evaluate the effect of VAC in different conditions. / Um die Leistungen und Fähigkeiten von Sportlern zu verbessern, könnte Augmented Reality eine wichtige Rolle im Training spielen. Während des Trainings unterstützen diese Technologien die Sportler bei der Analyse ihres Trainings in allen Phasen. Ungeachtet aller potenziellen Vorteile könnte der Vergenz-Akommodations-Konflikt (VAC) die Effektivität des Trainings und der Leistung beeinträchtigen. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, die Wirkung des VAC unter verschiedenen Bedingungen zu bewerten.

It is a general belief in Japan that the English /s/ and /ʃ/ before high front vowels (as in "see" and "she") are problematic for Japanese ESL (English-as-a-second-language) learners. Some research has also reported the /s/ and /ʃ/ confusion by Japanese ESL learners. Their pronunciation errors are often explained based on phonetics, but there are reasons to believe that the learners’ knowledge of the phonemes of the target words is at fault. This study examines 1) whether monolingual Japanese speakers distinguish the [si] and [ʃi] syllables in both perception and production in the Japanese contexts and 2) what would be the sources of Japanese speakers’ challenges in mastering the distinction between [si] and [ʃi] in their English production if Japanese speakers can produce and perceive the difference between these syllables. This study conducted two experiments. In the first experiment, 93 monolingual Japanese speakers between the ages of 17 and 89 in and around Tôkyô read aloud the written stimuli that had [si] and [ʃi] in the Japanese contexts, repeated the sound stimuli that had [si] and [ʃi] in the Japanese contexts, and listened to the [si:] and [ʃi:] syllables in isolation recorded by a native speaker of Canadian English. The results showed that the participants all distinguished [si] and [ʃi] in both perception and production regardless of their ages. Based on these results, I hypothesized that the [s] and [ʃ] confusion by Japanese ESL learners is caused by misunderstanding, rather than an inability to articulate these sounds. In the second experiment, 27 Japanese ESL students were recorded reading an English passage. The passage contains /s/ (7 times) and /ʃ/ (11 times) before high front vowels. After the reading, the participants were taught the basic English phonological system and the symbol-sound correspondence rules such as “s”-/s/ and “sh”-/ʃ/. The lesson lasted 40 minutes during which the participants were also interviewed to find out their awareness of the symbol-sound correspondence. No articulation explanations were given during the lesson. After the lesson, the participants read the same passage. The results showed that /s/ and /ʃ/ were mispronounced 39 and 67 times respectively in total by the 27 participants before the lesson, but only 7 and 19 times after the lesson. These changes are statistically significant. Moreover, the interview during the lesson revealed that the participants lacked phonological awareness in English as well as the knowledge of the symbol-sound correspondence rules. This study concluded that many of the mispronunciations by Japanese ESL learners, including /s/ and /ʃ/, can be solved by teaching the English phonics rules and some basic phonological rules without teaching the articulation of these sounds.