In 2008 the Ministry of Education in Kuwait began to reform the science curriculum in schools at all academic stages: primary (grades 1-5), intermediate (6-9) and secondary (10-12). The new science curriculum was adapted from an original curriculum which had been designed and published by the Amercan company Pearson-Scott Foreman. This study explores the perspectives of science teachers and students concerning the new science curriculum for the sixth and seventh grades (students aged 11 to 15) in the State of Kuwait. The study also investigated the process of the reform and the roles that science teachers and students performed in this reform process. The study used Sociocultural Theory as a framework to examine the science curriculum reform process and to discuss findings. A multi-method design was used with both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect the data: science teachers’ and students’ questionnaires; interviews with science teachers, students and science curriculum reformers; and classroom observations. The study sample was selected randomly. The questionnaire was conducted with 310 science teachers and 647 students. 11 science teachers, nine reformers and 30 students (five in each of six focus groups) were chosen to conduct in-depth interviews. Ten classroom observations were conducted with four science teachers. The study indicated that the science curriculum reform process was controlled centrally by the Ministry of Education and teachers and students did not participate in any stage of the reform process. The findings also found that many of the science teachers and students held negative views about the new science curriculum. They felt that the content of the new curriculum does not relate very well to Kuwaiti culture, to the Islamic religion and that the curriculum objectives needed to be more clear and achievable. The findings showed that many of the students indicated that they have difficulty understanding much of the content and did not enjoy studying science. Most of the teachers indicated that they faced challenges in teaching the new science curriculum. These included a lack of instructional tools, lack of teacher autonomy, the amount of material that needed covering and large class sizes. This study recommends reviewing the new science curriculum (now currently in use) taking into account the perspectives of teachers and students. It recommends that in carrying out curriculum reform the Ministry of Education be encouraged to provide guidance in the form of instructional tools and professional development programmes for teachers. These should be designed to help teachers develop the pedagogic skills needed to address the complex relationships between science and culture and between science and religion.

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President John F. Kennedy’s announcement, on Monday 22 October 1962, that there were offensive missiles on the island of Cuba began the public phase of what would be remembered as the Cuban missile crisis. This Cold War crisis had ramifications in many other countries than just the Soviet Union and the United States. Due to the danger involved in this nuclear confrontation, the entire globe was threatened. If either side lost control of negotiations, an atomic war could have broken out which would have decimated the planet. As the direct northern neighbors of the United States and partners in continental defence, Canadians experienced and understood the Cuban missile crisis in the context of larger issues. In many ways, Canadian and American reactions to the crisis were similar. Many citizens stocked up their pantries, read the newspapers, protested, or worried that the politicians would make a mistake and set off a war. However, this dissertation argues that English Canadians experienced the crisis on another level as well. In public debate and print sources, many debated what the crisis meant for Canadian-Cuban relations, Canadian-American relations and Canada’s place in the world. Examining these print and archival sources, this dissertation analyzes the contour of public debate during the crisis, uniting that debate with the actions of politicians. Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker hesitated for two days before making a statement which fully committed Canada to a position which supported the American quarantine of Cuba, and shortly after the crisis, was defeated at the polls. This dissertation argues that understanding the Canadian reaction to and experience of the Cuban missile crisis necessitates an understanding of how different Canadians talked about and understood the actions of their leaders. The shifting terrain of memory also serves to demonstrate the manner in which this history is told and remembered in Canada. This dissertation, therefore, examines the intersections between this Cold War confrontation and Canadian identity in the postwar period. / Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2011-12-23 09:01:36.5

El presente estudio se orienta a identificar si se está considerando en la planificación e implementación de los programas educacionales a través de Internet el análisis de los factores sociales y culturales en los cuales el individuo naturalmente se encuentra inserto y que condicionan posiblemente, la forma de re-significar su aprendizaje de acuerdo a sus intereses personales.

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Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad det är som gör att vissa fullföljer sin utbildning och varför andra avbryter studierna på vård och omsorgsprogrammet på Komvux. Av vilken anledning fullföljer inte eleverna sina studier? Vad kan påverka studierna? Studien är kvalitativ och utgår från intervjuer med elever på vård och omsorgsprogrammet. Metoden som användes vid intervjuerna var halvstrukturerade frågor. Studiens konklusion är att eleverna inte fullföljer sina studier främst för att de blir gravida och för att de har svårt att hänga med pga. utbildningens upplägg och studietakt. Eleverna påverkas negativt av sin livssituation som tex att de har familj vilket gör att det är svårt att fokusera på studierna. Även hur undervisning bedrivs påverkar resultat och att det sociokulturella perspektivet har stor vikt för att eleverna skall fullfölja sina studier. Studien visar även att de som fullföljer sina studier sig har ett tydligt mål med sina studier som t.ex. att läsa vidare på Universitetet till sjuksköterska. / The aim of this study is to explore which factors that impact some students to continue and complete their studies in the health care program and why some of them had terminated their education. The method that was used was qualitative research interviews. In other words, interviewing the students with open questions rather than a questionnaire. The conclusion of the study was that the prime reasons for students who terminated their health care program were that they were pregnant or that they experienced that they could not cope with the study pace or the content of the studies. The students expressed that they were stressed by their own private living situation which led to difficulties in focusing on their studies. The results of the study also show how the scope of the health care program impacts on the students’ outcomes as well as how the social-cultural perspectives are of great importance for the success of the students’ attempts to finish their course. Finally, the study shows that they who completed their health care program had a clear goal with their studies e.g. to enter the Department of Nursing at the University.

The aim of this research is to expand the framework of contemporary conflict resolution by constructing a complementary relationship between Western epistemologies and a Buddhist epistemology. Despite its evolution and development through self-reflexivity and self-critique, contemporary conflict resolution established upon Western epistemologies has confined the understanding of human mind to social/cultural orientations and left a comprehensive and qualitative analysis of the potential of individual human mind underdeveloped. Buddhist epistemology, the central theme of which is to address human suffering that is mainly psychological and subjective, makes a critical analysis of human subjectivity in terms of how it can be become a root cause of suffering including conflict and how it can be addressed by gaining an insight into the social/cultural construction of human subjectivity. The argument of the thesis is that when a socially/culturally-oriented view of human mind and a deeper and more profound view of human mind are combined together, we can engage in a qualitatively richer and deeper analysis of the psychological and subjective dynamics of conflict resolution.

Our interactions with objects build cultural codes, reflecting lifestyles, values, and identities beyond functional expectations. With open connectivity in the contemporary consumer environments, we have access to homogenized material cultures not only for daily activities but also for ceremonies and rituals to mark important events, such as birth, marriage, and death. What will happen to our cultural codes and diverse traditions when various cultural norms meet, exchange, clash, hybridize, and evolve? In this research, globalized material cultures were investigated to discover metaphoric comparisons, to formulate conceptual frameworks, and to develop informed design, which can address evolving cultural conditions appropriately, in comparison with commercialized goods. Considering we often ritualize sequential stages of life course or challenging events, but rarely divorce, I explored the socio-cultural norms of marriage and divorce in the current social construct to anticipate globally evolving divorce phenomena. My thesis focused on relatively unknown material cultures in ritualizing divorce by combining speculative design with semiotic, hybrid, idiosyncratic approaches to communicate desirable future scenarios for the emerging multi-cultural context. This research aims to explore how artifacts and rituals can help people cope with transitional events and how design practices can provide meaningful and reflective material cultures.

For people in Sweden one of the favourites places to go on vacation is Spain. It is warm, inexpensive and they like Spanish culture, this helps explain why the Spanish language is so popular in schools in Sweden. To learn a foreign language means more than learning how to speak and writing, it also means learning about the culture of that language because the culture is intrinsically related to the language. Additionally, is very significant as teacher to give your students the knowledge of sociocultural of Spanish speaking countries, the knowledge of the world and in this way create multicultural students. For this reason, we decided to do a quantitative research about what sociocultural topics are thought in the classroom in Lulea (Sweden) and how teachers are developing multiculturalism in their students. As result of our work we can mention that teachers include sociocultural topics in their classes but there are certain sociocultural subjects that are not taught, we could also confirm that the textbook has many gaps in sociocultural subjects.

Na busca por soluções organizacionais, modelos alternativos de redes de cooperação, como forma otimizada de gestão, vêm sendo pesquisados e propostos. O conceito de empresa virtual é uma destas propostas, tendo como característica a integração de competências de diferentes empresas que se unem para satisfazer oportunidades específicas de negócio. Um ambiente adequado para as empresas virtuais se constituírem rapidamente é através da criação de organizações virtuais, formadas por empresas pré-dispostas a cooperarem e que juntas, buscam novas oportunidades de mercado. O pré-requisito para seu adequado funcionamento depende de quatro infra-estruturas: física, legal, de informação e a sócio-cultural. A ausência de estudos e ações aprofundadas sobre a parte sócio-cultural pode inviabilizar o bom desempenho das organizações virtuais devido, principalmente a falta de cultura de cooperação baseada na confiança. No sentido de minimizar o problema, este trabalho define uma infra-estrutura sócio-cultural essencial que suporta a participação de empresas em organizações virtuais contribuindo para um maior conhecimento científico sobre aspectos sócio-culturais em ambientes dinâmicos e viabilizando maiores chances de sucesso das organizações virtuais. Esta infra-estrutura é baseada em estudo de caso numa organização virtual brasileira onde, numa experiência de três anos, benefícios, problemas e sugestões são apresentados servindo assim, como um referencial para futuras organizações virtuais. / The actual fast dynamic in the business impose of the enterprises more flexibility and so an inquiry for organizational solutions to make this enterprises competitivities. New alternative models of cooperation chain between enterprises as a way of optimized management have been research and proposal. The Virtual Enterprise concept is one of this proposes having as characteristic the integration of the abilities, or competences, of this existent enterprises join itself to satisfy specific opportunities of business. One manner to create a proper environment to quickly constitute a virtual enterprise is among the creation of a Virtual Organization, formed by enterprises predisposes and qualified to cooperate seeking together new opportunities to operate in the market. This organizations owing for a good growth four substructures: physical, legal, of information and social-cultural. The absence of profound studies and actions about the social-cultural substructure can make unable the good performance of the virtual organizations due, mainly, to the absence of the cooperation culture based in trust. In sense to minimize this problem this work define a essential social-cultural substructure to support the participation of enterprises in Virtual Organizations contributing to a scientific knowledge about social-cultural aspects in dynamics environments and allowing higher chances of success of the Virtual Organizations. This substructure is based in a study of case in the brazilian virtual organization, where in a experience among three years, benefit, problems and suggestions are presented serving so as a referential to the future virtual organizations.