In this dissertation, I report on the design, implementation, and evaluation of my intervention for the revision of physics in a mainstream public secondary school in Singapore. This intervention was conducted over a one-year period, and involved students who were taking their GCE 'O' level physics examination after immersion in the intervention, which was conducted as part of their regular physics revision curriculum. Based on sociocultural theory, the intervention changed the practice of how physics revision was conducted in a particular secondary physics classroom. The intervention consisted of a computer-mediated collaborative problem-solving (CMCPS) component and a teacher-led prescriptive tutoring (PT) component. The CMCPS portion of the intervention required the students to follow basic 'ground rules' for computer-mediated problem-solving of physics questions with other students, while the PT portion saw the teacher prescriptively addressing students' misconceptions, misunderstandings, and other problem-solving difficulties as captured by the discussion logs during the CMCPS session. The intervention was evaluated in two stages. First, a small-scale (pilot) study which utilised a control group (CG)/alternate intervention group (AG)/experimental group (XG) with pre- and post-test research design was conducted in order to evaluate whether the intervention was effective in promoting improved learning outcomes of a small group of students. Given the success of the pilot study, a main study involving the entire class of students was conducted. This main study was evaluated by comparing the cohort's actual GCE 'O' level physics results with their expected grades (as given by the Singapore Ministry of Education based on the students' primary school's results). Also, the students' 'O' level physics results were compared with the average physics results obtained by previous cohorts. The quantitative data indicated that the intervention for physics revision appears to be effective in helping the entire class of students revise physics concepts, resulting in improved test scores, while the qualitative data indicated that the students' interest in physics had increased over time. The physics teacher also reflected that the intervention had provided her with much deeper insights into her students' mental models.

I used a sociocultural perspective (Vygotsky, 1978) to examine teachers’ epistemological and efficacy beliefs about the teaching and learning of mathematics with multilingual students. Specifically, I use the work of Negueruela-Azarola (2011) who suggests that teachers’ beliefs are conceptualizing tools for thinking about activity. Beliefs, which are social and dynamic, arise from teachers’ lived experiences. What teachers believe is relevant because beliefs inform pedagogical practices and once established are hard to change (Brownlee, Boulton-Lewis & Purdie, 2002; Cross, 2009; Pajares, 1992). Established beliefs with regards to mathematics hold that it is the easiest subject for multilingual students since there is little language involved. On the other hand, established beliefs are that increased English vocabulary is mainly what students need to be successful in mathematics. Barwell (2009) and Moschkovich (2002), using sociocultural perspectives, argue that language is important in mathematics and that multilingual students can participate in mathematical discussions when using resources such as their own mathematical knowledge, objects, and codeswitching. I interviewed five teachers who had experience teaching mathematics to students whose first language was other than English. I found that some teachers had beliefs which contrasted with the philosophies of their training institutions and with their schools. Teachers were found to hold contradictory beliefs. The study showed the importance of terminology in that how teachers referred to their multilingual students reflected their beliefs. Multilingual students were welcomed in the classroom for their contribution to cultural diversity but teachers acknowledged increased workload, and periods of frustration when supporting their multilingual students in mathematics.

The purpose of this study was to examine the preschool teachers' view of their competence in art and art creation, as well as the competence they consider that a preschool teacher should have and how competence can develop. In this study, we define competence as something you own in the practice of preschool education and that preschool teachers can meet the challenges that the profession requires. Competence is about being able to carry out an action in practice, and in this study, the expression summarizes what a person can in the field of art and art creation. Our study addresses the following questions; how do preschool teachers perceive their competence in art and art creation? What do the preschool teachers think they need in competence in art and art creation? What role do preschool teachers play in promoting their own and children's competence development in art and art creation? Four preschool teachers and a teacher for elementary school's older years who worked in preschool since her education was interviewed with a qualitative interviewing method from a sociocultural perspective. The results show that the competencies that preschoolers apprehend is competence that includes material knowledge, the ability to link activities with curriculum and theories, and to make it a fun-filled activity for the children. In order to develop their competence, the result shows that they use continuous education and collegial learning and in interaction with children.

There is a well-established ‘achievement gap’ in medical education, with ‘ethnic minority’ students achieving less well in examinations than their white counterparts. The processes underlying this difference are currently unknown. Most research to date has taken a student-deficit approach, suggesting that lower performing students lack the cognitive or cultural capacity of their higher achieving peers. These models have so far failed to explain the variation in achievement by ethnicity. In order to address this gap in the literature and further our understanding of ethnic minority students’ underachievement, this thesis takes a sociocultural approach to the problem. It addresses two research questions: firstly, how does ethnicity impact on medical school achievement? Secondly, how do social networks affect achievement? This research uses qualitative interviews (n=33 medical students), quantitative survey methods and social network analysis (n=160 medical students) to explore ethnicity and the achievement gap within medical education. Sociocultural theories of learning, specifically concepts from communities of practice and Pierre Bourdieu are employed in the design and analysis phases. This thesis demonstrates that medical students’ achievement is best conceptualised as part of a wider learning trajectory toward becoming a doctor. Relationships are important channels through which the resources and support can flow, these in turn facilitate learning and achievement. Lower achieving students are less well connected to their PBL peers and have fewer tutors or clinicians in their network. The medical world has a tightly prescribed, yet often hidden, set of legitimate dispositions; students must learn to embody these norms, values and behaviours in order to succeed. This process relies on experiences of participation, facilitated by relationships with peers and seniors. Socialisation is clearly mediated by culture. Ethnic minority students, due to their differing cultural practices and identities, have fewer experiences of participation, often experience the medical domain as outsiders and find it harder to interact with tutors and clinicians. This is reflected in their social networks as some minority students have fewer seniors in their network. These factors interact to cut ethnic minority students off from potential and actual resources that facilitate learning and achievement. If the situation is to be improved, medical schools must do more to acknowledge the extra difficulties many ‘ethnic minority’ students face in becoming an insider. Processes of identification and participation must be supported as these students negotiate the extra distance and tensions between their home world and those of medical education and medicine.

Skolverket (2011) enfatiza en el programa de estudios para el nivel 4 de lenguas extranjeras que los estudiantes deben aprender a escribir textos coherentes basados en el concepto de género. Para lograr esto, los estudiantes deben tener habilidades lingüísticas adecuadas y comprender el concepto de género. El propósito de este estudio es descubrir cómo cuatro profesoras describen el trabajo del método de pedagogía de género en la enseñanza de textos narrativos en las clases de español como lengua extranjera, en el nivel 4. El estudio fue ejecutado mediante una investigación cualitativa y con la ayuda de entrevistas semiestructuradas. Hemos entrevistado a cuatro profesoras con experiencia del método y en la enseñanza de textos narrativos. El resultado muestra que las profesoras utilizan diferentes estrategias en la enseñanza de textos narrativos y reportan una progresión del lenguaje en la producción escrita mediante este método. También reportan que el método consume tiempo de las clases y es difícil enseñar grupos grandes, en los cuales, existen alumnos con diferentes niveles de la lengua.

This study examines Slovak dialect perceptions from 311 participants in 9 municipalities in Slovakia. Data were collected between 2016 and 2017, utilizing a map task, degree of difference ratings, and other Likert scale tasks to assess participants’ perceptions of and attitudes about dialects in Slovakia. Participants received blank maps of Slovakia on which to elicit participants’ perceptions of where isoglosses (dialect boundaries) lie. They drew their own isoglosses and were asked to label each dialect region contained within them. Content Analysis was used to code each label for semantic field in order to create composite maps for each label. After analyzing data from each municipality separately, 22 salient categories emerged. To be determined salient in this study, a category had to be marked by at least ten percent of participants per municipality. The most salient boundaries that emerged from this study were those between central (“correct”) Slovak and “other,” “not central” Slovak; those between “The East” and the rest of Slovakia, and those between “The South” (or, more accurately, “The Hungarian South”) and the rest of Slovakia. This thesis explores those ideologies in detail, and takes Nitra as a case study for the discussion.

Bildskapande är ett viktigt inslag i förskolan och ingår i förskolans läroplan, vi vill därför se hur förskollärarna ute på förskolorna jobbar och tänker kring ämnet. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur förskollärarna resonerar kring ämnet bild i förskolan ur ett sociokulturellt perspektiv. Studien bygger på fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med förskollärare i olika åldrar och datan analyserades och kategoriserades utifrån Vygotskijs sociokulturella perspektiv. Studiens resultat visar att alla respondenterna är eniga om att bildskapandet sker i samspel med andra och att barnen lär sig i samspel med andra samt att det är gynnsamt för barnens utveckling. Respondenterna arbetar dagligen med både fritt och planerat bildskapande i verksamheten utifrån läroplanens mål. Enligt respondenterna anses det vara viktigt att skapa intresse för bildskapande och ha material tillgängligt för barnen.

Syftet med den här kvalitativa studien är att undersöka hur lärare förstår och uppleverden digitaliserade skrivundervisningen i årskurs 4–6. Studien lutar sig mot det sociokulturella perspektivet som visar att användandet av medierande verktyg till-sammans med stöttning behövs för att förstå och tolka den värld vi lever i. Vi har genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem lärare i årskurs 4–6 samlat in empiri omhur lärare uppfattar den digitaliserade skrivundervisningen. Resultatet visar hurförutsättningarna för elevernas skrivande ändrades när den digitaliseradeskrivundervisningen gav lärarna goda möjligheter att möta elevernas lärande på nya sätt. Lärarna beskrev att de kunde ge effektivare stöttning till eleverna och individ-anpassa stöttningen till dem. Digitaliserad skrivundervisning gjorde det även möjligt för eleverna att få inflytande över undervisningen och öva för att klara de nationellaproven. Lärarna beskrev att den digitaliserade undervisningen med elevdatorer ocksåkunde leda till distraktioner.

No description available.

The rapid development of technology and the digitalization of learning in today’s societyopens up for challenges and possibilities for the workplace related to creating a learning community.To create a social learning community that highlights open communication and group coherency,which is central when it comes to achieving good results connected to learning. However there aresome doubts if it is possible to create a social presence in network based learning without any physicalmeetings. The purpose of this study was to investigate how interactions, design and course layout onan online course linked to workplaces can affect collaborative learning according to participants. Thefocus has been in searching for patterns with a focus on collaborative learning amongst theparticipants. The study takes a qualitative and quantitative approach, namely mixed methods. Whathas guided the choice of mixed methods lies in the methods that are needed to answer the researchquestions. Through existing material for analysis, literatur and planned interviews. These methodshave been used to generate new knowledge, expand existing knowledge and give new hypothesis forfuture research. The analysis showed that collaborative learning did not reach wanted levels. Theresult also showed that the teachers' different experiences with traditional classroom learning hasbeen a big factor on how they contributed with E-learning towards the participants. The use oftechnical tools has not been easy for some teachers, the analysis of the result showed this to be a keyfactor in the result because teacher presence is important for E-learning. There were also manyindependent variables that have been identified in conjunction with key factors for success inE-learning. / Den snabba teknikutvecklingen och digitalisering av lärandet innebär idag nya utmaningarsamt möjligheter för arbetsplatser vad gäller att skapa en lärgemenskap. Att skapa en stödjande socialgemenskap uppmanar till öppen kommunikation och sammanhållning, vilket är centralt för att uppnåbra resultat när det gäller lärande. Det råder viss tveksamhet till om det går att skapa social närvaro iE-lärande utan fysiska träffar. Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka hur interaktioner,design och kursupplägg på en onlinekurs länkad till arbetsplatser kan påverka lärandet hosdeltagarna. Fokus har legat på att söka mönster i det materialet med fokus på det kollaborativalärandet bland deltagarna. Studien tar en kvalitativ och kvantitativ ansats, mixad metod. Det som harvarit styrande av detta val ligger i metoderna som behövts för att besvara studiens forskningsfrågor.Detta genom befintlig föremål för analys, litteraturanalys och planerade intervjuer, två övervideokonferens och en genom mail. Dessa metoder har använts till att generera ny kunskap, ökabefintlig kunskap samt ge hypoteser att undersöka vidare. Analysen visade att det kollaborativalärandet inte har nått upp till önskade nivåer. Resultatet visar att lärarnas olika erfarenheter av vanligklassrumsundervisning har påverkat hur de bidragit till E-lärande bland deltagarna. Användandet avtekniken har inte varit lätt för vissa lärare, som i sin tur påverkat hur deltagarna upplever lärarensnärvaro i kursrummet vilket är en nyckelfaktor för E-lärande. Det finns många förändringspunktersom identifierats för att lyckas bättre med E-lärande och därmed har intressanta nyckelfaktorer ocksåframkommit. / <p>Betygsdatum 2021-07-01</p>