The aim of this study is to elucidate how a number of pupils in grade four experience the Storyline working method and its influence on their perception of oral presentations to the class. The main method used in the study was qualitative interviews. A questionnaire was administered in order to elicit the views of the whole class about Storyline and about talking in front of others, and in order to see which pupils were suitable to interview. The selection consisted of twenty-two pupils in grade, six of whom were interviewed.  The result showed that Storyline was appreciated by the pupils, who found the method interesting, engaging, and a positive factor in making the teaching meaningful. The Storyline method has been shown in this study to make it easier for pupils who otherwise find it difficult to talk in front of the class. According to the respondents, this is due to group presentations, visualizations, and the fact that the pupils are not forced to talk about their own lives and experiences. The pupils have fun and are inquisitive, which is a key factor in all teaching.

The Storyline method requires learners to create a fictive world and take on the role of characters in a story which they develop themselves. The story, co-created with the teacher, is based around a topic in the curriculum. In the course of the story, key questions based on curriculum-mandated aims are asked by the teacher in order to engage the learners in tasks during which learning occurs. Although Storyline has been used for many years in the classroom, its applicability to the foreign language classroom has only been researched recently and not extensively. By establishing a simulated ‘real world’ and providing students with ownership of their learning, students can use and improve their language skills, developing intercultural communicative competence in a meaningful context. This action research case study investigated the impact of the Storyline method on the foreign language classroom in the context of teaching military linguist cadets at a Russian university. A fictive base of a United Nations military observation mission, invented by the students themselves, served as a meaningful context for learning. The aim of the study was to improve the effectiveness of teaching in terms of developing language skills and raising student motivation, in the context of teaching English as a foreign language to military linguist cadets. The study found that the student response was positive, with improvements in motivation and satisfaction with the teaching and learning process. Moreover, students also showed improvements in terms of English language skills. It was also discovered that Storyline could benefit from adaption to include form-focused instruction for teaching grammar points. Additionally, explicit explanations of certain Storyline activities, in particular art work, might be beneficial when working with military linguist cadets. Ultimately Storyline was found to be an effective foreign language teaching method for military linguist cadets in Russia and has potential for use in other foreign language teaching for specific purposes contexts owing to its capacity for making language learning more relevant to the real life contexts in which professionals find themselves.

In the spring of 2016, a wildfire consumed the boreal forest that encircles the municipality of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Notwithstanding the severity of the blaze, known as “The Beast,” attention turned to the community because of its link to Canada’s largest industrial project – the Athabasca tar/oil sands in northern Alberta. A moment of controversy erupted in May 2016 when commentary pinned the cause of the wildfire on climate change, a charge that was quickly judged insensitive. With this context in mind, Fort McMurray holds scholarly value in the investigation of discourse related to today’s dominant form of energy – fossil fuels. Using a dataset of opinion discourse (N=40) sourced from four Canadian newspapers (The Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Calgary Herald, and the Edmonton Journal), this thesis presents a critical discourse analysis of how commentators and editorial boards articulated the relationship between the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire and concerns about the tar/oil sands contribution to climate change. The opinion pages are free from the journalistic pressure of objectivity and thus offer a place for argumentative narratives to reside. As such, my analysis focuses on the use of storylines in the dataset to give meaning to the wildfire and the tar/oil sands industry. The analysis reveals that the storylines cast environmentalist groups as ideologically motivated radicals while the oil industry was positioned as Alberta’s economic champion, thereby fusing the petro-state with the common good.

This study addresses discourses and how they affect climate policy, through the example of carbon offsets as a tool to reach domestic emissions reductions in the Swedish Climate Policy Framework. An interpretation of Maarten Hajer’s argumentative discourse analysis is applied to understand the ideas and arguments that inform the policy debate on carbon offsets as a supplementary measure in this policy process. By mapping, comparing and finding dominating storylines, it presents how Swedish government actors, businesses- and non-governmental organizations legitimize, justify and contest carbon offsets. The findings suggest that the dominating storylines largely remain in the status quo on carbon offsets, connecting to the larger policy discourses of ecological modernization and green governmentality. They also show a potential attempt to divorce of international development from carbon offset mechanisms, as a way to increase efficiency. However, in a Paris Agreement and Article 6 landscape, room to reimage and critically evaluate the use of carbon offsets has also emerged. Established actors join civil society in raising uncertainty and doubt of the future of carbon offsets. These discursive shifts may impact how Sweden intends to exercise leadership in deep decarbonization going forward.

付記する学位プログラム名: デザイン学大学院連携プログラム / 京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第21912号 / 情博第695号 / 新制||情||119(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科知能情報学専攻 / (主査)教授 黒橋 禎夫, 教授 西田 豊明, 教授 楠見 孝 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DFAM

Syftet med vår undersökning är att få ökad kunskap om ämnesintegration med matematik. Vi vill besvara två frågeställningar; ”Vad är enligt några pedagoger ämnesintegration som inkluderar matematikinnehåll?” och ”Vilka erfarenheter har några olika pedagoger av ämnesintegration med matematikinnehåll?”. För att besvara dessa gjorde vi kvalitativa intervjuer med sju lärare med inriktning mot grundskolans tidigare år. Resultatet visade att matematik integreras mest inom tematiskt arbete eller spontant i den dagliga diskussionen. Det framkom även att viljan finns hos pedagogerna att i större utsträckning undervisa ämnesintegrerat. Genom våra intervjuer fick vi fram att det behövs mer tid till planering och att det är svårt att integrera matematik med andra ämnen om man inte har djupare ämneskunskaper eller mer erfarenhet av matematik.

A long-standing goal of computer-based entertainment is the creation of a story where a user is in control of portions of the storyline. These non-linear stories give a user an opportunity to adapt the story to his or her interests, schedule and needs. The Internet has made non-linear video a reality. Different approaches have been taken to create and play non-linear video stories. They suffer from lack of simplicity, smoothness, and television-like experience in story creation and presentation. Flexible Storylines provide a way to easily create and present non-linear video stories. The creation of these stories is done using a time-line based editor that mimics the way video stories are composed by film makers. The viewing experience of flexible stories is very similar to viewing a normal video with an introduction of the choice to see more or less of the current topic. This provides a highly variable experience with a simple, smooth and non-intrusive form of user interaction. We also provide a mechanism that lets a story flow smoothly despite the introduction of user interaction.

Syftet med denna studie är att synliggöra hur undervisning i det naturvetenskapliga ämnet kemi kan bidra till att utveckla yngre elevers handlingskompetens för hållbar utveckling. De frågeställningar som låg till grund för studien var: På vilket sätt utvecklas elevernas handlingskompetens i samband med undervisning för hållbar utveckling? samt Vilka känslor uttrycker eleverna i samband med undervisning för hållbar utveckling? För att svara på detta har jag planerat och genomfört en lektionsserie i ämnet kemi samt utfört intervjuer med elever i årskurs två. Arbetssättet storyline har använts som verktyg för undervisningen och det sociokulturella lärandeperspektivet har utgjort en guidande princip för studien. Elevernas utveckling analyserades med hjälp av för- och efterintervjuer samt observationer.   Resultatet visade att elevernas handlingsförmåga utvecklades från individuella och reaktiva handlingar till kollektiva och förebyggande handlingar. Resultatet visade även att elevernas känslor förändrades under studiens gång och hade en inverkan på deras handlingar.

The diploma thesis deals with theme of racism and its narrative representation in art. It consists of three main parts. The first part of thesis defines racism and explains essential themes and concepts which bear on racism. It also briefly points out the historical development of racism. In the second part thesis deals with the narratology as theory of narrative. It explains what the story is and shows the main parts of each story - event, character, environment. In the third and last part of thesis, it focuses on analysis of selected film and literary stories where is rasism the important topic. It focuses on the way of picture the racism in narrative structure and its impact on characters and human society. That part describes storyline or characters related to racism.

This study examined the Storyline method and its effect on young English language learners’ motivation. Four classes in third year compulsory school in Sweden were studied using an experimental research design, where two groups used the Storyline method and two continued with their usual teaching. Measurements were done with semi-structured observations and semi-structured interviews during four weeks. The observations revealed that the Storyline method resulted in more motivated students, mostly due to the use of creative and communicative exercises. The teachers graded the students’ motivation and that did not reveal any considerable differences between the groups. However, the teachers in the experiment groups explained in the interviews that the students were more motivated with Storyline than without. Further outcomes of the results revealed that the Storyline method increased the teachers’ use of English while teaching and some teachers’ perception of their students’ language proficiency was questioned. The findings also showed that the method could respond to challenges in teaching, mentioned by the teachers.