nÃo hà / No ensino da FÃsica, ainda prevalece à exposiÃÃo oral, a aplicaÃÃo repetitiva de fÃrmulas e regras como principais meios de aprendizagem, que pouco tem contribuindo para a compreensÃo das ideias trabalhadas. Com isso, o aluno nÃo concebe a aprendizagem como uma necessidade (motivo) na construÃÃo do seu conhecimento. Entre os diferentes conceitos que podem ser trabalhados em tal ensino, merece destaque o estudo da eletricidade, por representar um conteÃdo de difÃcil compreensÃo pelos alunos, alÃm de seus conceitos e de sua linguagem serem utilizadas no cotidiano de forma errÃnea. O presente estudo tem como o objetivo investigar o potencial da utilizaÃÃo de oficinas pedagÃgicas temÃticas ao estudo de eletricidade, referenciada pela HistÃrico-Cultural de Vygotsky. A metodologia utilizada foi uma pesquisa de campo de natureza qualitativa denominada de pesquisa-aÃÃo. O cenÃrio da investigaÃÃo foi o Instituto Federal do Cearà (IFCE) com 21 alunos do ensino mÃdio do Curso TecnÃlogo de MecÃnica, do quinto semestre. Os instrumentos de pesquisa usados foram a aplicaÃÃo de questionÃrio, observaÃÃo, diÃrio de campo, fotografia e filmagem. Os resultados mostram que os alunos gostaram da dinÃmica, ressaltando que a experiÃncia foi significativa a sua aprendizagem, fato esse bastante comentado quando receberam as notas da avaliaÃÃo individual, cujas questÃes foram retiradas com base nas discussÃes realizadas em sala, por cada equipe. à importante ressaltar que as notas foram superiores ou iguais a 8,5. Do ponto de vista do pesquisador, esse resultado foi Ãtimo, possibilitando afirmar que, apesar das limitaÃÃes da metodologia adotada, o objetivo traÃado no inÃcio desse trabalho de dissertaÃÃo foi alcanÃado, pois possibilitou a aquisiÃÃo dos conteÃdos de eletricidade. As consideraÃÃes finais expÃem que se faz necessÃrio tambÃm que os professores de FÃsica, em geral, conheÃam as ideias de Vygotsky para pÃ-las em prÃtica no seu exercÃcio docente, no sentido de trazer meios alternativos e criativos de ensino que motivem o aluno a aprender. Que a sala de aula seja um espaÃo de vivÃncias, experiÃncias diversas, e que o aluno se torne sujeito de transformaÃÃo da realidade em que vive. / The teaching of physics still prevails to oral exposure, the repetitive applicacion of formulas and rules as the main means of learning, which has contributed little to the understanding of the ideas worked.With this, the student does not conceive of learning as a necessity (reason) in building their knowledge. Among the different concepts that can be worked in the teaching of physics, deserves the study of electricity, as it represents a content difficult to understand by students, in addition to its concepts and language use in everyday life so wrong. The present study aimed to investigate the potential use of educational workshops themed to the study of electricity, referred to by Vygotskyâs Cultural-Historical. The methodology used was a field called qualitative action research. The scene investigation was Federal Institute of Cearà (IFCE) whith 21 high school students of the Course of engine technology, the fifth semester. The research instruments used were the application of 01 questionnaire, observation, field diary, photography and filming. The results show that students liked the dynamic stressing that the experience was meaningful to their learning. Much-noted fact that when the notes were evaluated (Annex 01) individual, whose questions were taken on the basis of discussions in class, for each team. Importantly, the scores were greater than or equal to 8.5. From the standpoint of the researcher, this result was great allowing state that despite the limitations of the methodology adopted, the objective set at the beginning of this dissertation work has been achieved, because it made possible the acquisition of the contents of electricity. The final considerations show that it is necessary also that teachers of physic in general know the ideas of Vygotsky to put them into practice in their teaching practice in order to bring altrenative and creative teaching that motivates students to learn. That the classroom is a space of experience, varied experiences and the student becomes subject to transform reality in which they live.

In his 1980 book, Mindstorms, Seymour Papert proposes using microworlds to help children learn mathematics like mathematicians. In a microworld like LOGO that is culturally rich in math, Papert claims that learning math can be as natural as learning French in France. Although the technology at the time was adequate, LOGO faltered due to improper implementation in the classroom. A newfound political interest in inquiry and computer literacy could breathe new life into Papert's vision. In contrast with the routinized approaches to introducing aspects of programming that, arguably, limited the trajectory for the implementation of programming in schools (Papert, 1980), this report explores what can and does happen in the first few minutes using a more open, student directed, approach to programming with high school physics students. A grounded theory approach led to connections with Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development. / text

The aim of this investigation has been to examine four students, in a second grade class in Stockholm, understanding of the addition algorithm. A small field study has been carried out including both interviews and classroom studies. Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory and more specifically the concepts of mediation and cultural tools have been applied. Vygotsky asserts that our contact with the world is mediated by cultural tools. The addition algorithm is in this thesis seen as a cultural tool that the students are to appropriate. The results show a variation of the student’s understanding of the addition algorithm. Most importantly it shows that it is possible for students to “say more than they know” with the use of the algorithm. It is difficult to see how much a student really understand of a mathematical concept and easier to see if they do not understand it or are using it in an inappropriate way. Therefore it is necessary for teachers to form a dialogue with the students and ask them why they do as they do while using different mathematical concepts, such as addition algorithms, to acquire a perception of their mathematical understanding.

Post 1994 the South African education system has focused on creating education for all under a single core syllabus. It also stressed the need for a shift from the traditional teacher-centred approach to a learner-centred approach. As a result, the shift was made from an aims-and-objectives education to Outcomes Based Education (OBE). OBE has placed a different set of demands on teachers and the way in which they assess. Specifically teachers are required to use peer collaboration to bring about learning and simultaneously assess that learning has transpired. However, many teachers are left feeling uncertain about the efficacy of OBE. This report reviews the relevant literature as well as theories needed to understand the process learning. The objective of this research report is to establish teacher’s current perceptions are of OBE. More so, the research aimed to ascertain how useful peer collaboration is in facilitating learning. The results from this study show that teachers are uncertain about the efficacy of OBE. Although a significant number of teachers strongly agree with the underlying principles of OBE they feel that implementation as intended by policy makers is idealistic. Furthermore, they are conflicted about the notion that peer collaboration can sufficiently facilitate learning. Lastly, the findings of this study suggest that in implementing peer collaboration successfully, tenets from social psychology such as group dynamics need to be considered.

O presente trabalho visa, a partir de uma perspectiva histórico-cultural, aprofundar a compreensão acerca da constituição de um sujeito adulto e autista, analisando a narrativa de sua história de vida, passando pela vivência escolar e depois pela experiência ativista e militante em defesa dos direitos da comunidade autista e da transformação social. São discutidos temas como as diferentes concepções de autismo, a problemática da escolarização, e, com base nas contribuições de Vigotski,o desenvolvimento do adulto, a relação entre deficiência e desenvolvimento, bem como o papel da educação nesse processo. Tal discussão embasou uma análise qualitativa acerca dos processos de formação de conceitos eda constituição da personalidade, incluindo a resistência como característica importante dessa personalidade. Assim, partindo de uma concepção social da constituição do sujeito, foi possível identificar algumas relações que se apresentaram como parte de todo esse processo e que tornam possível, por exemplo, se reafirmar a importância de uma educação para a emancipação (conceito de Mészáros) do sujeito. / The present work aims, from a historical-cultural perspective, to deepen the understanding about the constitution of an adult and autistic subject, analyzing the narrative of his life history, going through the school experience and then through the activist experience and militant in defense of the rights of the autistic community and social transformation. Topics such as the different conceptions of autism, the problem of schooling, and, based on the contributions of Vygotsky, adult development, the relation between disability and development, as well as the role of education in this process are discussed. This discussion was based on a qualitative analysis about the processes of concept formation and the constitution of the personality, including resistance as an important characteristic of this personality. Thus, starting from a social conception of the constitution of the subject, it was possible to identify some relations that appeared as part of this whole process and that make it possible, for example, to reaffirm the importance of an education for emancipation (Mészáros concept) subject.

A ‘new’ phenomenon in the form of employing foreign domestic workers (FDW), or maids, whose jobs often include caring for children, appears to be an increasing global trend. Consequently, migrant women from developing countries provide an inexpensive and accessible child care alternative, which could be regarded as widespread in certain regions. Growth in the movement of population and mounting global interdependence, has also contributed to an increase in educational institutions labelled international schools. As an educator in five of these diverse institutions, I became aware that the trend of hiring maids, who because of their social position often do many basic tasks for children in their care, has entered the world of international schools in particular geographical areas. This has often concerned professionals. This small-scale study, therefore, explores the perceived social and educational implications of home/school differences in pedagogic orientation in children who have maids, bringing to light a matter of consequence, to certain international schools in particular, in more academic terms. Two very different schools in the Arabian Gulf, both regarded as operating in an international context, were the focus for this study. Drawing on Vygotskian and post-Vygotskian theories, I used sociocultural theory and Engeström’s model of activity theory as a theoretical framework from which to design the inquiry, and carry out the analysis. Using the two sample schools to access key-stakeholders, this inquiry involved multi-methods of mainly qualitative data collection, which explored a situation where maids are often heavily involved in children’s upbringing. A range of nationalities were included. Important messages emerged, including the notion of maids appearing to be culturally embedded amongst a number of affluent host country nationals and expatriates in my context. Additionally, significant differences appear to exist between children with maids at home and those without, with implications for learning amongst ‘maid children’, which might be perceived as a result of maid intervention. The thesis concludes with recommendations for educationalists and parents. Views of most key stakeholders underpin a model which could guide new practice and go some way towards alleviating the consequences of such a situation.

This thesis investigates how students are prepared for work in schools in the context of post-communism in Russia. It aims to gain an understanding of what theories and processes constitute preparation for work in Russian schools. In the light of how they have changed as a result of the fall of communism in 1991, the thesis seeks to explore the ways in which students are prepared to enter the world of work. The socio-cultural and activity theory is employed to explore the relationship between students’ engagement in pedagogic practices and macro historical transformations in Russia that have affected it. <br /> The methodology includes a documentary analysis of teacher-training textbooks, which were used in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and a case study of preparation for work in a secondary school in Perm, Russia, which involved a group of thirty teachers and thirty students. Biographical interviews were conducted with thirty individuals who lived through the economic and social transformations caused by the events of 1991. <br /> The analysis of the data demonstrates that preparation for work in Russian schools is a combination of two pedagogic processes – vospitanie, which refers to the overall up-bringing of children, and ‘professional orientation’, which provides career guidance. The literature review and documentary analysis have revealed that the events of 1991 have influenced the ideological underpinning of vospitanie and professional orientation, especially in terms of humanisation of pedagogic processes. However, with regard to the conceptual framework, vospitanie and professional orientation have remained relatively intact. These pedagogic concepts emphasise a dialogic relationship between students and teachers. The case study analysis shows that the teachers’ conceptualisation of vospitanie and professional orientation reflect the findings from the documentary analysis, but the teachers have interpreted the theory in the ways that reflect their various, historically formed views of preparation for work. Some of these views, expressed by the teachers who were trained in the Soviet time, do not support the new humanistic approach advocated in the literature; instead, the focus is on differentiation by ability and on academic achievement. Combined with the fact that the case study school does not offer practical vocational experience, this provides some explanation of why only those students who receive support from outside the school are better prepared than others to overcome the challenges of the new market economy. Those students who do not receive relevant support outside the school are developing dispositions towards employment, which are less likely to help them progress in the context of the market economy.

Mitt syfte med arbetet var att ta reda på hur elever tänker och lär när de löser olika matematikuppgifter. För att få svar på mina frågeställningar har jag valt att använda mig av litteraturstudier och empiriska studier. Jag har valt att utgå från elevernas resonemang i mina tolkningar av hur elever tänker och lär. Ett resultat av min undersökning är att elevens sociala samspel med andra elever och lärare har stor betydelse för elevens lärande. Mitt resultat har stöd i Vygotskys begrepp ´den närmaste utvecklingszonen´.

The qualitative case study on which this thesis is based was designed to investigate the relationship between migration and identity construction of three young people who immigrated as children and adolescents, two of them as refugees, from the former Yugoslavia to Germany and finally to Canada. The autobiographical narrative interviews of the manifold migration stories were mainly analyzed from the point of view of Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, which considers speech and thought in a close relation, to illustrate how identity must be understood as both individual and social in nature, and as a complex narrative action. The socialization processes in all countries of migration were viewed in order to investigate how the previous acculturation affects the cultural identity of the young people today and how it is unfolded in the story. The study reveals that these subjects with threefold migration position themselves between their lifeworlds which enable them not only to say where they belong to or which is their homeland but to answer the simple question “Who am I?” This is revealed by the way of their narration which contains a lot of contradictions. The individuals deal differently with their dynamic identity construction, while one of them seems to suffer under the instability of his identity, and of being different in all his lifeworlds, other subjects however can see advantages related to it. The way how they deal with this dynamics has a crucial influence on their view of their migrations today and consequently on their identity construction as a narrative action.

I en allt större utsträckning brer internet ut sig och det är viktigt fundera över vad detta betyder för skolan. Detta arbetes syfte har varit att få en förståelse om lärares uppfattning om internets roll i skolan. Via fokusgrupper har lärares resonemang om hur och varför internet ska användas i skolan insamlats. Resultatet innebar ett ointresse från lärarnas sida för allmänna riktlinjer men istället kunde de se många användningsområden för internet i skolan. Dessa användningsområden visade på en bred pedagogisk grund med koppling till både Piaget, Dewey och Vygotsky. Slutsatser som kan dras av studien är att det lärarna har tagit till sig vad internet haft för konsekvenser och funnit många användningsområden för internet i undervisningen. Dock finns det ett fortsatt behov av diskussion, analys och omstrukturering av de följder för skolan som internet har fört med sig.