Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The study set out to investigate siding and translanguaged siding as an under-researched student-to-student communication which happen parallel to teaching. Lemke (1990) defines siding as student-to-student talk while the teacher is teaching, and Antia (2017) defines ‘translanguaged siding’ as student-to-student talk in a language or combination of languages that is different from the LoLT. In this way, siding encapsulates ‘translanguaged siding’.

This evaluation of research investigates the advantageous and disadvantageous aspects of utilizing cooperative learning into the ESL (English as a second language) classroom for pupils at an elementary education level. Teachers need to be contemporary with their pedagogy and lesson design and implement methods that can enable that the national criteria regarding knowledge requirements in the syllabus for English are met. The methods within cooperative learning corresponds with sociocultural theories of Vygotsky as it is based on the zone of proximal development where high achievers can develop accordingly to their own qualifications, as well as low achievers. In the current study, we examine a selection of empirical studies on cooperative learning. The results of this analysis reveal that Cooperative learning is an advantageous way of reaching every individual to make sure that their English language acquisition is nurtured, but that the aspects of group grading make it difficult when grading each individual pupil. The findings also revealed that the implementation of cooperative learning into the ESL classroom had advantageous outcomes when it comes to vocabulary learning, writing skills, speaking skills and a lot of the pupils gained a better confidence and had a high achievement level in comparison to more traditional teacher focused pedagogy. Pupils also showed that their motivation and attitudes changed over time, when exposed of the cooperative learning methods in the ESL classroom. It is advised that teachers utilize cooperative learning in the ESL classroom hence it is beneficial for both pupils and teachers. Keywords: Cooperative learning, English as a second language, English as a foreign language, elementary school, group grading, ESL classroom and EFL classroom.

This paper deals with how eight Syriac adolescents and young adults have experienced Swedish religious education (RE) in secondary and upper secondary school about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The study reveals that four of the eight respondents experienced tensions and conflicts between Syriac and Muslims students. Two of these respondents revealed experiences of witnessing Syriac students ostracising and subjecting Muslim students to offensive treatment (kränkande behandling). These tensions and conflicts must be understood in the light of the historical and yet ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Turkey. For the Syriacs, these tensions culminated in Seyfo (the Assyrian genocide) in the midst of the First World War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, four respondents experienced a frustration that Seyfo was not addressed in neither RE nor history, while the Holocaust is an obligatory part of the Swedish syllabus. Seemingly, this fact furthered these respondents’ frustration. Therefore the respondents argued that Seyfo must be addressed in Swedish RE. The experiences of RE that adressed Judaism in part tell stories of how it triggered anti-Semitic speech, on part of Muslim students and one teacher. The RE on Christianity was partly experienced as having a liberal secular post-Christian perspective as its vantage point. The way Islam was taught was experienced as romanticised, and also proved at times to be essentialist in regards to its perspective.

Submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 1997. / Socio-political changes have brought about major changes in the education system of South Africa. Many teachers who were accustomed to teaching at monocultural schools are suddenly confronted with the reality of having to cope with pupils of other cultural groups in their classrooms. Most of these teachers were not prepared for these changes. This unpreparedness has led to many problems being experienced by teachers in the multicultural classroom setting. The aims of this study are: * To determine if teachers are effectively trained to teach in a multicultural classroom setting. * To establish if teachers are conversant with the complex needs of children in a multicultural classroom setting. * To establish certain guidelines according to which accountable support can be instituted to equip pre-service and inservice teachers to deal with possible problems that they may encounter in a multicultural classroom setting. Initially multicultural education in England, the USA and South Africa was reviewed. In all three cases a short historical overview of the development of multicultural education was given. Acts that were introduced in regard with the provision of education in these countries as well as certain acts that gave course and direction to the evolutionary process of multicultural education were briefly discussed. Certain advantages and disadvantages of multicultural education as envisaged by certain educationists were also highlighted. In order to understand teaching in a multicultural classroom it was necessary to examine the life-world of the teacher and the teacher-pupil relationship. The life-world of the teacher constitutes his relationships with himself, others, things and ideas and God. Research with regard to this study was conducted as follows: * A literature study of available, relevant literature. * An empirical survey comprising a structured questionnaire to be completed by secondary school teachers in the North Durban region. A likert- type scale questionnaire with three response categories; viz. Agree, Disagree, Unsure, was constructed. The three response categories ensured that the respondents' selections fell into one of the categories enabling the measurement of the direction and the intensity of their perceptions of problems experienced by teachers in a multicultural classroom setting. * In addition to the empirical survey, personal interviews with teachers were conducted. One hundred and eighty teachers were targeted from six randomly selected multicultural secondary schools in the North Durban region. With the aim of administering the questionnaire to the teachers of these schools, it was necessary to first obtain permission from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education. Permission was also obtained from the Circuit Inspector of the North Durban region. Only after such permission was granted, was the researcher able to conduct this study. The primary data was in the form of a response to one of the three response categories (Agree, Disagree, Unsure). Scores of the responses to each of the three categories were calculated. The descriptive technique was employed for the quantitative analysis of the data. The investigation has the following value: * It will provide a reliable picture of teachers' perspectives of multicultural education; * The most lasting value of this investigation is that it will enable education planners and other relevant bodies to plan and provide professional teacher training programmes in multicultural education. Anticipated dissemination of the research findings: * The problems experienced by teachers in multicultural classrooms can be a topical issue of discussions during seminars and workshops at schools, colleges and universities. * Findings from the research can be useful in the planning of suitable methods (workshops, videos, etcetera) to assist teachers to meet the educational needs of children in multicultural classrooms. * The topic lends itself for further research by interested stakeholders regarding the teaching of children in multicultural classrooms.

While social media is becoming an innovative tool in education for teacher and student use, little is known about how social media is being used in the high school band room to communicate with students, increase student-connectedness, or improve classroom community. Using Vygotsky's theory of social constructivism, Siemens's theory of connectivism, and Wenger's community of practice theory as a framework, this study explored the phenomenon of social media as used in the high school band room for communication, student-connectedness, and classroom community. Participants included 10 high school band directors located throughout the United States who shared their experiences through 1-on-1 semistructured interviews and focus group interviews. Data analysis included coding and categorizing responses from interviews and focus groups to identify themes. Results indicated social media use contributed to improved communication, increased student-connectedness, and improved classroom community in the high school band classroom, though challenges of access, cyber-bulling, and a lack of training in social media use for the classroom were also revealed as concerns by participants. These findings could impact social change by providing evidence to support appropriate use of social media in high school band programs and change teacher mindset to embrace the power of social media for communication, for student connectedness, and to improve classroom community as well as in teacher preparation programs to encourage incorporating social media as a plausible teaching tool.

An important assumption in the implementation of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards 2000 is that the mathematics classroom is a place where students are actively involved in the learning process. One way to foster such a learning environment is by using manipulatives. By their nature, manipulatives make the learning of mathematics a discovery-based activity. As computer use increases in the classroom, virtual manipulatives will become more important as instructional tools. Virtual manipulatives offer advantages over their traditional versions. Most important is their dynamic nature. Their dynamic capabilities provide two main benefits. First, the number of potential problems for students to explore is increased dramatically. Students can use this capability to explore an idea from many viewpoints using different problems. Second, problem states are updated instantly and results are displayed. That is, the user can see immediately the effect of changes in problem parameters. Both of these benefits promote student engagement in the learning of mathematics. This thesis consists of a collection of such virtual manipulatives, in the form of Java applets, along with a description of their use.

This study evaluated the impact of anxiety reduction on academic engagement for eight students experiencing significant anxiety in grades three through five. All participating students showed high anxiety levels that appeared to be impacting performance on at least one academic task in the classroom, according to teacher report. Student participants received a modified cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in the form of five 20-minute sessions, in the school setting. Also as part of treatment participants completed exposure tasks, which involved the child participating in anxiety provoking academic tasks, with adult support. To assess whether or not anxiety was reduced, participants completed Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS) ratings several times weekly and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) both pre- and post-treatment. The Direct Behavior Rating (DBR) was used to monitor students’ academic engagement and was completed by the teacher. Results of this study show that this intervention, conducted in the school setting, has promising outcomes. The findings provide initial support that a modified anxiety treatment with adult support can be effective in reducing anxiety and increasing academic engagement.

Michigan’s Food, Agriculture, and Resources in Motion (FARM) Science Lab is a 40-foot mobile classroom outfitted with 10 learning stations including scientific equipment and iPads. This quasi-experimental study analyzed preexisting data provided by Michigan Agriculture in the Classroom to evaluate the effectiveness of the FARM Science Lab mobile classroom as a method of teaching agriculture-themed, standards-based lessons to third- through fifth-grade students in order to increase their understanding of agriculture. From January through June 2018, more than 1,258 students participated in these lessons and completed the pretest and posttest and 72 teachers completed the post survey. Research questions not only addressed student learning but also teacher’s perceptions of the mobile classroom program and measured differences between rural, suburban and urban student populations. Four lessons were offered to students in third through fifth grade during the time of this study. Each lesson had a unique pretest and posttest provided to each school by Michigan Agriculture in the Classroom using Google Forms. Students and teachers participated in the agricultural lessons within existing classroom groups; therefore, this was not a random sample of either population. During the timeframe of this study, all sections of each grade level for each participating school were engaging in FARM Science Lab programming; therefore, no control groups were used in this research. The student and teacher data were analyzed using standard statistical tools including t-tests and Cohen’s d.Difficulty and item discrimination values provided more confidence in the reliability of the question as a measure of knowledge change after participation in the FARM Science Lab intervention. Results indicated there were statistically significant differences in knowledge between pretest and posttest scores for nearly all grade level/lesson groups. Each individual question was analyzed for statistically significant change in addition to overall test scores. Some questions did not see statistically significant changes from pretest to posttest for each group. These results suggested the FARM Science Lab was making a difference in students’ agricultural understanding, at a basic knowledge level, after a short intervention. The assessment questions tested the recall of facts rather than an understanding of a whole concept about science or agriculture. Teacher surveys indicated the FARM Science lab did address appropriate educational standards for their respective grade levels. Teachers also believed agriculture could be very effectively used to contextualize science concepts. The final research question addressed differences in rural, suburban and urban student gains from pretest to posttest. The FARM Science Lab did not visit any urban schools during the time of this study. Of the grade/lesson groups which did have a rural and suburban population to compare, there were some differences in scores between students’ responses in each geographic location. These populations were small therefore these differences may not be generalized to the larger population.

Students who receive special education services in resource classroom settings often engage in low levels of on-task behavior during independent work time. Given the independent work demands in middle school classrooms, it is crucial for students who receive services in a resource classroom to engage in high levels of on-task behavior. The researchers examined the effects of activity schedules on on-task behavior, on-schedule behavior, and percentage of work problems correct in four middle school students receiving special education services in a resource math classroom. Results of the study demonstrate that on-task and on-schedule behavior increased for all participants following the implementation of the activity schedule in both math and language arts classroom settings. Both students and teachers indicated that they liked the intervention and the activity schedule improved on-task behavior. Results of this study extend the use of activity schedules to a novel setting and participant population.

Detta arbete syftar till att samla forskningsresultat kring på vilket sätt utomhuspedagogik påverkar elevernas inlärning, hälsa och välmående. Arbetet undersöker vilka utmaningar som är kopplade till utomhuspedagogik ur lärares perspektiv. Grunden för arbetet utgörs av totalt 24 källor varav en kunskapsöversikt och en doktorsavhandling med inriktning på utomhuspedagogik, 8 böcker samt 14 vetenskapliga artiklar. De har samlats, noggrant undersökts och sammanställts genom systematisk och osystematisk sökning. Resultaten visar att utomhuspedagogik påverkar elevernas inlärning och hälsa mestadels positivt. Det kan dock diskuteras hur eleverna kan påverkas av utomhuspedagogikens intryck. Brist på forskningen i denna fråga har upptäckts. Flera negativa faktorer som påverkar lärarnas inställning och implementering av utomhuspedagogik i den vardagliga verksamheten har identifierats. Däribland brist på kunskaper, resurser, rädsla för faror och det oförutsedda samt avsaknaden av passande miljöer i närheten av skolor och inte minst lärares egna brister på koppling till naturen.