Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 31-32). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, February 2008.

In the wild, a variety of inter-group behavioural differences have been reported for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and it has been suggested that these may have resulted from social learning. To determine whether chimpanzees show the necessary propensity for social learning, groups of captive chimpanzees were tested in a series of experiments involving the use of two-action and bidirectional apparatuses. For comparison, and to shed light on any contrasts between our own and chimpanzee learning strategies, similar tests were also conducted with children (Homo sapiens) to ascertain the nature of their observational learning when watching conspecifics. Through the use of open diffusion and diffusion chain techniques, it was shown that both species learnt how to operate different foraging devices from observing an expert conspecific and this learning was strong enough for the generation of behavioural traditions which passed along multiple test ‘generations’. Additionally, ghost conditions were used to distinguish imitative and emulative learning by both species. With one of the two test devices used (the Slide-box) the first evidence for emulation learning by chimpanzees, through the use of a ghost condition, was shown. Children in this condition also showed apparent emulation; a contrast to previous research which has concluded that children tend to rely on imitation. Additionally, to test its potential for use in future social learning experiments, the ability of chimpanzees to learn from video-footage of an unknown conspecific was tested. It was found that the chimpanzees not only learnt how to operate two devices from observing this footage but also used the same alternative method used by the model chimpanzee.

<p>Entrepreneurship has been entered on a supranational political agenda, in the EU and the OECD, and been emphatically described as a fundamental skill and a concern for schools and education. The agenda is reflected to a varying extent at the national and regional political levels. My aim is to describe, analyze and gain knowledge of what entrepreneurship in the Swedish upper secondary schools imply in practice, against the background of a local context. In particular, the conditions for learning.</p><p>My approach is ethnographically inspired and this multiple case study is limited to two upper secondary school programmes. Data has been collected through observations, video recordings, informal conversations with pupils and teachers and formal conversations with headmasters. The material is analyzed in terms of three socioculturally inspiring foci.</p><p>By means of a cultural-institutional focus, the stability and changeability of the programmes were elucidated. The previous institutional frameworks have been partially questioned by the teachers in the field, which has resulted in the following: In one of the upper secondary schools a new locally adapted programme has been composed, and courses and subjects have been integrated in a new way in the other school’s existing programme. The changes in the upper secondary programmes are to a great extent an example of a meeting between top-down and bottom-up initiatives. The changes of the institutional frameworks are connected to a discursive shift of the responsibility for pupils’ learning and education from teachers to pupils and also to teacher’s ambition to adapt interest- and experience-related teaching.</p><p>In a situated focus, both programmes were identified as communities of practice with a joint enterprise, mutual engagement and a shared repertoire. These three dimensions were useful for examining specific aspects of the teaching. There has above all been an altered balance between reification and participation in the teaching as well as boundary crossing both outside the community of practice and within the community.</p><p>Different conditions for learning were identified through an interpersonal focus. Both collaborative learning and cooperative learning were useful, but not sufficient concepts for describing the various forms of team learning. The conditions of cooperation and the pupils’ communication patterns revealed yet another form of team learning, which I call comparative learning. If the risk of everyday concepts getting the upper hand and trivialization can be avoided in team learning, there is in all these learning processes a potential for the pupils being able to develop strategies for handling complex tasks, taking initiatives and responsibility, cooperating and learning from one another in various different ways. In this way entrepreneurship has had an impact on the practice of the classrooms.</p> / <p>Entreprenörskap har förts upp på en överstatlig politisk agenda, inom EU och OECD, där den skrivits fram som en grundläggande färdighet och en angelägenhet för skola och utbildning. Agendan återspeglas i varierande grad på nationell och regional politisk nivå. Mitt syfte har varit att studera och försöka förstå vad entreprenörskap i den svenska gymnasieskolan kan innebära i praktiken. Utifrån syftet och ett sociokulturellt perspektiv formulerades frågeställningarna enligt följande: Hur framförhandlas, organiseras och realiseras undervisningen inom två studerade gymnasieprogram? Vilka sociala gemenskaper bidrar elever och lärare till och deltar i? Vilka former av lärande visar sig? Den etnografiskt inspirerade studien genomfördes i två gymnasieprogram som genom utvecklingsprojekt deltagit i det länsövergripande och EU-medfinansierade projektet PRIO 1, Prioritet företagsamhet i Västerbotten (2000 – 2005). Empiriska data insamlades genom observationer, videoregistreringar, informella samtal med elever och lärare och formella samtal med skolledare. Dessutom insamlades skriftliga dokument. Materialet har analyserats utifrån tre fokus. Genom ett kulturellt-insitutionellt fokus har programmens stabilitet och föränderlighet synliggjorts. I det ena fallet har ett nytt lokalutformat program satts samman, i det andra fallet har kurser och ämnen integrerats inom det befintliga programmet. Förändringarna ses som ett möte mellan top-down-initiativ och bottom-upp- initiativ. Resultatet visar även en diskursiv förskjutning av ansvar från lärare till elev och lärares strävan att tillrättalägg intresse- och erfarenhetsrelaterad undervisning. Ur ett situerat fokus har båda programmen identifierats som praxisgemenskaper med en gemensam uppgift, ett ömsesidigt engagemang och en gemensam repertoar. Utmärkande drag i undervisningen, men koppling till entreprenörskapstanken, har handlat om förändrade avvägningar mellan reifikation och deltagande i undervisningen samt om gränsöverskridande, dels utanför praxisgemenskapen och dels inom gemenskapen. Genom ett interpersonellt fokus har olika villkor för lärande identifierats. Såväl kollaborativt och kooperativt lärande har varit användbara begrepp för att beskriva formerna för samarbetslärande, men inte tillräckliga. Samarbetets villkor och elevers kommunikationsmönster har avslöjat ytterligare en form av samarbetslärande, vilken jag benämnt komparativt lärande. Denna avhandling har således visat på både gemensamma och särskiljande drag när entreprenörskapsinitiativ omsatts i skolans praktik, på två gymnasieprogram.</p>

Entrepreneurship has been entered on a supranational political agenda, in the EU and the OECD, and been emphatically described as a fundamental skill and a concern for schools and education. The agenda is reflected to a varying extent at the national and regional political levels. My aim is to describe, analyze and gain knowledge of what entrepreneurship in the Swedish upper secondary schools imply in practice, against the background of a local context. In particular, the conditions for learning. My approach is ethnographically inspired and this multiple case study is limited to two upper secondary school programmes. Data has been collected through observations, video recordings, informal conversations with pupils and teachers and formal conversations with headmasters. The material is analyzed in terms of three socioculturally inspiring foci. By means of a cultural-institutional focus, the stability and changeability of the programmes were elucidated. The previous institutional frameworks have been partially questioned by the teachers in the field, which has resulted in the following: In one of the upper secondary schools a new locally adapted programme has been composed, and courses and subjects have been integrated in a new way in the other school’s existing programme. The changes in the upper secondary programmes are to a great extent an example of a meeting between top-down and bottom-up initiatives. The changes of the institutional frameworks are connected to a discursive shift of the responsibility for pupils’ learning and education from teachers to pupils and also to teacher’s ambition to adapt interest- and experience-related teaching. In a situated focus, both programmes were identified as communities of practice with a joint enterprise, mutual engagement and a shared repertoire. These three dimensions were useful for examining specific aspects of the teaching. There has above all been an altered balance between reification and participation in the teaching as well as boundary crossing both outside the community of practice and within the community. Different conditions for learning were identified through an interpersonal focus. Both collaborative learning and cooperative learning were useful, but not sufficient concepts for describing the various forms of team learning. The conditions of cooperation and the pupils’ communication patterns revealed yet another form of team learning, which I call comparative learning. If the risk of everyday concepts getting the upper hand and trivialization can be avoided in team learning, there is in all these learning processes a potential for the pupils being able to develop strategies for handling complex tasks, taking initiatives and responsibility, cooperating and learning from one another in various different ways. In this way entrepreneurship has had an impact on the practice of the classrooms. / Entreprenörskap har förts upp på en överstatlig politisk agenda, inom EU och OECD, där den skrivits fram som en grundläggande färdighet och en angelägenhet för skola och utbildning. Agendan återspeglas i varierande grad på nationell och regional politisk nivå. Mitt syfte har varit att studera och försöka förstå vad entreprenörskap i den svenska gymnasieskolan kan innebära i praktiken. Utifrån syftet och ett sociokulturellt perspektiv formulerades frågeställningarna enligt följande: Hur framförhandlas, organiseras och realiseras undervisningen inom två studerade gymnasieprogram? Vilka sociala gemenskaper bidrar elever och lärare till och deltar i? Vilka former av lärande visar sig? Den etnografiskt inspirerade studien genomfördes i två gymnasieprogram som genom utvecklingsprojekt deltagit i det länsövergripande och EU-medfinansierade projektet PRIO 1, Prioritet företagsamhet i Västerbotten (2000 – 2005). Empiriska data insamlades genom observationer, videoregistreringar, informella samtal med elever och lärare och formella samtal med skolledare. Dessutom insamlades skriftliga dokument. Materialet har analyserats utifrån tre fokus. Genom ett kulturellt-insitutionellt fokus har programmens stabilitet och föränderlighet synliggjorts. I det ena fallet har ett nytt lokalutformat program satts samman, i det andra fallet har kurser och ämnen integrerats inom det befintliga programmet. Förändringarna ses som ett möte mellan top-down-initiativ och bottom-upp- initiativ. Resultatet visar även en diskursiv förskjutning av ansvar från lärare till elev och lärares strävan att tillrättalägg intresse- och erfarenhetsrelaterad undervisning. Ur ett situerat fokus har båda programmen identifierats som praxisgemenskaper med en gemensam uppgift, ett ömsesidigt engagemang och en gemensam repertoar. Utmärkande drag i undervisningen, men koppling till entreprenörskapstanken, har handlat om förändrade avvägningar mellan reifikation och deltagande i undervisningen samt om gränsöverskridande, dels utanför praxisgemenskapen och dels inom gemenskapen. Genom ett interpersonellt fokus har olika villkor för lärande identifierats. Såväl kollaborativt och kooperativt lärande har varit användbara begrepp för att beskriva formerna för samarbetslärande, men inte tillräckliga. Samarbetets villkor och elevers kommunikationsmönster har avslöjat ytterligare en form av samarbetslärande, vilken jag benämnt komparativt lärande. Denna avhandling har således visat på både gemensamma och särskiljande drag när entreprenörskapsinitiativ omsatts i skolans praktik, på två gymnasieprogram.