Research has shown that students interest in academics declines significantly with age, especially in the areas of math and science (Kahle et al., 1993; Wigfield, 1994; Wigfield and Eccles, 1992). One approach to combating this problem is by using new technologies to engage students who otherwise would not be interested in learning. In the AquaMOOSE project, 3D graphical technology is combined with a constructionist learning philosophy to create an environment where students can creatively explore new mathematical concepts. The AquaMOOSE socio-technical system has been developed using an iterative design process. Three formal studies were conducted to assess the effectiveness of the system, as well as several smaller scale evaluations. The first study was conducted during a six-week summer program where students were able to use the AquaMOOSE system during their free time. The second study explored different learning issues in the context of a comparison-class study at a local high school where one section learned about polar coordinates using standard curriculum materials and an equivalent section learned the same material using a curriculum designed specifically around the AquaMOOSE system. The final study of the AquaMOOSE system was in an eight-week after-school program at a local high school where a balance between structure and creative freedom was explored. In this thesis, the iterative design and evaluation of the AquaMOOSE socio-technical system is presented. Evidence from this process is used to suggest implications of using 3D technology and constructionist philosophy for teaching complex mathematical content. The findings presented address issues of using constructionist learning environments for complex content and the tradeoffs of using 3D technology for educational systems.

<p>Syftet med föreliggande uppsats är att undersöka den rumsliga konstruktionens betydelse för sexualiteten diskurs i det samtida. Uppsatsen står på en trefaldig grund. Ontologiskt i socialkonstruktionismen och dess syn på sexualiteten som konstruerad, epistemologiskt i den kritiska hermeneutiken dvs. syftet är att förklara och förstå och slutligen så vilar den på Foucault och hans syn på sexualiteten och diskurs. I nästföljande avsnitt dekonstrueras och presenteras det konstruerade samhället utifrån begrepp som kön, sexualitet, rum och kropp. Från denna abstrakta bild blir texten mer konkret när olika miljöer i staden introduceras. Dessa miljöer (både abstrakta och konkreta) relaterades sedan till varandra. Utifrån detta undersöks den konkreta konstruktionen av sexualitet. Detta avsnitt visar bland annat hur miljöer tenderar att konstrueras heterosexuella vilket förklarar heterosexualitetens position som en tvingande norm det sociala livet. Sålunda dras slutsatsen att den rumliga konstruktionen, jämte andra faktorer, är synnerligen relevant i konstruktionen av sexualitet.</p> / <p>The purpose of the following paper is to exam the construction of space and its signification for sexuality in the contemporary. The thesis stands on threefold ground. Ontologically from a social constructions perspective and its view of sexuality, epistemology in the critical hermeneutics, meaning that its purpose is to explain and understand, and finally it takes its incipience in Foucault and his view of sexuality and discourse. In the following chapter the constructed society is deconstructed and presented on the basis of concepts as gender, sexuality, room and body. From this abstract image the text becomes more concrete introducing the different areas of the city. These areas (both abstract and concrete) are then related to each other. From this, the concrete construction of sexuality was examined. This chapter showed, amongst other thing, how places normally are constructed heterosexuality, whish explains the position as a forcing norm whish heterosexuality upholds. Thus the conclusion is drawn that the spatial construction, amongst other factors, are extremely relevant in the construction of sexuality.</p>

The state of STEM education in America's high schools is currently in flux, with billions annually being poured into the NSF to increase national STEM literacy. Hands-on project-based learning interventions in the STEM classroom are ubiquitous but tend to focus on robotics or competition based curriculums. These curricula do not address musical creativity or cultural relevancy to reach under-represented or disinterested groups. By utilizing an analog synthesizer for STEM learning standards this research aims to engage students that may otherwise lack confidence in the field. By incorporating the Maker Movement, a STEAM architecture, and culturally relevant musical examples, this study’s goal to build both self-efficacy and literacy in STEM within under-represented groups through hands-on exercises with a Moog analog synthesizer, specifically the Moog Werkstatt. A quasi-experimental one-group pre-test/post-test design was crafted to determine study validity, and has been implemented in three separate studies. Several age demographics were selected across a variety of classroom models and teaching style. The purpose of this wide net was to explore where a tool like the Werkstatt and its accompanying curriculum would have the biggest impact. Results show that this curriculum and technique are largely ineffective in an inverted Music elective classroom. However, in the STEM classroom, literacy and confidence were built across genders, with females showing greater increases in engineering confidence and music technology interest than their male counterparts.

In this dissertation I investigate how individuals group others into sexual orientation (SO) categories based on a target's known sexual behaviors and romantic interests. I hypothesize that individuals known to have any non-heterosexual sexual or romantic interests are more likely to be perceived as "gay" (and not "straight") even when there is clear evidence of heterosexual interests and behaviors as well. This phenomenon has been termed "heterosexual exclusivity" in this work. In the process, I examine relevant writings and research on SO, including works related to SO in history, the conceptualization and measurement of SO, determinants of and influences on SO, the essentialism and social constructionism debate with regard to SO, innate bisexuality, and bisexual erasure. Additionally, I give specific focus to how and why men are affected by, as well as perpetuate heterosexual exclusivity. In doing so, I examine writings and research on the role and construction of masculinity as well as homophobia and the overlap of the two. I hypothesize that adherence to traditional masculinity and increased homophobia are predictive of increased heterosexual exclusivity in men. I also hypothesize that men are more likely to be the primary agents and targets of heterosexual [exclusivity]. The results supported most of these hypotheses. / text

Suicide terrorism is characterized by the willingness of physically and psychologically war-trained individuals to die while destroying or attempting to annihilate enemy targets in furtherance of certain political or social objectives. Rooted in the historical, social, and psychological dimensions of international terrorism, suicide terrorism is neither a unique nor a new phenomenon. Its recent resurgence and the extensive media coverage it has received account for the misleading uniqueness of this violent, complex, and adaptive form of terrorism. This qualitative study examines the definitional and rhetorical processes by which suicide terrorism is socially constructed. Using a social constructionist theoretical framework coupled with a symbolic interactionist approach, this multi-case study effectively moves the analysis of suicide bombings beyond essentialist debates on asymmetrical warfare or terrorism and into a more nuanced appreciation of cultural meaning and human interaction. Hence this case study emphasizes how the interpretive understanding of suicide terrorism is associated with a biased representation of events and their alleged causes that is conditioned by deliberate attempts to stigmatize ideological enemies, manipulate public perceptions, and promote certain political interests. The primary research question is: How are socio-political processes, bureaucratic imperatives, and media structures involved in the social construction of suicide terrorism? Secondary research questions focus on determining how suicide terrorism is (a) a political weapon, (b) a communication tool, and (c) a politicized issue that fits into a moral panic framework. Methods used to conduct the analysis include in-depth interviews (phenomenological and elite interviewing) and document analysis (general document review and historical review). Findings highlight the interactions between suicide bombers (as contemporary folk devils), the news and entertainment media, the public, and agents of social control (politicians, lawmakers, law enforcement, and action groups), and their respective roles in the social construction of suicide terrorism. The limitations of the study, its significant theoretical and practical implications, as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.

The news media are powerful purveyors of culture in North America. Crime news reporting particularly is an influential means by which the news media define the boundaries of deviant and non-deviant behaviour. For the purposes of the present research, I examined the ways that the print news media constructed cases of male-perpetrated Intimate Partner Homicide (IPH) in Alberta. Using a social constructionist theoretical orientation grounded in an Ethnographic Content Analysis methodology, I examined 381 newspaper articles that discussed four separate incidents of male-perpetrated IPH. Approaching these data from the perspective of media reciprocity and a social constructionism epistemology, I considered the various ways that the print media presented these cases for their audience, but also the various ways that the audience’s expectations and the general zeitgeist of the culture may have affected this presentation. Much of the dominant discourse in the cases I studied was consistent with previous research examining IPH presentations in the news media, namely that the media present victims and perpetrators in stereotyped ways according to their gender and ethnicity. However, I also examined some less prominent themes, including those that were pro-feminist, ambivalent, fictionalized, and constructed for the purpose of audience titillation and voyeurism. Additionally, owing to the qualitative nature of the methodology, I was able to examine discussions that subverted the stereotypical representation of victims and perpetrators in the news media and examine how these presentations could affect audience understanding of the phenomenon of IPH. Overall, the present project led to a discussion of how the media construct various facets of psychology and feminism and how these facets are in turn constructed by society in a reciprocal process whereby the media influence culture and culture correspondingly affects the media.

Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka hur socialsekreterare förhåller sig till och resonerar om hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck. Begreppet hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck är inte ett tydligt definierat begrepp vilket medför ett stort tolkningsutrymme för socialsekreterares möjligheter att konstruera företeelsen. Studien genomfördes för att se hur denna konstruktion tog sig uttryck hos enskilda socialsekreterare inom socialtjänsten i Sverige och om det påverkade beviljandet av insatser för klienterna. I studien har en kvalitativ metod använts för insamling av empiri och diskursanalys har använts för analysen. Med utgångspunkt i socialkonstruktivismen visade resultatet hur företeelsen hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck görs och konstrueras av socialsekreterare samt att det inte finns en "absolut" sanning om vad hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck är. Analysen visade att det finns en dominerande diskurs där företeelsen framställs som kulturellt betingad, där det skapas en distans mellan ett ”vi” och ett ”dem”, mellan ”svenskar” och ”invandrare” och där betoning läggs vid individens kulturella tillhörighet. Den alternativa könsdiskurs som framträdde i vår analys av materialet beskrev hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck som ett uttryck för patrialkaliskt maktutövande som existerar oberoende av kultur. I könsdiskursen beskrevs företeelsen som vilket våld som helst mot kvinnor och barn, där exempelvis män inte anses kunna inneha rollen som offer utan endast som gärningsman. Nyckelord: hedersrelaterat våld, socialtjänst, socialkonstruktivism, diskursanalys, begreppsdefinition / The purpose of this study was to investigate how social workers relate to and reason about honor-related violence and oppression. The notion of honor-related violence and oppression is not a fixed concept, and it causes a noticeable room to interpretation for social workers individual construction of the phenomenon. The study was designed to see how this construct was expressed by individual social workers in social services in Sweden and whether it affected the granting of effort for clients. The study has a qualitative method for collecting the empirical evidence which formed the study. Discourse analysis was used for the analys. The result gave us a picture that honor-related violence and oppression are made and designed individually by the social worker and that there is no "absolute" truth about what honor-related violence and oppression is. The analysis shows that there is a dominant discourse in which the phenomenon was produced as culturally conditioned, which creates a distance between an "us" and "them", between "Swedes" and "immigrants" and where the emphasis is placed on the individual's cultural identity. The alternative gender discourse that also appear in our results, describing the honor-related violence and oppression as an expression of patriarchal exercise of power which exists independently of the culture. The gender discourse described the phenomenon like any violence whatsoever against women and children, where for example men are not considered able to hold the role of victim but only as perpetrator. Keyword: honour-related violence, social service, social constructionism, discourse analysis, definition of terms

Teorinė mokytojo kaip klasės vadovo veiklos įtaka mokinių savęs vertinimui analizė parodė, kad mokytojas įvairiuose moksliniuose šaltiniuose traktuojamas kaip kvalifikuotas ugdymo veikėjas, dėstomo(jo) dalyko ir mokinio psichologijos, edukologijos, vadybos žinovas, koordinuojantis klasės ugdomąjį procesą per įvairias pedagoginės veiklos sritis. Tačiau, ar mokytojo veikla, kaip klasės vadovo yra veiksminga ugdytiniams, priklauso nuo paties pedagogo kompetencijų, ypač bendraujant, giliau pažįstant mokinius, suprantant, kuriant įvairias sąveikos situacijas. Mokytojas ugdytinius turi taip pažinoti, įžvelgti jų elgesį, asmenybę, pastebėjęs neadekvatų mokinių savęs vertinimą, jį koreguoti. O juk savęs vertinimas yra vienas iš svarbiausių asmenybės vidinių darinių, kuris palieka neišdildomus pėdsakus visuose žmogaus poelgiuose ir veiksmuose nuo ankstyvosios vaikystės iki gilios senatvės. Apibendrinus mokinių savęs vertinimo problemą mokslinėje literatūroje, galime daryti prielaidas, kad: šiuolaikinėje edukologinėje, sociologinėje, psichologinėje literatūroje, individo savęs vertinimas – daugelio mokslininkų tyrimo objektas; individo savęs vertinimas traktuojamas, kaip sudėtingas darinys, jis neatskiriamas nuo aplinkinių; svarbu siekti adekvataus savęs vertinimo. Mokytojo kaip klasės vadovo veiklos įtaka stiprinant pradinių klasių mokinių savęs vertinimą. Teoriškai ir empiriškai pagrįsti ryšį tarp pradinių klasių mokinių savęs vertinimo ir mokytojo kaip klasės vadovo veiklos. Iškelta... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Theoretical analysis of teacher’s as a class tutor work influence for pupils self evaluation displayed that, tutor in a various scientific sources is interpreted as skilled worker of education, expert of management, lectured subject and pupil’s psychology, education, who coordinates educational process of class through various fields of pedagogical activities. However, whether teacher’s work as class tutor is effective to personnel, depends on educator competence, especially when communicating and trying to profound and understand them deeper, creating various situations of interaction. Teacher has to know the personnel very well, to perceive their behaviour, personality and to correct an observed inadequate pupils self evaluation. It is the truth that self evaluation is one of the most significant inner personality derivatives, which leaves indelible trace in all human deeds and actions from early childhood till venerable age. In generalising pupil’s self evaluation problem in academic literature, it could be presumed that: in modern literature of education, sociology, psychology, self evaluation of individuals is the research object of the majority scientist; self evaluation of individual is interpreted as complicated derivative, which is inseperable from surrounding people; it is important to seek adequate self evaluation. Teacher’s as a tutor of the class work influence in fortifying self evaluation of primary school pupils. Revalating hypothesis: it is probable that... [to full text]

The subject of this study was Swedish women's experiences of their everyday lives as lived between the demands of work and family. Twenty female civil servants were interviewed six times each over a three and a half year period when their work places underwent organizational changes. One purpose of the study was to investigate how women while managing everyday demands reproduce or transform the meanings of gender in their own lives. A second purpose was to discuss the impact of these processes on women's self-understandings and ways of relating to power and issues of gender equality, as well as the meanings of "femininity" in their lives. The repeated semi-structured interviews were analysed using two qualitative approaches: the first focused on the ways individual women understood and negotiated their everyday lives. It yielded four main areas of negotiation: the personal biography as a dynamic context in which a woman understands her experiences; the balancing between work and family generally managed by women; women's often somewhat ambiguous personal fit at work; and the striving for subject positions at work. In the second approach discourse analysis was used to study how gender is locally reproduced or transformed from personal experiences set in specific discursive contexts. Modes of understanding were in focus; i.e. the different ways women may integrate experiences as parts of their sense of self, depending mainly on social positionings. Important discursive themes were the women's self-presentations, their experiences of gender equality and power differentials, and their ways of relating to femininity. The dissertation also discusses the types of psychological theory best suited to the historically changeable contents of "femininity", in contrast to its more stable relational qualitites of subordination vs. superordination, and argues for theory situated in a feminist social constructionist framework. / digitalisering@umu

<p><font size="3"> <p>This qualitative study aims to use some of Frantz Fanon&rsquo / s critical insights to explore how individuals within the Health Sciences Faculty at the UCT experienced change and perceived the transformation process instituted by University management and the change taking place in the wider society. Frantz Fanon, a critical theorist born in a Martinique, university-educated in France and later employed in Algeria, wrote extensively on how the colonial condition affects the psychology of individuals, thus inter-linking psychology and politics. This study selected six individuals who had experienced the institutional context before and during the process of transformation. Data was collected by way of unstructured interview schedules. A Fanonian psychoanalytic-inspired discourse analysis was employed to analyse the data. The data showed that broader discourses influences the way people talk about phenomena. Our past still plays a role in the way we construct current realities.</p> </font></p>