The research for this thesis was born of a desire to understand how a student's cultural background might influence the outcomes of science education. Of particular interest to me was the apparent paucity of academic achievement by many indigenous students as they study science through Western style schools and curricula, resulting in what I have termed 'educational alienation', which is evidenced by poor grades and slow rates of progression through the curriculum, and by some students displaying a high degree of antagonism toward the education system. 1 have sought to understand the causes of educational alienation by means of an interpretive inquiry based on a Grounded Theory methodology, using an Integrative Research Review as the primary means of data collection, supplemented by personal experience, data analysis and interview methods.The outcomes of the Grounded Research have caused me to re-think my understanding of culture and my tacit acceptance of conceptual change theory. Three distinct themes emerged as being significant to learning: Language Use, Traditional Beliefs and Life-world Knowledge. I have presented evidence suggesting that Language Use, Traditional Beliefs and Life-world Knowledge are largely subsumed within one's worldview, and that the term 'culture' lacks the specificity needed to explore the notion of educational alienation. I suggest that worldview is not only cultural, but is a dynamic belief system of the individual that is shaped by cultural forces and personal reflection, resulting in a reorganisation of knowledge throughout one's life. I propose that a constructivist view of learning and knowing presents us with a plausible explanation of worldview development and educational alienation, and I conclude with suggestions for further research and pedagogy that might develop the discourse and consequently improve the outcomes of science ++ / education for indigenous, non-Western students.

This thesis examines the cultural background of students and investigates differences in the way teachers interact with students of different cultural backgrounds. The study comprises three parts. Firstly, it validates the new classroom environment measuring instrument, the Cultural Learning Environment Questionnaire (CLEQ). This instrument is used for the first time to assess the cultural factors that students bring to their classrooms. Secondly, as well as providing validation data for the use of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI), it investigates associations between students' cultural background and their perceptions of student-teacher interactions. The third part of the study looks at whether the students' cultural background affects their attitudes and achievement. This study is significant because teachers in multicultural classrooms need to be informed about how cultural factors interact with student perceptions of their preferred student-teacher interpersonal behaviours. As a result of this study, a tool is now available that can be used by teachers to monitor what is occurring in their own classrooms and to guide improvements in their teaching, thereby leading to improved learning among students.

Submitted by Kamila Costa (kamilavasconceloscosta@gmail.com) on 2015-06-22T19:02:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação-LÉIA DA SILVA RAMOS.pdf: 2927035 bytes, checksum: e608962e938d31c5952780321c40be77 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-07-07T15:28:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação-LÉIA DA SILVA RAMOS.pdf: 2927035 bytes, checksum: e608962e938d31c5952780321c40be77 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-07-07T17:10:10Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação-LÉIA DA SILVA RAMOS.pdf: 2927035 bytes, checksum: e608962e938d31c5952780321c40be77 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-07T17:10:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação-LÉIA DA SILVA RAMOS.pdf: 2927035 bytes, checksum: e608962e938d31c5952780321c40be77 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-16 / Não Informada / In this paper we study the transmission and acquisition processes of knowledge of the Social Process Training for Indigenous Women, to thus be able to think curricular proposals for the in Araçá da Serra community school, Raposa Serra do Sol. This is a qualitative research through ethnography describes and analyzes the knowledge associated with cassava planting and processing flour and “caxiri”. Thus, deepened the understanding of the knowledge of indigenous women and the social mechanisms of transmission thereof, or of indigenous education in the perspective of women. From the activities carried out by women and using intercultural inductive method, we propose feasible educational activities to be developed in the indigenous school, to think proposals based on community reality and activities that children know. In the study of knowledge also appeared several conflicts due to the school levy, churches and other institutions and situations that have led to changes within families and the community. Finally this work invited us to reflect on the relationship between indigenous education and indigenous education and the current challenges of Araçá da Serra community, that lives renewal processes and cultural change, which is not without conflict. / No presente trabalho estudamos os processos de transmissão e aquisição dos conhecimentos relativos ao Processo Social de Formação da Mulher Indígena, para, assim poder pensar propostas curriculares para a Escola na comunidade Araçá da Serra, Terra Indígena Raposa Serra do Sol. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, que através da etnografia descreve e analisa os conhecimentos associados ao cultivo de mandioca e ao processamento de farinha e caxiri. Com isso, aprofundamos a compreensão sobre os conhecimentos das mulheres indígenas e os mecanismos sociais de transmissão dos mesmos, ou seja, da educação indígena na perspectiva das mulheres. Deste modo, a partir das atividades realizadas por mulheres e utilizando o método indutivo intercultural, propomos ações educativas factíveis de serem desenvolvidas na escola indígena, de forma a pensar propostas baseadas na realidade da comunidade e nas atividades que as crianças conhecem. No estudo dos conhecimentos apareceram também diversos conflitos, devido à imposição da escola, de igrejas e de outras instituições e situações que vêm provocando mudanças no interior das famílias e da comunidade. Finalmente este trabalho nos convidou a refletir sobre a relação entre educação indígena e educação escolar indígena e os desafios atuais da comunidade Araçá, que vive processos de renovação e mudança cultural, o que não está isenta de conflitos.

The most common form of female cancer in Sweden is breast cancer and the primary choice of treatment is surgery. Removing a woman's breasts is not just removing a body part but is also strongly linked to the emotional life. This has psychosocial consequences and the reactions will be different depending on how people perceive health and illness. Factors that matter are both personal experiences and cultural factors such as religion, family, and the own standards and values. It is important that a nurse is aware of cultural factors that may influence the perception of care. The aim of this study was to describe whether, and if so how, the health-related psychosocial situation after breast cancer differ between women of different cultural backgrounds. An additional aim was to discuss what the nurse should focus on during and after breast cancer treatment with respect to these differences. The method was a literature study of 12 scientific articles that were analyzed and put together in different themes. The results show that psychological stress is not rare after breast cancer treatment and various factors that influenced this proved to be altered appearance, decreased intimacy, inadequate social support and sense of hopelessness. Women from western countries stated that the altered appearance gave the greatest psychological stress while women from eastern countries had depressive symptoms as a result of inadequate social support and deficiencies in close relationships. The conclusion was that there are both many similarities and many differences among different cultures in terms of the psychosocial situation after breast cancer treatment. To provide an adequate patient care a nurse should have knowledge about these cultural differences, but still treat each patient as an individual and not as a representative of a specific culture.

The purpose of this study is to investigate if cultural backgrounds affect how staff from Scandinavian international schools view school development. The study is based on the alternative hypothesis that cultural backgrounds affect school development. A survey was sent to seven Scandinavian international schools with questions designed to detect the views respondents have on school development based on the two most prominent school development perspectives; school improvement and school effectiveness. I investigated and analyzed respondents’ views about their own development work at their school today and what they would like it to look like. In addition, I examined what processes and standards they considered important when engaged in school development work. Also, I wanted to see if there were any differences in views depending on where the respondents had had their higher education, were born, or if years spent in Scandinavia had influenced their views. The results indicated that it is not statistically likely that respondents’ cultural backgrounds affect their views on school development. There could be many reasons for this outcome but since these have not been studied, I can only speculate. One reason could be that the majority of the respondents have spent more than ten years in Scandinavia which might have homogenized the respondents’ views on school development.  Another reason could be that the majority of the respondents come or have had their higher education in either an English speaking country or in Scandinavia.

This thesis highlights the importance of social relationships for high school adolescents’ identity in a multicultural school in Stockholm’s suburb. The second purpose of this thesis is to shed light on, if the school sees the students’ cultural background as an asset and how teachers can take advantage and implement it to the way they teach .The theories in the study were developed by Urie Bronnfenbrenner; The ecological theory, Pierre Bourdeau; The three forms of capital and George H. Mead; The significant other, The generalized other and "I" and "Me". The results show that the family is the most important relationship in comparison to relationships with teachers and friends /classmates, according to both high school youth and teachers. The child's identity develops in the primary relationships that is essential for the child's future relationships. In other words it’s in the microsystem which the child's norms and values creates and develops. The result also shows that teachers and students have different opinions regarding the school's approach to students' cultural background as an asset. The students believe that teachers don't take their cultural background into account, while the teachers feel that this is an essence to be able to understand each other and respect each other. But the cultural background should not be a wall that they hide behind.

Studiens syfte är att, med hjälp av life-history metoden, bidra med en fördjupad förståelse av hur föräldrar med utländsk bakgrund upplever och erfar sitt liv under ankomsten till Sverige och hur de minns och konstruerar sin egen migrationshistoria och sönernas skolgång.   Livshistorierna baseras på intervjuer med två föräldrar från Irak och Iran. Föräldrarnas utsagor visar att de livsval som föräldrarna har gjort har haft betydelse för sönernas skolgång. De har valt att undvika att bosätta sig i segregerade områden och de har strävat efter att bli integrerade i det svenska samhället. Familjer med utländsk bakgrund genomgår en ackultureringsprocess och de båda informanterna tillhör assimilerade familjer vilket betyder att de har anammat majoritetskulturens normer. I informanternas utsagor belyses de erfarenheter de har av maktförhållandet mellan minoritetskulturer och majoritetskulturer vilket leder vidare till begreppet intersektionalitet. Föräldrarnas livshistorier lyfter även fram de olika referensramarna av skolans innehåll som föräldrar med utländsk bakgrund kan bära med sig och det är viktigt att skolan kan bemöta det på ett bra sätt och det interkulturella perspektivet bör genomsyra skolans verksamhet. Modersmålsundervisning har visat sig har liten betydelse för sönernas studieresultat däremot har föräldrarnas olika livsval haft desto större betydelse. / The aim of this study is by using life-history method, to provide a deeper understanding of how parents of foreign origin experience their arrival to Sweden and how they remember and reconstruct their own migration history and their sons schooling.   The life­ histories are based on interviews with two parents from Iraq and Iran. The parents’ statements show that the parents’ life choices have influenced the sons’ schooling. They have chosen to avoid living in segregated areas and they have been trying to get integrated into the Swedish society. The integration of families with foreign origin varies and the two informants belong to assimilated families which mean they have embraced the dominant culture norms.   The informants’ statements show the experiences of power between majority and minority cultures, cultures which brings us to the concept of intersectionality. The parents’ life histories also show the different references of the school’s content that parents of foreign origin can carry around and it is important that the school can address it in a good way and the intercultural dimension should influence the school’s activities. To study native language has proven to have little impact on the sons’ academic performances, however, the parents’ different life choices had more impact.

L'étude de l'industrie lithique des populations qui occupaient la Patagonie et la Terre de Feu nous a permis de discuter des dynamiques culturelles mises en œuvre par les chasseurs terrestres et maritimes, de part et d'autre du détroit de Magellan, à l'Holocène moyen et tardif. L'approche techno-économique développée pour les industries de la grotte Fell, Punta Santa Ana 3, Marazzi 1, Cabo Monmouth 20, Oosin Aike et Cabo San Vicente a été axée sur deux éléments: d'abord, les objets dont les matières, parfois d'origine non locale, constituent des témoignages de transport et d'interaction (obsidiennes); ensuite, les méthodes élaborées de débitage, avec prédétermination (méthode Levallois, Clactonien, laminaire et discoïde), dont les modalités peuvent être liées aux processus complexes de partage et de transmission des connaissances. Une discontinuité dans la distribution archéologique de l'obsidienne verte est observée entre 4500 et 2500 ans BP et nous permet d'envisager l'hypothèse d'une migration des peuples de Patagonie du nord. La comparaison des distributions spatiales et chronologiques des méthodes de débitage Levallois montrent des interactions et contacts entre groupes, aussi bien que des conceptions partagées, transmises et généralisées dans la Fuego-Patagonia. Ces observations sont en lien direct avec les premiers nomades de la mer, dont le rôle clé, à partir de 7000 BP, supprime la notion de barrière biogéographique relative pour le détroit de Magellan. Ainsi, on remarque l'existence d'un fond culturel commun. Les variations correspondraient plutôt à des évolutions mesurables en termes d'intensités d'interactions et d'adaptations à des systèmes écologiques. / The study of the lithic industries of the peoples that inhabited Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego bas allowed the discussion of cultural dynamics, displayed by terrestrial and marine hunter-gatherers, at one or the other side of Magellan strait, during the Middle and Late Holocene. The techno-economic approach used to study the materials from Fell cave, Punta Santa Ana 3, Marazzi 1, Cabo Monmouth 20, Oosin Aike and Cabo San Vicente, was organized following two axis: first, objects of exotic raw materials that establish evidence of transport and interaction (obsidians); second, elaborated core reduction methods and débitage with predetennination (Levallois, Clactonian, blade, and discoid reduction), were the action modes can be related to complex processes of knowledge sharing and transmission. The observed discontinuity of green obsidian archaeological distribution between 4500 and 2500 years BP bas permitted considering the hypothesis of a north Patagonian immigration. The comparison of spatial and chronological distributions of Levallois core reduction methods, show interactions and contact between human groups. Likewise they display the existence of shared conceptions, as in an integrated, transmitted and generalized knowledge corpus for Fuego-Patagonia. These results have direct rapport with the key role of the first marine nomads since c. 7000 BP and the removal of the biogeographic barrier notion relative to the Magellan strait. Thus, worthy ofremark is the existence of a common cultural background and that differences in distribution would correspond to measurable changes regarding interaction intensity and adaptation to ecologic systems.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第22095号 / 情博第705号 / 新制||情||121(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 西田 豊明, 教授 河原 達也, 教授 黒橋 禎夫 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DFAM

This study investigates the ways in which mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) influence future mathematics teachers' (FMT) understanding of learners’ cultural diversity. The rationale for cultural diversity is grounded in theories of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP). The context of the study is similar to the use of differentiated instruction, where learners from different academic levels are offered varied strategies to access mathematics content. In a similar manner, this study investigates the recognition and consideration of learners’ diverse cultural backgrounds to develop teaching strategies. Ultimately, this research aims to contribute to the development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in teaching. A key way to develop PCK is by empowering individual learners to embrace their cultural identity and develop their professional identity. The study also points out the need to examine cultural identity when developing teaching strategies because of the diverse student and FMT population. With the changing classroom composition alongside progress in understanding cultural diversity, there is a need to explore the ways MTEs influence and model understandings of culture to FMTs for the development of PCK. From this premise, culturally competent teachers create instruction that can improve student academic achievement by incorporating aspects of and giving value to learners’ cultural diversity. Creating this type of instruction means recognizing students' cultural upbringing and fostering it to develop strong relationships between school and community. The benefits of doing so advance social goals and create culturally responsive learning environments. Findings reveal that MTEs are less interested in familiarising themselves with their student teachers' cultural identity, and getting to know the FMTs' academic level is the extent of information required to initiate academic self-efficacy. More research on CRP in teacher education is warranted to influence and build a new generation of creative and innovative teachers in culturally diverse classrooms.