This research exercise aimed to replicate use of the instrument (“Vygotsky’s Blocks”) of Vygotsky and Sakharov (1928-1934) in combination with the 22 wooden blocks and the later adaptations and scoring framework of Hanfmann and Kasanin (1937; 1942). This procedure – the functional method of double stimulation – examined new concept formation from early childhood to adulthood (N=60 subjects, aged three- to 76-years-old) to establish whether contemporary adults and children produced the same or similar patterns as those described by Vygotsky (1986). The study found a developmental trend consistent with Vygotsky’s (1986) writings on the ontogenesis of concept formation. The path from the syncretic, to the concrete and factual, to the intermediate phase before true conceptual thought becomes possible was reflected in a positive correlation between the age of the subjects and their modes of thinking. This verified Vygotsky’s assertion that true conceptual thinking only becomes possible in adolescence. This study aimed to encourage further research with this procedure to confirm the trends found by this study and to validate the adapted scoring method of Hanfmann and Kasanin (1942) for the purposes of cross-sectional use.

This study is about the children in a fourth and fifth grade Swedish primary school class and their play during breaktimes. The study takes the theoretical point of departure in seeing children’s breaktime play as a cultural historical activity. The overarching research problem concerns breaktime play emphasising the phenomena of children’s negotiation, participation and agency. It concerns how breaktime play takes shape and which capacities children possess, who are breaktime play literate, to participate and to uphold play. What is the significance of children’s capacity to negotiate rules and roles? How do they use culturally, historically developed objects and motives to transform and expand established versions of play and games? The research problem foregrounds how the play activity emerges, is carried out and how participation is enabled through negotiation. The aim of the study is to explore the phenomena of children’s negotiation and agency in dialectical change processes in breaktime play activity. The questions explored are:  RQ: What are the mechanisms in dialectical processes of collectividual action and collective object transformation in children’s play activity?  How does the play activity emerge? How does the object of the play activity transform? The data consists of field notes from participant observations and of audio memos. Audio memos, short smartphone recordings of the children’s verbal reflections on aspects of their actions and experiences, were continuously produced to get the children’s verbal reflections in the immediacy of acting. Various documents and interviews form additional data. The findings show how the children negotiate involvement, rules, role set-up and the hierarchy of demands as a continuous elaboration of the conditions to establish and maintain boundaries of playfully accomplished activity. The notion of negotiagency is introduced, uncovering that breaktime play literacy does not occur in the children’s minds apart from social interaction but develops in and through negotiation. Negotiagency emerges and is realised when the children are engaged in a playfully accomplished activity. The dialectical processes of collectividual action and collective object transformation in playfully accomplished activity are enabled through negotiation. This whole mechanism is referred to as Dialectics of Negotiagency.

Etude en IRMf sur la réactivité visuo-manuelle intentionnelle et l'expertise sensorimotrice : la correction de trajectoire manuelle en cours de mouvement conduit à sur activer le réseau cérébral impliqué dans pointage direct (aires visuelles occipitales, associatives pariétales, frontales motrices, prémotrices et oculo-motrices, thalamus, ganglions de la base et cervelet). Les aires sensorielles et motrices primaires sont plus fortement sollicités chez les sujets contrôles, alors que les Escrimeurs activent plus fortement les aires d'intégration sensorimotrice de haut niveau (aires pariétales, prémotrices, sous-corticales et cérébelleuses). Le contrôle visuo-manuel semble donc reposer sur des boucles neuronales imbriquées, sous-tendant des modules opérationnels plus ou moins recrutés selon les contraintes d'exécution du mouvement. Il apparaît que l'expertise sensorimotrice liée à la pratique sportive peut conduire à des modifications des cartes fonctionnelles cérébrales.

The study examines how a small-scale formative intervention and concepts from both activity theory and salutogenic perspective can be used to support teachers' transformative agency and school development work. The research questions have focused on capacity for change, sense of coherence (SOC) and the significance of local conditions for change initiatives.  The theoretical and methodological framework in the study stems from third generation activity theory and salutogenic perspective. The study has a qualitative approach and was conducted through a formative intervention with six teachers, in collaboration with a municipal secondary school. Data have been collected through participant observation, reflection logs and semi-structured interviews, and processed through thematic analysis based on the theoretical standpoints. In addition, the studied school and the intervention group have been analysed as two interacting activity systems. The results show that the prevailing conditions of the individual school greatly affect development initiatives and change processes, as well as the teachers' transformative agency. Furthermore, it appears that emotional aspects and intra- and interpersonal factors have a significant impact on the actions of both teachers and school management. The results also suggest that the SOC concept can be incorporated in formative interventions, both as a facilitating instrument and as a secondary stimulus. / I studien undersöks hur en småskalig formativ intervention och koncept från både aktivitetsteori och salutogent perspektiv kan användas för att stödja lärares transformativa agentskap och skolans utvecklingsarbete. Forskningsfrågorna har fokuserat på förändringskapacitet, känsla av sammanhang (KASAM) och de lokala villkorens betydelse för förändringsinitiativ. Studiens teoretiska och metodologiska ramverk utgår från tredje generationens aktivitetsteori och salutogent perspektiv. Undersökningen har en kvalitativ ansats och genomfördes inom ramen för en formativ intervention med sex lärare, i samarbete med en kommunal högstadieskola. Data har samlats in via deltagande observation, reflektionsloggar och semistrukturerade intervjuer, och bearbetats genom tematisk analys utifrån de teoretiska utgångspunkterna. Därtill har den studerade verksamheten och interventionsgruppen analyserats som två interagerande aktivitetssystem. Resultatet visar att den enskilda skolans rådande villkor i hög utsträckning påverkar utvecklingsinitiativ och förändringsprocesser, liksom lärarnas transformativa agentskap. Vidare framgår att emotionella aspekter och intra- och interpersonella faktorer har en betydande inverkan både lärarnas och skolledningens agerande. Resultatet tyder också på att KASAM-konceptet kan inkorporeras i formativa interventioner, både som ett möjliggörande instrument och som sekundär stimulus.