This thesis investigates how Knowledge Transfer (KT) Policy in Scotland is understood, translated and put into practice by managers and academics in a new university in Scotland. KT Policy has entered the higher education arena as the ‘third sector’ alongside teaching and research: it puts new demands on universities, and could be said to attempt to redefine the relationship between the university and wider society. The (relatively few) studies of KT Policy highlight the problematic nature of the term ‘knowledge transfer’ and there is a substantial literature that illustrates the difficulty of ‘translating’ policy into practice. In understanding KT and its implementation, this thesis argues that account needs to be taken of the fact that in the expanded UK higher education (HE) sector there is no single idea of a university and thus the reception of KT policy needs to be understood in ways that are sensitive to the various (and possibly conflicting) meanings attached to the policy by managers and academics. The thesis adopts an interpretive methodological approach that draws on critical discourse analysis (CDA) to uncover the meanings attached to KT Policy as it is translated and enacted. KT policy is viewed as a ‘text’ that can be read in a variety of ways, and that is amenable to alternative readings that may be at variance with those encoded by policy-makers. Research methods include document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and observant participation. The findings illustrate how managers and academics attach multiple and conflicting meanings to KT policy, with quite significant implications for policy implementation. The different meanings of the policy are explained in terms of contrasting managerial and academic discourses. This study adds to knowledge about KT and also adds to knowledge about policy and its reception when it enters the university environment. Analysis of how policy is received and communicated using a CDA approach illuminates the university as a space through which ideas flow and are shaped by the meanings attached to them in that process. This case of translation of KT policy has more general applicability in terms of its illumination of the enactment of meaning in different ways in different institutional cultures.

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Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2003. / Includes bibliography.

This research is about craft education in schools in England and Japan. In the specialist literature, skilled knowledge has always been identified as the main outcome of craft learning in schools, but contemporary rationales for craft education include fostering children’s design thinking understood as a process of developing creative ideas. At the time this research began in 2005, Japanese government policy for craft education emphasized creative problem solving and designing together with making skills. However, developing design ideas and skilled knowledge may be conflicting aims. There was very little guidance for Japanese craft teachers about how to teach creative thinking and more theoretical discussion about design in England. So I studied how design thinking is taught in England with a view to this contributing to craft education in Japan. The research method was qualitative and comparative. In the first phase, analysis of policy documents for Art & Design and Design & Technology and fieldwork in three primary and five secondary schools was conducted in England. In the second phase, policy documents for Art & Handicraft, Art, Home Economics and Technology & Home Economics were analysed and fieldwork was conducted in the first two subjects in seven primary and six secondary schools in Japan. Then the findings were compared and analysed qualitatively. This research confirmed that skilled knowledge is central to craft education in schools in both countries. There was a significant influence of school subject domains on how crafts were taught in class. The lack of any specification for thinking skills in the learning domains for craft education in Japan may explain why there is less emphasis on teaching design thinking than in England. I concluded that it is possible to teach design thinking and skilled knowledge successfully together in craft projects. However, it is difficult to apply this in practice in school contexts because they often lack relevant staff expertise, time and authentic materials and tools. At the end of the thesis possible ways of teaching design thinking and skilled knowledge together are suggested in the form of a domain model of art curriculum and an interactive design process model. Some strategies for teaching design thinking identified in England could provide a basis for future curriculum development in Japan.

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Based on the importance of implementing effective environmental education has been asserted to a sustainable solution to the environmental problems, this study aimed to (1) investigate the pre-service science teachers&rsquo / processes of construction of explanations regarding environmental problems, and (2) provide an environment for researchers to understand the dispositions of participants in terms of how using environmental explanations for answering the questions. The research has been realized within the context of an elective course titled &ldquo / Laboratory applications in environmental education&rdquo / in the Department of Elementary Education throughout 2008-2009 Spring semesters. The 21 pre-service science teachers attended the course and participated the environmental learning activities including five different environmental problems / biological diversity, surface waters, drinking water, waste water and air pollution with in a small group. Field trip activities, group discussions and whole class discussions were conducted through the course. Data were collected through audio and video recorders from one small group and through pre, post-tests. Analyses of data revealed that pre-service science teachers could not aware of the complex and multidisciplinary nature of environmental knowledge, so they mostly interpreted environmental problems through the everyday knowledge that they derived from everyday experiences. Through peer collaboration in fields and student-facilitator collaboration in discussions weeks, the pre-service science teachers have a chance to analyze different perspectives and ideologies about the causes and solutions of environmental problems. The pre-tests and post-test results revealed that in the field-based collaborative inquiry activities the participants&rsquo / nature of explanations shifted from descriptive to formal and scientific explanations.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2004. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong,2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 346-373.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 1997. / Title from title screen (viewed Apr. 15, 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Faculty of Education. Includes bibliography. Also available in print form.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 226-240). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.