Previous research has implicated social support in a wide range of contexts, yet despite the extensive quantity of research, we are yet to fully understand the underlying mechanisms. Research into these mechanisms will not only have theoretical implications but also applied implications. This thesis examined the mechanisms underpinning social support in an achievement context. It is presented as series of three interrelated chapters, which comprise the four studies conducted. These are preceded by an introduction, and succeeded by a general discussion. The studies focused upon social support: the first examining the effects of a social support intervention within a performance context, the remaining three studies investigating perceived support and performance-related outcome variables within the coach-athlete relationship. The first study examined social support in a performance context assessing the influences of support upon the stress response. A neurocognitive approach found that when compared to participants in a non-support group, individuals who were given support showed less brain activations in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region associated with the initial stress response. However, results displayed that participants did not perceive support in the same way; not all participants who were given the support manipulation reported being supported. Studies two and three used multivariate generalisability theory to examine the relationship between perceived support and various outcome variables at the perceiver, target and relational levels of analysis. A univariate analysis revealed that the relational component was the most influential followed by the perceiver. Social support was positively associated with self-confidence, self-efficacy and positive emotions at the relational level of analysis. The fourth study used qualitative methods in order to delve further into how athletes judge the supportiveness of their coaches and the antecedents of perceived support. The study found that the relationship between a coach and an athlete was the biggest contributing factor in perceived support judgements. This judgement relied heavily on the previous experiences that the athlete had shared with the coach. Overall, this thesis demonstrates that to understand the mechanisms underlying how social support effects various outcome variables, studies need to be conducted investigating how individuals develop their perceptions of support. This thesis has demonstrated that individuals perceived support in different ways. The final three studies showed that the supportiveness of one coach may be viewed differently by different athletes. Thus, coaches will not be viewed as supportive by every athlete that they work with. Consequently, interventions aimed at increasing levels of perceived support may not be successful unless the coach and athlete are optimally matched to create a highly supportive relationship. Theoretical and applied implications, in addition to future research are discussed throughout this thesis.

Using grounded theory, action research and ethnographic case study methodology this research explores the contrasting ways in which a prescribed curriculum is translated into an enacted curriculum. The current study looks at a 12 week secondary engineering unit (helmet design) which was designed with significant input from a university based team including content experts, learning scientists, master teachers, classroom teachers and school district administrators as part of a grant focused on the creation of a high school engineering course. The unit was enacted in a rural/suburban school by a group of average students by a teacher with high content knowledge in engineering. Five thrusts were identified for analysis including Assessment, Activities, Apparatus, Technology and Standards. Findings indicate much alignment with Apparatus, Standards and Technology thrusts and disparity within the Assessment and Activities thrusts. / text

Generalist elementary school teachers have little time to develop enacted pedagogical content knowledge (ePCK) in all content areas. Therefore, the transfer of ePCK from one content area to another, such as between math and science, can help generalist teachers build their knowledge needed for teaching regardless of their content area strengths. This self-study examines the ePCK components and their elements present in both math and science instruction. I am a fifth-grade teacher in Utah County who has been teaching for 4 years. Math is taught daily, and science is taught approximately three times a week. The self-study includes six video observations of my instruction—three for math and three for science—as well as a journal of my thoughts on my ePCK after each lesson and a guided discussion with a colleague while reviewing the video observations. Each data source aims to identify ePCK while noting the similarities and differences in the way it presents in each content area. The data analysis reflected this goal through the coding process. Through analysis, each ePCK component—subject matter knowledge, knowledge of students, and pedagogical knowledge—was observed in both math and science instruction. For subject matter knowledge, the presence is different in math and science, implying that this component was not transferred between the two content areas. Regarding knowledge of students, the presence is similar in both math and science, implying that this component transfers between content areas. The elements of pedagogical knowledge that transfer include knowledge of the importance of and ways to establish classroom structures and knowledge of student thinking about content as a key component to learning. These findings suggest that ePCK is a development of past enacted knowledge. Therefore, the more knowledge that is enacted, the more it develops. ePCK transfers between content areas if the presence of components is both present and are similar. If ePCK is transferred from one content area to another, generalist elementary teachers can use the strengths of their ePCK in one content area to improve that of another. With so few studies conducted on this topic, more research needs to be done to further understand ePCK transfer, especially at an elementary level and in the action of teaching.

<p>This thesis deals with how companies utilize their enterprise systems in their business relationships. The study’s starting point is enterprise systems that basically are standardised information systems that the company can acquire from software vendors like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft. Enterprise systems aim to integrate and manage all the company’s data and it can also be linked to its business partners.</p><p>The thesis contains two case studies of how a focal company utilizes its enterprise system in their business relationships. To accomplish this, an analytical framework based upon the combination of an information systems (IS) and a business relationship perspective is developed and applied. The IS perspective follows an ‘ensemble view of technology’ approach which describes the use of information systems as embedded in a both technical and social context. The business relationship perspective is founded in empirical studies of industrial companies. Basically, business relationships are unique and based on the companies’ exchanges. It also involves behavioural elements as trust, commitment, adaptations and interdependencies between the partners.</p><p>The two case studies cover the business relationships between ten companies and the character of the studied business relationships varies. The results show that enterprise systems are mainly focused on the companies’ internal activities. The exchanges in the business relationships are either carried out without the enterprise system or are supported by some complementary information system. Enterprise systems are thus mainly seen as production systems. This can be explained by the heritage from former material and resource planning (MRP) systems. An alternative explanation can be that business relationships are unique and require continuous adaptations and a mutual orientation. Enterprise systems require structural data rendering them difficult to use for the activities of a business relationship. The users then develop other, individual, applications that handle what is needed in their ongoing business. The threat is that information can be lost on a company level. The challenge is therefore to investigate the complementary information systems functions to see if it is possible to extend the enterprise system to include them. To be worth its epithet, the enterprise system must facilitate all the business activities found in the companies business relationships.</p>

The objective of educational innovation, wherever it takes place, at school or at national level, is to improve current practices. In its recent attempt to improve the quality of education in Malawi, the national government in 2001 embarked on curriculum reform and adopted an Outcomes Based curriculum which was implemented in 2007. The design features of the Malawi Outcomes Based Education were influenced by South Africa’s Curriculum 2005. Following the implementation of the curriculum reform, the purpose of this study was to investigate the enactment of Expressive Arts, its theme-based design and content, facilitative pedagogy and continuous assessment in a selection of six state primary schools – three urban and three rural in Zomba district where teachers were first trained to teach Expressive Arts. The study is framed by the theory of Illuminative evaluation (Parlett and Hamilton, 1976) and Productive Pedagogies (Lingard et al., 2001). Following a qualitative research design, data were collected through observation and post-observation interviews. Data analysis showed limited productive pedagogies in most lessons. The majority of lessons were characterised by lower intellectual quality, a focus on instrumental knowledge, integration at a superficial level, dominance of communalising practices, gendered practices, prevalence of localising discourses and a pedagogy aimed at national examinations. The overall picture from these findings is that classroom atmosphere in the twelve classrooms gave students limited opportunities for the acquisition of knowledge and development of skills, values and attitudes required for them to actively participate in the changing Malawian context and to be able to compete successfully in other contexts. It appears that dominant pedagogic practices in the Expressive Arts classroom serve to position learners in parochial orientations and issues. Therefore, there was an obvious discrepancy between the state’s intended curriculum and the teachers’ enacted curriculum. The implications of these findings for Malawi education have been raised. The most salient of these implications include the need for Malawi Institute of Education, the main change agent of primary school curriculum in the country, not only to consider revising the Expressive Arts curriculum but also to focus on the development of teachers in line with their needs for deeper content knowledge and productive pedagogic strategies.

<p>The thesis deals with how<strong> </strong>technology as a school subject is presented to the pupils in the Swedish compulsory school at junior high school level. The main focus is on how teachers work with the subject matter in teaching, which is on the level of <em>the</em> <em>enacted curriculum</em>. The official documents established by the national school authorities,<em> the intended curriculum</em>, and <em>the hidden curriculum</em> are both of special interest in the study. The hidden curriculum refers to possible, but not intended consequences of the enacted curriculum for pupils’ understanding of technology as a school subject. </p><p><em>          </em>The empirical analysis of the study is based on a narrative analysis on the one hand and the variation theory on the other. The empirical data collection consists of data from:<strong> </strong>(a) interviews with five teachers and (b) a series of classroom observations, covering an entire section of each teacher’s course of the subject matter.</p><p>          The data from the interviews with these teachers indicated that they understood the concept of technology as<strong> </strong>human made artefacts aiming to satisfy practical needs. When it came to the understanding of technology as a school subject the teachers differed between understanding the aim of the subject as to: (1) practice craftsmanship, (2) prepare the pupils for future careers as engineers, (3) illustrate science, (4) strengthen girls’ technical self-confidence and (5) get the pupils interested in technology in order to become inventors in the future. <strong></strong></p><p>The data from the classroom observations indicated that the teaching presented in technology gave the pupils the opportunity to develop three specific capabilities: (1) evaluate and test functionality, (2) be precise and accurate and (3) construct, build and mount. The three capabilities were possible to develop when accomplishing tasks of practical character. Results also indicated that technology as a school subject was taught in different ways depending on the teachers’ educational background, the physical learning environment and the size of the school class. Variation theory was applied as a tool in the analysis of the data from the classroom observations, i.e. the teachers’ ways of working with the subject matter. The analysis indicated that the most frequently used pattern of variation was ‘contrast’.  Through the contrast-variation the teachers managed to contrast better or worse alternatives of constructing and using artefacts. It can be argued that this pattern of variation, ‘contrast’, is the proper pattern when pupils are working with limited or expensive material.<strong></strong></p><p>          The overall conclusion of the study is that teachers’ interpretations of current intended curriculum and their choices of subject matter and teaching methods affect which abilities the pupils are<strong> </strong>offered to develop in technology as a school subject. Based on the results of the study it can be argued that the education and the teaching of technology lacks realism and the result is that technology as a school subject may be experienced by pupils as not very important. It is obvious that the school subject technology, as well as teaching in technology, in the Swedish compulsory school, demands more attention from the national school authorities, in order to develop the pupils’ understanding that technology as a subject is related to the future development of society and social welfare.<strong></strong></p><p> </p>

This thesis deals with how companies utilize their enterprise systems in their business relationships. The study’s starting point is enterprise systems that basically are standardised information systems that the company can acquire from software vendors like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft. Enterprise systems aim to integrate and manage all the company’s data and it can also be linked to its business partners. The thesis contains two case studies of how a focal company utilizes its enterprise system in their business relationships. To accomplish this, an analytical framework based upon the combination of an information systems (IS) and a business relationship perspective is developed and applied. The IS perspective follows an ‘ensemble view of technology’ approach which describes the use of information systems as embedded in a both technical and social context. The business relationship perspective is founded in empirical studies of industrial companies. Basically, business relationships are unique and based on the companies’ exchanges. It also involves behavioural elements as trust, commitment, adaptations and interdependencies between the partners. The two case studies cover the business relationships between ten companies and the character of the studied business relationships varies. The results show that enterprise systems are mainly focused on the companies’ internal activities. The exchanges in the business relationships are either carried out without the enterprise system or are supported by some complementary information system. Enterprise systems are thus mainly seen as production systems. This can be explained by the heritage from former material and resource planning (MRP) systems. An alternative explanation can be that business relationships are unique and require continuous adaptations and a mutual orientation. Enterprise systems require structural data rendering them difficult to use for the activities of a business relationship. The users then develop other, individual, applications that handle what is needed in their ongoing business. The threat is that information can be lost on a company level. The challenge is therefore to investigate the complementary information systems functions to see if it is possible to extend the enterprise system to include them. To be worth its epithet, the enterprise system must facilitate all the business activities found in the companies business relationships.

The purpose of this case study was to better understand the nature of the experiences of a preservice teacher, self-identified as having mathematics anxiety as she planned and implemented instruction during her internship by answering: What is the nature of the experiences of a preservice teacher, self-identified as having mathematics anxiety, as she planned for mathematics instruction during her final internship? What is the nature of the experiences of a preservice teacher, self-identified as having mathematics anxiety, as she implemented mathematics instruction during her final internship? Using an interpretivist approach to a case study inquiry, I used semi-structured interviews, observations, audio journals, and artifacts to collect data on a preservice teacher, cooperating teacher, and college supervisor. Member checking was used with interview data and a peer reviewer reviewed all data collection and analytic procedures. I analyzed the data using content and thematic analysis. The findings indicated that lack of planning, lack of instructional support, lack of content knowledge, and lack of transfer of what she learned in the mathematics methods course impacted the preservice teacher’s planning and implementation of mathematics instruction. In this way, the study identified the importance of instructional support for preservice teachers during K-12 classroom experiences, theory-to-practice connections between coursework and field experiences, and preservice teacher reflection to recognize weaknesses and seek out solutions to solve problems of practice. The study closed with a discussion from the viewpoint of reviewed literature, my interpretation of the findings and suggestions for future research.

This study’s focus was on individuals who are currently in romantic relationships or who were in one within the past six months. The goal of the study was to learn more about the relationship between the perceived difficulty of renewing a recently terminated relationship or terminating a current romantic relationship and social network closeness, integration, and levels of perceived support for the relationship from network members. The findings for this study support the prediction that an individual’s perceived difficulty of terminating an intact relationship was positively related to their levels of closeness with their partner’s social network members, the individual’s partner’s closeness with the individual’s social network members, and the perceived support for the relationship from network members. / text

The thesis deals with how technology as a school subject is presented to the pupils in the Swedish compulsory school at junior high school level. The main focus is on how teachers work with the subject matter in teaching, which is on the level of the enacted curriculum. The official documents established by the national school authorities, the intended curriculum, and the hidden curriculum are both of special interest in the study. The hidden curriculum refers to possible, but not intended consequences of the enacted curriculum for pupils’ understanding of technology as a school subject.            The empirical analysis of the study is based on a narrative analysis on the one hand and the variation theory on the other. The empirical data collection consists of data from: (a) interviews with five teachers and (b) a series of classroom observations, covering an entire section of each teacher’s course of the subject matter.           The data from the interviews with these teachers indicated that they understood the concept of technology as human made artefacts aiming to satisfy practical needs. When it came to the understanding of technology as a school subject the teachers differed between understanding the aim of the subject as to: (1) practice craftsmanship, (2) prepare the pupils for future careers as engineers, (3) illustrate science, (4) strengthen girls’ technical self-confidence and (5) get the pupils interested in technology in order to become inventors in the future. The data from the classroom observations indicated that the teaching presented in technology gave the pupils the opportunity to develop three specific capabilities: (1) evaluate and test functionality, (2) be precise and accurate and (3) construct, build and mount. The three capabilities were possible to develop when accomplishing tasks of practical character. Results also indicated that technology as a school subject was taught in different ways depending on the teachers’ educational background, the physical learning environment and the size of the school class. Variation theory was applied as a tool in the analysis of the data from the classroom observations, i.e. the teachers’ ways of working with the subject matter. The analysis indicated that the most frequently used pattern of variation was ‘contrast’.  Through the contrast-variation the teachers managed to contrast better or worse alternatives of constructing and using artefacts. It can be argued that this pattern of variation, ‘contrast’, is the proper pattern when pupils are working with limited or expensive material.           The overall conclusion of the study is that teachers’ interpretations of current intended curriculum and their choices of subject matter and teaching methods affect which abilities the pupils are offered to develop in technology as a school subject. Based on the results of the study it can be argued that the education and the teaching of technology lacks realism and the result is that technology as a school subject may be experienced by pupils as not very important. It is obvious that the school subject technology, as well as teaching in technology, in the Swedish compulsory school, demands more attention from the national school authorities, in order to develop the pupils’ understanding that technology as a subject is related to the future development of society and social welfare.