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STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education for youth can lead to the development of skills to design technologies, innovate tools, optimize work processes, and solve problems to improve society. The public high schools in Senegal are reported to have a low enrollment of students in STEM-related subjects. Youth are taught to memorize theories, with limited opportunities for hands-on STEM activities. However, there are other opportunities for Senegalese youth to engage in STEM education outside the formal school system. This research used case studies to explore the experiences of Senegalese youth learners and educators engaged in hands-on STEM education within non-formal learning settings in Dakar, Senegal. The first case involved six youth and six educators from wood carpentry and metal joinery apprenticeships. The second case involved seven youth and five educators from Go4STEAM, an all-girls out-of-school STEM program. The Ecological Systems Theory was used as a theoretical framework to situate the youth and educators in their learning context and consider ways in which their self and environment influences their STEM learning and teaching experience. An asset-based analytical approach was used in both cases to identify and describe positive influences and educational practices related to learning STEM. Results of the study indicated that educators in the apprenticeship setting display elements of cultural-based education as they not only teach the youth learners engineering through guided instructions, but also help raise them into adulthood. The youth learners in this setting have dropped out of school, thus recommendations for this learning setting include leveraging apps, mobile training, and competitions to promote engineering education as well as ensuring a strong foundation in reading, writing, and math. The Go4STEAM learning setting was found to offer activities that were interesting and responsive for their youth learners, and their learning environment emphasized peer collaboration. Recommendations for this learning setting include encouraging youth to take leadership of their learning whilst positioning the educators as co-learners, and offering the youth opportunities to engage in STEM with various partners and settings around the community. By recognizing and valuing the strengths of non-formal learning settings, this study identifies opportunities to strengthen the Senegalese STEM Learning Ecosystem. The additional support can lead to opportunities for Senegalese youth to become innovators and problem solvers that use their skills for educational and career advancement, upward economic mobility, and improved community development. / Doctor of Philosophy / STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education can be beneficial for the youth because it gives them useful skills for their jobs and their community. There are many factors that influence how youth learn STEM, and youth are able to learn in school and out of school. In Senegal, there are a low number of students enrolled in STEM-related subjects in high school, and the schools do not offer hands-on STEM activities. This research uses case studies to investigate STEM education for youth in non-formal, out-of-school settings, in Dakar, Senegal. Six youth and six educators from the wood carpentry and metal joinery apprenticeships, and seven youth and five educators from the Go4STEAM all-girls program, participated in this study. For each case, the Ecological Systems Theory was used to help consider the various influences that may directly or indirectly impact the youth's STEM education. An asset-based approach was used to identify positive influences and educational practices from the two cases. The study determined that the educators in apprenticeships use cultural norms and values to teach the youth learners engineering and raise them to become adults. The learners do not go to school so they can potentially benefit from apps, mobile training, and competitions that facilitate learning engineering, and the basics of reading, writing and math. At Go4STEM, the study determined that the learning environment was fun for the youth and encourages teamwork. The learners at Go4STEAM may benefit from deciding what STEM topics they want explore and the educators support as co-learners. Also, the educators can help facilitate STEM activities that engage community resources. This study identifies the strengths of non-formal, out-of-school-learning, and identifies opportunities to improve the Senegalese STEM Learning Ecosystem. With the additional support, Senegalese youth can become innovators and problem solvers that use their skills to benefit themselves, their families, and their communities.

Rural citizens in developing countries are becoming the focal point of social, economic and political development efforts. These people traditionally have been left out of the developmental process. National leaders have now realized that the citizens of rural areas have the potential to contribute significantly to developmental efforts of their nations. One important part of most developing nations' strategies for social and economic development is education. The principal form of education has been that of formal education, the trappings of which were borrowed from the nations' former colonial masters. The education systems increasingly have been seen as working against national development objectives, particularly in rural areas. Educational planners and policymakers have found an alternative in non-formal education, whereby rural people theoretically obtain the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to initiate their own development projects. However, developing nations lack the human, financial, and material resources needed to concurrently offer both formal and non-formal education programs. Outside funding sources have been sought pursuant to United States foreign policy. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has given impetus to experiments in non-formal education in some 60 countries of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine relationships between education and rural community development, particularly as these relationships have been reported in underdeveloped nations. The methods of inquiry involved: 1. a substantive analysis and synthesis of the development literature, and 2. a detailed case study of non-formal education and rural development in Jamaica. The dissertation develops a thesis, namely that three general relationships may be observed between education and rural development. They are: 1. Formal education is intended to raise rural children to literacy and productivity in the development of their native areas. Instead, it tends to raise students' expectations towards employment in urban centers, thus bleeding rural areas of trained skills. Formal education has become an entrenched system both as a monopoly of central government bureaucracy, and as the one road recognized by rural adults as leading to a better life. There is a conflict between expectation and delivery, complicated by lack of realistic means for appraisal and change. 2. Alternatively, certain forms of non-formal education may hold promise for improving the quality of living in the rural areas of developing nations; however, the conditions necessary for a definitive test of non-formal education in rural community development are not likely to be developed under the sponsorship of the education establishment of the developing nations, even when such test is stimulated and heavily supported by outside agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development. 3. Moreover, the idiosyncratic policies, organization, and funding practices of USAID, the principal source of financial aid for development projects among developing nations, themselves influence the design and outcome of development projects in ways that mitigate against successful development. Clearly, this poses a dilemma for those governments that seek to develop their rural areas. Traditional institutions and programs have been used to improve conditions in rural areas. Yet these very institutions and programs may be part of the development problems. International development literature is replete with theoretical and promising new programs that cannot be fairly tested. There is no indication that national governments could or would assimilate these programs into standard practice, moreover, the status quo is supported by rural populations. / Ed. D.

This thesis offers dialogue about the relations between learning and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The dialogue is guided by the question of how to design education to increase perceived values of learning. It pays attention to how learners approach learning availabilities in various learning settings based on learners’ perceived values of learning. The aim is to understand the perceived values of learning in order to reflect its relation to ICTs. The field of learning is understood from the perspectives of formal, non-formal and informal learning. The field of ICTs is understood from the perspectives of information, communication and technology. The perspectives of learning and ICTs are chosen as a way to understand them by ‘going back to basics’ to find an origin or a point of departure for reinterpreting and understanding them. This approach has influenced the presentation of the thesis and how it is structured so that dialogic and interpretive research opens up dialogic spaces for reflections regarding the relations between learning and ICTs. Two studies in two different education systems, formal and non-formal, are included in the thesis work. The data are collected via qualitative methods such as photo interviews and individual and group interviews in which learners’ expressions of learning are in focus. The approach of the included articles that present the two studies was to first understand learning and then relate it to the understanding, potential and use of ICTs. The results and contributions from the articles are summarised via the three perspectives of the perceived values of learning, the relations between learning and ICTs and the influences of perceived values of learning. The theoretical tools, pedagogical attitude and positioning of ICTs guide the discussions and analysis of these perspectives towards the conclusions of the thesis work. The reader of the thesis can expect a journey along a winding road, which both addresses and involves policies’ and researchers’ implications and conceptions of learning and education. A framework for the perceived values of education when perspectives of learning and ICTs are related is considered to represent the understanding of the coherent whole of the thesis work. Three main contributions of the thesis work are put forth. The first contribution is the framework for perceived values of education, or the perceived value framework (PVF). The second contribution is the understanding of perceived values of learning. The third contribution is the specific photo interviews about learning situations that is considered to be a contribution to already existing methods such as photo-eliciting (Cappello, 2005) and stimulated recall (Haglund, 2003).

The thesis inquires into the area of electronic education in the form of educational portals. It aims to carry out a research of educational portals on the Czech market and subsequent analysis of the portals, which offer users the services for the support of education and schooling. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on defining the terms of formal and non-formal education, describes examples of their usage. Furthermore, it deals with electronic education in the form of e-learning, defines e-learning from different points of view, and describes its historical development, forms and instruments. The work then analyses 17 portals, two of them in detail -- they represent both formal and non-formal education. The analysis offers information about portals' administrators, range of offered services as well as business models, used by the portals.

According to UNHCR data from 2018, there are approximately seven and a half million school-age child refugees, with only 61% of them having access to primary education (versus 91% of the total child population). In Greece, child migrants have been around for several years, but they have not had access to education for a long time and some children still do not. The situation was dealt with in various alternative ways, through non-profit organizations, volunteers from around the world and refugees themselves. The thesis is conceived theoretically and empirically. The theoretical part of this thesis deals with these issues. It seeks to explore the educational situation of refugee children in the world, describes the recent migration crisis in Greece, deals with the right to educate refugee children at world and European level, and also in Greece, introduces educational opportunities for refugee children in Greece, both formal, provided by the state, and informal, provided by volunteers and non-profit organizations. In the empirical part, qualitative research examines the barriers that non-formal education providers have encountered in trying to deliver education to refugee children and describes the methods overcoming these barriers. Conducted ethnographic research included volunteer observation in...

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Thesis (MEdPsych (Educational Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Duisende jong Suid-Afrikaners vertrek jaarliks op ‘n gapingsjaar (”gap year”) oorsee. ‘n Populêre siening in die media asook die wyer publiek is dat hierdie gapingsjaar die ideale tydperk is vir jongmense waar hulle hulleself kan “vind”. ’n Gapingsjaar word tipies onderneem in laat adolessensie (tussen 18 en 25 jaar). Die idee dat laat adolessente hulleself moet “vind” sluit aan by die ontwikkelingsteoretici se psigososiale konsep van identiteitsformasie. Die mees belangrike ontwikkelingstaak tydens laat adolessensie is die vestiging van ’n koherente identiteit en is ’n redelike mate van identiteitsverwerwing na afloop van adolessensie kritiek. ’n Belemmerde identiteitsverwerwing kan hul persoonlike selfstandigheid en outonomie wesenlik inperk. Die vraag het ontstaan of laat adolessente hulleself wérklik “vind” in ’n gapingsjaar soos die media-ideologie dit uitbeeld? Tot op hede (nasionaal en internasionaal) kon geen navorsing gevind word wat verband hou met ʼn gapingsjaar en identiteitsontwikkeling nie. Die doelstelling van hierdie studie was om die identiteitsontwikkelingstatus van Suid-Afrikaanse laat adolessente na ’n gapingsjaar te bepaal. Die basiese veronderstelling en populêre siening dat laat adolessente na afloop van ’n gapingsjaar ’n verworwe status van identiteitsontwikkeling het, is ondersoek. Om die identiteitstatus te assesseer is 288 Suid-Afrikaanse gapingsjaar laat adolessente genader en ’n kwantitatiewe opname metode is gebruik. Die gekose instrument vir die identiteitstatus ondersoek is die Extended Version of Ego Identity Status (EOM-EIS-II). ’n Demografiese vraelys is geadministreer om beskrywende data verkry en te kyk watter demografiese eienskappe statisties korreleer met die onderskeie identiteitsontwikkelingstatusse van respondente. Die gestruktureerde vraelys is via ʼn webtuiste, met pen en papier of telefonies voltooi. In stryd met die populêre siening en media-ideologie is die bevinding dat die minderheid respondente (slegs 14.5%) geklassifiseer kon word in die verworwe identiteitstatus na ‘n gapingsjaar. Die meerderheid val binne die moratorium- en diffusestatus wat beteken dat hulle nie ‘n binding gemaak het tot ‘n identiteit na hul gapingsjaar nie. Gapingsjaar adolessente se ouderdom, tyd terug na hul gapingsjaar, die behoort aan ‘n religieuse groep (tydens hul gapingsjaar) of hul verhoudingstatus (tydens hul gapingsjaar) is eerder geassosieer met ‘n verworwe identiteitstatus. Vroegtydige en pro-aktiewe terapeutiese en opvoedkundige ondersteuning tydens hierdie ontvanklike periode, kan bydra tot ’n groter positiewe identiteitsontwikkeling van jongmense. Hierdie studie kan bydra tot die kennisbasis vir Suid-Afrikaanse navorsing. / ENGLISH SUMMARY: Thousands of young South-Africans embark every year on a gap year overseas. A popular notion in the media as well as the wider public is that the gap year is the ideal period for young people to ‘find themselves”. A gap year is typically undertaken in late adolescence (age between 18 and 25). The idea that adolescents should ‘find’ themselves relates to developmental theorists’ psychosocial concept of identity formation. The most important development task during late adolescence is the forming of a coherent identity and a reasonable amount of identity formation after adolescence is critical. Impeded identity formation can severely curb their self-dependency and autonomy. The question is raised whether adolescents really ‘find’ themselves during a gap year, as the media would have us believe. No research (nationally and internationally) could be found which relates to the gap year and identity formation. The aim of this study was to determine the identity development status of late adolescents having been on gap year. The basic assumption and popular view that adolescents would have an achieved status of identity formation, is investigated. To assess the identity status, 288 South-African late adolescents who has taken a gap year was asked to participate in a quantitative survey. The chosen instrument for the identity status investigation is the Extended Version of Ego Identity Status (EOM-EIS-II). A demographic questionnaire was also included to gain descriptive data. The data was used to test which demographic properties correlate with the respective identity formation statuses of participants. The structured questionnaire could be completed via a website, with pen and paper or telephonically. Contrary to the popular notion in the media and public, the finding is that the minority respondents (only 14.5%) could be classified in the achieved identity status after the gap year. The majority falls in the moratorium- and diffused statuses, which means that a binding was not formed with their identity after their gap years. Rather, demographics like age, time back after gap year, religious affiliation (during gap year) and relationship status was found to be associated with an achieved identity status. Early and pro-active therapeutic and educational support during this receptive period (adolescence), can contribute to better identity development of young people and this study can therefore contribute to the South- African research knowledgebase.

The thesis is the result of four years' work in mathematical education in Papua New Guinea. The first two years were spent in setting up a new Mathematics Education Centre at the University of Technology, Lae. A broad brief enabled the author to seek out the most crucial needs for the country and these appeared to lie in the area of basic number skills. Assessments of the situation and contributions to a changing attitude are described. This part of the thesis concludes with a critique of the role of a Mathematics Education Centre in a Third World country. The work had led to a conclusion that one of the priorities in mathematical education for the country lay in some form of adult numeracy campaign. At the same time the Department of Commerce had identified 'numeracy' as one of the prime needs for successful business development in Papua New Guinea. The author was therefore invited to spend a further two years in seeking to resolve this problem. The cheap long-life battery calculator became available at this point in time and provided the means for a possible solution. Its potential was appreciated and a grant was given from the Prime Minister's Nonformal Education Sectoral Fund to enable the author to research into ·the possibilities of adult numeracy teaching in the villages where 85% of the population lives. Detailed reports of the eighteen field tours undertaken are included in an appendix, together with some of the material specifically developed for the purpose. In this thesis the problems of organising an adult numeracy campaign in a country with poor communications and a limited budget are also considered. The thesis concludes with an attempt to identify the new style of teaching that will be required when a realistic use of the calculator is accepted as a normal part of the post-secondary and non-formal education system. This new style is seen to iriclude elements of the number skill teaching that was the prime concern of the first two years. References are made to the relatively few attempts to. teach adult numeracy in the Third World and also to some attempts in the developed world to meet the challenge presented by the incorporation of the calculator into the formal system of education.

[pt] Este trabalho tem como objetivo mapear o volume de capital cultural dos professores que frequentaram o Museu da Geodiversidade (UFRJ) em visitas escolares entre os meses de maio e setembro de 2012, bem como suas percepções e expectativas acerca das instituições culturais, tais como o museu. Para o estudo desses sujeitos, foram utilizados os conceitos de capital cultural de Pierre Bourdieu (2010) e as observações de Falk e Dierking (2000) sobre o modelo contextual de aprendizagem em museus a partir da agenda do público na visita museal, além de se trabalhar também com o conceito de educação não formal elaborado por Trilla (2008). A metodologia usada baseia-se na realização de entrevista semiestruturada e na aplicação de questionário autoadministrado junto a dez professores. Os resultados apontam para um baixo volume de capital cultural nos docentes não tanto no que se refere aos títulos escolares conquistados, mas principalmente no que tange aos usos e práticas dos espaços culturais, o que tem como desdobramento uma visão do museu apenas como espaço de complementação de atividades educativas formais e pouco apreço e interesse por esse espaço enquanto local de fruição, prazer e de ampliação da cultura em geral. Conclui-se, portanto, que o limitado aproveitamento do espaço museal pelos docentes não se dá por falta de interesse, mas pela falta da formação de hábitos culturais em sua família de origem e nas instituições escolares nas quais se formaram. / [en] This paper aims to map the amount of cultural capital of the teachers who participated in school visits to the Museu da Geodiversidade (UFRJ) between May and September 2012, as well as their perception and expectations regarding cultural institutions such as the museum. In order to study these subjects, we used Pierre Bourdieu s (2010) concepts of cultural capital and observations by Falk and Dierking (2000) on the contextual model of learning in museums from the agenda of the audience who visits these institutions, besides applying the concept of non-formal education developed by Trilla (2008). The methodology used is based on self-administered questionnaires and on semi-structured interviews conducted with ten teachers. The results point to a small amount of cultural capital in teachers, not so much with regard to academic degrees earned, but mainly to the uses and practices of cultural spaces. That results in a vision of the museum only as a space for the complementation of formal educational activities. There is little appreciation and interest for the museum as a place for enjoyment, pleasure and enhacement of culture in general. We conclude, therefore, that the limited use of the museum space by the teachers does not occur due to lack of interest, but to lack of training in cultural habits by their family of origin and by the schools they have graduated from.