This dissertation looks at the role narratives play in addressing organizational challenges by facilitating a collective assignment of meaning to those challenges that allows for problem solving, or at least a way to cope with the challenges. Specifically, the research examines how informal knowledge is embedded in organizations in the form of narratives, and how narratives are used to transfer knowledge across the organization. The dissertation develops the concept of narrative, and the qualities of the narratives used in this dissertation, focused on events, focused on people, focused on values, and it develops an understanding of knowledge transfer as the collective assignment of meaning to challenges that are constantly emerging. In this case study, three means, or tools emerge as facilitating the assignment of meaning. These tools are superstars, indexing, and knowledge objects. This research will enrich the public administration and nonprofit literature by utilizing narrative inquiry to examine the transfer of knowledge in a nonprofit social service organization that serves a vital public purpose under contracts with various levels of government. / Ph. D.

The immediate catalyst for having taken up this study was the violent outbreak of weeks of public unrest in the Paris banlieus in the wake of the shooting of young man on the run from the police on October 27 2005. The obvious inability of local municipalities and police forces to explain, let alone to anticipate the swelling discontent with a system which is generally assumed to work effectively and to benefit all has led me to the assumption that we have entered a stage where the concept of representational democracy is seriously compromised. The sheer scale or projected growth rates of urban agglomerations worldwide is certainly a strong, if not the only indicator for the radical change of ‘lived experience’ in the wake of globalized economies, politics and communication networks. If once the lack of a ‘unitary theory’ was attributed to the field of urbanism (Lefebvre, 1991 [1974]), from a contemporary point of view the range of issues and problems at stake far exceed the boundaries of any discipline in particular. Furthermore, to start the inquiry by reasserting the importance of the human condition will allow us to delve into the process of individuation, the diverse realities of individuals, their gathering in groups, their dialogue amongst each other and with their environment in its totality in order to account for the complex interrelations within a highly dynamic network of associations, since the emergence of a fully emancipated Many – as opposed to the One of the state – requires more than the flawed promise of representational democracy to act for the ‘common good,’ or ‘general will’ (Rousseau, 2009 [1762]) of all. Clearly this task is ambitious, for we have to bridge the gap between the needs, aspirations, emotions, anxieties and dreams of individuals on the one hand, and the temporal emergence of collective co-operation on the other. ‘Official’ knowledge, incorporated by endless columns of statistical data, gathered and administered meticulously thanks to the firm grip of institutionalised observation, is of little help though, for we have become increasingly conscious that the representations thereof are a poor match for the complexity of networked realities ‘on the ground’. My artistic practice conducted together with Alexandra Berlinger under the name of Tat ort is precisely aimed at looking into “matters of concern” as opposed to “matters of fact” (Latour, 2005) in order to gain a genuine insight into the workings of existing settings, where we introduce ourselves as intermediaries for the initiation of a process of active participation by means of interventional apparatuses, conceived specifically for the context in question. Our respective experience has led me to the conclusion that instead of providing alternative representations based on presumed universal identity, the full-blown heterogeneity of the multitude thrives on the general intellect and the activity of the speaker. To speak is to act, and to act is the predominant trait of political praxis. It is through our acts and deeds that we disclose ourselves in public in the presence of others (Arendt, 1998 [1958]). And it is through acting that we start anew and leave our mark in a situation the moment we intervene in the circulation of empty signifiers upon which we assign a name, the name of an event. It is through our interventional participation that we allow for novelty to emerge in time, as a process without representation and based on sustained fidelity. My research is centred around two questions: First of all, is it possible to devise an interventional apparatus (physical infrastructure) which would work independent of contextual factors, and secondly, is it possible to retain the site-specificity through a process of dynamically mapping the amalgamation of existing information and the data obtained by participants based on face to face communication in order to draw up the ‘portraits’ of existing communities beyond the scope of institutionalised representation. Emancipating the Many therefore is a statement about difference marked as intervention. This intervention requires the presence of others and the intention to act. It is the emergence of a ‘constitution of time’.

This thesis is focused on the utilization of simplified functional equations in logarithm exercise. The goal of this work is to assess the degree of formalism in the logarithm knowledge of high school students. The first part attends to the origin and development on the term logarithm and logarithmic tables. These findings are subsequently put into the context of present day logarithm teaching extracted from contemporary high school textbooks. The second part describes an experiment which was conducted for the purpose of this thesis. The final part contains the results of the thesis and the evaluation of their relevance for logarithm tuition. Keywords: logarithm, logarithm tables, textbook analysis, functional equations.

During the past three decades, much research has occurred into students' conceptions as well as factors influencing them and how the conceptions are formed. This study reports on students' conceptions involving energy and the human body. Initially, a number of student conceptions within the overarching area of energy and the human body were identified by developing and administering questionnaires to 610 students ranging from Year 8 through to Year 12. Students' responses to the questionnaire items resulted in previously identified conceptions as well as a number of unreported ones. The unreported notions included: carbohydrates are different to sugars; energy is needed for organs to function; fats and their role in energy storage; the eye and ear do not convert energy but transfer it to the brain; sweat cools the skin due to contact with air; objects need energy to start moving but not to move; and aspects of respiration and digestion. Conceptions such as the particulate nature of energy, energy's usefulness, conservation and transfer of energy, role of digestion and respiration, sources of energy were associated with previously identified notions which were derived from both informal and formal learning situations. But, it was not possible to distinguish which source knowledge was derived from. From these notions, a series of possible pathways for conceptual development within the area of energy and the human body were described. Further analysis of the data indicated a number of ontological changes that can occur as the student-cohort became older. These ontological changes included a decline in the notion of energy being particulate to being non-particulate and not being described, through to being involved in the chemical bonds of molecules, the role and processes of digestion, the number of energy types and energy sources and how the eye and ear function. / All these conceptions changed with student age and became more scientifically acceptable in their nature as students' formal education increased. Based upon the findings of the above questionnaires, a diagnostic paper and pencil instrument set of 20 items based upon a modified two tier multiple-choice format was developed to identify student held conceptions on energy and the human body. Subsequently, an interventionist strategy was designed and implemented to help students avoid the development of misconceptions as they construct acceptable concepts related to digestion and to respiration. This strategy follows the passage of food from its ingestion through to the absorbed foods conversion into ATP for use by the body. The findings of this study are to be of use to science teachers worldwide, not only in Western Australia as the findings of this thesis are relevant to educators of students in Years 8 to 12. The findings are related to energy in general but specifically to the students' own body. These findings relate directly to an intrinsically interesting feature, the student's own body. Another outcome of these misconception findings are two instruments which are likely to be of value to educators of Years 8 to 12 students. These are a diagnostic instrument designed to identify a number of alternative conceptions learners may hold and secondly a lesson sequence dealing with digestion and respiration and the role these have in the conversion and transfer of energy in the body.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur avsaknaden av spontana möten påverkar innovationsförmågan i samverkansprojekt och besvaras genom följande forskningsfrågor. Hur påverkar en övergång från fysiskt till digitalt samarbete den informella kunskapsdelningen i projektdeltagarnas nätverk och vilken effekt får det för produktiviteten? Hur upplever projektdeltagarna att yrkesmässiga relationer påverkas av distribuerat arbete? Semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med projektledare från tio av landets 61 Science parks vars verksamhet är att främja innovation och utveckling genom att bilda ett nätverk mellan akademi, offentlig verksamhet och näringslivet. En induktiv ansats har använts då Coronapandemins restriktioner medfört att projektdeltagare som tidigare arbetat tillsammans i fysiska rum under 2020 på grund av restriktioner tvingats arbeta distribuerat i digitala rum. En förändring som kraftigt minskat möjligheterna till spontana möten och kunskapsdelning med andra individer i projektledarnas nätverk. En tematisk analys har genomförts och gett följande teman. Med förändring i fokus; verksamhet som vanligt?, möten, möten, möten; spontanitet går inte att planera samt relationer och organisationskultur. Slutsatserna inkluderar att avsaknaden av fysiska arenor ger minskade möjligheter till relationsbyggande och överhörning vilket på sikt kan hämma möjligheterna att upptäcka potentiella synergier och samarbeten vilket i sin tur kan leda till minskad innovativ förmåga. Det ligger även en utmaning i att genomföra innovationsmöten och planering i det digitala mötet jämfört med i det fysiska mötet. Orsaken är att det upplevs svårare att få överblick och göra sig förstådd samt svårare att föra informella samtal vilket begränsar utbytet mellan parterna. Projektledarna kommer med all sannolikhet att fortsätta arbeta delvis på distans efter restriktionerna då det möjliggör en bättre balans mellan arbetsliv och privatliv. Ur ett organisationsperspektiv medför förändringen nya möjligheter då vissa geografiska och logistiska begränsningar försvunnit, men även nya utmaningar i att upprätthålla organisationskultur och produktivitet över tid. / In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic project teams have been forced to workonline, in what could be described as "digital rooms". This has drastically decreased the possibilites for informal meetings. This study aims to answer how a transition from physical meetings to digital ones affects the informal knowledge sharing and what effect that might have on productivity. Further the study also aims to explore the effect on proffessional relationsship, as experienced by members of project teams. Following an inductive approach, ten semi structured interviews with project leaders, active in Sweden, was conducted. Thematic analysis was performed and four themes observed: /Change in focus/, /business as usual/, /meetings, meetings, meetings/, /spontanity can not be planned/, and /relations and culture/. Study found that the lack of physical meetings results in lesser opportunities for relationship building and informal sharing of information. Something that on a longer timescale could hamper the ability to find synergic effects and cooperations, which in turn could result in lessened creative abilities. Results also show that meetings aimed towards creativity and innovation is more challenging if held digitally instead of physically.  Meeting overview, missunderstandings and informal communication all becomes more challenging, which limits the interchange in between the project teams. Respondents will likely continue to work, partly, on distance also after the restrictions have been lifted, due to positive effects on the work-leisure balance. For organisations these changes carries new possibilities but also new challenges: geographical and logistic hinders have been removed, but to uphold company culture and productivity over time have become more onerous.

My theses called Divisibility at second grade - textbooks and knowledge of the pupils is devoted to different aspects of schooling of this topic at elementary schools. This work is divided into three chapters. Whilst the first chapter is dedicated to the theory, the subject of two other chapters are two different researches conducted under the divisibility theme. Theoretical resources common to both parts of the research can be found in the first chapter. Among the topics mentioned in this chapter are for example the differences between formal and informal knowledge, constructivist and transmissive way of teaching or the process of solving word problems. The essence of my first research are the textbooks for elementary school concerned with the divisibility theme. Except the part devoted to a textbooks search (all the textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports which deal with divisibility), this chapter also contains the propaedeutics of divisibility and interviews with teachers, in which I have tried to cover the most important moments in the schooling of divisibility. Second part of my research is focused on checking of the pupils' knowledge of divisibility with a special emphasis on formal and informal knowledge. I have used the test to this purpose, which was...

Many organizations have realized the importance of managing what they know in a proper way, with the sharing of knowledge as one of the most central aspects. However, the practices of knowledge sharing are seldom fully understood, and thus implementations of technical systems intended to improve knowledge sharing have less effect than expected. This master's thesis project identifies that the case company – the well-known, Swedish telecom giant Ericsson – suffers some potential knowledge gaps regarding its knowledge sharing practices, and the project thus serves the purpose to identify how and why employees indulge in sharing, with emphasis on the informal and employee-driven knowledge sharing.  To understand and find ways to improve the knowledge sharing practices, the thesis project performs a case study in the rapidly expanding Ericsson Cloud RAN project. The qualitative approach of Multi-Grounded Theory is used, to focus on the perceived situation as described by the employees, with previous research as a second grounding-point. The qualitative data is collected through literature analysis, semi-structured interviews, and exploration of the digital platforms and tools internally used to share and document knowledge. The research identifies that the Cloud RAN project needs improvements of the knowledge sharing culture, and create a norm to reuse the documented knowledge. In spite of this, many employees appreciate shared knowledge and contribute to the common good of knowledge. A joy in helping others, personal benefits, and contributions to a greater good drive many employees to share. On the flipside are barriers such as a high bar for contributions from a technical point of view, and a risk of limited reuse of knowledge. As reuse is key to make use of knowledge sharing, the master's thesis report contains identified mechanisms realized in mock-up versions of tools and websites. There, emphasis is put on the importance of having proper tools and access to a contact network to navigate the documented knowledge. Summarized, the findings suggest to utilize the enthusiasm for knowledge sharing among employees for a supportive role, to champion a refined culture and lower the bar to contribute. Frequent reminders of available tools and the impact of sharing what is known in a good way, alongside creating awareness of the direction of the organization, can create company-wide awareness and motivations for improving knowledge sharing.

The purpose of this action research study was to investigate the affects of teaching through a situative perspective with story problems on students' understanding of fraction concepts and operations in my fifth-grade mathematics classroom. Students participated in twelve weeks of instruction. Data was collected in the form of pre and post tests, audiotaped and videotaped recordings of instructional sessions, and student work samples. Data analysis revealed that my students constructed their own knowledge about various fraction concepts and operations because students engaged in discussions, after solving story problems, that developed, extended and restructured their knowledge. One example of this occurred after students had solved an equal-sharing problem. Two students came up with different answers and another student explained why both answers were equivalent. Student work samples and post test results indicated that the one student's explanation was understood, adopted and extended by all the students in my class. The data also revealed that students' pictures typically represented the context and action of the story problems. For example, subtraction problems dealing with length were usually represented by number lines or horizontal rectangles with crossed-out markings to show the subtraction operation. Throughout this research study, I discovered that my students were capable of learning from each other and solving problems for which they have no preconceived algorithm. I also learned that analyzing students' work and listening to their discussions in ways that focused on their thinking, not their answers, provided me with information about what my students were grasping and not grasping.

<p>Докторска дисертација разматра утицај<br />информалног учења на ниво информационе<br />писмености ученика. У циљу тога, анализирају се<br />карактеристике информалног учења, начини<br />коришћења информалних извора знања, као и<br />начини на који ученици најчешће долазе до<br />информација и знања о ИКТ. Истраживање је<br />вршено на узорку од 930 ученика четвртих разреда<br />средњих школа, а мерни инструмент за<br />истраживање је наменски конструисан као<br />сумациона скала за процену начина стицања и<br />усвајања знања о ИКТ. На основу резултата<br />истраживања, утврђено је да ученици у великој<br />мери користе информалне изворе знања, утврђени<br />су начини на који ученици најчешће долазе до<br />информација и знања о ИКТ, а посебно се истиче<br />значај коришћења Интернета као информалног<br />извора знања. Такође, резултатима истраживања је<br />утврђено да се коришћењем информалних извора<br />знања доприноси повећању нивоа информатичке,<br />дигиталне и мултимедијалне писмености ученика.<br />Резултати истраживања могу да послуже као<br />допринос валидацији информалног учења.</p> / <p>Doktorska disertacija razmatra uticaj<br />informalnog učenja na nivo informacione<br />pismenosti učenika. U cilju toga, analiziraju se<br />karakteristike informalnog učenja, načini<br />korišćenja informalnih izvora znanja, kao i<br />načini na koji učenici najčešće dolaze do<br />informacija i znanja o IKT. Istraživanje je<br />vršeno na uzorku od 930 učenika četvrtih razreda<br />srednjih škola, a merni instrument za<br />istraživanje je namenski konstruisan kao<br />sumaciona skala za procenu načina sticanja i<br />usvajanja znanja o IKT. Na osnovu rezultata<br />istraživanja, utvrđeno je da učenici u velikoj<br />meri koriste informalne izvore znanja, utvrđeni<br />su načini na koji učenici najčešće dolaze do<br />informacija i znanja o IKT, a posebno se ističe<br />značaj korišćenja Interneta kao informalnog<br />izvora znanja. Takođe, rezultatima istraživanja je<br />utvrđeno da se korišćenjem informalnih izvora<br />znanja doprinosi povećanju nivoa informatičke,<br />digitalne i multimedijalne pismenosti učenika.<br />Rezultati istraživanja mogu da posluže kao<br />doprinos validaciji informalnog učenja.</p> / <p>The doctoral dissertation examines the impact of<br />informal learning on the students&rsquo; information literacy<br />level. For that purpose, it analyses characteristics of<br />informal learning, the ways informal knowledge<br />sources are used, as well as the methods most<br />frequently used by students to obtain the information<br />and knowledge on ICT. The research has been<br />conducted on a sample of 930 fourth grade secondary<br />school students, and the research measuring instrument<br />has been a questionnaire created with a specific<br />purpose to assess the ways knowledge on ICT has been<br />obtained and acquired. Based on the research results, it<br />has been concluded that students use informal<br />knowledge sources to a large extent, the means<br />students use most frequently to obtain information and<br />knowledge on ICT have been identified as well,<br />whereas the significance of the use of internet as<br />informal knowledge source is most remarkable. The<br />research results have also shown that use of informal<br />knowledge sources contribute to the increase of the<br />level of the students&rsquo; information, digital and<br />multimedia literacy. The research results may serve as<br />a contribution to validation of informal learning.</p>