Elevers delaktighet och förmågan att kunna kommunicera är två grundläggande faktorer som kan påverka elevers framtid. För att elever med olika kommunikationsformer ska kunna vara delaktiga i sin lärprocess krävs att det finns tillgång till varierande kommunikationssätt. Formuleringarna i Skolverkets styrdokument var dock inte tillräckligt tillgängliga för elever som läser gymnasiesärskolans individuella program. För att förtydligöra det centrala innehållet i kursplanen och kunskapskraven skapade pedagogerna en unik samtalskarta som använder elevnära språk, AKK, och illustrerade skrifttexterna till bilderna. Syftet med denna fallstudie är att undersöka hur elever med utvecklingsstörning kan ges möjlighet att bli mer delaktiga i undervisning och kunskapsbedömning genom användningen av alternativ och kompletterande kommunikation (AKK). Studien baseras på det sociokulturella perspektivet och KASAM-teori (Känsla av SAMmanhang) och har en kvalitativ deduktiv forskningsansats. Metoden som används i denna studie är intervjuer med speciallärare och elever samt observationer av olika lektioner för att veta mer om de samtalskartor som främjar elevers delaktighet i undervisning och kunskapsbedömning. Analysmetod i den studien är kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet visar att med användning av de samtalskartor som illustrerar det centrala  innehållet i kursplan  och kunskapskravens ”trappor ” blir lektionerna meningsfulla, begripliga och hanterbara, så att eleverna blir motiverade och vill vara delaktiga i undervisning och kunskapsbedömning. / Students participation and their ability of communication are two fundamental factors that can influence their future. For enabling students with different communication forms to participate in their learning processes, it is necessary to create accesses to varying methods of communication. However, the governing documents of the Swedish National Education Agency were not sufficiently accessible for students in special needs upper secondary school individual program. In order to clarify the central content of the syllabus and the knowledge requirements, the educators created a unique conversation map that illustrates scripture texts for images in the student-friendly language, AAC (Augmentative and alternative communication). This case study aims to investigate the ways to support students to become more active in the education and knowledge evaluation by using the conversation maps.  The study is based on the sociocultural perspective and SOC-theory (Sense of Coherence) and follows a deductive approach. The methods used in this study consist of interviews with specialist teachers and students as well as observations of various lessons, in order to acquire a deep understanding of how the conversation maps can be utilized to promote the participation of students in education and knowledge assessment. The analysis method in this study is qualitative content analysis. The result shows that, by using the conversation maps that illustrate the central content of the syllabus and the required knowledge levels, the lessons became more meaningful, comprehensible and manageable, and consequently the students got more motivated and eager to participate in education and knowledge assessment.

This study explores what factors Kenyan journalists perceive influence their assessment of progress in the country and in what ways they believe their world-views impact their reporting. The study also assesses the journalists' awareness and knowledge of national progress achieved in development indicators. The study took an exploratory approach and used a mixed research method design. Nine semi-structured in-depth interviews with Kenyan journalists were complemented with a multi-choice web-survey. The survey was circulated using the snow-ball principle and after an eight-week period, 74 survey responses were collected and analyzed. The study reveals that knowledge, newsroom experience and the negative bias of news are all factors that journalists report influence their perceptions, although many of the journalists did not believe their perceptions affect their reporting. The study also found that the journalists overestimated their actual factual knowledge of progress and underestimated the actual progress achieved in the country. On average, the journalists picked the right answer in about a third of the fact-based questions, which were related to the country's performance in development indicators. Considering that journalism plays a vital function in society, the research suggests cross-sector discussions and further studies should be carried out on potential knowledge gaps and possible cognitive biases of journalists.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is significantly more prevalent among African Americans than within the general population, but rates of early detection are lower in the African American community. Researchers have demonstrated that both pessimistic Alzheimer's-directed health beliefs, and negative perceptions of the effectiveness and the accessibility of medical care act as barriers to care seeking by African American family members of individuals with the disease. Recent research into causal judgments made by potential caregivers about individuals with undiagnosed AD suggests that gender bias and errors in attribution may constitute covert barriers to both lay and professional interpretations regarding the need for cognitive assessment. This study used grounded theory to investigate whether African American family caregivers hold integrated, gender-distinct beliefs about causal attributions of their family member's cognitive decline which may contribute to a delay in care-seeking behaviors. The health belief model was used in conjunction with the attribution theory as the conceptual framework for understanding the data. Purposive sampling of geriatric and memory clinics, and a church was used to recruit eight family caregivers who participated in in-depth interviews. The results indicated that there is a significant lack of caregivers' knowledge and understanding of AD regardless of gender, and that this lack is linked to delays in diagnosis. These results may be used to support the development of a new theory of family caregivers' knowledge and understanding of AD. The social change implications include decreasing delayed diagnosis through increased educational awareness, community outreach programs, and universal mandatory cognitive testing of AD for at-risk individuals.

The main objective of this thesis is a comprehensive assessment of the practical usability and effectiveness of modern activating teaching methods in economic subjects in fulfilling the RVP economics and business and RVP Business Academy in comparison with traditional (standard) methods. To achieve this goal, a systematic clarification and evaluation of key elements of the choice of adequate methods of teaching, presentation and comparison of traditional, modern activating and comprehensive teaching methods was employed. Selected modern activating methods are described in detail, including the procedure and examples of their application in the teaching of management on the circuit of the secondary vocational schools. Current status in the use of teaching methods by teachers of economic subjects on selected secondary vocational schools was mapped and assessed through quantitative (structured interviewing of students and teachers) and qualitative (interview with trachet of economic subjects at selected schools, testing of students -- pretest and posttest) methods of empirical educational research and realization of experimental teaching. The results of the analysis of the usefulness and effectiveness of modern activating methods in achieving the educational goals of economic education in secondary vocational schools are summarized in the form of a SWOT analysis. The work, inter alia, examines and assesses the barriers in the application of modern methods of teaching, to what extent these methods contribute to the building of the desired competences of students and in particular the so-called, soft skills of students, verifies the effectiveness of the textbooks Management based on modern activating methods in meeting educational goals. The thesis provides outputs for management of secondary schools including, in particular, the RVP Business Academy and RVP economics and business, which may become a guideline, the stimulus for change methods and forms of teaching, the need to offset the interest of schools from traditional methods to modern activating methods. It can become a tool and an inspiration for each of economic subjects in the adoption and subsequent implementation of modern teaching methods, since it contains a procedure for their application. The intention of the processing of the research problem and solved in the framework of this thesis was to contribute to pedagogical theory and practice the findings supporting the need for qualitative changes in the process. It offers practical recommendations and observations, how should a teacher of economic subjects at secondary vocational schools to proceed with the introduction of modern activating methods. The chosen research methods and processes to provide a relatively large amount of data, the processing to get a deeper insight on the role, effectiveness and applicability of modern teaching methods in the environment of the contemporary secondary economic education.