The aim of this thesis has been to gain an insight into the process of environmental learning in adults after a move to a new city. In particular, the research has aimed to discover more about the nature of the influences of certain factors that are thought to be a cause of differential environmental learning between individuals. Principal amongst these factors of interest have been gender, spatial ability, environmental disposition and modes of interaction with the environment. As a field of concern, the study has fallen within the domains of behavioural geography and environmental psychology (or within what some choose to call 'environment and behaviour' research). As such, the approach has been multi-disciplinary. Most theoretical input into the study has come from the learning and developmental theories of those who have studied child development. The study has adopted a part-longitudinal, part-cross-sectional framework, in order that the disadvantages of each might be minimized. Four separate field studies have been conducted using groups of individuals who had been living in the city of Leicester for three months, six months, twelve months and three years or more. The three month and three year groups were interviewed only once, but the six and twelve month groups were comprised of the same individuals, thus constituting the cross-sectional element. A total of one hundred and forty-six lengthy interviews were conducted by the researcher over the period of one year. Respondents have been selected on the basis of their length of residence in the city. Limitations of time and manpower have dictated the sample sizes, which have in turn demanded that certain variables not of primary interest to the present research but which might be expected to influence environmental learning, be controlled. As a reasonably homogeneous group on many of these variables (e.g. age, socio-economic status, life-style, life-cycle stage, and location of place of residence and place of work (and thus activity space)), postgraduate students and new members of academic staff to the University in the academic years of 1985 and 1986 have been chosen as the study population. A random sampling procedure has been adopted for the selection of respondents from this population for the sample groups. The interview schedules have contained a mixture of questions and tests/exercises which were aimed at eliciting the following information; the personal characteristics of the respondent, macro-spatial ability, environmental disposition and knowledge of the Leicester environment. Previous studies of this nature have concentrated on certain aspects of environmental knowledge (such as knowledge of distances between landmarks, or knowledge of the layout of the city centre), but this study has adopted a holistic approach aiming to achieve an insight into the acquisition of knowledge in general with all its interacting component parts. Thus the study has concentrated on both the quantity and quality of knowledge, and has questioned respondents on aspects of the city which have ranged from the structure of the city centre, to the nature of local industry and the geographical distribution of the unemployed. Information has been elicited using techniques which included sketch mapping, abstract spatial tests, response to both iconic and aerial photographs and normal questioning. The resulting data has been coded and compiled into a data matrix which was entered onto a Vaxcluster mainframe computer. The data has been processed using SPSSx.

No description available.

The aim of this literature study is to find out how four Swedish scholars identify themeaning of the subject religious education in Sweden. Thereafter the result of theSwedish scholars interpretation is to be compared with British theories on how religiouseducation may be applied in schools through different strategies and principlesdeveloped by five different RE scholars.The method used in this thesis is a systematic literature study with a qualitative hermeneuticmethod. The empirical literature is analyzed and interpreted by me and thereafterplaced in the right context to read how the scholars view the subject. Accordingto the scholars and the Swedish curriculum, the results showed that the Swedishscholars have a similar view on what they think is the meaning with RE. The fundamentalidea is that the education should be child-centered and evolve around pupilsknowledge, background and abilities to attain the purpose of the subject. Which willlead to an immersed knowledge, understanding, respect and tolerance for different religiouspositions.Both the British and the Swedish scholars agreed that the dominating secular and atheistpoint of view in the classrooms and in the society, constitutes challenges for theteachers to apply the different strategies to achieve the meaning of RE. The Swedishscholars opine that the RE needs to contribute to learning about and learning fromreligions through different perspectives that show religions from the inside perspectiveand the outside perspective.

<p>Syftet med mitt arbete var att undersöka sexåringars miljömedvetenhet, samt hur de har tillförskaffat sig denna kunskap. Jag har genomfört kvalitativa intervjuer med samtliga 13 elever i en förskoleklass. Genom att diskutera kring 7 saker glasburk, läskedrycksburk, löv, papptallrik, plastmugg, tidning och äppelskrutt som vi lade ut i skogen under en månad fick jag kunskap om vad barnen trodde skulle ske med sakerna under tiden i skogen, var barnen skulle ha slängt sakerna samt hur de hade erhållit denna kunskap.</p><p>Barnen trodde att det var vädret som påverkade processen med sakerna i skogen. De utgår från vad de har sett och sätter in det i ett sammanhang. Det har lärt mig att utgå från barnens vardag när det gäller naturvetenskapliga fenomen.</p><p>När det gäller återvinning var kunskapen större om glasåtervinning än om plaståtervinning hos sexåringarna. Kunskapen om kompostering var obefintlig. Genom detta arbete tror jag att kompostering kan vara ett bra sätt att väcka miljöintresse hos barn.</p><p>Jag fann att mamman var en viktig kunskapsförmedlare inom detta område. 10 av 13 barn svarade att någon anhörig hade lärt dem det som de svarade i denna studie. Av dessa 10 barn nämnde 8 mamma eller mamma och pappa som anhörig. Två av barnen svarade att de hade erhållit kunskapen genom TV. Ingen av barnen nämnde förskolan eller förskoleklassen som kunskapsförmedlare.</p> / <p>The purpose of my study was to examine the environmental awareness of six-year-olds and how they have acquired this knowledge. I have carried out qualitative interviews with all the thirteen pupils in one pre-school class.</p><p>By discussing seven things, a glass jar, a soda can, a leaf, a paper plate, a plastic mug, a newspaper, and an apple core, which we put away in the forest for a month, I gained the knowledge of what the children thought would happen to the seven different things and where they had acquired their knowledge.</p><p>The children thought it was the weather that affected the process of the seven things. Their assumptions were based on what they see and put into a context. I have learnt to start from children’s everyday life when explaining scientific phenomena, to children.</p><p>When it comes to recycling, the fact was that the knowledge of recycling glass was more widely spread than the knowledge of recycling plastics among the six-year-olds. The knowledge of composting was nonexistent. As a result of this study, I think that composting might be a good idea in order to raise an environmental interest among children.</p><p>I found that mothers were important contributors to knowledge in this field. When questioned who had taught them what they knew in this field, ten of thirteen children answered that a close relative had taught them what they knew, i.e. what they had answered in the study. Eight out of these ten pupils mentioned their mothers or their mothers and fathers as this/these close relative/s. Two of the children said that they had acquired this knowledge through TV. None of the children mentioned day care centre, nursery school or pre-school class as contributors to any environmental awareness.</p>

Syftet med mitt arbete var att undersöka sexåringars miljömedvetenhet, samt hur de har tillförskaffat sig denna kunskap. Jag har genomfört kvalitativa intervjuer med samtliga 13 elever i en förskoleklass. Genom att diskutera kring 7 saker glasburk, läskedrycksburk, löv, papptallrik, plastmugg, tidning och äppelskrutt som vi lade ut i skogen under en månad fick jag kunskap om vad barnen trodde skulle ske med sakerna under tiden i skogen, var barnen skulle ha slängt sakerna samt hur de hade erhållit denna kunskap. Barnen trodde att det var vädret som påverkade processen med sakerna i skogen. De utgår från vad de har sett och sätter in det i ett sammanhang. Det har lärt mig att utgå från barnens vardag när det gäller naturvetenskapliga fenomen. När det gäller återvinning var kunskapen större om glasåtervinning än om plaståtervinning hos sexåringarna. Kunskapen om kompostering var obefintlig. Genom detta arbete tror jag att kompostering kan vara ett bra sätt att väcka miljöintresse hos barn. Jag fann att mamman var en viktig kunskapsförmedlare inom detta område. 10 av 13 barn svarade att någon anhörig hade lärt dem det som de svarade i denna studie. Av dessa 10 barn nämnde 8 mamma eller mamma och pappa som anhörig. Två av barnen svarade att de hade erhållit kunskapen genom TV. Ingen av barnen nämnde förskolan eller förskoleklassen som kunskapsförmedlare. / The purpose of my study was to examine the environmental awareness of six-year-olds and how they have acquired this knowledge. I have carried out qualitative interviews with all the thirteen pupils in one pre-school class. By discussing seven things, a glass jar, a soda can, a leaf, a paper plate, a plastic mug, a newspaper, and an apple core, which we put away in the forest for a month, I gained the knowledge of what the children thought would happen to the seven different things and where they had acquired their knowledge. The children thought it was the weather that affected the process of the seven things. Their assumptions were based on what they see and put into a context. I have learnt to start from children’s everyday life when explaining scientific phenomena, to children. When it comes to recycling, the fact was that the knowledge of recycling glass was more widely spread than the knowledge of recycling plastics among the six-year-olds. The knowledge of composting was nonexistent. As a result of this study, I think that composting might be a good idea in order to raise an environmental interest among children. I found that mothers were important contributors to knowledge in this field. When questioned who had taught them what they knew in this field, ten of thirteen children answered that a close relative had taught them what they knew, i.e. what they had answered in the study. Eight out of these ten pupils mentioned their mothers or their mothers and fathers as this/these close relative/s. Two of the children said that they had acquired this knowledge through TV. None of the children mentioned day care centre, nursery school or pre-school class as contributors to any environmental awareness.

In marketing research, customer relationship management (CRM) is often described as a strategy for collecting customer information through an IT- infrastructure in order to manage customer relationships (e.g. Boulding et al 2005; Keramati et al 2010; Nguyen and Mutum 2012). Most of the existing research within CRM has focused on IT-infrastructure and implementation issues rather than on how CRM can enable knowledge sharing among individuals and working teams. Difficulties regarding information and knowledge creation, as well as sharing knowledge in both formal and informal ways, are not particularly well addressed in CRM literature. Hence, this study adopts a holistic approach to CRM and aims to “Understand how a B2B-organisation organise for strategic CRM”, and “Investigate how organisational aspects can act as drivers or barriers for learning about customer relationships”. The holistic approach implies that organisational aspects (such as co-workers, organisational culture, internal processes and affordance, c.f. Finnegan and Currie 2010) should be captured and seen as integrated parts of strategic CRM together with the more tangible CRM- system. Besides that, this study attempts to answer the question, “How does a B2B-organisation work with CRM to learn about their customer relationships”. Previous research has shown that intra-organisational problems emerge when implementing and using CRM with both researchers and software providers approaching CRM from a technological perspective with a heavy emphasis on IT-infrastructure (e.g. Bohling et al 2006; Coltman et al 2011). Despite its importance, IT-infrastructure is just one aspect that managers have to consider when making decisions about implementing and organising for CRM. From previous research we can learn that organisational aspects, such as co-workers, internal processes, and organisational culture (e.g. Finnegan and Currie 2010; Jayachandran et al 2005) are important to consider when implementing and using CRM. Thus, discovering how B2B- companies organise for strategic CRM necessitates the use of a holistic approach to CRM, based on the philosophy of relationship marketing (e.g. Grönroos 2008a; Nguyen and Mutum 2012; Storbacka and Lehtinen 2000). The empirical context in this study is the accounting and auditing industry. During recent years Swedish accounting and auditing firms have faced changes in the macro environment due to changes in legislation, which hasviitransformed the industry to become more customer oriented and CRM has been brought to interest in many firms. Based on that, a third and more practitionary aimed aim for this study is to ”Identify for accounting and auditing industry relevant organisational aspects for use of CRM”.In the theory chapter I first review the philosophy of relationship marketing, highlights the differences between B2B- and B2C-contexts and shows the nature of B2B-relationships, where multiple parties often are involved in the relationship. The study then sheds light on current research streams in CRM-literature and identifies two major research streams, the technology- oriented one and an organisational-oriented one. The thesis proceeds to review information, knowledge and learning domains and integrates relevant theoretical frameworks from these research areas into CRM-literature. The theory chapter rounds off by presenting and discussing “communities of practice” as an organisational approach that enables and cultivates learning in organisations.The study adopts an explorative research approach connected to the research question and purposes and the empirical inquiry is conducted through an abductive approach and investigates a large auditing and consulting firm, a major actor in the Swedish audit- and accounting business, during the time period of 2,5 years. The empirical data is comprised of 44 meeting observations of key account teams, as well as a sales group and 31 in-depth interviews with members of the groups. Moreover, several meeting observations with members of a sales team and a responsible-advisor team were conducted in one of the auditing firm ́s local offices to provide an understanding of how CRM as an organizational strategy is adopted and used by different individuals and groups working with different types of customers.In the analysis I built on the theoretical framework and case findings to empirically identify relevant themes connected to the customer relationships, to the development and learning processes in working teams and among individuals, and to intra-organisational prerequisites and structures. The identified themes were then further analysed in order to find out how CRM as a strategic approach is used to learn about customer relationships. This study shows that managers have to integrate relevant intra- organisational aspects to be able to organise for and implement CRM with a purpose to generate learning about customer relationships in a successful way. While previous research have shown that the organizational aspects may vary depending on company-context, size and type of customers, this study suggests that managers should consider “strategic communities of practice” as an important strategy to enable knowledge sharing, and thusviiicultivate learning processes among individuals, groups and divisions. However, enabling and cultivating for strategic communities of practice is not suitable for all groups of individuals due to their work tasks, or what goals and objectives managers have with the particular group or team. This finding is important to address since CRM, when narrowly approached as an IT-infrastructure, does not capture all relevant information and results in a lot of important knowledge about customer relationships getting stuck in minds of smaller working groups - instead of being shared with colleagues in networks or communities of practice, and thus contributing to organisational learning about customer relationships. The study shows that if CRM is to act as an enabler for relationship-specific knowledge sharing, managers have to enable interactive knowledge sharing among co-workers through for example communities of practice. These interactions, along with traditional information collection are strongly needed, especially in the context of B2B-services companies. To conclude, CRM-literature have to be re-examined to further incorporate discussions regarding learning processes and knowledge sharing to target a deeper, as well as a more holistic, understanding of customer relationships.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur några pedagoger i förskolan bemöter och arbetar med barns tankar och frågor om fortplantning. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer med tio pedagoger, verksamma på tre olika förskolor, undersökte jag hur de arbetar med frågor som berör fortplantning. Studien tar upp möjligheter och hinder som pedagoger stöter på i detta arbete, samt likheter och skillnader i pedagogers förhållningssätt till ämnet. Resultatet visar att det finns flera olika aspekter och synsätt när det gäller lärande om fortplantning. Barnens frågor och funderingar står i fokus och är avgörande för hur pedagogerna arbetar inom området. Pedagogerna använder sig av böcker, internet och filmer om de vill arbeta med lärande om fortplantning. När de jobbar med lärande om växter och djurs reproduktion ger de sig ut i naturen. Pedagogerna ser svåra ord och begrepp som ett hinder för samtal om fortplantning. De menar också att föräldrars åsikter i ämnet samt olika kulturer kan problematisera deras arbete. Pedagogerna är eniga om att deras eget engagemang är mycket viktigt i arbetet med lärande om fortplantning. Några av pedagogerna anser att det är ett enkelt ämne att arbeta med medan några tycker att det är problematiskt. / The purpose of this study is to research how some pre-school teachers respond to children´s thoughts and questions about the reproductive process in their teaching. The study is conducted through qualitative interviews with ten teachers from three different pre-schools. The findings show both possibilities and difficulties that the teachers encounter in this area, as well as the teachers’ different approaches to the subject. The results show that there are several different aspects and views concerning the reproductive process teaching. The children’s own questions are of vital importance to the choice of pedagogic methods in this subject. The teachers use books, the internet and films, as well as outdoor excursions when teaching the reproduction process in plants and animals. Conclusions show that abstract words and concepts form obstacles in the dialogues about the reproductive process. The didactics can also be rendered more difficult by parental views and different cultures. The teachers unanimously pointed to their own commitment as a key factor to success in the reproductive process teaching. Some of the teachers find this an easy subject to teach while others find it problematic.

This diploma thesis deals with the arthropod strain as a suitable taxon model in learning about the nature at the first grade of a primary school. The methodological analysis of using the animal strain explains the reasons why the arthropods are used in teaching natural science lessons and provides specific characteristics and manifestations of living organisms, which are possible to be demonstrated on it. The second part of the literature review presents the status of learning about the nature according to the Framework educational program and representation of arthropods in czech textbooks of the natural sciences. The thesis is a collection of newly created exercises for a first degree pupils of primary education, using the selected representatives of arthropods. These tasks use the methods of the direct study of nature and the elements of contemporary popular research-oriented teaching.

The overall aim of this study is divided into two parts, firstly to analyze the view of four swedish upper secondary school students on what the meaning with religious education in Sweden should be. Secondly, to analyze how these four students experience their education in religion and compare it with their teachers view on the meaning of religious education and how she conducts the teaching. It is an empirical study and the results are based on semistructural interviews made individually with each participant. The analytical approach is a hermeneutic analysis with interpretation as the main focus. The findings and the result of the study indicates that the swedish students view the religious education as an important subject to understand and explore their own worldviews, other peoples views, traditions and differences. The students and the teacher have similar thoughts on what the meaning with religious education should be, but in practise the students lack an inside perspective of religions, a meeting with people who identify themselves as religious. The teacher however does not include this in her education, nor does she speak of this during the interviews. The results also show that the swedish students thoughts about religious education is very similiar to what previous research has shown is lacking in the swedish education in religion. In summary, both the students and previous research points out that the inside perspective in religious education is very important to be able to reach the goals of the curriculom in the subject, which include a development of understanding different religions and people.