Thesis (M.I.T.)--The Evergreen State College, 2010. / Title from title screen (viewed 7/7/2010). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-146).

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2003. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

In this thesis we present an incremental learning algorithm for learning and classifying the pattern of movement of multiple objects in a dynamic scene. The method that we describe is based on symbolic representations of the patterns. The typical representation has a spatial component that describes the relationships of the objects and a temporal component that describes the ordering of the actions of the objects in the scene. The incremental learning algorithm (ILF) uses evidence based forgetting, generates compact concept structures and can track concept drift.We also present two novel algorithms that combine incremental learning and image analysis. The first algorithm is used in an American Football application and shows how natural language parsing can be combined with image processing and expert background knowledge to address the difficult problem of classifying and learning American Football plays. We present in detail the model developed to representAmerican Football plays, the parser used to process the transcript of the American Football commentary and the algorithms developed to label the players and classify the queries. The second algorithm is used in a cricket application. It combines incremental machine learning and camera motion estimation to classify and learn common cricket shots. We describe the method used to extract and convert the camera motion parameter values to symbolic form and the processing involved in learning the shots.Finally, we explore the issues that arise from combining incremental learning with incremental recognition. Two methods that combine incremental recognition and incremental learning are presented along with a comparison between the algorithms.

Background: Mind-body dualisms create particular difficulties for researching and justifying learning and knowledge within PE practices. These issues are compounded in the UK by prevailing cognitivistic ideas of education, knowledge and learning. Crum (1993) suggests reconceptualising PE as movement culture as a potential solution to the limitations created by dualistic positions within education. How knowledge and learning within movement culture is positioned, however, was left underdeveloped by Crum. The aim of this thesis is to explore an embodied, action position on knowledge and learning, as a potential solution to this issue. Purpose: This thesis is driven by two purposes. The first; to examine and discuss how John Dewey’s theorising of knowledge and learning within experience provides a theoretical position on knowledge and learning within movement culture. The second; to utilise this position to explore how pupils’ and teachers’ actions within primary PE lessons constitute and negotiate the movement cultures within their school. Findings: In adopting a position which dissolves mind-body dualisms, movement culture allows the practical work of PE lessons to be considered as contexts of knowledge production. This opens up our understanding of different ways of knowing in PE through pupils’ epistemological ‘action-in-PE-settings’. Rather than creating another hybrid of educational ideology by objectifying what to ‘do’ or ‘know’, movement culture keeps the ‘who’ of participation in PE practice in view. Such a position is achieved because pupils are seen as ‘coming to know’ through their immediate and continuous experiences of sports and physical activities both in PE and beyond the school gates. By dissolving traditional dualisms within educational ideology, movement culture allows ideologies and assumptions about learning in PE to be decoded and managed. It also provides a framework to explore subject-matter for learning and analyses some of the disconnections which exist within PE practice. Conclusions: Reconceptualising PE as movement culture is not intended to create a logic of practice to which I claim PE should ascribe. In this thesis, movement culture offers a position from which to consider the continuity between PE and pupils’ lives within and outside of the school gates. Such a standpoint can challenge our ideas as to what subject-matter could be within PE and the possibilities of learning outcomes other than those that focus on performance sport or bodily training for fitness. From a research perspective questions arise in relation to understanding very young pupils’ experiences of knowing within PE and how learning and knowledge are embodied across other subject areas. Addressing such questions may help to support new understandings of learning and knowledge within schools that are concurrent with developing new methodologies and research tools. These may in turn support the continuing development of pedagogical practices.

Syftet med den här studien är att bidra med kunskap om varför det är viktigt att barn får delta i olika rörelseaktiviteter på förskolan. Uppsatsen kommer bland annat att lyfta hur förskollärare tänker kring rörelse, vilka former av rörelse som integreras samt vilka förutsättningar pedagogerna upplever att de har när det gäller att erbjuda barnen olika rörelseaktiviteter. Studien har genomförts med en induktiv kvalitativ forskningsmetod, genom intervjuer av förskollärare. De intervjuade har valts ut efter i vilka miljöer deras förskoleverksamheter är belägna. Miljöerna varierar från stadskärna till glesbygd. Studien ses som småskalig då endast ett fåtal personer ingår. I den litteratur och den forskning vi tagit del av är det återkommande temat att rörelse är bra för hela kroppen och främjar både den motoriska utvecklingen, hjärnans utveckling samt hälsan. Forskningen visar att barn behöver få träna sin motorik för att utveckla motoriska grundformer såsom att krypa, springa, balansera m.m. och få ett automatiserat rörelsemönster. Ju mer automatiserat deras rörelsemönster är, ju mer underlättar det för dem att kunna koncentrera sig på att klara av att utföra en aktivitet och kunna delta i lek och umgås med sina kamrater. Även en god fysik kan påverka om barnet orkar vara med och leka fysiska lekar såsom tafattlekar och fotboll. Barns motoriska utveckling gynnas om de får vistas i varierande miljöer där de får utmanas i sin motoriska träning. De får uppleva och lära med hela kroppen och alla sina sinnen. I studien framgår att förskolor erbjuder barnen rörelseaktiviteter som främjar barns motoriska utveckling. I resultatet framgår att samtliga respondenter ser rörelse, motorik, lärande och hälsa som en helhetsbild, dock med fokus på hälsa och livsstil, något som speglar samhället idag. Forskning visar att en livsstil där rörelse ingår gärna kan planteras hos barn i tidig ålder, en aspekt som även respondenterna nämnde.