The aim of the study is to find out what pre-school teachers perceived of the curriculum, regarding esthetic subjects. The study is built on the teachers thoughts and ideas about the esthetic work, and how it is supposed to help all children develop. How the teachers has interpreted the curriculum points on how they have chosen to work with the esthetic subjects. The study is based on interviews with six teachers, from two pre-schools. The material from the interviews has then been analyzed with theories and earlier research. The result shows that the teachers think that the esthetic expressions are a language, and that the pre-school is supposed to give the children the opportunity to experience different types, for example dance, music, drama and art. The teachers didn’t seem to have considered the esthetic expressions as a tool to learn other subjects. They have interpreted the aims of the curriculum as aims for the children. Several teachers also think that the aim points on the importance of finishing started projects. They also wish for more time to plan and organize the work with the children.

The central focus of this study is to look at the legitimacy of using computer games for textual study in subject English and to understand the value that non-traditional forms of narrative text can have in enhancing student learning and enjoyment. This thesis argues that when students are engaged in textual study that is pleasurable, learning outcomes can be enhanced. Narrative computer games are appropriately placed within the realm of popular cultural texts, therefore, this study is also located within a cultural studies field of inquiry. A range of theoretical lenses which are appropriate to this field, such as critical theory, poststructuralism, reader response theories and narratology, are drawn upon in order to provide different perspectives on knowledge, relationships of power, and elements of story. These multiple perspectives are combined to construct a methodological framework for my research that brings a richness to data analysis. In locating my study within this multi-dimensional methodological framework, it is possible to achieve a layering and interpretation of the many different responses to the binaries of “work” versus “play” inherent in my title. The study focuses on a junior secondary English class at a school in South-east Queensland. The students undertook a curriculum unit which used a critical literacy framework to study the narratives and cultural identifications inherent in a number of computer games. The participants’ responses to “play” within the classroom forms one facet of the study; the depth of narrative experience enabled by computer games forms another facet; and the final facet examines the cultural responses to newer forms of literacies. The study concludes that using narrative computer games as a form of text for study in subject English allows for an examination of new forms of literacies that are student-friendly. A hybridised form of communication and pedagogy is also suggested. Narrative computer games allow for pleasure and play in the classroom, albeit in a less traditional way, and a hybridised communication can allow students and teachers access to a dialogue that values the learning experiences associated with this textual medium.

A fundamental problem which confronts Science teachers is the difficulty many students experience in the construction, understanding and remembering of concepts. This is more likely to occur when teachers adhere to a Transmission model of teaching and learning, and fail to provide students with opportunities to construct their own learning. Social construction, followed by individual reflective writing, enables students to construct their own understanding of concepts and effectively promotes deep learning. This method of constructing knowledge in the classroom is often overlooked by teachers as they either have no knowledge of it, or do not know how to appropriate it for successful teaching in Science. This study identifies the difficulties which students often experience when writing reflectively and offers solutions which are likely to reduce these difficulties. These solutions, and the use of reflective writing itself, challenge the ideology of the Sydney Genre School, which forms the basis of the attempt to deal with literacy in the NSW Science Syllabus. The findings of this investigation support the concept of literacy as the ability to use oral and written language, reading and listening to construct meaning. The investigation demonstrates how structured discussion, role play and reflective writing can be used to this end. While the Sydney Genre School methodology focuses on the structure of genre as a prerequisite for understanding concepts in Science, the findings of this study demonstrate that students can use their own words to discuss and write reflectively as they construct scientific concepts for themselves. Social construction and reflective writing can contribute to the construction of concepts and the development of metacognition in Science. However, students often experience difficulties when writing reflectively about scientific concepts they are learning. In this investigation, students identified these difficulties as an inability to understand, remember and think about a concept and to plan the sequence of their reflective writing. This study was undertaken in four different classes at junior to senior levels. The difficulties identified by students were successfully addressed by role play and the activities that are integral to it. These include physical or kinaesthetic activity, social construction, the use of drawing, diagrams and text, and the provision of a concrete model of the concept. Through the enactment effect, kinaesthetic activity enables students to automatically remember and visualise concepts, whilst visual stimuli and social construction provide opportunities for students to both visualise and verbalise concepts. In addition, the provision of a concrete model enables most students to visualise and understand abstract concepts to some extent. These activities, embedded in role play, enable students to understand, remember, sequence and think about a concept as they engage in reflective writing. This, in turn, enhances understanding and memory. Role play has hitherto been regarded as a useful teaching technique when dealing with very young students. This study demonstrates that role play can be highly effective when teaching Science at the secondary level. This investigation looks at the activities embedded in role play, and demonstrates how they can be effectively translated from theoretical constructs into classroom practice. Grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1978; 1998; 2002) was selected as the most appropriate methodology for this investigation. The problems of identifying and controlling variables in an educational setting were essentially resolved using this qualitative, interpretative approach. Students from four classes in Years 8, 10 and 11 were investigated. Data were gathered using classroom observations, informal interviews, and formal written interviews, focus group conversations and samples of student writing. / Master of Education (Hons.)

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Carleton University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 134-148). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Thesis (Typsecript photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-106). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1996. / Issued also on microfilm. Includes tables. Sponsor: Lenore M. Pogonowski. Dissertation Committee: Harold F. Abeles. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-125).

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 1, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Wendy Sims. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.R.E.)--B.Y.U. Dept. of Graduate Studies in Religious Instruction.

Thesis (Ph. D)--University of Oregon, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-94). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.