This thesis explores teaching practice as a function of years of experience with Knowledge Building pedagogy, emphasizing teachers’ continual improvement of practice while they foster continual improvement of students’ ideas. Knowledge Building practice places students’ ideas at the centre of the classroom enterprise, with the principal challenge being enabling students to take effective responsibility for improvement of ideas. Building on a variety of models of teacher thinking and development, a problem space model is developed specifically geared to the development of Knowledge Building practices. This model is used to guide the investigation and provide a theoretically- and empirically-based description of shifts teachers undergo as they gain skill in Knowledge Building pedagogy. The model also serves to convey how Knowledge Building teachers differ from other skillful teachers. The principal shift is from a centrist to relational (or systemic) perspective. This perspectival shift is examined in five problem spaces: Curriculum/Standards, Social Interaction, Student Capability, Classroom Structures and Constraints, and Technology. Underlying the centrist perspective is a belief in established procedures and goals typically understood to characterize effective teaching. Underlying the relational perspective is a belief in the capacity of students to develop and improve their own ideas, and a belief that in doing so students will not only mature as knowledge-builders, but will also excel in the achievement of traditional knowledge goals. The research uses multiple data sources (teacher meetings, journals, interviews and classroom observations) to analyze the work of 13 teachers over a full school year, with three embedded case studies. Results show that Knowledge Building teachers construct and explore the same problem spaces as other teachers. What distinguishes them, and places them on a different trajectory, is the relational approach that brings ideas to the centre in each problem space. The work of teachers with different levels of experience is analyzed to characterize the centrist to relational shift, which corresponds to three embedded shifts (a) surface to deep interpretation of problem and processing of information, (b) routine to adaptive approach to classroom activities and student engagement, and (c) procedure-based to principle-based reflective action.

This thesis explores teaching practice as a function of years of experience with Knowledge Building pedagogy, emphasizing teachers’ continual improvement of practice while they foster continual improvement of students’ ideas. Knowledge Building practice places students’ ideas at the centre of the classroom enterprise, with the principal challenge being enabling students to take effective responsibility for improvement of ideas. Building on a variety of models of teacher thinking and development, a problem space model is developed specifically geared to the development of Knowledge Building practices. This model is used to guide the investigation and provide a theoretically- and empirically-based description of shifts teachers undergo as they gain skill in Knowledge Building pedagogy. The model also serves to convey how Knowledge Building teachers differ from other skillful teachers. The principal shift is from a centrist to relational (or systemic) perspective. This perspectival shift is examined in five problem spaces: Curriculum/Standards, Social Interaction, Student Capability, Classroom Structures and Constraints, and Technology. Underlying the centrist perspective is a belief in established procedures and goals typically understood to characterize effective teaching. Underlying the relational perspective is a belief in the capacity of students to develop and improve their own ideas, and a belief that in doing so students will not only mature as knowledge-builders, but will also excel in the achievement of traditional knowledge goals. The research uses multiple data sources (teacher meetings, journals, interviews and classroom observations) to analyze the work of 13 teachers over a full school year, with three embedded case studies. Results show that Knowledge Building teachers construct and explore the same problem spaces as other teachers. What distinguishes them, and places them on a different trajectory, is the relational approach that brings ideas to the centre in each problem space. The work of teachers with different levels of experience is analyzed to characterize the centrist to relational shift, which corresponds to three embedded shifts (a) surface to deep interpretation of problem and processing of information, (b) routine to adaptive approach to classroom activities and student engagement, and (c) procedure-based to principle-based reflective action.

In November 1953, the editor of the Manchester Guardian, AP Wadsworth, responded to Jodrell Bank Director Bernard Lovell regarding a complaint over an article that had appeared on the observatory's radio telescope project. Wadsworth understood there had been much collaboration between Lovell and his journalists in regard to the construction of the article and so the complaint suggested that there was 'far more to it (production) than appears on the surface'. Many scholars of science and the media point to the importance of uncovering the context of production from which popular science emerges in interactions between science and media actors. However, these and many other scholars also point to the difficulty of symmetrically unravelling the production context because of the complexities of such interactions and the diverse actors and agendas at play. To view and draw out these complexities, I employ the analytical flexibility and utility of space science as a lens because the production of popular space science was of interest, and valuable, to diverse scientific and media actors. I also use a broad and triangulated selection of primary sources, including from the often-elusive media context, to explore episodes of contingency where agendas and approaches are revealed. I hypothesise the notion of a 'common arena' to aid understandings of the context of production of science and the media. Within this common arena scientists, media professionals and science-mediating specialists met to negotiate the production of popular scientific representations. Scientific and media culture and science-mediating specialists sought authority over and identities within the arena through 'contributory expertise'. In such negotiations, popular scientific representations became a form of 'boundary object'. Across the middle of the twentieth century, and especially in the space age, popular space scientific representations were prestigious and high-profile and the subject of much negotiation. In many ways, the media gained much at the expense of science by redrawing the arena, exploiting science in the way that science sought to exploit the media. On reflection the arena is too simplistic a concept to support the rich narrative history and, in future, it is hoped, will be surpassed by a more constructivist encounter model that characterises interactions and developments at the science-media interface. Despite these limitations, two supplementary arguments emerge from the empirical application of the arena concept. Firstly, that the 'problem' of science and the media is historical and its origins long precede the political movement of the same name of the 1970s. In fact, the problem originated in the 1930s as soon as the traditional authority over the production arena enjoyed by scientific culture, and celebrity scientists such as cosmologist James Jeans, was challenged by media professionals. The Council of the British Interplanetary Society identified it, for example. Motivated by increased public demand for popular scientific material and intensifying competition among media industries, print and broadcasting media professionals extended their cultural authority over the common arena. This extension was facilitated because technological developments, such as satellite broadcasting, further restricted membership of the arena to those who understood the demands of media technique and were committed to serving the interests of audiences rather than science; in sociological terms arena and production authority was 'reduced' to media culture. Such developments reduced the ability of experts to directly address audiences and, thus, the influence of scientists over popular representations of science. In other words, mediation was a threat to the social authority of science. However, this problem was not mobilised into a movement because the relationship between scientific and media actors remained somewhat deferent and symbiotic. This fluidity allowed the likes of radio astronomer Lovell to continue to popularise, at least for a time. Another reason why the problem was not mobilised, and comprising the second supplementary argument, was the development of science-mediating specialists as 'boundary spanners'. Public eagerness for popular science, and the tensions between scientific and media culture for authority over its production, provided the opportunity for new social identities to emerge in the arena. Science writers such as JG Crowther, Ritchie Calder, and John Maddox, and science broadcasters such as Mary Adams, Aubrey Singer, and James McCloy, developed who mediated between, and were expert in and partisan to, both media and science; they were intercultural boundary spanners. However, the extension of the cultural authority of the media over the arena meant that membership of the arena became predicated on producing copy and programming that served the commercial interests of the media. Combined with, and reflecting, growing popular ambivalence with science, such pressures on science writers and broadcasters to actively challenge the social authority of science were the catalyst for the mobilisation of the problem movement by the scientific establishment. This movement sought to redraw production arena authority and re-establish the influence of scientists over popular scientific representations, as with Beagle 2.

Detta examensarbete djupdyker i de språkliga, kontextuella och kognitiva utmaningar som andraspråkare står inför vid matematisk problemlösning inom kombinatorik. Genom observationer av elevers arbete i smågrupper deltog informanterna aktivt i lösningen av övningsuppgifter. Dessutom belystes användningen av kvalitativ metod för att utforska elevers utmaningar och söka lösningar. Datainsamlingen, fokuserande på informanternas svar och observationer, övervann initiala rekryteringsutmaningar. Arbetet understryker vikten av att identifiera och förstå de specifika utmaningar som andraspråkare mötte inom matematikämnet, med syftet att utveckla effektiva undervisningsmetoder och stödsystem.Det teoretiska ramverket och analysmetoder som användes för att kategorisera datamaterialet enligt problemrummet var Campbells modell och MAD-diagram. De gav en djupare inblick i varje specifik grupp och identifierade utmaningar under observationerna. MAD-diagrammet använde olika färger för att representera problemrummets aspekter och tiden mättes i sekunder för att fånga varje nyans i gruppens prestation under olika uppgifter. Olika koder och bokstäver användes i diagrammet. Forskningsfrågor som rapporten svarade på handlade om hur uppgiftskontexten kunde utgöra kulturell och språklig kontext/färgning för elever med utländsk bakgrund vid matematisk problemlösning i sannolikhetslära, särskilt kombinatorik och hur elevgruppernas aktiviteter hade utvecklat sig över tiden de löser en uppgift.Resultaten pekade på att uppgiftskontexten utgjorde en potentiell barriär för elever med utländsk bakgrund, där förståelse av såväl den kulturella kontexten som begreppen kunde vara utmanande. För att skapa en inkluderande matematikundervisning föreslogs strategier, inklusive en tidig betoning av kulturella aspekter i undervisningen. Dessutom fanns det påverkan av gruppstrutur på gruppresultat och aktiviteter som pågick under observationstider.Diskussionen kretsar kring kulturella perspektiv i olika grupper och deras påverkan på uppfattningar, särskilt när det gäller kulturkrockar kring matval och klädesval. Vikten av att förstå och respektera olika kulturella normer betonas.

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Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

[pt] Esta tese apresenta um estudo sobre o espaço de problema no contexto do desenvolvimento de tecnologias para terapeutas do Transtorno do Espectro do Autismo (TEA) e visa contribuir para o design de tecnologias nessa área. Apesar de haver uma grande quantidade de tecnologias para o público com TEA, tais tecnologias possibilitam em geral um uso restrito, tendo em vista a amplitude do chamado Espectro do Autismo e a variedade de Transtornos que as pessoas com um diagnóstico de TEA podem manifestar. Desse modo, torna-se essencial o desenvolvimento de tecnologias mais flexíveis que atendam às necessidades de cada indivíduo com TEA. Além disso, a literatura apresenta relatos pontuais (de sucesso ou insucesso) sobre as tecnologias desenvolvidas, mas não há uma estruturação maior do domínio. Diante disso, consideramos que há uma lacuna com relação à caracterização do problema nessa área, sendo importante explorar o espaço de problema antes de propor novas soluções. Diversos são os desafios envolvidos na adoção de tecnologias para geração de software adaptável por terapeutas de TEA, tais como a falta ou o pouco conhecimento dos terapeutas sobre esse tipo de tecnologia, o tempo escasso para o aprendizado e uso dessas tecnologias e até mesmo a falta de interesse nelas. Realizamos estudos para explorar o espaço de problema no contexto de End User Development (EUD) e levantar os principais significados, questionamentos e dificuldades dos terapeutas relacionados às tecnologias adaptáveis e/ou extensíveis e eles nos mostraram que o uso do conceito de sondas de design foi essencial para a aproximação dos terapeutas com esse tipo de tecnologia e para um aprofundamento, por parte do designer, das dificuldades e necessidades deles e os desafios inseridos nesse contexto. Além disso, esses estudos nos permitiram levantar um conjunto de possíveis alterações e adaptações que uma tecnologia voltada para esse público poderia fazer de modo a atender as necessidades dos terapeutas com seus atendidos. A partir desse conjunto levantado, analisamos essas possíveis alterações com base na teoria da Engenharia Semiótica para o contexto de EUD e investigamos como tecnologias existentes possibilitam ou não fazer esses tipos de alterações. Desse modo, essa pesquisa nos permitiu identificar o domínio de TEA como uma área de aplicação de EUD com diversos desafios, analisá-los com maior profundidade e apontar possíveis caminhos para superá-los, contribuindo para o Design de tecnologias para o público de TEA. / [en] This thesis presents a study on the problem space in the context of development of technologies for Autism Spectrum Disorder s (ASD) therapists and it aims to contribute to the design of technologies in this area. Although there is a large number of technologies to the audience with ASD, such technologies usually allow a limited use, given the extent of the Autism Spectrum and the variety of disorders that people with ASD diagnosis can have. Thus, it is essential to develop more flexible technologies that meet the needs of each individual with ASD. Moreover, the literature presents specific reports (of success or failure) about the developed technologies, but there is no organization of the domain. Therefore, we consider that there is a gap regarding the problem characterization in this area, and it is important to explore the problem space before proposing new solutions. There are several challenges related to the adoption of technologies for generating adaptable software by ASD therapists, such as the lack or little knowledge of the therapists about this kind of technology, the limited time for learning and using these technologies and even the lack of interest. We conducted studies in order to explore the problem space in the context of the End User Development (EUD) and to raise the main meanings, questions and difficulties of the therapists related to adaptable and/or extensible technologies and they showed us that the use of the design probes concept was essential for the approximation of the therapists with such technology type and a deepening understanding of their own difficulties and needs, and the challenges placed in this context. Moreover, these studies have allowed us to raise a set of possible changes and adaptations that a technology targeted for this audience could do in order to address the needs of therapists and their patients. From this achieved set, we have analyzed these possible changes based on the Semiotic Engineering theory for EUD context and we have investigated how existing technologies enable or not these kinds of changes. Thus, this research has enabled us to identify the ASD domain as an EUD application area with several challenges, to analyze them in greater depth and to identify possible ways to overcome them, contributing to the design of technologies for the ASD audience.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-06-11T19:24:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Débora de Oliveira Lemos Rocha de Souza.pdf: 11262812 bytes, checksum: 1afc26309c47e8dc71f1c5e88aae7409 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-11T19:24:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Débora de Oliveira Lemos Rocha de Souza.pdf: 11262812 bytes, checksum: 1afc26309c47e8dc71f1c5e88aae7409 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-27 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / FAPERGS - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul / Algumas ações do processo projetual se restringem aos pensamentos dos designers, gerando uma dificuldade para compreender o processo e torná-lo explícito. As pesquisas nessa área tentam transpor essas limitações, buscando perceber o modo como os designers resolvem os problemas para aprimorar a sua atuação. Esses problemas são caracterizados como mal-estruturados e podem ser vistos de diferentes perspectivas, gerando respostas distintas. O conceito de coevolução percebe a resolução de problemas de forma evolutiva: à medida que compreende-se um pouco mais o problema, as respostas tornam-se mais aprimoradas. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo geral compreender a coevolução do problema de design. Para isso, realizou-se uma pesquisa exploratória em um workshop em design, coletando as informações por meio de grupos focais e do registro, em vídeo, do processo realizado pelos participantes. A técnica utilizada para analisar as informações coletadas nos grupos focais e nos vídeos foi a análise de conteúdo, com algumas adaptações necessárias à pesquisa realizada. Na análise, percebeu-se que a coevolução é influenciada: 1) pela formulação inicial do problema que funciona como uma força motora, impulsionando o processo de resolução do problema; 2) pela forma como as equipes se articulam, levando-se em conta o modo como os integrantes desempenham diferentes papeis e estabelecem um ritmo de resolução do problema de acordo com experiências anteriores que trazem para o projeto; 3) pelos questionamentos em relação ao problema ou à solução, caracterizando-se como uma das estratégias utilizadas pelos designers para avançar no espaço-problema ou no espaço-solução. Concluiu-se, assim, que não só o espaço-problema e o espaço-solução se modificam no percurso do projeto de forma a provocar uma evolução mútua, mas os diversos fatores que envolvem o processo projetual também influenciam na coevolução do problema de design. / Some actions in the design process are restricted to the designers’ thoughts, what may cause some difficulties in understanding the process itself and making it explicit. Studies in this area attempt to overcome these limitations by looking into the way designers solve problems to improve their performance. These problems are usually characterized as ill-structured and can be seen from different perspectives, leading to distinct answers. The concept of co-evolution regards problem resolution in an evolutive manner: as the problem is better understood, the answers become more refined. The overall objective of this work is to understand the co-evolution of the design problem. In order to do this, an exploratory research was conducted within a design workshop, where data was collected by means of both focal groups and videos recording the participants’ process. The technique used to analyse all this data was Content Analysis, with some necessary adaptations to the context of the present research. In the analysis, it was possible to observe that co-evolution is influenced by: 1) the initial formulation of the problem that works as a driving force, boosting the problem resolution process; 2) the way the groups manage themselves, taking into consideration the manner in which different members play distinct roles and establish a problem resolution pace based on previous experiences they bring to the project; and 3) inquiries related to the problem or the solution, which can be regarded as one of the strategies used by designers to move forward into the problem space or the solution space. In conclusion, all these observations lead to the understanding that not only the problem space and the solution space modify themselves in the course of the project, triggering mutual evolution, but the diverse aspects involved in the design context also have some influence on the co-evolution of the design problem.

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