This thesis reports on two different investigations. The first is a systematic review of pedagogical and organizational practices associated with gifted pupils’ education in mathematics, and on the empirical basis for those practices. The review shows that certain practices – for example, enrichment programs and differentiated instructions in heterogeneous classrooms or acceleration programs and ability groupings outside those classrooms – may be beneficial for the development of gifted pupils. Also, motivational characteristics of and gender differences between mathematically gifted pupils are discussed. Around 60% of analysed papers report on empirical studies, while remaining articles are based on literature reviews, theoretical discourses and the authors’ personal experiences – acceleration programs and ability groupings are supported by more empirical data than practices aimed for the heterogeneous classroom. Further, the analyses indicate that successful acceleration programs and ability groupings should fulfil some important criteria; pupils’ participation should be voluntary, the teaching should be adapted to the capacity of participants, introduced tasks should be challenging, by offering more depth and less breadth within a certain topic, and teachers engaged in these practices should be prepared for the characteristics of gifted pupils. The second investigation reports on the interaction of mathematical abilities and the role of mathematical memory in the context of non-routine problems. In this respect, six Swedish high-achieving students from upper secondary school were observed individually on two occasions approximately one year apart. For these studies, an analytical framework, based on the mathematical ability defined by Krutetskii (1976), was developed. Concerning the interaction of mathematical abilities, it was found that every problem-solving activity started with an orientation phase, which was followed by a phase of processing mathematical information and every activity ended with a checking phase, when the correctness of obtained results was controlled. Further, mathematical memory was observed in close interaction with the ability to obtain and formalize mathematical information, for relatively small amounts of the total time dedicated to problem solving. Participants selected problem-solving methods at the orientation phase and found it difficult to abandon or modify those methods. In addition, when solving problems one year apart, even when not recalling the previously solved problem, participants approached both problems with methods that were identical at the individual level. The analyses show that participants who applied algebraic methods were more successful than participants who applied particular methods. Thus, by demonstrating that the success of participants’ problem-solving activities is dependent on applied methods, it is suggested that mathematical memory, despite its relatively modest presence, has a pivotal role in participants’ problem-solving activities. Finally, it is indicated that participants who applied particular methods were not able to generalize mathematical relations and operations – a mathematical ability considered an important prerequisite for the development of mathematical memory – at appropriate levels. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: In press.</p>

This thesis is based on five empirical studies of pupils with visual impairments, their reading ability and processes of reading acquisition within the framework of mainstream education in comprehensive schools. The aim of the thesis is to increase our understanding and knowledge of reading acquisition in pupils with visual impairments in mainstream education. A further aim is to find factors, which influence reading acquisition from an individual, as well as an environmental, perspective. Developmental theories regarding the individuals' possibilities to acquire an optimal development in interaction with their environment offer a theoretical framework for the thesis. Different research designs, descriptive and explorative, have been used to fulfil the purpose. The studies have revealed a heterogeneous group of readers with visual impairments bearing in mind functional visual ability, reading media (print and braille) and reading ability. As a result of these studies, it was possible to divide the readers into three groups with regard to reading performance. About one quarter of the population was average or high achievers, another quarter extremely low achievers, irrespective of visual acuity, reading media or reading devices. In most cases, additional impairments, intellectual impairment or language problems caused low achievement. The largest group, about half of the population, consisted of readers who were able to read but demonstrated difficulties in other ways. Visual acuity and reading media varied greatly in this group. There were uncertain readers, readers with low reading rate but good comprehension, readers with less stamina and readers who did not use their reading ability except for schoolwork. The pupils were well equipped with optical devices, lighting and special desks but seldom used the facilities for reading. In general, the pupils with visual impairments read less compared with their sighted peers. Nor were they exposed to text in natural situations in society, which decrease their incidental reading training. Consequently, a large group of readers with visual impairments need an adapted reading program in order to stimulate reading from the start and to use their potential ability. Competence in the school and home environment is necessary for compensating lack of training and preventing the visual impairment being the reason for reading difficulties. Reading disabilities due to biological factors were significant for a smaller group. Visual impairment as a reading handicap is, in this thesis, identified when a person, able to read, does not have access to the text in an appropriate reading medium or format, reading and writing tools are missing or reading must be performed in a badly adapted environment. Increased knowledge and effective environmental measures could reduce a reading handicap caused by a visual impairment for a larger group of children and young people. / <p>Härtill 5 uppsatser. Endast sammanfattning s. 1-93 i fulltext.</p><p></p>

The aim of this study is to describe how pupils in fourth grade talk about their attitude of reading fictional narratives in school and on their spare time, their motives to read and how the school promotes fictional experiences.   The study is based on interviews with 18 pupils from the same class, divided in four groups. The interviews were analyzed from a literature reception theory.   The result shows that some pupils are very engaged in reading fictional narratives, while others more or less, are forced in to reading, because their teacher wants them to. All the interviewed pupils would like to read exciting, interesting books, but they feel that they don’t get the right support neither from their teacher, parents nor their friends. They describes that they don’t discuss the meaning of reading or things that the reader can read between the lines. One important conclusion that shows is that it’s important to choose literature that has a point of contact with the pupil and that the text is on the right level. / Studiens syfte är att beskriva hur elever ur årskurs fyra berättar om läsupplevelser i skolan och på fritiden, vad som motiverar dem att läsa samt hur skolan bidrar till att ge eleverna skönlitterära upplevelser.   Studien bygger på fyra kvalitativa gruppintervjuer med totalt 18 elever, ur samma klass. De svar som jag har fått har analyserats utifrån ett receptionsteoretiskt perspektiv.   Resultatet visar att en del elever är väldigt engagerade och älskar att läsa, medan andra mer eller mindre känner sig tvingade att läsa för att läraren säger att de ska läsa. Alla intervjuade elever skulle vilja läsa spännande, intressanta böcker, många känner dock att de inte får någon hjälp eller inspiration från varken sina lärare, föräldrar eller kamrater. De elever som jag har intervjuat beskriver att de aldrig diskuterar böckernas budskap med varandra, vad som sägs mellan raderna och inte heller begrepp de inte förstår. En viktig slutsats visar på att det är viktigt att välja litteratur som knyter an till eleverna och att den befinner sig på rätt textnivå för dem.

Teaching of chemistry at secondary school level is not always carried out in the most effective way and this is often because teachers do not realise the difficulties experienced by pupils while studying a conceptually challenging topic. The development of a teaching strategy to assist teachers is thus of value. The research questions:  Do focussed intervention questions followed by rapid feedback to pupils foster sound concept formation in chemical bonding?  Is this new teaching method more effective than traditional methods? In this study I have examined the effect of a novel teaching method (referred to as the Targeted Intervention Questioning process) on concept formation during the study of chemical bonding. This study involves action research in secondary school classrooms. The findings from the study are being used to further inform current teaching practice. The teaching method is a set of focused intervention questions administered at relevant stages during the teaching of the topic. Pupils answer these questions with the help of their learning material and are given rapid feedback with an evaluation of their answers. This questioning process is designed to focus pupils’ attention on the relevant concepts and the feedback is to inform pupils of their progress in mastering the topic. The effectiveness of the method was measured using a concept development test. The learning gain in a test group was compared to that of a control group in a quasi-experimental study. This research involves action research as findings will inform practice and practice will change in line with the research findings. Data gathering to ascertain the effectiveness of the teaching method will be through quantitative methods in a quasi-experimental setup. The sample size was approximately 80 learners, divided into the four classes. All teachers use the methods and techniques that they normally use. The learning gain was determined through the use of a concept development test developed by the author (referred to as the Conceptual Test tool). This test tool contained a set of 25 conceptual questions, either requiring selection of a correct answer from a multiple choice selection or requiring a free response answer. The testing tool was piloted using a group of Grade 11 pupils in 2010. The test was then refined and used to measure the effectiveness of the intervention questioning process in 2011. A second run of the intervention process was carried out in 2012 using a slightly modified testing tool. The result of the test group was compared to that of the control group. A Correlation analysis and a Rasch analysis determined the validity of the testing tool. Results from both runs of the intervention process show that the test group has a statistically significant greater learning gain (LG) over the control group. Analysis of answers given by pupils to the intervention questions provided insight into the learning process that was happening. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

M.Ed. / Research teams from the Department of Educational Sciences of the Rand Afrikaans University (RSA) and the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Social Ecology of the Ben Gurion University (Israel) have joined hands in a research project. Knowledge, experience and expertise were pooled in an endeavour to expose the causes leading to the dropout phenomenon amongst adolescents worldwide, and more specifically within their own countries. The development of prevention programmes to address the problem will be introduced in follow-up studies with a goal of reducing the number of school dropouts. The aim of this study is to compare disadvantaged standard seven at-risk and not at-risk pupils in order to determine whether or not school climate could be considered an influencing factor in early school leaving. The method of the research is twofold. A literature study constitutes the first part in which terminology, concepts, definitions, causes and consequences of dropout are discussed. The emphasis is placed on school climate in general and the relation between school climate and academic achievement in particular. This was followed by an empirical investigation to determine whether there are significant differences between at-risk and not at-risk standard seven pupils with regard to their perception of school climate. These pupils were identified by their teachers and their replies measured in a questionnaire. The empirical investigation involved standard seven pupils affiliated to five high schools in the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging area. In total, 734 pupils answered the questionnaire. The information was processed at the Statistical Consultation Service of the Rand Afrikaans University.

La thèse traite de la question de l’autonomie de l’activité de penser du petit enfant et de ses manifestations lors de l’entrée en école maternelle. Elle analyse les processus intrapsychiques et intersubjectifs, enfants/ adultes, parents/enseignants, dans l’environnement institutionnel, selon une approche clinique d'orientation psychanalytique. La perspective heuristique est de mieux comprendre la constitution du Je-élève de l’enfant, en référence au concept de Je dans la théorie de P. Aulagnier (1975). L’investigation empirique repose sur des observations de classes et de couloirs de petites sections, des entretiens avec les enseignants concernés et sur un groupe de parole d’élèves de CM2, au seuil du collège. L’entrée à l’école maternelle constitue un moment faisant rupture dans la vie de l’enfant et de sa famille, dont l’enjeu majeur est la séparation, opération nécessaire à l’investissement des objets scolaires. Ce moment de l’institutionnalisation de l’enfant, est considéré sous le double angle d’une fonction de production d’un élève préformaté et d’une fonction constructive au service du processus d’autonomisation intellectuelle. L’espace scolaire, toujours qualifié de maternel, est appréhendé sous un angle socio-historique, et l’aporie entre école et maternel est alors étudiée sous l’angle de la fonction maternelle en s’appuyant sur des concepts psychanalytiques. La thèse montre que si le désir de l’enfant de prendre place dans le groupe social et d’apprendre, s’étaye sur le désir des adultes le concernant, l’élève, pour exercer son activité de penser de manière autonome doit pouvoir trouver des espaces où déployer sa créativité et se projeter comme apprenant. / The following thesis aims at dealing with the question of autonomy of the activity of thinking of the young child and its expressions at the moment of starting pre-school. It analyses the intrapsychic and intersubjective processes between children/adults, parents/teachers in the institutional environment, following a clinical approach of psychanalytic orientation. The heuristic perspective is to understand the constitution of the I-pupil of the child with reference to the concept of “I” in the theory of P.Aulagnier (1975). The empirical investigation is based on observations of classes and also corridors of the nursery, on interviews with the teachers concerned and also on a discussion group composed by pupils who are about to enter the middle school. The entry to the nursery school constitutes a moment making break in the life of the child and his family; the major issue is the separation, necessary operation in the investment of school objects. The moment of institutionalizing a child is considered in its double function of production of a pre-formatted pupil and of construction on the process that conduce to intellectual autonomy. The french nursery school, always qualified by “maternelle”, is comprehended under a social-historical angle, and the aporia between maternal and school is analyzed basing on the psychanalytical concept of maternal function. The thesis justifies that if the desire of the child to take place in the social group and to learn is supported by the desire of the adults concerning him, the pupil, in order to exercise his activity of thinking in a autonomous way has to find spaces where to practice his creativity and to look forward to his future as learner.

Three-dimensional graphicacy is the part of map work that appears to be the most problematIcal. Bartz (1970) says that thinking and visualising in three-dimensional space is difficult enough, but trying to derive notions in three-dimensions, when you have only seen them as they are represented in distorted two-dimensional fashion, is even more difficult. Yet pupils of geography are required to learn such three-dimensional concepts from the two-dimensional distorted map presentations. The geography teacher has an important educational role to play in promoting graphicacy and Balchin (1965), who coined the term, felt that it should be an essential underpinning of an integrated education. The problem is that children perform badly, teachers are not successfully imparting three-dimensional graphicacy skills and as Board and Taylor (1977) indicate, for some time now it has been fashionable to dismiss maps as being irrelevant or useless in geographical research. This thesis attempts to analyse this reported malady, the problems are exposed and solutions offered. Investigation of the literature, with the aim of clarifying the problems involved, follows four leads. These are the part played by the map as a mode of communication, the physical processes involved in mapwork revealed by work in the realm of neurophysiology, the process of visualisation in the field of perception and psychology, and finally the stage of conceptual development of the mapworker. The state of affairs in South Africa is disclosed by an analysis of teacher-directed literature, of examination syllabuses, of text-book treatment of three-dimensional mapwork in South Africa and overseas, of past examination questions, and finally of teachers' views. Experimental exercises have been executed in an attempt to link the key findings of published research to the local scene. Conclusions are then drawn, and recommendations made for improving three-dimensional graphicacy in South African secondary schools.

This piece of research is an attempt to evaluate the relationship between military 'success' and the psychological preparedness of recruits in terms of their self-concepts and locus of control orientations. The new recruit is forced to adapt to the military environment which will, in turn, attempt to change him into an effective soldier. It was noticed by the researcher, who was involved in military training at the time, that a number of recruits, even some with seemingly limited potential, coped well, while others who seemed to have the ability failed to cope adequately. Recruits completed questionnaires which provided the researcher with biographical data and background information. In addition, the Bledsoe Self-Concept Scale and the Nowicki and Strickland Locus of Control Scale were used in order to determine their self-concepts and locus of control orientations respectively, prior to the beginning of national service. Detailed unstructured interviews were also conducted with a sample of military personnel, to provide another basis for gathering data and for clarifying some of the issues involved. Briefly, the chief conclusion of this researcher is that a significant majority of 'successful' recruits in the military environment have a positive self-concept and an internal locus of control. On the basis of the above finding, it is suggested that there is a need to guide pupils about certain aspects of military life before they begin their National Service. There would seem to be a need for this guidance to be incorporated into the school curriculum, together with such practical aspects as cadets, shooting, etc. There is a shortage of this kind of research on the military situation in South Africa, and it is suggested that numerous issues in this field need to be researched for the benefit of future conscripts and the military alike.

Bakgrund: Varje barn har rätt till att känna sig trygg i skolan. En av elevhälsan viktigaste uppgifter är att förebygga kränkningar och mobbning. Skolsköterskan har en central roll i skolan genom att finnas tillgänglig i barnens skolmiljö och en unik möjlighet att få insikt i hur skolans arbetsmiljö påverkar barnens hälsa. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka skolsköterskors erfarenheter av att arbeta förebyggande mot kränkningar och mobbning.  Metod: Studien har utförts med en kvalitativ metod. Muntliga intervjuer har genomförts som har analyserats med hjälp av beskrivande innebördsanalys. Resultat: Analysen har resulterat i fem innebördsteman som beskriver skolsköterskans förebyggande arbete mot kränkningar och mobbning: att arbeta förebyggande via hälsosamtal och andra elevbesök, att arbeta för en trygg miljö, att informera och undervisa, att stärka eleven och kamratrelationer och att samarbeta. / Background: Every child is entitled to feel safe at school. One of the main tasks of student health is to prevent violations and bullying. The school nurse has a central role in school by being available in the children's school environment and a unique opportunity to gain insight into how the school's work environment affects children's health. Aim: The aim of the study is to investigate the school nurse's experience of preventing abuse and bullying. Method: The study has been conducted using a qualitative method. Oral interviews have been conducted that have been analyzed by means of descriptive meaning analysis. Result: The analysis has resulted in five themes describing the school's preventive work against abuse and bullying: to work through prevention of health and other student visits, to work for a safe environment, to inform and teach, to strengthen the student and companionship and to cooperate

Studien behandlar sex elevers erfarenheter av matematiska textuppgifter där frågans placering varierar. Det undersöks eftersom tidigare forskning inte har undersökt frågans placering utifrån elevernas perspektiv. Tidigare forskning har enbart undersökt elevers lösningar av textuppgifter där frågeplaceringen varierat. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur sex elever i årskurs 5 erfar matematiska textuppgifter med två olika placeringar av frågan, i slutet och i början av uppgifterna. Undersökningen hade fenomenologi som vetenskaplig teori. I studien intervjuades sex elever medan de löste sex textuppgifter med varierad placering av frågan. Under intervjuerna svarade eleverna på frågor som bland annat berörde textuppgifternas svårighetsgrad och frågans placering. Resultatet av studien visar att elevernas tillvägagångssätt för att lösa uppgifterna inte skilde sig i förhållande till frågans placering. De textuppgifter som eleverna ansåg var svårast hade frågan i början. När frågan var i början ansåg flertalet elever att de, när de läste uppgiften, fokuserade på vad som skulle räknas ut. Trots det föredrog eleverna textuppgifter med frågan i slutet eftersom de var vana vid det. Slutsatsen som kan dras av studien är att eleverna föredrog att frågan var i slutet av skriftliga textuppgifter. / This study discusses six students' experiences of mathematical word problems with different locations of the questions. This was investigated because previous research has not investigated the students' perspectives of question placement. Previous research has only investigated students' solutions of word problems with different locations of the questions. The aim of this study was to investigate how six students, between 11 and 12 years old, in 5th grade experienced mathematical word problems with different locations of the question. The question was either located in the end or in the beginning of the word problem. The study had phenomenology as a scientific theory. This study was done by interviewing each one of the six students while they solved six written mathematical word problems with different location of the question. During the interviews, the students answered questions about for example the difficulty of the word problems and question placement. The result of the study showed that the students' methods to solve the word problems did not differ in relation to where the question was located. The most difficult word problems according to the students had the question in the beginning. The difficulty of the word problems was also affected by which type of problem it was; change problem, combine problem or compare problem. When the question was located in the beginning of the word problem most students perceived that they focused on the calculation of the problem. However, the students preferred word problems with the question in the end because they were used to that. The conclusion is that students preferred the question in the end of written word problems.