Behovet av religionskunskap som skolämne i undervisningen är och har varit omdiskuterat. Ändringen till religionsfrihet i Sverige skapade behov av förändring från kristendomskunskap till religionskunskap. Skolverket syfte med religionskunskap är att elever ska kunna få förståelse för hur olika religioner och livsåskådningar påverkar individens moraliska förhållningssätt. Denna undersökning avser att undersöka vilket syfte eller relevans elever upplever med religionskunskapen i undervisningen och hur det påverkar deras intresse för ämnet samt hur elever vill att ämnet religionskunskap ska utformas i undervisningen för att öka intresset för ämnet. Urvalet är åtta elever som läser religionskunskap som obligatoriskt ämne på gymnasiet. Undersökningen genomfördes genom intervjuer, dvs. en kvalitativ metod. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att flertalet av eleverna uppfattningar om vilken användning de kan ha av religionskunskapen i undervisningen beror på kursinnehåll och upplägg av undervisningen. De vill ha religionskunskapsundervisning där man arbetar med aktuella etiska livsfrågor i större omfattning än historiska fakta om religionerna. Eleverna upplever även att kommunikationen med lärare har stor betydelse för hur de upplever undervisningen. De som kan ha nytta av att läsa denna undersökning är lärare inom alla ämnen och speciellt de lärare som undervisar i religionskunskap.

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As a practicing in-service teacher, I designed this qualitative study to explore of the use of culturally relevant curriculum in my junior high art classroom. I used participatory action research to complete this research over the span of two school years. This research allowed me to identify the elements necessary to teach a culturally relevant curriculum, such as teacher background, student-centered teaching and school support. This data is combined with stories of my experiences growing up and stories from the field. I detailed and analyzed community performance art, mask-making and installation art projects for effectiveness and student engagement. Focus groups were a major component of my data collection; I used this data to gain further information from students about their thoughts on what makes an engaging classroom and lesson. Through this study I found a high level of engagement by students. I matched my students engagement with a reciprocal level of emotional input. This study concludes with a call for more research of this kind to be completed by practicing teachers using action research in their classrooms.

This capstone project was part of a group project completed by five school and district administrators in Hillsborough County, Florida. The project began because of our passion for teachers who are able to establish a culture of care in their classrooms that support students academically but transform their learning through experiences that enable them to be more highly engaged and productive students, regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, perceived academic abilities, and backgrounds. Our school district has spent significant resources attempting to address the deficiencies that exist within its lower performing schools. A variety of curriculum specialists have addressed challenges these largely Title 1 schools are facing, with little to moderate improvement shown over the course of several years. Selected literature over the past ten years was reviewed to gain insight into developments and discussions that have materialized around the notions of culturally relevant (curricular/pedagogical) leadership in schools. My component of this project was guided by the question: How is cultural diversity addressed in curriculum so as to be relevant to the success of traditionally marginalized students (students of color and/or those from communities of low socio economic status)? Insights from the literature reviewed suggest that Appreciative Inquiry as a more holistic approach to cultural relevancy creates greater opportunity for deliberate and intentional building of relationships of respect and responsibility, giving rise to social consciousness and not just improved test performance.

Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) has become increasingly used within academe. There has not been much research, however, into how much CRP is being used within the public school system. I am particularly interested in the area of professional development. This report seeks to answer the questions, how have issues of diversity influenced professional development in the past, and how is the theoretical framework of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) used within professional development today? I begin with the reasoning behind my exploration of these questions and the problems that we are facing today within the educational system. I then provide an in-depth description of what I understand to be culturally relevant pedagogy. A historical survey of culturally-centered professional development is then presented, followed by a look at current research and writing on culturally relevant professional development. / text

Historical context of African Americans within agriculture has produced negative perceptions of agriculture within African American populations today. Furthermore, many minority youth who reside in urban areas are disconnected from agriculture because of lack of access, limiting contact to food production systems to consumption. In rural areas that are dedicated to agriculture and farming, youth can witness agricultural principles daily and many of them have lived experiences with agriculture. Non-formal educational programming such as 4-H is beneficial for exposing and including urban youth into agricultural educational programming. 4-H programs can connect with schools, after school programs and other youth organizations in urban areas to reach youth but the needs of this audience must be attended to. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand design principles that can be beneficial in increasing urban youth participation in 4-H agricultural programming while also utilizing culturally relevant pedagogy facets within 4-H programming. Seven 4-H agents were interviewed with individual and focus group interviews. Descriptive coding, in-vivo coding, and value coding methods were utilized during first cycle coding. Literature from Gloria Ladson-Billing's theory of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) was utilized to frame the research questions, a priori table, and interview guides in the study. Findings from the study indicated that CRP facets were emerging in 4-H programming and within 4-H agents. Although, CRP facets are emergent, design principles for 4-H programs must be developed to ensure issues such as equity, diversity, and inclusion is represented throughout all 4-H programs. / Master of Science in Life Sciences / Utilizing 4-H programming to connect urban youth to agriculture education is an important concern for 4-H agents. Urban youth are disconnected from agriculture unlike rural youth. Agricultural educational programs can be embedded into urban communities to expose youth to agriculture. Non-formal educational programs such as 4-H are intended to reach all youth, providing youth opportunities to participate in STEM, robotics, agricultural, and sport activities. Although 4-H is a national program it does not have strong presence in many urban communities. Design principles of 4-H programming can be challenged and examined to assess and develop strategies that are useful in engaging urban youth in programming. Acknowledging 4-H programs as non-traditional for urban youth because of the historical context of oppression between African Americans and agriculture is important for change. Educational spaces where youth cultures are considered when developing programming are important. Culturally relevant pedagogy is a framework that focuses on being culturally relevant in educational spaces by considering how teachers interact with students. The framework challenges teacher's ability to consider academic success, youth culture, and critical consciousness within instruction. This framework is important for youth being at the center of educational efforts for their success. Agents participated in two interviews one individual and one focus group. The interviews focused on agent experiences and opinions about 4-H programming efforts to successfully engage urban youth, agent strategies, and success and failures of processes within 4-H programming. Findings indicated that facets of CRP are emergent in 4-H programming, and agents discussed new design principles for successful engagement of urban youth.

The topic of this final thesis is the definition of the relevant market for the purpose of the EU competition law. The main purpose of this thesis is to provide the structured summary of the rules on the definition of the relevant market as these have been mostly determined by the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Commission. The case-law provided by these institutions has formed the main source of this thesis, however, the literature, in particular English, has also formed an important source. The final thesis is divided into four main chapters. The first one deals with the EU competition law in general, its position within the EU law and its significance for establishing the common market and attaining the main goals of the European integration. The first chapter also provides the sources of the EU competition law and the institutions supervising the observation thereof, i.e. the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union. The second chapter of this thesis is focused on the significance of the relevant market definition within the EU competition law. This chapter provides for the particular cases requiring the relevant market definition. These cases are divided pursuant to Articles 101 and 102 TFEU and the merger control regulation. The third chapter...

Recent efforts in science education have focused on making the curriculum more relevant. Many discourses maintain that relevance improves the teaching and learning of science. This study attempted to identify a relationship between content that learners thought was relevant to them and how they actually performed in the examination. An evaluation was also done to determine whether there was a gender difference in choices regarding relevant content, and whether gender differences existed in the performances of learners in the year-end examination. The study involved forty-six learners from a low socio-economic school. Data from questionnaires and examination scripts were statistically analysed to determine if there was any correlation between relevance and performance. Results showed firstly that the most relevant topics were equation of motion and inorganic chemistry, with vectors being least relevant; secondly that there was no correlation between what learners regarded as relevant and how they actually performed in relation to content they identified as relevant; thirdly that there was no gender difference in performance in physical science, with regard to the year-end examination and the trend of boys favoring physics and girls preferring chemistry identified in other research, was shown to be true for these learners as well.

The purpose of this dissertation study was two-fold. First, the study explored how personal and professional experiences shaped three Latina bilingual Maestras’ identities. Secondly, this qualitative study further explored how histories framed a meaning of pedagogy for the Maestras. Presented in case studies, there were four themes that emerged across the three case studies: First, taking on the role of advocate; second, becoming a leader through professional development; third, developing critical thinkers using relevant classroom practices; and fourth, reflexivity for critical consciousness. Data were manually coded, themed and analyzed to answer the following research questions: Theoretical lenses framing this dissertation study include figured worlds and situated identities, critical race theory/Latina critical theory and sociocultural theory to analyze the data gathered through interviews, narratives, classroom and field observations, classroom and teacher artifacts, lessons and informal conversations collected over nine months of study as this dissertation study attempted to understand the findings as complex componentes entrelazados (interwoven components). The data were gathered in the classrooms and school campuses of three elementary schools across two school districts in two South Central Texas cities. The results provided six findings and they are 1) Tracing the positioning of Maestras, 2) Identifying opportunities of autoring self, 3) ¿Qué es ser maestra? What does it mean to be a maestra?, 4) Identity, culture and language: Racialized notions, 5) Taking on the role of advocate and finally, 6) Learning from lived experiences. The research revealed how Maestras’ positionings challenged structures of oppression in school and education in general and how opportunities for critical dialogue can support development of a more critical concientización (consciousness) and perspective, viewed through a social justice lens. / text

The objective of this study is to analyse and evaluate the current system of procuring Building Contractors for public sector building projects in Botswana. The study further seeks to find strategies to recommend for improving the current system of procurement. The analysis and evaluation is carried out by first dividing the main problem into sub-problems. The sub-problems help to form the questions for the interviews and the questionnaire. Chapter one introduces the reader to the main problem and defines the scope of the problem and the delimitations. The second Chapter is a review of the related literature and a brief outline of the procurement process and the relevant legislation. The analysis and evaluation of the information and data collected is carried out in Chapter three. This is a very important Chapter since it addresses the questions raised by the main problem and the sub-problems and states the extent to which the hypotheses are affirmed or not affirmed. Chapter four is dedicated to the recommendations and strategies for improving the procurement system. The last Chapter summarises the main findings and outlines and recommends areas for further study. This treatise comprises some important findings and can form a useful initiative towards developing strategies for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector system of procuring building Contractors in Botswana. / Thesis (MSc (Project Management))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Construction Economics / unrestricted