During the last few decades peer collaboration has been commonly practised in Second Language (L2) writing classrooms. Despite the conceptual shift towards process, student-centred orientation to writing pedagogy, there are still many L2 composition courses around the world which consider writing as a finished product and assign a central role to writing instructors. This qualitative case study research is one of the first attempts which have been set out to probe the interactional dynamics, revision behaviours, writing performance, and perceptions of Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students engaged in peer review and collaborative revision activities in two genres, process and argumentation, in light of sociocultural perspective of learning. The participants were 5 lower intermediate to intermediate English translation student dyads enrolled in a semester long essay writing course. Drawing on the data collected from audio-recordings, observations, written texts, and interviews, the study investigated how this group of L2 learners approached these two distinct tasks, how they reacted to the feedback they received either from their partners or teacher, how they used the comments to improve their writing performance, and how they viewed each of the tasks they were involved in. Analysis of audio-recorded data revealed that students stayed on task for most of the allocated time and employed three distinct dyadic negotiations; evaluative, social, and procedural with both partners being capable of pooling ideas and providing each other scaffolded help regardless of their level of L2 writing proficiency. However, the majority of conversations and scaffolding concentrated on surface level features of compositions. Further, examination of written texts produced by students during writing cycles demonstrated that they incorporated higher number of teacher‟s comments into their subsequent drafts than their peers‟ feedback and collaborative revision contributed to greater degree of improvement in the quality of the essays they developed compared to peer reviewing. Retrospective interviews also indicated that collaborative tasks were generally perceived as useful, yet the participants expressed scepticism about the validity of peer comments and did not feel competent enough to address their partners‟ papers. Nevertheless, they showed more favourable reactions towards collaborative revision activity than peer reviewing. The researcher concludes that collaborative revision can be used as an interim activity for the move from the traditional, product-based, teacher fronted L2 writing pedagogy to a more theoretically sound, process-based, student fronted approach to writing instruction in EFL contexts.

Technology is becoming an integral part of teaching and learning in schools. This thesis explored the use of a wiki, a collaborative editable webpage within physical education teacher education. An interpretive inquiry investigated the perceptions of a cohort of 28 final year physical education teacher candidates (PETC) through an online group project. The objective of the assignment was for PETC to develop deeper understanding of the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) approach. Information collected from reflective journals, writing samples and focus groups identified both enabling and constraining factors this wiki brought to the wiki project. Data analyses confirmed that the wiki facilitated collaboration among group members, improved writing skills and enhanced deeper understanding through scaffolding of one’s own ideas as well as those of others. In their efforts to work collaboratively, the students realized that establishing roles and responsibilities and creating more opportunity for communication were necessary ingredients for learning.

The goal of the present study was to develop and compare two different methods for rating scaffolding between siblings: a thin slice approach and an interval coding approach. Fifty younger (age=3 years) and 50 older (age 3-7 years) siblings interacted for five minutes on a cooperation task and scaffolding during the task was coded for each child. Internal consistency was excellent for the thin slice measure and questionable for the interval measure. Inter-rater reliability was good for both. Thin-slicing was more strongly related to predicted variables (children’s theory of mind, language, age, cooperation, positive and negative behavior) than interval coding, and reduces demands on resources in terms of training and reliability. The development of a reliable and valid measurement for the assessment of child-to-child scaffolding, which involves limited training and is quick to code, will be a useful research and practice tool for developing children’s cooperation skills in applied settings.

The goal of the present study was to develop and compare two different methods for rating scaffolding between siblings: a thin slice approach and an interval coding approach. Fifty younger (age=3 years) and 50 older (age 3-7 years) siblings interacted for five minutes on a cooperation task and scaffolding during the task was coded for each child. Internal consistency was excellent for the thin slice measure and questionable for the interval measure. Inter-rater reliability was good for both. Thin-slicing was more strongly related to predicted variables (children’s theory of mind, language, age, cooperation, positive and negative behavior) than interval coding, and reduces demands on resources in terms of training and reliability. The development of a reliable and valid measurement for the assessment of child-to-child scaffolding, which involves limited training and is quick to code, will be a useful research and practice tool for developing children’s cooperation skills in applied settings.

This thesis hypothesizes that the introduction of facile functional handles on the periphery and cores of dendrimers can lead to novel highly functional dendrimers useful for modular surface modifications of dendrimers with biological units of choice for tunable delivery devices and for high-end imaging applications respectively. The first functional handles introduced were on the periphery of poly(amide)-based dendrimers. The dendrimers were built by convergent strategies and were equipped with one and/or two selective, robust, and orthogonal functional handles for modular attachment to and transformation of dendrimer surface. By using azides, alkynes and aldehydes as robust functional handles and investigating their orthogonality and activity by high yielding couplings with small organic and biologically significant molecules a strategy and methodology for development of tunable dendrimer surfaces for numerous future applications was facilitated. Our second functional handles were introduced in the core of poly(amidoamine) based dendrimers. Raman labels such as triple bonds and carbon-deuterium bonds with vibrational frequencies in the background free vibrational zone of 2100-2500 cm-1 were introduced in the core of dendrimers for scaffold specific labeling. By encapsulationg Ag nanodots within these dendrimers, high fluorescence and scaffold specific Raman labeling could be achieved. This strategy lays the foundation for the creation of ultrabright, scaffold specific information containing biological labels for studying single cell dynamics. Finally, the use of dendritic frameworks in heterogeneous solid supported catalysis for enhanced cooperativity in reactions involving bimetallic transition states is explored and applied. Prior to this thesis work, heterogeneous resin supported catalysts for HKR reactions suffered from high catalyst loadings and low enantioselectivities induced by the solid support. With the use of flexible linker and dendron framework supporting the catalysts, both of these problems were addressed. This method opens up new routes for creation of highly active heterogeneous solid catalysts involving a bimetallic intermediate. In the end, the current status of dendritic frameworks is reviewed and methodological extensions to this work are suggested. Conceptions of how our functional dendritic architectures would be useful for future biological and catalytic applications are explored and detailed.

The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) has now become all pervasive in society. There is now an expectation that educators will use ICT to support teaching and learning in their classrooms and this position is evident in many curriculum documents and educational policies where the aim is to provide each child with access to ICT. Consequently, and to realise this expectation, it is imperative that the focus on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education shifts beyond learning about ICT to a focus that is aligned with the pedagogical learning experiences in which students can be immersed. There is a need for deep knowledge building to occur in these environments for our students to be active participants in a society where new technologies are constantly emerging. Hence, there is a need for learning environments that are flexible and respond to the needs of these new students and can adopt new technologies where necessary. In order to explore such an environment that encourages the development of knowledge building, an argumentative framework is necessary. The purpose of the study described in this thesis was to identify argumentation as a process of knowledge building and determine if it occurs in an online discussion forum, which is situated in a blended learning environment. This blended learning environment is typical of many classrooms and is where there is a combination of traditional face-to-face activity with online collaboration. In the case of this study, it is situated within an upper secondary private girls school located in a metropolitan area. The classroom under investigation demonstrates a blending of traditional pedagogy, that of dialectical reasoning and argument, and new technology, through an online discussion forum. The study employed a research design methodology over a six week period, while the analysis was based on an existing social argumentation schema and a new customised schema. As part of the analysis, descriptive statistics were used to determine the students' activity within the online discussion forum and to ascertain how this varied accordingly when certain criteria were changed. This was consistent with the cyclic approach of design research. Pedagogical recommendations were presented which demonstrated the importance that appropriate scaffolding and the role of the teacher plays in the successfulness of a forum. The study also recognised the need for purposeful teaching of argumentation as a process of knowledge building and the need for starter statements that are personally motivating to the students and are authentic and relevant. Argumentation and consequently knowledge building were evident in the findings, though were constrained by the habituated practices of schooling. Similarly the notion of community, while evident, was constrained by the time- and space- dependence of the school environment.

Syftet med denna studie är att studera lärares samtalsstilar under mellanmålet på fritidshemmet och om dessa, utifrån begreppet scaffolding/stöttning, kan få konsekvenser för elevernas språkanvändande, något som vi benämner språkande. Metoden som använts för insamling av material har varit observationer samt intervjuer i form av fokusgruppsamtal och kvalitativa enskilda intervjuer. I analysen av resultaten används begreppet scaffolding/stöttning för att synliggöra hur lärarnas samtalsstilar kan inverka på elevernas språkande. Resultatet visar att lärarna ger eleverna mycket talutrymme samt att de mestadels använder sig av frågor i samtalen och att samtalen ofta utgår ifrån elevernas intressen. Detta ger eleverna möjlighet att utveckla sina tankar och ger dem därmed större möjlighet till att använda språket. Studiens slutsats är att mellanmålssituationen är högst relevant avseende möjligheter till samtal mellan lärare och elever inom fritidshemmets arena. Det framstår dock som viktigt att lärare i fritidshem blir medvetna om denna pedagogiska potential och tar tillvara på den.

Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka i vilken utsträckning samlingen kan vara en arena för språklig interaktion. I vår studie har vi valt att fokusera på den pragmatiska utvecklingen. Med pragmatik menas hur språket används i olika kontexter och därmed bidrar till ett fungerande samtal. I studien utgår vi från ett sociokulturellt perspektiv. Undersökningen baserades på tre frågeställningar som var till hjälp när observationerna genomfördes på en förskola. Dessa tre frågeställningar var: Vilka slags frågor ställs till barnen under samlingen? Hur ger förskolläraren återkoppling kring det barnen uttrycker sig spontant om? Hur kan aktiviteterna i samlingen främja barns pragmatiska utveckling? För att kunna analysera i efterhand användes metoden videoinspelning. En kompletterande intervju gjordes efter observationerna. Genom den kompletterande intervjun med förskollärararen skapades ytterligare inblick i förskolans arbete och tankesätt med hur man kan främja barns språkliga utveckling. Samlingarna bestod av många olika planerade aktiviteter som kunde leda till att öka barns pragmatiska färdigheter. Dessa aktiviteter var bland annat regellekar, rimlekar och rollekar.   Resultatet av studien visar på hur viktig förskollärarens förhållningssätt är för den pragmatiska utvecklingen. Genom att vara uppmärksam och lyhörd kan man som förskollärare fånga upp barns erfarenheter och tankar vilket i sin tur leder till en ökad språkutveckling. Planerade lekar och aktiviteter är även en viktig del i utvecklingen av barns pragmatiska färdigheter.

Lärplattan är ett nytt verktyg som används i förskolans verksamhet. Än så länge finns ett begränsat urval av forskning att tillgå. Syftet med detta självständiga arbete är att få mer kunskap och en djupare förståelse av pedagogernas syn på samt deras uppfattning om lärplattans betydelse i förskolans verksamhet. För att uppnå detta har vi delat upp studien i fyra delar: syfte, metod, resultat och slutsats. I syftet finns de frågeställningar som ligger till grund för studien, under metoddelen har vi beskrivit hur vi, genom att använda oss av intervju som forskningsmetod, gick tillväga för att samla in vårt empiriska material. I resultatdelen har vi analyserat vårt empiriska material utifrån ett sociokulturellt perspektiv, där vi identifierade återkommande teman som var av intresse för vår studie. Utifrån pedagogernas utsagor har vi kunnat utröna hur bland annat scaffolding fungerar i användandet av lärplattor i förskolans verksamhet och hur lärplattans placering blir en del av kulturen i förskolorna.I den sista delen, slutsatsen, har vi summerat vad vi kommit fram till i studien och vad det har för betydelse för professionen och oss som blivande förskollärare.

Det är mycket att läsa i matematikundervisningen, mer än vad många tror eller tänker på. Eleverna som har lässvårigheter får därmed svårt att lära i matematiken även om det inte är själva uppgiftlösandet som är problemet. Inom matematik behöver eleverna läsa instruktioner för att veta vad de ska göra med uppgiften. Instruktionerna kan vara allt från några ord till ett helt stycke långa men i vilket fall så kan det göra att eleverna som har lässvårigheter inte förstår vad de ska lösa. Eleverna behöver därmed inte ha svårt för matematik utan det räcker att bara ha lässvårigheter för att inte nå matematikens kunskapskrav. Studien är viktig att genomföra då den bidrar med kunskap om hur en lärare kan stötta de eleverna som har lässvårigheter inom matematik.Syftet med studien är att, genom intervjuer, undersöka hur behöriga lärare stöttar elever med lässvårigheter i deras lärande i matematik.Metoden som använts i studien är en kvalitativ metod med intervju som redskap. Urvalet var behöriga lärare i årkurs ett till tre där alla lärare skulle ha haft alla årkurser under sin yrkesverksamma tid. Intervjuerna inleddes med en berättarfråga där lärarna ombads ge konkreta exempel på hur de arbetat med eleverna som har lässvårigheter i matematik. Intervjuaren ställde följdfrågor till de givna exemplen.Resultatet visar att lärarna arbetar mycket för att eleverna som har lässvårigheter ska få ett lustfyllt lärande i matematik utan att deras svårigheter kommer i vägen. Lärarna använder sig inte utav matteböcker vilket skapar en undervisningssituation där dialog och samspel mellan lärare och elev samt elev till elev är i fokus. Lärarna använder sig av plockmaterial och bild som stöttning och även externa resurser för att eleverna som har lässvårigheter inte ska behöva läsa. Det förekommer även lite arbete med digitala verktyg där eleverna får färdighetsträning genom att spela matematikspel på Ipads.