One of the main goals of the national curriculum is to encourage children’s personal opinion and support them in development of argumentation ability and communication skills. All this is very important for the children as members of the future society. The purpose of this essay is to investigate how primary school teachers estimate the meaning of the pupil’s argumentation as well as which methods and approaches are assumed by the teachers to be most appropriate for children’s argumentation development. The study also considers the questions how the teachers motivate their pupil has to argue in the classroom and how the students by themselves understand the concept of argumentation. The last important part of this investigation is related to the students' own argumentation in different school situations. In order to approach the main aim, one should formulate the following questions: How do the pedagogues reflect on the importance of the student’s argumentation? What methods and procedures of those that the teachers themselves use, do they consider being most beneficial both to motivate students for argumentation and to develop their ability to argue? How the pupils argue in some conversation situations during the lecture, after school recreation centre, and in the pupils’ council and what kind of knowledge do they have of concept of argumentation? To get a deeper understanding of my study I used the qualitative method as a general approach for data collection. The qualitative method is supplemented with a quantitative approach in form of a questionnaire survey. The study is based on interviews with the teachers and students separately, on observations and the questionnaire survey. There are in total five interviews with teachers from three different schools, grade P-3. The collected material is analyzed using Sociocultural Theory, which includes Vygotsky’s concept of the Zone of Proximal Development. Both theory and concept are based on the idea that development and learning occurs by means of social interaction and collaboration. The result of this investigation shows that the pedagogues use different approaches for teaching argumentation. Some teachers prefer the implicit way of teaching argumentation, the rest of them believe that the explicit way is more effective. All teachers find argumentation to be an important aspect in the development of the student’s language. Moreover, the ability to argue is associated with democratic rights written in the national curriculum.

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> <p align="left">The aim of the study was to investigate the nature of biology practical work and associated discourses in two Namibian secondary schools. The purposive sample consisted of three biology teachers and 36 grade 11 students who enrolled for NSSC Higher- and Ordinary-level biology in 2004 and 2005. The study adopted a descriptive and an in-depth qualitative design involving the use of interviews and observation schedules (Video Observation Quoting Schedules-VOQS). The quality of VOQS instruments were established through a panel of independent experts who critically assessed the quality of the items and later discussed to reach consensus. Their rating of the items helped in the establishment of interrater reliability.</p> </font></font></p>

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

The aim of the study is to investigate how genre pedagogy is construed, evaluated and translated into practice according to handbooks for teachers, as well as according to professional teachers and whether there is a coherence between the application and evaluation of both parties. Genre pedagogy is a method that aims at developing students’ reading and writing skills and is therefore interesting when fresh surveys from e.g. PIRLS and PISA show that the reading ability of Swedish middle school students is dropping.   I have chosen to use two qualitative methods: interview and a literature study. I have interviewed three teachers from schools in central Sweden. In the results section, I present my empirical study into two main themes and associated thematic subheadings.   The results suggest that what the literature presents is well in line with how the teachers apply genre pedagogy in practice. All teachers considered that it’s very important to support their students in the language and knowledge-based teaching. A negative aspect of the circle model is that the teaching can get tedious, especially for those students who find it easy to write. In sum, the results suggest that genre pedagogy is a flexible set of methods for meeting some of the challenges facing language teaching today, and one that teachers find easy to translate from theory to practice. / Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur genrepedagogiken presenteras, värderas och omsätts i praktik enligt genrepedagogisk facklitteratur samt enligt yrkesaktiva lärare samt om det finns en samstämmighet mellan de båda parternas tillämpning och värdering.  Genrepedagogiken är en metod som bland annat syftar till att utveckla elevers läs- och skrivförmåga och är därför intressant när färska undersökningar från till exempel PIRLS och PISA visar att läsförmågan hos svenska mellanstadieelever sjunker.   Metoden som ligger till grund för min studie är kvalitativa intervjuer och en litteraturstudie. Jag har intervjuat tre lärare från skolor i Mellansverige. I resultat- och analysdelen presenterar jag min empiri i två huvudteman med tillhörande tematiska underrubriker.   I mitt resultat har jag fått fram att det facklitteraturen presenterar stämmer bra överens med hur lärarna tillämpar genrepedagogiken i praktiken. Något lärarna ansåg som extra viktigt var att undervisa explicit samt att stötta sina elever, göra dem trygga och motiverade i den språk- och kunskapsbaserade undervisningen. En negativ aspekt med cirkelmodellen är att undervisningen kan bli tjatig och inrutad, speciellt för de elever som har lätt för att skriva. Lärarna ansåg dock att de kunde göra modellen till sin egen och vara flexibla i sin undervisning. Sammanfattningsvis visar resultaten att lärarna tycker det är lätt att göra om teori till praktik och att genrepedagogiken är ett bra arbetssätt för att möta de utmaningar som finns inom dagens språkundervisning.

Le travail de la thèse porte sur l’analyse d’une activité de conception expérimentale réalisée par des élèves de 1ère S à l’aide d’un EIAH (Environnement Informatique pour l’Apprentissage Humain). Il vise à comprendre les rapports au savoir et à la démarche expérimentale établis par l’élève et l’enseignant face à ce type d’activité.Il s’agit de rendre compte des connaissances mobilisées par les élèves et de mesurer l’influence des supports proposés par un EIAH nommé LabBook. Il s’agit également de décrire la manière dont l’enseignant prend en charge les difficultés rencontrées par les élèves.A ce propos, une ingénierie didactique a été modélisée dans le cadre de la Théorie des situations didactiques (Brousseau, 1986). Cette ingénierie est ancrée dans la thématique de la « génétique » et plus précisément dans « l’expression du patrimoine génétique », domaine pour lequel on constate de nombreuses difficultés chez les élèves. Les analyses portent sur les productions des élèves, leurs réponses aux questionnaires (pré-test et post-test) et les interactions enseignant-élève produites tout au long du travail dans la situation.Ce travail a permis de mettre en valeur le rôle de l’élaboration des protocoles expérimentaux dans la modification du système des connaissances des élèves et de l’évolution de leurs connaissances relatives à la notion de gène et l’expression de l’information génétique. Les supports d’étayages implémentés dans LabBook offrent un potentiel aux élèves pour la mise en œuvre de la conception expérimentale. D’ailleurs, divers supports d’étayage ont été mis en place par les enseignants afin de prendre en charge les difficultés rencontrées par les élèves. L’étude de ces supports d’étayages permet d’élaborer des recommandations en vue de faire évoluer la plateforme LabBook et palier aux difficultés d’apprentissage des élèves. / The thesis work involves an analysis of the experimental design activity carried out by students of junior year of high school in sciences using a TEL environment (Technology Enhanced Learning). It aims at understanding how they relate to knowledge and to the experimental approach established by both student and teacher.The thesis gives an account of how the students mobilizes their knowledge and it measures the influence of learning supports proposed by a TEL named LabBook. It also focuses on how the teacher deals with the difficulties encountered by students.Regarding that matter, a didactic engineering was already modelled as part of the Theory of didactical situations (Brousseau, 1986). This engineering focuses on the thematic of "genetic" and more specifically on "the expression of the genetic heritage" - a problematic area for most students. The analyses deal with the students’ productions, their answers to questionnaires (pre-test and post-test) and the teacher-student interactions produced throughout the work in the situation.This work highlighted the role of experimental design in changing the students' knowledge system and the evolution of their knowledge about the gene concept and expression of genetic information. The scaffolds implemented in the LabBook platform offer the students a potential for the implementation of experimental design. Teachers themselves dealt with the difficulties encountered by their students by implementing various aids. The study of these scaffolds allows the development of useful recommendations to improve the LabBook platform so as to help students overcome their learning difficulties.

English CLIL-instruction in Sweden is supposed to be beneficial to students who want to improve their academic English vocabulary proficiency in preparation for studies or employment abroad. However, recent research shows that there is no difference in academic English proficiency between students in upper secondary school CLIL-programs and students in regular upper secondary schools in Sweden. Furthermore, educational researchers question if CLIL-programs in Sweden qualify to be defined as CLIL-instruction since Swedish translanguaging is extensively used which does not make the programs 100% Englishmedium instruction. Through teacher observations and questionnaires, this study investigates the classroom practices at a CLIL-program in Sweden in addition to ask the CLIL-teachers about their teaching strategies in regards to promoting students’ acquisition, development, and use of academic English. The findings include that the classroom practices are in accordance with practices considered beneficial to students’ proficiency in academi c English by numerous previous studies. In addition, all the teachers questioned in this study purposely work to support and develop students’ academic language proficiency in their respective subject areas and across the curriculum. The study also found four possible factors that perhaps can undermine the acquisition, development and use of academic English vocabulary and those include the following: First, the teachers believe that the students are already sufficiently fluent in academic English, and thus concentrate more on content than on language in their instruction. Secondly, extensive translanguaging in the classroom is common in addition to the students’ habit of speaking Swedish to each other in stude nt-tostudent communication. Thirdly, the students do not receive the corresponding level of education in their native language of Swedish as they do in English, which can have detrimental effects on their abilities to develop their English past their Swedish language abilities. Finally, classroom practices that are not inclusive of all students can work to undermine the acquisition and use of academic English vocabulary.

Peer response is a method which is widely used on higher levels of second-language learning in Sweden, such as universities. The approach is not used as much in upper secondary school; and, the aim of this paper is to investigate upper secondary students' opinions of the value of peer response. The aim is also to investigate if the teacher's grading differed between the first version of a text and the final vesrion that had been revised after peer response. Research has shown that there seems to be more negotiation of meaning when students are working collaboratively and this can lead to better revisions of written texts, especially in terms of content development. On the other hand, collaborative writing can also create anxiety in some students who therefore dislike peer response. This investigation has shown that students taking part in the investigation are generally positive towards the approach. They also believe that giving and receiving feedback can help them improve their writing. There are, however, a few students who dislike it and want the texts to be read only by the teacher. The investigation has also shown that students mainly focus on formal aspects such as spelling and grammar when giving feedback to each other, whereas content was rarely commented on. Moreover, the results have shown that many of the students' grades improved on the final version compared to the first version. In conclusion, this investigation indicates that peer response could be used as an alternative, or complement, to ordinary teacher-student feedback in upper secondary school.

Följande systematiska litteraturstudie fokuserar på elever med fallenhet för matematik och vad som lämpas i matematikundervisningen för att främja och utveckla de matematiska förmågorna hos denna typ av elever. Studien kommer att definiera begreppen fallenhet, matematisk förmåga, anpassad undervisning, stöd och stimulans samt fördjupa sig i begreppens roll och samband i undervisningen. Studien behandlar tre frågeställningar om elever med fallenhet och anpassning, stöd och stimulans i undervisningen. Resultatet visar på att elever med fallenhet för matematik ofta missuppfattas och att det mer än sällan finns brister i undervisningen för att eleverna ska uppnå full potential. Främst på grund av missuppfattningar och identifiering av elever med fallenhet, men också att de inte får det stöd eller stimulans som de är i behov av.

Abstract The use of mobile devices, including mobile phones and tablets, is a growing trend in education. The practice has been widely technology driven and often justified simply by the importance of using new technology in a classroom and by claiming such devices to be important in reaching something referred to, although not that well defined, as 21st century skills. This thesis is one answer to the challenge represented by this development. It brings together theoretical ideas of scaffolding learning with collaborative scripts and the use of mobile devices as cognitive tools in a real life educational settings. This thesis has constructivist grounds and aims at exploring how to support collaborative learning when students have ill-structured problems and their activities are supported with mobile technologies. The study consists of three case studies, which together form an example of how important it is to design, develop and deliver lightweight digital tools and activities for learners to construct knowledge. Overall, the results of three case studies in this thesis confirms that it is a dubious assumption that learners will automatically take appropriate and measured advantage of the affordances of mobile devices and other emergent technologies involved in cognitive activities: rather, these cognitive tools require deliberate attention and effort from learners to make use of the affordances of the tools. Furthermore, results from the case studies reveal that personal factors such as students’ prior knowledge and their metacognitive and collaborative skills, as well as contextual cues such as cultural compatibility and instructional methods, influence student engagement. / Tiivistelmä Mobiililaitteiden, kuten puhelinten ja tabletien, opetuskäyttö lisääntyy hyvää vauhtia. Aihepiiri on ollut teknologiavetoinen, opetuskäyttöä on perusteltu lähinnä tarkemmin määrittelemättömillä 2000-luvun kansalaistaidoilla (21th century skills) ja uuden teknologian hyödyntämisen tärkeydellä. Tämä väitöskirja on teoreettisesti ja metodologisesti perusteltu vastine tähän keskusteluun. Tutkimus yhdistää pedagogista vaiheistamista ja kognitiivisia työkaluja käsittelevän teoreettisen viitekehyksen kolmeen todellisissa oppimistilanteissa tehtyyn kokeiluun. Työ koostuu kolmesta tapaustutkimuksesta, jotka yhdessä muodostavat esimerkin kuinka mobiililaitteiden avulla tuettua opiskelua voidaan suunnitella ja toteuttaa erilaisissa konteksteissa. Ensimmäisessä tapaustutkimuksessa tutkittiin maantieteellisesti hajautuneen opetusta suunnittelevan yhteisön vuorovaikutusta. Toisessa tapaustutkimuksessa selvitettiin kuinka tukea luontopolkutyöskentelyä mobiilisovellusten avulla. Kolmannessa tapaustutkimuksessa tutkittiin yliopisto-opiskelijoiden opintojen tukemista mobiilin sosiaalisen median sovelluksia hyödyntäen. Kolme tapaustutkimusta osoittavat että oppilaiden ei voida olettaa automaattisesti osaavan hyödyntää uusinta teknologiaa ja pedagogisia menetelmiä opiskelunsa tukena. Päinvastoin, käyttäminen vaatii opiskelijoilta paljon päämäärätietoista ponnistelua. Henkilökohtaiset tekijät, kuten aiemmat kokemukset, opiskelutaidot, mutta myös tilannesidonnaiset tekijät kuten opetusmenetelmät vaikuttavat opiskelijoiden kykyyn hyödyntää uutta teknologiaa opiskelussa.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The aim of the study was to investigate the nature of biology practical work and associated discourses in two Namibian secondary schools. The purposive sample consisted of three biology teachers and 36 grade 11 students who enrolled for NSSC Higher- and Ordinary-level biology in 2004 and 2005. The study adopted a descriptive and an in-depth qualitative design involving the use of interviews and observation schedules (Video Observation Quoting Schedules-VOQS). The quality of VOQS instruments were established through a panel of independent experts who critically assessed the quality of the items and later discussed to reach consensus. Their rating of the items helped in the establishment of interrater reliability.