The study concerns the new educational activities that emerge within the deregulated school system at the beginning of the 21st century. Which ideas guide the work? How is the activity formed? What does one hope to achieve? The aim of the thesis is to explore these educational practices in one of the larges independent schools in Sweden – Kunskapsskolan. The study was based upon a sociocultural perspective on learning and on twenty situated interviews with seven principals. Tools central for the activity in Kunskapsskolan were used as basis for the interviews. A qualitative analysis has been used; one of the methods for analysis applied is phenomenography. The study shows how the school, with the help of centrally developed tools, organised the teaching and the environments for learning that were implemented in all schools of the company. Individually organised teaching is the foundation for all teaching, where the students are expected to be self-regulated and self-correcting and use the tools provided for their learning. With regards to the students’ learning, the teachers’ role is mainly related to individual tutorial conversations. Thereby the tools intended to create freedom and control for the students, also create problems and obstacles. Students who do not learn to use the tools have difficulties in managing their studies. The new tools also affect the teachers’ work. In comparison with other schools, the teachers are expected to submit to the educational model and a centrally controlled planning. The teaching is centrally planned in subject specific stages or subject integrated courses. Teachers can influence the central planning by working collaboratively in teacher teams but not individually. The main commission of the teachers is to follow the educational model decided by the company. In comparison with the traditional school, both teachers and students are given new roles. When learning is individually organised for the students, the teachers are expected to develop their knowledge collectively. According to the results, both students and teachers have different approaches to the system – they can submit to the system or approach it in a more independent and reflective way.

Not often do mathematics teachers instruct to improve students' attitudes toward mathematics. The pressures to cover the state-mandated curriculum drive teachers to instruct for procedural understanding with few connections. The lack of real-life connections results in students with low motivation toward mathematics and results in poor mathematics attitude (Ma andamp; Kishor, 1997). The purpose of this mixed-methods research is to examine self-regulated learning as an instructional technique aimed at increasing mathematical attitudes while also increasing achievement and to reveal barriers to its implementation in the classroom.The research study involved an intervention in a Mid-South urban high school at the 9th grade level. All students who participated were enrolled in the middle track at the school, thus taking an Algebra I course. The intervention took place with four teachers in seven separate classes. Students were given the opportunity to regulate their own learning based on objectives for district and state requirements. In this pre/post design, students were surveyed for their mathematics attitude and achievement using the Attitude Toward Mathematics Inventory (Tapia, 1996) and a polynomial survey designed by the researcher. Teachers were surveyed and interviewed prior to the study to develop a sense of their teaching preferences. During the experiment classroom observations were conducted to assist in developing themes in the intervention. Following the study, extensive interviews took place with each participating teacher.Data analyses revealed no statistically significant difference between the control and experimental group in regards to mathematics attitude and achievement. Qualitative analysis using constant comparative strategies (Denzin andamp; Lincoln, 2000) revealed many teacher barriers and misconceptions. Teachers felt uncomfortable with the technique and were unable to allow the students to fully regulate their learning. The teachers imposed a timeline, quizzes, written tests, and direct instruction techniques on the students during the study. All of these created barriers to the students fully regulating their learning. Also, teachers' perceptions of learning and attitude were not valid. Teachers believed the students achieved at a lower level than with a traditional approach and viewed their attitudes as worse than normal. This was in direct contrast to the quantitative results.

Comprised of a cover story and five separate but interrelated articles, this dissertation explores entrepreneurial learning. By connecting multiple theoretical perspectives, reviewing extant literature, using four qualitative datasets, and building theory inductively, the articles explain components to and mechanisms of entrepreneurial learning. This dissertation is one of the first to explore the essence of entrepreneurial learning by incorporating non-entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs simultaneously, cognitive processes, and contextual variables.  Learning lies at the core of entrepreneurship, and scholars have even argued that a theory of entrepreneurship requires a theory of learning. The literature suggests that experiences in the context of entrepreneurship triggers entrepreneurial learning, and that such learning relates to achieving ambitious goals, the discovery of new opportunities and better overall performance. Entrepreneurial learning has also been highlighted in contexts outside entrepreneurship and as a mean to fostering future entrepreneurs and developing people’s entrepreneurial attributes and characteristics. The idea is that entrepreneurship is a way of thinking and acting and that entrepreneurial learning can be of use to anyone, even to those lacking entrepreneurial experience. Entrepreneurial learning literature, both inside and outside the context of entrepreneurship, emphasizes triggers of entrepreneurial learning, but does not recognize components that enable those triggers to be recognized and acted on and the underlying mechanisms that distinguish entrepreneurial learning from other types of learning. This gap makes it difficult to assess what entrepreneurial learning is and how it can be enhanced for both entrepreneurs and people preparing for entrepreneurship. This dissertation explains how and why entrepreneurial learning can be understood as a simultaneous and active regulation of cognition, motivation, and emotions to achieve goals. This elaboration captures core components and the mechanism of entrepreneurial learning, and illustrates how it can be understood and enhanced in various contexts.

The purpose of this study is to examine what kindof formative assessments is used in the religious education at middle-schoolin Sweden. A further aim of the study is to examine whether any problems can be observed with formative assessment. Questions that will try to be answered are: What kindof formative assessment occurs in religious education at the middle school in a Swedish school? What problems can be observed with formative assessment in religious education at the middle school in a Swedish school? To answer these questions, six lessons in religious education were observedin total; three teachers held two lessons each which were observed. Earlier studies have showed that formative assessment was used by teachers to give feedback to improve pupils’ learning. In some cases, feedback was also givenwhich did not contribute to the improvement of pupils’learning. Earlier studies also conclude that formative assessment helped teachers to designfuture lessonsbased on pupils’ prior knowledge. Another conclusion highlights that teachers who made the goals of the lesson visible for pupils, resulted in an increased motivation and understanding of the purpose of the lesson. This study concludes that formative assessment has been usedby all three teachers, but in different ways. One conclusion is that when the goals of the lesson was not visible for the pupils, it affected the motivation of some pupils. Another conclusion is that teachers used formative assessment to modify lesson plans to meet the pupils’ current knowledge. Formative assessment was also used to encourage pupils to help each other by using peer-assessment. To improve pupils learning, teachers also used feedback as a strategy

Educators and educational researchers constantly strive to find effective instructional methods that meet the needs of struggling students. There is a well-established relationship between self-regulated learning and academic achievement. Therefore, a great deal of research has been conducted examining the effectiveness of interventions designed to develop self-regulated learning sub-processes including goal setting, help-seeking behavior, self-monitoring, and causal attributions. One particular sub-process that has gained significant attention is self-motivation beliefs, which includes goal orientation. Developing a growth mindset, or the belief that that intelligence is malleable, has been found to increase student learning. Intelligent tutoring systems have also been incorporated into K-12 education to help differentiate instruction and improve learning outcomes. There have been several empirical studies that have attempted to develop help-seeking behavior and growth mindset with interventions delivered by intelligent tutoring systems. Initially, the goal of this dissertation was to increase student learning by developing self-regulated learning through the use of an intelligent tutoring system. Preliminary attempts failed to modify student beliefs and behavior. As a result, a series of additional randomized controlled trials were conducted. This dissertation is a compilation of those studies, which attempted to leverage ASSISTments, an intelligent tutoring system, to improve student learning in mathematics. Each randomized controlled trial introduced an intervention, based on prior work, designed to address at least one aspect of self-regulated learning and measure the effect on learning. Most of the studies were unsuccessful in producing significant changes in either self-regulation or learning, failing to support the findings of prior research. Survey results suggest that students are reluctant to engage in certain self-regulated learning behaviors, like self-recording, because of the frustration caused when answering a question incorrectly. Based on the findings from these studies, recommendations for potential interventions and future research are discussed.

O presente trabalho investiga estratégias para aperfeiçoar o estudo individual do violonista com base no conceito de autorregulaçaao da aprendizagem e nas informações da literatura musical. Nas últimas décadas, pesquisas tem enfatizado a importância do aspecto qualitativo no estudo individual (Barry, 1992; Nielsen, 1999 e 2001; Williamon e Valentine, 2000; Hallam, 2001) e destacam que saber como estudar eí uma habilidade fundamental para sustentar o contínuo aperfeiçoamento musical. Essa capacidade de regular o próprio estudo se relaciona com o mecanismo da autor regulação, conjunto de processos psicológicos pelos quais o ser humano regula seu comportamento. Como referencia principal para o estudo desse conceito eí utilizado Barry J. Zimmerman (2000, 2002) e também Mcpherson e Zimmerman (2011) que discutem a autor regulação na prática do músico. Da literatura musical as principais referências são os livros de Gerald Klickstein (2009) e dos violonistas Ricardo Iznaola (2000), Richard Provost (1992) e Lee F. Ryan (1991), que discutem viários aspectos relacionados à prática individual do músico. As informações trazidas pelos autores da aéra musical foram discutidas e organizadas de forma a trazer um panorama das estratégias para o aperfeiçoamento da prática e para estimular o comportamento autorregulado do estudante (de universidade ou conservatório superior). O trabalho incluiu também uma etapa prática, na qual as informações levantadas na parte teórica foram aplicadas na rotina de estudos pessoal. A experiência teve o objetivo de observar as implicações desta abordagem e foi registrada como um memorial de estudo através de relatórios e vídeos. Em suma, a análise dessa etapa se alinha com as evidências da pesquisa empírica, de que o engajamento do estudante em procedimentos como analise prévia da tarefa, estabelecimento de metas, planejamento, escolha de estratégias adequadas e reflexão sobre o estudo tem um impacto positivo na eficiência do aprendizado e no desenvolvimento musical. / This research explores strategies to improve the classical guitarist\'s individual practice based on the concept of self-regulated learning and resources from musical literature. During the last decades, a great amount of research has emphasized the relevance of qualitative aspect in music practice (Barry, 1992; Nielsen, 1999 e 2001; Williamon e Valentine, 2000; Hallam, 2001) and suggest that knowing how to practice is an essential ability to support constant musical improvement. The skill of regulating one\'s study is related to self-regulation mechanisms, which is a set of psychological procedures in which the human being regulates his own behavior. It is chosen, as main reference to the self-regulation study, Barry J. Zimmerman (2000, 2002) and also Mcpherson e Zimmerman (2011), that discusses the self-regulation in the musical activity. The main references from the musical literature are the books of Gerald Klickstein (2009) and the classical guitarists Ricardo Iznaola (2000), Richard Provost (1992), Lee F. Ryan (1991), that presents several aspects related to the musician individual practice. The knowledge brought from the authors in musical field were debated and organized in order to provide a panorama of strategies to enhance music practice and to stimulate students\' self-regulated behavior (at university or conservatory level). This paper includes a practical stage as well, in which the collected information from the theoretical stage was applied to my study routine. The experiment has had the aim of observing and discussing the implications of self-regulation strategies, and it was registered as a study report through daily logs, audio recordings and videos. Lastly, the analysis and reflection of this practical process relates to the empirical research evidences, which show that the student\'s commitment in some procedures, such as task analysis, goal setting, planning, the choice of suitable strategies and reflection about the study, leads to a positive impact in practice efficiency and musical development.

<p> Students who achieve their long-term goal of graduating from college are models of persistence and grit. Grit is the self-regulatory construct defined as “passion and perseverance for long-term goals despite setbacks, failures, and competing pursuits” (Eskreis-Winkler, Gross, Duckworth, 2016) and has been associated with both academic and workplace success (Eskreis-Winkler, Duckworth, Shulman, & Beal, 2014). Unfortunately, 37% of freshmen drop out of college by the end of their freshmen year (Almeida, 2016; Snyder, de Brey, & Dillow, 2018). The college classroom provides an optimal environment for institutions of higher learning to foster the grit-to-graduate<i> </i>in college freshmen, to enhance learning and academic success, and to increase goal commitment to graduation, degree achievement, and career readiness.</p> <p> The purpose of this study was to investigate whether six pedagogical interventions and project adaptations would increase student grit in an entry-level communication class heavily comprised of freshmen. Four class sections were administered the 12-item grit scale (Duckworth, 2019) during the first and last week of first semester at a Midwestern University (<i>N</i>=79). The experimental group received the pedagogical grit interventions throughout the semester; the control group did not. A repeated measures ANOVA computed the variance of grit scores between the groups. Students in the experimental group also provided quantitative and qualitative data about which pedagogical instruments they found most effective.</p> <p> While the hypothesis was not supported, student feedback on the six grit interventions was largely positive. Ideas for improving the interventions and for fostering grit and college persistence in freshmen are included.</p> <br>

O presente trabalho investiga estratégias para aperfeiçoar o estudo individual do violonista com base no conceito de autorregulaçaao da aprendizagem e nas informações da literatura musical. Nas últimas décadas, pesquisas tem enfatizado a importância do aspecto qualitativo no estudo individual (Barry, 1992; Nielsen, 1999 e 2001; Williamon e Valentine, 2000; Hallam, 2001) e destacam que saber como estudar eí uma habilidade fundamental para sustentar o contínuo aperfeiçoamento musical. Essa capacidade de regular o próprio estudo se relaciona com o mecanismo da autor regulação, conjunto de processos psicológicos pelos quais o ser humano regula seu comportamento. Como referencia principal para o estudo desse conceito eí utilizado Barry J. Zimmerman (2000, 2002) e também Mcpherson e Zimmerman (2011) que discutem a autor regulação na prática do músico. Da literatura musical as principais referências são os livros de Gerald Klickstein (2009) e dos violonistas Ricardo Iznaola (2000), Richard Provost (1992) e Lee F. Ryan (1991), que discutem viários aspectos relacionados à prática individual do músico. As informações trazidas pelos autores da aéra musical foram discutidas e organizadas de forma a trazer um panorama das estratégias para o aperfeiçoamento da prática e para estimular o comportamento autorregulado do estudante (de universidade ou conservatório superior). O trabalho incluiu também uma etapa prática, na qual as informações levantadas na parte teórica foram aplicadas na rotina de estudos pessoal. A experiência teve o objetivo de observar as implicações desta abordagem e foi registrada como um memorial de estudo através de relatórios e vídeos. Em suma, a análise dessa etapa se alinha com as evidências da pesquisa empírica, de que o engajamento do estudante em procedimentos como analise prévia da tarefa, estabelecimento de metas, planejamento, escolha de estratégias adequadas e reflexão sobre o estudo tem um impacto positivo na eficiência do aprendizado e no desenvolvimento musical. / This research explores strategies to improve the classical guitarist\'s individual practice based on the concept of self-regulated learning and resources from musical literature. During the last decades, a great amount of research has emphasized the relevance of qualitative aspect in music practice (Barry, 1992; Nielsen, 1999 e 2001; Williamon e Valentine, 2000; Hallam, 2001) and suggest that knowing how to practice is an essential ability to support constant musical improvement. The skill of regulating one\'s study is related to self-regulation mechanisms, which is a set of psychological procedures in which the human being regulates his own behavior. It is chosen, as main reference to the self-regulation study, Barry J. Zimmerman (2000, 2002) and also Mcpherson e Zimmerman (2011), that discusses the self-regulation in the musical activity. The main references from the musical literature are the books of Gerald Klickstein (2009) and the classical guitarists Ricardo Iznaola (2000), Richard Provost (1992), Lee F. Ryan (1991), that presents several aspects related to the musician individual practice. The knowledge brought from the authors in musical field were debated and organized in order to provide a panorama of strategies to enhance music practice and to stimulate students\' self-regulated behavior (at university or conservatory level). This paper includes a practical stage as well, in which the collected information from the theoretical stage was applied to my study routine. The experiment has had the aim of observing and discussing the implications of self-regulation strategies, and it was registered as a study report through daily logs, audio recordings and videos. Lastly, the analysis and reflection of this practical process relates to the empirical research evidences, which show that the student\'s commitment in some procedures, such as task analysis, goal setting, planning, the choice of suitable strategies and reflection about the study, leads to a positive impact in practice efficiency and musical development.

Due to its unsupervised nature, undergraduate education requires students to manage their own learning. They need to use self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies in order to achieve academic success. However, college students often have insufficient regulatory skills and strategies, suggesting the need for substantive and practical support. Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a well-recognized academic intervention that utilizes peer-led study groups for difficult college courses, through which students can develop their SRL abilities. This study focuses on the role of the SI program in college students’ development of SRL from a person-centered perspective. First, this study examines the heterogeneous effects of the SI intervention on students’ development of SRL by combining latent profile modeling and propensity score matching. Second, it explores the changes in student SRL profiles over the intervention period and determines factors affecting the prediction of such changes using latent transition modeling. Results identify three distinct student profiles: competent regulator, self-confident regulator, and goal-oriented regulator. Within the competent regulator profile, both SI and non-SI attendees’ overall SRL scores significantly decreased over time, though non- SI attendees showed a greater downturn. For the self-confident regulator profile, only SI attendees’ overall SRL scores increased. Both SI and non-SI attendees in the goal-oriented regulator profile had small decreases in scores, which were not statistically significant. Regarding students’ longitudinal transitions between SRL profiles, students in the most desirable profile (competent regulator) remained most stable over time. Students’ SRL in the goal-oriented regulator profile was most malleable in a positive way; approximately 40% of these students moved into the competent regulator profile. In addition, students whose decision to attend the SI sessions was more mastery-oriented tended to fall into more positive transition groups. Furthermore, students whose levels of self-confidence in learning, critical thinking skills, and group work skills increased as a result of their participation in SI sessions were more likely to become members of more positive transition groups. The findings of this study extend previous work by longitudinally examining individual differences in college students’ SRL development. They also provide significant implications for the future design of more targeted interventions.

Process skills, such as critical thinking, communication, and problem solving, are sometimes referred to as soft skills or professional skills and have been identified by instructors and employers alike as being desirable skills for students to acquire before they graduate. The development and assessment of process skills in students were important learning objectives for both the ANA-POGIL (Analytical Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) and ELIPSS (Enhancing Learning by Improving Process Skills in STEM) projects. The ANA-POGIL project consisted of a faculty consortium that was comprised of chemistry faculty. The ELIPSS project currently consists of a faculty consortium that includes representation from multiple STEM disciplines, including biology, chemistry, anatomy & physiology, math, engineering, and physics. In order to optimize the student development of process skills there should be alignment between the instructors’ goals for their courses and what they assess. The faculty members associated with both of these projects wanted to enhance students’ development of process skills by providing them with feedback, and a problem solving rubric was developed to meet those needs. The rubric categories were constructed based on faculty definitions and literature that described characteristics of successful problem solvers. To the test the rubric’s validity, it was piloted by both faculty and students. The rubric was then used in an advanced analytical instrumental laboratory course to assess the extent to which evidence of students’ process skills changed over the course of a semester. Students from the laboratory course were interviewed to gather their insights into the rubric and how they used the feedback. Findings suggest that instructors should emphasize the importance of process skills and incorporate them directly into their courses if they want students to value them. Even though students were provided regular feedback, their problem solving scores did not change appreciably throughout the semester. While students found the rubric feedback useful on the surface, they did not use the feedback in any significant way to improve on their laboratory reports because there was no grade or incentive tied to the rubrics. If faculty want students to obtain process skills, they should place some incentive on the acquisition and development of them. Another goal of the ANA-POGIL project was to develop multi-part, open-ended questions to assess process skills. To analyze evidence of the process skills that were present in the student responses, a qualitative coding scheme focused on three process skills (information processing, problem solving, and critical thinking) was used. There was overall good alignment between the process skills the faculty had identified for the exam questions and the evidence that was found in the student responses. Findings show that if instructors value eliciting a certain process skill in students’ responses, then they should be extremely explicit in how the exam structure is worded to elicit that skill. Well-designed laboratories help students develop skills in experimental design, data analysis, and communication in addition to critical technical skills. A common course structure that presents challenges for both the students and instructional staff is in upper-level undergraduate chemistry laboratories where students perform experiments in a rotational style, with each group of students working on one instrument per week. As a solution to this challenge, a set of pre-laboratory videos were generated for each experiment. Laboratory observations and student interviews were conducted to investigate how students were using the resources and to characterize their experiences in the laboratory. Findings show that students used the resources to come more prepared to complete the laboratory experiments more independently with less instructional intervention. Findings from the student observations and experiences in the laboratory show that students enjoyed working with both their peers and the instructional team to successfully complete the experiments.