Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The purpose of this qualitative, grounded theory study was to explore the concept of food literacy as it relates to well-being from the perspective of young Canadian adults who recently transitioned to independent living. Seventeen individual, interviews were conducted with Canadian university students. Results suggest that while young adults value “healthy” eating, they are at risk for leaving their family homes lacking necessary food literacy required to make healthy food choices, sustain healthy food relationships and be well. Results suggest that significant challenges exist with regard to acquiring/utilizing food literacy, which appear to influence food choices, health and well-being. Findings indicate that young adults could benefit from expanding their views on food to encompass cultural and environmental knowledge. This thesis adds value to the existing literature by exploring the components of food literacy and connections to well-being.

The purpose of this study was to implement and assess the efficacy of a novel social skills intervention (First Friends; Graham, 2000, 2006) on improving social cognitive skills, social behaviours, and executive functions in an early childhood population of children from socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. Early school years are a critical developmental period to intervene to facilitate social competency and reduce problem behaviours. Children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds are at-risk as many suffer from behavioural problems and begin school without the social maturity and behavioural regulation skills needed to succeed in an academic environment. First Friends is an 8-week preventive intervention designed to promote critical areas of social-emotional development including problem solving, conflict resolution, planning, identification of emotions, empathy, assertiveness, anger management, verbal communication, creativity and cooperation. In addition to examining intervention effects, another goal for this study was to examine the mediational role of improvements in different latent EF components (i.e., working memory, inhibition, set-shifting/mental flexibility) on intervention outcomes. Executive functions (EF) have been linked to social-emotional competence. The First Friends program teaches social skills that are suggested to require EF to learn, as well as implement, during social interactions. The social skills taught and practiced also utilize overlapping brain pathways. Therefore, the First Friends intervention was hypothesized to impact both social-emotional functions and EF, given that 1) EF appears to be required in learning and developing several social and emotional skills, and 2) brain pathways utilized in carrying out these functions overlap. Eighty-seven kindergarten children (41 controls, M = 5.42 years; 46 intervention, M = 5.40 years) from socio-economically disadvantaged areas of the Greater Victoria region in B.C. participated in this study. Children's EF and social-emotional and social-cognitive skills were assessed and their social skills and behaviours were rated by parents, teachers, and observers before and after the intervention. Results provided support for the efficacy of the intervention with children who participated in the intervention demonstrating significantly stronger socio-emotional and social cognitive abilities, more prosocial behaviours, and less negative behaviours compared to a control group. Parent and teacher reports did not reveal significant changes. In addition, significant intervention effects on working memory and set-shifting/mental flexibility were found. Contrary to hypotheses, intervention effects were not revealed for inhibition. In addition, none of the EF latent constructs were found to mediate intervention outcomes. Overall, the First Friends program shows promise with regard to improving both social and executive functioning skills, and continued research and implementation with this program is warranted. These findings highlight the importance of not only assessing for social outcomes, but also examining the development of other cognitive processes that appear to be involved in social development. The results of this study can facilitate understanding of the scope of social intervention outcomes on cognitive processes and guide the selection and implementation of effective prevention programs with early childhood populations in the future. / Graduate

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The aim of this research is to investigate the development of locating information in books in the fifth grade of the elementary school. The dilemma, according to the review of the literature, is that many students are not competent to locate information even in the most common source, the book, and that those who are responsible for developing these skills in schools are themselves suffering from some kind of weakness. Indeed, there is not even a program which is accepted by the whole scientific community in this area. The review of the literature also provides us with some idea about bridging the gaps of those who are responsible for the development of these skills in schools, and brings us closer to the very heart of the contents of these skills. Based on this state-of-the-art, the researcher designed a learning package program relating to the location of information in books for fifth graders of the elementary school, and he also designed a test for measuring the efficiency of this program. The learning package program was implemented and tested in Israel in two elementary schools with teacher-librarians and with well equipped libraries through collaboration between the researcher and the educational context. One of the schools was of a low socio-economic status, and the other was of a high socio-economic status. On the one hand the results strengthen the findings of the literature regarding the skill gaps of students and the lack of sufficient stimulation in schools, and on the other hand the results also reveal the possibility of improving, in many cases significantly, the location of information in books, by exposing students to the learning package program. This study reveals, moreover, that it is possible to bring teachers closer to the area of locating information in books in particular, and even to close the gaps between information skills and the educational context in general. Implications for teachers and librarians are included as well as recommendations for future research.

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Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur lärare använder sig utav IKT för elevernas lärande samt vilken kompetensutveckling inom IKT de får från sin arbetsplats. Två teorier tillämpas i studien, det sociokulturella perspektivet och TPACK modellen. För att besvara frågeställningarna har en kvalitativ metod i form av intervjuer genomförts. Resultatet visar att det finns en variation i hur lärare använder sig utav IKT för elevernas lärande, bland annat användes IKT i form av presentation och för informationssökning. Vidare visar resultatet att lärare generellt får kompetensutveckling inom IKT men att den ges på olika sätt och ibland utanför arbetstiden. Lärarna ansåg även att mer kompetensutveckling behövs för att de ska känna sig helt trygga med IKT samt kunna använda det på mest effektiva sätt. Den tidigare forskningen som använts i denna studie visar på att lärare både i Sverige och andra länder har liknande åsikter och erfarenheter av IKT, som de intervjuade lärarna har.

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