Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-106). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Kent State University, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Aug. 24, 2006). Advisors: Alicia R. Crowe, Shawn Fitzgerald. Keywords: teacher education; mobile computing; handheld computing; social studies education; attitudes. Includes survey instrument. Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-128).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: Professional environmental scientists are increasingly under pressure to inform and even shape policy. Scientists engage policy effectively when they act within the bounds of objectivity, credibility, and authority, yet significant portions of the scientific community condemn such acts as advocacy. They argue that it is nonobjective, that it risks damaging the credibility of science, and that it is an abuse of authority. This means objectivity, credibility, and authority deserve direct attention before the policy advocacy quagmire can be reasonably understood. I investigate the meaning of objectivity in science and that necessarily brings the roles of values in science into question. This thesis is a sociological study of the roles environmental values play in the decisions of environmental scientists working in the institution of academia. I argue that the gridlocked nature of the environmental policy advocacy debates can be traced to what seems to be a deep tension and perhaps confusion among these scientists. I provide empirical evidence of this tension and confusion through the use of in depth semi-structured interviews among a sampling of academic environmental scientists (AES). I show that there is a struggle for these AES to reconcile their support for environmentalist values and goals with their commitment to scientific objectivity and their concerns about being credible scientists in the academy. Additionally, I supplemented my data collection with environmental sociology and history, plus philosophy and sociology of science literatures. With this, I developed a system for understanding values in science (of which environmental values are a subset) with respect to the limits of my sample and study. This examination of respondent behavior provides support that it is possible for AES to act on their environmental values without compromising their objectivity, credibility, and authority. These scientists were not likely to practice this in conversations with colleagues and policy-makers, but were likely to behave this way with students. The legitimate extension of this behavior is a viable route for continuing to integrate the human and social dimensions of environmental science into its practice, its training, and its relationship with policy. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Environmental Social Science 2012

This study aims at analyzing the content of high school textbooks in social sciences, more specifically the field of law and order, and comparing this with the current research situation in the field. Another purpose is to investigate whether the new type of serious gang crime, which in particular has grown in various immigrant suburbs, adjacent to our largest cities, as reported in the media in recent years, has also looked into the textbooks. The essay uses a constructivist theory formation. The constructivist theory considers that different actors, based on their ideological positions, create different descriptions of current social phenomena, descriptions aimed at influencing the recipient to incorporate specific perceptions of reality and values. In this context, the teaching materials become a political product that is not so much about describing a social phenomenon as complex and objective as possible a complex, but, above all, it will be understood as the attempt of the various parties to convey their specific interpretations and interests of the phenomenon. The survey shows that all analyzing textbooks directly or indirectly highlight the men and adolescents group, and to some extent also people in an exposed psychosocial position that overrepresented in a criminal context. In cases where textbooks address statements about people committing crimes, socio-economic and psychosocial vulnerabilities are mentioned, as well as explanations of the social plane in terms of control and casualty structures. In this regard, textbooks fail to report a broad and current research on the mechanisms of crime. None of the textbooks deal with the new crime that has emerged in different socially vulnerable areas to our metropolitan areas, believing that this has gained a lot of space in the media and that the syllabuses in social sciences emphasize that the subject will highlight current social phenomena. All books consistently choose to not treat people it with a foreign background's overrepresentation in a criminal context. Nor should it be noted that some people have a biological vulnerability in committing crimes, for example, that individuals with ADHD diagnosis are heavily overrepresented in crime statistics. / <p>Godkännane datum: 2018-05-31</p>

After the introduction of Learner Centred Education in Namibia, a number of studies were conducted on how teachers either perceived learner centred education or implemented it. However, very few studies investigated the teachers' understanding of both subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge; primarily, how they understand and develop key concepts. The purpose of this study was to investigate how Grade 5 teachers' understand and develop key concepts in Social Studies in selected schools in Namibia. The study focused on three teachers in three primary schools in the Caprivi educational region of Namibia. These teachers were purposefully selected as graduates of the teacher education programme instituted at the time of the Namibian education reform process. As a teacher educator, my main motive of conducting this study was to gain a better understanding of some of the issues that have been raised about these graduates' lack of content knowledge. The study adopts a qualitative approach and seeks to investigate (a) how the three teachers in this study understand key concepts and (b) the strategies they use to develop such concepts. Three data collection instruments were employed: interviews, document analysis and class observations. The findings indicate that despite the training that all three teachers in this study received, their understanding of the concepts they taught is problematic. Furthermore, some of the strategies that the teachers used did not bring about learning with understanding. The results of the study revealed how these teachers' problems with concepts and the development of conceptual understanding are related to specific issues and can be attributed to a number of factors. Because of this, the study has provided valuable insights into aspects of teacher education that need to be addressed both in terms of in-service and pre-service programmes to support teachers in teaching for understanding, a key idea underpinning the reform process.

Hösten 2018 kommer den reviderade läroplanen att införas på alla skolor i Sverige. Denna innebär ett tydligare fokus på att eleverna i skolan ska utveckla en digital kompetens. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur sex lärare i samhällskunskap i grund- respektive gymnasieskolan upplever digitaliseringen och de förutsättningar som finns gällande elevernas utvecklande av en digital kompetens. Detta görs genom kvalitativa intervjuer. Det framkommer att lärarnas upplevelser kring digitaliseringen är blandade. Alla lärare som deltagit i studien menar dock att de har förutsättningar att främja elevernas utvecklande av den digitala kompetensen. / During the autumn 2018 the revised curriculum will be introduced at all schools in Sweden. This implies a clearer focus on the pupils developing a digital competence. This study examines how six teachers in social sciences in upper- and upper secondary school experiences the digitalization and the prerequisites for pupils’ development of a digital competence. This is done with the method qualitive interviews. The result of the study shows that the teachers’ experiences of the digitalization are mixed. However, all teachers who participated in the study men that they have the potential to support the pupils’ development of a digital competence.

Metódos analíticos de investigação são usualmente ineficazes para sistemas computacionais sociais já que apenas algumas iterações do sistema já são suficientes para que o sistema se torne imprevisível. Portanto, uma das principais questões na Computação Social é o desenvolvimento de modelos sociais passíveis de investigação. Assim é possível que se compreenda o relacionamento complexo entre os componentes de sistemas sociais computacionais e o resultado. Este aspectos incluem a modelagem, a estrutura de comunicação e características individuais do agentes envolvidos na resolução dos problemas. do processo social. Esta tese explora sistemas computacionais de resolução de problemas com foco em sistemas artificiais e heterogêneos. Nela é feita uma compilação extensiva da literatura relacionada em sistemas complexos onde as contribuições do candidato são expostas dentro de contextos específicos da área. Entre elas está o estudo de modelos abstratos e gerais de resolução social de problemas, a investigação do impacto da centralidade no resultado individual e coletivo, a análise experimental de modelos heterogêneos de resolução social de problemas. Quando integradas, estas contribuições reforçam o entendimento sobre a importância da rede e das estruturas de comunicação, a composição estratégica do sistema, a estrutura do problema e possíveis padrões gerais na resolução social de problemas. / This thesis reviews and investigates social problem-solving with a particular focus on artificial and heterogeneous systems. More specifically, we not only compile and comprehensively examine recent research results, but also discuss future directions in the study of such heterogeneous complex systems. Given their complex nature, such systems often defy analyses. Even computationally simple models can behave unpredictably after a few iterations. Therefore, one central issue in Social Computing is to devise models of social interaction that are amenable to investigation. This way, one can understand the complex relationships among the components and the outcome of the social process. This thesis surveys scientific inquiries concerned with fundamental aspects in social problemsolving systems and their impact in ability and performance of such systems. These aspects include modeling, communication structure and individual problem-solver traits. This thesis also reports the student endeavour during the period of research and summarizes several already published contributions. Among them there is (i) the study of general frameworks for the study of social problem-solving, (ii) the investigation of the role of centrality in individual and collective outcomes, and (iii) the exploration of heterogeneous models of social problem-solving. These three points, in an integrated perspective underpin the understanding of network and communication structures, adjust the strategic systems’ composition, and exploit problems’ structures and patterns in social problemsolving systems.

O principal objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar se o estágio de desenvolvimento científico da contabilidade permite afirmar que a área possui o status de ciência social. A hipótese avaliada foi que a área atende parcialmente as condições para ser uma ciência, o que sugere a tese de que a contabilidade é uma semiciência, o primeiro de três estágios de evolução científica de uma disciplina. O segundo e terceiro estágios são, respectivamente, ciência emergente e ciência madura. O estudo foi baseado na epistemologia realista da ciência. Para fundamentar a hipótese, a tese e a caracterização das condições necessárias para que uma área possua o status de ciência foi utilizado um quadro teórico com as seguintes variáveis: comunidade de pesquisa; suporte da sociedade; domínio do discurso; visão filosófica realista; conhecimento formal; conhecimento obtido de outras ciências; natureza cognitiva dos problemas de pesquisa; conhecimento acumulado; busca de leis e regularidades; e método científico. O desenvolvimento científico foi avaliado a partir da análise dos 299 artigos mais influentes da pesquisa contábil em âmbito internacional, em 42 anos, no período de 1968 a 2009, de acordo com o Social Science Citation Index - SSCI do banco de dados Web of Science do Institute for Scientific Information - ISI/Web of Knowledge. Como apoio na análise do conteúdo dos artigos foi utilizado o software de análise de dados NVIVO 9.2 da QSR International. Os resultados gerais obtidos na análise dos artigos indicaram que das 21 universidades com mais de 10 artigos, as 20 primeiras são dos Estados Unidos e a 21ª é da Inglaterra. Os autores mais influentes, sem considerar participação como coautor, são respectivamente, Ray BALL; Patrícia M. DECHOW; Jennifer FRANCIS; Mark L. DEFOND; e Mark LANG. Do total dos artigos, 142 foram pesquisas empíricas envolvendo testes de hipóteses; 16 avaliaram os métodos e objetivos das pesquisas; 94 desenvolveram e testaram novas hipóteses; 7 construíram quadros teóricos; 13 construíram modelos teóricos. As teorias que fundamentaram as pesquisas foram amplamente oriundas da economia. Também tiveram teorias da Psicologia; do Direito; da Sociologia e da Administração, entre outras. Foram identificadas 12 linhas e temas de pesquisa. Na avaliação das variáveis do referido quadro teórico constatou-se que as pesquisas contábeis não às atenderam totalmente, mas parcialmente. Tais evidências levaram a conclusão de que o status científico da contabilidade vai além de uma disciplina voltada apenas a objetivos tecnológicos em que as pesquisas servem para avaliar a eficácia de certos procedimentos ou meios para obterem-se determinados fins. Isso sugere que a área está evoluindo cientificamente rumo a uma ciência social, mas ainda em estágio semicientífico. Como pesquisas futuras sugerem-se, entre outras: a realização de pesquisas aprofundadas sobre a influência isolada de cada variável, antes referenciadas, na evolução ou na estagnação científica da contabilidade; e pesquisas sobre a influência de variáveis psicológicas, sociológicas e históricas no desenvolvimento científico da área. / The main objective of this study was to evaluate if the stage of accounting scientific development allows us to assert that the area has a social science status. The hypothesis evaluated was that the area partially attends the conditions to be a science, what suggests the thesis that accounting is a \"semiscience\", the first of three stages of a subject scientific evolution. The second and the third stages are, respectively emerging science and mature science. The study was based on realistic epistemology of science. To stablish the hypothesis, the thesis and the characterization of the necessary conditions to consider an area to have a science status, it was used a theoretical frame with the following variables: research community, social support, discourse dominion, realistic philosophical view, formal knowledge, knowledge obtained from other sciences, cognitive nature of research problems, accumulated knowledge, search for laws and regularities, and scientific method. The scientific development was evaluated from the analysis of the 229 most influent international accounting research articles in 42 years, in the period of 1968 to 2009, according to the Social Science Citation Index - SSCI Web of Science do Institute for Scientific Information - ISI/Web of Knowledge database. As a support to the analysis of the articles content NVIVO 9.2 da QSR International data analysis software was used. The general results indicate that 20 out of the 21 universities which have more than 10 articles are from the Unites States, and the 21st is from England. The most influent authors, excluding the participation as co-author, are respectively, Ray BALL; Patrícia M. DECHOW; Jennifer FRANCIS; Mark L. DEFOND; and Mark LANG. From all the articles investigated, 142 were empirical research involving hypothesis tests; 16 evaluated the methods and objectives of the researches; 94 developed and tested new hypothesis; 7 constructed theoretical frames; 13 constructed theoretical models. The theories which grounded the researches came from economy. There had also been theories from Psychology, Law, Sociology and Administration, among others. Twelve (12) research lines and themes had been identified. The evaluation of the variables from the theoretical frame, it was noted that accounting research do not fully attend them, but only partially. These evidences drove to the conclusion that accounting scientific stage goes beyond a discipline that deals with technological objectives in which the research is used to evaluate the efficiency of certain proceedings or ways to obtain certain ends. It suggests that the area is still in scientific development towards a social science, but in a \"semiscientific\" stage yet. As future research, we suggest, among others: the deep investigations about the isolated influence of each variable; and investigations on the influence of psychological, sociological and historical variables on the area\'s scientific development.