The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between students'achievement level and the validity of students' self-assessments in the coursesocial studies. The students were divided into two achievement groups,low-achiever and high-achiever. Low achievers were students with the grade F-Din the subject of social science and high achievers were students with the gradeC-A in the subject of social science. The students had to do a test which they thenhad to self-assess. The questions on the test were divided into three abilities;factual knowledge, understanding and skill. The students did threeself-assessments, one for each ability. The study found that there is a positivecorrelation between the students' level of achievement and the validity of theself-assessments. This was in line with previous research (Yao-Ting, 2010). Thelow achieving students overestimated an average of 0.7 grade points compared tothe high achievers who overestimated an average of 0.3. The study saw a certaindifference in the validity of self-assessments depending on ability, factualknowledge was the ability that the students overestimated themselves most.

Past studies have indicated that teachers in the United States have limited opportunities to collaborate with peers; this limitation has been found to be particularly problematic for social studies teachers. An increasing number of educators are using the social media application Twitter to collaborate. Little research exists concerning social studies teachers' use of #edchats, a weekly recurring Twitter session. The focus of this qualitative case study was the collaboration that exists among social studies teachers participating in Twitter edchats. The theoretical framework was communities of practice. Transcripts of 10 edchat sessions in 2013 were coded with an a priori strategy, and emergent themes were triangulated with interviews from 7 of the most consistent contributors from the edchats. Emergent themes included close personal connections among participants consistent with communities of practice and a narrow focus on social studies-specific content. Findings were consistent with existing research describing a general lack of formal training on the methodology of incorporating Twitter and a general consensus among active participants that adopting new technologies was relatively easy. Results indicate the potential of #edchats as an asynchronous and synchronous form of collaboration but also illustrate the need for formal training to help educators who feel less comfortable with adopting new technologies. The project resulting from this study, a free professional development program designed to teach educators how to use Twitter, will contribute to social change by sharing the benefits of creating a collaborative environment through Twitter, thus freeing participants from the constraints of physical location and time at no significant cost.

While the traditional agenda-setting theory assumes that a unified issue salience pattern (“the agenda”) will transfer from news media to the public, the emergence of the Internet has challenged this classic communication theory in three ways: by providing two versions of the public agenda (i.e., self-reported issue importance measured by a survey versus social media expressions), by affording two versions of the media agenda (i.e., presented on news websites versus on organizations’ Twitter accounts), and by enabling potential two-way agenda-setting effects. This dissertation aims to construct a multi-version two-way agenda-setting framework via (1) elaborating on the theoretical and practical reasons behind the proposed framework and (2) empirically testing the framework by combining survey and digital texts data around the 2020 US presidential election. The results show an imbalanced two-way agenda-setting relationship, with the traditional media-to-public direction still stronger than the reverse. While the two versions of the media agenda were similar to each other, what people thought was found to be different from what they tweeted. This dissertation also explored the moderating effects of issue-, media-, and individual-level characteristics on the direction and strength of the agenda-setting effects. The issue-wise comparison showed stronger effects in both directions among obtrusive issues, compared to non-obtrusive issues. Interestingly, traditional, non-digital-native media presented a slightly stronger two-way agenda-setting relationship between their news tweets and citizens' tweets compared to digital-native media. This difference, however, was not found in news websites. Individuals with specific characteristics, such as being females, being older, being white, as well as having lower income, lower opinion leadership, and lower social capital, were more likely to influence and be influenced by the media agendas compared to their counterparts. Also, while the well-educated population followed the agenda of news websites more closely, the group with a lower education level followed news tweets on more issues. Finally, the last chapter discusses theoretical, methodological, and practical implications.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics and Social Science, 1952. / Typescript. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 486-491). / by James Warren Hanson. / Ph.D.

No description available.

The Central Asian country of Tajikistan is the poorest of the former Soviet republics; it is also prone to a plethora of natural hazards including mass wasting, flood, and extreme temperature. This thesis seeks to characterize how vulnerable rural Tajik mountain communities are to prolonged cold. The primary focus was in Navobod, in the Zeravshan Valley of Tajikistan, where semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 households, the village leader and doctor, and school staff. The results from the interviews were compared with GIS analysis of the region. Interviews indicated that the area is highly vulnerable to the impacts of prolonged cold. These rural residents continue to practice unsustainable land use, primarily for agricultural and biofuel resources. With unreliable sources of income, a fragile national economy, and decreased access to markets, these residents are ill-equipped to mitigate the impacts of prolonged cold weather. GIS results largely supported interview results.

Datenvisualisierungen und Infografiken sind spätestens seit Ausbruch der Corona-Pandemie in aller Munde oder besser gesagt „in aller Augen“. Kaum ein News-Portal, kaum eine Online-Ausgabe renommierter Zeitungen kommt ohne die fast schon obligatorische interaktive Datenvisualisierung über den Verlauf der Pandemie, die Entwicklung der Infektionszahlen oder einen Ländervergleich aus. Der vorliegende erste Sammelband zum Thema möchte (interaktive) Datenvisualisierung praxisorientiert aufgreifen, um sowohl die grundlagen-orientierte wie auch die angewandte Forschung zu inspirieren, näher zusammenzuführen, zukünftige Forschung zu unterstützen sowie für offene Fragen in diesem dynamischen Prozess zu sensibilisieren.:O. Tabino, C. M. Stützer & A. Wachenfeld-Schell, Editorial Board: Data Visualization and Information Design: Bringing Data to Life B. Wiederkehr: Interactive Things Data Visualization for Exploration and Explanation S. Sieben & P. Simmering, Q | Agentur für Forschung GmbH: Storytelling vs. Dashboards – Wie Sie die richtige Methode zur Datenvisualisierung auswählen M. Bonera, The Visual Agency | Politecnico di Milano: Data Visualization as a Tool to Access Leonardo da Vinci’s Greatest Work: The Codex Atlanticus P. Blau, GIM Gesellschaft für Innovative Marktforschung mbH: Visualisierung qualitativer Daten: Die Komplexität des Einfachen / Since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic at the latest, data visualisations and infographics have been on everyone's mind, or rather 'in everyone's eyes'. Barely any news portal or online edition of well-known newspapers can do without the almost obligatory interactive data visualisation on the path of the pandemic, the development of infection figures or a comparison of countries. This first volume on this topic aims to take up (interactive) data visualisation in a practice-oriented way in order to inspire both fundamentally-oriented and applied research, to bring it closer together, to support future research as well as to sensitise for open questions in this dynamic process.:O. Tabino, C. M. Stützer & A. Wachenfeld-Schell, Editorial Board: Data Visualization and Information Design: Bringing Data to Life B. Wiederkehr: Interactive Things Data Visualization for Exploration and Explanation S. Sieben & P. Simmering, Q | Agentur für Forschung GmbH: Storytelling vs. Dashboards – Wie Sie die richtige Methode zur Datenvisualisierung auswählen M. Bonera, The Visual Agency | Politecnico di Milano: Data Visualization as a Tool to Access Leonardo da Vinci’s Greatest Work: The Codex Atlanticus P. Blau, GIM Gesellschaft für Innovative Marktforschung mbH: Visualisierung qualitativer Daten: Die Komplexität des Einfachen

In this study, the content and depiction of security policy in Sweden was studied in educational social studies textbooks, derived from the 3rd course from two different curriculums: Lgy 70 and Lpf 94. The purpose of the study was to examine if there is a notable development and shift in the way that security policy is depicted and described in Swedish textbooks, and to do it in consideration of the drastic geopolitical changes that came with the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold war. For this study, a qualitive content analysis was used. The purpose of this study is structured around 3 questions: Are there differences in content and depictions between textbooks, and if so, what are they? How has content and depictions changed between the two curriculums? And how can these potential differences be explained?To answer the last question, a theoretical framework was used that emphasizes the importance of external factors such as geopolitical conditions in shaping perceptions and policy, which in turn may affect content and depiction in textbooks, as well as an approach where the textbook is understood as a reflection of the social climate. The results of this study show a significant difference regarding content and depictions in textbooks between the two curriculums, regarding the threat level, perceived security threats, security goals, the purpose and relevance of the policy of neutrality, to name a few. For example, Lgy 70 textbooks depicted possible aggressions as being as likely to occur from NATO as the Warsaw pact, whereas Lpf 94 textbooks took a more open stance, emphasizing Sweden’s cooperation with NATO and EU.

<p>A worldwide movement has emerged in recent years, bringing millions of young people together to demand action on climate change. While youths’ high level of vulnerability to climate change could make them especially credible, and therefore powerful, messengers on this topic, there has been relatively little scholarly attention on <em>youth</em> activism and the nuances of framing by youth climate activists in particular. This gap may be especially important in the United States, which represents a substantial portion of global emissions but has historically struggled to establish enduring climate policy. Can this new generation of activists – many of whom are not yet old enough to vote – uniquely impact climate policy in the United States? My dissertation uses a multi-method approach to explore this question, focusing on communication by youth activists. I begin by examining the distinct frames that U.S. youth activists use to describe the issue of climate change, and exploring how they perceive those messages will influence the policymaking process. I do this using interview data with youth activists and examining Tweets, finding that youth activists often rely on climate science frames rather than justice-related frames that arguably “fit” well with their identities and vulnerabilities as youth. Next, I consider the effect of different climate frames on three sets of actors relevant to policymaking on this issue: (i) the general (adult) public, (ii) the youth public, and (iii) policymakers. More specifically, I draw on data from an original survey experiment and interviews with local- and state-level officials. I find clear evidence that the “fit” between message framing and messenger source matters – youth can be effective messengers about climate change, but particularly when they invoke arguments about the intergenerational and environmental injustices of climate inaction. The role of source identity is a critical contribution to the political communication and climate framing literature. Although many scholars have pointed to source identity as an important factor, the relationship between message content and source identity has been underexamined in the literature regarding climate change to date. This study also contributes to the framing literature through a focus on age as an important facet of source identity and by examining the causal influence of justice-based frames. Finally, this study aims to contribute to the social movement literature by a focus on the unique impacts of communication by <em>youth</em> climate activists. Given youths’ high level of vulnerability to climate impacts, this dissertation work could have notable environmental justice implications as well.</p>

After the Cold War ended, the process of nuclear disarmament began to stagnate and in recent years there are signs of backsliding. Efforts to revive the disarmament regime over decades culminated with the drafting and ratification of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017 and 2021 respectively, much to the dismay of nuclear weapons states. The U.S., Britain, and France have declared their dismissal of the treaty while subscribing to the disarmament regime as established by the Non-proliferation Treaty of 1970.  The Western nuclear powers typically channel their opposition through NATO, and this thesis will first look at NATO’s legal arguments and as the strategy of nuclear deterrence which is fundamental to their defensive strategy. I will then investigate NATO discourse as it pertains to nuclear weapon strategy as a constituent of its subjectivity and intentionality. In other words, what it is like to “be” NATO, and in so doing understand why it acts in opposition to a goal it already pursues.  This is relevant to IR in that it explores an alterative manner in which to understand social structures while adhering to research designs typically ascribes to the “lower” unit of analysis of individuals.