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How can a Digital Storytelling workshop help educate, inspire and mobilise young women engaged in a non-profit organisation, in order to assist their peers? This exploratory study investigates whether Digital Storytelling can foster digital literacy, self-awareness and reflection amongst workshop participants, and how young women may be able to support each other and their peers through the act of creating and sharing personal digital stories. Conducted using qualitative and participatory methods, with the theoretical underpinnings of Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory and Social Cognitive Theory, Paulo Freire’s conscientisation and participatory development, this research is conducted in collaboration with female mentors from the sport-based adolescent health organisation, Grassroot Soccer. First, I analyse the women’s interactions and learnings during the Digital Storytelling workshop, where participants create digital stories in a hands-on setting (using the Story Center model). This is done through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with participants following the workshop. Second, I seek to understand how or if young women can re-present themselves in the context of a facilitated Digital Storytelling workshop and challenge gender stereotypes through their own digital stories. This data is collected through a pre-workshop questionnaire, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and analysis of the digital stories. While this is an exploratory study, I anticipate results in the following areas: (1) cross-pollination of knowledge between workshop participants and facilitators; (2) self-awareness, self-confidence and reflection amongst young women; (3) increase in digital literacy, storytelling and audio/visual skills; and (4) increase in understanding of, or introduction to, digital media and communication, activism and social change.

This study used mixed methods to examine middle school mathematics teachers’ beliefs about English Learners’ ability to participate in rigorous, grade-level math instruction as well as beliefs about their own capacity for teaching English Learners. Additionally, the study investigated the influence of teachers’ beliefs on their instructional practices and identified the types of support teachers need to develop as culturally and linguistically responsive educators. Findings revealed some dissonance between teachers’ explicit beliefs about teaching English Learners and their implicit beliefs illustrated through instructional decisions made, as well as previously unrecognized gaps in teachers’ ability to identify and differentiate the needs of different types of English learners. Finally, the study identified teachers’ pressing needs for additional support at the school and district levels to continue to develop skills and knowledge to improve their teaching for English learners. The study concluded with an action plan for developing a robust professional learning system to develop teachers’ self-efficacy as culturally and linguistically responsive educators while also addressing implicit bias through reflection.

SAMMANFATTNING Bakgrund: I Sverige lever knappt 10 000 barn med cancer och 85% av de barn som drabbas botas. Både cancersjukdomen och den onkologiska behandlingen påverkar dessa barn fysiskt, psykiskt och socialt. Hela organsystem kan påverkas negativt och många drabbas av fatigue. Syfte: Syftet var att undersöka resultaten av den senaste forskningen gällande biopsykosociala effekter av fysisk träning för barn som är under pågående onkologisk behandling, eller som nyligen genomgått behandling. Metod: Genom litteratursökningar i databaserna PEDro och PubMed valdes fyra randomiserade kontrollerade studier ut. Väsentliga data från studierna extraherades och sedan bedömdes studierna avseende relevans och kvalitet. Slutligen bedömdes sammantagen preliminär evidens. Resultat: Interventionerna innehöll fysisk träning med inslag av konditionsträning, styrketräning, stretching samt träning av psykologiska funktioner. Interventionstiden varierade mellan åtta veckor och sex månader. Antalet deltagare varierade mellan 68–222. För utfallen fatigue och muskelstyrka i nedre extremitet påvisades en signifikant förbättring. Den preliminära evidensen bedömdes vara låg. Slutsats: Resultatet av denna översikt stärker betydelsen av fysisk träning för populationen. Sättet som träningen administreras på, påverka givna utfall där interaktion med andra deltagare samt träningsledare har en stor inverkan. Således kan man konstatera att fysisk träning är fördelaktigt för populationen och det finns ett värde i att utgå från ett biopsykosocialt perspektiv vid utformning av träning. / ABSTRACT Background: The prevalence of children with cancer is barely 10 000 in Sweden and 85% are cured. The disease itself, as well as the treatment affects children physically, mentally, and even socially. Organ systems are negatively affected, and fatigue is a common side effect. Objective: The aim was to investigate results of the latest research on the biopsychosocial effects of physical training for children undergoing oncological treatment, or children who recently have received treatment. Method: For this systematic review, four randomized controlled trials were selected through literature searches in the databases PEDro and PubMed. Essential data from the studies were extracted and relevance and quality of each trial were assessed. Finally, the overall preliminary evidence was evaluated. Results: The interventions included physical exercise with elements of aerobic exercises, strength training, stretching and psychological tasks. The intervention duration varied between eight weeks and six months, and the number of participants ranged from 68 to 222. A significant improvement was demonstrated regarding fatigue and muscle strength in the lower extremity. The preliminary evidence was considered low. Conclusions: The effects of physical exercise in this review reinforce the importance of exercise for the population. The administration of physical exercise should be considered, as interactions with other children as well as trainers seemingly have a considerable beneficial impact. Thus, this indicates that physical activity is beneficial for this population and that implementation of a biopsychosocial perspective is favorable in this setting.

People around the globe rely on their mobile devices for instant access to entertainment and social media. Children comprise a large majority of individuals who use smartphone applications, particularly for gaming and learning opportunities. Understandably, these apps become part of the identity development process, including the formation of one's gender identity. App developers include gendered content to capture and maintain children's attention, but much of the existing research examines children in late childhood and early adolescence, leaving the ages of six to eight relatively undiscussed. The researcher utilized a thematic analysis to review 20 children's mobile applications for instances of gender stereotypes. Social cognitive theory offers a guiding principle for understanding the process of developing one's gender identity, as well as the role that external stimuli, such as digital media examples and parent models, play. This study aimed to determine whether mobile applications targeting the identified age group use gender stereotypes, as well as how they employ these stereotypes within the application. The researcher randomly selected 20 top children's applications on the Apple App Store and examined them for gendered instances, such as occupations and interests as well as character depictions. The results reflect that instances of gender stereotypes do occur in the children's mobile applications. Many of the applications portrayed feminine stereotypes surrounding nurturing and caregiving tasks ("Mommy in Training"), making it one of the most frequently exploited feminine stereotypes in the sample. The "Boys will be Boys" stereotype comprised the most frequently displayed masculine stereotypes across the studied applications. These findings represent the idea that society places higher value on these stereotypes than others, such as social relationships ("The Power of Motivational Friendship") or recklessness ("The Risk Taker"). Implications include modeling of traditionally masculine and feminine stereotypes for young users by utilizing popular characters recognizable by most children in the target age range. / Master of Arts / Handheld electronic devices, such as smartphones and tablets, encompass some of the most widely used electronic devices in today's society. Most families in America have at least one mobile device with internet capability. Apple, the manufacturer of perhaps the most popular brand of electronic devices, pre-install their App Store on all devices they sell, giving users instant access to hundreds of thousands of different mobile applications that offer functions to make every aspect of life simpler. Young children spend a significant amount of their time playing games on these devices, although the American Academy of Pediatrics (2017) recommends that parents limit their children's daily screen time to no more than 2 hours, depending on the age of the child. The games that children download and play impose a number of different messages and stereotypes on their users, including gender stereotypes. Due to the substantial time children dedicate to these apps, the messages communicated regarding gender play crucial roles in the development of their gender identity. Social cognitive theory offers valuable insight and guidance into the gender identity development process. Therefore, the present study examines the gender stereotypes conveyed within 20 of the top children's mobile applications available on the Apple App Store in April 2018. The researcher randomly selected 20 children's applications, 10 each from the Top Free and Top Paid categories and examined them for gendered instances, such as occupations and interests as well as character depictions. The results reflect that instances of gender stereotypes do occur in the children's mobile applications. These represent the idea that society places higher value on certain stereotypes, like being caring and nurturing ("Mommy in Training") or engaging in messy, adventurous play ("Boys will be Boys"), than others, such as social relationships ("The Power of Motivational Friendship") or recklessness ("The Risk Taker"). Implications include modeling of traditionally masculine and feminine stereotypes for young users by utilizing popular characters recognizable by most children in the target age range.