Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka hur deltagare upplever en föräldragrupps innehåll och utförande på ett familjecentrum. Studien genomfördes med en kvalitativ ansats, där åtta föräldrar intervjuades. Datamaterial bearbetades och analyserades med hjälp av en kvalitativ manifest innehållsanalys, och studiens teoretiska tolkningsram utgjordes av ett systemteoretiskt perspektiv, Putnams och Bourdieus teori om socialt kapital samt Eriksons psykosociala utvecklingsteori. Betydelsefulla resultat var att föräldragruppen upplevdes som viktig, framför allt för att etablera nya sociala kontakter, uppleva trygghet och stöd från andra nyblivna föräldrar. Det var även viktigt med en ledare med social kompetens, där lyhördhet och flexibilitet var några betydelsefulla egenskaper. Det framkom också att den information som gavs inte var mest väsentlig, utan att den sociala interaktionen mellan föräldrarna var främsta anledning till deltagandet. Att bli förälder var även något som resultatet visade vara påfrestande för både individ och parrelation. / The purpose of this study was to examine how participants experience the content and design, in a parent group. The study was conducted with a qualitative approach, in which eight parents were interviewed. Data material has been processed and analyzed with a qualitative manifest content analysis, and the study's theoretical framework consider primarily the perspective of systems, Putnam's and Bourdieu's theory of social capital and Erikson's psychosocial development theory. Significant results were that the parent group was perceived as important, especially to establish new social contacts, experience and safeness reliance from another first-time parent. It was also important to have a leader with social competence, where sensitivity and flexibility were significant quality. It also emerged that the information that was provided was not the most significant, instead the interaction between the parents was the main reason for participation. The results also show that becoming a parent was a draining process both to themselves and their relationship .

Forskning visar att barn i behov av särskilt stöd inte deltar i lek med kamrater i samma utsträckning som sina kamrater och därmed riskerar att missa viktiga delar i sin utveckling såsom samspel och delaktighet. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka möjligheter och hinder med det evidensbaserade materialet Play Time/social Time som metod för att utveckla sociala färdigheter och samspel i lek hos barn i behov av särskilt stöd och deras kamrater. Studien belyser ett sociokulturellt perspektiv där lärande och utveckling sker genom samspel med andra. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom fyra observationer på två förskoleavdelningar och fem fokussamtal med två förskollärare. Ett framträdande resultat visar att förskollärarna ser positivt på att använda sig av ett evidensbaserat material för att träna lek och samspel med barnen då de kan se att det skulle gagna alla barn på flera plan. Att synliggöra leken och lekfärdigheter för både barn och pedagoger som en demokratisk rättighet i förskolans verksamhet ses också som en vinst med programmet. Ett dilemma deltagarna uppmärksammar handlar bland annat om hur kamrater kan motiveras att vara rollmodeller i leken. Diskussionens tyngdpunkt ligger i resultatets synliggörande av miljöns betydelse för sociala möten och kamraternas roll i programmet. / Research shows that children in need of special support do not participate in play with peers to the same extent as their peers and therefore risk missing important parts of their development, such as interaction and participation. The purpose of this study was to examine opportunities and possible barriers in the application of the evidence-based program Playtime / Social Time, as a method to develop social skills and interaction in the play of children with special educational needs and their peers, using a peer-mediated approach. The study highlights a socio-cultural perspective where learning and development takes place through interaction with others. The empirical data were collected through four observations in two inclusive pre-school classes with XX children aged 3-5, and through five focus conversations with two preschool teachers during 5 weeks, when the application of some program activities was carried out by the teachers in their classes. One prominent result shows that preschool teachers welcomes the use of an evidence-based material to practice play and interaction with the children. The teachers believe that it would benefit all children on many levels. Another perceived benefit of the program is that it contributes to making play and play skills visible for teachers and children and give support in considering play as a democratic right for children. An issue, which the participants acknowledge they have to think more about, concerns if and how peers would be motivated to be role models in the play situation. The focus of the discussion lies in the result of the importance of the environment for social encounters and on the importance of the role of peers in the program. / Lek och samspel för alla barn i inkluderande förskolemiljöer

The purpose of this study is to examine reactions on the implementation of a method for word learning among participants in a group of pre-literate students within a beginners’ course of Swedish for immigrants. The learning method uses individual wordlists, based on personal experiences. Data were collected through lesson observations of the group as a whole and interviews with six of the students, and analysed from a pragmatic point of view, with its emphasis on life experience and social interaction as important factors for successful learning. The study focuses primarily on conceptions of activity, participation and motivation. The result shows that the students experienced differences regarding all these factors, compared to their earlier experiences of word learning. Motivation was the most positively influenced factor. When it comes to activity, more time than before was spent on homework. The study also shows that the possibility to exert an influence on the learning process through participation entails a certain amount of doubtfulness as well as increased motivation.

Abstract The aim of this thesis is to examine the practices of classroom learning communities whose pedagogy in the learning of science and mathematics draws on the sociocultural perspective. This pedagogical framework views learning as a collective process of meaning making situated in cultural contexts. This research thesis illuminates the ways in which communal learning activity is constructed into being in the social interactions of classroom learning communities. Methodologically, this research is concerned with unravelling the dynamics of collaborative learning processes, and with examining how they give rise to the construction of diverse voices during participation in cultural activities. The empirical findings discussed in this thesis are derived from three case studies. Case Study 1 examines the nature of participation processes in science classrooms representing three age levels (Kaartinen & Kumpulainen, 2001). Case Study 2 focuses on the construction of explanations in a collaborative science learning project (Kaartinen & Kumpulainen, 2002). Case Study 3, reported in two articles, investigates the processes and conditions for collaborative reasoning in an elementary classroom context with a special interest in mathematics (Kumpulainen & Kaartinen, 2000, 2003). On the basis of the findings of this thesis, successful collaboration — joint effort towards a joint non-predetermined goal of action — can be said to require the growth of communicative consciousness. This means the ability to approach the problem under question from the point of view of another person and hence conversely, an ability to see one's own position from the point of view of other person. In this thesis, collaborative negotiation processes consisted of diverse interpretations, varying from informal to formal explanations, and from descriptive reasoning to causal reasoning. It seems evident that the traditional approach to teaching does not give students enough tools to elaborate their conceptions. However, the results of this thesis indicate that the collaborative learning situations here described have the power to provide students with opportunities to elaborate their explanations. The results of this thesis highlight the potential of the sociocultural approach to engage students in educational interaction, where diverse voices are able to participate and contribute to the ongoing discussion. The involvement of all students in collaborative discourses also poses challenges to sociocultural pedagogy, calling for educators to recognise and support varied opportunities for participation in educational discourse. The examples presented in this thesis are aimed at providing educators and researchers with lenses through which to examine the sociocultural practices of these classrooms and potentially further develop them. / Tiivistelmä Väitöstutkimukseni tarkoituksena on tutkia sosiokulturaalista pedagogiikkaa soveltavien oppijayhteisöjen käytänteitä matematiikan ja luonnontieteiden luokkahuoneissa. Tämän pedagogisen lähestymistavan mukaan oppiminen nähdään yhteisöllisenä, kulttuurisiin käytänteisiin liittyvänä osallistumis- ja merkityksenantoprosessina. Tutkimus valottaa yhteisöllisten opiskelutilanteiden rakentumista ja realisoitumista tutkimukseen osallistuneiden luokkahuoneiden sosiaalisessa vuorovaikutuksessa. Tässä tutkimuksessa kehitettyjen tutkimusmenetelmien avulla halutaan selvittää yhteistoiminnallisten opiskeluprosessien luonnetta ja sitä, kuinka näiden prosessien avulla voidaan tukea erilaisten lähestymistapojen osallistumista kulttuurisiin toimintoihin. Tutkimuksen empiiriset tulokset ovat peräisin kolmesta eri tapaustutkimuksesta. Ensimmäinen tapaustutkimus (Kaartinen & Kumpulainen, 2001) tarkastelee kolmea eri ikäkautta edustavien luonnontieteiden luokkahuoneiden osallistumisen prosessia. Toinen tapaustutkimus (Kaartinen & Kumpulainen, 2002) keskittyy selitysten rakentumisen tutkimiseen yhteistoiminnallisuutta soveltavassa luonnontieteiden opiskeluprojektissa. Kolmas tapaustutkimus, joka on raportoitu kahdessa eri artikkelissa (Kumpulainen & Kaartinen, 2000, 2003), tutkii yhteistoiminnallisen merkityksenantoprosessin rakentumista ja luonnetta ala-asteen geometrian opetuksessa. Tulosten perusteella kommunikatiivinen tietoisuus on onnistuneen yhteistoiminnallisuuden edellytyksenä matematiikan ja luonnontieteiden opiskelussa. Kommunikatiivinen tietoisuus tässä yhteydessä tarkoittaa kykyä lähestyä tarkasteltavaa ongelmaa toisen osallistujan näkökulmasta ja vastaavasi kääntäen, kykyä nähdä oma asemansa osallistuvan toisen näkökulmasta. Yhteistoiminnallisten selitysten luonteen tutkimus toi esille erilaisia lähestymistapoja akateemiseen tietoon matematiikan ja luonnontieteiden alalla. Tässä tutkimuksessa selitysten rakentuminen koostui erilaisista tulkinnoista ja vaihteli informaalista selittämisestä formaaliin selittämiseen sekä kuvailevasta selittämisestä syy- seuraussuhteita etsivään selittämiseen. Tulokset valottavat sosiokulturaalisen lähestymistavan mahdollisuutta sellaisen kasvatuksellisen vuorovaikutuksen rakentumisessa, joka tukee erilaisten tulkintojen osallistumisen ja vaikuttamisen mahdollisuutta merkityksenantoprosessiin. Haasteen muodostaa sellaisen kasvatuksellisen vuorovaikutuksen rakentaminen, jossa myös hiljaiset oppijat osallistuvat yhteisölliseen merkityksenantoprosessiin. Tutkimuksessa esitettävät empiiriset esimerkit tarjoavat kasvattajille ja tutkijoille välineitä, joiden avulla voidaan tarkastella ja mahdollisesti myös kehittää matematiikan ja luonnontieteiden luokkahuoneiden sosiaalisia käytänteitä.

När barn tar steget över från förskola till förskoleklass är det för många av dem början till nya kunskaper. De byter fysisk miljö, lärare och behöver också många gånger skapa nya kompisrelationer. Vår intervjustudie med lärare i förskoleklass och förskollärare i förskolan ska bidra med kunskap kring hur de samverkar med varandra vid barns övergång från förskola till förskoleklass för att kunna skapa kontinuitet i undervisningen. Detta är en kvalitativ studie med semistrukturerade intervjuer som underlag där vi intervjuat tre förskollärare och tre lärare i förskoleklass. Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ metod där det är respondenternas svar som står i centrum. Genom att repetitivt läsa materialet har vi sedan kunnat skapa olika kategorier utifrån respondenternas svar.   Vår studie visar att förskollärare och lärare i förskoleklass tycker det är viktigt att förbereda barnen inför övergång från förskola till förskoleklass och att samverkan är viktigt för att kunna skapa en röd tråd i undervisningen. Vår studie visar också att det finns flera hinder i samverkan mellan förskola och förskoleklass. Dessa hinder kan vara av organisationsmässig karaktär och att lärare i förskoleklass och förskollärare inte har tillräckligt med insyn i varandras verksamheter. Detta leder i sin tur till att all information inte kommer fram och att det blir svårt för lärare i förskoleklass att skapa en kontinuitet i undervisningen.

Ce travail de thèse s’intéresse à la Théorie de l’Esprit (TdE) dans les stades précoces de la maladie d’Alzheimer (MA) et le Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). La TdE est un processus central de la cognition sociale permettant d’inférer les états mentaux d’autrui et de nous adapter aux interactions sociales auxquelles nous sommes confrontés chaque jour. Des travaux ont mis en évidence un déficit de TdE chez le patient MA mais son authenticité reste discutée et celui-ci est attribuer aux autres troubles cognitifs des patients. Par ailleurs, une seule étude à ce jour s’était intéressée à la TdE chez le patient MCI, laissant un champ d’étude inexploré malgré l'intérêt de cet état pour le diagnostic précoce des pathologies dégénératives. Ce travail a pour but d’approfondir les données existantes sur le fonctionnement de la TdE dans la MA et le MCI et présente également l’ambition d’évaluer, pour la première fois dans ces populations, la TdE au plus près de son fonctionnement quotidien dans une tâche impliquant le patient dans une vraie interaction sociale. Les résultats montrent que les patients présentent bien un déficit de TdE y compris sur la tâche immersive, suggérant que ce déficit est observable dans des situations proches de la vie quotidienne. Les patients présentent également un déficit sur une tâche plus classique de TdE, la nature de leurs erreurs témoignant de l’authenticité de ce déficit. Ce travail tend donc à confirmer la présence d’un dysfonctionnement de la TdE dans les stades débutants de la MA et dans le MCI. Ce déficit est précoce, authentique et observé pour la première fois dans une situation d’interaction sociale réelle. / This work investigates Theory of Mind (ToM) ability in early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). ToM is a core feature of social cognition allowing us to infer and understand other’s mental states (i.e. beliefs, intentions, knowledge), in order to adapt our behavior in everyday social interactions. Previous works evidenced ToM deficit in AD patients, but the authenticity of this deficit is still debated and is attributed to other cognitive dysfunctions of patients. Moreover, only one study investigated ToM in MCI. This area thus requires further investigation since MCI represents an interesting concept for early diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders. The purpose of this work is to further investigate ToM functioning in both AD and MCI with the ambition to evaluate for the first time ToM in close-to-everyday conditions with a task involving the patient in a real interaction. Results show that patients present ToM impairment even in a real interactive task suggesting that this deficit is noticeable in naturalistic conditions closed to everyday interactions. Patients also present difficulties in a classical ToM task, the nature of their errors suggesting genuine ToM difficulties. This work therefore confirms the presence of a ToM impairment in early AD and MCI. This impairment is precocious, authentic and is observed for the first time in a real social interaction.

The current study examined the relationship between affect changes or lack thereof when one logs onto Facebook or Yahoo!. Facebook was specifically chosen for examination in the current study due to its widespread use, its vast effect on society, and its unique features that allow users to obtain information and have social interaction at the same time. Yahoo! served as a control due to the fact that it is a highly popular site that has similar features of Facebook without having the social functions. Both sites allow users to observe news that is pertinent and of interest to them and both are popular; the main difference between the two sites is the social component that Facebook can offer that Yahoo! is unable to offer users. Findings suggest that logging onto Facebook increases positive affect and joy, but this is short lived. After a period of time on the website negative affect and anger increase. Further research needs to be conducted in order to understand what activities on Facebook lead to more or less affect modulation and future studies are discussed.

L’étude des effets des informations qualitatives sur la constitution de la confiance dans la relation Banque-PME est l’objet principal de cette thèse. Il s’agit de mettre en évidence la manière dont la collecte des informations « Soft » et les interactions sociales qui permettent l’échange de ce type d’information mitige les problèmes d’asymétries d’information caractéristiques de ces structures. Bien que les banques soient de plus en plus équipées d’outils informatisés d’aide à la décision, la nature qualitative de l’information collectée reste un déterminant de la filtration des dossiers de crédits aux PME. L’auteur de ce travail propose une modélisation de la relation Banque-PME au Liban en mettant en évidence les éléments déterminants de la confiance entre le chargé de clientèle et l’emprunteur. Ce modèle met en exergue quatre éléments influant la relation, à savoir le contexte général de la relation et, plus particulièrement, la pression de la banque ainsi que sa structure organisationnelle sur le chargé de clientèle ; des éléments personnels et interpersonnels comme la motivation de l’entrepreneur, l’expérience des deux parties ainsi que la durée de la relation ; des éléments relationnels basés surtout sur la proximité, les réseaux et interactions ainsi que sur l’intervention des tiers et, enfin, des éléments passionnels qui donnent une large place à l’intuition du banquier dans sa prise de décision. Ces résultats ont été obtenus à partir d’hypothèses éclairés par la littérature relative aux théories de l’encastrement social, des conventions et de la confiance. Ils sont soutenus par une double enquête de terrain, exploratoire et confirmatoire, menée auprès des chargés de clientèles libanais. Ils suggèrent une apparente singularité de la relation Banque-PME au Liban avec une hypertrophie de la dimension relationnelle dans la prise de décision. / This research is concerned with how « Soft » information affects small and medium-sized enterprise financing. We particularly focus on the effect of their collect and the Social interactions that allow the exchange of such information on the specific asymmetric information problems. Although banks are more and more equipped with computerized decision tools, the qualitative nature of the information collected remains decisive in filtering the records of credit to SMEs. The author of this research offers a relationship Bank-SME conceptual framework by putting in obvious place elements determining the Trust between Credit officer and borrower. This model puts in an obvious place four elements having an influence: the general context of relation and more particularly pressure of the bank and organizational structure on the Credit officer ; personal and interpersonal elements as entrepreneur’s motivation and both experiences and duration of the relationship ; Relational elements based primarily on proximity, networks and interactions as well as third party intervention and finally, the determinants of trust can encompass several elements of passion specifically banker’s intuition about the project. The author supports that the trust is built on « Soft » information which are itemized. These results were acquired from assumptions based on the literature about conventions, trust and embededness. They were supported by a double field investigation, exploratory and confirmatory conducted with Lebanese Credit officers.

This thesis offers a critical reflection of a study I initiated to enhance self-esteem for self-actualization. The research process involved enhancing my own self-esteem before facilitating the enhancement of the self-esteem of my participants. This endeavour included the simultaneous exposure given to researcher and researched, with the aim of helping to attain the respective transformative potentials of the latter. An action research methodology was used, intending to improve my own practice and to involve and learn from the participants in order for all relevant stakeholders to capitalize from the learning experience. Whilst undertaking this study, I learned to reflect on my values, attitudes and relationships with my learners. I also became aware of how individuals‟ perceptions of themselves can influence other aspects of their development. This awareness enabled me to become more sensitive to the emotional needs of the learners in my care and also led to a greater understanding of their individuality. I came to comprehend the impact of a positive self-esteem on the learning process that aided me in developing an understanding of the positive impact an enhanced self-esteem has on how my learners view themselves. In the course of the research, I developed an awareness of the need to create a caring practice centred on values of gentleness, respect, kindness, awareness and recognition of individual strengths. These afore-mentioned values are premised on the recognition and acknowledgement of basic human rights, inclusivity, equality and social justice; principles reflecting my own living standards. This heightened vii awareness influenced the ways I organized the learning and teaching process in my classroom. Enhancing my own self-esteem and those of my learners basically involved interchangeable interventions such as encouraging involvement, allocating responsibilities, creating opportunities for assertiveness and being generous with affirmation, praise and motivation. These endeavours occurred within a social constructivist approach, enabling participants to construct their own epistemologies within their respective ontologies. My findings offer new conceptualizations about how an enhanced self-esteem can help individuals realize their fullest potential.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:24:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao_izally_santos.pdf: 18748739 bytes, checksum: b3411680b1677ba68a9a5d7e54f62807 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-04 / Aphasia is considered a reduction and dysfunction of the use of language in which there is a change of language mechanisms at all levels, manifesting itself in both productive and receptive aspects of oral language and/or writing. Facing these characteristics, the speech of aphasics became our object of study by focusing on the prosodic elements and intonation patterns present in them. The assumption used in this work is that the tonal choices, which are being made along the interaction, are responsible for the construction of a context, and the tonal prominence options will build the sense of the text simultaneously. The interactive context suggests the recognition that the behavior of prosodic behaviour constructs a significant intonation outline, being interpreted by the listener as incorporation of an informational content, but at the same time can provide clues regarding interactivity marks, while keeping the proximity/distance between the interlocutors, associated with typical patterns (referring tones) in reference to the prior knowledge shared or new information (proclaiming tones). This work sought to identify intonation patterns and other prosodic resources domains present in the oral organization of the subjects participation in the Conviviality Group for Aphasics. Aware of this, we observed recurring prosodic elements, the use of other linguistic resources and the role of intonation tracks for the constitution of meaning. To achieve the proposed objective, reading workshops were held with six aphasic subjects, of both genders, who participated and attended regularly the Conviviality Group for Aphasics, Catholic University of Pernambuco, during four meetings. The studies on the theme presented grounded the research on the organization of oral speech of aphasics, highlighting the prosodic relationship, from the perspective of Brazil (1985). It is concluded that, over the interactional process, prosody was common in the construction of speech of the analyzed subjects in this research, who constantly resorted to paralinguistic resources and proclamation tone, the most recurrent function, which serves as an intonation trace and is related to the new knowledge. The relevance of the work lies in thinking of the aphasic subject as producer of a speech that makes use of paralinguistic resources and prosodic patterns to understand and be understood / A afasia é considerada uma redução e disfunção do uso da linguagem, em que há alteração de mecanismos linguísticos em todos os níveis, manifestando-se tanto no aspecto expressivo quanto no receptivo da linguagem oral e/ou escrita. Diante dessas características, o discurso dos sujeitos afásicos é objeto de estudo particularmente no que concerne os elementos prosódicos e entoacionais neles presentes. O pressuposto utilizado neste trabalho é de que as escolhas tonais, que vão sendo feitas ao longo da interação, são responsáveis pela construção de um contexto, e as opções de proeminências tonais vão construindo o sentido do texto simultaneamente. O contexto interativo sugere o reconhecimento de que o comportamento prosódico do falante constrói um contorno entoacional significativo, sendo interpretado pelo ouvinte como constitutivo de um conteúdo informacional, mas, ao mesmo tempo, pode veicular pistas com relação às marcas de interatividade, ao manter a proximidade/distanciamento entre os interlocutores, associadas a padrões típicos (referring tones) de referência ao conhecimento prévio partilhado ou a informações novas (proclaiming tones). Este trabalho procurou identificar os padrões entoacionais e outros recursos prosódicos presentes na organização oral de sujeitos participantes do grupo de Convivência para Afásicos. A partir disso, foram observados quais os recursos prosódicos mais recorrentes, a utilização de outros recursos linguísticos e o papel das pistas entoacionais para a constituição do sentido. Para alcançar o objetivo proposto, foram realizadas oficinas de leitura com seis sujeitos afásicos, de ambos os gêneros, que participam e frequentam regularmente o Grupo de Convivência para Afásicos, da Universidade Católica de Pernambuco, durante quatro encontros. Os estudos para o tema apresentado fundamentaram-se em pesquisas sobre a organização do discurso oral do afásico, destacando a relação prosódica, a partir da perspectiva de Brazil (1985). Conclui-se que, ao longo do processo interacional, a prosódia esteve frequente na construção do discurso dos sujeitos analisados nesta pesquisa, que recorreram, constantemente, a recursos paralinguísticos e ao tom proclamador, o mais recorrente, que funciona como pista entoacional e está relacionado ao conhecimento novo. A relevância do trabalho está em pensar o sujeito afásico como produtor de um discurso que recorre a recursos paralinguísticos e prosódicos para compreender e se fazer compreendido