The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore through the lens of culturally responsive instruction (CRI) the development of teachers’ sense of efficacy, as defined by Bandura (1995), to address the literacy learning of diverse first, second, or third grade (i.e., primary grade level) students. In this process, I purposively selected the location and the participants because answering my research questions required that I conduct the investigation within learning settings where culturally and linguistically diverse students in the primary grade levels (i.e., first, second, or third grade) receive literacy instruction. My time in the field and my comprehensive focus on the participants and their teaching practices allowed me to gather rich descriptive data concerning the participants’ perspectives, experiences, and teaching practices through multiple traditional case study data collection means. Four overarching themes emerged from within, between, and across case analysis as significant in the development of teachers’ sense of efficacy to address the literacy learning of their pluralistic student populations in a culturally responsive manner. The themes include: (1) Perspectives shaping literacy instruction provision, (2) Understanding what constitutes CRI, (3) The impact of establishing a collaborative teaching community on the development of teachers’ sense of efficacy, and (4) Foundations of culturally responsive teachers’ sense of efficacy. I base my recommendations for the development of inservice teachers’ sense of efficacy to address the literacy learning of their students using CRI and my recommendations for future research on my study findings.

In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences called for a dynamic approach to teaching and learning in colleges of agriculture. In response, innovative faculty at colleges and universities are implementing new frameworks for undergraduate education in the agricultural sciences. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to explore the experience of faculty teaching and learning in sustainable agriculture education curricula at a land grant university. A qualitative research methodology employing a case study approach was utilized. Methods of data collection included semi-structured interviews, participant/observer field notes, and secondary data analysis. This study contributed to understanding faculty work as learning by illustrating the triad approach to teaching and learning in the Civic Agriculture and Food Sytems (CAFS) minor comprising core areas of experiential learning, interdisciplinary teaching and learning, and community engagement. This triad approach to teaching and learning brings together a framework for understanding faculty work as a social practice and the inherent learning that occurs. CAFS faculty upheld the land-grant mission of their institution by promoting community engagement, experiential learning, and interdisciplinary collaboration toward teaching and scholarship. CAFS faculty learned from interactions with other faculty outside and within their disciplinary and departmental homes, which enhanced their teaching/learning experience. Collaborative work was described as a practice where faculty from different disciplinary perspectives and cultural practices engage in a collaborative teaching model that communicates value for resources to administrative leadership and clarifies navigation of faculty reward structures. Additionally, these faculty members were able to participate in an emerging pedagogical practice where service-learning and community partners were embedded in the curriculum, which legitimized the role of the community partner as educator. The findings from this research are expected to be useful for implementation in other sustainable agriculture education programs at other universities. This study may also serve as a catalyst for the adoption of collaborative and interdisciplinary teaching in colleges of agriculture. The implications of this research can inform an assessment methodology for agriculture education programs, as well as to create a framework whereby the essential tenets of the sustainable agriculture education movement in higher education can be promulgated in different disciplines. / Ph. D.

Book talks have become widespread in school as they are considered to be beneficial for pupils’ potential to develop their analytical and communicative skills. The study aims to investigate book talks from a teacher’s perspective in order to compare different teachers’ experiences of book talks in relation to research. To explore this, interviews were conducted with four teachers who have experience of book talks in the intermediate level of compulsory school. To identify the teachers’ perspectives on book talks and what they value in the method, their interviews were analysed, among other things, in relation to Michael Tengberg’s concept of readings and Louise Rosenblatt’s theory of efferent and aesthetic reading. The result shows that the teachers’ descriptions of the conversations encompass a variety of readings and reading activities. They choose to highlight different themes from the literature, ranging from questions of basic values to word comprehension. The teachers support their pupils through scaffolding in the conversations so that they can potentially develop new knowledge and become more autonomous in their way of working. Autonomy in the conversations among older pupils can also be identified as a difference between grades four and six. The teachers think that book talks are rewarding because the pupils have a chance to speak and share each other’s experiences. The challenges include finding good books and getting the pupils to feel a sense of engagement.

Enligt tidigare forskning kan en uppväxt i en stadsmiljö medföra negativa effekter på barns hälsa, det är därför viktigt att förstå barns sårbarhet i urbana miljöer. Halmstad kommun har en vision att färdigställa en stadsomvandling av områdena Larsfrid och Vilhelmsfält till år 2050. På uppdrag av Halmstad kommun har författarna genomfört föreliggande studie som ett bidrag till stadsomvandlingen, med fokus på barn i åldern 1-6. Syftet med studien var att belysa förskollärares perspektiv på skapandet av lekfulla och hälsofrämjande lärmiljöer i ett stadsområde med tillhörande natur. De två teorierna sociokulturellt lärande och känsla av sammanhang (KASAM) har tillämpats för att förstå hur barns hälsa och lärande kan främjas i en pedagogisk stadsmiljö. I studien användes en kvalitativ metod med deskriptiv design. Empirin resulterade i tre huvudkategorier: Stadsområdet ska vara en miljö som väcker nyfikenhet, Barn lär sig tillsammans med andra barn samt Barn behöver goda förutsättningar för att må bra. Studiens slutsats visade att lekfulla miljöer i ett stadsområde, utformat kreativt och med inslag av natur, kan bidra till barns interaktion, lärande och hälsa. Utformningen av stadsområdet bör ta hänsyn till en lekfull barndom, som kan gynna goda förutsättningar för lärande och hälsa under hela livet. / According to previous research, growing up in an urban environment can have negative effects on children's health, why it is important to understand children's vulnerability in urban environments. The municipality of Halmstad have a vision to complete an urban transformation of the regions Larsfrid and Vilhelmsfält to the year 2050. On the assignment of Halmstad municipality, the authors conducted this study as a contribution to the urban planning, focusing on children aged 1-6. The purpose of this study was to elucidate preschool teachers' perspectives on the creation of playful and health-promoting learning environments in an urban area with associated nature. The two theories, sociocultural learning and sense of coherence (SOC) have been applied to understand how children's health and learning can be promoted in an educational urban environment. The study used a qualitative method with descriptive design. The empiric resulted in three main categories: The urban area must be an environment that arouses curiosity, Children learn together with other children and Children need good conditions to feel good. The study's conclusion showed that playful environments in an urban area, designed creatively and with elements of nature, can contribute to children's interaction, learning and health. The design of the urban area should take into account a playful childhood, which can benefit good conditions for learning and health throughout life.

No description available.

ABSTRACT This text process a design pedagogical research executed in Arvidsjaur during the fall of 2011. The formulation of questions that this study circles around regards how combining design and narration can be used in the development of design pedagogy. Also scrutinized, how did the formulation of this research affect the outcome and what means, in addition their attendance, did the people who partook contribute with?    The purpose is to find a pedagogic angle that moves focus away from the finished product and onto other aspects of the design process. To clarify, by investigating how narration adapts as a tool during a design process this research seek to enlighten ways that we comprehend, and make use of, our surroundings while working towards a common - designed - goal. What comes about when gathering a group of people and asking them to represent Arvidsjaur by designing a cup? The material used emanates from observations, narratives, images and finished artifacts – all deriving from a set of workshops held in the city of Arvidsjaur. To partake in the workshops was voluntary and the invite began with the question/statement: Design and narration? An ethnographically inspired method preceded the structure of the study and hence made it impossible to foreordain what would occur before arriving in Arvidsjaur. By placing the gathered material and observations along with a set of selected theories, such as sociocultural learning and social constructionism, I wish to enlighten and point out qualities, along with weaknesses, that this study occupies.  Beyond a written contribution, and the work on the field, the research resulted in a number of designed cups. These cups were photographed, processed, and depicted in three different ways – as posters and as a series of photographs. These images were on display during an exhibition at Konstfack in December 2011. My contribution to the exhibition was meant as a continuation on questions regarding design and narration. What happens e.g. with an item when it is displayed in this matter? When moved from one context to another? It is thus a way to stress the importance of questioning and challenge the way we apprehend our surroundings and what we chose to enlighten or leave out – a comment on a stirring development. I did not wish to explain to the viewer what the cups narrate; they were made to reveal something on their own. How they ultimately are received becomes yet another way of pointing out that how we experience something is dependent on a variety of circumstances.

Abstract Reading is a perennial educational hot topic - but now extends for beyond early literacy to the secondary level. Reading researchers are growing in our knowledge of how to reach and teach struggling adolescent readers yet too often success in literacy is measured solely by performance on standardized tests. Literacy is seen on one hand as a one-dimensional set of skills students need to possess to be successful in school and their future workplaces. A more expansive view of the importance of literacy and what it means to adolescent females' growth as individuals and members of communities is needed. This study focused on selected adolescent girls' perceptions of identity through reading, responding, and discussing literature featuring strong female protagonists. Semi-structured interviews conducted with each of the female participants at the beginning and end of the study, reader response journals in which participants composed weekly responses to their reading, transcripts of the weekly book discussions, field notes, and entries in a researcher reflective journal form the data for this study, emphasizing the focus on the meaning these individuals brought to the phenomena studied: identity exploration within literacy events. This study addressed questions of the how and why of a literary event, and involved a variety of data, thereby making a case study methodology an appropriate choice. Selected participants were the focus of individual case studies and the book club itself was the focus of an additional case study. Self-identity statements and background information gathered on each of the three case study participants helped shape portraits of these adolescent girls, whose perspectives on their own identities were both convergent and divergent. The same proved true when addressing the two exploratory questions: The participants appeared to hold identical perspectives on identity, yet stated unique, varied perspectives on environmental elements influencing their self-identity expression. All three case study participants viewed identity as a developing, evolving process highly influenced by societal standards and expectations - especially for females. The girls also saw the social environment as affecting identity in the frequent mismatch occurring between what the individual perceives as his or her self-identity being expressed and how others in the environment perceive the identity. Psychosocial theories of human development acknowledge that an individual's identity is both located within and without. The participants in the book club all shared this perception of identity as a sociocultural construct. However, the girls' diverse self-identity statements and range of perspectives indicate the need for a new model of female adolescent identity development. This new model needs to reflect girls and their sociocultural worlds of today. Finally, the experiences of the five girls in the book club study indicate the common misperceptions existing concerning the nature of adolescent identity. Again, unlike Erickson's concept of identity as undeveloped in adolescence and shifting with each storm and crisis, the girls in the study indicate the need for a different perspective. Classrooms are unfortunately often bereft of the type of space provided for the girls in the book club. Within this space the girls engaged in deep, thoughtful, critical responses to literature while expressing their self-identities and exploring other's identities. As adolescents, these five girls were provided space by and with a trusted adult to engage in what is acknowledged to be a critical element in human development: identity exploration. To meet the needs of all students, teachers should arrange discussions in both small group and whole class structures. However, successful discussions - those which offer students rich opportunities to engage with text, make connections, derive personal meaning, explore and express self-identity - these discussions will only occur when the teacher has considered not only the physical environment but also the attitudinal environment.

Syfte och frågeställningar. Syftet med studien var att undersöka lärares och elevers syn på feedback i ämnet idrott och hälsa, samt om och i så fall hur denna feedback påverkar elevernas upplevda lärande. Detta skedde utifrån följande frågeställningar; Anser eleverna att feedback är viktigt för det upplevda lärandet i ämnet idrott och hälsa och hur tänker de kring detta? Anser lärarna i ämnet idrott och hälsa att feedback är viktigt för utvecklingen av elevernas lärande och hur tänker de kring detta? Har lärarna ett medvetet användande av feedback och uppfattar elever lärarnas feedback som konstruktiv och utvecklande? Använder lärarna formativ bedömning i sin undervisning och är det i så fall ett medvetet val? Metod. Detta är en kvalitativ studie med intervju som metod. Vid datainsamlingen genomfördes totalt åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer. Fem lärare med gedigen erfarenhet intervjuades enskilt samt tre elevgrupper bestående av totalt tolv elever. Urvalet skedde enligt bekvämlighetsprincipen. Vår teoretiska ansats grundar sig på tre lärandeteorier; sociokulturellt-, behavioristiskt- och konstruktivistiskt lärande. Vi har valt att använda grounded theory som analytiskt verktyg och teoretisk koppling till dessa teorier. Resultat. Studien visar att lärare och elever är överens om att nyttjandet av feedback är viktigt för att nå till upplevt lärande hos elever. Lärarna påstår sig ha ett medvetet, individ-, och situationsanpassat användande av feedback och detta speglar sig i att eleverna uppfattar lärarnas arbete med feedback som konstruktivt och framåtsträvande. Lärarna uppger att de känner sig trygga i användandet av formativ bedömning och att de litar på metodens funktionalitet men de efterlyser resurser för att kunna använda formativ bedömning i ökad utsträckning. Slutsats. Lärarfeedback tenderar att utmynna i en enkelriktad kommunikation och utgör således bara en bråkdel av lärandet som helhet i ämnet idrott och hälsa. Utöver att kunna ge feedback bör en skicklig lärare kunna skapa lärandemiljöer som även möjliggör för elevers lärande utifrån elevens egna erfarenheter och i samspel med andra elever. / Purpose and issues The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' and students' view regarding the role of ‘feedback in physical education’ and if such feedback affects a person’s perceived learning. This study was based on the following questions: do students believe that feedback is important for their perceived learning in physical education and what are their thoughts about it? Do teachers of physical education believe that feedback is important for the development of student learning and what are their thoughts about it? Do teachers have a conscious use of feedback and do their students perceive such feedback as constructive and stimulating? Do teachers use formative assessment in their work and if so is that a deliberate choice? Method A qualitative method was used for data collection throughout this study. Eight semi-structured interviews were carried out; five teachers with extensive experience and three student groups consisting of a total of twelve students. The selection of who to interview was made according to the principle of convenience. Our theoretical approach is based on three learning theories; ‘sociocultural’, ‘behaviorist’ and ‘constructivist’ learning. We have chosen to use grounded theory as an analytical tool and theoretical links to these theories. Findings This study shows that teachers and students agree that the use of feedback is important to experience learning. The teachers claim to have a conscious, individual, and situational use of feedback and this is reflected in the students' understanding of the work of teachers with feedback as constructive and progressive. The teachers say they feel secure in the use of formative assessment and that they trust the method's functionality, but they call for resources to use formative assessment to a greater extent. Conclusion Teacher feedback tends to result in a one-way communication and thus represents only a fraction of the overall learning in physical education. Beside the ability of giving the right feedback, a skilled teacher should be able to create a learning environment that also allows for learning based on the student's own experience and in their interaction with other students.

Ämnet samhällskunskap är ett ämne som behandlar innehåll som ska förbereda eleverna för att bli demokratiska medborgare. För att det ska kunna ske är det av vikt att lärarna ger eleverna möjligheter att lära sig det. I studien är syftet att undersöka vilka metoder som lärare uppfattar motiverar elever samt vilka metoder som lärare uppfattar som framgångsrika för elevers kunskapsutveckling i ämnet samhällskunskap. Studien har gjorts ur ett årskurs 4–6 perspektiv. Studien tar sin grund i den sociokulturella teoribildningen, där tanken om lärande i samspel, och lärande genom medierande verktyg, är av vikt. En kvalitativ metod har använts för studien. För att belysa lärarnas uppfattningar av motiverande och kunskapsutvecklande metoder har kvalitativa intervjuer använts. Efter genomförda intervjuer, bearbetades materialet och analys samt kodning gjordes. Resultatet visar att lärarnas uppfattningar om vilka metoder som motiverar elever och vilka metoder som anses kunskapsutvecklande i stora drag handlar om att eleverna gynnas av ett varierat arbetssätt där det ingår att de får dela med sig utav sina tankar och idéer genom bland annat grupparbete, diskussioner och praktiskt arbete. Slutsatsen av studien är att lärarnas uppfattningar av vad det är som motiverar och utvecklar elevernas kunskaper till stora delar stämmer överens med vad forskning säger. Det är därmed av stor vikt att som lärare vara medveten om vad det är som motiverar eleverna för att en faktisk kunskapsutveckling ska ske. / The civic education contains subjects that is supposed to prepare pupils to become democratic citizens. To be able to fulfil that goal it is important for teachers to give the pupils opportunities to learn about it. The aim of this study is therefore to examine which methods teachers apprehend to be successful for pupil’s knowledge development and their motivation in civics education. This study has been done in the perspective of the Swedish primary school. The study is based on the sociocultural learning theory, where learning in cooperation, and learning through mediating tools is important. A qualitative method has been used for this study. To acknowledge the teacher’s perceptions about motivating and knowledge development, this study has used qualitive interviews. After the interviews were done, the material was processed and analyzed, furthermore a coding was done. The result showed that the teacher’s perception about which methods that motivates the pupils and which methods that are knowledge developing was that they should vary their teaching. For example, the pupils should be in an environment where they can share their thoughts and ideas through working in groups, discussions, and practical tasks. The conclusion of this study is that the teacher’s perceptions of what is considered motivating and knowledge developing mainly agrees with what research says. There it is important for teachers to be aware of what motivates pupils for an actual knowledge development to happen.

Vi lever idag i ett digitaliserat samhälle, där datorspel är ett naturligt inslag i många barn och ungdomars vardag. Teknikens ständiga utveckling och barns höga grad av datorspelande, har resulterat i att det idag finns flertal möjligheter att integrera digitala lärospel som en del av matematikundervisningen. Detta arbete syftade till att öka kunskapen gällande vilka faktorer som påverkar lärares val att implementera, alternativt inte implementera digitala lärospel i sin matematikundervisning för årskurs 4–6. Studien syftade också till att belysa hur lärare som använder digitala lärospel upplever att spelen påverkar elevers lärande. Studiens syfte har besvarats genom kvalitativa intervjuer, med elva matematiklärare i årskurs 4–6. Intervjusvaren har vidare analyserats med hjälp av det teoretiska ramverket RAT, samt utifrån ett sociokulturellt perspektiv. Resultatet visar att digitala lärospel är ett vanligt förekommande i dagens matematikundervisning, samt att lärare främst väljer att använda spelen i syfte att variera undervisningen och för att öka elevernas motivation. Vidare visar resultatet att lärare anser att graden av en aktiv lärarroll är en påverkansfaktor för huruvida digitala lärospel kan bidra till elevers lärande eller inte. Trots den höga användningsgraden av digitala lärospel visar resultatet att ett stort antal lärare upplever sin digitala kompetens som bristfällig, vilket de önskar förbättra. / Today we live in a digitized society, where computer games are a part of most people’s lives. Technology’s constant change, together with the large number of children who play computer games, have led to many new opportunities to integrate digital learning games in today’s mathematics education. This study aimed at increasing knowledge about which factors influence teachers’ choices to implement, or not to implement, digital learning games in their mathematics education for grades 4-6. The study also aimed at investigating teachers’ experiences of how digital learning games affect student learning. In order to answer these questions, qualitative interviews have been conducted with eleven mathematics teachers who are teaching grades 4-6. The results of the interviews have further been analyzed with the theoretical framework RAT, as well as from a sociocultural point of view. The result show that digital learning games are common in today’s mathematics education, and that teachers frequently use the games in order to vary teaching and increase student motivation. The results also show that teachers consider a teacher’s level of activity as an influencing factor for whether or not digital learning games can facilitate the student learning process. Despite teachers’ frequent use of digital learning games, the results show that many feel they lack sufficient digital skills, which almost all of them want to improve.