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The purpose of this study was to investigate the dilemmas pre-service science teachers encounter in relation to their participation in a project which sought to establish a constructivist and collaborative model of teaching and learning. I also explored the strategies the pre-service teachers implemented to manage the dilemmas they encountered, as well as how they perceived those dilemmas to have influenced their teaching practice and their personal philosophies of teaching and learning (PPoTaL). Since the construct of voice was an important factor in this study, I used a research method that I refer to as intercontext. This method has three major components: stimulated linkage, reflexivity and the dialectical conversation. To enact this research method, I conducted five interviews with each of the six pre-service teachers over the 12-month period of their professional preparation. In addition, I had many informal conversations with them and observed them several times during their university and school practicum experiences. I argued that social constructivism provides a fruitful theoretical framework to interpret the results of this study, because this orientation to teaching and learning is based on the notion that knowledge is socially constructed and mediated by.cultural, historical and institutional codes. In this light, three broad dilemmas were identified in relation to the students' experiences with the teacher education program's course content and design and six dilemmas were identified in relation to the roles the participants felt they needed to perform during their school practicum. The variety of dilemmas the pre-service teachers encountered and the direct and indirect strategies they implemented to manage those dilemmas could be explained in terms of two overarching issues. The first had to do with the difficulties associated with bridging the theory and practice of learning to teach in two distinct communities of practice (i.e., in the university and the school communities). The second general factor had to do with the type of relationship the pre-service teachers established with their school advisor(s) or/and faculty advisor; that is, from the the students' point of view they wondered to what extent they could trust their advisors to allow them to take the risks associated with asking questions, trying innovative approaches in the classroom, and exploring their own teaching identity without any of these reflecting negatively in their final evaluation reports. Finally, a number of suggestions for practice and further research are provided.

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The qualitative case study reported in this dissertation outlines the principal findings of an investigation on four teachers' understandings of the concept of learner-centredness in the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) in two Durban township high schools. The RNCS as the name suggests, is a revised National Curriculum that is both implemented and trialed in the General Education and Training band of schooling in South Africa. One of the features of the RNCS is its learner-centred pedagogy. The purpose of the research was to investigate teachers' understandings of the concept of learner-centredness in the context of outcomes-based education and the RNCS. The ways in which the meanings they assign to the concepts, as well as their perceptions of theirroles and identities in enacting learner-centred pedagogy in their classrooms as shaped by the context in which they operated was investigated A major finding of the study is that teachers' understandings of the concept of learner-centredness tend to be influenced by the context in which they work in terms of the school culture, as well as their understandings of their new roles and identities in the context of the RNCS. This means that, in part schools' cultural and social processes play a major role in shaping and reconstructing both the experiences and roles of teachers in the context of educational innovation. This has implications for the content and processes of teacher professional development and in-service education programme, as well as the organisational development of schools in preparation for curriculum change. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

Bakgrund: Donation av vävnad och/eller organ behövs för att hålla igång transplantationsverksamheten. Transplantation har funnits länge och har växt avsevärt de senaste åren. Trots detta råder det brist på donatorer och kunskap inom området för allmänheten. Syfte: Syftet var att undersöka kunskap och attityder kring donation och transplantation bland sjuksköterskestudenter, samt undersöka om det finns någon skillnad mellan män och kvinnor gällande kunskap och attityder. Metod: Webbenkät med 439 deltagare på sjuksköterskeprogrammet termin 1-6, där 84 svarade på enkäten. Totalt 22 män och 62 kvinnor. Resultat:De största angivna anledningarna till att inte donera var etiska skäl 17%, (n=14) samt avsaknad av kunskap 17%, (n=14). Resultaten kunde ej påvisa signifikanta skillnader mellan könen i frågor som attityder, benägenhet samt anledningar till att donera respektive inte donera. Attityderna kring transplantation och donation av vävnad från deltagarna var genomgående positiva 100%, (n=84) trots att endast ca hälften av deltagarna 48% (n=40) var registrerade donatorer sedan tidigare. Nittiosex procent (n=81) av studiegruppen kunde tänka sig att ta emot en donation om det skulle höja deras livskvalitet eller rädda deras liv. Blodkomponenter 78%, (n=66) och organ/ annan vävnad 70%, (n=59) var de vanligaste att kunna tänka sig att donera, och altruism verkade vara den största anledningen. Slutsats: Sammanfattningsvis kan det sägas att mer information behövs för att allmänheten ska kunna ta välinformerade beslut om donation samt att vidare forskning behövs inom området. / Background: Donation of organic tissue and/or organs is crucial in the transplantation network. Transplantation has existed for a long time but it has grown substantially during the last few years. Despite of this there is a shortage of donors and knowledge of the subject. Aim: The aim was to examine the nursing student’s knowledge and attitudes towards donation and transplantation and examine if there are any differences between men and women in knowledge and attitudes. Method: Eighty four out of 439 participants responded to an internet survey, 22 men and 62 women from 1st – 6th semester in the nursing program. Results: The major reasons stated not to donate were ethical reasons 17%, (n=14) and lack of information 17%, (n=14). The results could not show any relevant differences between the genders when it came to attitudes, tendencies or reasons to donate or not donate. The attitudes towards transplantation and donation of tissue were entirely positive 100% (n=84) despite the fact that only 48% (n=40) of the participators were registered donors. Ninety-six percent (n=81) of the studied group would consider receiving a transplant if it could save their lives or enhance their quality of life. Blood components 78%, (n=66) and organs/other tissue 70%, (n=59) were the most common choices to donate and the reason seemed to be altruism. Conclusion: To conclude, more knowledge is needed for the general public to make well-grounded decisions concerning donations and also more research and studies are needed to be conducted in the field of transplantation.

As one of the central problems in the area of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs), student modelling has been widely used to assist in systems’ decision making and students’ learning. On the one hand, by reasoning about students’ knowledge in the instructional domain, a system is able to adapt its pedagogical actions in order to provide a customized learning environment. These actions may include individualized problem-selection, tailored instructions and feedback, as well as updating the presentation of student models. On the other hand, students can reflect on their own learning progress by viewing individual Open Student Models (OSMs) and enhance their meta-cognitive skills by learning from the system’s estimation of their knowledge levels. It is believed that making the information in the student model available to students can raise students’ awareness of their strengths and weaknesses in the corresponding domain and hence allow them to develop a more effective and efficient way of learning. An OSM has been developed in EER-Tutor. EER-Tutor is a web-enhanced ITS that supports university students in learning conceptual database modelling. Students design Enhanced Entity-Relationship (EER) diagrams and receive different level of feedback in a problem-solving environment. The pedagogical decisions on feedback generation and problem selection are made according to student models. Previously, student models in EER-Tutor are presented to students on request as skill meters. Skill meters have been proved useful in helping students to improve their meta-cognitive skills. However, as the simplest presentation of a student model, skill meters contain very limited information. Some studies show that an OSM with multiple views is more effective since it supports individual preferences and different educational purposes. The focus of our work is to develop a variety of presentations for the OSM in EER-Tutor. For this purposes, we have modified the system to include not only skill meters but also other presentation styles. An evaluation study has been performed after the development. Both subjective and objective results have been collected. This thesis presents the extended EER-Tutor, followed by the analysis of the evaluation study.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences graduate students in student affairs administration programs had that inspired them to begin a Masters degree program in student affairs administration as well as what they did as undergraduates to prepare themselves for graduate work. A portion of the study focused on the role mentors played for student affairs administration graduate students as they explored the field.One hundred and one student affairs administration graduate students from four midwestern institutions completed a sixty item on-line survey. It was found the students had experiences as undergraduates which directly related to their graduate assistantship and mentors played an important role in multiple ways as the students' explored of the field of student affairs administration. Recommendations for assisting undergraduates interested in pursuing a student affairs administration were presented. / Department of Educational Leadership

The purpose of the study was to compare preferred with actual student participation in the decision-making process as perceived by Indiana public secondary school principals.

Syfte: Syftet med föreliggande litteraturstudie var att beskriva sjuksköterskans upplevelser av att handleda sjuksköterskestudenter under verksamhetsförlagd utbildning samt att granska de valda artiklarnas undersökningsgrupper. Metod: Denna litteraturstudie har en deskriptiv design. Resultatet är baserat på tolv vetenskapliga artiklar hämtade från databaserna PubMed och Cinahl. Resultat: Resultatet i föreliggande studie beskriver att sjuksköterskorna upplever ett stort ansvar för sina studenter och att handledningen är utvecklande, både i sjuksköterskerollen och i handledarrollen. Sjuksköterskorna i föreliggande studie har delade upplevelser angående samarbetet med studenternas skolor. Slutsats: För att handledningen av studenter ska vara så bra som möjligt krävs det ett gott samarbete och goda relationer, inte bara sjuksköterska och student emellan utan även med skolan. / Aim: The aim of this literary study was to describe nurse’s experiences of precepting nurse students during clinical practice and to examine the participants of the chosen articles. Method: This literary study has a descriptive design. The result is based on twelve scientific articles from the databases PubMed and Cinahl. Result: The result of this study describes that the nurses experience a great deal of responsibility for their students and that the supervising of students is stimulating, as much as in the role of a nurse as in the role of a supervisor. The nurses of this study have differing experiences with regards to the cooperation with the schools of the nurse students. Conclusion: In order to secure that the supervising of nurse students runs as smoothly as possible it is of absolute necessity that both the schools and the supervising nurses work to establish a functioning cooperation. The same goes for the supervising nurse-nurse student relation as well.Keywords: Precept,

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