Text in English / This dissertation examines the missionary activities of Rev. J.L.R. Rammala of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) which was formally called the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA). Rev. Rammala worked among the Bushmen (San) of Botswana as a missionary from 1973 to 1980. The study examines how the DRCA as a·· product of Western missions, developed its own understanding of mission when judged through the mission activities of Rev. Rammala in Botswana as a case study. This understanding of mission is judged against the background of the survey of the debate on Third World missions, and the DRCA's involvement in intercultural mission. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / Th. M. (Missiology)

This diploma thesis in its theoretical and practical parts focuses on free play of children in pre-school facilities. Kindergarten is the place of early secondary socialization of the child and that's why one part of the diploma thesis is centred on this theme. The theoretical part helps for a deeper understanding of play, especially with 2-4 year old children and builds a foundation for the research. The practical part, based on one year's observation, monitors development of free play of a homogeneous group of children and finds how the quality of play changes with individuals as well as the group. Another focus lies on comparing two separate groups of children in their free play - one group having long term experience with free play and one without such regular experience. The main method of the research is observation. The results of the research points to the importance of free play for a pre-school age child and confirms the influence of free play in the process of early secondary socialization.

The thesis is concerned with the application of Feuerstein's theory of mediated learning experience to teaching in the first year of primary school. It summarises basic information about Feuerstein's work, the theories of mediated learning experience and structural cognitive modifiability. It also deals with the application of mediated learning experience to teaching in the first year of primary school. In this respect, it characterises the period of early school age and the role of the teacher. The central theme of the work, the theory of mediated learning experience, is an approach targeted at the process and structure of thought. The application of this theory is aimed at the individual's general cognitive development, especially the development of the thinking process. The principal goal of the thesis is to introduce the possibilities of applying the theory of mediated learning to teaching in school and thus contribute to the spread of this methodology only recently introduced to the Czech Republic, which can be considered a helpful and meaningful way to enrich teaching and support the children's cognitive development.

There are currently increasingly debated issues of entering the schooling, especially in the terms of levels of preparedness to enter the first grade and the school's requirements on the first- graders. This is due to a large number of often complex changes which the entrance into the first grade means for the children and their families. It is the best for the first-graders do all these changes without undue frustration, it is necessary that their physical, mental and neural development and readiness were on sufficient level. Because of extensiveness of this topic, only the part of it was selected for this thesis, as its name says: The level of graphomotor skills of preschool children before entering elementary school. The area of graphomotor skills is presented in the context of writing skills throughout this thesis. The legislative definition of compulsory school attendance and the issue of writing as an essential part of literacy is covered within the theoretical part. The topic of entry into the first grade and the school preparedness of children are explained. The area of graphomotor skills in the terms of the development, in the terms of relation to the coarse and fine motor skills, laterality and external conditions which affect graphomotor skills is covered in detail. The significance...

Detta examensarbete behandlar undervisning i läsförståelsestrategier och genrekunskap. Studien utgår från forskning som visar att undervisning i dessa områden är av stor vikt för elevernas utveckling av läsförståelse. Läsförståelse i sig är grunden för framtida kunskapsinhämtning och vidare studier. Studien har som syfte att undersöka hur lärare i förskoleklass t.o.m. årskurs 3 arbetar explicit med läsförståelsestrategier och genrekunskap. Undersökningen bygger på en webbaserad enkätstudie till samtliga lärare för gällande årskurser i ämnena svenska, matematik, SO och NO/Teknik. Studien begränsar sig till att undersöka en kommun i södra Sverige. Resultaten är samstämmiga på så sätt att övervägande antal tillfrågade lärare anser sig undervisa explicit i läsförståelsestrategier. Något färre anser sig undervisa explicit i genrekunskap. Svaren visar även att undervisning förekommer i mindre omfång i denna kommun än vad som är önskvärt enligt forskningen i både läsförståelsestrategier och genrekunskap. / This master thesis focuses on teaching in reading comprehension strategies and genre knowledge. The study is based on research that shows that education in these areas is important for students' development of reading comprehension. Reading comprehension in itself is the basis for future knowledge acquisition and further studies. The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers, active in the range from pre-school classes to third grade classes, works explicitly with reading comprehension strategies and genre knowledge.  The research is based on a web-questionnaire survey of all teachers for current grades in the subjects Swedish, Mathematics, Social studies and Science/Technology. It is limited to investigating a municipality in southern Sweden.  The results are coherent in such a way that the majority of teachers asked consider themselves to educate explicitly in reading comprehension strategies. Slightly fewer participants consider themselves to educate explicitly in genre knowledge. Also, based on the answers given by the participants, it turns out that both reading comprehension strategies and genre skills are less taught in this municipality compare to what is recommended according to science.

Précieuse source d’informations sur l’auteur des Vies des meilleurs peintres, sculpteurs et architectes, la correspondance de Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) est bien connue des historiens de l’art depuis son édition par Karl Frey (1923-1930). La conservation rigoureuse de ses nombreuses lettres ainsi que la remarquable qualité stylistique d’une grande partie d’entre elles, invitent à s’interroger sur la valeur que Vasari lui-même pouvait attribuer à son écriture épistolaire. Voyait-il ses lettres comme une partie fondamentale de son legs culturel ? On peut se demander s’il avait pu caresser le projet de les publier sous forme de recueil, conformément à une pratique très diffusée chez les hommes doctes du XVIe siècle. C’est justement un recueil qui se distingue tout particulièrement au sein du riche carteggio vasarien : le manuscrit Riccardiano 2354, de la Bibliothèque Riccardiana de Florence. Datant de la fin du XVIe siècle, ce petit codex contient quarante-huit missives copiées par le neveu et principal hériter de l’artiste arétin, Giorgio Vasari le Jeune (1562-1625), fonctionnaire médicéen versé dans différents savoirs techniques et scientifiques. Cette étude analyse les opérations de sélection, de transcription et de possible transformation menées par Vasari le Jeune à partir des sources épistolaires originales de son oncle, aujourd’hui introuvables. Des indices matériels et textuels laissent penser que le volume de la Riccardiana pourrait avoir été conçu comme un « livre de lettres » destiné à la publication, mais finalement jamais paru. Une initiative éditoriale avortée donc, visant la célébration posthume de la vie et de l’œuvre de Vasari à travers la valorisation de son héritage épistolaire. La lecture croisée des textes du recueil et d’autres missives qui y furent exclues, permet de reconnaître, en amont de l’entreprise de Giorgio le Jeune, un dessein de reconstitution biographique qui privilégie certains aspects de la figure de Vasari, en omet d’autres et, parfois, plie l’héritage culturel de l’artiste aux exigences d’affirmation personnelle du neveu dans le contexte médicéen de son temps. La résultante principale de cette recherche est une réflexion sur les dynamiques propres à l’écriture épistolaire de Vasari, sur les fonctions diverses qu’elle pouvait endosser dans les différentes phases de sa carrière d’artiste et d’écrivain. Car la pratique épistolaire fut pour Vasari un outil privilégié pour la mise en représentation de soi vis-à-vis de son réseau de correspondants, pour l’apprentissage de la parole littéraire et pour l’élaboration des procédés de l’ekphrasis, plus largement développés dans les Vies. / A valuable source of information on the author of The Lives of the Artists, the correspondence of Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) is well known to art historians, mainly since its almost complete edition published by Karl Frey (1923-1930). If we consider the fact that Vasari zealously kept his numerous letters during his whole life, as well as the remarkable stylistic quality of many of these texts, we realise the importance of inquiring into how significant his epistolary writing could have been to him. Did Vasari see his missives as an essential part of his cultural legacy? In this case, it has to be questioned whether the artist could have ever conceived the project of publishing a selection of his letters, in accordance with a widespread practice among literates in the Fifteenth century. A collection of Vasari’s letters was actually gathered and still stands out from the large number of documents of his vast carteggio: it’s the manuscript Riccardiano 2354, held by the Biblioteca Riccardiana in Florence. Dating from the late Fifteenth century, this small codex contains forty-eight letters posthumously copied by the artist’s nephew and principal heir of his estate, Giorgio Vasari the Younger (1562-1625), an official of the Medicean Court deeply versed in several scientific and technical disciplines. This study investigates the process of selection, transcription and possible manipulation conducted by Vasari the Younger on his uncle’s original epistolary sources, which are nowadays still missing. Several material or textual hints can suggest that the Riccardiana’s volume might have been a “libro di lettere”, a book of letters designed for publication, but finally never printed. The chief aim of this editorial effort would have been a posthumous celebration of Vasari’s life and artistic achievements, through the highlighting of his missives. The comparison between the texts included in the Riccardiana’s manuscript and other excluded letters, allows us to recognise, as the essential mainstay in Giorgio the Younger’s work, the design of a biographical depiction of Vasari’s figure, focusing on specific traits and omitting others. The artist’s epistolary legacy seems to be occasionally subject to his nephew’s personal career requirements in the Medicean context of his time. The result of this research is a series of considerations on the dynamics inherent in Vasari’s epistolary writing, such as the various functions that it could assume according to the different phases of the artist’s career. Epistolarity has been Vasari’s main tool for self-fashioning towards his correspondents; as well as for literary learning and for the conception of the device of ekphrasis, developed on a larger scale in the Lives.

The thesis represents a brief outline of the educational system in the Czech Republic and a view into the Framework Educational Programme for Elementary Education (RVP). The main subject of the work is the content and the characteristics of two educational areas called "Arts and Culture" and "Health Education" at the first grade of an elementary school regarding specifics and needs of the pupils of younger school age. Individual categories of subjects correspond with the created methodical material aimed at the third class of elementary schools. Moreover, the thesis deals with the situation at schools and the attitude of the first grade teachers to individual educational subject such as Arts, Music, Physical Education, etc. The work focuses on what influences the teachers´ perception of the subjects, how they are taught and how they are evaluated in the framework of other subjects.

Title: Mutual comparison of results of fitness tests and tests of floorball skills among talented Czech youth and youth from the Vysočina Region. Objectives: The main aim of the Master's thesis is to evaluate the level of player skills and fitness skills among regional youth teams and youth from the Vysočina Region. For the comparison, the categories of younger and older male and female pupils, and junior men and women were selected. Methods: For the purposes of this Master's thesis, the method of quantitative research of the categories of younger and older male and female pupils, and junior men and women in floorball from the Vysočina Region was applied. The floorball test battery of the Czech Floorball, consisting of fourteen player tests focused on floorball skills and fitness skills, of which seven scientifically standardized tests were selected, was used for testing. For the determination of validity, an expert analysis was used, a repeated measurement (test - retest) was performed to determine the reliability of the tests, and the Fleiss' Kappa value was calculated to determine the evaluators' concordance. Results: The results of the paper, based on the comparison of the data of the club from the Vysočina Region, and the regional teams' data, showed that girls (junior women and older female...

Technological advances will allow virtual agents to increasingly help individuals with daily activities. As such, virtual agents will interact with users of various ages and experience levels. Facial expressions are often used to facilitate social interaction between agents and humans. However, older and younger adults do not label human or virtual agent facial expressions in the same way, with older adults commonly mislabeling certain expressions. The dynamic formation of facial expression, or motion, may provide additional facial information potentially making emotions less ambiguous. This study examined how motion affects younger and older adults in recognizing various intensities of emotion displayed by a virtual agent. Contrary to the dynamic advantage found in emotion recognition for human faces, older adults had higher emotion recognition for static virtual agent faces than dynamic ones. Motion condition did not influence younger adults' emotion recognition. Younger adults had higher emotion recognition than older adults for the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness. Low intensities of expression had lower emotion recognition than medium to high expression intensities.

The thesis deals with French sculptors and painters active around 1700 at the Royal Palace in Stockholm. They were summoned from Paris by the architect Nicodemus Tessin the younger (1654–1728). This study analyses the Frenchmen’s professional roles, how Tessin organised their work and the working methods applied in the decoration of the Gallery of Charles XI and the adjoining parade rooms. It also involves questions concerning the artist’s roles and the status of artistic professions at the early modern period. The artisans were a group of some fifteen sculptors, painters, founders and a goldsmith. Several of them were accompanied by family members, some of whom were active in the workshop. In France these sculptors and painters had worked in the Bâtiments du Roi  and particularly at the Gobelins. Although they were not part of the artistic elite at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture they had vital knowledge in classical pattern/design, le bon goût and drawing. The artisans were also members of the guild system and were thus permitted to accept private commissions. My aim has been to clarify the artisans’ background in Paris and the recruitment undertaken by the diplomat Daniel Cronström (1655–1719). With regard to their activities in Sweden, it has been important to clarify their conditions in the building organisation at the Royal Palace, including social contexts such as their family situation and the possibility to practise their Catholic faith. Equally important is the professional relationship between the Frenchmen and Tessin, who was appointed Superintendent in 1697. Through detailed archival studies, the working practices and the creative process are analysed, especially the collaboration between Tessin and the painter Jacques Foucquet and the sculptors René Chauveau (1663–1722) and Jacques Foucquet (1639–1731).