<p>Inom området barnets utveckling borde pedagogiken och kognitionsvetenskapen samarbeta. Pedagogikinriktningen Reggio Emilia påstår bygga sin verksamhet på delar av bland annat Vygotskys teorier. I denna rapport utvärderas detta påstående utifrån frågan: Har förskollärarna inom Reggio Emilia-förskolan stöd hos Vygotskys teorier när det gäller deras roll i barnets vardagsspråkliga utveckling. Reggio Emilia-inriktningens och Vygotskys åsikter om språk och lärarens roll analyseras och jämförs med ett hermeneutiskt angreppssätt. Analysen visar att det finns skillnader mellan Reggio Emilia-inriktningens syn på förskollärarens roll när det gäller barnets vardagsspråkliga utveckling och Vygotskys teorier inom området. Trots skillnaderna visar ändå analysen att Reggio Emilia-inriktningen har fått stora influenser ifrån Vygotsky. Resultatet visar således att även om stödet från Vygotskys teorier inte är hundraprocentigt så finns det där. Undersökningen visar också att pedagogiken och kognitionsvetenskapen kan samarbeta framgångsrikt.</p>

The purpose of this degree project has been to examine the implications of the provision of certain methodological support mechanisms, what has often been referred to as "instructional scaffolding" in literary didactics, to assist students in the ESL/EFL classroom in their interaction with the various literary texts into which they come into contact during their English language education at the upper secondary level in Sweden. My primary interest has been to gauge the response of the students involved in this study to the particular types of literary didactic methods utilized, for example, regarding their effectiveness in aiding the learning process as well as their impact on the literary, or aesthetic, experience itself. An analysis of student responses to a literature instruction module based on a reading of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness will demonstrate that certain forms of literary didactic methods in general, and significantly, particular forms of what can be conceptualized as instructional scaffolding, play a crucial role for both the learning process and the student's aesthetic experience of literature.

This thesis explores the effectiveness of a professional education model that was specifically developed for on-the-job training to assist seven child care trainees in six Child Care Centres in Queensland, Australia, to develop the competencies, motives, strategies and processes required to become expert educarers of pre-school age children. The intervention, which took place over 65 days, was implemented by six expert educarers who had previously been trained in using the Zone of Proximal Development (socio-cultural theory) to extend both the adult and the child learner’s development. The educarers were asked to assist the trainees’ demonstration of motives, strategies, and processes during daily activities, and the educarers and trainees were asked to assist the children’s demonstration of competencies in daily activities through the Zone of Proximal Development. As mass training for child care workers in group child care is still a relatively new phenomenon in Australia, and as little research has addressed both an adult and child learner’s demonstration of competencies in the workplace with a permanent work-based instructor interacting through the Zone of Proximal Development, qualitative and quantitative approaches to analysing the data were chosen. These approaches present both a descriptive and a measured analysis of the day-to-day operations in which the training occurred. The study aimed to generate substantive theoretical ideas by extending socio-cultural theory (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988) with Activity Theory (Leont’ev, 1979), Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP) (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and Cognitive Apprenticeship (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989). Data collection occurred through questionnaires at three periods of the study, through pre- and post-training Semantic Differentials, through the trainees’ daily journals and the professional tutors’ comments, and the educarers’ weekly and monthly reports. The study provides a triangulated perspective of two foci. The primary focus was on the changing relationship of the trainees with the educarers during the training programme, and whether this led to a converging understanding and the development of an evolving, mutual meaning structure. The perspectives are the trainees, the educarers, and their joint interactions. The personal experiences of the trainees as observers and participants in the day to day activities of the centre are interwoven with the modelling and assistance of the educarers and demonstration of the children. The results revealed that some of the trainees’ relationships with some of the educarers changed over three phases. These changes demonstrated that, in Phase I, the trainees observed and practiced activities under the supervision of the educarers who instructed them what to do and why, and discussed parents, as they started to develop a mutual meaning structure. Their relationship reflected that of a novice-expert. In Phase II the seven trainees acted independently, planning and implementing minor activities, still under the educarer’s supervision however. In this phase the educarers modelled, observed, and commented on the trainees’ performance, as an evolving mutual meaning structure that reflected an aspiring expert-expert relationship developed. Three trainees attained only Phase II, while the other four continued into Phase III. In Phase III, the four trainees planned and implemented major activities independently while the educarers observed and commented on their performance and engaged jointly in tasks. Their relationships, which evidenced a developing and evolving mutual meaning structure reflecting a converging understanding, became collaborative for one dyad, one educarer perceived the relationship was collaborative and the trainee perceived it to be an aspiring expert-expert, while the other two dyads demonstrated an expert-expert relationship. It appears that the trainees, who experienced education motives with various strategies and processes implemented by the educarers through the ZPD in the training programme, demonstrated the greatest change in the relationships. For these trainees the peripherality of participation changed from Phase I, operating at the outer peripherality of the child care practice to operating closer to the centre of the practice in Phase II. The four trainees who transitioned to the centre of the practice in Phase III experienced educarers who exhibited consistent motives with flexible strategies and processes combining a wide variety of interactions through the ZPD. Emerging from the data, a dominant authentic activity, and a secondary aspect of this study was classroom management in general and morally acceptable behaviour (MAB) in particular. The dominance of this activity reinforces Tharp and Gallimore’s (1988) finding that classroom management was the most stressful activity for first year teachers. The trainees’ appropriation of the motives, strategies and processes in episodes of morally acceptable behaviour as modelled by the educarers, showed, over the study, a convergence of understanding and the development of an evolving mutual meaning structure between the dyads. The second focus of the study provides a triangulated perspective on the changes in the relationship between the trainees and children during the training programme. The trainees’ and children’s demonstration of competencies in morally acceptable behaviour is also addressed in this section: the perspectives are the trainees, the educarers and joint trainee-child interactions. The results reveal that the trainees’ relationship with children changed over the three Phases of the training programme. With a minor focus on children in Phase I, the trainees observed and practiced implementing activities demonstrating a novice-novice relationship. In Phase II, increasing their focus on children, the trainees took responsibility in minor activities demonstrating an aspiring expert-novice relationship. However in Phase III, with a dominant focus on children, expert-novice relationships were apparent. The four competencies developed for trainees to facilitate the children’s demonstration of competencies in morally acceptable behaviour, discussing feelings and discussing actions, and showing verbal and non-verbal empathy, were acquired and used by the trainees who experienced education motives in the training programme, in Phases II and III. Concurrently, the children developed and increased their competencies in verbal and non-verbal acceptance of the interventions, and showed increased understanding of cause and effect and the ability to formulate hypotheses. Changes were also evidenced in the trainees’ conceptual understanding of educaring children as they integrated the concepts of discipline and control with three other essentials of educaring (caring, teaching and learning), into their conceptual understanding of educaring over the study. The development of an evolving, mutual meaning structure of the authentic activities that were practiced in the child care centres, showed a converging understanding was being established between educarers, trainees and children. There was also evidence of reciprocal assistance. Influence, assistance and teaching were not a one-way process. They did not flow in one direction only, from professional tutor to educarer to trainee to child. The child in turn influenced the trainee who influenced the educarer who influenced the professional tutor.

Inom området barnets utveckling borde pedagogiken och kognitionsvetenskapen samarbeta. Pedagogikinriktningen Reggio Emilia påstår bygga sin verksamhet på delar av bland annat Vygotskys teorier. I denna rapport utvärderas detta påstående utifrån frågan: Har förskollärarna inom Reggio Emilia-förskolan stöd hos Vygotskys teorier när det gäller deras roll i barnets vardagsspråkliga utveckling. Reggio Emilia-inriktningens och Vygotskys åsikter om språk och lärarens roll analyseras och jämförs med ett hermeneutiskt angreppssätt. Analysen visar att det finns skillnader mellan Reggio Emilia-inriktningens syn på förskollärarens roll när det gäller barnets vardagsspråkliga utveckling och Vygotskys teorier inom området. Trots skillnaderna visar ändå analysen att Reggio Emilia-inriktningen har fått stora influenser ifrån Vygotsky. Resultatet visar således att även om stödet från Vygotskys teorier inte är hundraprocentigt så finns det där. Undersökningen visar också att pedagogiken och kognitionsvetenskapen kan samarbeta framgångsrikt.

Abstract This study investigates the relationship between play and child development. This work is the continuation of a thesis on children’s verbal creativity stimulated by dialogical drama intervention which I defended in 2001 at the Vilnius Pedagogical University, Lithuania. The first doctoral thesis in educology resulted in the main intervention method (Dialogical Drama with Puppets) used in this project. The theoretical framework of the study is based on cultural-historical theories developed by Vygotsky and his followers. This approach has influenced on the methodological choices of the study and the concept of the zone of proximal development is a central concept in Vygotskian theory of human cultural development. The concept has been elaborated in an earlier publication (Hakkarainen &#38; Bredikyte 2008) and is now used as an analytic tool. Other theoretical concepts of Vygotsky like the social situation of development, the unit, environment and mechanism of development are used. This study is a small sample from the whole research project, which integrated research studies, theoretical courses and practice of master’s degree students in early education. For families and children the project was a play club. From the theoretical point of view the project was a “genetic experiment”, a “playworld” and intervention study aiming at joint creative play of adults and children. In cultural-historical theory (cultural) environment is the source of qualitative developmental changes of individuals, but each child has to be motivated and self carry out developmental acts. These theoretical principles require special forms of social interaction “mutual interventions”. The methodological approach opens a new perspective to the study of play and development. Individual play development of some children is followed up several years. Cumulative effects and qualitative changes can be detected easier in this setting. Multi-age child groups change our understanding about play development. Empirical part of this study consists of a few cases, which demonstrate what kind of developmental trajectories are possible. It is impossible to tell exactly what the effect of our play environment is, but observations and interpretations can guide further research activity. The results of this study demonstrate in which conditions narrative intervention in joint playworld environment can lead to creative acts, what steps are necessary in the development of joint play, how mutuality in adult-child play supports child development, and what elements are essential in play producing pedagogy and professional growth. / Tiivistelmä Tämä tutkimus selvittää leikin ja lasten kehityksen välistä yhteyttä. Siinä työssä jatkuu tekijän edellisessä Vilnan pedagogisen yliopiston edukologian väitöskirjassa 2001 aloittama lasten luovuuden tutkimus dialogista draamaa käyttäen. Tämä tutkimus tuotti keskeisen intervention menetelmän (Dialoginen nukkedraama), jota nyt käytetään. Tämän tutkimuksen viitekehys perustuu Vygotskin ja hänen seuraajiensa kehittelemään kulttuuri-historialliseen teoriaan. Metodologiset ratkaisut ja Vygotskin kulttuurisen kehityksen teorian keskeinen käsite – lähikehityksen vyöhyke – ovat vaikuttaneet tutkimuksen toteutukseen. Tätä käsitettä on kehitelty aikaisemmassa julkaisussa (Hakkarainen &#38; Bredikyte, 2008) ja sitä käytetään nyt analyyttisenä työvälineenä. Vygotskin muitakin teoreettisia käsitteitä kuten ”kehityksen sosiaalinen tilanne”, ”kehityksen analyysiyksikkö”, ”kehityksen ympäristö”, ja ”kehitysmekanismi” on otettu käyttöön. Tämä tutkimus on pieni siivu koko tutkimusprojektista, johon kytkeytyi varhaiskasvatuksen maisteriopiskelijoiden tutkimusopintoja, teoriakursseja ja harjoittelua. Perheiden ja osallistuvien lasten näkökulmasta projekti oli leikkikerho. Teoreettiselta näkökulmalta projektin ydin oli ”geneettinen eksperimentti”, ”leikkimaailma” ja ”interventiotutkimus”, joka pyrkii saamaan aikaan aikuisten ja lasten yhteistä luovaa leikkiä. Kulttuuri-historiallisessa teoriassa (psykologinen/ kulttuurinen) ymäristö on yksilön laadullisten kehityksen muutosten lähde, mutta jokaisen lapsen on oltava motivoitunut ja itse toteutettava kehittävät teot. Nämä teoreettiset periaatteet edellyttävät erityistä sosiaalisen vuorovaikutuksen muotoa ”vastavuoroista interventiota”. Käytetty metodologinen lähestymistapa avaa uuden mahdollisuuden tutkia leikkiä ja kehitystä. Joidenkin yksittäisten lasten leikin kehitystä on voitu seurata useita vuosia. Kasautuvat vaikutukset ja laadulliset muutokset voidaan todeta helpommin tällaisella tutkimusotteella. Eri-ikäisten lasten yhteiset leikkiryhmät auttavat ymmärtämään paremmin leikin olemusta ja kehitystä. Tutkimuksen empiirinen osa muodostuu yksitäistapauksista, jotka kertovat millaiset kehityskaaret ovat mahdollisia. Tarkkoja syitä ja seurauksia ei ole mahdollista leikkiympäristössä osoittaa, mutta havainnot ja tulkinnat ohjaavat jatkotutkimusta. Tutkimuksen tulokset kertovat millaisissa olosuhteissa narratiivinen interventio yhteisessä leikkiympäristössä voi johtaa luoviin tekoihin, miten yhteinen leikki voi kehittyä ja kehittää, millainen vastavuoroisuus aikuisen ja lasten leikissä tukee kehitystä sekä mitkä asiat ovat välttämättömiä leikin pedagogiikassa ja ammatillisessa kasvussa.

The aim of the present study is to investigate how three Swedish teachers view literary discussion as a tool for teaching and learning. A socio-cultural perspective with Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development and Dysthe’s dialogic/monologic classroom serves as the theoretical point of departure. The study is based on qualitative semistructured interviews with three Swedish teachers, all working in upper secondary school. An interview guide was established on the basis of previous research in the field of literary discussion. The interviews showed that the teachers had a positive view of conversations and discussions as a tool for teaching and learning, since they see good progression in the pupils’ reading comprehension, their conception of literature, and analytical ability. Literary discussions are chiefly appreciated as a tool that comes into its own as a method in teaching an aspect of a subject and as preparation for a written examination. Another finding is that the teachers’ positive outlook on literary discussion includes a view of teachers as being active and present when help and support should be close at hand for the pupils.

an autoethnographic exploration, this study aimed to determine how I (the researcher) could enhance the learning experience of tertiary jazz piano students while focusing on self-reflection. Vygotsky’s (1978) zone of proximal development and Csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) flow theory were used as the theoretical background of the study. Based on the zone of proximal development, I aimed to enhance the students’ learning during weekly piano lessons. Furthermore, based on flow, I intended to reflect on my own experiences while teaching. For the duration of the study, data collection took place at a South African university with four first-year undergraduate jazz piano students. During weekly lessons, a reflective journal was kept, recording personal flow experiences including an assessment rubric where students’ progress could be measured. Results were analysed and sorted under four elements of flow applicable to practical teaching – challenge/skill, clear goals, concentration on the task at hand and unambiguous feedback – including personal flow experiences. These flow dimensions served as a valuable guideline in adjusting teaching methods while teaching jazz. The personal flow experiences relates to Bakker’s (2005) emotional contagion theory where a teachers flow experience can cross over to a student, or a teachers mood can influence the students’ learning experiences. I found that reflecting on my own flow experiences enhances my confidence, motivation and concentration as a lecturer. Additionally, based on the zone of proximal development, aural/video imitation and scaffolding proved to be important concepts while teaching jazz piano. / Mini Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Music / MMus / Unrestricted

English reading comprehension is an educational challenge worldwide. This study investigated how Grade 2 teachers teach English reading comprehension to First Additional Language (FAL) learners at three selected independent schools in Gauteng where the language of learning and teaching (LoLT) is English. Three English medium independent schools in Gauteng, South Africa participated in the study. The participants at each research site consisted of Grade 2 teachers (main participants) and Grade 2 learners (secondary participants). Grade 2 teachers were selected purposively on the criteria that they had taught for more than two years and were teaching English reading comprehension to Grade 2 FAL learners. This study followed a qualitative approach, and was situated within the interpretivist paradigm. The research design accommodated a case study. The conceptual framework was based on the revised taxonomy by Krathwohl and Anderson for questioning which integrated the role of the teacher in a reading lesson. The three stages of reading, before reading, during reading and after reading were divided into the different levels of thinking and reasoning as suggested in Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) theory. The data collection strategies were semi-structured interviews with Grade 2 teachers; observing reading lessons they gave; and keeping a journal in which personal reflections on the investigation into teaching and learning practices were documented. Once data was collected, the recordings of the semi-structured interviews were transcribed. The observation checklists and the reflection journal entries were analysed. Data was analysed using a coding process and five themes and twelve sub-themes emerged. The findings show that the interactive approach was common in the teaching of English reading comprehension. However, parental involvement, the availability of the trained teachers and appropriate resources were necessary. A learner's individual reading needs and reasoning ability have to be considered through the use of differentiated teaching practices. Questioning throughout the reading process improves a learner's understanding of the text. / Die leesbegrip van Engels is 'n wêreldwye uitdaging. Hierdie studie het ondersoek hoe Graad 2-onderwysers onderrig in leesbegrip in Engels aan leerders van Engels as Eerste Addisionele Taal gee by drie uitgesoekte onafhanklike skole in Gauteng waar die taal van leer en onderrig (TLO) Engels is. Drie onafhanklike Engelsmediumskole in Gauteng, Suid-Afrika het aan die studie deelgeneem. By elke skool was die deelnemers Graad 2-onderwysers (hoofdeelnemers) en Graad 2-leerders (sekondêre deelnemers). Graad 2-onderwysers is doelbewus gekies op grond van die kriterium dat hulle langer as twee jaar onderrig gegee het en ten tye van die studie Graad 2-EAT-leerders onderrig het. Die studie volg 'n kwalitatiewe benadering binne die interpretivistiese paradigma. Die navorsingsontwerp behels 'n gevallestudie. Die konseptuele raamwerk is gebaseer op Krathwohl en Anderson se hersiene taksonomie van vraagstelling wat die onderwyser se rol in 'n leesles integreer. Die drie leesstadia voor, gedurende en na lees word in die verskillende vlakke van lees en redenering verdeel, soos wat in Vygotsky se teorie van die Sone van Naaste Ontwikkeling (ZPD) aan die hand gedoen word. As dataversamelingstrategieë is semigestruktureerde onderhoude met Graad 2-onderwysers gevoer, lesse waargeneem en 'n joernaal gehou waarin persoonlike besinning oor die ondersoek van onderrig- en leerpraktyke gedokumenteer is. Na dataversameling is die opnames van die semigestruktureerde onderhoude getranskribeer. Die waarnemings-kontrolelyste en die inskrywings in die besinningsjoernaal is ontleed. Data is met behulp van 'n koderingsproses ontleed, wat vyf temas en twaalf subtemas na vore gebring het. Daar is bevind dat die interaktiewe benadering algemeen in die onderrig van leesbegrip van Engels gebruik word. Die betrokkenheid van ouers, beskikbaarheid van opgeleide onderwysers en geskikte hulpbronne was egter noodsaaklik. Leerders se individuele leesbehoeftes en redeneringsvermoë moet by wyse van gedifferensieerde onderrigpraktyke in aanmerking geneem word. Leerders se begrip van die teks verbeter wanneer vrae in die loop van die leesproses gestel word. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Early Childhood Education / MEd / Unrestricted

Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka och synliggöra eventuella likheter och skillnader mellan lärares och elevers upplevelser av matematiklektioner och dess olika arbetsformer som bidrar till elevernas lust att lära. För att kunna synliggöra detta har vi genomfört semistrukturerade intervjuer med enskilda lärare och deras elever i fokusgrupper. Den data som vi fått in har strukturerats enligt en tematisk analysmetod och sedan redovisats och tolkats enligt ett sociokulturellt perspektiv och med hjälp av begreppet KASAM (känsla av sammanhang).  I resultatet har vi jämfört data från lärare och respektive fokusgrupp med deras elever för att se om det finns likheter eller skillnader i deras upplevelse av matematiklektioner. Den insamlade datan visade att eleverna i ena fokusgruppen ville ha utmanande uppgifter medan den andra fokusgruppen ville visa och få bekräftat att de gjort rätt.  Det fanns skillnader och likheter bland lärare och elevers upplevelser av matematiklektioner och dess arbetsformer i relation till lust att lära. De två lärarna hade olika skillnader och likheter jämfört med varandra i relation till sina elever. Lärare B hade en mer precis upplevelse av hur eleverna såg på olika arbetsformer. Lärare A hade en mer precis upplevelse av hur sina elevers lust att lära var. Utifrån vår insamlade data och resultat går det inte att dra en generell slutsats om likheter och skillnader till matematiklektioner och dess arbetsformer i relation till lust att lära.

This research is located in the interdisciplinary field of curriculum studies, drawing on both psychological and sociological theories of pedagogy. I explore classroom practice, through a qualitative study into a preparatory school curriculum innovation called DIY: Dream, Innovate Yourself, which encourages children to develop skills (both topic-specific and dispositional) that prepare them for the modern world of business, where flexible thinking, creative problem solving and collaboration are high on the list of ‘hiring qualities’. Using concepts of learning, cognitive and moral development, semiotic mediation, and pedagogy, I develop an analysis of the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of mediation and learning in DIY: Dream, Innovate Yourself. The findings gathered through classroom observation and interviews with learners, suggest that DIY is meeting its intended aims through the programme. However, due to limitations in the data that could be collected, these findings must be treated as preliminary.