| 31. |
- Tyrén, Lena
(author)
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"Vi får ju inte riktigt förutsättningarna för att genomföra det som vi vill" : en studie om lärare möjligheter och hinder till förändring och förbättring i praktiken
- 2013
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Initially the overall aim of this thesis was to describe and analyse what was happening in the educational activities when teachers at a school that I have called Tower School introduced the computer as a tool for helping pupils who were learning to write and read. Key questions concerned the issue of improvement. Did introducing the computer as a tool in the teaching and learning process help the pupils with their learning or not and, if so, in what ways. The research approach chosen was an action research approach. Action research is concerned with professional practice and improvement. It is contextual and oriented toward action processes and change. The initial phase of the research went more or less according to plan. I followed the development process of the introduction and use of the computer as a learning tool, met regularly with the teachers and together with them developed a good working relationship. After about a year things changed. With the restructuring that was taking place in the region changes began to take place also at Tower School and this had effects on the research. In addition to the initial aim to research changes related to student learning a second purpose developed. This purpose was to describe and analyse how political governance and underlying societal forces might influence what happens in school development. There were two reasons for this new extra dimension. One was a methodological interest in relation to planning action research projects at times of political change in the education sector. The other was an educational theoretical interest connected to the school as a policy-driven organization. My interest here was for changes in the political economy at the macro level and how the network of macro-political and economic relations affected the micropolitical level of the school, its classrooms, participating teachers in these classrooms, their students and me as a researcher?
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| 32. |
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| 33. |
- Hellman, Annika
(author)
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Visuella möjlighetsrum : gymnasieelevers subjektsskapande i bild och medieundervisnin
- 2017
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis examines upper secondary school pupils’ processes of subjectivation, resistance and creative becomings in visual art and media education. By using visual methodologies, pupils’ subjectivity is explored as relational and transformative, and as distributed in networks of power and desire. The empirical material was produced through pupils’ video diaries and a visual ethnographic classroom study. The aim of the study is addressed through the following research questions: What subject positions are enabled and made available for pupils in media education at upper secondary school? How is gender produced and negotiated in the visual art and media classroom? What educational human and non-human assemblages emerge, and with what effect for pupils’ becoming? The dissertation consists of three studies based on two empirical productions. The first is the licentiate thesis in which pupils’ becomings were highlighted as rhizomatic and as situated in relational, interlaced processes of learning with gender, affect, materiality, visual culture and informal learning. In the two following studies, visual ethnographic classroom observations were investigated in one study with masculinity as a theoretical lens, and in the other with a posthumanist perspective where the subject is considered an element in a pedagogical assemblage. In these studies, resistance against the pupil position is made visible, and so is the agency of materiality that created lines of flight away from the momentarily locked positions. The result shows that visual art and media education has democratic and pedagogical potentialities. Pupils’ perspectives can be differentiated, and creativity and informal competences can be highlighted through visual art and media education.
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| 34. |
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| 35. |
- Magnusson, Maria, 1960
(author)
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Skylta med kunskap. En studie av hur barn urskiljer grafiska symboler i hem och förskola.
- 2013
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Abstract Title: Signing with knowledge: A study of how children discern graphical symbols at home and in preschool Author: Maria Magnusson Language: Swedish with an English summary ISBN: 978-91-7346-767-4 (print) ISBN: 978-91-7346-768-1 (pdf) ISSN: 0436-1121 Keywords: Graphical symbols, learning, children, conceptual development, variation theory, Vygotsky The topic of this study is to generate knowledge about children’s understanding of graphical symbols. These forms of knowledge are prevalent in contemporary societies, for example, in the form of letters, numbers, road signs, maps, and computer icons. More specifically, in this thesis is scrutinized in detail how children develop symbolic skills and how this can be supported through educational activities. The theoretical basis of the study is variation theory (Marton & Tsui, 2004). This theory conceptualizes learning in terms of differentiation and integration. Two empirical studies are reported. The first is about two children, Olle and Lasse, who both are in the age span four to five years. How these children handle graphical symbols in the form of producing signs that they put up in their homes are followed over time. Hence, the children’s own make and use of symbols in their everyday life are studied. In the second empirical study, the findings from the first study and theoretical insight from variation theory are orchestrated in a preschool center with two teachers and twelve children, to see if these principles can be functional in supporting children’s development of symbolic understanding. Both studies are based on video data. The findings are that a particular pattern of variation entitled, ‘contrast’ is functional in developing such insight, while another pattern of variation entitled, ‘induction’ is not. In addition, meta-communication is argued to be important not only for the researcher to gain access to the child’s understanding but also to the child’s development as such. The theoretical distinction made by Vygotsky between ‘pseudo concepts’ and ‘concepts (proper)’ is used to discuss the findings.
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| 36. |
- Alvestad, Torgeir, 1960
(author)
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Barnehagens relasjonelle verden - små barn som kompetente aktører i produktive forhandlinger
- 2010
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The present study investigates the negotiations that take place in play among the youngest children in preschool. What are their negotiations about? How do they negotiate? What kinds of strategies do they use during their negotiations? The study has its focus on learning about fellowship through practice and experience in the negotiations that take place among the youngest preschool children. The study’s relevance also relates to the development of pedagogical practice among the youngest children in preschools. The theoretical platform is comprised of the perspectives of childhood psychology (Sommer, 2004) and childhood sociology (Corsaro, 2002). In both perspectives children are regarded as competent active in producing their own culture and active in calling on information and learning. The main concepts used in the analysis of the empirical data are ‘inter-subjectivity’ and ’the role of others’. The concepts are based on the theoretical frameworks of Daniel Stern (1991) and George Herbert Mead (1962). A group of twenty four children, thirteen girls and eleven boys, aged between two to three, were regularly video recorded. The children were enrolled in day-care groups in two of the biggest cities in Norway. The study reveals that the negotiations that take place among the children are mainly about their relationships, play materials, and the content of their play. They negotiate both verbally and nonverbally. They express their intentions towards each other with words and through gestures, glances, laughter and smiles. They use different strategies in their negotiations that relate to content and intentions. They also seem to develop or change their strategy if, for example, an initial strategy is not successful. Their strategies can be both emotional and connected to solving problems. In addition, they often use humour as a strategy. The study shows that the children who play the most with others and who know each other best, are those who are most successful in their negotiations. They often have a common focus and common intentions, as well as sharing emotional conditions in their play and negotiations. It seems that those children who are the most competent playmates are also those who are most competent in negotiations. The reason for this might be the connection between play and negotiations. To be able to play successfully demands that those sharing the play are prepared for negotiations about relations, play materials and the content of the play. However, the children’s negotiations depend on their previous experiences in this field. The more experienced the youngest children are in negotiations, the more complex and flexible their negotiations might be. A pedagogical consequence of this study is that staff in preschools should support the smallest children by giving them more time to meet and play together. This can give the children extended possibilities to develop their own strategies of negotiations in play. This in turn will support children’s learning in becoming creative, seeking and reflective individuals who create their own space of action. The experiences children are gaining through negotiations in play might also be important for other situations of negotiation, contributions and democratic practice.
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| 37. |
- Andishmand, Catarina, 1963
(author)
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Fritidshem eller servicehem? En etnografisk studie av fritidshem i tre socioekonomiskt skilda områden
- 2017
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In recent decades there has been decreased resources and larger groups of children in the leisure-time centres. Statistics show major differences between leisure-time centres in terms of staff education, group size, staffing levels and the number of children enrolled at each leisure-time centre. The overall aim of the thesis is to study social practices in leisure-time centres providing after-school care. Based on Anthony Giddens' theory of structuration, an ethnographic study was conducted of everyday life at leisure-time centres in three socio-economically diverse areas. Fieldwork was conducted at each leisure-time centre over the course of one semester. The study shows how children and adults talk about their neighbourhoods and schools. It also shows the actors notions about the mission of the leisure-time centres, expressed through the actors' talk and interactions, their day-to-day routines and everyday social encounters. In conclusion, the study shows that the geographic location, resources, staff skills, group sizes and children's socio-economic backgrounds together play major roles in the social practices and activities organised at the leisure-time centres. The social changes and developments of recent decades are noticeable in all leisure-time centres. Housing segregation along with freedom of school choice all had consequences for the leisure-time centres. For children attending the same leisure-time centres, the groups become increasingly homogeneous in line with the children's ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. The results also show that leisure-time centres with large groups of children have reduced opportunities to provide a good learning environment. It becomes evident that the social practices in the leisure-time centres reproduce the contextual conditions, and risk reproducing structural differences in children's lives.
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| 38. |
- Arvidsson, Elin
(author)
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Physiological responses to acute physical and psychosocial stress- relation to aerobic capacity and exercise training.
- 2019
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Exercise training is an effective method to promote health and to prevent development of disease. Both physical and mental health have been shown to benefit from exercise training. It has also been speculated that physical exercise might affect responses to acute psychosocial stress. In an acute stress situation, several physiological systems respond to ensure survival and it is suggested that exercise training may influence these stress systems. The main purpose of this thesis was to study physiological responses to acute physical and psychosocial stress and possible associations with aerobic capacity and exercise training. The thesis is based on four papers analysing data from a randomized controlled trial (RCT). The participants were healthy individuals who reported themselves as untrained at screening. The RCT included testing of acute physical and psychosocial stress. Before and after the tests, hormonal and autonomic responses were assessed. After initial testing, the participants were randomized to either an intervention- or a control group. The intervention consisted of regular aerobic exercise training conducted for six months. At follow-up, the same tests were repeated for both groups. The main findings were that most participants showed an increase in the studied variables in response to acute stress. Aerobic capacity did not seem to have any relation to hormonal or blood pressure responses to acute psychosocial stress. Neither did the subjective perception of stress at the psychosocial stress test correlate with the actual physiological response. Due to methodological issues, it was not possible to evaluate the effects of exercise training. Thus, in healthy individuals, the stress systems seem to respond adequately to acute stress, irrespective of level of aerobic capacity or type of stressor.
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| 39. |
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| 40. |
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