Fairness or Possibilities - Equal opportunities in Swedish sports
In this thesis I will study and analyze official policy documents from the Swedish Sports Confederation(RF). I will be performing a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) on these documents from a gender theory perspective, also influenced by queer theory. Sports remain one of the most gendered institutions in society. It is the purpose of this study to ascertain the way RF treats gender in its official policy documents. This is important because RF has a very powerful position within Swedish sports, in comparison to other countries, with the power to directly influence and coerce lower level sports organizations to adopt their philosophies. I find in my study that RF hold very naturalist views of gender, that are not in phase with current research being done in the area of gender constructions in sports. That RF is not accepting responsibility in constructing gender and adding to the sexualization of our public spaces. There is a great deal of work put into gender equality within RF, however this work is so far only being done on a very formal level focusing on fairness between groups rather than questioning the construction of these groups. I also try to provide ideas for how RF could try to weaken the strong gender structure of sports.
Political Analysis: A Critical Introduction
Conclusion the limits of political science and the ethics of political analysis --3 Beyond Structure versus Agency, Context versus Conduct -- What is - and what is not - at stake in the structure- agency debate? -- Conceptualising structure and agency -- Operationalising structure and agency: the rise of fascism in Germany in the 1930s -- Positions in the structure-agency debate -- The centrality of structure and agency to political explanation -- Beyond structure versus agency --4 Continuity and Discontinuity in the Analysis of Political Change -- Time for change? -- Analytical strategies for conceptualising change -- Time, timing and temporality -- Conclusion: structural, agential and ideational factors in the analysis of political change --5 Divided by a Common Language? -- Conceptualising Power -- The 'faces of power' controversy -- Power: analytical and critical perspectives -- Foucault and the 'microphysics of power' --6 The Discursive and the Ideational in Contemporary --^
Science fairs as learning tool for teaching excellence
Science fairs are usually considered to be a pedagogical and cultural activity that involves the students actively. Gifted students need challenges to further develop their skills while maintaining the motivation level. Science fairs may provide the informal environment that will request and allow these students of excellence to challenge themselves by developing a scientific research project. Despite being well known in different countries, in Portugal first steps are being made on the use and implementation of science fairs as effective pedagogical tool. In this work, we will present a 4 years study that was developed on a Portuguese school with the main goal of evaluating the advantages of this informal way of teaching. The study includes an analysis of the evolution of the students’ knowledge that have participated, or visited, the different science fairs. Some advices for the implementation of these projects will be given. The motivation of the students was monitored as well as the knowledge and skills effectively improved by this activity.