Projects

PhD - Projects

Since my retirement (January 2017), and according to the regulations of the VU University, I cannot attract new PhD-projects or supervision committments . The projects that I (co)supervised from 2000 until 2021) are listed below.

Finished PhD-projects (in alphabetical order)

Articles from each of these PhD-projects below can be found on www.bertvanoers.nl in the publication list, with the PhD-student as first author and B. van Oers as a co-author.

As supervisor (Theses defended at VU University):

PhD	Title Thesis	Domain
Bakker, Hans	Expansief leren van een schoolorganisatie. Een Activiteitstheoretisch model voor de basisschool. [Expansive learning in a school organisation. An Activity theory approach for primary schools]. Assen: van Gorcum, 2015 Second supervisor: Prof. S. Miedema	Innovation in school
Van Dijk, Ivanka	The learner as designer. Processes and effects of an experimental programme in modelling in primary mathematics education. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit, 2002. ISBN 90-9016079-5 Second supervisor: Prof J. Terwel	Mathematic education (schematising)
Hogenes, Michel	Creative music making. Music composition as social-cultural activity in the elementary classroom. The Hague: University of applied sciences/ Amsterdam: VU, 2016. ISBN 978-9073077-82-9. Second supervisor: prof. R. Diekstra	Music education
Poland, Marielle.	The treasures of schematizing. The effects of schematizing in early childhood on the learning processes and outcomes in later mathematical understanding. Amsterdam: VU University, 2007.. Second supervisor Prof. J. Terwel	Mathematics education (schematizing)
Rezende da Cunha Jr, Fernando	Online groups in secondary education. Communicating for changing educational practices . Amsterdam: VU University, 2017. ISBN 978-85-919876-4-1 Co-supervisors dr M. Kontopodis; dr C. van Kruistum.	Innovation in school

Van Schaik, Martijn	Co-constructing models as tools in vocational practice. Learning in a knowledge-rich environment . Zoetermeer: FreeMusketeers, 2010. ISBN 978-90-484-1585-4 Co-supervisor Prof. J. Terwel	Innovation in school
Snel, Mirjam	Development of beginning reading. A study in word recognition during the first primary school year. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit, 2014. ISBN 978-90-8928-085-5 Co-supervisors Prof. J. Terwel; prof. C. Aernoutse; dr W. van der Veld	Communicative competences
Tertoolen, Anja	Exploring young children’s voices. A study on the contents of children’s expressions related to school contexts. Amsterdam: VU University, 2017. ISBN 978-94-0280-607-6. Co-supervisors dr J. Geldens; dr H. Popeijus	Identity development
van der Veen, Chiel	Dialogic classroom talk in early childhood education. Amsterdam :VU University, 2017. ISBN 978-94-6299-679-3 Co-supervisors Prof. S. Michaels; dr C. van Kruistum	Communicative competence (dialogue)
De Vetten. A.	From sample to population. Pre-service primary school teachers learning informal statistical inference . Amsterdam: VU University, 2018. Co-supervisors Prof J. Schoonenboom; dr R. Keijzer	Mathematics education (Statistical reasoning)
van der Wilt, F.	Being rejected. The role of oral communicative competence. Amsterdam: VU University, 2018. ISBN 978-94-6375-078-3 Co-supervisors: dr C. van Kruistum; dr C. van der Veen	Communicative competence & social relations
Worthington, Maulfry	The emergence and development of young children’s personal mathematical inscriptions. The evolution of graphical signs explored through children’s spontaneous pretend play. Amsterdam: VU University, 2021. ISBN 978-94-6421-516-8 Co-supervisor: dr. M. Dobber	Mathematics education

As co-supervisor (Theses defended at other Dutch universities):

van Huizen, Peter	Becoming a teacher. Development of a professional identity by prospective teachers in the context of university-based teacher education. Utrecht : UU University, 2000 First supervisor: prof Th Wubbels; co-supervisor; prof. B. van Oers	Innovation in school
Lockhorst, Daan	Leerling en leraar in samenspraak. De betekenis van onderwijsdialogen voor de zelfstandigheidsontwikkeling van leerlingen in voortgezet onderwijs. [Pupil and teacher in dialogue. The relevance of educational dialogues for the development of self-dependence of secondary school students]. Antwerpen/Apeldoorn: Garant, 2003. ISBN90-441-1383-6 First supervisor Prof Th. Wubbels; co-supervisor prof B. van Oers	Communicative competence (dialogues)
Wierdsma, Menno	Recontextualising cellular respiration. Designing a learning-and-teaching strategy for developing biological concepts as flexible tools. Utrecht: Freudenthal Institute, 2012. ISBN 978-9070786-14-4 First supervisor: Prof K. Boersma. Second supervisor: Prof B. van Oers	Concept formation (biology)
Van Rijk, Yvonne.	Maximizing meaning. Reading informative texts in Developmental Education. Amsterdam; University of Amsterdam, 2017. ISBN978-94-028-0542-0 First supervisor Prof. M. Volma; second supervisor:Prof B. van Oers	Communicative competences
PhD-projects yet to be finished……
Nieuwmeijer, Christiane	Supervisors: Prof M. Meeter; co-supervisors: Prof B. van Oers, dr. N. Marshall	Music education
De Jong, Willemieke	Supervisors: Prof. G. Bertram-Troost; co-supervisors: prof B. van Oers; Prof S. Miedema	Identity development

Additional information of some of the listed projects

The development of mathematical notions in preschool children

Executor: Maulfry Worthington (MSc)

Supervision: Prof. Bert van Oers (VU University Amsterdam) & dr M. Dobber

This projects studies the process of how young preschool children (3 year olds) invent ways of communication about mathematical (quantitative) aspects of their situation (in the context of their play activities), and how the resulting notions evolve into more elaborated mathematical ones.

The methodology of the study is based on longitudinal multiple case-studies, and ethnographic descriptions of children’s utterances and activities.

The project outcomes will be reported in separate articles and will result in a dissertation, to be defended at the VU University Amsterdam.

Publications:

Worthington, M. & van Oers, B. ( In Press/ 2016). Pretend play and the cultural foundations of mathematics. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 24 (3),

Worthington, M. & van Oers, B. (2017). Children’s social literacies: Meaning making and the emergence of graphical signs and texts in pretence. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 17 (2), 147 - 175. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1468798415618534

Worthington, M., Dobber, M. & van Oers, B. (2019). The development of mathematical abstraction in the nursery. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 102 (1), 91 – 110. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-019-09898-3

Thesis defended in 2021.

M. Worthington, The emergence and development of young children's personal mathematical inscription. The evolution of graphical signs explored through spontaneous pretend play. Amsterdam: VU

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IN SARCH OF YOUNG CHILDREN'S VOICES

Executor: drs Anja Tertoolen
Supervision: Prof. Bert van Oers (VU University), dr Jeannette Geldens, dr Herman Popeijus (De Kempel Helmond)

Reform approaches to early childhood education start out from the assumption that good education should be developmentally appropriate and follow the unique child with its personal qualities. To what extent, however, can we maintain that the child can be said to be the unique owner of the voice expressed? Or is the child’s voice (partially) a reproduction of the voices of the child’s sociocultural background? If this latter is actually the case, following the unique child may then result in a (partial) reproduction of the child’s sociocultural culture.
In this project we try to establish to what extent a child’s expressed voice can indeed be considered a personal expression of the child itself. The project includes a theoretical interpretation of the concept of voice along Bachtinian lines, the construction of an assessment strategy for the analysis of a child’s voice and a comparative analysis of the child’s voice (regarding “school”) and the voices of the peers, parents, and teachers. The methodology is based on case-studies, qualitative ethnographic analyses of children’s utterances and activities.
The project will finish with a dissertation, to be defended at the VU University Amsterdam.

Publications:
Tertoolen, A., van Oers, B., Geldens, J., & Popeijus, H. (2012). Building a method for researching attribution of meaning by children aged 5 to 6 in school. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 20 1, 115 - 131.

Tertoolen, A., Geldens, J., van Oers, B., & Popeijus, H. (2015). Listening to Young Children’s Voices: The Evaluation of a Coding System. International Journal of Educational Psychology, 4(2), 113-141. doi: 10.17583/ijep.2015.1500.

Tertoolen, A., Geldens, J., van Oers, B., & Popeijus, H. (2017). Young Children about School: Whose Voices Do We Hear?.International Journal of Educational Psychology, 6(3), 250-277. doi:10.17583/ijep.2017.2665

Tertoolen, A., van Oers, B., Geldens, J., & Popeijus, H. (2016). Exploring the content of young children’s multidimensional voice related to school contexts. Research and reviews: Journal of educational studies, (2), 1, 6 – 17.

PROJECT FINISHED WITH DISERTATION:

Tertoolen, A.. (2017). Exploring young children voices. A study on the content of youbg children's expressions related to school contexts. Amsterdam: VU University. ISBN978-94-0280 607 6.

THE EFFECTS OF PROMOTING MUSIC-MAKING ON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

Executor: Michel Hogenes (MA)
Supervision: Prof. Bert van Oers (VU University), prof. René Diekstra (Haagse Hogeschool, Den Haag)

In this project we investigate the effects of the actual involvement of children in musical improvisation and composition activities on their development in the domains of musical development, cognitive development (including intelligence and reading), and social development. The study includes a literature review of research on the effects of music on children’s functioning, a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest control group design, and a N=1 longitudinal case study.
The project outcomes will be reported in separate articles and will result in a dissertation, to be defended at the VU University Amsterdam.

Publications:
Hogenes, M., van Oers, B., & Diekstra, R. (In Press/2016). The effects of music composition as a classroom activity on engagement in music education and academic and music achievement: A quasi-experimental study. International Journal of Music Education: Research,
Hogenes, M., van Oers,B., & Diekstra, R. (2014). The child as composer. The US China Education Review,4(3), 149 – 162.
Hogenes, M. , van Oers, B., & Diekstra, R. (2014). The impact of music on child functioning. The European Journal of Social & Behavioural Sciences. http://dx.doi.org/10.15405/ejsbs.135 .
Hogenes, M., van Oers, B., Diekstra, R. & Sklad, M. (2015). The effects of music composition as a classroom activity on engagement in music education and academic and music achievement: A quasi-experimental study. International Journal of Music Education: Research and Practice, 33(3), 1 - 17 DOI: 10.1177/0255761415584296

PROJECT FINISHED WITH DISSERTATION:

Hogenes, M. (2016). Creative music making. Music composition as sociocultural activity in the elementary classroom. The Hague: University of applied sciences/ VU Amsterdam. ISBN978-90-73077-82-9

Schematizing and early mathematical thinking.

Executor: drs Mariëlle Poland

Supervision: prof. Bert van Oers, prof Jan Terwel (VU University Amsterdam)

This project started in 2002 and ended in 2007. It was funded by the Dutch Foundation for Scientific Research (NWO, see www.nwo.nl ).

The main objective of the research project is to investigate the role of schematising by young children for the development of their mathematical thinking. The research is a follow-up on the studies of B van Oers regarding young children’s schematising (see van Oers, 1994; 1996; 2001).

It is a longitudinal study at six schools with 132 pupils. The study is based on a quasi-experimental Pre-test – post-test design with experimental and control groups.

During the first year of the study children in the experimental group (grade 2 of Dutch primary school, age 5-6) were engaged in different schematising activities in the context of their everyday play. The schemes consisted of static schemes (like maps, construction drawings), and dynamic types (like translations, transformations using arrows and other symbols that signify change).

In the second year the pupils were studied in their mathematics lessons (grade three, ages 6-7), both with regard to their abilities of appropriating mathematical operations, mathematical symbols, number concept, and to the processes of mathematics learning.

Our expectation is that pupils from the experimental group with much experience and practice in the use of dynamic scheme will outperform the pupils from the control groups on mathematical operations, number concept, symbolising.

The data our currently under analysis. PhD dissertation is succesfully defended 11 October 2007:

M. Poland (2007). The Treasures of schematising. Dissertation Amsterdam: VU. .

See also:

Poland, M. & van Oers, B. (2007). Effects of schematising on mathematical development. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 15, 2 , 269 – 293. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/13502930701321600

Dijk, E.F., van Oers, B., & Terwel, J. (2004).Schematising in early mathematics education. Why, when and how? European Early Childhood Educations Research Journal , vol.12, nr 3, 71 – 83.

Developmental Education school as learning organisations

Executor: drs Hans Bakker

Supervision: Prof Bert van Oers , Prof. Siebren Miedema (VU University Amsterdam)

Developmental Education (in Dutch: Ontwikkelingsgericht Onderwijs) is an educational concept based on Vygotskij’s Cultural-Historical Theory. The concept is applied in an increasing number of schools in the Netherlands since the late1980s. One of the basic tenets in the concept is that promoting optimal identity development in children, necessarily implies improving the circumstances for learning and development for both pupils and teachers. Hence the schools should be involved in permanent processes of institutional optimalisation and professionalization. In other words: Developmental Education schools finally have to evolve into learning organisations themselves.

This project provides an analysis of the concept of ‘Learning Organisation’ from the perspectives of the Cultural-historical Activity Theory and the related theory of Developmental Education: What are the essential requirements for Developmental Education schools in order to be genuine learning organisations. Some of the identified requirements will be illustrated with data drawn for case-studies in Developmental Education schools.

The methodology of the research is based on a combination of conceptual analysis and theory-driven case-studies.

The project outcomes will be reported in separate articles and will result in a dissertation, to be defended at the VU University Amsterdam (2012). Dissertation project is finished in 2015.

Publications:

Bakker, H. (2012). Developmental education schools as learning organisations . In B. van Oers (ed.). Developmental Education for young children. Concept, practice, and implementation (Ch 16). Berlin/New York: Springer.

FINISHED WITH DISSERTATION: Bakker, H. (2015). Expansief leren van een schoolorganisatie (Dissertation). Assen: van Gorcum.

Non-Phd-project:

Differentiation strategies of teachers working with at-risk pupils
Executors: drs Isabel Peters, prof Bert van Oers (VU University Amsterdam)
Starting point of the research is the supposition that teachers enter into goal-oriented interactions with their pupils in the classroom in order to move pupils closer to the desired learning goals. These goal-oriented interactions are one kind of the teachers’ educational means to realise their teaching effectively and in a personal way, and to realise differentiated interactions with the pupils in their classrooms. This research aims at getting a deeper understanding in the ways teachers tailor their interactions to the needs of the pupils, especially with regard to the pupils they consider to be ‘at- risk’. The research is carried out as a series of case studies of teachers in grade 3 and 4 (in the Dutch education system about 6 – 7 year olds). The continuity of learning trajectories in the domains of language and maths is included as a special focus.
The research is financed by the Dutch Platform WSNS+ and is related to a Project ‘Action Oriented Diagnostics’ of the Catholic Pedagogical Centre (supervised by drs Yvonne Leenders). This centre currently also carries out pilot studies for the implementation of this Action oriented didactical strategy.
The first intermediate report of this project was presented in August 2006.
Project is finished by December 2007.
See: Peters, I. & van Oers, B. (2007). Teachers’ action strategies in goal-oriented interactions with young children at-risk.European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, vol. 15, 1, 121 – 136. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13502930601161916

PhD - Projects

Since January 2015

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