Allt fler barn upplever skolmatematiken som ett svårt ämne, något som väcker tankar och reflektioner. Jag utgår från att det är viktigt att redan i förskolan förbereda ett arbetssätt så att barnens förståelse för matematik utvidgas. Syftet med min studie är att lyfta fram förskollärarens roll i arbetet med matematiken i förskolan. Jag har all anledning till att utgå från begreppen språk, material och miljö för att få vetskap om förskollärarens roll. Jag anser att dessa begrepp är så sammanhängande med varandra och tillsammans utgör grunden för allt lärande. Studien är kvalitativ och består huvudsakligen av observationer som metod.  Resultatet i undersökningen visar att förskollärarna i vardagen sätter ord på matematiska begrepp.  Genom material såsom dataspel, manuella spel, böcker, byggklossar, pärlplatta och även olika Montessorimaterial förbereder förskollärarna en stimulerande pedagogisk miljö för barnens matematikinlärning. Med hjälp av observationer följer förskollärarna barnen för att därmed utifrån barnens intresse och nyfikenhet arbeta vidare med barnens matematiska förståelse. / More and more children experience school mathematics as a difficult subject which arouses thoughts and reflections. I think it is important to pre-school to prepare an approach so that children's understanding of mathematics can extend.  The purpose of my study is to highlight the pre-school teacher's role in the process of mathematics in pre-school. I have every reason to be based on the concepts of language, materials and environment to have the knowledge of pre-school teacher's role. I believe that these concepts are so connected with each other and together form the basis for all learning. The study is qualitative and consists mainly of observations as method. The results of the study show that pre-school teachers usually in everyday life put words on mathematical concepts. Through materials such as computer games, manual games, books, building blocks, pearl-plates and also various Montessori materials pre-school teachers prepare a stimulating educational environment for children's mathematical learning. By using the observations of the children pre-school teachers, thus based on the children's interest and curiosity, help children to make progress in mathematical understanding. Läs fonetiskt   Ordbok

Møter mellom natt og dag (Meetings between night and day) was my Professional Integration Project (PIP). It was a musical collaborative performance implemented in three kindergartens in the municipality of Fjell, outside of Bergen on the west coast of Norway, between March 17th and March 19th 2015. The target audience for the performance was children aged three years and under. The performance consisted of 10 folk songs from the countries of Norway, Sweden and Malawi. In addition I employed voice improvisation accompanied by small instruments such as djembe, an mbira, a glockenspiel and a rain stick. The performance integrated a visual presentation of pictures taken by photographer Ingvild Festervoll Melien. In the findings I present my relation to the audience, the roles of the adults in the kindergarten, the difference between being a musician and not a teacher in the audience setting, my aspects of time and digital media, how participation and interaction were integrated in the performance, and how the collaboration with photographer Melien functioned, as well as describe my own development in regards to new acquired skills and experiences. The findings are presented through my own reflection, and through discussions where I point to literature concerning perspectives on children and arts. My conclusion shows that I have managed to create a successful musical collaboration performance in terms of developing my own artistry and engaging with the target audience of children between 0-3 years, in a performance especially created and designed for them. It also points to ways for how I can continue developing as an artist making performance for small children, and how these aspects also are transferable to other areas for musical performance. / <p>Bilaga: 1 DVD. The artistic practice and performances are documented on a DVD called Professional Integration Project NAIP, <em>Meetings between night and day.</em></p>

This dissertation examines childhood, education, and designed environments as interrelated concerns. It explores the ways in which, in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Europe, gardens and architecture were understood as important instruments in pedagogical theory and practice, often being deployed as primary instruments in the education of young children. In order to establish the primacy of these spaces in the pedagogical imagination of this period, the study interrogates texts and images produced in France and Germany between 1761 and 1850. The analysis develops through a series of case studies that are connected historically, beginning with Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse (1761) and Émile, ou de l’éducation (1762), two works that established some of the issues and concerns that were later adopted by progressive educators in Germany. The study then turns to the work of Johann Bernhard Basedow, Christian Heinrich Wolke, and other German pedagogues associated with the Philanthropinum, an experimental school founded in Dessau in 1774. A discussion of the historical context brings to light their reinvention of the garden as a space for physical training; their use of pictures, architectural models, and scientific instruments in the development of the child’s powers of observation; and their activation of architecture as a cognitive filter for the perception of the world. The study concludes with a discussion of a paradigmatic garden for early childhood education, Friedrich Froebel’s Kindergarten, as it was theoretically formulated and visually represented in 1850. Rather than investigating actual gardens or spaces, the research concentrates on the ways in which these settings were imagined, described, and represented in pedagogical texts. The methodology through which these narratives and representations are approached deliberately aims to bring into focus an understudied aspect of the material culture of childhood by expanding the context of analysis of distinct disciplinary histories. By bringing together various field-specific studies—the intellectual history of modern Europe and the histories of landscape, of education, and of childhood—this dissertation uncovers the ways in which educators in this period conceived of the performative power of space.

This collective case study examined the factors affecting the collaborative relationship between teachers and early childhood educators (ECEs) teaching together in elementary schools as Early Learning Teams in the first year of implementation of full-time kindergarten in Ontario. There are six major adjustments required concurrently by the Ontario government’s new policy in all kindergarten classrooms: team-teaching (sharing instruction, not just classroom management); supporting ECEs as new staff; changing from theme-based to inquiry-based; balancing the School District’s literacy goals with provincial play-based curriculum; double the instructional time, and the increased number of children in the classroom (up from 19 to 24-30). Two of the four classrooms studied in a rural Ontario school district were full-day, every day kindergartens (FDK) for 4 and 5 year olds and the other two were alternate full-days. Data were collected through classroom observations and interviews with principals, kindergarten teachers and ECEs. Case study theory guided the collection and analysis of data with open coding of transcripts, active code notes and memos to help answer the question of how to best implement FDK programs in Ontario. Results indicated that the FDK Team relationship itself enabled and constrained classroom instructional strategies, which would in turn have an impact on student outcomes. Collaborative practice involved a process that was affected by both internal factors (such as teacher foreknowledge of ECE skills), and thirteen external factors which arose from government and school district mandates, as well as practices of the school principal. Examples are: planning time, pay differential, hiring practices and adjusting to the new curriculum at the same time as the team adjusts to team teaching. The collaboration of more than 9,500 teacher and ECE teams is key to the success of Ontario’s new full-time early learning program. The education sector needs to adopt the long-established business practice of supporting team development through recognizing progressive teaming stages, such as those identified by Tuckman (1965). Recommendations are made for principals, school districts offices, government policy, FDK teachers, ECEs, and colleges that provide ECE training. A mnemonic for the four attributes evident in high-functioning collaborative integrated teaching teams (RISE) is proposed.

Undersökningen har genomförts i en förskola och en förskoleklass där totalt tjugo barn har deltagit. Den syftar till att undersöka hur kunskapen skiljer sig mellan fyraåringar och sexåringar. Kvalitativa intervjuer och löpande observationer användes som metod för att ta reda på uppfattningar om människokroppens inre organ samt vad barnen anser händer med maten som vi äter. I undersökningen användes en plastmodell av en kropp som barnen både fick peka på och säga organens namn. Resultatet visar att sexåringar generellt har bättre uppfattning när det gäller organens namn och vad organen gör i vår kropp. Däremot har båda åldersgrupperna en likvärdig uppfattning när det gäller att peka ut organ och benämna det rätt. Sexåringarna var också bättre på vad de anser händer med maten vi äter i jämförelse med fyraåringarna. Det tycks vara åldern hos barnen som påverkar vad barnen kan i störst utsträckning, där personliga erfarenheter tycks spela in vid enstaka tillfällen. / This study was conducted in a kindergarten and a preschool where a total of twenty children have attended. It aims to investigate how knowledge differs between four-year and six-year-old children. Qualitative interviews and current observations were used as methods to find out the perceptions of the human body's internal organs, as well as what the children think happens to the food we eat. The study used a plastic model of a body that the children both got the chance to point at as well as name the organs. The results show that six year olds generally have better perceptions of the organs name and what they are doing in our body. However, both age groups had a similar view when it comes to point out an organ and name it correctly. Six year olds were also better at what they think happens to the food we eat compared to four year olds. It seems to be the age of the children that have the biggest affects on their knowledge, but it can also be their experiences that are the main factor in a few cases.

Contemporary education does not leave students with all of the necessary skills to navigate the increased complexity of the shrinking globe. The loss of practical skills for sensitive engagement with the built and natural environment is a root cause of sustainability issues. Sustainable environmental systems education informed by the principles of forest kindergarten and Katie Davis’ Six Strategies for Environmental Learning are focused on embodied experience, teaching intellectual as well as ethical and emotional lessons leaving learners with the practical skills that they need to engage with holistic environmental systems. Natural systems sustain themselves in the way that designed systems also should. "The natural consumption cycle is a closed loop system where the waste of one is consumable of another." (9 Orr, 2004) Interior space fights the inevitable decay that is part of a natural life cycle, overlooking long-term life cycle implications. The sustainable systems and process of the built environment can be informed by the closed loop system of natural consumption. Design can remind humans of their role in the ecosystem. This closed loop system can also inform the evaluation of materials and furniture and the reuse of materials that might otherwise have been overlooked, resulting in the use, and production, of less new materials. This project explores the typology of Forest Kindergarten within the interior environment using a framework informed by concepts of nature inspired design, systems inspired design and material inspired design in order to challenge expectations of contemporary education and the built environment in order to leave users with new expectations of their role in the natural ecosystem.

Empirical research on parents’ decision making process and parents’ actual criteria when considering preschool is critical when considering its relationship to early educational experiences and subsequent outcomes for children. Research has consistently demonstrated that the type and quality of preschool program children attend has implications for future academic success. A review of past research suggests parents often have difficulty assessing quality and include a wide range of considerations that include both practical and educational features of care. The current study utilized a transactional ecological framework to examine parent considerations and related family, child and cultural factors. A series of focus groups and interviews were conducted with parents to identify parent considerations and inform creation of a survey measure designed to assess these considerations. Surveys were then completed by 203 parents from varying socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds who had a child that qualified for state-funded preschool the following year. Parents were recruited from 20 centers including Head Start programs, private-for profit programs, religiously affiliated programs and one YMCA center. Exploratory factor analysis identified two highly correlated categories of considerations: 1) characteristics that designate several types of quality indicators and 2) characteristics that designate a program’s practical features. A series of hierarchical regressions indicated a combination of cultural, family and child factors are important when assessing parents’ considerations for pre-kindergarten. In particular, socioeconomic status, parents’ beliefs about childrearing and involvement and children’s prosocial skills and family structure were uniquely related to parental endorsement of quality and practical considerations. These findings have important implications for policymakers and practitioners.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of short-term Hands-On, Minds-On science process skills on the acquisition of general readiness to learn by kindergarten children.Three null hypotheses were formulated to examine differences between the scores of an experimental group of kindergarten children who had engaged in Hands-On, Minds-On science process investigation and a control group of kindergarten children who had not engaged in such investigation. The students engaged in approximately eight hours of science process investigation. Differences due to sex were examined in Hypothesis II. Differences which may be attributed to student ability as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test were examined in Hypothesis III.A fourth factor, class effect was also examined.The research utilized a modified Posttest-Only Control Group design. The posttest was the California Achievement Test, Level 10, Form E.The participants for the study were 86 kindergarten students from four intact classes. The control group was comprised of 47 students and the experimental group a total of 39 students. These students attended a small rural school corporation with a enrollment of approximately 1,240 students.The use of the Wilk's Lambda Multivariate Tests of Significance yielded the following information at the .05 level of significance:No significant difference was found between children who had or had not engaged in Hands-On, Minds-On science process instruction. The significance of F between the two groups was .106.No significant difference was found based on sex differences of the students who participated in this study. The significance of F between males and females was .917.A significant difference was found between high and low ability students who participated in this study. The significance of F to three places, between the two groups was .000.A four-way univariate analysis of variance analogous to the multivariate analysis was performed on each component of the vector (Visual Recognition, Sound Recognition, Reading Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Language Expression, and Mathematics) and tested at the .05 level of significance. The results indicated that each component of the vector was significant at the .05 level with the independent variable ability.Based on the researcher's findings recommendations for further research were made. Two of the most promising were increased science time for student participation and development of a test which measures a broader spectrum of the curriculum, including science. / Department of Elementary Education

The purpose of the study was to investigate the construct and criterion validity of a shortened form of the Total Individual Progress Level I Pre-kindergarten Screen (TIP-SF). The subjects for the analysis of construct validity were 342 students from a rural and suburban school district in east-central Indiana who were administered the TIP-SF prior to kindergarten entrance during the years 1985 and 1986. The subjects for the analysis of criterion validity were a subset of 153 students who were administered the TIP and TIP-SF prior to kindergarten entrance in 1985, and were subsequently administered the PMARP prior to their first grade year in 1986.Principal components analysis with varimax rotation was conducted to evaluate the underlying constructs of TIP-SF. From the 28 items entered as variables, 10 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.00 emerged. One-, two-, three-, four-, and five-factor solutions were successively imposed and evaluated. The solution containing four factors,Scholastic Aptitude, Motor, Eye/Hand Coordination, and Communication, was selected as the "best" solution. The obtained factors were similar in number, but dissimilar in nature to the pre-established subscales.Simple and step-wise multiple regression and canonical correlation analyses were used to evaluate the relative ability of scores obtained from TIP and TIP-SF to predict performance on Primary Mental Abilities Readiness Profile (PMARP) subtests. In each of the four canonical analyses, one significant and meaningful correlation between the sets of predictor and criterion variables was obtained. Step-wise multiple regression analyses were used to determine more specifically the predictive ability of TIP and TIP-SF factors and pre-established subscales. Zero-order correlations were computed between the TIP and TIP-SF total scores and the PMARP subscales.Overall, the results of these analyses indicate that the use of the TIP total score provides the best prediction of PMARP subscales. While the TIP-SF total score reliability is comparable to that for the TIP total score, it was not generally as highly related to the PMARP subscale scores. The linear composites of the TIP and TIP-SF factor scores and TIP pre-established subscale scores were approximately equivalent to one another for the prediction of PMARP scores.

This research study focused on early childhood education programs that were implemented by public school districts in Indiana. The research questions addressed in this study were as follows: 1. What benefits related to student achievement does an investment of financial and human resources in preschool and/or full-day kindergarten programs show for students and for a school district? 2. What means of funding do school districts utilize to implement an early childhood education program? 3. What characteristics do successful early childhood programs possess, as determined by school district administrators? The online survey, which was utilized to collect this data, was developed by the researcher. This survey was distributed to public school superintendents of 164 small and mid-sized school corporations in Indiana, of which 43 were small school corporations (0 to 1,000 students) and 121 were mid-sized school corporations (1,001 to 5,000 students). Of the total sample of 164 school districts, 48 surveys were returned, which resulted in a 29.3% response rate. The data collected in this study showed the following results: 1. Students in the preschool programs showed increased acquisition of socialization skills and improved motivation in school. 2. School districts utilized a combination of federal funds, state funds, and federal grants to support their preschool programs. 3. The preschool programs were designed to incorporate the best practice characteristics of a curriculum based on the state early learning standards. The programs also were staffed with teachers who have four-year college degrees and have small class sizes of 20 students, with a staff-to-child ratio of ten students per adult (10:1). These school districts could serve as a model for other school districts that are planning to implement a preschool program through a review of their experiences in designing the program, staffing the program, funding the program, and supporting the academics in the program. / Department of Educational Leadership