A few weeks before the Swedish election in September 2018, a young girl named Greta Thunberg decidedto leave school every Friday and instead sit outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm to raise awarenessabout the climate. This “school strike for climate” has since then developed to be a world-wide phenomenonand on the 15th of March more than 1.4 million youngsters participated in more than 100 countries.However, these actions have been subject of lots of debate in media; Greta being both cherished andcriticized. Framed within the questions about what motivates the political participation and in what way theschool takes a stand, this thesis aims to analyze “school strike for climate” in relation to the role of bothknowledge and fostering in the Swedish school. Through theories of street-level bureaucracy and politicalparticipation, accompanied by Carol Bacchis discourse perspective what´s the problem represented to be the studyexamines 32 Swedish newspaper articles. The result is a variety of problem representations, getting legitimized through law or moral, but also through a representation which hold both school and the pupils responsible for result in school. One of thedevelopments in the discourse is that during time and enlarging of the political activism, the youngster’sactions more and more is characterized as political participation than of an individual choice. This alsomeans that schools have to take a stand up on an organizational level, where many principals refer to schoolattendance and the law. When political activism is legislated through the curriculum it seems to be adidactical choice by the teachers, whom within their free space as professional street-level bureaucrats mayhave varying opportunities to use the theme within their teaching. Over all, the discourse focus more uponthe climate than democratic ideals, which suggests an unused potential of “school strike for climate” incivic´s education.

The curriculum for civics studies presents the three disciplines political science, political economy and sociology as the three pillar-stones for civics studies. Previous research shows that political science and political economy are the most prominent disciplines and therefore the sociology are at risk to be neglected in civics studies education. In a world where we struggle with many social issues and where the globalisation and digitizing gives us new challenges which we are unfamiliar with, it may be more important than ever that we are provided with tools that can help us understand ourselves and other people around us. The sociological discipline may work as a tool in civics studies to help promote this understanding. The purpose with this study is to investigate what perception of the sociological discipline teachers in civics studies has and how they say that they implement the sociology in their own civics studies education. To reach this purpose five interviews were made with civics studies teachers in upper secondary school. The material from these interviews were then analysed in relation to classical sociological theories in an attempt to compare these to the teacher’s perception of the sociological discipline. Some conclusions that can be drawn from this study is that there’s a rather big variety between the teachers when it comes to their perception of the sociological discipline. Furthermore the teacher’s answers regarding sociology were rather diffuse which can be interpreted as the result of a lack of knowledge regarding the sociological discipline. The answers that involved sociology with concrete examples of the relation and influence between individuals and social structures shows most resemblance to the classical sociological theories. These perspectives are only present in three of the five teacher’s perceptions and only in limited parts of the interviews. The vagueness in curriculum for civics studies along with the tradition to favour political science and political economy is pointed out as explanations to why there’s such a variety and vagueness in the perceptions of the sociological discipline in civics studies. / I styrdokumenten för samhällskunskapsämnet presenteras de tre disciplinerna statsvetenskap, nationalekonomi och sociologi som ämnets främsta utgångspunkter. Tidigare forskning visar på att statsvetenskap och nationalekonomi är de discipliner som prioriteras högst och den sociologiska disciplinen riskerar därför att hamna i skymundan i samhällskunskapsundervisningen. I en värld där vi brottas med många samhällsproblem och där globaliseringen och digitaliseringen ger oss nya utmaningar som vi inte varit med om tidigare kan det vara viktigare än någonsin att vi får redskap för att lära oss förstå oss själva och våra medmänniskor. Den sociologiska disciplinen kan fungera som ett verktyg i samhällskunskapsundervisningen för att främja denna förståelse hos våra elever. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilken uppfattning samhällskunskapslärare på gymnasiet har om den sociologiska disciplinen i samhällskunskapsundervisningen samt hur de beskriver att de arbetar med den sociologiska disciplinen i sin egen undervisning. För att nå detta syfte genomfördes fem kvalitativa intervjuer med samhällskunskapslärare på gymnasiet. Empirin från dessa intervjuer relaterades sedan till klassiska sociologiska teorier för att undersöka om lärarnas uppfattning om och beskrivning av arbetet med den sociologiska disciplinen överensstämmer med de klassiska sociologiska teorierna samt om, och på vilka sätt, lärarnas svar skiljer sig från dessa. Några slutsatser som kan dras är att det finns en relativt stor variation i lärarnas uppfattningar om och beskrivning av arbetet med den sociologiska disciplinen. Ytterligare en slutsats som kan dras är att lärarnas svar över lag är relativt diffusa vilket skulle kunna tolkas som att det saknas kunskaper kring vad den sociologiska disciplinen faktiskt innebär. De uttalanden som handlar om sociologi utifrån konkreta exempel på samspelet och påverkansfaktorerna mellan individ och samhälle ligger närmast de klassiska sociologiska teorierna. Dessa resonemang finns dock endast hos tre av de fem respondenterna och endast i vissa uttalanden. Styrdokumentens öppna formuleringar kring den sociologiska disciplinen i kombination med en ämnestradition som premierat disciplinerna statsvetenskap och nationalekonomi framför den sociologiska disciplinen pekas ut som förklaringar till de diffusa och varierande uppfattningar som finns gällande den sociologiska disciplinen i samhällskunskapsundervisningen.

The purpose of this study has been to investigate how the activity with causal linking words may contribute to developing pupils' oral reasoning skills in small groups. The empirical data has been collected through two qualitative research methods: open but passive observations and group interviews. The result has been analysed based on the presented theories and previous research. To investigate this purpose, two questions were formulated:  How can working with causal terms in combination with small group discussions help to develop pupils' oral reasoning skill? What is the significance of the interaction between the pupils for the way they work?  The activity used in the intervention, where the pupils had to put sentences together by placing concept cards and arrows, takes off in relevant previous research and the concept of collaborative support.  The result of the study indicates that the pupils feel that their causal reasoning is positively affected, by using linking words to develop their reasoning in small groups. However, there is still a need for pupils to learn about the meaning of linking words, and how to use them in the correct context.

The aim of this postgraduate dissertation, entitled Depiction of Existentially Tense Life Situations in Selected Works of Children's and Youth Literature and Their Didactic Analysis, is to draw attention to two books for children and youth containing subject matter of a very delicate variety (domestic violence and parents' death) and to point out the possibility of using these literary works in literature or civics class. The first part of the dissertation is devoted to domestic violence and its portrayal in The Book of Everything. The second part deals with the death of a loved one and how it is portrayed in the book A Monster Calls. Chapters are further divided into several subchapters. In the first subchapter, the literature on the topic is reviewed. In the second one, the manifestations of the respective issues in the books are discussed, followed by a subchapter consisting of character analysis. Each final subchapter deals with the didactic potential of the selected extract. The product of the dissertation are two annotated handouts, as well as a summary of my experience with their realization in an elementary school setting. KEYWORDS children, death, domestic violence, hero, analysis, literature, civics

Uppsatsen avser att undersöka hur läroböcker förbereder ungdomar för de samhällsutmaningar som finns. Med samhällsutmaningar menas den ökade mängd information och informationsflöde som finns i samhället. Det ska undersökas genom att studera hur läroböcker i samhällskunskap på gymnasienivå framställer kritiskt tänkande. Den forskning som finns sedan tidigare är begränsad och den som finns visar att det finns skillnader i läroböckerna, men inte hur skillnaderna tar sig uttryck i praktiken. Denna uppsats ska därför undersöka kritiskt tänkande i läroböcker med utgångspunkt i att fylla den kunskapsluckan. För att göra det har tre forskningsfrågor formulerats och som ska besvaras. För att besvara de formulerade forskningsfrågorna har en kvalitativ innehållsanalys valts som metod. Den analysen kommer att genomföras på fyra läroböcker, utvalda enligt ett målstyrt urval. Analysen av böckerna kommer att ske genom att först koda materialet till små koder. Därefter kommer koderna att sättas samman till olika teman som besvarar forskningsfrågorna. Resultatet av analysen visar att läroböckerna framställer kritisk tänkande som dolt lärande. Det innebär att läroböckerna inte framställer kritiskt tänkande explicit, utan att det sker som en konsekvens av andra delar i läroböckerna. Ett annat resultat är att de typer av uppgifter som läroböckerna erbjuder eleverna är kunskaper i kritiskt tänkande. Det vill säga att eleverna får träna på att jämföra, granska och utvärdera, även om det inte är uttalat kritiskt tänkande. Kunskaper om kritiskt tänkande är en andra typ av innehåll som framkommer eftersom eleverna lär sig om behovet av att källkritiskt granska och varför det behövs i dagens samhälle. En tredje typ av innehåll är praktiska uppgifter. Eleverna ges möjlighet att kontinuerligt öva på detta i med praktiska inslag. Praktiska inslag som förekommer är debatter, uppgifter och diskussioner som alla innehåller inslag som utvecklar kritiskt tänkande. Det sista resultat som framkom i analysen var angående skillnaderna mellan studieförberedande och yrkesförberedande program angående kritiskt tänkande var att studieförberedande är mer fördjupande i uppgifterna. Läroböckerna efterfrågar mer analytiska frågor och diskussioner, medan böckerna för yrkesförberedande elever var grundläggande och efterfrågade mer vad och vem, istället för analytiska frågor. / The study aims to investigate how textbooks prepare young people for the societal challenges that exist. Here, societal challenges are meant by increased amount of information and information flow that exists in society. It should be investigated by studying how textbooks in civics, directed at pupils in upper secondary school, present critical thinking. The research that already exists is limited and the existing one shows that there are differences in the textbooks, but not how the differences are expressed in practice. This essay will therefore examine critical thinking in textbooks based on filling that knowledge gap. To do this, three research questions have been formulated and answered. To answer the formulated research questions, a qualitative content analysis has been chosen as the method. That analysis will be made on four textbooks, selected according to a goal-oriented sample. The analysis of the books will be done by first coding the material into small codes. The codes will then be put together into different themes that answer the research questions. The results of the analysis show that the textbooks present critical thinking as hidden learning. This means that the textbooks do not present critical thinking explicitly, but that it takes place as a consequence of other parts of the textbooks. Another result is that the content that the textbooks offer students is knowledge in critical thinking. That is, students are given opportunities to practice comparing, reviewing and evaluating, even if it is not explicitly critical thinking. Knowledge of critical thinking is a second type of content that emerges as students learn about the need to critically review sources and why it is needed in today's society. A third type of content is practical tasks, the pupils are given the opportunity to continuously practice this in practical tasks. Practical elements that occur are debates, tasks and discussions, all of which contain elements that develop critical thinking. The last result that emerged in the analysis was about the differences between study preparation and vocational preparation programs regarding critical thinking. The analysis showed that study preparation is more in- depth in the tasks. The textbooks call for more analytical questions and discussions, while the books for vocational students were more basic requesting questions asking for what and who instead of analytical questions.

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This project degree essay aims to analyze the ways textbooks made for the Swedish upper secondary school course samhällskunskap 1b [Social studies, 1b] describe the Swedish concept of källkritik [source criticism and information evaluation]. The essay uses theories formulated by prominent Swedish authors on the subject – as well as the National Agency for Education’s (Skolverket) guidelines – to perform a content analysis on textbooks produced by the biggest teaching material producers in Sweden. Furthermore, the study performs a general thematic content analysis of what kinds of source criticism the different textbooks use and how well they align with the theoretical framework. Finally, a report by the Schools Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen) is used to define four areas of development that the textbooks should be working with. The results of this study show that the textbooks vary in their descriptions of source criticism in terms of both their complexity and what core ideas are attributed to the concept. Three of the five textbooks show tendencies towards the most basic kinds of source criticism, while only one of the five show signs of the most complex kinds of source criticism. Overall, the textbooks often use a loosely defined version of source criticism and lack adaptation to the digitalization that the Swedish society is currently experiencing. Four of the five analyzed textbooks need to modernize their perspective on source criticism. All the textbooks are lacking in terms of preparing students for critically analyzing the information they meet in their daily digital lives.

In the context of Swedish students' difficulties to separate facts from opinions, we wanted to investigate why digital literacy, and especially source credibility, is important and how teachers in civics and the social sciences can teach students these skills. Studies show that upper secondary school students often turn to online sources when searching for information, rather than turning to traditional media. This is not a problem in itself, however, what is worrying is that the increasing spread of disinformation in combination with the lack of methods to verify true information adventures students' formation of opinions. In a society where young people consume more and more digital media this is truly alarming for future citizens and democracy. Therefore, in this literature review based on previous research, we give multiple reasons for why digital literacy, and especially source credibility, is important. But how should civics teachers teach digital literacy? This text also gives the tools by presenting four principles for guidance when planning classes where digital literacy will be taught. Furthermore, we present the idea of digital literacy as an active act and we also talk about the importance of examining each source from more than one perspective. Disciplinary literacy and the necessity of the teacher’s role as a disciplinary expert is also discussed in this paper. We then present and stress the importance of the three types of misinformation and give a few suggestions on how to use them. The next finding in our search for how to teach digital literacy to students is the benefits of working in a group of peers. Our take from this is that, in order to get out of your own “echo chamber”, group work can bring a set of different backgrounds, opinions and knowledge to the table when trying to make sense of everything the internet has to offer, good and bad.

This Master thesis focuses on connecting school subjects to overcome the isolation of information that students obtain through them. First of all, the thesis describes the different forms of school subject integration and lists the positive outcomes to which this integration leads, as well as the reasons why any form of interdisciplinarity concerning school subjects could be demanding. While any sort of integration could be challenging because of the timetables or the teachers' workload, it is beneficial. The students can realize the connections between information that they acquire, and this leads to better retention of the knowledge. Plus, they feel more motivated because they can use facts from one subject in another one. Then, the main goal of this thesis is presented - to search for cross-curricular links between French language as a foreign language and Basics of Civics or Social Sciences. In order to do so, the thesis details their subject didactics and the goals of these school subjects. Based on their description and the analysis of their respective textbooks, their common themes emerge, and they can be used for further integration. These themes work as suggestions for teachers who wish to leave the isolation of their specialty. The thesis also proposes activities that work with common...

EU is an integral part of Sweden's social studies syllabus for both secondary and upper secondary school. Early on, these students will learn how EU's various institutions cooperate with each other to make certain decision and how these decisions affect us in our daily lives. Yet, prior research has proven, despite being so important, that EU education in Sweden is quite faulty due to focusing too much on one dimension of political knowledge, as proven by Peter Wall's dissertation (2011) and a report from Swedish National Agency for Education (2007). While it would be interesting to see if this rings true today, this paper had a different aim. This paper examined what type of EU educational content was used by previous researchers in their own studies. The aim was to create an overview of what kind of EU educational content has been used in previous research and show if a dimension of political knowledge tends to be prioritised over others. In order to conduct this study, a systematic literature review was used as a method. Research articles were collected through databases and manual searches. The content of these articles were then analysed and categorised based on three political dimensions: Polity, policy, and politics. Seven articles were analyzed in total, and the results showed that polity tended to be on the forefront whereas the other dimensions were not equally present. Furthermore, the political knowledge within these dimensions tended to be related to the processes within EU and what the individual institutions do. Meanwhile, EU's collaboration with non-EU members alongside with individuals' and organisations' possibility to influence EU political decisions were not present. In short, facts about the framework of EU och how it works within is put on the forefront while how we might influence EU in various way is put in the background. These findings may have implications for schools, teacher, students, and educational science within this field.