Syftet med föreliggande studie är att beskriva en kommuns arbete med att upptäcka och bedriva undervisning för elever med särskild begåvning i matematik samt hur detta arbete stöds. Metoden som användes för studien var semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem olika skolaktörer (matematikutvecklare, specialpedagoger och lärare). Den insamlade datan analyserades med hjälp av Cobb och Jacksons (2012) teoretiska ramverk för hur matematikundervisning kan förbättras och utvecklas i större skala. Resultaten visar att kommunen, enligt deltagande skolaktörer, inte arbetar aktivt med att upptäcka särskilt begåvade elever i matematik, men de elever som utmärker sig utreds. Vidare visar resultaten att kommunen, enligt skolaktörerna, bedriver matematikundervisning för dessa elever på olika sätt beroende på elevernas individuella behov och skolans resurser. Resultaten visar även på att skolaktörerna upplever stöd i arbetet med särskilt begåvade elever i matematik genom det kollegiala samarbetet på olika organisatoriska nivåer i kommunen. Skolaktörerna finner även stöd i utredningar och kartläggningar i arbetet kring särskilt begåvade elever i matematik samt anpassat material och fortbildningar kring dessa elever. Från resultatet kan tre slutsatser dras. Den första slutsatsen är att kommunen inte arbetar systematiskt med att identifiera särskilt begåvade elever i matematik. Den andra slutsatsen är att matematikundervisningen för dessa elever bedrivs på olika sätt på den enskilda skolan. Den tredje slutsatsen är att skolaktörerna upplever att de har flera typer av stöd för att arbeta med att upptäcka och undervisa särskilt begåvade elever i matematik. / The purpose of this study is to describe the effort to identify and conduct teaching for gifted pupils in mathematics and how this work is supported in a larger Swedish municipality. The method used for the study was semistructured interviews with five school actors (mathematics developer, special educators and teachers). The collected data was analysed by the means of Cobb and Jackson’s (2012) theoretical framework for how mathematics instruction can be improved and developed on a larger scale. The results show that the municipality, according to participating school actors, does not work systematically to identify gifted pupils in mathematics, only the pupils who clearly distinguish themselves are identified. Further on the results show that the municipality, according to the school actors, conducts teaching in mathematics for these pupils in different ways depending on the needs of the individual pupil and available resources at the respective schools. The results also show that the school actors feel supported in their work with gifted pupils in mathematics through collegial cooperation on different organizational levels. The school actors also find support in the mappings of gifted pupils in mathematics, as well as custom made materials and professional development around these pupils. Three conclusions are drawn from the results. The first conclusion is that the municipality does not systematically work to identify gifted pupils in mathematics. The second conclusion is that mathematics instruction is conducted in different ways at the individual school. The third conclusion is that the school actors experience several different kinds of supports in distinguishing and conducting instruction for gifted pupils in mathematics.

Matematiskt begåvade elever är i behov av lika mycket stöd, variation och utmaningar som alla andra elever. Därför är det viktigt att dessa elever inte kommer i skymundan och får ”klara sig själva”. Syftet med denna studie är att synliggöra matematiskt begåvade elevers uppfattning om hur deras matematikundervisning ser ut idag, hur de själva lär sig bäst, samt hur de anser att matematikundervisningen ska utformas för att de ska ha möjlighet att utvecklas efter sin fulla förmåga. Med stöd i teori och tidigare forskning valdes sex matematiskt begåvade elever från år 4 ut för att medverka i denna undersökning. Metoden som valdes var att intervjua dessa sex elever för att få en djupare förståelse för hur de själva uppfattar matematikundervisningen idag, deras egna lärstilar, samt hur de vill arbeta i matematiken för att ha möjlighet utvecklas till sin fulla förmåga. Resultatet från intervjuerna visar att stor del av undervisningen idag genomsyras av ensamarbete och där dessa elever inte får det stöd och den hjälp de behöver. Det visade sig också att dessa elever var väldigt olika i sina lärstilar, precis som alla individer, och därför behöver en varierad undervisning för att alla lärstilar ska inkluderas. Det visade sig att alla eleverna i denna studie söker utmaning, mer arbete i grupp och stöd från lärare för att få möjlighet att utvecklas till sin fulla förmåga. / The mathematic gifted pupil needs support, variation and challenge as much as other children. Therefore it is important that these children do not end up in the background and that the teacher does not think that ”they can handle it on their own”. The aims of this study are to explore the mathematic gifted pupils´ beliefs about mathematics teaching, their learning styles and how they want to work to have the opportunity to develop their full mathematical capacity.  With support from theory and earlier research we chose six mathematical gifted pupils in the fourth grade to participate in the study. As the research method we chose to interview these pupils in order to get a deeper understanding of how they believe that their own learning in mathematic looks like, how they think they learn the best and how they want to work to have the opportunity to develop their full mathematical capacity. The result and conclusion of the interviews show that according to the pupils, a majority of the learning situations includes the pupils’ individual work and by that these children do not get the help and support that they need. The results from the interviewees also show that these pupils have different ways of learning, like everybody else, and therefore the learning situations have to be varying.  Finally, the result shows that the pupils want to have challenges, work together in groups and more support from teachers to be able to develop their full mathematical capacity.

This thesis reports on two different investigations. The first is a systematic review of pedagogical and organizational practices associated with gifted pupils’ education in mathematics, and on the empirical basis for those practices. The review shows that certain practices – for example, enrichment programs and differentiated instructions in heterogeneous classrooms or acceleration programs and ability groupings outside those classrooms – may be beneficial for the development of gifted pupils. Also, motivational characteristics of and gender differences between mathematically gifted pupils are discussed. Around 60% of analysed papers report on empirical studies, while remaining articles are based on literature reviews, theoretical discourses and the authors’ personal experiences – acceleration programs and ability groupings are supported by more empirical data than practices aimed for the heterogeneous classroom. Further, the analyses indicate that successful acceleration programs and ability groupings should fulfil some important criteria; pupils’ participation should be voluntary, the teaching should be adapted to the capacity of participants, introduced tasks should be challenging, by offering more depth and less breadth within a certain topic, and teachers engaged in these practices should be prepared for the characteristics of gifted pupils. The second investigation reports on the interaction of mathematical abilities and the role of mathematical memory in the context of non-routine problems. In this respect, six Swedish high-achieving students from upper secondary school were observed individually on two occasions approximately one year apart. For these studies, an analytical framework, based on the mathematical ability defined by Krutetskii (1976), was developed. Concerning the interaction of mathematical abilities, it was found that every problem-solving activity started with an orientation phase, which was followed by a phase of processing mathematical information and every activity ended with a checking phase, when the correctness of obtained results was controlled. Further, mathematical memory was observed in close interaction with the ability to obtain and formalize mathematical information, for relatively small amounts of the total time dedicated to problem solving. Participants selected problem-solving methods at the orientation phase and found it difficult to abandon or modify those methods. In addition, when solving problems one year apart, even when not recalling the previously solved problem, participants approached both problems with methods that were identical at the individual level. The analyses show that participants who applied algebraic methods were more successful than participants who applied particular methods. Thus, by demonstrating that the success of participants’ problem-solving activities is dependent on applied methods, it is suggested that mathematical memory, despite its relatively modest presence, has a pivotal role in participants’ problem-solving activities. Finally, it is indicated that participants who applied particular methods were not able to generalize mathematical relations and operations – a mathematical ability considered an important prerequisite for the development of mathematical memory – at appropriate levels. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: In press.</p>

I takt med att intresset för hög prestation ökat såväl nationellt som internationellt har även intresset för olika elevgruppers och elevtypers olika behov och förutsättningar ökat. En elevtyp som emellertid lyfts fram som outforskad, inte minst i en nationell kontext, är de elever som är särskilt begåvade eller särbegåvade. Skolverket har inlett ett arbete som syftar till att öka medvetenheten kring särskilt begåvade elever. Läraren är en avgörande aktör för särskilt begåvade elevers utveckling samt välmående i skolan. Skolverket har publicerat stödmaterial tillgängligt för lärare i flera ämnen, dock inte för samhällskunskap, där det verkar finnas en gråzon i såväl forskning som i lärares praxis för arbetet med särskild begåvning. Studien har som syfte att navigera i denna gråzon och undersöka samhällskunskapslärares uppfattningar om särskild begåvning i ämnet samhällskunskap, för att på så sätt skapa förståelse för hur lärare kännetecknar, identifierar samt undervisar och stimulerar särskilt begåvade elever. Tre samhällskunskapslärare, verksamma på tre olika gymnasieprogram på samma skola har intervjuats genom semistrukturerade intervjuer vilka har analyserats utifrån framförallt Kokots (1999) och Wallströms (2013) kännetecknande egenskaper för särskilt begåvade elever samt Lev Vygotskijs teori om den närmaste utvecklingszonen. Resultatet visar att lärarna uppfattar särskild begåvning som ett komplext fenomen som är svårt att avgränsa i allmänhet och i samhällskunskap i synnerhet. Deras uppfattningar kring särskild begåvning präglas av samblandning med andra elevtyper och tillägg av andra egenskaper, vilket går i enlighet med tidigare forskning om särbegåvning. Resultaten indikerar att lärarna uppfattar att relationsskapande processer och att lära känna sina elever är viktigt för såväl identifiering samt undervisning av elever som skulle kunna vara särskilt begåvade. / As the interest of high performance has increased both nationally and internationally, interest in different types of pupils and their needs and conditions has also increased. One type of pupil who, however, is depicturized as unexplored, not least in a Swedish, national context, are those pupuils who are gifted. The National Agency for Education has introduced work aimed at increasing awareness of giftedness and gifted pupils. The teacher is a crucial actor for the developement and well-being of gifted pupils in school. The National Agency of Education has published material aiming to support teachers in various subjects, but not for civics, were it appears to be a grey area in both research and teachers’ practice for teaching gifted pupils. The purpose of the study is to navigate this grey area by examine civics teachers’ perceptions of giftedness in civics, in order to achieve an understanding of how teachers characterize, identify, teach and stimulate gifted pupils. Three civics teachers, working at three different programs at the same upper secondary school have been interviewed though semi-structured interviews which have been analyzed though Kokot’s (1999) and Wallstrom’s (2013) characteristics of gifted pupils and Lev Vygotskij’s theory of the Zone of proximal developement. The results show that teachers percieve giftedness as a complex phenomenon that is difficult to define in general and in civics in particular. Their perceptions of giftedness is characterized by mixing with other types of pupils and the addition of other characteristics, which is in line with previous research on giftedness in general. The results indicate that the teachers percieve establishing professional relationsips with the pupils and getting to know them is important both for the identification and teaching of pupils who could be gifted.

The study aims to increase the knowledge of the extent to which primary school teachers use problem solving tasks to challenge and include mathematically gifted pupils. Furthermore, it aims to increase knowledge about the factors that influence teachers´ design around these tasks. The work is based on a quantitative survey among primary school teachers who teach mathematics. 104 teachers were included in the study group, where 96 percent had competence in teaching mathematics for compulsory school grades 1-3. The study clarifies what characterizes gifted pupils and how these features can be noticed in mathematics education. Furthermore, the teacher’s theoretical and didactic competence in mathematics is central to developing and shaping learning opportunities containing problem-solving tasks, which are well adapted to challenge and include gifted pupils. The study's overall theoretical approach is based on a cognitive theory and the result was analyzed with the help of the Mathematics Tasks Framework. The result shows that the majority of the lower-level teachers, who were part of the selection group, believe that problem solving tasks are advantageous to apply in order to include and challenge gifted pupils. However, teachers feel that they are facing obstacles in the work of giving gifted pupils the opportunity to learn, both in the planning phase and in the implementation phase. Teachers admit that they need to improve their competence in order to be able to challenge and include gifted pupils in mathematics education. / Syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen om i vilken utsträckning lågstadielärare använder problemlösningsuppgifter för att utmana och inkludera särskilt begåvade elever.  Vidare syftar den till att öka kunskapen om vilka faktorer som påverkar lärares utformning av problemlösningsuppgifter. Arbetet är baserat på en kvantitativ enkätundersökning som riktar sig till matematiklärare på lågstadiet. 104 lågstadielärare ingick i undersökningsgruppen, där 96 procent hade behörighet att undervisa i ämnet matematik för grundskolans årskurs 1–3. Studien belyser vad som karaktäriserar särskilt begåvade elever samt hur dessa drag kan uppmärksammas i matematikundervisningen. Studien tar utgångspunkt i att lärarens ämnesteoretiska och ämnesdidaktiska kompetens står i centrum när lärare utvecklar och formar lärtillfällen innehållande problemlösningsuppgifter, vilka är väl anpassade för att utmana och inkludera särskilt begåvade elever. Studiens övergripande teoretiska ansats utgår från en kognitivistisk teori och resultatet analyserades med hjälp av ramverket Mathematics Tasks Framework. Av resultatet framkommer att majoriteten av de lågstadielärare som ingick i urvalsgruppen anser att problemlösningsuppgifter är fördelaktiga att tillämpa för att inkludera och utmana särskilt begåvade elever. Lärarna upplever dock vissa hinder i arbetet med att ge särskilt begåvade elever möjligheten att lära, både i planeringsfasen och i genomförandefasen. Majoriteten av lärarna medger att de är i behov av kompetensutveckling för att ha förmågan att utmana och inkludera särskilt begåvade elever i matematikundervisningen.

CHARLES UNIVERSITY IN PRAGUE, Faculty of Science Department of Teaching and Didactics of Chemistry Hypermedia educational program Halogen chemistry and its application in the education of gifted pupils in chemistry Mgr. Pavel Teplý Summary of Ph.D. Thesis Prague 2010 This Ph.D. thesis was worked out during a regular doctoral study at the Department of Teaching and Didactics of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague. Proposer: Mgr. Pavel Teplý Studijní program: Vzdělávání v chemii Katedra učitelství a didaktiky chemie Přírodovědecká fakulta Univerzity Karlovy v Praze Supervisor: Prof. RNDr. Jan Čipera, CSc. Katedra učitelství a didaktiky chemie Přírodovědecká fakulta Univerzity Karlovy v Praze Supervisor­consultant: Doc. RNDr. Zdeněk Mička, CSc. Katedra anorganické chemie Přírodovědecká fakulta Univerzity Karlovy v Praze Doc. PhDr. Jiří Škoda, Ph.D. Katedra pedagogiky Pedagogická fakulta Univerzity Jana Evangelisty Purkyně v Ústí nad Labem KEY WORDS Hypermedia; education software; interactive and flexible program; XHTML; halogen chemistry; videorecording of chemical experiments; education of gifted pupils; distance education; e-learning. Introduction The education of gifted pupils reflects problems dealt by the current...

En aquesta tesi es fa una valoració dels elements que incideixen en les creences dels mestres d'educació infantil i primària i dels professionals dels EAP respecte la detecció dels alumnes amb altes capacitats i les principals mesures d'intervenció educativa. Els instruments utilitzats són els propis de les metodologies naturalistes i quasi experimentals. L'anàlisi de resultats obtinguts llarg de tres cursos escolars recull les creences dels mestres i EAP a partir de diferents fonts d'informació: entrevistes, descripció de casos, anàlisi de dades, valoració de normativa i dos qüestionaris, un per a mestres i l'altre per a EAP. Els resultats posen en evidència una molt baixa detecció, insuficiència de regulació legal, eines de diagnòstic febles, dispersió documental i falta de formació. Es detecten contradiccions entre les creences i les pràctiques. Finalment es proposa una redefinició del concepte Altes Capacitats-superdotació des dels àmbits de l'eficàcia, del perfil i del rendiment escolar. / In this thesis, the factors influencing the beliefs of the teachers of primary school (pupils of 3-12 years old) and the members of the "EAP" (Psychopedagogy Assessors' Teams) towards the detection of gifted and high capabilities pupils are evaluated. The used instruments are the typical ones of naturalistic methodologies and quasi-experimental. The results obtained during three academic years from different information sources (interviews, description of cases, data analysis, legal regulations and two questionnaires, one for teachers and one for EAP members) are analysed. Results put into evidence a very low detection rate, insufficient legal regulations, weak diagnosis instruments, heterogeneous information in pupils' expedients and lack of teachers formation training. Contradictions are detected between the beliefs of the teachers and their practices at school. Finally, a redefinition of the concept of high capabilities-gifted pupils is proposed from the area of efficiency, of the profile and of the school performance.

Early reading literacy development of early readers at the beginning of the school attendance Abstract The aim of the dissertation is to monitor the development of the initial reading literacy of early readers, i.e., children who have learned to read with the comprehension before beginning of their school attendance. The aim of the research was to find answers to the questions how and when these children learned to read and how their initial reading literacy and motivation to read developed during the first year of primary school. Subsequently, the subject of the research was the verification of the connection between early reading and intellectual giftedness and family background. The theoretical part is devoted to current trends in primary school, the basic principles of primary education are described with emphasis on personal and constructivist conception of teaching, focusing on the topics of pupil assessment and inclusive education, including the education of gifted and exceptionally gifted students. The term reading literacy is defined, the stages of its development are distinguished and questions concerning reading are discussed, including the results of research on early reading in the Czech and foreign contexts. The chapter devoted to giftedness defines the term of giftedness and its...