The overall ambition of this thesis is to investigate the approaches taken to environmental and sustainability education in outdoor education and ecocriticism in a Swedish and in an international context, to investigate environmental meaning making and to conduce to the development of analytical methods for empirical investigations of environmental meaning making. Four objectives are formulated.   The first objective of the thesis is to analyse constitutive discursive rules and traits regarding environmental and sustainability education and environmental meaning making in outdoor education in a Swedish context and in ecocriticism. This is achieved through discourse analyses of central textbooks in outdoor education and of research and textbooks in ecocriticism. The second objective is to investigate how different situated circumstances such as, text, place, mobility, social situations and previous experiences interplay in environmental meaning making. This is achieved through analyses of classroom communication, through analysis of nature writing and through an analysis of painted landscapes. The third objective is to compare and critically discuss the constitutive discursive rules and traits within the two investigated educational practices ­– out door education and ecocriticism ­– in the light of the results from the investigations of environmental meaning making carried out. The fourth objective is to develop analytical methods based on John Dewey and Louise Rosenblatt’s theories of transaction and meaning making for conducting empirical investigations of environmental meaning making in which different interplaying situational circumstances are taken into account. The results of the thesis show that taking a transactional starting point to investigate environmental meaning making adds further understanding of the situational circumstances influencing environmental meaning making in specific situations which sheds new light to the identified approaches to environmental and sustainability education in outdoor education and ecocriticism. These results suggest that a transactional approach to environmental and sustainability education can help to clarify taken for granted assumptions regarding the nature of situational circumstances such as text, place and mobility in environmental meaning making.

This thesis focuses on nine children’s use of texts and literacy learning, both inside and outside of school, in a multilingual and multicultural setting in Sweden. The study investigates and maps texts that children encounter and use in their everyday lives, and explores what they do with them. The study also aims to investigate the conditions and possibilities of local literacies, exploring children’s meaning-making, identity-making and literacy learning through texts. By using an ethnographic approach involving participant observations, group and individual interviews, surveys and photographs, extended empirical data have been collected. Theoretically and in analysing empirical material, the study draws on research from New Literacy Studies and critical literacy. Concepts from the Four Resources Model (Luke & Freebody, 1999) as well as literary envisioning (Langer, 1995, 2011) and hermeneutic perspectives (Gadamer, 1975; Ricoeur, 1984, 1982) have inspired the analysis of the empirical material. The outcomes of the study may be used as a basis for the educational development of literacy learning during the middle school years 3–5. The repertoire of texts outside of school can be described as multi-faceted and multimodal and involves a massive amount of information. At the same time, inside school, major emphasis is put on formal training in skills such as spelling and grammar, while the repertoires of coding, functional use, meaning making and the critique of texts are altogether unorchestrated. The overall conclusion of the thesis is that literacy education must create opportunities for children to develop and build on their chronological memories of books, films, computer games and chatting on the Internet, so that they can view themselves as readers, meaning-makers and citizens that are able to critique, question, change and redesign texts.

Abstract Affordance and choice: performing music in lower secondary school The purpose of this study is to elucidate affordances and meaning-making processes where students in Compulsory lower secondary education learn to play music together in music class. The data consists of a series of observed music lessons, performances and stimulated recall interviews in two 8th form classes, video recorded in the course of one term. The analysis focuses on students’ and their teacher’s musical interaction and sign making during music class. In order to explore multimodal aspects of sign making in teaching and learning, the study rests on a theoretical framework of social-semiotic multimodality and design theory of learning. Nine students, strategically selected, were observed more frequently than the rest. Excerpts of their singing and playing music on different occasions were transcribed into scores in which musical notation together with other graphic signs and written descriptions represent the events. The scores visualise mul- timodal aspects of musical interaction, which made a 'fine grained' analysis of meaning-making processes possible. Further, an analysis was made of how the students and their teacher expressed themselves about the playing and learning and how this related to their observed actions. The result reveals how the teacher’s physical and verbal communicative sign combinations and choice of repertoire conveyed several layers of mean- ing by means of instructions for playing and by references to different dis- courses and genres. During lessons the principle of recognition was present in all of the teacher's sign making but it might be expressed in different modes including expected actions that surprised, amused and helped students to link different musical parameters together. Through transmodal transla- tions of the teacher’s signs, students, linked short fragments of their parts together, and taking turns with the teacher, made longer musical lines. It was found that students’ activities and utterances indicated that a shared sense of meaning and acceptance took precedence over personal musical wishes and preferences. The study contributes to a close insight and understanding of how young people's meaning-making processes may be manifested in music 'teaching- and-learning' in heterogeneous classes, as well as of the significance of teachers’ sign-making in that process. The results of the study warrant a discussion of how musical learning is made possible and is restricted de- pending on how music teaching in schools is designed. Keywords: music teaching, musical interaction, meaning making, semiotic resources, re-design, transmodality, dialogue / <p>Disputationen äger rum på Kungl. Musikhögskolan i Stockholm men sker i samarbete med Lunds universitet.</p>

This dissertation aims to analyse how spatial design affects experiences and meaning making in museums. The overarching question is what the spatial elements and forms within museums communicate to those who visit them. This is specifically explored in five museums in Rome: Museo dell’Ara Pacis, Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Centrale Montemartini, and MAXXI. The method used for analysing the museum spaces was based on observations that followed a method plan consisting of visiting the spaces on several occasions and describing the spaces and my own experiences of them with a focus on spatial aspects such as layout, disposition of exhibitions, material, volume, light, and colours. This also included conversations with first-time visitors, one in each of the five museums, about their experiences of the visit. My own experiences and the five visitors’ descriptions are analysed in dialogue with theoretical perspectives. The theoretical framework consists of perspectives from diverse academic disciplines. The most essential of these are museological aspects on museum experiences, authenticity, and spatial matters. Multimodality, semiotics, hermeneutics, and art-architecture theory are applied in relation to analysis of spatial factors and symbolic meanings as well as to authentic experiences and understanding of history. Phenomenological approaches to the body as the medium through which we perceive the world is central in this study. The five museums are treated and analysed individually in each of their chapters and the results reveal that although they are radically different from each other in terms of their contents and display concepts, they have corresponding factors in common. In the final chapter, the museums are discussed in relation to perspectives on spatial design in museums in a broader sense and the conclusions are drawn on a more general level. The discussions include aspects of authentic experiences of both historical and contemporary factors as well as on the issue of balance and imbalance in relation to museum spaces. Museum spaces are inseparable from their contents. Space and exhibition elements influence each other and meaning is formed in their relationship. When imbalanced, museum spaces might evoke sensations of confusion and frustration. When balanced, on the other hand, they can create atmospheres that evoke sensations of excitement, comfort, and curiosity. Museum spaces can stimulate the motivation to understand the exhibition context or encourage visitors to imagine themselves situated in another time and place. Different kinds of experiences occur when we are present in a museum, but it is not always obvious to us that spatial design is a contributing factor. The impact that spatial design has on our experiences and meaning making is considerable and as this study argues, there is reason to further acknowledge space as an essential element in museums. / <p>Av rättighetsskäl har några av bilderna inte publicerats i den digitala versionen av denna avhandling. För att se samtliga bilder, se den tryckta versionen.</p><p>For copyright reasons, some of the images have not been published in the digital version of this dissertation. To see all of the images, see the printed version.</p>

The overall aim of this thesis is to theoretically explore and empirically analyse practical embodied knowledge in educational settings. In accordance to this aim an approach of body pedagogics is used in combination with classical pragmatism, using foremost William James’ and John Dewey’s concepts of experience, meaning, inquiry and habit. In addition, these concepts are combined with an idea of reflexive body techniques. A main focus lies on investigating the learning of body techniques in dinghy sailing by studying the process and the product of teaching and learning, the role of the instructor for sailors’ learning and the interplay between teaching and learning. The thesis entails three case studies consisting of video recordings of dinghy sailing, all using a combination of theoretical explorations and practical epistemology analysis (PEA). Empirical focus lies on how sailors grow into purposeful body techniques by taking the measure of their ongoing, continuous experience while coordinating their movements with the environment. The analyses show how understandings and bodily skills are simultaneously used in the educational situations where the dinghy sailors have to handle both the environment and various instructions given by the trainer. The result is presented through a descriptive model, comprising theoretical explorations and empirical analysis, through which it is possible to emphasise both the process and the content of the learning of body techniques. The methodological contribution of the thesis thus also consists of developed tools for analysing processes of body pedagogics at a micro level.

In the aftermath of armed conflict, peace and justice are no longer perceived as contradictory. Scholars and practitioners alike have increasingly argued that societies emerging from periods of conflict or repression need to address legacies of past mass violence and human rights abuses in order to sustain peace. This is the rationale behind the evolving field of transitional justice. While it is stated that transitional justice also makes headway in contemporary peace agreements, existing literature tends to remain unspecific. Albeit being the most victim-centred among the range of transitional justice mechanisms, the incorporation of reparation for victims of mass violence into peace agreements is particularly under-researched. This research gap is even more puzzling as it is a “basic maxim of law that harms should be remedied” (Roht-Arriaza 2004: 121). In response to this, this thesis establishes that only around a third of intra-state peace agreements signed from 2000 to 2009 have addressed reparation. Further, by means of an analytical framework that embeds thematic analysis within the structure of framing theory’s model of meaning-making, it maps how the studied peace agreements assign meaning to reparation in their texts. As a result, two themes labelled ‘reparation as the fulfilment of basic needs’ and ‘reparation as an act of justice’ are identified as constituting the broader patterns of meaning held within peace agreements’ reparation provisions. While the language of the latter equips harmed individuals with rights as victims, the former theme focuses instead on individual vulnerability and collective development needs. It deemphasises the link between harm experienced and violation committed. As it is suggested that the employment of particular themes and terminology lifts certain issues up the agenda while marginalising others, peace agreements’ authoritative meaning-making directly impacts on the lives of those victimised during conflict. Hence, this thesis highlights the need for more systematic research in this area to strengthen evidence-based reparation advocacy during peace processes.

The objective of this thesis is to analyze children’s meaning making processes in science related to environment and sustainability at the pre-school level. This thesis examines an approach to early childhood education which is conceptualized by an explorative as well as a listening approach that specifically addresses children’s questions. The purpose is to create knowledge on how the processes develop and what specific science related content that emerges. All studies are based on a Deweyan pragmatic perspective. Study 1 “logs in” to the debate on children’s possibilities to become “agents for change” and contributing to positive changes for the environment. The results reveal that the children’s positive and negative aesthetic utterances have significance for how the process develops and is being fulfilled. The contextual aspects are imperative both for the content and for the choices the children make along the course of actions. Study 2 examines children exploring animals in a pre-school project concerning biodiversity.  Initially, the results reveal that the organisms’ appearances and movements received morphological and physiological explanations. Further on, knowledge was gained in a manner which has similarities to ecological and evolutionary ways of explaining biological phenomena. Study 3 takes departure from the discussion on the fact that sustainability related problems often are unstructured, multifaceted and conceptualized as “wicked”. The study examines how the process of imagination comes into play when children explore a sustainability related problem that is important to them. The results reveal that creative solutions come into existence when blending various experiences.  Study 4 investigates how children raise and answer science related questions by non-verbal actions. The results expose that non-verbal actions serve as inquiry, comparative systematics, visualization, question-generators as well as a public and self-reflective communication. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: In review. Paper 3: In press. Paper 4. Manuscript.</p>

Sammanfattning   Arbetets art: Examensarbete i Lärarutbildningen, avancerad nivå, 15hp. Högskolan i Skövde.   Titel: Förskolebarns aktiviteter i sandlådan. En kvalitativ studie om barns meningsskapande i sandlådan ur ett naturvetenskapligt perspektiv.   Sidantal: 27   Författare: Helena Jebens och Jörel Sandh.   Handledare: Susanne Gustavsson.   Datum: januari 2014   Nyckelord: Meningsskapande, förskola, sandlåda, naturvetenskap.   Studien belyser barns möjligheter till naturvetenskapligt meningsskapande i sandlådan. Som pedagoger i förskolans verksamhet har vi dagligen sett barn aktivera sig i sandlådan, men inte reflekterat över vilket naturvetenskapligt meningsskapande som möjliggörs där. Vi har även i vår verksamhet uppmärksammat genom samtal med andra pedagoger att naturvetenskap upplevs som svårt och krångligt. Studiens syfte är att undersöka vilket naturvetenskapligt meningsskapande som möjliggörs i sandlådan. I bakgrunden presenteras forskning om naturvetenskap i förskolan och teorin utgår från det sociokulturella perspektivet. Insamlandet av data har skett genom videofilmning som består av sammanlagt 28 filmsekvenser.  Materialet har analyserats och bearbetats med hjälp av Susanne Klaars reflektionsverktyg. Studiens resultat visar att barns handlingar i sandlådan kan möjliggöra ett naturvetenskapligt meningsskapande. Pedagoger har enligt studiens resultat rika tillfällen att påverka och utveckla barns meningsskapande och utveckla intresset för naturvetenskap genom att tolka, bekräfta och sätta ord på de handlingar med naturvetenskaplig karaktär som sandlådan erbjuder. Barns naturliga intresse för naturvetenskap får med stöd av pedagogers guidning mot ett naturvetenskapligt meningsskapande, ökad möjlighet för lärande och förståelse genom de handlingar som sker. / Abstract   Study: Degree project in teacher education, advanced level 15hp. University of Skövde.   Title: Preschool children’s activities in the sandbox. A qualitative study of children’s meaning-making in the sandbox from a natural science perspective.   Pages: 27   Authors: Helena Jebens och Jörel Sandh.   Tutor: Susanne Gustavsson.   Date: January 2014   Keywords: Meaning- making, preschool, the sandbox, the natural sciences.   The study highlights the children's opportunities for scientific meaning-making in the sandbox. As teacher’s in the preschool's activities, we have seen children activate themselves on a daily basis in the sandbox, but not reflected of the natural sciences meaning-making that is possible there. We also have in our activities highlighted by talks with other teachers that natural science are perceived as difficult and complicated. The study's purpose is to investigate which natural sciences meaning-making is possible in the sandbox. In the background is presented research on natural science education in preschool and the theory is based on the socio-cultural perspective. The collection of data has been made by videotaping which consists of a total of 28 sequences. The material has been analyzed and processed with the help of Susanne Klaars reflection tool. Results of the study show that children's actions in the sandbox can allow a natural science meaning-making. Teachers, according to the results of the study, have rich opportunities to influence and develop children's meaning-making and developing interest in natural science by interpreting, confirming and put into words the acts of natural scientific character which the sandbox offers. Children's natural interest in natural science, with the support of teacher’s guidance toward a meaning making of natural science, increased opportunity for learning and understanding through the activities that is done.

(The classroom as an arena for discussions) The aim of the dissertation is to study whole class discussions in the Swedish upper secondary school, concerning issues subjected to controversy in the public debate. The empirical study is related to a wider question: the possibilities for the school to educate democratic citizens. By using discourse analysis,14 videotaped lessons from social- and religious studies where analysed, with the ambition to investigate recurrent patterns of participation and meaning making. Five teachers and six classes participated in the study. The analysis shows that the teachers have two concurrent goals: to focus on the students’ contributions on issues in the public debate, and introduce the students to different questions in the public debate. A consequence of these goals is that the role of the teacher often becomes complex. By acting on the basis of having responsibility for the students’ development of knowledge, and sometimes also calling attention to certain values, the teacher attempts to guide the students as not yet ready for the public debate. Features from other kinds of teacher-centred education are thereby present in the discussions. However, students can also act as more autonomous participants in relation to the teacher. When they are not answering the teacher’s questions in an expected way, and in particular, in situations in which they are interacting with each other, the students may discuss the public issues without being teacher-guided to the same extent as in other situations. The last chapter concludes that the authority of the teacher is partly given by the official steering-documents. It is still possible to ask if the guiding role of the teacher itself could be subjected to discussion. This suggestion is made from the point that teacher authority is considered as more or less limited for developing a critical attitude among the students. One may also ask if the students’ could be offered possibilities to choose the topic for discussion themselves. This latter point is made against the background that classroom-discussion presupposes student’s viewpoints in order to be accomplished.

The purpose of this study was to examine how the pre-school staff relate to physical activity and food and how children are inspired to a healthy lifestyle. The questions focus on how pre-school staff think and work with these issues. The material for the study consisted of qualitative interviews, which I have made with staff at six pre-schools in the Stockholm area. For analysis of the results, I have used discourse analysis and concepts of meaning-making, balance of power and normality. The results have shown that the majority of pre-school staff has a great interest and commitment of physical activity and healthy food both for themselves and the work in pre-school. They think of the importance for the future. Pre-school staff points out the importance of a varied diet including much vegetables. They use the pedagogic meal to inspire and give children a positive relationship to eating and to acquire new tastes. The pre-school staff sees physical activity as both everyday motion and more sporting activities. They emphasize the importance of children practice their gross motor ability. On the most pre-schools are excursions, like walking in the woods or walking to playgrounds, occurring regularly. Both in terms of food and physical activity the pre-school staff tries to create meaning and motivation for children to create healthy habits. In my analysis, it appears that pre-school staff follows the society's established norms. They references and relies on steering documents for pre-schools in their narration.