My dissertation, “‘It’s like I can be myself here’: Adolescent identity and agency in an arts-based out-of-school program” is a three-year post-critical ethnographic study (Noblit, Flores, and Murillo, 2004) of YouthArts, a free, out-of-school arts program for adolescents who self-identify as having a low socio-economic status. YouthArts, under the auspices of a non-profit art space, offers participants both a range of activities, such as field trips, artist-led workshops, and critique sessions, and materials, such as supplies and an electronic portfolio, to help foster artistic identity development. The program design demonstrates the complexity of artistic endeavors beyond technical prowess and highlights the role of collaboration, communication, inquiry, and curiosity in the process of art creation and consideration. I employ participant-observation methods, semi-structured interviews, and artifact collection, as well as narrative analysis and content analysis, to create a dynamic representation of how adolescents engage in this program. My theoretical approach to this project brings together social production theories, such as figured worlds (Holland et al., 1998), social and cultural capital (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1977), community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2006), situated learning (Lave, 1990; Lave and Wenger, 1991) and the field of youth studies (James, Jenks, and Prout, 1998; Best, 2007) to explore learning, identity, and agency. I provide a thick description of the program’s professionalizing activities and offer detailed case studies of four focal participants in order to demonstrate the ways that the program helps participants transition from high school to post-secondary paths and from being students in high-school art classes to becoming practicing artists. I privilege youth voices to highlight the ways they see their identities as being informed by multiple communities, including their out-of-school activities, their schools, their families, and their friends and through intersecting classed, raced, gendered, and sexualized discourses, as well as to consider the ways that they enact agency in these multiple contexts. I highlight the need for more studies that research out-of-school learning from a place of positive youth development and explore the role of relationship building in learning environments. / text

Litteraturstudien tar sin utgångspunkt i användandet av lärandemiljöer utanför klassrummet. Två begrepp bearbetas: ´outdoor education´ och ´out-of-school learning´. Denna litteraturstudie avser att jämföra fyra centrala studier inom de båda ovan nämnda begreppen för att sammanställa och analysera vad de behandlar. Likheter och skillnader i användningen av de båda begreppen lyfts fram. Förutom detta komparativa syfte är syftet också att redogöra för huruvida skolor kan använda dessa båda perspektiv i den naturvetenskapliga undervisningen i grundskolans senare årskurser.   I den första delen av analysen som behandlar studiens komparativa syfte framgår att det främst är likheter mellan de båda begreppen som återfinns, som exempelvis att de berör både de kognitiva och affektiva dimensionerna samt vikten av att ta tillvara på elevers erfarenheter. De båda begreppens innebörder är breda och innefattas bland annat av att förlägga undervisning utanför klassrummet men också att ta in omgivningen i klassrummet. I den andra delen av analysen som behandlar tillämpningar av de båda perspektiven framkommer att ´outdoor education´ och ´out-of-school learning´ med fördel kan användas i grundskolans senare årskurser då användandet bland annat visat sig ge positiva effekter på elevers motivation och intresse samt att naturvetenskapen blir mer autentisk för eleverna.  Flera av studierna använder sig av ´outdoor education´ och ´out-of-school learning´ för att belysa miljö- och hållbarhetsfrågor.   Fem kategorier som berörs av ´outdoor education´ och ´out-of-school learning´ urskiljs i denna uppsats: elevers lärande, hälsoaspekter, arbetssätt, elevers roller och elevers erfarenheter.

Utvecklingen under de senaste decennierna visar att färre elever intresserar sig för naturvetenskapliga studier och många har svårt att se meningen med innehållet. Det finns en omfattande forskning som visar att det inte är naturvetenskapen i sig som eleverna avfärdar utan att det mer handlar om hur innehållet hanteras i skolan. Utanför skolan verkar många ta del av viktiga diskussioner kopplade till naturvetenskap och ställer bland annat frågor till olika medier där forskare bemöter och svarar på allmänhetens intresse. Detta spontana intresse undersöks i detta arbete med hjälp av innehållsanalys. Urvalet är hämtat från två populärvetenskapliga tidskrifter med omfattning av 1492 antal frågor. Frågorna är beskriva med huvud- och underkategorier och skildrar hur allmänhetens spontana intresse ser ut utifrån nordiska förhållanden. Resultaten visar att allmänheten har stort intresse för naturvetenskap. Biologi dominerar med stora intressen för zoologi och människan. Fysik är den näst populära kategorin där astronomi är den klart dominerande underkategorin. Kemi får minst antal frågor. Resultaten visar stor likhet med internationella studier och diskuteras i relation till dessa samt utifrån implikationer för lärares arbete med att möta elever i skolan.

abstract: As interest in making and STEM learning through making and tinkering continue to rise, understanding the nature, process, and benefits of learning STEM through making have become important topics for research. In addition to understanding the basics of learning through making and tinkering, we need to understand these activities, examine their potential benefits, and find out ways to facilitate such learning experiences for all learners with resources that are readily available. This dissertation is a study of children’s learning while tinkering inspired by the Educational Maker Movement. It is motivated by the projects that children playfully create with broken toys, art and craft resources, and other found objects, and the connections of such activities to learning. Adopting a sociocultural lens this dissertation examines eight to twelve-year-olds’ learning while tinkering in collaboration with friends and family, as well as on their own. Using a case study methodology and studying interactions and transactions between children, materials, tools, and designs this study involves children learning while tinkering over a week-long workshop as well as over the summer in the Southwest. The three hallmarks of this study are, first, an emphasis on sociocultural nature of the development of tinkering projects; second, an emphasis on meaning making while tinkering with materials, tools, and design, and problem-solving; and third, an examination of the continuation of tinkering using newly acquired tools and skills beyond the duration of the workshop. In doing so, this dissertation contributes to the ongoing discussion of children’s playful tinkering, how and why it counts as learning, and STEM learning associated with tinkering. Implications for future learning and the ways in which tinkering connects to children’s everyday fabric of activities are considered. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Learning, Literacies and Technologies 2018

The aim of this study is to investigate Swedish senior high school students’ Extramural English (EE) activities and their beliefs about learning English inside and outside of the classroom. EE is defined as English language activities that learners are engaged in outside the classroom, and includes activities such as listening to music, reading, writing, speaking, surfing the Internet, playing computer games, watching TV, YouTube and movies (Sundqvist, 2009, p. 1). The study also investigated possible gender differences related to students’ reported EE activities, and their reported attitudes about English. This study is based on questionnaire data. Twenty students participated in this study. 9 of 10 participants indicated that they believed that they are learning most of the English they know outside of school by daily contact with popular EE activities such as listening to music, followed by surfing the Internet, reading, watching YouTube, watching TV, playing computer games, writing, speaking and lastly watching movies. Boys reported a greater exposure to EE overall compared to the girls, more specifically, in their contact with music, computer games and writing and speaking in an EE context. Most of the students reported positive attitudes to English both inside and outside the classroom, but overall students reported more positive attitudes to the English that they use in their free time. The study has found no strong gender differences concerning students’ attitudes to learning English.

The present study examines students’ use, attitudes and preferences, when it comes to EE (Extramural English). EE is defined as English language activities that learners are engaged in outside their ordinary language class, such as reading books, reading newspapers/magazines, watching TV, watching films, surfing the Internet, playing video games, listening to music, etc. The results of the study are based on data that was collected from Swedish upper secondary-school learners of English over a period of one term on several occasions. Information about students’ EE activities was collected by quantitative questionnaires, including both multiple-choice and open-ended questions. The results showed that Swedish upper-secondary school students were engaged in many different extramural activities. The extramural activity that the students were most often engaged in, was watching English language movies. The second most popular extramural activity was watching TV-programs in English with Swedish subtitles. Furthermore, according to the surveyed upper-secondary students, most of their language skills they develop with the help of their Extramural contacts with the English language. These are for example understanding of spoken English, speaking English, understanding of English vocabulary and understanding written English. However, when it comes to the written English and the development of English grammar, it appears that the students see themselves as developing these language skills more successfully within the language classroom than in their free time. The results also showed that, whereas the above-mentioned extramural activities were preferred by both boys and girls, there were also some differences in their use of extramural activities. Whereas boys rather preferred such activities as "English-speaking role-playing or computer games", girls, according to their answers, preferred such activities as "reading texts in English". The results of this study have shown that, according to the students’ responses, there is no strong gender difference when it comes to attitudes about learning English in school versus outside the school.

This study examines, through the use of a quantitative questionnaire, to what extent Swedish upper secondary students are involved in receptive and productive extramural English activities and what their perceptions are of learning English inside and outside of school. Extramural English (EE) is a term referring to the English students encounter outside school as extra means ‘outside’ and mural means ‘walls’. This study also investigates if the students perceive that the extramural English activities facilitate their classroom learning of English, and more specifically in relation to the language proficiencies reading, listening, writing and speaking. The results showed that the students reported being involved in mostly receptive EE activities as the most common activities they reported being involved in daily were related to listening and reading. The listening activities involved watching English-language TV-programs, TV-series and movies with and without Swedish subtitles and reading English texts. 98% of the students perceived that they do learn English outside of school while 68.6% of the students perceived that the English that they learned outside school facilitated classroom learning. The language proficiency the students perceived they developed most outside school was listening as 39% reported they "developed very much". The majority of students also reported to be more comfortable speaking and writing in English outside of school, and 57% indicated that they have learned most of their English knowledge outside of the school environment.

The Internet has become a natural element in society and is constantly gaining ground in schools. The aim of this paper is to find out whether upper secondary school students in Sweden estimate that their Internet use affects their second language learning positively. The study was operationalized by means of a self-completion questionnaire which was distributed to 80 students from the same school. The results show that most of the informants estimated that they spend much time on the Internet in general, most often reading the news, and that they use Swedish and English to almost the same extent doing so.  The students' English use in school is estimated to be voluntary and controlled while the Internet is mostly used voluntarily for English homework. Besides engaging in information search both in school and at home, a considerable number of students estimate that translation is an activity exclusively for homework. Most students also find that they are receptive Internet users and that their general Internet use is in line with the comprehensive aims of the English subject listed in the curriculum. / Internet har blivit en naturlig del av samhället och är på ständig frammarsch i skolorna. Syftet med denna uppsats är att ta reda på om gymnasieelever i Sverige anser att användningen av internet påverkar deras andraspråksinlärning positivt. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av en enkät som delades ut till 80 elever från samma skola. Resultaten visar att de flesta av de tillfrågade ansåg att de tillbringar mycket tid på Internet, främst för nyhetssökningar, och att de använder både svenska och engelska. Elevernas användning av internet på engelsklektionerna i skolan tros vara både frivillig och kontrollerad medan internet används mest frivilligt för engelskläxor. Förutom att genomföra informationssökningar både i skolan och hemma, anser ett relativt stort antal elever att översättning utförs nästan uteslutande för läxor. De flesta elever anser dessutom att de är receptiva internetanvändare och att deras allmänna internetanvändning påverkar de förmågor som de ska tillägna sig i engelska enligt läroplanen positivt.

The digital age has re-shaped the landscape of creative writing. One example of the changes that have taken place is the way in which millions of young people, globally, now write and share stories as online fanfiction. This is an out-of-school leisure pastime that can also help improve language skills (Aragon & Davis, 2019; Black, 2008). English taught as a second language (i.e. L2) in schools can be less authentic, less motivational and engaging than English used in free-time situations (extramural English, Sundqvist, 2009); thus, there is a need to “bridge the gap” between the English taught in the formal setting of school and the English encountered in informal settings (Swedish Schools Inspectorate, 2011). This licentiate thesis focuses on extramural English creative writing and aims to raise understanding about the ways it can motivate and engage. Also, the issue of L2 English is addressed in relation to pupils’ perspectives of their informal learning as well as their insights into creative writing and challenge in the school subject of English. The participants in the study were thirteen teenage pupils of Swedish secondary and upper-secondary schools who write creatively in English in their free time. Their writing included stories, comics, poems and songs, and some of this work was published online. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews, and it was analysed using qualitative content analysis. The findings confirm that writing can be closely related to reading, as participants were motivated by stories they wished to imitate and adapt. Also, the results show how teenage creative writers were able to use networked communication to access a large global readership. There was a strong motivation to write for pleasure – for oneself – and this writing, and enjoyment, could subsequently be shared with others. The free-time writing activity was fun, playful and imaginative, and also aided understanding of the participants’ own experiences and emotions. The state of flow (Csíkszentmihályi, 1990) was an aspect of the pupils’ engagement with creative writing as well. The activity was rewarding as it brought praise, enabled role-play, involved social contacts, and opened the way to new affiliations and friendships. Moreover, the pupils considered that their language learning was enriched through their free-time creative writing. Finally, the participants offered valuable insights into aspects of English as a school subject: there was some creative writing in English lessons, but there was a need for both more creative writing and more challenge.

There have been many different studies done around the subject of Extramural English, where researchers Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012) have drawn the conclusion that there is a correlation between video games and learners of English improving upon their English vocabulary. This study focuses time spent on whether or not playing video games for an extended amount of time will help with a student’s English vocabulary. This was done by having the students answer a demographic questionnaire in which they answer whether or not they regularly play video games, and answers approximately how many hours a week they do play. The study is looking for a correlation between improved vocabulary scores and longer periods of time spent playing video games every week. The study also looks into specific vocabulary that is commonly found in video games and compares different groups which have spent different amounts of time each week playing video games. Do video games help a learner’s English vocabulary and if so, does an increased amount of time spent on playing video games correlate to a higher score on the vocabulary tests, and do students who plays video games have an easier time with some of the specific vocabulary? The study found that there is indeed a correlation and that if a student spends time playing video games their English vocabulary proficiency will most likely increase as well. A student who spends more than ten hours a week on playing video games had higher average scores than those who played less than ten hours a week. Incidentally the students who did not play video games at all had the lowest average scores in the vocabulary tests. Lastly students who spent time playing video games had an easier time answering the questions relating to words that are commonly used in video games. / Många olika studier har utförts kring lärandet av engelska utanför klassrummet. Forskare har bland annat undersökt möjliga samband mellan Extramural engelska och ett förbättrat engelskt ordförråd. Sundqvist och Sylvén (2012) visar t.ex. ett samband mellan ord inlärning och dataspel. Om det finns ett direkt samband mellan tid tillbringad framför dataspel och utökat ordförråd är vad som utgör fokusen för denna undersökning. I denna korrelationsstudie utdelades ett demografiskt frågeformulär till 60 elever i årskurs nio. Eleverna frågades om hur regelbundet de spelade dataspel och hur många timmar de spelade varje vecka. Eleverna svarade även på ett vokabulärprov där de fick lösa problem angående engelsk vokabulär. De elever som spenderade tio timmar eller mer per vecka med dataspel hade högsta medelvärde på vokabulärproven. De elever som spelade mindre än tio timmar per vecka hade lägre. Samtidigt hade de elever som inte spenderade någon tid alls på dataspel den lägsta medelvärdes poäng utav grupperna. Studien visar en koppling mellan tid spenderat framför dataspel och ett utökat engelskt ordförråd. Ytterligare undersöks möjliga samband mellan tid spenderat på dataspel och inlärning av engelska ord som ofta används i dataspel. I vokabulär provet som eleverna fick fanns det sex ord som eleverna behövde lösa. Dessa ord är vanliga att hitta inom dataspel. Resultatet visar att de elever som spelade dataspel presterade bättre med de dataspels specifika vokabulärproblemen. De elever som inte spelade alls presterade sämst av grupperna, medan elever som spelade lite dataspel varje vecka presterade sämre än de som spelade mycket dataspel varje vecka.