I LGR 11 (2018) betonas att problemlösning ska vara en central del av matematikundervisningen. Tidigare forskning (Lithner 2008; Boesen 2009) har lyft fram att problemlösning inte ges utrymme i klassrumsundervisningen. Denna studie undersöker hur Navets pedagoger arbetar med problemlösning och hur det kopplas till Polyas fyra faser. Vi har också genomfört observationer under lektioner ledda av Navets pedagoger. Dessutom har intervjuer genomförts med Navets pedagoger för att studera deras arbetssätt. Studiens syfte är att undersöka om Navets Science Center kan stärka elevers problemlösningsförmågor genom att utgå från Polyas faser i problemlösningsundervisningen hos årskurserna 4–6. Om så är fallet, på vilket sätt kan det stärka dessa förmågor? Denna studie är grundad på kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer och observationer i utomhusundervisning med ändamål att besvara vårt syfte. Urvalet består av två pedagoger från Navet Science Center med en matematisk utbildning och fyra klasser med 69 elever som deltar i en observation samt klasslärare som reflekterar kring resultatet av besöken från Navet. Studiens resultat visar att Navet kan hjälpa skolor i arbetet med problemlösning med hjälp av sitt arbetssätt, och sina resurser och erfarenheter. Det diskussionsdrivna arbetssättet får eleverna att prata om matematik och lösa problemen tillsammans i en anda av interaktion mellan eleverna och med lärarna. Upplägget på uppgifterna bidrar till att eleverna utmanas i förhållande till Polyas fyra faser, att de förstår problem, skapar en plan, genomför planen och att de reflekterar.

Dissertation abstract The present thesis is devoted to the study of recreational mathematics, with a particular emphasis on its history, its relation to serious mathematics and its educational benefits. The thesis consists of five papers. In the first one we investigate the history of recreational mathematics. We focus on the development of mathematical problems throughout history, and we try to point out the people who had an important influence on the progress of recreational mathematics. The second article is dedicated to Edwin Abbott Abbott and his book called Flatland. It is one of the first popularizing books on geometry. In the third article we review one of the prominent personalities of recreational mathematics, Martin Gardner. The fourth article is in some sense a sequel to the third one. It deals with treachery of mathematical intuition and mathematical April Fool's hoaxes. The last article is devoted to the implementation recreational mathematics to education of students. 1

The primary objective of submitted study is the construction of SCIENCE CENTER in České Budějovice. The building is conceived as an informal education center of a regional nature, which focuses on popularization of science and new technologies. Emphasis is placed on interactive concept of the exposition and the possibility to test newly acquired knowledge. Reduction of energy use and service staff size by means of high-level automatization of operational processes management are other important factors of buildings design. The resulting shape of the object follows the mass nature and geometry of its immediate surroundings.

Syftet med arbetet är att ta reda på vilken attityd lärare har till utomhuspedagogik generellt och specifikt, samt vilket syfte lärare har med ett besök på ett Science Center i detta fall SEA-U. Syftet är också att ta reda på vilken attityd pedagogerna på SEA-U har till utomhuspedagogik, samt vilket syfte de har med sin verksamhet. Det är en kvalitativ undersökning med intervju och observation som metod. Resultatet är analyserat med hjälp av fenomenografiska ansatser. Under studien kom det fram att SEA-U pedagogerna Pär och Martin anser att platsens och sinnenas betydelse för lärande är av stor vikt i utomhuspedagogik. Klassläraren Kristina verkar däremot ha svårt att se utomhuspedagogikens fördelar. SEA-U pedagogerna Pär och Martin vill förmedla empati för djur och växter samt väcka nyfikenhet och intresse för närmiljön. För klassläraren Kristina tycks besöket på SEA-U vara mer av en trevlig utflykt, än ett lärande tillfälle.

A series of experiments was performed with the Texas A&M University Nuclear Science Center Reactor (NSCR) to verify ²³⁵U delayed neutron emission rates. A custom device was created to accurately measure a sample's pneumatic flight time and the Nuclear Science Center's (NSC's) pneumatic transfer system (PTS) was redesigned to reduce a sample's pneumatic flight time from over 1,600 milliseconds to less than 450 milliseconds. Four saturation irradiations were performed at reactor powers of 100 and 200 kW for 300 seconds and one burst irradiation was performed using a $1.61 pulse producing 19.11 MW-s of energy. Experimental results agreed extremely well with those of Keepin. By comparing the first ten seconds of collected data, the first saturation irradiation deviated ~1.869% with a dead time of 2 microseconds, while the burst irradiation deviated ~0.303% with a dead time of 5 microseconds. Saturation irradiations one, three and four were normalized to the initial count rate of saturation irradiation two to determine the system reproducibility, and deviated ~0.449%, ~0.343% and ~0.389%, respectively.

Uppdraget som låg till grund för detta examensarbete var att utveckla Vattenfall Science Centers utställning och verksamhet. Uppdraget formulerades i ett syfte att studera hur sciencecentret som koncept kan utvecklas genom att pröva hur ett sociokulturellt perspektiv pålärande yttrar sig i skapandet av en interaktiv installation. Målet med arbetet är att föreslå hurett science center kan formas och utvecklas för att skapa förutsättningar för lärande.Arbetet delades upp i tre delar. Första delen består av en studie av litteratur med syfteatt få en övergripande bild av den forskning som berör lärande på museer. Målet var att belysaviktiga aspekter för lärande på museer. Andra delen består av arbetet med att formulera endidaktisk modell som svarar för vad, varför och hur ett ämne eller ämnesområde skapresenteras, samt att tillämpa den didaktiska modellen i skapandet av en interaktivinstallation. Tredje delen av arbetet består av en utvärdering av mötet mellan den skapadeinstallationen och dess användare.I denna rapport presenteras arbetets tre delar för att avslutningsvis leda till endiskussion kring examensarbetets huvudfråga: Hur kan förutsättningar för lärande möjliggörasi utformandet av en interaktiv utställning?Att skapa förutsättningar för lärande handlar om att skapa förutsättningar föraktiviteter som möjliggör lärande. Genom utformning och val av innehåll i en utställningfinns möjlighet att skapa mer eller mindre goda förutsättning för lärande. Därför är det viktigtatt från början ha en klar bild av vilken typ av aktivitet som det är önskvärt att utställningeninbjuder besökaren till, exempelvis samarbete, samtal och besökarens egen påverkan.Det traditionella science centret är ofta kritiserat för att framställa naturvetenskap ochteknik som något färdigt och opåverkbart. För att skapa intresse och engagemang för dessaämnen och för områdena energi och miljö betonas från flera håll vikten av att iställetframställa dem nyanserat och från flera perspektiv. Därför är det viktigt att i arbetet med attutveckla en interaktiv utställning eller en science center verksamhet diskutera hur det tänktaämnet ska presenteras för att uppnå detta.Att skapa och utveckla en utställning och en verksamhet är en arbetsprocess sominvolverar många människor. Här liksom i alla situationer där många människor ärinvolverade i ett och samma projekt behövs en tydlig ambition och tydliga mål medverksamheten som kan styra och leda arbetsprocessens alla delar. I arbetet har det betonats attdenna ambition kan utvecklas från att intressera besökaren för naturvetenskap och teknik, idetta fall med fokus på energi- och miljöfrågor, till att också skapa engagemang. Engagemangsom exempelvis kan skapas genom att erbjuda besökaren verktyg för att själv kunna agera ochpåverka framtiden i relation energi- och miljöfrågor. / This study illuminates how the science center as a concept can be developed and how asociocultural perspective on learning influences the design of an interactive exhibit. The aimof the study is to propose ideas on how a science center can be designed and developed withthe purpose of creating good conditions for learning.The work was divided in three parts. In the first part literature was studied with theaim of highlighting aspects important for learning from a sociocultural perspective. In thesecond part an educational model was formulated based on the result from the literature study,interviews and study visits. The educational model was then used to guide the design of aninteractive exhibit on hydro power. The third part consists of an evaluation of the exhibitbased on observation of the visitors’ interaction with the exhibit.In this thesis the work and the result of the three parts are presented leading to a finaldiscussion about the key question of the study: How can learning possibilities be createdthrough the design of an interactive exhibition?Creating possibilities for learning is about creating possibilities for activities thatmakes learning possible. Through the design and in the choice of content of an exhibition it ispossible to create more or less good conditions for learning. Therefore it is important to havea clear picture of what type of activities it is desirable that an exhibition invite the visitor to,for example cooperation and conversation and the visitors’ possibility to influence the resultof the activity.The traditional science center is often criticized for presenting science and technologyas something static and finished. To create interest and engagement for the subject area it isinstead needed to be presented from a wide range of perspectives. Therefore throughout thework of developing an interactive exhibition or a science center it is important to discuss howthe subject area can be presented to fulfil this aim.Creating and developing an exhibition is a work that involves a number of people withdifferent backgrounds, knowledge and ideas. Just as in any other project that involves manypeople a clear ambition with clear goals is needed and makes a shared vision possible that canlead and steer all parts of the work.

Most science centres in Canada employ science-educated floor staff to motivate visitorsto have fun while enhancing the educational reach of the exhibits. Although bright andsensitive to visitors’ needs, floor staff are rarely consulted in the planning,implementation, and modification phases of an exhibit. Instead, many developmentteams rely on costly third-party evaluations or skip the front-end and formativeevaluations all together, leading to costly errors that could have been avoided. This studywill seek to reveal a correlation between floor staff’s perception of visitors’ interactionswith an exhibit and visitors’ actual experiences. If a correlation exists, a recommendationcould be made to encourage planning teams to include floor staff in the formative andsummative evaluations of an exhibit. This is especially relevant to science centres withlimited budgets and for whom a divide exists between floor staff and management.In this study, a formative evaluation of one exhibit was conducted, measuring both floorstaff’s perceptions of the visitor experience and visitors’ own perceptions of the exhibit.Floor staff were then trained on visitor evaluation methods. A week later, floor staff andvisitors were surveyed a second time on a different exhibit to determine whether anincrease in accuracy existed.The training session increased the specificity of the motivation and comprehensionresponses and the enthusiasm of the staff, but not their ability to predict observedbehaviours with respect to ergonomics, learning indicators, holding power, and successrates. The results revealed that although floor staff underestimated visitors’ success ratesat the exhibits, staff accurately predicted visitors’ behaviours with respect to holdingpower, ergonomics, learning indicators, motivation and comprehension, both before andafter the staff training.

Self-motivated activities, or play, that children choose to engage in are manifestations of a variety of science process skills being used to construct knowledge about their environment. While many people agree that science skills should be fostered at an early age, due to the possible positive influence of a wider base of experiential knowledge and the development of a love of science, there is a lack of research available to support the development of early childhood science curriculum (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997, Brenneman, Stevenson-Boyd & Frede, 2009). This study follows the daily activities of four- and five-year-old children attending a science-based preschool in the southwestern United States. The play activities of the children were observed for their use of the science process skills of observing, comparing, classifying, measuring, communicating, inferring, predicting and experimenting. A wide range of play activities centered around the foundational skills of observing, comparing, measuring, communicating and inferring. The teachers and students combine to create a unique environment promoting excitement and exploration. / text

Science centres have been identified as an important resource in encouraging teenagers to choose higher education in science and technology. This is of interest to society, since there seems to be a problem in getting sufficient numbers to do so. And accomplishing this is sometimes described as a fatal question for a nation’s future prosperity and development. Still, there is an international trend where teenagers fail to visit science centres.   Through research, little is known about what is interesting or useful to the public, as well as how to reach those who are ‘unengaged’. Considering teenagers as exponents for what distinguishes today’s society makes their apparent unwillingness to participate in science centres interesting to study with regards to what culture, history and ideology these centres were initially produced. Hence, from this point of view, what is missing in science centres that would make them interesting for the young people of today?   Many studies of learning in science centres have come to focus on visitors who visit voluntarily and how well the embedded messages in the exhibits have been acknowledged by these visitors. This study focuses instead on teenagers who are reluctant to participate in science centres, with their perspective of science centres as the point of departure, specifically what kind of social activities are formed in their encounters with science centre exhibits. This encounter is regarded as an encounter between the two different practices of the science centre and the teenagers. The applied theoretical perspective is mainly assembled from socio-cultural theories of learning.   This research is a microanalytic study of five teenagers who were equipped with video cameras and asked to film a visit to the local science centre, Teknikens Hus. The films were later discussed in a focus-group interview consisting of the teenagers and the researcher. Visual ethnography provided the theoretical framework for this research design.   The results showed that the teenagers want to use exhibits to have the authority of interpretations and the possibilities to contribute to the meaning of the activity. At the same time, they want to use the exhibits in a way that the activities become places for developing social identity. To negotiate the meaning of the exhibits there is a need for an openness that may be constrained by too inflexible and limiting exhibit designs. This pattern is described as two different forms of participation in the exhibits; ignoring or extending the intended meaning of the exhibits. Meaningfulness also demands a closeness created by connections between the exhibit and the user’s personal experiences. This pattern is described as two different ways in which the teenagers identified the exhibits; exhibits which they dissociated from or to which they had an ongoing relationship. Providing a space for negotiation seems crucial to inviting teenagers into opportunities of meaningful experiences, even more significant than any specific physical feature in the exhibit.   The teenagers’ agenda, in which forming practices where they can express themselves and contribute to the meaning seem to be very important, appears not to be greatly enabled by science centre exhibits. In this situation they learn to not participate. Science and technology represented in this matter show a ‘ready-made’ world that they cannot change. The missing link in learning in science centres is here described as the part of the meaning making process where the teenagers get to re-negotiate the meaning of the activities in the centre and use the exhibits as tools to accomplish this.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2009. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 190-195). Also available on the World Wide Web.