This study investigates the portrayal of Sweden's five national minorities in textbooks adapted for the Swedish National Curriculum (Lgr11) in grades 7-9. In 2022, the curriculum and syllabi (Lgr22) for compulsory school, compulsory special needs education, Sámi school, and special schools were revised. This, coupled with the varied availability of updated textbooks across Sweden, indicates a risk that the teaching taking place in the subject of social studies in grades 7-9 may present Sweden's five national minorities in a manner inconsistent with Lgr22. To address the study's research questions, a critical multimodal discourse analysis was employed, revealing that textbooks adapted for Lgr11 present the national minorities in a manner incongruent with Lgr22 and highlighting challenges in how the national minorities are represented in the textbooks. There is a need for a more diverse and inclusive treatment of these groups to promote a fairer and more representative portrayal of society. Textbooks must acknowledge and incorporate various perspectives and experiences from national minorities to foster understanding and respect for diversity in society. Thus, it can also be argued that the need for updated textbooks on the subject of social studies is of paramount importance.

The licentiate thesis examines what spending time in a forest garden can offer children when this environment is used for teaching aimed at sustainability. What do the children remember from their visits to the forest garden? What do they find special or memorable? What can the children learn there? To answer such questions, walk-and-talk conversations were conducted with children who for a three-year period had regularly visited a forest garden during school hours. The overall purpose of the licentiate thesis is to deepen knowledge about what spending time in a forest garden in a school context can offer children, reflected from the children's perspectives. Furthermore, the thesis aims to deepen knowledge about walk-and-talk conversations as a data collection method when children are respondents. This leads to the research questions: 1. In what ways can walk-and-talk conversations as a data collection method reflect children's perspectives in an environment and in relation to places? What are the possibilities and limitations of the method? 2. What significance do forest garden visits in a pedagogical context aimed at learning for sustainability have from the children's perspective? The theoretical starting points of the licentiate thesis draw on social studies of childhood, ecological literacy and affordances. Another concept that emerged in the analysis process was plant blindness. Data consisted of audio-recorded walk-and-talk conversations, children's photographs and recorded informal, supplementary interviews. A total of 28 children (11 boys and 17 girls) participated in sub-studies II and III. The children were aged 7-9 years, but most were 9 years old. The licentiate thesis consists of three sub-studies: Sub-study I is a literature review that focuses on opportunities, limitations, and challenges in using walk-and-talk conversations as a data collection method with children and young people. Walk-and-talk conversations can increase opportunities to capture children's perspectives and help to reduce power imbalances between children and researchers. However, analysing data from child-led walks and conversations can be challenging, while awareness of the researcher's own position and assumptions becomes particularly important. Sub-study II deals with the forest garden from children’s perspective. The first category, ‘to appreciate the place the forest garden’, contained the following themes: physical work, relationships with animals and plants, aesthetic and edible aspects and food, and friends. Most of the children enjoyed staying in the forest garden with its natural features. They valued the care of living organisms and felt that spending time in the forest garden was fun and exciting. In the second category, ‘aspects of learning in the forest garden’, the following themes emerged; practical skills, coexistence and caring, and biological knowledge and ecological understanding. Sub-study III deals with the four most photographed phenomena in the forest garden. The first were the plants, including trees and shrubs, which provided sensual, aesthetic and emotional affordances. The second was the pond, which provided physical affordances and wishes, while the third, the barbecue area, provided social affordances. Finally, the tipi provided affordances for privacy and imagination. To conclude: children's forest garden visits, with learning and nature encounters, can contribute to sustainable development. The investigated forest garden was an outdoor environment designed for children with natural features and with a focus on organic farming, where the forest garden educators helped to create a framework for both learning and relational opportunities. Developing ecological literacy in the new generation is a crucial concern, and the results of the licentiate thesis suggest that establishing educational outdoor environments where children receive parts of their education can contribute to the development of such literacy. The creation of outdoor environments for children is thus an important sustainability issue. / Licentiatuppsatsen undersöker vad skogträdgårdsvistelser kan erbjuda barn när en sådan miljö används för undervisning riktad mot hållbarhet. Det övergripande syfte är att fördjupa kunskap om vad skogsträdgårdsvistelser i en skolkontext kan tillföra barn, speglat utifrån barnens perspektiv. Vidare syftar uppsatsen till att fördjupa kunskaper om samtalspromenader som datainsamlingsmetod när barn är respondenter. Licentiatuppsatsens teoretiska utgångspunkter tar avstamp i barndomssociologi (Social Studies of Childhood), ekologisk litteracitet och affordances. Ett annat begrepp som framkom efter analysprocessen var växtblindhet. Den undersökta skogsträdgården, var en natur- och utomhusmiljö med inriktning mot ekologisk odling designad för barn, där skogsträdgårdspedagogernas pedagogiska inramning bidrog till att skapa både pedagogiska och relationella möjligheter. Metodvalet har varit ljudupptagna samtalspromenader, barns fotografier samt inspelade informella, kompletterande intervjuer. Sammanfattningsvis visar resultaten att barns skogsträdgårdsvistelser, lärande och naturmöten bidra till hållbar utveckling. Utvecklandet av ekologisk litteracitet hos den uppväxande generationen måste betraktas som central, och licentiatuppsatsens resultat pekar mot att anläggandet av pedagogiska utomhusmiljöer där barn får delar av sin undervisning kan bidra till utvecklandet av sådan litteracitet. Tillskapandet av utomhusmiljöer för barn är därför en viktig hållbarhetsfråga.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om och i så fall hur verksamma lärare använder läromedel i samhällskunskapsämnet. Undersökningen utgår från sex lärare och hur deras användande av läromedel ser ut. Samtliga lärare undervisar inom SO-blocket, varav fem av lärarna undervisar i ämnet samhällskunskap för årskurs 4-6. Den återstående läraren har undervisat i ämnet men gjorde det inte under tiden intervjun genomfördes. Undersökningen genomfördes med en kvalitativ metod och intervjuerna var semistrukturerade. Resultatet i undersökningen visar att alla lärare som deltog i undersökningen använder läromedel, dock i olika grad och på olika sätt. Resultatet visar också att lärarna använder olika typer av läromedel, så som läroböcker, eget material, digitala läromedel och filmer. Lärarna är eniga om att olika typer av läromedel innebär olika arbetssätt, vilket ska gynna elever. I resultatet framgår också att lärarna inte var eniga kring vad som ansågs vara fördelar och nackdelar med de olika läromedlen. Nästan alla lärare anser att läromedlet är ett hjälpmedel, för dem själva och för eleverna. / The purpose of this study is to investigate if and how active teachers use teaching aids in the social studies subject. The survey is based on six teachers and what their use of teaching materials is like. All teachers teach within the subjects; social studies, history, geography and religion, of which five of the teachers teach the subject of social studies for grades 4-6. The remaining teacher has recently taught the subject but did not do so during the interview. The survey was conducted using a qualitative method and the interviews were semi-structured. The result of the survey shows that all teachers who took part in the survey use teaching aids, although to varying degrees and in various ways. It also shows that the teachers use different types of teaching aids, such as textbooks, their own material, digital teaching aids and films. The teachers agree that different types of teaching aids involve different ways of working, which should benefit students. The results also show that the teachers did not agree on what were considered to be advantages and disadvantages of the various teaching aids. Almost all teachers consider the teaching material to be an aid, for themselves and for the students.

The purpose of this study is to determine what degree, if any, relationship exists between reading and social studies in the intermediate grades of the Waelder Elementary School, and then to determine means of using reading as a tool to aid children in their social studies.

The purpose of this study is to determine the nature of a curriculum for use in the eighth-grade social science classes of the Plainview Junior High School, Plainview, Texas.

In a large urban school system located in a metropolitan city in the southeastern United States, third- and fifth-grade minority students in Title I elementary schools are performing below proficiency in social studies on the statewide standardized assessments. The lack of exposure to the social studies curriculum continues to hinder minority students from successfully comprehending complex informational text, which is important to their success in the newly adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the problem teachers faced with an insufficient amount of time for teaching social studies content and the recent requirement to increase student exposure to informational text. The research used Lev Vygotsky's theory of social constructivism to provide a framework for the methods used in this paper. To address these problems, this study explored two third-grade and two fifth-grade language arts teachers' perceptions of integrating social studies text during their reading-language arts block. Further, the study observed teachers as they integrated social studies text to teach reading. Data for this case study were compiled from interviews, observations, and focus group discussions. The data were reviewed and coded to identify major themes and were then analyzed to generalize data findings. Teachers reported integrating social studies text afforded them the opportunity to maximize instructional time, teach the CCSS, and expose students to more informational text. Implications for positive social change include enabling teachers to identify the benefits of integrating social studies text during reading-language arts instruction and enabling minority students to increase their scores on the statewide social studies assessment.

This dissertation entailed a qualitative case study on the confluence of technology and social studies in fostering a constructivist education. Through the examination of pre-service social studies teachers’ understanding of the online primary source resources (OPSR), three themes emerged. The first exposed the fragmented understanding of important pedagogical theories of constructivism and historical thinking among participants; the second suggested that OPSR was mostly valued by pre-service teachers for its provision of primary sources; and the third related to how pre-service teachers viewed the current state of technology and context as problematic for technology integration. Accordingly, four findings were revealed. First, the pre-service teachers in the study demonstrated a limited understanding of the application of foundational theories central to their field of study; second, there were instances of deeper appreciation of the potential of OPSR, indicating that pre-service teachers’ theoretical understanding is ix nascent and may deepen overtime; third, the full potential of technologies such as OPSR was not recognized; and fourth, the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of school and educational system conditions tended to negatively influence their views toward the integration of technology into their teaching practices. Implications indicate that first, foundational pedagogical theories are critical with regard to technology integration in education and as such teacher preparation programs must not assume what is taught is what is learned; second, instances of deeper understanding among pre-service teachers only appeared during the application of their theoretical understandings; third, context is critical in how OPSR would be used in classrooms and such contextual issues must not be ignored by teacher preparation programs; and fourth, teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (PCK/TPCK) is critical in the integration of technology in education. / text

<p>Title: What is important knowledge in social studies- An analyse of opinions among teachers in social studies</p><p>The aim of this paper is to increase the awareness about how teachers in Social studies think about goals and substance in the subject. I also want to get a picture about what kinds of problems teacher’s experiences when teaching Social studies. My expectations told me that Social studies are complex to teach, because it derives from several university disciplines such as Political science, Economics, Sociology, Law and Geography, which I believe makes the subject harder to define and what to give priority to. Finally, I want to increase the awareness, if it seems to be any fundamental essence in Social studies as a subject.</p><p>To achieve my goals with this paper I have studied relevant literature about Social studies. I also made an investigation with seven teachers who teach Social studies.</p><p>The results of the investigation showed that political science is very wide and contains a lot of different areas. The basic view about Social studies varied among the investigations participants, however the majority thought that the subject should convey practical training skills and ought to, in some way, prepare students for later acts in life. The investigation also showed that the participants mainly focused on areas from Sociology and Political science and less often from Law, Geography and Economics. Finally, when it comes to the essence of the subject, the investigation showed that that democracy has a very special place. However, in what way the teachers work with and discuss democracy, vary.</p> / <p>Uppsatsens syfte är att öka kännedomen om hur samhällskunskapslärare tänker kring mål och innehåll i ämnet Samhällskunskap. Jag vill också få en bild av vilka problem, man kan uppleva som samhällskunskapslärare i sin undervisning i Samhällskunskap, då ämnet är väldigt komplext och härstammar från flera olika universitetsdiscipliner vilka är Statsvetenskap, Sociologi, Nationalekonomi, Rättskunskap och Samhälls/Kulturgeografi. Den varierande bakgrunden och mängden stoff kan, menar jag, eventuellt medföra stoffträngsel, prioriteringssvårigheter och att ämnet upplevs vara svårdefinierat. Slutligen vill jag få ökad kännedom om det verkar finnas någon grundläggande kärna i ämnet?</p><p>För att uppnå mina syften med uppsatsen studerar jag dels studerat relevant litteratur om Samhällskunskap både ur ett beskrivande och problematiserande perspektiv. Jag genomför även en undersökning, i form av en enkät med öppna svarsalternativ, som besvaras av sju verksamma gymnasielärare i Samhällskunskap.</p><p>Undersökningens resultat visar att Samhällskunskap är vitt och mångfacetterande, då undersökningsdeltagarna lyfter fram många och olika tankar kring vad som är viktigt stoff i ämnet. Synen på målen med Samhällskunskap varierar hos undersökningsdeltagarna även om majoriteten lyfter fram att Samhällskunskap skall innefatta färdighets och förtrogenhetskunskap och att man som elev skall förberedas för senare agerande i livet. Man kan utifrån undersökningen även se att de områden och begrepp som lärarna främst lyfter fram härstammar från universitetsdisciplinerna Sociologi och Statsvetenskap. Däremot lyfts mer sällan begrepp från Rättskunskap, Samhälls/Kulturgeografi och Nationalekonomi fram vilket tyder på ”stoff prioritering” i en viss riktning. När det gäller ämnets kärna kan man se att demokrati verkar ha en särskild plats inom ämnet, på vilket sätt, varierar dock. Demokratins särskilda plats harmonierar dock väl med de intentioner man har haft och fortfarande har med Samhällskunskap som ämne.</p>

The aim of this study is to investigate how gender and class are portrayed in textbooks that are used in teachings of social studies. This study uses a qualitative research method analysising both texts and images. The theoretical framework used is intersectionality and gender perspectives developed by Hirdman (1988) and Josefson (2005). The questions focused in the study are the following:  How are men and women portrayed (through both text and images) in two textbooks used in social studies? Is the portrayal of men and women based on traditionally female and male-dominated jobs? And is there a correlation between female and male characteristics in the professions that appears in the textbooks? Are men and women portrayed (in the textbooks) as if belonging to separate classes? The results show that female and male characteristics are kept apart in the textbooks, and that women and men generally are associated with traditional female and male-dominated jobs and jobs that are described by female or male characteristics. The result however shows an equal distribution of men and women in the textbooks.

This study draws attention to how teachers view and reason about ethics education in social studies. Based on the Social representation theory, the study aim to answer questions about the content and themes which are expressed in the teachers' conversations about ethics education. The study also wants to emphasize the communicative resources used by participants when they create a common understanding of ethics education. The study's empirical data consists of six focus groups interviews with teachers working with student in school year 4-6. Teachers in three teams (a total of 13 teachers) met at two occasions to talk about ethics education in social studies. The result from the analysis is presented in three parts. The first part draws attention to teachers' social representations of ethics education in social studies. Four social representations were found and they consist of teachers' ideas about content, methods and strategies, and the purpose and goals and difficulties in ethics education. The second part shows that the teachers express three social representations of how ethics education is related to, religious education, social studies and the school's overall mission. The analysis shows that ethics education is an important part of the religious education but also other subjects in social studies and the school's overall mission. The third part draws attention to the communicative resources that teachers use to create a common understanding of ethics education. Examples of communicative resources used in the conversations is teaching materials, national tests, the curriculum and their own teacher education. / Lärare i den svenska grundskolan har i uppdrag att utveckla elevers kunskaper om och i etik. Studien syftar därför till att undersöka hur lärare, som undervisar i skolåren 4–6, samtalar om etikundervisning i de samhällsorienterande ämnena med särskilt fokus på religionskunskap. Teorin om sociala representationer har utgjort både teoretisk utgångspunkt och analysverktyg i studien. Empirin består av fokusgruppsintervjuer med tre arbetslag med lärare som samtliga undervisar i de samhällsorienterande ämnena. Analysen visar att det i lärarnas samtal framträder fyra sociala representationer av etikundervisning; etikundervisning som fostran i socialt samspel, etikundervisning som demokratifostran, etikundervisning som värde- och dygdetisk fostran och etikundervisning som utveckling av etiskt tänkande. Dessa sociala representationer består av lärares didaktiska idéer om undervisningens syfte, metoder och strategier, innehåll samt svårigheter. Analysen visar vidare att det i lärarnas samtal framträder tre sociala representationer av hur etikundervisning relaterar till de samhällsorienterande ämnena och skolans övergripande uppdrag. Dessa är; etikundervisning har en naturlig plats i religionskunskap, etikundervisning är en viktig del i alla samhällsorienterande ämnen och etikundervisning pågår dagligen i den praktiska verksamheten. Det tycks som om etik är ständigt aktuellt men sällan är det primära undervisningsinnehållet. I samtalen framträder också de kommunikativa resurser som lärarna använder för att skapa en gemensam förståelse av etikundervisning. Exempel på kommunikativa resurser som används i samtalen är; läroplan, nationella prov, läromedel, forskning och kunskap från utbildning. / Helena Anderström har sedan 2002 arbetat inom grundskolan med undervisning i de samhällsorienterande ämnena. Hon är nu verksam vid lärarutbildningen i Jönköping. Lärares samtal om etik - Sociala representationer av etikundervisning på mellanstadiet inom ramen för samhällsorienterande ämnen är hennes licentiatuppsats. Lärares samtal om etik – Sociala representationer av etikundervisning på mellanstadiet inom ramen för samhällsorienterande ämnen Lärare i den svenska grundskolan har i uppdrag att utveckla elevers kunskaper om, av och i etik. Studien syftar därför till att undersöka hur lärare, som undervisar i skolåren 4–6, samtalar om etikundervisning i de samhällsorienterande ämnena med särskilt fokus på religionskunskap. Teorin om sociala representationer har utgjort både teoretisk utgångspunkt och analysverktyg i studien. Empirin består av fokusgruppsintervjuer med tre arbetslag med lärare som samtliga undervisar i de samhällsorienterande ämnena. Analysen visar att det i lärarnas samtal framträder fyra sociala representationer av etikundervisning; etikundervisning som fostran i socialt samspel, etikundervisning som demokratifostran, etikundervisning som värde- och dygdetisk fostran och etikundervisning som utveckling av etiskt tänkande. Dessa sociala representationer består av lärares didaktiska idéer om undervisningens syfte, metoder och strategier, innehåll samt svårigheter. Analysen visar vidare att det i lärarnas samtal framträder tre sociala representationer av hur etikundervisning relaterar till de samhällsorienterande ämnena och skolans övergripande uppdrag. Dessa är; etikundervisning har en naturlig plats i religionskunskap, etikundervisning är en viktig del i alla de samhällsorienterande ämnena och etikundervisning pågår dagligen i den praktiska verksamheten. Det tycks som om etik är ständigt aktuellt men sällan är det primära undervisningsinnehållet. I samtalen framträder också de kommunikativa resurser som lärarna använder för att skapa en gemensam förståelse av etikundervisning. Exempel på kommunikativa resurser som används i samtalen är; läroplan, nationella prov, läromedel, forskning och kunskap från utbildning.