This study examines teachers' approach to controversial topics, within the subject of civics and social sciences in Swedish upper secondary school. The aim of the study is to describe and problematize the approaches chosen by teachers when controversial topics are brought up in the classroom. To achieve this, the study will examine the following questions: What do teachers consider as controversial topics? How do teachers handle situations where controversial topics arise in the classroom? Why do teachers believe controversial topics are important in education? To answer these questions, several qualitative interviews were executed. The results show that there are several topics in civics and social sciences that may strike one as being controversial. Examples of such topics are questions regarding immigration, minorities, feminism, gender, and ethnicity. In summary, the results show that teachers aspire to let controversial issues be a part of their subject, and that they see benefits with this. However, the teachers' attitudes toward their mission differ, which can also be said about their perspective on what could be the definition of “controversial topics”. The reasonings presented by teachers in this study, as to why they find these topics important, can be divided into two sections. Firstly, such topics matter to students and are engaging. Secondly, it is relevant to the subject of civics and social studies, as well as the curriculum and it’s mission to foster democracy.

Resultat av forskningsstudier som visar på att formativ bedömning har positiva effekter på elevers lärande har fått stor spridning i världen och inte minst i Sverige. Kunskapsbedömningar i skolan görs med olika syften. När bedömningar görs för att stötta och utveckla elevers lärande talas det om formativ bedömning och när bedömning görs för att stämma av elevers kunskaper mot betygskriterier benämns det som summativ bedömning. Båda typerna av bedömning behövs men forskningsstudier har gjorts som indikerar att betygsfokus och digitala lärplattformar kan utgöra hinder för en formativ bedömningspraxis. Forskning som undersöker hur elever och lärare uppfattar och använder sig av formativ bedömning i ämnet samhällskunskap på gymnasiet har gjorts i begränsad omfattning. Så är det även vad gäller forskning som undersöker hur formativ bedömning uppfattas av elever och lärare i samhällskunskap under ett läsår präglat av en blandning av när- och distansundervisning under en pandemi.  Syftet med undersökningen är att ta reda på hur elever och lärare uppfattar formativ bedömning i samhällskunskap. Syftet är också att undersöka hur de uppfattar formativ bedömning under ett läsår präglat av en blandning av när- och distansundervisning.   De frågeställningar som formulerades för att uppnå syftet besvarades genom att kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes med elever som studerar Samhällskunskap 1b med olika lång erfarenhet av gymnasiestudier samt med deras lärare. Resultatet av intervjuerna analyserades med hjälp av fem nyckelstrategier som Paul Black och Dylan Wiliam utformat utifrån sin forskning om lärande och bedömning. Dessa strategier beskrivs som användbara verktyg i undervisningen för att kunna besvara frågor om var eleven befinner sig i lärandeprocessen, vart eleven är på väg och hur eleven ska ta sig dit.   Resultatet av undersökningen visar att den digitala lärplattform som elever och lärare använder sig av är ett gynnsamt verktyg för att synliggöra för eleverna och för läraren var eleverna befinner sig inlärningsmässigt i förhållande till målen. Undersökningen visar också på att eleverna uppfattar lärarens återkoppling som användbar för att ta sig vidare i lärandeprocessen. Den skriftliga återkopplingen eleverna får tillsammans med ett betygsliknande omdöme uppfattas av eleverna som en indikation om var eleven befinner sig, vart den är på väg och hur den ska ta sig vidare, vilket uppskattas av eleverna. Följaktligen visar resultatet av den här undersökningen att de formativa och summativa kunskapsbedömningarna harmonierar väl med varandra. Kamraters återkoppling värderas inte lika högt som lärarens då kamraten inte uppfattas som lika kompetent i ämnet som läraren. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att eleverna tränas i att kunna göra självbedömningar men att de uppfattar sig olika mycket som ägare av sitt eget lärande beroende på om de är första- eller andraårselever.   Resultatet visar att läraren upplevt att muntlig återkoppling blivit svårare att ge under de förutsättningar som ges under pandemin och att träning i kamratbedömning inte är något som prioriterats i någon större utsträckning under dessa ovanliga omständigheter. Avslutningsvis visar resultatet av undersökningen på den potential de digitala verktygen har för en formativ bedömningspraxis då undervisningen kombineras av när- och distansundervisning. / Results from research studies showing the positive effects of formative assessment on students’ learning have spread across the world and in Sweden. Assessment of student achievement has two different functions depending on why the assessment is made. When the goal is to monitor learning the assessment is formative and when the goal is to evaluate what the student has learnt at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it to some standards it is summative. Both types of assessments are needed but some research studies indicate that formative assessment practices may be impeded by excessive focus on grades and by the design of digital learning platforms. Not many research studies have been made examining formative assessment practices in social studies at upper secondary school. Nor have many research studies been made that examine formative assessment practices and how they are perceived by students and teachers a school year during a pandemic.   The aim of the study is to find out how formative assessment in social studies is perceived by students and teachers at upper secondary school. The aim is also to examine how they perceive formative assessment practices a school year during a pandemic with a mix of on-site and distance learning.   A qualitative method was used to answer the research questions. Two groups of students from different grades studying the same core course “Samhällskunskap 1b” and their teacher were interviewed. The data gathered from the interviews were analyzed with Paul Black’s and Dylan Wiliam’s five strategies formed on the basis of their research on learning and assessment. These strategies are described as useful tools in education to answer questions about where the student is in his/her learning process, where the student is going and how to get there.   The result of the study shows that the digital learning platform that the students and their teacher use is a beneficial tool for them to visualize where the student is in the learning process in relation to the learning goals. Furthermore, the result shows us that the students perceive the feedback that they receive from their teacher as useful in guiding the student where to go next and how to get there. The written feedback combined with a summative-like assessment helps the students taking the next step in the learning process. Consequently, this study shows that formative and summative assessments harmonize. Peer assessment is not as much valued by the students as the formative assessment they receive from their teacher, since they do not regard their peers being sufficiently qualified to give feedback. The result of the study shows that students do get training in making self-assessments. However, students in second grade consider themselves as owners of their own learning to a greater extent when compared with students in first grade.   The result shows us that the teacher perceives that opportunities to give students oral feedback have diminished during the pandemic and that the practice of peer assessment has been given less priority during these extraordinary circumstances. Finally, the result shows us the potential of digital tools being used for formative assessment practices when education is a combination of learning at school and online.

Beteckningen särskola etablerades 1955 och har sedan 1985 varit inskriven i Skollagen. Särskoleverksamheten är en skolform vid sidan av den ordinarie skolverksamheten och är avsedd för elever med intellektuella funktionsnedsättningar som inte bedöms klara av att följa den ordinarie undervisningen. Undervisningen i särskoleverksamheten ska i största mån motsvara den som bedrivs inom den ordinarie skolverksamheten. Denna studies syfte är att undersöka verksamma speciallärares subjektiva upplevelser av olika delar av arbetet inom särskolan. Syftet är vidare att besvara de frågeställningar som ligger till grund för arbetet, som berör hur lärare i sitt arbete förhåller sig till styrdokumenten, hur de arbetar kunskapsutvecklande samt hur samhällskunskapsämnet kommer till uttryck inom verksamheten. Studien antar en teoretisk utgångspunkt ur fenomenologisk teori då den undersöker verksamma speciallärares subjektiva upplevelser av olika situationer relaterat till lärande inom särskolan. Metoden som antas för att genomföra undersökningen är en kvalitativ intervjustudie med en induktiv metodansats. Det som framkommer ur intervjuerna är en gemensam positiv inställning till rådande styrdokument och dess kunskapsfokusering. Respondenterna har även uppfattningen att samhällskunskapen är väldigt viktig för eleverna att få möta men att kan vara problematiskt på grund av abstrakt innehåll som ska brytas ner till en lämplig nivå. Vidare framkommer en generell uppfattning att lärarna i stor utsträckning använder styrdokumenten som förankring för sin undervisning. Även detta upplevs stundvis som problematiskt då styrdokumenten och dess bedömningskriterier upplevs diffusa. Det kunskapsutvecklande arbetet upplevs som en stor utmaning, men likväl en viktig del av arbetet. Utmaningar ligger i att motivera enskilda elever, hitta en nivå i undervisningen som är lämplig för eleverna, formulera uppnåbara, bedömningsbara och tidsbegränsade mål. Det är vidare viktigt att få med sig eleverna i utvecklingen genom ständigt kommunikation i form av formativ bedömning, återkoppling och positiv förstärkning vid framsteg i utvecklingen. / The term Special school [särskola] was established in 1955 in Sweden and has been registered in the Education Act since 1985. The special school is a form of education in addition to the regular schools and is intended for students with intellectual disabilities who are not considered to be able to follow the regular teaching. The teaching in the special school shall to the greatest extent correspond to that which is conducted within the regular school. The purpose of this study is to research active special teachers' subjective perceptions and experiences in different parts of their work within the special school. The purpose is also to answer the questions that form the basis of this study, which covers how teachers in their teaching relate to the curriculum, how they work to encourage the students’ knowledge development and how the Social Studies subject [samhällskunskap] is expressed within the special school. The study assumes a theoretical starting point from phenomenological theory as it examines active special teachers' subjective experiences and perceptions of different situations related to learning within the special school. The method adopted for conducting the survey is a qualitative interview study with an inductive methodical approach. What emerges from the interviews is a shared positive attitude towards the prevailing curriculum and its focus on knowledge. The respondents also have the opinion that the social studies subject is very important for the students but that it can be problematic due to abstract content that must be broken down to an appropriate level. Furthermore, there is a general perception that teachers to a large extent use the curriculum as an anchor for their teaching. This is also sometimes perceived as problematic as the curriculum and its evaluation criteria are perceived as diffuse. The knowledge development work is perceived as a great challenge, but still an important part of the work. Challenges lie in motivating individual students, finding a balance in the teaching that is suitable for all students and formulating achievable, assessable and time-limited goals. The teachers also emphasize that it is also important to involve the students in the development through constant communication in the form of formative assessment, feedback and positive reinforcement in the process of their development.

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Preparing student teachers for constructivist teaching about society in primary grades Michaela Dvořáková Abstract The content of primary social studies could be described as cultural universals - domains of human existence that form part of everybody's experience. Despite that, children do need a skilled instruction helping them to elaborate these topics. We suppose that for the constructivist teachers, deep content knowledge and pedagogic content knowledge is necessary to elaborate and conceptualize children's experiences. In this thesis, we wanted to learn more about the knowledge base of pre-service teachers. To explore the education students' content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of social studies topics, we elicited students' concepts related to the topic of family using concept mapping. Then we performed the content analysis of the obtained concepts. We tried to determine whether pre-service teachers rely on their prior knowledge (including misconceptions) of family or whether they use the knowledge gained in social science classes at the high school or at our university. Students do not use their academic knowledge gained in social studies classes spontaneously, but they are able to do when prompted. An important part of pedagogical content knowledge of a social studies teacher are the...

The aim of conducting the following research is to observe how teachers in upper secondary school create conditions for developing disciplinary literacy in social science. Additionally, the aim is to examine how teachers reflect upon their practices regarding pupils’ development of disciplinary literacy. In order to carry out the aim of the research overview, two research questions were constructed. The theoretical foundation of the research consists of Vygotsky’s socio-cultural perspective, which includes the concepts mediation, appropriation, scaffolding and the Zone of Proximal Development. Furthermore, Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Learning Objectives was used in order to provide a cognitive perspective. Research on disciplinary literacy, mainly that of Shanahan and Shanahan, combined with social science research formed an additional framework for analysis. The data consists of both qualitative, semi-structured interviews with two social science teachers and collected teaching material. Consequently, a qualitative content analysis was conducted using the aforementioned theoretical framework. Results show that teachers consider perspective-taking an essential ability in social science and that the development of disciplinary literacy is a linear progression from simpler, factual concepts to complex, analytical concepts. Further, social science is characterized by its large content-specific vocabulary. In addition, teachers experience that pupils struggle with scientific reading and writing, which are skills that are viewed as essential. The chosen didactic methods of the teachers include authentic texts and examples, and content-specific vocabulary was viewed as a key component for developing disciplinary literacy. With the zone of proximal development in mind, the teachers consciously challenge the students with more complex material.Finally, the implications of the results are discussed in relation to previous research, the theoretical background and the Swedish curricula for upper secondary school. Lastly, suggestions for future research are discussed.

Syftet med den här kunskapsöversikten är att få en djupare förståelse om neuropsykiska funktionsnedsättningar hos elever med autism och hur vi som lärare kan anpassa den ordinarie undervisningen, med fokus på SO-undervisning, för att inkludera dessa elever och öka deras förutsättningarna för lärande. Frågeställningen blir därför “Vilka extra anpassningar kan lärare göra inom ramen för ordinarie SO-undervisning för att inkludera elever med autism?”Arbetet görs genom att vi granskar och tolkar vetenskaplig forskning och litteratur, för att sedan besvara frågeställningen för denna kunskapsöversikt. Denna studien har behandlat olika strategier som lärare och pedagoger kan använda i sin undervisning för att underlätta för elever med autism. Dessa strategier är bland annat visuellt stöd, kooperativt lärande mot ett gemensamt mål, rekonstruera olika historiska händelser, exempelvis ett rollspel om vikingatiden, bildstöd, tydlighet och rutiner där man strävar mot strukturerade SO-lektioner. En strukturerad dag med tydliga instruktioner och rutiner ger elever med autism ökad förståelse av vad som finns omkring dem vilket ökar deras medvetenhet. Detta resulterar i att eleverna upplever mer kontroll och känner mer säkerhet både i skolmiljön men även i vardagen.

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Syfte Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med insikt i hur Mellanårsprogrammets (MYP) elever i språklig sårbarhet och deras lärare upplever verbala interaktioner i klassen med elevernas kamrater i Individer och samhällen (I&S), ett samhällskunskapsämne inom International Baccalaureate läroplan.  Forskningsfrågor · Hur ser MYP-lärare på den effekt kamrater har på elever i språklig sårbarhet under verbala interaktioner i klassen och hur stödjer dessa lärare elever i språklig sårbarhet under dessa interaktioner i I&S?   · How do MYP students in linguistic vulnerability experience and understand verbal in-class interactions with peers in the I&S classroom and how do they experience the support given to them by their teachers during these interactions?  Theoretical Framework The theoretical framework of this case study is based on the sociocultural perspective as seen in Vygotsky’s work (1987), which have been developed further by Säljö (2000) and Kozulin (2003). This perspective focuses on the understanding that individuals develop through the interaction with their environment and the people around them. The second theory used is Communicative Relational Perspective (KoRP). KoRP, a special education perspectives with three main intertwining processes; participation, communication and learning which predict whether or not a school has an inclusive or exclusive learning environment. Method In this case study two methods are used; observations and semi-structured interviews. Three I&S lessons in the MYP were observed at two different IB schools. The study uses the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP). Six semi-structured interviews are also conducted; three with students in linguistic vulnerability and three with their I&S teachers. The data collected was analysed using a thematic approach. Each case was analysed separately before being cross-synthesized.  Results The results of the cases reveal two main themes: Peer Support vs. Peer Comparisons and Peer interactions – Expected or Scaffolded? Students in linguistic vulnerability either saw peers as beneficial or a hindrance to their success during verbal interactions such as group work, where students either felt helped by peers or inadequate in comparison to their peers. This led to increased or decreased levels of participation. Teachers found it challenging knowing how to best meet these issues.  Scaffolding the activities in a way that met the student’s individual needs and creating a safe place where students felt comfortable were found to be beneficial for effective group work. The case study also found that although the use of Sheltered Instructional Observation Protocol (SIOP) is advantageous as a tool, it is lacking aspects pertaining to social dynamics and the students’ individual needs.  Special Education Implications This case study shines a light on the importance of special educational needs teachers working more closely with subject specific teachers in order to make them more aware of the language expectations placed on their students during verbal interactions. This case study indicates that special educational needs teachers can use SIOP as a first step in starting a discussion with subject teachers about students in linguistic vulnerability and verbal interactions. SIOP can also be a hands-on tool to use when supporting subject teachers in the creation of more language and subject – based teaching. Nyckelord: klassrumsdiskussioner, Developmental Language Disorder, grupparbete, Individer och samhällen, International Baccalaureate, språklig sårbarhet, mellanstadiet, samhällskunskap, verbal interaktion