The purpose of this study is to investigate if and how preschool teachers work with and relate to children’s interest in popular culture, what opportunities and challenges they see in using popular culture as an educational tool and what experiences preschool teachers have of parents’ attitudes, with regards to preschoolers' use of and interactions with popular culture. Media and popular culture are a big part of children's life today and the curriculum for preschools (Lpfö 18) emphasizes that we should work with digital tools, as well as dictating that the education should be based on the children's interests, which in our experience is often centered around popular culture.  This study is qualitative, based on empirical material obtained through qualitative interviews. Eight preschool teachers from six different preschools have participated in the study. The results were analyzed using the sociocultural perspective as well as previous research on popular culture.  The result of the study shows that most preschool teachers work with popular culture in preschool in one way or another. The study also shows that preschool teachers' personal views and attitudes with regards to popular culture affect whether and in what way the children's interest in popular culture is utilized. Although preschool teachers are aware that children have a strong interest in popular culture, some of their interests are excluded because the teachers mean that they are not exploratory or educational enough. The preschool teachers in the study describe both the challenges and opportunities of working with popular culture as an educational tool. Above all, they mean that many programs, films and games contribute to norms and stereotypes, but that they see it as an opportunity to explore such issues with the children. Using the children's interest in popular culture as a starting point, they see opportunities to develop different learning processes and children's identities. The conclusion of the study is that preschool teachers' awareness regarding, interest in and knowledge of popular culture is reflected in the nature of the interactions with the legal guardians, and in how the preschool teachers choose to take advantage of popular culture in the educational activities.

The study focuses on the work in preschool among the youngest children's and their participation in the choice of literature, the literature that is available to use in the daily activities. The purpose of the study is to describe the essence of the experience of the youngest children's participation in the choice of literature by studying the teachers' perception and experiences. The study investigates the teachers' perceptions and experiences in relation to the choice of literature and how staff at preschools try to ensure that the literature is perceived as interesting and relevant by the children. The study is based on the sociocultural theory. As a methodological approach, phenomenology was used because it allows the participants to describe their own experiences. The study was carried out at four different preschools, through a qualitative method where the investigation is based on the educators' own experiences and thoughts about participation in the choice of literature for the youngest children at preschool. As a data collection method, semi-structured interviews were used and through the use of phenomenological analysis, four overarching themes were identified in the educators' responses. The themes identified were purpose, the view of participation, the children's interest and access. The results show that when there is a purpose to the literature around a specific work, it is perceived to be more difficult to make the children involved. Participation is shown instead by the pedagogues starting from the children's interests when they themselves choose literature. Furthermore, it is made visible that the view of participation is expressed as something theoretical rather than something that educators consciously work with in practice. Inside the own preschool department, the children are made to participate by freely choosing from available literature. The availability of books does not seem decisive for the children's participation, but on the other hand, the lack of access to time and resources is something that is expressed as an obstacle to being able to make the children participate to the extent desired. Preschools that have libraries in their own operations let the children accompany them to the library to a greater extent and choose literature. The available literature on the subject is sparce which suggest further studies on the subject is needed

Studiens syfte är att bidra med kunskap om hur förskollärare resonerar kring att beakta barns intresse i sin undervisningsplanering. I studien undersöks vilka fördelar och utmaningar förskollärarna har funnit avseende att beakta barns intresse i undervisningsplaneringen. Studien bygger på intervjuer med sex förskollärare från olika förskolor. I analysen används begreppen - den efterföljande guidningen och den lockande modifieringen samt barns perspektiv och barnperspektivet. Resultatet indikerar att det finns fördelar som motiverar att beakta barns intresse i undervisningsplaneringen i förskolan. Slutsatser som dras gällande fördelar med att beakta barnens intresse i undervisningsplanering är; att barnen får utrymme att utforska sitt intresse vidare, de får utrymme att lyfta sina tankar och undervisningen blir lustfylld för barnen. Att beakta barnens intresse har även fördelar som möjliggör en progression i barnens färdighets- och kunskapsutveckling. En slutsats är att det är en utmaning att beakta alla barns intresse och att barnens intresse prioriteras ned när det finns krav som kommer ovanifrån eller utifrån. När det bedöms att ett barn har ett ökat utvecklingsbehov finns det en tendens att barnets intresse prioriteras ned. En slutsats är att det finns en risk att förskollärarna bortser från de fördelar som finns med att beakta barnens intresse i undervisningsplaneringen. Det finns olika tillvägagångssätt som förskollärarna använder när de planerar sin undervisning för att sträva efter att beakta barnens intressen.

This essay is about the teaching of preschool children. Teaching as a term is recently included in the preschool's curriculum and as it is a loaded concept in the preschool world, it affects the practice of preschool teachers. The purpose of this essay is to try to investigate what the concept of teaching means from the perspective of the preschool. My research questions are as follows: * What does teaching in preschool mean? * How is teaching done in practice at preschool? * What is good teaching and how is it created? To get answers to these questions, I have done participatory observations where I observed two experienced preschool teachers in their work with the children. This text is written in the form of an essay which is also seen as a research method. By starting from self-perceived situations that remain and gnaw at me, and reflect on these from different perspectives, I can develop my understanding and my practice when it comes to teaching in preschool. The essay discusses the introduction of the teaching concept into the world of preschool, which is considered problematic since the concept is often linked to the school's practice and to mediation education. Depending on how understanding of teaching as a concept is done, there are perceived differences affecting how the preschool teacher performs his or her teaching. The essay also discusses how different theories on homing processes and children's influence affect the teacher's teaching. It also appears that different teaching environments can be distinguished in preschool´s activities and these are created by the preschool teacher based on different theories of practice. The kind of teaching environment offered to children affects the cognitive content of the activity thus the quality of the teaching. Quality and measurability are also in the essay discussed in the context of preschool. One point of view that is highlighted is that the introduction of the concept of teaching and a more goal-oriented approach has to do with society's need for quality assurance. From a perspective of quality that is instead characterized by the ability to perform a good judgment, a more conscious understanding of teaching in the preschool becomes important. One of the conclusions is thus that the art of teaching in preschool has practical knowledge to do, which requires experience and ability to reflect in a thoughtful manner.

The aim of this study was to examine the legal guardians' view on their children’s curiosity and interests towards physical phenomena. The study was carried out by the help of surveys that were sent to the legal guardians in both paper and digital form. The questions that were answered brings up children’s questions and interests towards physics, factors that encourage curiosities and interests, as well as the legal guardians'  view on what knowledge they find the most important for their children to have. The surveys were collected and compilated using bar charts. The result of this study shows that children in preschool age show an interest and curiosity towards physics. It also appeared that the teachers' engagements as well as an encouraging environment with accessible material are important factors, according to the legal guardian’s view, when it comes to encouraging their children´s curiosity and interests towards physics. The legal guardians consider that it is important that their children are being taught physics in preschool. / Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vårdnadshavarnas syn på deras barns nyfikenhet och intresse för fysikaliska fenomen. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av enkäter som skickades ut till vårdnadshavarna både i pappersform och som webbenkät. Frågorna som besvarades tar upp barns frågor och intresse för fysik, vad som främjar barns nyfikenhet och intresse samt vad vårdnadshavarna upplever är viktigt att barnen får kunskaper om. Enkäterna samlades in och sammanställdes i form av stapeldiagram. Resultatet av denna undersökning visar att barn i förskoleåldern visar ett intresse och en nyfikenhet för fysik. Det framkom också att pedagogernas engagemang samt en uppmuntrande miljö med tillgängligt material är viktiga faktorer enligt vårdnadshavarna när det gäller att främja barns nyfikenhet och intresse för fysik. Vårdnadshavarna lyfter att det är viktigt att deras barn får med sig kunskaper inom fysik från förskolan.

Denna kvalitativa studie har som syfte att undersöka förskollärares tillvägagångssätt och förutsättningar gällande systematiskt kvalitetsarbete. Studien samlade in empiri med hjälp av förutbestämda intervjufrågor utformade utifrån tidigare forskning för att besvara studiens syfte och frågeställningar. Resultat som uppsatsen genererar är att respondenterna är eniga om att det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet dels är något som enligt läroplanen ska genomföras, dels är en vital faktor för utveckling av verksamheten och för barnens progression. De är också eniga om att de erhålls goda förutsättningar för att genomföra detta, bland annat av rektorer och av olika verktyg. Den insamlade empirin åskådliggör att respondenternas verksamheter är grundade i barnens intressen. Studien visar att det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet genererar hög kvalitet i verksamheterna.