This paper presents why and how teachers use newspaper articles in the classroom when they educate their pupils in chemistry, biology and nature science. All the teachers have worked over 20 years and are, when interviewed, at a Swedish gymnasium in Dalarna. I also have, in a small study, interviewed some of their pupils to get their view about teachers using news paper articles during lessons. The teacher’s use of newspaper articles in the classroom can be divided in different ways. They can use the articles to illustrate up to date links to everyday life. Some teachers’ uses articles by letting the pupils read the articles and answer questions about them. Or the newspaper articles can function as background material when the pupils do a project work covering a number of lessons. The major part of the teachers thinks that the main reason why they use articles from newspapers is to get up to date information concerning the course that are covered. The results show that the teachers in Dalarna use their newspaper articles in the same way as shown in international studies. For example they used the newspaper articles to start a lesson or a new topic. Or they used the article to have an example on the subject they teach. But a number of differences can also be observed between this study and other international ones, for example the main reason why the articles are presented to the pupils and how the articles are used over time.

Abstract This study is based on qualitative interviews with five-year-old children from a nursery school and two teachers with great experience. The purpose with the interviews is to find out what knowledge these children have about the Right of Common and what the teachers think they need to find this knowledge. The children didn't know what the word Right of Common stands for but when they got more concrete alternatives they had good experiences. The two teachers had different opinions about what is the most important concerning the stays in the nature. Exercise meant a lot for one teacher. To have fun and to use all your senses were more important for the other one. To give the wooded strolls new permanent experiences it is recommended to use your imagination. Key words: The Right of Common, science, process of learning

Elevers inställning och attityder till det som undervisas påverkar i stor utsträckning hur mycket de lär sig. Det i sin tur gör att det är viktigt att ta reda på elevers intressen och att de får ha inflytande över undervisningen. I lagstiftning, dvs. skolans och kursers mål, uttrycks tydligt att detta ses som viktigt på samhällsnivå. Syftet med mitt arbete är att ta reda på om detta syns i lärarnas tankar kring biologiundervisningen, samt vad deras elever har för uppfattning om sitt eget inflytande. Jag vill även undersöka vad de båda parterna ser för svårigheter och möjligheter med elevinflytande och om det kan göras förbättringar. Undersökningen utfördes på en gymnasieskola i Mellansverige där 2 lärare i biologi och totalt 4 elever intervjuades (2 från vardera lärares klass i biologi A). För en bra övergripande bild så deltog dessutom hela lärarnas klasser i en enkätundersökning. Resultaten visar att lärarnas intention om att ha en kontinuerlig dialog med eleverna går eleverna förbi, eleverna uppfattar inte heller att de uppmanas att komma med synpunkter. Eleverna vill att läraren oftare och på ett tydligare sätt undersöker vad de är intresserade av inom ett nytt område. Om de får komma till tals på detta sätt får de större förståelse för att den enskilda elevens önskemål inte alltid kan uppmärksammas. Elever och lärare är dock överens om att läraren måste vara styrande och att inflytande inte får bli självändamål utan måste användas så att det leder till bättre inlärning. Jag kommer att ta med mig mina resultat i fortsatt utbildning och framtida yrke som lärare. Alltså att elever ska ges möjlighet att influera och de har själva många bra tips på hur det ska gå till, därför ska man fråga om deras åsikt istället för att anta. / Students’ opinions and attitudes of the teaching greatly affect how much they learn. With this in mind it is important to know their interests and also significant that they are given the opportunity to influence. By law, the goals of Swedish schools and their courses clearly intend that students do so as much as possible. The purpose of my study is to see if this is shown in the biology teachers’ thoughts considering their own teaching. As well as finding out what their students think of their own influence. I also want to inquire into both parties’ views on difficulties and possibilities when it comes to students’ influence, and if improvements can be done. My research took place at an upper secondary school in central Sweden where two biology teachers and a total of four students took part in interviews (two from each teacher’s class in biology A). Other than that, both the entire classes of biology A participated in a questionnaire for a better overall view of the students’ opinions. My results show that the teachers’ intentions are to keep a continuous dialogue with the students throughout the course. However, the teachers’ ways of encouraging students to take part and give their opinions are not registered by the students. The results show, on the contrary, that they want the teacher to investigate students’ interests in a new subject or issue more often, and in a more distinct way. If pupils get to influence; they are more likely to understand and accept that the one student’s wishes cannot always be attended to. However, students and teachers agree on the subject that the teacher has to be in control and that students’ influence must not be a purpose of its own but it has to improve learning. I will include the findings I have acquired continuously in my education as well as in my future profession as a teacher. That is, students should be given the opportunity to influence and they have many useful ideas on how to do so as well, which is why it is important to ask their opinion instead of assuming.

This study examined what separates a crossing site from an available crossing site and investigate when and where roads are more likely to be crossed by moose (Alces alces). Five seasonal models for two sexes were selected using an information-theoretic approach based on Akaike’s Information Criteria. Crossings were expected to be more likely during times of increased moose activity, and in areas of preferred moose habitat.There were clear temporal effects of moose road-crossing probability, both within and between seasons: crossings were most likely to occur during the twilight hours. The influence of habitat and climate was much lower than expected, which lead to difficulties in creating spatially predictive statistical models. Nevertheless, high quality forage attracted crossings, while ruggedness, human disturbance and snow depth dissuaded them. It is therefore possible to predict spatially varying crossing probabilities across varying seasons, but it is difficult to produce management recommendations on this basis. Moose-vehicle collision-mitigating actions should therefore be focused on the temporal scale and management of the moose population density.

The lack of access to forest resources for the rural community residing in the buffer zones of national parks has created conflict between the national parks, the people residing in these areas and wildlife. People residing in the buffer zone of national parks incur losses due to the wildlife, which can impact both crops and human lives. This study focused on the attitudes, acceptance and knowledge level of people living near the park to explore the conflict between them and one of the endangered animals, the ‘Rhinoceros unicornis’. A questionnaire survey was randomly administered to 200 households in 16 Buffer Zone Village Development Committees and two municipalities of the Chitwan National Park. The survey represented two categories of households, those that were >2 Km and those that were <2 Km from the park boundaries. Socio-economic status variables such as tribe, education, occupation, household annual income, landownership and dependencies on the National Park forest and Buffer zone forest were used to interpret the results. The analysis of results showed a prevalence of negative attitudes that stemmed from (1) the distance: people living closer to the national park boundary reported rhino damaged the most crops near the national park; (2) a lack of compensation for crop losses; (3) indigenous people (e.g., Tharus) living closer to the National Park who traditionally have higher dependencies on the forest resources and (4) households with low income relying heavily on the forest resources of the National Park. However, the increase in the rhino population in the latest census showed an increased level of awareness among the park people living near the park. These findings were corroborated in this study because people emphasised the conservation of the rhino, which showed a positive attitude towards rhino. Ultimately, the impact of the rhino on human settlements and livelihoods and vice versa is an on-going conflict that needs to be resolved to preserve the existence of the rhino in Nepal’s protected areas. The role of the government, the National Park authority, and different International and National government organisations are necessary to enhance the livelihoods of people surrounding the national park and to govern wildlife conservation.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Univ., 2007. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Syftet med arbetet är att undersöka hur andraspråkselever integreras i ämnet biologi på högstadiet. Metoden är kvalitativ i form av intervjuer och deltagande observationer. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att andraspråkselever till viss del integreras i ämnesundervisningen, dock under förutsättningar som gör det svårt för dem att uppnå målen i ämnet. Flertalet av de intervjuade eleverna tycker att ord/begrepp i ämnet biologi är svåra att förstå. Det framgår även i resultatet att samarbetet mellan lärarna på den undersökta skolan bör utvecklas, samt att det saknas goda rutiner på en organisatorisk nivå för att ämnesintegrationen ska vara positivt utvecklande för eleverna.

Invasive alien species are the second biggest threat to global biodiversity. Biodiversity loss results in loss of ecosystem functions and resilience. Freshwater ecosystems are more sensitive to invasions; therefore, their biodiversity is decreasing at a much faster rate in comparison to terrestrial ones. This thesis focuses on one of three invasive alien aquatic plants present in Sweden: Nymphoides peltata, a sediment-rooted, floating-leaved plant originating from middle Europe and Asia. Since the early 1980’s N. peltata has been present in Lake Galten, the most western part of Mälaren. The current eradication work is carried out by light depletion through floating frames that shade the N. peltata colony. The aim of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of this method by assessing eventual recolonization of N. peltata in eradicated sites and suggesting possible improvements. Information and data were collected by reviewing existing literature on invasive species eradication as well as conducting interviews with experts followed by field observations in Munkhammar bay of Lake Galten. The choice of floating frames as the main eradication method has been proven valid since it counters N. peltata clonal growth and fragmentation capacity. Despite a reduction by 1.7% of total N. peltata coverage from 2019 to 2020, correlated with the increase in frame coverage, field observations showed that recolonization is happening. Suggested improvements are the use of frames as spreading barrier, to reduce clonal growth and fragmentation of large colonies, together with introducing a free-floating fiber sheet to properly seal the gap between shoreline and frames. A proactive covering of vulnerable shores with fiber sheet is also recommended. However, the lack of a coordinated national action plan and laws’ inadequacy weakens the possibility of a successful eradication. Tempestive adjustments of current legislations are needed since climate change will allow N. peltata to spread further north and produce viable seeds.

Humans have never before lived as long and we have never had as many cures and treatments for diseases as now. But we still spend the last years of our lives sick with age-related diseases. Some scientists say it is time to grasp the problem by its roots – which in this case is aging itself. A lot of studies show that life can be prolonged in model organisms with the diabetes medication metformin. In recent years, metformin has proven to both expand lifespan and inhibit age-related diseases such as cancer and stroke. Metformin can do this by five different mechanisms; 1) inhibition of mitochondrial complex I, which is a part of the electron transport chain, 2) inhibition of the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, which in turn protects DNA from damage and mutations, 3) activation of AMPK, a kinase that is activated in the body when energy levels are low, 4) decrease of signaling of IGF-1, a growth factor that has been linked to the development of tumors, and 5) inhibition of mTOR, a regulator of cell metabolism, growth, proliferation, survival and autophagy. Studies are constantly proving metformin to be useful in both treatment of diseases and in inhibiting aging. New studies like TAME (Targeting Aging with Metformin), where older patients will try out metformin fors everal years, will shed more light on whether metformin might have the same effect in humans. Metformin could potentially provide a new future of health care where we not only treat diseases, but also prolong aging itself.