<p>The aim of this thesis is to analyse and describe the way prospective teachers of social science understand democracy and its conditions, and, on the basis of these descriptions, to discuss the actual and possible forms and contents of teaching democracy both in upper secondary school and in teacher training.</p><p>The assumption is that students’ conceptions of democracy are influenced by the society they live in and the education they receive. To contextualize students’ conceptions of democracy the theories of Habermas and Dewey as well as some central concepts of contemporary democratic theory are drawn upon. The study primarily focuses on the content of education in democracy. The teachers’ conceptions of their own subject influence the content of their teaching and thus what their students learn. If teachers are aware of various ways of conceiving democracy, and the critical differences between them, their teaching practices may enable students to experience different aspects of democracy and, as a consequence, reach a fuller understanding of it.</p><p>The empirical data consists of interviews with eight students of political science and eight teacher-students of social sciences. These interviews were carried out before and after they had studied theories of democracy. The study also includes interviews with eight teacher-students who had already finished their theoretical studies in social science and were at the end of their teacher training. In total, 40 interviews were carried out. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. A phenomenographic analysis of the students’ conceptions of democracy was performed, along with a thematic content analysis of their ideas of the conditions of democracy.</p><p>Three main categories of conceptions of democracy were constituted. In the first democracy was viewed as a possibility to influence political decisions through institutionalized forms. In the second category democracy was seen as a feeling of participation in processes of political decision. In the third category democracy was understood as the possibility to take part in all decisions that concern one’s life. The thematic content analysis showed that the students’ reasoning about the conditions of democracy concerned three main themes: the values of democracy, the individual conditions and societal conditions. Several teacher-students regarded it as their duty to maintain the prevalent forms of democracy in Sweden. Students of political science on the other hand, focused more on developing these forms.</p><p>Finally, the possible didactic consequences of these different views for the education in democracy in upper secondary schools and in teacher training are discussed.</p>

<p>My purpose with this examination paper has been to inquire and make a contribution with knowledge about how teachers and remedial teachers work with children who has difficulties in mathematics.</p><p> </p><p>My specified question of issue was: How do teachers work with children who have difficulties in mathematics?</p><p> </p><p>My methods have been to read literature and to accomplish an examination by qualitative interviews with teachers and remedial teachers. My choice of methods has been contributing of me getting a good materiel about how teachers can work with children who has difficulties in mathematics. </p><p>The examination paper begins with the schools curriculum ”Lpo94” and definitions of difficulties in mathematics. Further the examination paper withholds charters of knowledge and capacity within mathematics, the learning process and different causes to difficulties in mathematics. Afterwards comes the primary part of the examination paper that withholds the teachers work, the educational contents, materiel and individualisation. Then comes the chapter of methods and the result of the inquire with the interview questions and answers. Afterwards comes an analyse of the inquires result and earlier research. The examination paper is completed with a discussion and a proposal to continued research.</p><p>My definitive conclusion is that teachers different work options like with elaborative materiel, solution of problems and words within mathematics, gives a better learning process and development for pupils with difficulties in mathematics. The teacher shall also adjust the educational contents too the pupils qualifications and needs.</p> / <p>Mitt syfte med examensarbetet har varit att undersöka och bidra med kunskap om hur lärare och speciallärare/specialpedagoger arbetar med barn som har matematiksvårigheter.</p><p> </p><p>Min preciserade frågeställning var: Hur arbetar lärare med barn som har matematiksvårigheter?</p><p> </p><p>Mina metoder har varit att läsa litteratur och att genomföra en undersökning som gjordes genom kvalitativa intervjuer med lärare och speciallärare. Mina metodval har bidragit till att jag fått ett bra material om hur lärare kan arbeta med barn som har matematiksvårigheter.</p><p>Examensarbetet inleds med skolan läroplan Lpo94 och definitioner av matematiksvårigheter. Vidare innehåller examensarbetet avsnitt om kunskap och förmåga inom matematik, inlärningsprocessen och olika orsaker till matematiksvårigheter. Sedan kommer examensarbetets huvudavsnitt som innehåller lärarens arbete, undervisningens innehåll, material och individualisering. Efter detta kommer metodkapitlet och resultatet av undersökningen med intervjufrågor och svar. Sedan kommer en analys av undersökningens resultat och tidigare forskning. Examensarbetet avslutas med en diskussion och förslag till fortsatt forskning.      </p><p> </p><p>Min slutsats är att lärarens olika arbetssätt som t.ex. med laborativa material, problemlösning och begrepp inom matematiken bidrar till en bättre inlärningsprocess och utveckling hos elever som har matematiksvårigheter. Läraren ska även anpassa undervisningens innehåll till elevens förutsättningar och behov.</p>

Mathematik spielt im Physikunterricht eine nicht unerhebliche Rolle - wenn auch eine zwiespältige. Oft wird sie sogar zum Hindernis beim Lernen von Physik und kann ihr emanzipatorisches Potenzial nicht entfalten. Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt zwei Bausteine für eine begründete Konzeption zum Umgang mit Mathematik beim Lernen von Physik zur Verfügung. Im Theorieteil der Arbeit werden zum Einen wissenschaftstheoretische Aspekte der Rolle der Mathematik in der Physik aufgearbeitet und der physikdidaktischen Forschungsgemeinschaft im Zusammenhang zugänglich gemacht. Zum anderen werden Forschungsergebnisse zu Vorstellungen Lernender über Physik und Mathematik sowie im Bereich der Epistemologie zusammengestellt. Im empirischen Teil der Arbeit werden Vorstellungen zur Rolle der Mathematik in der Physik von Schülerinnen und Schülern der Klassenstufen 10 und 12 sowie Physik-Lehramtstudierenden im Grundstudium mit Hilfe eines Fragebogens erhoben und unter Verwendung inhaltsanalytischer bzw. statistischer Methoden ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen unter Anderem, dass Mathematik im Physikunterricht entgegen gängiger Meinungen bei den Lernenden nicht negativ, aber zumindest bei jüngeren Lernenden formal und algorithmisch konnotiert ist. / Mathematics plays an important, but ambivalent role in the physics classroom. Often mathematics becomes an obstacle in learning physics and cannot reveal its emancipatory potential. This thesis provides two components of a well-grounded conception for handling mathematics in the learning of physics. In the theoretical part of the thesis epistemological aspects of the role of mathematics in physics are being processed and made accessible to the community of physics education researchers. At the same time, research data on learners’ epistemological beliefs about physics and mathematics are compiled. In the empirical part of the thesis a questionnaire was designed to collect data on beliefs about the role of mathematics in physics from pupils of grade 10 and 12 as well as undergraduate physics teacher students. Content-analytical and statistical methods have been applied in the processing of the questionnaires. The results revealed, among others, that mathematics in the physics classroom is not, against common belief, evaluated negatively by learners. Yet, at least younger learners perceive the use of mathematics in physics to be mainly formal and algorithmic.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate classroom interaction. Of central importance are the following questions; Does gender of pupil, gender of teacher, age of pupils, subject taught and class size have any importance for the classroom interaction? What conceptions of interaction with pupils do teachers have? Data have been collected by two different methods – structured classroom observations and focus groups. The results from the observations study disclose that the gender of the teacher as well as the gender of the pupil has an impact on classroom interaction. The interaction also differs regarding the pupil’s age. The variables pupil gender, teacher gender and pupil’s age together gives an opposite pattern of interaction. Female teachers interact to the same extent with boys and girls when they are young (lower level). When pupils grow older (inter­mediate and upper levels) they interact more with boys than girls. The pattern of interaction for male teachers goes in the opposite direction. When the pupils are young, they interact more with boys compared to girls. The same pattern is true at the intermediate level. At the upper level male teachers interact to the same extent with boys and girls. School subject and class size proved to have a limited impact on classroom interaction. Through categorization of data collected in focus groups, eight different themes were identified. These describe teachers’ conceptions of their interaction with pupils. The themes were large classes, catch individual pupils, boys dominate the classroom on expense of girls, pupils’ needs of interaction with adults, the joy of interacting with pupils, do we use the same language, conflicts between pupils, and to meet pupils with another cultural background. The results from the observations and the focus groups have shown, to some extent different but all-important aspects of classroom interaction. In this thesis two phenomena or questions have been of central importance – gender differences and class size.

The information and communication technology, ICT, is opening new possibilities for the educational arena. Previous research shows that achieving positive educational outcomes requires more than simply providing access to computer hardware and software. How does this new technology affect the teaching and learning of physics? This thesis focuses on the field of geometrical optics. It reports two studies, both in Swedish upper secondary school. Important for the use of the ICT in physics education is the teaching strategy for using the new technology. The first study investigates with a questionnaire, how 37 teachers in a region of Sweden use computers in physics education and what intentions they follow while doing so. The results of this study show that teachers’ intentions for using ICT in their physics teaching were to increase students' interest for physics, to increase their motivation, to achieve variation in teaching, and to improve visualization and explanation of the phenomena of physics. The second study investigates students’ conceptual change in geometrical optics during a teaching sequence with computer-assisted instruction. For this purpose we choose the computer software "Constructing Physics Understanding (CPU)", which was developed with a base in research on students conceptions in optics. The thesis presents the teaching sequence developed together with the teacher. The study is based on a constructivist view of learning. The concepts analysed in this study were vision, image, ray and image formation. A first result of this study is a category system for conceptions around these concepts, found among the students. With these categories we found that students even at this level, of upper secondary school, have constructed well-known alternative conceptions before teaching, e.g. about a holistic conception of image. The results show also some learning progress: some alternative conceptions vanish, in some cases the physics conceptions are more often constructed after teaching. The students and the teacher also report that the CPU program gave new and useful opportunities to model multiple rays and to model vision.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse and describe the way prospective teachers of social science understand democracy and its conditions, and, on the basis of these descriptions, to discuss the actual and possible forms and contents of teaching democracy both in upper secondary school and in teacher training. The assumption is that students’ conceptions of democracy are influenced by the society they live in and the education they receive. To contextualize students’ conceptions of democracy the theories of Habermas and Dewey as well as some central concepts of contemporary democratic theory are drawn upon. The study primarily focuses on the content of education in democracy. The teachers’ conceptions of their own subject influence the content of their teaching and thus what their students learn. If teachers are aware of various ways of conceiving democracy, and the critical differences between them, their teaching practices may enable students to experience different aspects of democracy and, as a consequence, reach a fuller understanding of it. The empirical data consists of interviews with eight students of political science and eight teacher-students of social sciences. These interviews were carried out before and after they had studied theories of democracy. The study also includes interviews with eight teacher-students who had already finished their theoretical studies in social science and were at the end of their teacher training. In total, 40 interviews were carried out. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. A phenomenographic analysis of the students’ conceptions of democracy was performed, along with a thematic content analysis of their ideas of the conditions of democracy. Three main categories of conceptions of democracy were constituted. In the first democracy was viewed as a possibility to influence political decisions through institutionalized forms. In the second category democracy was seen as a feeling of participation in processes of political decision. In the third category democracy was understood as the possibility to take part in all decisions that concern one’s life. The thematic content analysis showed that the students’ reasoning about the conditions of democracy concerned three main themes: the values of democracy, the individual conditions and societal conditions. Several teacher-students regarded it as their duty to maintain the prevalent forms of democracy in Sweden. Students of political science on the other hand, focused more on developing these forms. Finally, the possible didactic consequences of these different views for the education in democracy in upper secondary schools and in teacher training are discussed.

My purpose with this examination paper has been to inquire and make a contribution with knowledge about how teachers and remedial teachers work with children who has difficulties in mathematics.   My specified question of issue was: How do teachers work with children who have difficulties in mathematics?   My methods have been to read literature and to accomplish an examination by qualitative interviews with teachers and remedial teachers. My choice of methods has been contributing of me getting a good materiel about how teachers can work with children who has difficulties in mathematics.  The examination paper begins with the schools curriculum ”Lpo94” and definitions of difficulties in mathematics. Further the examination paper withholds charters of knowledge and capacity within mathematics, the learning process and different causes to difficulties in mathematics. Afterwards comes the primary part of the examination paper that withholds the teachers work, the educational contents, materiel and individualisation. Then comes the chapter of methods and the result of the inquire with the interview questions and answers. Afterwards comes an analyse of the inquires result and earlier research. The examination paper is completed with a discussion and a proposal to continued research. My definitive conclusion is that teachers different work options like with elaborative materiel, solution of problems and words within mathematics, gives a better learning process and development for pupils with difficulties in mathematics. The teacher shall also adjust the educational contents too the pupils qualifications and needs. / Mitt syfte med examensarbetet har varit att undersöka och bidra med kunskap om hur lärare och speciallärare/specialpedagoger arbetar med barn som har matematiksvårigheter.   Min preciserade frågeställning var: Hur arbetar lärare med barn som har matematiksvårigheter?   Mina metoder har varit att läsa litteratur och att genomföra en undersökning som gjordes genom kvalitativa intervjuer med lärare och speciallärare. Mina metodval har bidragit till att jag fått ett bra material om hur lärare kan arbeta med barn som har matematiksvårigheter. Examensarbetet inleds med skolan läroplan Lpo94 och definitioner av matematiksvårigheter. Vidare innehåller examensarbetet avsnitt om kunskap och förmåga inom matematik, inlärningsprocessen och olika orsaker till matematiksvårigheter. Sedan kommer examensarbetets huvudavsnitt som innehåller lärarens arbete, undervisningens innehåll, material och individualisering. Efter detta kommer metodkapitlet och resultatet av undersökningen med intervjufrågor och svar. Sedan kommer en analys av undersökningens resultat och tidigare forskning. Examensarbetet avslutas med en diskussion och förslag till fortsatt forskning.         Min slutsats är att lärarens olika arbetssätt som t.ex. med laborativa material, problemlösning och begrepp inom matematiken bidrar till en bättre inlärningsprocess och utveckling hos elever som har matematiksvårigheter. Läraren ska även anpassa undervisningens innehåll till elevens förutsättningar och behov.

This paper examines pupils’ conception of the Swedish schools constitutive values expressed in the Swedish curriculum. The main question was, at to what extent the schools constitutive values have influenced the pupils conception of their own values. That question problematizes the relation between values, constructed and carried by central administration, and their interpretation at local level by pupils. The study was conducted with qualitative analysis which included qualitative interviews with seven pupils in the last year of the Swedish school system. Phenomenology, hermeneutics, and phenomenographics have influenced the study. The qualitative interviews were abstracted into categories, related to this papers theoretical framework. The categories were taken from a taxonomy that breaks up the constitutive values into smaller pieces. The categories are presented here: questions about conception of life, moral education, values education, civics education and citizenship education. As well as categories the taxonomy shows a variable that goes from private to public and questions about conception of life, is the most private area and citizenship education is the most public. What each category resulted in was that pupils´ conception of the schools constitutive values could relate to the theoretical framework. Although many of the informants’ quotations pointed out standpoints that were related to the theoretical framework, some weren’t. Those included mostly the categories of public questions, such as civic education and citizenship education. In question of the pupils conception of moral education and values education the quotations showed that schools tend to focus on a rule based philosophy when fostering the pupils in to good moral and values. Also, pupils tend to focus on private good and see the schools constitutive values as a way to gain private good. This papers result brings up questions about; if the schools constitutive values are not well understood by pupils or if the constitutive values only are to be understood as private good. It also shows that the values constructed at a central level have a long way to travel to be acknowledged by the pupils. And along that travel several actors, such as teachers, interpret the constitutive values.

Syftet med studien var att ta reda på de skilda uppfattningar av varför vi har årstider som kan finnas i årskurs sju. Detta gjordes för att få en bild av de olika föreställningar en lärare kan möta i sitt yrke och för att öka förståelsen och kunskapen om hur ett fenomen kan uppfattas på olika sätt av elever i en och samma klass. Eleverna ombads att, enskilt, skriftligt förklara varför vi har årstider. Studien är fenomenografisk och svaren kategoriserades i kvalitativt skilda kategorier genom att jämföra och finna likheter och skillnader mellan de insamlade elevutsagorna. Resultatet visade att eleverna hade olika uppfattning av varför vi har årstider och det är som lärare viktigt att vara medveten om att elever uppfattar samma undervisning på olika sätt. De uppfattningar som framkom var solens instrålning, jordaxelns lutning, jordens lägesförändring och avståndsvariation som skäl till varför vi har årstider. Trots att eleverna hade undervisats av samma lärare, vid samma tillfälle, tidigare på terminen om orsakerna till årstider, hade eleverna skilda uppfattningar av dessa. Högstadieeleverna gav uttryck för att de uppfattade orsakerna till årstider på samma sätt om lärarstuderande, vars uppfattningar undersökts i tidigare forskning. Det är således mycket viktigt att som lärare vara medveten om att elever i en och samma klass har olika uppfattningar av samma fenomen för att kunna anpassa undervisningen därefter och på så sätt få eleverna att förstå att en svala gör ingen sommar – men solens varierande instrålning på grund av jordens lutning gör det. / This study was an attempt to explore the conceptions of one group of students in the 7th grade about the reasons for seasons. The students were asked to, in writing, explain their conception about the reason for seasons. The study was inspired by phenomenography and the answers were categorized by comparing similarities and differences among a number of quotes taken from the answers of the students. Through the analysis, four qualitatively different conceptions were found, within one and the same group of students. The categories, each representing one kind of conception, “the luminous flux”, “the earth’s axis is inclined”, “the earth’s position in orbit” and “the distance between sun-earth varies” were found as conceptions of the reason for seasons. You might wonder how students, who have been taught of reasons for seasons by the same teacher, are able to develop four different kinds of conceptions of the phenomenon. It is very important for a teacher to have in mind that students have different conceptions of the same phenomenon and this study might help teachers to improve their teaching and help the students come to a deeper understanding of reasons for seasons.

The Tea Party is a highly publicized movement that has been met with both support and opposition but very little objective reporting from the partisan media. In 2009, amidst a financial crisis unlike any in recent history, a war being fought oversees, and a questioning of American values, this movement known as the Tea Party arose. Borrowing from the annals of history and staying true to the foundations set by the Fathers of our country, the Tea Party movement seeks to provide answers to the growing economic and social issues in the United States. The three core values of the movement are fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free market economics. Yet, the Tea Party movement, while seemingly logical and legitimate, was and continues to be, met with much criticism and combativeness. The frequent colonial dress and showmanship which characterizes their protests, the historical reference from which they get their name, and their strict adherence to the Constitution all seem to fuel the frequent trivialization of these self-proclaimed patriots and their movement, resulting in misconceptions and the stereotyping of supporters. But in a time dominated by sound bytes, tweets and headlines, the media can be deceiving. Therefore, as a young Government major intrigued by a movement that had so rapidly gained America’s attention, I set out to discover through interviews with real Tea Party members what the movement is really all about.