The aim of this study was to investigate science teachers&rsquo / perceptions about the online teacher professional development (oTPD) program. The research study included two consecutive steps. The first step was related to the design of the oTPD program. With the help of related literature, examples of oTPD programs and expert opinions, an oTPD program was designed. In the second step, ten of the alumni of Bilkent University Graduate School of Education Biology Teacher Education Program participated in a ten week oTPD program. The program consisted of instructional activities such as reading case studies, self reflection, forum discussions, watching videos of a sample lesson, hands-on activity and WebQuest. The study was mainly a qualitative study. The case was a professional development program for in-service science teachers that was offered online via learning management systems (LMS). The data were collected through pre- and post- interviews, online questionnaire, observations and documentation that include weekly assignments, forum discussions, e-mail correspondence, weekly e-journals, detailed notes of phone calls and the researcher&rsquo / s journal. The data were analyzed according to qualitative data analysis techniques with the assistance of Weft QDA software. Data gathered from the participants demonstrated that they were not satisfied with professional development programs that they got before this oTPD program because of the problems about content, process and organization connected with them. They preferred oTPD program, because of its flexibility and versatility, sharing information among colleagues from different parts of the country, and self-paced learning. Some obstacles were also identified, such as technical problems, not having face-to-face sessions and the timing of the program.

The aim of our graduate work is to study the importance of image and shape’s in children's development and learning and also the preschool teacher’s views on image and shapes. Our research aims to explore the value of image and shapes creation and how it is expressed among children and in classroom activities. We are also interested in finding out how it differs from adults' views and what materials teachers use to promote the image and shapes creation in the curriculum. In our own experience, image and shapes activities are often structured differently in different curriculum activities. We therefore want to study how certain preschools work with image and form creation with children in preschool. We have performed the study through five qualitative interviews with preschool teachers and four observations on three different preschools in Stockholm. The main theory of the extension of our work is about Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective. We will find out about how according to the sociocultural perspective children can develop learning. The conclusion we have reached is that the preschool teachers interviewed seem to agree greatly with each other about how image and shapes creation affects for children's development and learning. Although there were some minor differences, for example, if the children learned by imitating each other in creative work. But in this part it was just one preschool teacher who differed from the others' vague.

There has been a lot of debate in media about mathematics teaching in grade school in Sweden. Many students experience that mathematics in grade school is abstract, which leads to decreased interest of mathematics in early years. An international study indicates that Swedish students in class 4 do not fulfill the mean for mathematics according to EU/OECD countries. The study also shows that Sweden practice a textbook driven education, compared to other countries. The aim for this study was to find out how a few pedagogues for class F-6 teach mathematics, and why they have chosen to educate the way they do. It was relevant to investigate if these pedagogues use a laboratory education method in their teaching, and if so, which profits and disadvantages they experience by using this method. I decided to use qualitative interviews, according to an interview guide, which agreed to the aim and the question form of the study. The empiric material that was collected from these interviews were analyzed and discussed with support from theories and earlier research, which I found relevant to this study. In the theoretical reference frame, I decided to use the most relevant of Piagets, Vygotskijs and Deweys views and thoughts of children’s knowledge, development and learning. The conclusion for this study is that all pedagogues used variation in their operation mode and in their mathematic education, where the textbook and a laboratory education are included.  Their choice of using a certain method is founded on the experience where many students think that mathematics is an abstract subject where all are different and learn mathematics in different ways. The pedagogues say that variation in operation mode where the students can participate in their learning at the same time as the mathematics makes visible, increases the condition for the students to understand mathematics. In the investigation, it was found that some of the pedagogues discovered a big student group alongside with few education hours that are reserved for mathematics, as a difficulty to use a laboratory working method in the spread they would like to.

The purpose of this study was to gain a clearer picture of how after-school-care teachers’ work with fundamental values in after-school care, both practically and theoretically based on the curriculum Lgr 11. I wanted to acquire a broader understanding of the school's core values and what kinds of tools teachers used to cope with their task. I proceeded with two questions: How does after-school care proactively work with core values based on gender, ethnicity and class? How does the work on value issues at after-school care centers compare with Lgr 11? In my study, I used literature studies and a qualitative analysis of five interviews with afterschool care teachers. I came to the conclusion that the fundamental values were difficult to interpret and that the majority of the interviewed after-school care teachers adapted the core values after the schools "needs". Keywords: values, after-school care, standards, development and learning / Syftet med den här undersökningen var att få en tydligare bild över hur fritidspedagoger arbetar med värdegrundsarbetet, både praktiskt och teoretiskt utifrån läroplanen Lgr 11. Jag ville införskaffa en bredare förståelse om skolans värdegrund och vilka verktyg som används av pedagogerna för att klara av uppgiften. Jag utgick från två frågeställningar i arbetet: Hur arbetar fritidshemen i förebyggande syfte med värdegrundsfrågor utifrån genus, etnicitet och klass? Hur förhåller sig arbetet med värdegrundsfrågor på fritidshemmen i förhållande med Lgr 11. För att få fram mitt resultat använde jag mig av litteratur och att intervjua fem fritidspedagoger. Jag kom fram till att värdegrundsarbetet är svårtolkat och att många av de intervjuade fritidspedagogerna anpassade värdegrunden ut efter skolans ”behov”. Bakgrunden till min studie uppkom under min sista VFU period då jag såg ett behov av värdegrundsarbete i en elevgrupp där jag fann vissa motsättningar. Efter eget initiativ till övningar med dessa elever insåg jag hur eleverna var mottagliga och hur de inblandade utvecklats med hjälp av värdegrundsövningarna. Det var så jag såg hur viktigt värdegrundsarbete i skolan är. Nyckelord: värdegrund, fritidshem, normer, utveckling och lärande

Background: The request for the Reggio Emilia practice has expanded enormously the last couple of years within the Swedish preschools. This particular practice describes the environment as a third educator. This third educator is supposed to work as - not only a tool - but also a support to ease children's learning experiences and help develop their mind. Previous research has shown that design of, for instance, furniture has a way of affecting the children's learning process and development. Aims: The purpose of this study is to see how two different teams of preschool educators on two differed Reggio Emilia inspired preschools work and handle the physical indoor environment. Method: We started out by contacting Reggio Emilia inspired preschools. Four educators were chosen from two different preschools to be a part of the research. The interviews were held both in groups but also individually Results: The result of the research indicates that the educators are creating an indoor environment with the children's desires and needs in mind. The educators see the need of having different areas within the indoor environment, so that the children can learn from them and therefore enter a variety of knowledge. The indoor environment is there to facilitate the learning process, supporting children through the process of learning during their time in preschool. During our research we learned that factors plays different roles in affecting the shaping of the indoor environment. Conclusion: The research shows that there are factors that affect the educators’ work and process of creating the preschools physical indoor environment. But according to the educators themselves this is never an excuse for less learning for the children. It’s rather the educator’s duty to find solutions and still make the best indoor environment for the children. It is the educators combined creativity and imagination that creates different possibilities for the children's learning process at the preschool.

Diss. Linköping : Univ., 2003.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; containsxiii, 172 p.; also includes graphics Includes bibliographical references (p. 146-151). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

This is a participative case study of a self-facilitating, collaborative, women’s learning group. The group’s longevity afforded a unique opportunity to investigate, in depth, both what encouraged its members to join at its outset, and what has sustained the participation of its current members for thirteen years. Its longevity also provided an opportunity to explore the impact of sustained membership on the women in the group. These two components of the study are its most significant original contributions to the existing literature which does not appear to cover anything similar. The initial raison d’étre of the group was its members’ professional development and this forms a central strand of the investigation, along with identity and self-facilitation. A pragmatic research paradigm, the collaborative nature of the group and the writer’s dual role as both participant and researcher were all influential in the decision to use a participative approach. A range of methods, chosen by the participants, was utilised during the investigation which, whilst participatory, is not emancipatory research. This experimental divergence from how a participative approach is traditionally employed is offered for consideration by researchers who wish to work in a new way that minimises power in other, non-emancipatory situations. The findings support, contradict and add to the literature. The mutuality of longevity and the depth of discourse and learning experienced by group members is a particularly striking aspect of this study. As members of the group have aged, its focus has segued from professional development to encompass a much broader agenda: it has shifted from contributing to members’ professional identity to sustaining their perceptions of self as women who remain capable of complex, critical thinking as they move out of full-time work. The longevity of the group has also fostered deep attachments between group members, despite the differences between them: sustained membership of the group, in turn, provides sustenance for its members. The significance of grounding, ground rules and group composition are highlighted, as is the need to contemplate how members will leave a group during its formation. Alignment between participants in a group is identified as important for its continuation but not always possible. This research makes no claim to offer a definitive model for collaborative learning groups but, instead poses a series of questions for consideration by others who are interested in collaborative learning.

Studiens syfte är att bidra med kunskap om bedömning som begrepp och som pedagogisk praktik i det förskolepedagogiska fältet. Studien bygger på en kvalitativ ansats där sex semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med förskollärare från sex olika förskolor i södra Sverige. Resultatet har analyserats utifrån didaktikens frågor; vad, hur och varför, begreppen formativ och summativ bedömning samt Piagets utvecklingspsykologiska teori. I studiens resultat framkommer att bedömningsbegreppet tolkas olika av olika personer samt att förskollärarna inte tydligt uttrycker att de gör bedömningar på de enskilda barnen. Samtidigt beskriver förskollärarna att de vid ett utvecklingssamtal lyfter barnets utveckling och lärande med fokus på målområden ur läroplanen, med hjälp av digitala mallar. I diskussionen motiveras varför begreppet bedömning behöver läggas till i läroplanen för förskolan. Bedömningsbegreppet behöver definieras för att skapa en samsyn kring begreppet och för att underlätta arbetet kring hur det individuella barnets utveckling och lärande synliggörs. / The purpose of the study is to contribute with knowledge about assessment as a concept and as a pedagogical practice in the preschool pedagogical field. The study is based on a qualitative approach where six semi-structured interviews were conducted with preschool teachers from six different preschools in southern Sweden. The results have been analyzed on the basis of didactics' questions; what, how and why, the concepts of formative and summative assessment and Piaget's developmental psychological theory. The results of the study show that the concept of assessment is interpreted differently by different people and that the preschool teachers do not clearly express that they make assessments of the individual children. At the same time, the preschool teachers describe that in a developmental conversation they highlight the child's development and learning with a focus on target areas from the curriculum, with the help of digital templates. The discussion justifies why the concept of assessment needs to be added to the preschool curriculum. The assessment concept needs to be defined in order to create a consensus around the concept and to facilitate the work on how the individual child's development and learning is made visible.

Studien syftar till att undersöka hur medarbetares utvecklingsinriktade lärande tar sig uttryck inom ett HR-team, och vilka faktorer som för individen upplevs som de viktigaste förutsättningar för att utvecklingsinriktat lärande ska ske. De frågeställningar som besvaras är hur det utvecklingsinriktade lärandet tar sig uttryck hos medarbetaren, samt vilka interna och externa förutsättningar som medarbetaren upplever underlättar för att ett utvecklingsinriktat lärande ska uppstå. Data har samlats in med kvalitativ metod, där sex stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts där samtliga informanter arbetar inom samma HR-team i en global IT-organisation. Därefter har empirin behandlats med hjälp av kategorisering och kodning. I studiens resultat- och analysdel har double-loop lärande använts som teoretiskt analysverktyg, samt de förutsättningar som Illeris presenterar som viktiga för en god lärandemiljö. Studiens resultat indikerar att det utvecklingsinriktade lärandet tar sig uttryck i form av stort handlingsutrymme, som innefattar självständighet och möjlighet att påverka. Det utvecklingsinriktade lärandet tar även sig uttryck i medarbetarnas problemlösningsförmåga. Individerna upplever att interna faktorer som påverkar det utvecklingsinriktade lärandet är motivation. Det illustreras i form utav att informanterna menar att intresse är viktigt för att lärande ska uppstå, samt motivation till att reflektera och se över och förbättra processer vilket resulterar i lärande. De externa faktorerna som individerna upplever som underlättande för att utvecklingsinriktat lärande ska uppstå är arbetsmarknaden informanterna är verksamma på, en tillåtande arbetsmiljö som uppmuntrar till lärande och misstag, att det ges tid för lärande,  att det finns utrymme för kreativitet samt ledarskapets betydelse. / This study aims to investigate how individuals' development-oriented learning manifests itself within an HR team, and which factors by the individual are perceived as the most important prerequisites for development-oriented learning to take place. The questions that are answered within this study are how development-oriented learning is expressed, and what internal and external conditions the individual experiences make it easier for development-oriented learning to arise. Data have been collected using a qualitative method, where six semi-structured interviews have been conducted. The interviews were conducted with six informants, all of whom work within an HR team in a global IT organization. After the interviews were conducted, the empirics were sorted with the help of categorization and coding. In the results and analysis part of the study, double-loop learning has been used as a theoretical analysis tool, as well as the conditions that Illeris presents as important for a good learning environment. The results of the study indicate that development-oriented learning is expressed in the form of room for maneuver, which includes independence and the opportunity to influence. Development-oriented learning is also expressed in the individuals' problem-solving ability. The individuals experience that internal factors that affect development-oriented learning are motivation. This is illustrated in the form that the informants experience that interest is important for learning to arise, as well as motivation to reflect and review and improve processes, which results in learning. The external factors that individuals perceive as facilitating development-oriented learning are the labor market the informants are active in, a permissive work environment that encourages learning and mistakes, that there is time for learning, that there is room for creativity, and the importance of leadership.