This thesis deals with activation teaching methods used during biology classes at lower secondary school. The thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. The first part deals with curricular documents and its relationships to activation methods, to a goal of elementary education and to a goal of activation teaching and above all to a characteristics of individual activation methods. The second part describes a selected topic of food chains. At the beginning, there is an enumeration of selected food chains from eight different environments. Furthermore, a suggestion for a teaching method, which complements the list of food chains, is presented here, as well as drawings of images, which have been created specifically for the purpose of the thesis. As a component of the second part of the thesis, there is an evaluation of a form, which has been presented to children electronically, since the suggested teaching method has not been practicable as a consequence of closed schools in the second half of the school year due to the coronavirus epidemic. The goal of this thesis is to prepare and to test a selected teaching class on the topic of a food chain and drawings of images, which might serve as a teaching material for current as well as future teachers. KEYWORDS active learning, activation...

This diploma thesis deals with the methodology of ELT in Waldorf lower secondary schools. The theoretical part focuses on the historical background and the philosophical premises of Waldorf pedagogy, as well as a general outline of this alternative educational approach. The subsequent chapters are dedicated to the anthroposophical concept of language and the Waldorf methodology of teaching both native and foreign languages. The goal of the practical part is to examine the distinctive features of ELT in this type of schools. The research study is based on the evaluation of the data obtained with the qualitative methods of lesson observation, namely in the 6th and the 8th forms, and interviews with the teachers. The thesis contains a survey of the Waldorf pupils' attitude towards English and the sources of their learning motivation.

Globalization has led to English being the leading language of communication providing opportunities for pupils to develop their English proficiency in different contexts. In this study, teachers’ language choices in the EFL classroom are being observed and the reasons behind them are being discussed during the following interviews. The study aims to increase our understanding of what role the English language as the primary teaching language should have in the EFL classroom at Swedish lower secondary schools to benefit pupils’ language learning in the best way possible. Four teachers, that are teaching at two different lower-secondary schools in southern Sweden participated in the study. In total four classroom observations were conducted followed by four semi-structured teacher interviews. The results found during observations and interviews were then connected to the theories of Language Mode, Translanguaging and Codeswitching. The results of the observations showed a slight difference in the use of English and Swedish during teaching. This study concludes that there is a slight variation in what role the English language has in the four observed classrooms. However, the contexts in which it was used were all coherent. Furthermore, the use of Swedish also showed a slight variation but was explained to be used as a tool for explaining, clarifying and ensuring understanding. Finally, the use of translanguaging practices was believed to have a positive effect on pupils’ learning outcomes although a slight difference was shown here as well.

EFL classrooms in Sweden are multilingual spaces which consist of a wide range of learners with different backgrounds; constantly forcing teachers to adapt their practices to what they believe will be most beneficial for the students’ learning outcomes. This study focuses on teachers' language practices in EFL classrooms in lower secondary education. The study will present if English teacher practices involve translanguaging patterns or not through classroom observations. The observed practices will be examined and compared with additional data from post-observation interviews to gain context and the teachers’ beliefs to the observed practices. The study aims to map and increase our understanding of teachers' language practices in the EFL classroom, focusing on the perspectives of the teachers. Three different teachers were observed at two different schools in Stockholm, working with students in grades 7 and 9. Field notes and results showed that the observed practices were mainly English only and connected to “English as a base language” + Swedish. Only one teacher translanguaged but all teachers were aware and conscious of their teaching choices and their impact on students’ learning outcomes. Two out of three teachers could imagine incorporating translanguaging patterns in their teaching, while the third teacher believed in an English only approach with ultimate language immersion for proficiency development. The study showed that there is a slight difference in the role of the English language in the observed classrooms, which was expected since the syllabus (Lgr22) neither encourages nor prohibits the use of Swedish when teaching English; so naturally the different teachers use their linguistic resources differently. However, all teachers proclaimed to be aware and have conscious thoughts behind their teaching decisions and they all emphasised on “being understood” as the most important aspect. Lastly, it was revealed that students mirror the teachers' linguistic behaviour even if the teacher specifically tells them not to.

This diploma thesis focuses on foreign language teaching to children with specific learning difficulties (LD) at Czech lower secondary schools. It aims to define learning difficulties and describe their causes and manifestations in developing individual foreign language skills and sub-skills. Moreover, the work with these children in the school environment is mentioned and the Czech system of educating them is compared to the French one. The practical part surveys the opinions of foreign language teachers on this subject and analyses the techniques they use with these pupils. Special attention is paid to the differences in the approach of teachers at schools with classes specialized in the tuition of children with LD, schools with extensive language teaching and schools with no specialization. The results indicate that the majority of teachers agree with the integration of pupils with LD into mainstream schools and they favour their exemption from second foreign language study. The individual types of schools differ mainly in the approach towards the presentation of new grammar, in the types of exercises used for the development of communication skills and in the forms of testing and evaluation. Only negligible variations were discovered in other areas of research. KEYWORDS specific learning...

This thesis contains pioneer work in Sweden which contributes to the research on cybersecurity teaching within the Technology subject as formulated in the course and subject governing documents.The work goes in line with a bigger strategy of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) and the European Union (EU). A discourse analysis was performed on the interviews with four Swedish expertsfrom MSB, Internetstiftelsen, and #290CyberSecurity respectively where the interview questions were formulated around three axes; the first axis was the cybersecurity content and knowledge aimed at young individuals, the second axis was the experts’ views on teaching cybersecurity starting from lower secondary schools, and the third axis was regarding platforms or tools that could be used in cybersecurity teaching and what the experts’ perceptions on them are. The analysis resulted in six different codes and formulated the views of the experts. Content analysis was also performed on information from the experts’ organizations which were 14 security documents and reports in total that resulted in a content frame of ten cybersecurity areas. All the ten areas were found to be related to the keywords that appear in the governing documents of the Technology subjects in the course syllabus for grades 7-9 and the subject syllabus for Technology 1. Current cyber attacks and risks threatening young students were further analyzed under each area to narrow down the content frame tailoring it to young students. A new online evaluation tool was then developed to assess the cybersecurity sensibility of the young students. The formulation of the questions was inspired by the SANS cybersecurity awareness survey as well as based on both, the ten cybersecurity areas that are categorized in this thesis and the different scenarios of risks and cybersecurity attacks threatening young students. Domain SamplingTheory (DST) and scenario-based questions were considered to make the tool more fitting for the young and minimize the errors. The tool tested a random group of 250 students from 12 municipalities where110 were in the sixth grade and 140 in the ninth. The tool showed that despite students spending most of their time online using different devices and applications, they are not secure enough which puts them at risk. Moreover, most of the students were interested in getting cybersecurity education and very few received it in schools even though the cybersecurity requirements are stated in the governing documents of the Technology subject. / Detta examensarbete innehåller banbrytande arbete i Sverige vilket bidrar till forskningen om cybersäkerhetsundervisning inom teknikämnet i svenska skolor. Arbetet går i linje med en större strategi från Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap (MSB) och Europeiska unionen (EU). En diskursanalys utfördes på intervjuerna med fyra svenska experter från MSB, Internetstiftelsen och #290CyberSecurity där intervjufrågorna formulerades runt tre axlar; den första axeln var cybersäkerhetsinnehållet som är riktad mot unga individer, den andra axeln var experternas syn på undervisning i cybersäkerhet som börjar från grundskolorna, och den tredje axeln gällde de plattformar eller verktyg som kunde användas i cybersäkerhetundervisning samt vad experternas uppfattning om dem är. Analysen av intervjuer resulterade i sex olika koder vilket speglar experters åsikter. Innehållsanalys utfördes också på information från experternas organisationer. Det var totalt 14 säkerhetsdokument och rapporter som resulterade i en innehållsram med tio cybersäkerhetsområden. Alla de tio områdena är relaterade till nyckelorden som finns i styrdokumenten för teknikämnena i kursplanen för årskurs 7-9 och ämnesplanen för Teknik 1. Aktuella cyberattacker och risker som hotar unga elever analyserades vidare under varje område för att begränsa innehållsramen och anpassa den för unga elever. Ett nytt online utvärderingsverktyg utvecklades sedan för att bedöma cybersäkerhetsrespons och attityd hos de unga eleverna. Formuleringen av frågorna inspirerades av SANS cybersäkerhetsmedvetenhetsundersökning och var baserad på de tio cybersäkerhetsområdena som kategoriseras i detta examensarbete samt de olika scenarierna för risker och cybersäkerhetsattacker som hotar unga elever. Domain Sampling Theory (DST) och scenariobaserade frågor ansågs göra verktyget mer passande för de unga och minimera felen. Verktyget testade en slumpmässig grupp på 250 elever från 12 kommuner där 110 gick i 6:an och 140 i 9:an. Verktyget visade att trots att elever tillbringar större delen av sin tid online med olika enheter och applikationer är de inte tillräckligt säkra, vilket utgör en risk för dem. Dessutom var majoriteten av eleverna intresserade av att få utbildning i cybersäkerhet och väldigt få fick det i skolorna trots att det står i styrdokumenten för teknikämnet.