Syftet med detta examensarbete har varit att undersöka vilken betydelse närområdesstudier ochutomhuspedagogisk undervisning knuten till lokalsamhället har för lärare i samhällskunskap,att skapa variation i undervisningen och om samt hur lärare använder närområdet i sinundervisning i årskurs 4–6. Det finns tidigare forskning kring främst natur- och äventyrsinriktadutomhuspedagogik som fokuserar på yngre elever, men mindre kring närområdesstudier,studiebesök och besök från samhället, för ämnet samhällskunskap.De teoretiska utgångspunkterna var Vygotskijs sociokulturella perspektiv och pragmatismenenligt Dewey, som användes för att analysera empirin. Undersökningen genomfördes med hjälpav kvalitativ metod och semistrukturerade intervjuer. Sex respondenter från fem skolor deltogi undersökningen. I analysen av resultatet framkommer att lärarna ger många exempel påmöjligheter till undervisning utomhus och i närområdet men att det finns hinder att övervinnainnan man kommer ut ur klassrummet.En slutsats som kan dras utifrån undersökningens engagerade lärare och tidigare forskning äratt vi kan drista oss till att konstatera, att utomhuspedagogiken och närområdesstudierna görstor nytta för de flesta elever. Det som återstår att göra är, att ”kavla upp ärmarna”, utmanahindren och ta med eleverna på deras livsresa både i klassrum och utomhus, för att ge demminnen och kunskaper för livet. / The purpose of this master thesis has been to examine which meaning neighborhood studiesand outdoor education attached to local society has to teachers in the subject of civics, to createvariation in teaching and if and how teachers use the local area in their teaching in classes 4–6.There is earlier research mainly around nature and adventure oriented outdoor educationfocusing on younger pupils, but with less focus on neighborhood studies, study visits and visitsfrom society, in the subject of civics.The theoretical starting points was Vygotskijs sociocultural perspective and pragmatismaccording to Dewey, that was used to analyze the empirics. The survey was conducted by usingqualitative method and semi-structured interviews. Six respondents from five schoolsparticipated in the survey. In the analysis of the result, it emerges that the teachers give manyexamples of outdoor and neighborhood teaching, but there are obstacles to overcome beforegetting out of the classroom.A conclusion, that can be drawn based on dedicated teachers of this survey and former researchis, that we dare to note, that outdoor teaching and neighborhood studies do great good to mostpupils. What remains to be done, is to “roll up the sleeves”, challenge the hindrances and bringthe pupils on their journey of a lifetime in both classrooms and outdoors, to give them memoriesand knowledge for life.

The study explores the meaning of knowing how to reason about justice in civics in upper secondary school. This is examined through the analysis of students’ conceptions of justice, and of their conceptions of civic reasoning about justice. It is also examined through the analysis of civic education practise. In the study, teaching was designed using Variation Theory and the theory of intersubjectivity in Activity Theory, and examined and evaluated in three Learning Studies. The empirical material consists of filmed and transcribed research lessons and interviews, as well as of written pre- and post-tests. The material was first analysed using phenomenography, and then analysed using content-oriented conversation analysis. Students’ conceptions of justice were found to move between the conception of justice as (A) a universal value, (B) a personal value or (C) a value of principle. Students’ conceptions of civic reasoning about justice were found to move between three conceptions: (a) reporting about justice, (b) analysing causes of different perspectives on justice or (c) critical reasoning about principles of justice. The critical aspects of knowing how to reason about justice in civics that students needed to discern were the relativity of justice, the basis for arguments for principles of justice and the analysing as well as the criticizing aspects of reasoning. The subject-knowledge that the teachers expressed in their teaching was one condition of the practise of civics that was found to be of importance for the students’ learning. Others were the assumed purpose of the practise of civics and a genuine need for the intended knowledge in the practice. Communicative actions that seem to facilitate these conditions are real learning tasks and a subject-specific language and variation of critical aspects as mediating tools. The findings are discussed in relation to theories of justice in political science and to the practise of civics education.

Tim Randberg and Filip Lindahl carried out this study under the institution for pedagogy, didactics and educational studies at Uppsala University. In relation to the lack of research regarding students’ perspectives regarding the legitimizing aspects of the school subject of social science(samhällskunskap), and in contrast to the existence of such research regarding teachers’ perspectives, this study is an attempt at contributing to the lack of previous research and note the importance of working towards a reality in which students’ and teachers’ attitudes, regarding the importance and the purpose of social studies, aligns.  This didactic study, which analyzes which attitudes are connected to a small group of students (age 18), as well as a small group of social science teachers, regarding what legitimizes studying social science, along with the key differences between these two groups, is an interview study in which a didactic theory formed by Gert Biesta was applied in relation to the results of the interview. Biesta’s theoretical framework, which is central for this study, categorized the legitimizing aspects of education into three categories: qualification, socialization and subjectification, in which every relevant analytical finding was categorized into each of Biesta’s three categories. This study concludes that both teachers and students found the internalization of democratic values as well as citizenship development to be the central legitimizing aspects of civic studies. The results regarding the teachers’ comments aligned with most previous research, except for the aspect of power, which in contrast to previous research was absent in the results for this study. Regarding the three theoretical categories, no significant differences were to be found but rather smaller differences that could be considered noteworthy. Teachers discussed the legitimizing aspects of civic studies from a qualification-related point of view more than the students did. In contrast, the students made comments that were connected to the concepts of socialization as well as subjectification in a greater sense compared to the teachers. Regarding the concept of qualification, both teachers and students related the purpose of civic studies to skills and knowledge necessary to engage politically in society, or to prosper in society. Connected to the concept of socialization, students found that it was important that people internalized democratic values and norms related to democracy, which aligns with the teachers’ responses, only that the latter as a group further discussed the legitimizing aspect of civic studies as it being a means to prevent extremism, racism as well as other anti-democratic aspects that a few students were described as gravitating towards. In relation to the concept of subjectification, students, unlike the teachers, noted the importance of becoming global citizens. Both groups argued for the importance of developing a culturally adaptive mindset as well as forming an individual political opinion. Most teachers discussed the importance of students, along with the civic studies, becoming less self-centered and more focused on their role in relation to a social, collective context. In contrast, several students made individualistic claims; that a legitimizing aspect of civic studies, regarding certain skills and abilities that comes with the subject and that was regarded as a key element in a modern, democratic social context, is that they develop a sense of what others think of them and how successfully they present themselves to other people, groups and institutions. One conclusion is that there is a reason for the didactic research-field to investigate whether there needs to be a function in Swedish education which investigates whether students and teachers share the same idea of why they are studying a subject or various content related to a subject,

Denna studie undersöker hur fyra gymnasielärare i samhällskunskap reflekterar över nationalism i deras undervisning. Fenomenet nationalism går att förstå som ett såväl snävt som brett begrepp och i denna studie intervjuas lärarna om hur de upplever att nationalism förekommer i deras undervisning som kunskap, perspektiv, fenomen och didaktisk utmaning. Studien är explorativ och använder Sandahls (2015) teori om samhällsvetenskapligt ämneskunnande samt begreppsklassifikationer om sunt förnufts-uppfattningar och naturaliserade axiomer. De teoretiska perspektiven används för att bringa klarhet i vad lärarna ser som relevanta kunskaper och erfarenheter av nationalism i undervisningen och för att belysa vilka didaktiska utmaningar fenomenet kan skapa. Resultaten visar att nationalism är ett återkommande perspektiv i samhällskunskapsundervisningen, som ibland berörs öppet och direkt, i andra fall mer subtilt och indirekt. Fenomenet beskrivs av lärarna som en byggsten i elevernas utveckling av de kunskaper och färdigheter som Sandahl (2015) beskriver som samhällsvetenskapliga tankeredskap. Lärarna beskriver nationalism på ett likartat sätt men skildrar i intervjuerna hur fenomenet ges olika stort utrymme och förmedlas på olika sätt beroende på faktorer såsom gymnasieprogram, gruppsammansättning och mängden samhällskunskap som eleverna läser. De lärare som primärt undervisar på högskoleförberedande program beskriver en mer indirekt förmedling av nationalism som perspektiv och förlitar sig på historieundervisningens innehållskunskaper och den kunskapsprogression eleverna genomgår under deras tre gymnasieår. Lärarna på yrkesprogrammen beskriver snarare att de på ett direkt sätt ger utrymme åt innehållskunskaperna om nationalism i deras undervisning. Resultaten visar även att nationalism upplevs som ett kontroversiellt ämne i klassrumssituationer, där en del elever ger uttryck för antingen sunt förnufts-uppfattningar eller naturaliserade axiomer vilka utgör didaktiska utmaningar i undervisningen. Slutligen visar resultaten på att det finns flera utmaningar kopplat till lärarprofessionen i undervisning om nationalism. Dessa utmaningar rör såväl värdegrund, vetenskaplighet och elevers förförståelse som kräver didaktiska övervägningar i samhällskunskaps­undervisningen. / This study examines how four high school social studies teachers reflect on nationalism in their teaching. The phenomenon of nationalism can be understood as both a narrow and broad concept and in this study the teachers are interviewed about how they perceive that nationalism occurs in their teaching as knowledge, perspective, phenomenon, and didactic challenge. The study is exploratory and uses Sandahl's (2015) theory of second order concepts of Social Science as well as the conceptual classifications of common-sense notions and naturalized axioms. The theoretical perspectives are used to bring clarity to what the teachers see as relevant knowledge and experiences of nationalism in teaching and to highlight the didactic challenges the phenomenon can create. The results show that nationalism is a recurring perspective in social studies teaching, which is sometimes touched upon openly and directly, in other cases more subtly and indirectly. The phenomenon is described by the teachers as a foundation block in the students' development of the knowledge and skills that Sandahl (2015) describes as second order thinking concepts. The teachers describe the concept of nationalism in a similar way but describe in the interviews how the phenomenon is given varying amounts of time and conveyed in different ways depending on factors such as the high school program, group composition and the number of social studies classes that the students attend to. The teachers who primarily teach in university preparatory programs describe a more indirect conveyance of nationalism as a perspective and rely on the content knowledge of history teaching as well as the knowledge progression the students undergo during their three years of high school. The teachers on the vocational programs rather describe that they directly give time to the content knowledge about nationalism in their teaching. The results also show that nationalism is experienced as a controversial topic in classroom situations, where some students express either common-sense notions or naturalized axioms which pose didactic challenges in teaching. Finally, the results show that there are several challenges linked to the profession in teaching about nationalism. These challenges relate to foundation of values, scientific rigor, and students' pre-understanding, which require didactic considerations in social studies teaching.

Denna studie undersöker samhällskunskapslärares professionella och didaktiska förhållningssätt till artificiell intelligens (AI) som verktyg i samhällskunskapsundervisningen. Fokus ligger på verktyget ChatGPT och hur detta kan användas i undervisningskontext. Syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen kring AI-verktyg i undervisningssammanhang och samla data om lärares åsikter kring dess användbarhet i utvecklingen av elevers förmågor och i relation till måluppfyllelse enligt läroplanen. En systematisk litteraturgenomgång genomfördes för att identifiera relevant tidigare forskning och utveckla inklusions- och exklusionskriterier. Gruppintervjuer genom ett informerande och utforskande seminarium genomfördes för att förstå lärares problemområden i relation till AI i undervisning. Detta ledde till teman av begrepp och problemområden som utgjorde grunden för en analys. Slutsatsen presenterar att ChatGPT har potential att användas som ett verktyg i undervisningen i samhällskunskap i svenska gymnasieskolor. Lärare kan använda verktyget för att effektivisera sitt arbete med att konstruera lektionsinnehåll, planera undervisning, anpassa kunskapsinnehåll till enskilda elever och på så vis stödja elevers måluppfyllelse i samhällskunskap. Verktygets funktionalitet förstås vara flexibelt och samtidigt visa förmåga att förstå innehållet i användarens budskap, generera text som är språkligt korrekt i sin struktur, erbjuda relevant information och besitta ett pedagogiskt värde baserat på användarens syfte. / This study examines social science teachers' pedagogical and didactic approaches to artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool in teaching civics. The focus is on ChatGPT and how it can be used in educational contexts. The purpose of the study is to increase knowledge about AI tools in teaching and to gather data on teachers' opinions on their usefulness in developing students' abilities and meeting curriculum goals. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify relevant the researchbase. Group interviews through an informative and exploratory seminar were conducted to understand teachers' problem areas in relation to AI in education. This led to themes of concepts and problem areas that formed the basis for an analysis. The conclusion presents that ChatGPT has the potential to be used as a tool in the teaching of social studies in Swedish high schools. Teachers can utilize the tool to streamline their work in constructing lesson content, planning instruction, adapting knowledge to individual students, and thus support students' achievement of goals in social studies. The tool's functionality is understood to be flexible while also demonstrating the ability to comprehend the content of the user's message, generate text that is linguistically correct in structure, provide relevant information, and possess educational value based on the user's purpose.