The aim of this study is to provide knowledge about how preschoolers discuss about carbon dioxide bubbles and its buoyancy. To answer the study´s questions, three focus groups with a total of twelve children and six group interviews with a total of eight children, have been used as a method. In the implementation of the focus groups and the group interviews, the experiment dancing raisins was used. The experiment was used as a concrete material to make the carbonic acid visible to the children. A social constructivist perspective has been used during the analyzes of the data. From the keywords that emerged during the analysis, nine categories have been identified and divided to answer the questions of the study. The result shows that when the children were to describe the carbonic acid, they used the words bubbles and bubble water. Only one child said the word gas, but none of the children used the word carbonic acid. The result also shows that the children in the study have previous experiences that the appearance and characteristics of objects affect whether they float or sink. The result shows that the children mainly used everyday concepts and lack scientific concepts when describing the phenomenon. The result of the study can contribute to a developed chemistry teaching in the preschool, by letting preschool teachers know what words children use to describe a phenomenon and thus adapt the chemistry content of the preschool.

This thesis examines in Swedish teacher education often neglected areas to increase the understanding for the essential differences between the two sexes and furthermore: how these differences affect us from an evolutionary and biological perspective. The study investigates previous research within the area - particularly evolution, neurology, hormones and genetics that affects our behavior. It also scrutinizes theories of social construction which primarily lodged the foundation for learning within the last century and served as explanation model for how human beings turn out in life. Research is analyzed regarding how music may be perceived differently and how they may affect stereotypical choices regarding instrument and other preferences. Also, the study evaluates research regarding how the Swedish school is designed to uphold gender equality in their goals and in their national curriculum. Finally, conclusions whether the Swedish school is providing enforcement regarding scientific regulations, which the law demands from it – in this case biological factors – are being looked at. The results show that biological differences between males and females may influence human behavior to a greater degree than earlier predictions, and that the Swedish school is mostly founded on a social constructionist point of view. These results indirectly question the Swedish National Agency for Education’s definition of equality, which paradoxical may lead to equity. Or, equality by outcome. Which do not take biological sex differences, or even individual differences into account.

<p>The purpose of the study is to explore how social workers work with youths that seek financial assistance and what importance gender plays in this process. The participants were six female social workers that work with financial assistance. They were interviewed and had to reflect over a case, where the client where either male or female. The results was analyzed and compared in relation to social constructive theory and gender theory. The study shows that social workers work in two parallel processes, when they decide about financial assistance and other help benefits, the formal and the intuitive. In the formal process the social workers don’t give gender any importance in how they reflect about their work and the clients. In the same time way they think differently about male or female clients in a more intuitive manner. The differences that are done can be related to gender stereotypes. The male client is thought of being responsible and active and the female client is viewed as a passive victim. These ideas creates different practices against men and women, where the female would be given psychological aid and the male would be given work related support. These practices reproduces traditional conceptions of both sexes and can therefore create different possibilities for young men and women that contact the social welfare system for financial assistance.</p>

<p>This paper aimed to investigate to what extent there is an age cut-off for teenage boys in the women’s shelters of Sweden and how a possible cut-off is described and maintained. This occurrence has not been investigated earlier to a large extent, which emphasizes the importance of this paper. A mixed strategy was used to cover both the frequency as well as the explanations to the age cut-off. The quantitative survey was sent to all women’s shelters in Sweden and the result showed that 56 % of the shelters had an age cut-off for teenage boys from 12 years of age and above. Qualitative interviews were conducted with six women’s shelters in Stockholm to examine how the notion teenage boys was constructed and used by the respondents to deny them refuge together with their mothers. The teenage boys were described as young men, aggressive and in the same time need of support, which all had the consequence that they could not stay at the shelters with collective housing. The age cut-off was neither discussed nor questioned by the members of the women’s shelters and was upheld by its legitimation. From a social constructive perspective the women’s shelters could be understood as institutionalized.</p>

<p>The purpose of this paper was to describe how a phenomenon is constructed into being a social problem, by studying articles on honour killing in the Swedish daily press and in the technical journal Socionomen. The main questions were: can different discourses on honour killing be identified, and if so, have they changed over time, and are there differences between the discourses identified in the daily press and in Socionomen? The method used was a qualitative analysis of discourse influenced by Faircloughs Critical Discourse Analysis. The main conclusion was that honour killing has been textually constructed as a social problem in the studied media. There was one main discourse which clearly pointed out groups as bearers and victims of the social problem. This discourse has provided causality to society by indicating culture, religion and ethnicity as the reasons for the honour killing. Adding to this, our interpretation is that there was only a slight difference between how the social problem had been textually constructed in the Swedish daily press and in Socionomen, and that honour killing has been textually constructed as a social problem almost without contribution from social workers.</p>

<p>This thesis investigates the preconditions for a new type of migration among the highly skilled between Senegal and the EU, namely <em>circular migration</em>. The three most prominent actors in the shaping of the future migration pattern –the EU (administration), the Senegalese government and the future highly skilled migrants i.e. Senegalese university students –are studied by a combination of <em>social constructivism</em> and <em>critical discourse analysis</em>. The discourses are derived from official EU and Senegalese documents and from a survey as well as from semi-structured interviews with students at the two largest universities in Senegal. The analysis of the discourses shows three factors that point towards a change of the migration practice in favour of circular migration: first, an <em>interdiscursivity</em> between the migration, development and economic growth discourses; second, a <em>resemblance</em> between the three actors discourses on migration; and third, a <em>willingness</em> among all three actors to act for a mobility of knowledge and experience. Consequently, there are preconditions for circular migration between Senegal and the EU.</p>

<p>A foundation of our welfare state is that we have a social safety net. This safety net is designed to pick up individuals who are in need of help and support to manage their way of life. This essay regards people who need help with care or people who need help with an addiction. This essay is a qualitative text analysis, which aims to see whether, and if so how, help-seekers are constructed in 40 social service documents within a municipality in central Sweden. We have endeavored to illustrate the power that the written word possesses and which categories of people are constructed depending on the language and content of the social documents. With our theoretical starting point, which was marginalization and social constructivism we want to illustrate the administrators’ choice of content and language in the social service documents. The main result is that help-seekers in the addiction unit have to give more information about themselves. Addiction is a deviate behavior and therefore more information is needed in order for them to be accepted as opposed to help-seekers in the care unit, where information regarding the help-seeker is in relation to the means of the help-seekers needs.</p>

The purpose of the study is to explore how social workers work with youths that seek financial assistance and what importance gender plays in this process. The participants were six female social workers that work with financial assistance. They were interviewed and had to reflect over a case, where the client where either male or female. The results was analyzed and compared in relation to social constructive theory and gender theory. The study shows that social workers work in two parallel processes, when they decide about financial assistance and other help benefits, the formal and the intuitive. In the formal process the social workers don’t give gender any importance in how they reflect about their work and the clients. In the same time way they think differently about male or female clients in a more intuitive manner. The differences that are done can be related to gender stereotypes. The male client is thought of being responsible and active and the female client is viewed as a passive victim. These ideas creates different practices against men and women, where the female would be given psychological aid and the male would be given work related support. These practices reproduces traditional conceptions of both sexes and can therefore create different possibilities for young men and women that contact the social welfare system for financial assistance.

This paper aimed to investigate to what extent there is an age cut-off for teenage boys in the women’s shelters of Sweden and how a possible cut-off is described and maintained. This occurrence has not been investigated earlier to a large extent, which emphasizes the importance of this paper. A mixed strategy was used to cover both the frequency as well as the explanations to the age cut-off. The quantitative survey was sent to all women’s shelters in Sweden and the result showed that 56 % of the shelters had an age cut-off for teenage boys from 12 years of age and above. Qualitative interviews were conducted with six women’s shelters in Stockholm to examine how the notion teenage boys was constructed and used by the respondents to deny them refuge together with their mothers. The teenage boys were described as young men, aggressive and in the same time need of support, which all had the consequence that they could not stay at the shelters with collective housing. The age cut-off was neither discussed nor questioned by the members of the women’s shelters and was upheld by its legitimation. From a social constructive perspective the women’s shelters could be understood as institutionalized.

The purpose of this paper was to describe how a phenomenon is constructed into being a social problem, by studying articles on honour killing in the Swedish daily press and in the technical journal Socionomen. The main questions were: can different discourses on honour killing be identified, and if so, have they changed over time, and are there differences between the discourses identified in the daily press and in Socionomen? The method used was a qualitative analysis of discourse influenced by Faircloughs Critical Discourse Analysis. The main conclusion was that honour killing has been textually constructed as a social problem in the studied media. There was one main discourse which clearly pointed out groups as bearers and victims of the social problem. This discourse has provided causality to society by indicating culture, religion and ethnicity as the reasons for the honour killing. Adding to this, our interpretation is that there was only a slight difference between how the social problem had been textually constructed in the Swedish daily press and in Socionomen, and that honour killing has been textually constructed as a social problem almost without contribution from social workers.