The primary goal with this literature review was to develop a better understanding of controversial issues within school education. We formulated three questions that would help us reach this goal: What constitutes controversial issues?? How can they be assessed from a didactic point of view? Why can controversial issues be important to discuss? Our working method consisted of systematically searching for relevant literature by using a combination of selected keywords. The collected literature was evaluated and selected to be included in the results based on relevancy, The results demonstrated that controversial issues are often complex in nature, polarizing and very present in social science-education. Furthermore, there are several didactic models and tools that can be used to deal with controversial issues in educational settings. As such, our analysis shows that controversial issues may be integrated in teaching practices. This will increase the possibility for students to develop both knowledge and skills to deal with controversial questions. In social science education, teaching about controversial political issues prepares students to participate in a democratic society, enabling them to engage in discussion on controversial topics in productive and sensitive ways.

This paper studies how changing political, economic, and social conditions in and related to Sweden affected its secondary education policy and the role that social science didactics plays. By analyzing Swedish secondary school curricula, the related social science syllabus, education act, and corresponding organizational documents, the causes for, and context of education reform become clear. The school’s purpose is to impart general abilities and knowledge that all persons will require to function in society and maintain democracy, equality, and international solidarity. Additionally, the school is found to conform to the same template, values, and norms as the economic and political aspects of globalization and modern democratic society. The school subject that wholely addresses general knowledge, civil abilities, and democratic values is found to be social science. Engaging social issues as a didactical tool, social science teaching imparts in students democratic values and the civil abilities to participate in society. Through the quality assurance of evaluations, knowledge requirements emerged as a policy for providing students with the opportunity to learn at one’s capacity. By meeting its knowledge requirements, social science produces students who are stewards of democratic values that, by participating in the community, contribute to social development in every venture during life after school.

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The purpose of this report is to investigate what research says about what different types of support that the teacher has to benefit to support newly arrived students' learning in the social studies subject. With a focus on clarifying why the subject of social studies is important in school for both newly arrived students as well as for native students. To answer the purpose, we started from a question. The question served as an aid and guideline during the course of the work, “What does past research say about different types of support to benefit newly arrived students’ learnings in civics?”. In order to obtain a clearer result based on the research, we demarcated the study from grades 7-9 to secondary school students.   To answer our question, we implemented a search process that has been structured based on three databases we used, Swepub, Libsearch and ERIC via EBSCO.    The result shows that there are different types of support that benefit newly arrived students’ learning in teaching and in social studies teaching, for example, the inclusion of newly arrived students’ first language in teaching, scaffolding, placement and study guidance. The conclusion of this study has given us that it’s important for teachers to be able to master knowledge and skills in how to support newly arrived students’ learning in social studies teaching. Which indicates that it’s an important aspect to highlight for the future teaching profession.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between students' achievement level and the validity of students' self-assessments in the course social studies. The students were divided into two achievement groups, low-achiever and high-achiever. Low achievers were students with the grade F-D in the subject of social science and high achievers were students with the grade C-A in the subject of social science. The students had to do a test which they then had to self-assess. The questions on the test were divided into three abilities; factual knowledge, understanding and skill. The students did three self-assessments, one for each ability. The study found that there is a positive correlation between the students' level of achievement and the validity of the self-assessments. This was in line with previous research (Yao-Ting, 2010). The low achieving students overestimated an average of 0.7 grade points compared to the high achievers who overestimated an average of 0.3. The study saw a certain difference in the validity of self-assessments depending on ability, factual knowledge was the ability that the students overestimated themselves most.

The aim of the thesis is to understand how professionals within different needle exchange programs in Sweden describe the surroundings impact of the contact with patients. Further the aim is to understand how the professionals work with their treatment towards the patients within the clinic due to the impact of the surroundings. The method used is a qualitative method, specifically semi-structured interviews with a various group of six informants. The selections are professionals with different professions who have worked within the needle exchange program, chosen by a targeted selection method. With a semi- structured method, the intention is to capture a secondhand view of patients experiences within the healthcare system in general but also within the needle exchange program.  The results are analyzed with previous research and social science theories based on stigma, labeling and systems. Findings show that patients' experiences are influenced by the surroundings such as social and structural perceptions and attitudes. The society's resistance against the needle exchange program affects the trust against authorities such as social services, police and health care systems. Previous wrong experience with different authorities, more specific healthcare does affect the target group to search for help. Other parts that the results show is internalized stigma within the group of people who inject drugs, either by the individual themselves or by others who consume drugs. The results create an insight on how injecting drugs while being a parent or a woman may involve an additional vulnerability. The thesis shows that professionals that work at the needle exchange program consider the structural impact of their patients while encountering them. Finally, the discussion indicates that the workers accepting, and welcoming approach does help the patients to seek help and to evolve trust. By considering a holistic perspective of the patients and working with harm reduction the professionals do create a neutral environment without the risk of getting stigmatized.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the relationship between social science teachers and their students are affected by the presence and usage of computers and smartphones in the classroom. Since there are no studies examining this aspect of education prior to this one, the aim is to identify potential aspects that could be interesting for further studies to be able to conclude if the relationship is affected by the digital devices. Five upper secondary school teachers in social science have been interviewed for the purpose. The interviews concluded that the digital devices have a greater tendency to distract students, leading to possible conflicts between teachers and students. Furthermore, the teachers pointed out possible complications due to the way students now gather information, for example questioning of authority. The effective information gathering could on the other hand also lead to better classroom discussions which affected the relationship in a positive manner. Additionally, the interviewed teachers informed about students having an increased sense of infringement which was acknowledged during discussions about social topics, teachers feeling an increased sense of exposure due to the possibility of being taped or filmed by the digital devices, as well as the impossibility of maintaining or creating a relationship with students through the screen during the period of distance learning. Since the prerequisites for this study are not enough for generating an overall ensuring conclusion, the result should only be used as inspiration for further studies on the subject.

Visual representations are frequently used in teaching as well as in social and science studiesin order to capture and explain complex and abstract phenomena. However, they can bechallenging, complex and difficult to understand. This study, which is carried out within theframework of a research project, aims to investigate how a visual representation can be usedin teaching in order to qualify elementary pupils’ comprehension about democracy, moreclosely by using a flowchart to describe the legislative process. Before this study wasconducted the research group analysed phenomenographically the conceptual understandingof a flowchart of the legislative process of students in the 5th, 8th and 10th grade andidentified the critical aspects of this phenomenon. The method chosen for this study wasorganizing and conducting a lesson based on those identified critical aspects of the flowchartof the legislative process. A pre- and post-test on it were written by the participants whoseresults have been analysed phenomenographically based on the outcome space of thephenomenographic analysis of the research group. The analysis of the pre- and post-testaimed to investigate the pupils’ conceptions of the phenomenon before and after the lessonwhich therefore indicated which of the two critical aspects were discerned during the lesson.Parts of the conducted lesson and discussions between the pupils were analysed, too. Thisanalysis intended to identify elements during the lesson where the critical aspects seemed tobe possible for the pupils to discern. The results of the study showed that although the lessondid not facilitate for the pupils to discern both critical aspects simultaneously, many of themqualified their conception of the phenomenon from before the lesson to after, by havingdiscerned one of the critical aspects. Thus, using visual representations by focusing ondiscerning critical aspects can facilitate a qualified comprehension/conception of complexphenomena.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur lärare ser på sin egen undervisning utifrån en ämnesövergripande praktik i SO. Syftet undersöks med utgångspunkt i frågeställningen: Hur ser lärare på ämnesövergripande undervisning i SO? Studiens syfte besvaras med hjälp av en kvalitativ undersökning där mellanstadielärares livsvärld analyseras och utgör det empiriska materialet. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten och kunskapssynen som studien vilar mot är den sociokulturella. Undersökningens empiriska data analyseras, med en hermeneutisk metodansats, genom att tolka lärares erfarenheter, tankar och förståelsehorisont utifrån del och helhet. Resultatet av studien visar att det råder delade meningar om undervisningsmetoden och dess planering. Undersökningen påvisar att ämnesövergripande undervisning i SO kan bidra till en holistisk undervisning då eleverna får en helhetsbild av undervisningen, och därmed även ökar och fördjupar sin förståelse för ämnets innehåll. Även åsikter som är emot ämnesövergripande undervisning har lyfts. Dessa menar att det finns risker med undervisningsmetoden då vissa ämnen kan riskera att hamna i skymundan. Studiens resultat går att koppla till tidigare forskning som även den har påvisat liknande åsikter hos lärare gällande deras inställning till undervisningsmetoden. Med utgångspunkt i studiens resultat dras slutsatsen att lärares åsikter om ämnesövergripande undervisning varierar. Ämnesövergripande kan bidra till en kunskapsutveckling men metoden behöver genomföras på ett sätt som möjliggör för en utveckling i samtliga ämnen som integreras.

Openly LGBTQ+ Faculty have a positive effect on LGBTQ+ students. LGBTQ+ students are often highly stigmatized, especially within STEM focused academic programs and universities, (Cooper, K.M., et al, 2020). This is seen through the ways LGBTQ+ students are treated, excluded and the fear of coming out, or letting someone in on their sexuality. This study uses Queer Theory. Queer Theory is a sociological look at how examining and representing gender and sexuality in media, entertainment and daily life affects the interpretation of LGBTQ+ individuals, (Valoochi, S., 2005). Looking through the lens of queer theory, we can see that having representation makes people feel more comfortable and gives permission for authenticity. Through looking at the effects and knowledge of queer theory in correlation with this research, the connection between having openly LGBTQ+ faculty representation and the positive effect on LGBTQ+ students. Faculty includes all individuals who teach and are tenured. This may include those who serve in administrative positions such as a deanship or a directorship.