In a world characterized by constant changes and increasing diversity, controversialevents unfold in society on a daily basis. Given the School's role in educating democraticcitizens, it is imperative for educational institutions to adapt and incorporate current andcontroversial topics into their curriculum. This thesis explores the perspectives of socialstudies teachers on controversial issues in the classroom. Employing a phenomenologicalapproach and conducting in-depth interviews with social studies teachers, the studyanalyzes their subjective experiences, definitions of the subject, and approaches toteaching controversial topics. Therefore, our purpose and research questions are groundedin three themes, which are also pervasive throughout the work: Teacher management,teacher experience, and teacher definition of controversial issues in education.In summary, the results from our interview study reveal that teachers acknowledge theemotional impact associated with these issues, a finding supported by prior research. Thechallenge lies in the complexity of these topics and the ability to strike a balance betweenintellectual challenge and emotional understanding. The study highlights the difficultyteachers face in maintaining objectivity while navigating through their own values, andthe intricate interplay between subject content, emotions, and the teacher's ownperspective. It is evident that a conscious effort is required to create a classroomatmosphere that fosters open dialogues and respectful confrontations to promotedemocratic values, where diverse perspectives can be included.

This study examines students' perceptions and ability to think critically within the framework of social studies education. With increasing concern for the survival of democracy and the rapidly changing media landscape, it is increasingly important to understand and promote students' critical thinking skills. The study aims to contribute to an increased understanding of students' critical thinking in social studies teaching and points to the need to develop more differentiated and challenging teaching methods to promote students' ability to think critically in different contexts. It also emphasizes the importance of integrating critical thinking discussions into a broader context of media and information literacy to equip students to navigate the media landscape and contribute to healthy democratic societal development.   Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods in a survey, the student's knowledge of critical thinking in different contexts and their ability to apply it in practice were explored. The results showed that students generally had a basic understanding of critical thinking, but had difficulty reaching more advanced levels of critical thinking. When it comes to being able to explain critical thinking in theory, a majority have a basic understanding, mainly related to source criticism. The result of applying it in practice was that a majority could reach a more multifaceted understanding of critical thinking. Specifically, it emerged that the students found it more difficult to apply critical thinking in complex situations and that their ability was to some extent situational depending on the subject. In addition, the results showed challenges students articulated related to navigating through the large flow of information and sifting relevant information from irrelevant or misleading sources.

Denna samhällskunskapsdidaktiska studies syfte är att undersöka vad samhällskunskapslärare själva upplever som de viktigaste påverkansfaktorerna för transformeringen av samhällskunskap som skolämne till samhällskunskap som undervisning utifrån didaktiska frågor som Vad?, Hur? och Varför?, samt hur detta upplevs förändrats över en tidsperiod om cirka tjugo år eller mer. Studien bygger på hermeneutisk-fenomenologisk livsvärldsansats där fenomenologisk beskrivning och hermeneutisk tolkning är centralt. Empirin utgörs av intervjuer med tio samhällskunskapslärare med lång yrkeserfarenhet från högstadium, gymnasium eller vuxenutbildning. Resultatet tematiseras utifrån inspiration från ramfaktorteoretiska utgångspunkteri fyra dimensioner av påverkansfaktorer, vilka är Den personliga dimensionen, Den didaktiska dimensionen, Den styrande dimensionen och Den samhälleliga dimensionen. Var och en av dessa dimensioner delas upp i ett antal variationer. Dimensionerna är konstruerade utifrån principen om det personligt nära till det samhälleligt distanserade. Utöver dessa dimensioner har en aspekt på dessa lagts till. Det är Den elevnära aspekten vars innehåll utgörs av eleverna som påverkansfaktor för hur undervisningen blir. Lärarna i studien pratar aldrig om eleverna som påverkansfaktor utan att koppla detta till någon av de fyra dimensionerna. Slutsatser som dras i studien är att de tio lärarna alla har mycket olika berättelserom vad de uppfattar som viktigaste påverkansfaktorer. Några lägger mest fokus på sin personliga bakgrund eller personliga intressen. Andra fokuserar mer på didaktiska idéer, på styrdokument eller på organisatoriska ramar. Studien visar också att lärarna alla har en eller ett par dominerande dimensioner som dels syns mest i berättelsen, dels också påverkar hur de pratar om de andra dimensionerna. Lärarnas berättelser visar även att de upplever att undervisningen och vad som påverkar denna påtagligt förändras över tid. Studiens viktigaste bidrag är kanske att den exemplifierar teoretiska perspektiv. Inte minst genom att belysa att vad som påverkar undervisningen i ett ämne är så komplext att den ramfaktorteoretiska byggnadsställningen måste anpassas efter den specifika undersökningen med dess frågeställningar och undersökningsmaterial. / The purpose of this research in social studies didactics is to examine what teachers in social studies perceive as the most important influencing factors for the transformation from social studies as school subject to social studies as classroom teaching, based on didactic questions as; What?, How? and Why?, and how this is perceived has changed over a period of about twenty years or more. The study is based on the hermeneutic-phenomenological life-world approach, where phenomenological description and hermeneutic interpretation are central. The empirical data consist of interviews with ten teachers in social studies with extensive professional experience in lower secondary school, upper secondary school or adult education. The result is thematically based on inspiration from frame factor theory in four dimensions of influencing factors, which are; The personal dimension, The didactic dimension, The governing dimension and The societal dimension. Each of these dimensions is divided into a number of variations. The dimensions are designed on the principle of the personally close to the societal distanced. In addition to these dimensions, an aspect of these is added. It is The pupil aspect, whose content pupils as influencing factor. The teachers in the study never talk about pupils and their influence on the teaching without connection to any of the four dimensions. Conclusions drawn in the study is that the ten teachers all have very different stories about what they perceive as the most important influencing factors. Some places the greatest emphasis on their personal background or personal interests. Others focus more on didactic ideas, on policy documents or on the economical and organizational framework. The study also shows that all the teachers have one or two dominant dimensions as most visible, that also affects the way they talk about the other dimensions. The teachers’ stories also show that they perceive that the teaching and what impact this change appreciably over time. The study’s most important contribution is perhaps that it exemplifies theoretical perspectives, for an example highlighting that the frame factor theoretical scaffolding must be adapted to the specific study and its issues and research materials.

The focus of this investigation is civics in the Swedish upper secondary school. In addition to subject matter, civics is also an agent for democratic socialisation. The study explores and analyses the reflections of six teachers on their teaching about globalisation. These reflections, or voices, are researched through interviews and classroom observations. The starting point is the teachers’ description of content and goals in their teaching. The overall aim is to identify and analyse first and second order concepts in their teaching and analyse the relationship between the concepts and democratic socialisation. Despite the strong position of civics as one of the main subjects in school curricula very little research has been done. By focusing on one substantial case, globalisation, this study tries to reach beyond the various topics covered in civics. In order to understand civics teaching the researcher use the history didactic terms of first and second order concepts to find a new way to explore and understand civics. Manifested in the teachers’ voices are ideas on how to organise, analyse, interpret and critically review discourses in society. The second order concepts of civics found in the teachers’ voices are social science perspectives, social science causality, social science inference, social science evidence and social science abstraction. In order to reach their goals in civics the teachers underline the importance of using second order concepts. When pupils work more scientifically they develop a way of thinking about society and they have to challenge their set opinions about different topics. Therefore, the second order concepts are important for achieving civic literacy.

Denna studie syftar till att undersöka gymnasielevers upplevelse av musik och låttexter som ett didaktiskt redskap inom ramen för samhällskunskapsämnet. Studien avser också att öka förstå- elsen för de faktorer som påverkar elevernas upplevelse av detta didaktiska redskap, samt deras upplevelse av estetiska läroprocesser på gymnasienivå. Det teoretiska ramverket utgår från två motstridiga teorier om hur undervisningen och läraren bör förhålla sig till elevernas livsvärldar. Åtta intervjuer ligger till grund för studiens resultat. Intervjuerna föregicks av en lektion där musik integrerades som en del i undervisningen. Resultatet pekar på att elevernas upplevelse av musik och låttexter i samhällskunskapsundervisningen i hög grad är kopplade till en mängd individuella faktorer. Aspekter som elevens inlärningspreferenser, livsvärld, personlighet, in- tresse och motivation framstod här som betydande. Slutsatsen visar dels att metoden tycktes göra störst skillnad för elever med både låg inre och yttre motivation. Slutligen belyser studien å ena sida betydande skillnader i elevernas upplevelse och åsikter om undervisning generellt, men visar å andra sidan att de förenas i åsikten att en god undervisning karakteriseras av vari- ation, elevaktiva metoder, tydlighet och struktur. / This study aims to examine upper-secondary school students' experience of music and song lyrics as a didactic tool within the social studies subject. Furthermore, the study aims to increase the understanding of factors that affect students' experience of the aesthetic learning process. The theoretical framework is based on two conflicting theories about how teaching and teachers should relate to the students' life worlds. Eight interviews form the basis of this study's results. The interviews were preceded by a lesson where music was integrated as a part of the teaching. The results indicate that the students' experience of music and lyrics in social studies teaching, were to a large extent linked to a multitude of factors. Aspects such as the student's learning preferences, life world, personality, interests and motivation appeared to be significant factors that affected their experience. The method seemed to make the largest difference for students with both low internal and external motivation. On one hand the study highlights the differences in the students' experience and opinions on teaching in general. On the other hand, the students unanimously described good teaching to be characterized by varied and student-active methods in combination with lucidity and structure.

Denna undersökning har syftat till att undersöka hur AI anses kunna påverka undervisningen i skolan och samhällskunskapsämnet. Studien baseras på den diskurs som råder inom ämnet. Undersökningen baseras på material i form av tidningsartiklar, en intervju med en forskare och en fokusgruppsintervju. Materialet har analyserats genom en kvantitativ respektive kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Undersökningen utgår från uppfattningen att samhällskunskapsundervisningen bör sträva efter att utveckla så kallad AI-literacy hos eleverna. Resultatet bekräftade inte att detta genomförs i undervisningen. Områden som undervisning, fusk, examination och bedömning behandlades i större utsträckning än AI-literacy, AIED (AI in education) och AI&ED (AI and education).  Resultatet antyder att AI-utvecklingen kommer leda till nya examinationsformer och möjligen AI-assistenter som kompletterar lärare. Samhällskunskap som undervisningsämne omnämndes knappt i materialet även om vissa områden som kan relateras till samhällskunskap förekom som källkritik och demokrati. AI-literacy relaterat till samhällskunskap förekom några enstaka gånger. Detta resultat påvisar viken av att utveckla AI:s roll i samhällskunskapsundervinsingen för att möjliggöra säkra studier av ämnet i skolan, samt vikten av att fortsätta forska om AI och utbildning och AI och samhällskunskap. / This survey aims to investigate how AI is considered to influence teaching in school and the social studies subject. The survey is based on the discourse on the subject of AI and education. The survey is based on material from online news articles, an interview with a researcher and a focus group interview. The material has been analyzed through quantitative and qualitative content analysis methods. The survey is based on a theory that claims that social studies teaching should strive to develop students so-called AI-literacy. The survey results did not confirm this theory. Categories such as teaching, cheating, examination and assessment were covered in the material to a greater extent than AI literacy, AIED (AI in education) and AI&ED (AI and education). The results suggests that the development in AI may lead to new forms of examination and possibly AI assistants as a supplement to teachers. Social studies as a teaching subject was barely mentioned in the material, although certain areas that can be related to social studies appeared such as source criticism and democracy. AI literacy related to social studies appeared a few times. This result demonstrates the importance of further research about AI and social studies education to and to enable safe methods to study the subject in schools. It also emphasizes the importance of continued research on AI and education as well as AI and social studies.