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Skolan har ett viktigt uppdrag när det gäller att undervisa om källkritik och att träna kritiskt tänkande, som har stärkts ytterligare genom den senaste läroplanen från 2022 för grundskolan. För att värna om demokratins grundpelare där yttrandefrihet är en viktig del, behöver våra unga medborgare lära sig att se igenom desinformation och konspirationsteorier av olika slag. I en värld där information är en färskvara är det också viktigt att kunna bedöma om källan är aktuell och adekvat och att kunna skilja ut de trovärdiga källorna i mängden och våga lita på dessa. Syftet med studien är att genom en vetenskaplig teori kring källkritik och kritiskt tänkande, lyfta fram mellanstadieelevers upplevelse av vad som gör en källa trovärdig eller inte trovärdig, som ett bidrag till den fortsatta forskningen. Det empiriska underlaget samlades in genom tre olika fokusgruppssamtal med elever i årskurs fyra och sex på en mellanstadieskola på en mindre ort i södra Sverige. Studien visar att eleverna utgår från sina erfarenheter och förkunskaper när de bedömer om en källa är trovärdig eller inte. Där eleverna själva saknar kunskaper för att kunna göra en bedömning använder de sitt sociala nätverk för att vikta trovärdigheten hos information och källor. Deras resonemang visade att de hade ett kritiskt tänkande när de sökte information, även om deras kunskaper kring bakomliggande faktorer och dolda agendor var begränsade. Didaktiskt behöver lärare i samhällskunskap vara uppmärksamma på när elevernas förkunskaper gör att de tolkar information och källor på ett mindre kritiskt sätt än de borde. Eleverna behöver kunna ta både det abstrakta och det konkreta i beaktande när de viktar information och källor, förstå processer bakom och på ett djupare plan. ”Kunskap är makt”, som filosofen Francis Bacon uttryckte det. / The school has an important mission in teaching source criticism and training critical thinking, which has been furthermore strengthened by the latest 2022 curriculum for the Swedish middle school. To protect the pillars of democracy where freedom of speech is an important part, we need to teach our young citizens to see through misinformation and conspiracy theories of various kinds. In a world where information is a fresh commodity, is it also important to be able to assess whether the source is current and adequate and to be able to distinguish the credible sources from the crowd and dare to trust them. The purpose of the study is to, through a scientific theory around source criticism and critical thinking, highlight middle school students’ experience of what makes a source credible or not credible, as a contribution to the continued research. The empirical data was collected through three different focus group discussions with pupils in grades four and six at middle school in a small town in southern Sweden. The study shows that students rely in their experiences and prior knowledge when they judge whether a source is credible or not. Where the students themselves lack the knowledge to be able to make an assessment, they use their social network to weight the credibility of information and sources. Their reasoning showed that they had critical thinking when seeking information, although their knowledge of underlying factors and hidden agendas was limited. Didactically, social studies teachers need to pay attention to when pupils’ prior knowledge causes them to interpret information and sources in a less critical way than they should. Students need to be able to take both the abstract and the concrete into account when weighing information and sources, understand processes behind and on a deeper level. “Knowledge is power”, as the philosopher Francis Bacon put it.

Den svenska gymnasieskolan ska uppmuntra och fostra elever till att bli aktiva samhällsmedborgare, samtidigt som elevernas rätt att engagera sig på olika sätt i nutiden debatteras. Ungas möjligheter att göra sina röster hörda är enligt forskningen låg, samtidigt som tidigare forskning inte fokuserat på elevernas syn på medborgerligt engagemang. Därav har följande studie som syfte att undersöka hur unga definierar och värderar medborgerligt engagemang. Studien har genomförts kvalitativt, genom semistrukturerade fokusgruppsintervjuer. Photo-elicitiation har använts för att skapa det diskussionsunderlag som intervjun utgick ifrån. Föreliggande studies resultat synliggör att ungdomar ser medborgerligt engagemang som i första hand en frivillig, positiv och icke-egoistisk aktivitet. Dessutom uppfattar eleverna att engagemanget kan värderas både positivt och negativt utifrån deltagarens syfte och val av engagemangsformer. Studien synliggör att de unga till viss del skildrar medborgerligt engagemang likt tidigare forskning, även om de öppnar upp för en till viss del ny förståelse av vad som kan innefattas och vad som är den huvudsakliga kärnan enligt eleverna. Enligt föreliggande studies resutalt av elevernas uppfattningar, så synliggör eleverna en bild av att det framförallt är barn, studenter och äldre som engagerar sig mest , medan vuxna i medelåldern varken har tid eller energi att engagera sig i samhället. Eleverna betonar det lilla och det fysiska engagemanget, samt till viss del att sprida information om samhällsproblem, även om de önskar att man engagerar sig för att lösa dessa och inte enbart prata om dem. / One of the goals stated in the curriculum for the Swedish upper secondary school is to foster students into becoming active citizens. At the same time, young peoples' possibilities to engage in contemporary society, is being debated. Young peoples' possibilities to make their voices heard, are according to research restricted. At the same time, research has not focused frequetly or primarly on students' view on civic engagement. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how young people defines and values civic engagement. This study has been conducted through semi-structured foucs group interviews with students in upper secondary school. Each participant was at the time of the interviews currently taking a course in social studies. Photo-elicitation has been used to create the discussion material that the interview was based on. The results of the present study indicate that the participants view civic engagement as primarly a voluntary, positive, and non-selfish activity. Moreover, they tend to value different kind of civic engagement as good or bad, depending on the form and the purpose of the activity. This study makes clear that young people in some ways understand civic engagement as the former research defines it, but they clearly show what types of engagement that are the most meaningful and important for them. According to this study's participants: children, students, and elderly are the most engaged citizens, while the adults don't have either time or energy to engage in society. The students describe the small and the physical forms of engagement as important, as well as the forms that encourage and informs other people. But they also want those people to engage to solve problems and not only talk about them.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur gymnasielärare i samhällskunskap definierar och hanterar kontroversiella frågor i sin undervisning. Däri ingår både hur lärarna själva väljer att ta upp kontroversiella frågor samt hur de hanterar situationer där elever uttrycker sig på kontroversiella sätt. Sammanlagt intervjuades elva gymnasielärare i samhällskunskap och analysen ledde fram till två teman: Definition och Hantering. I korthet påvisade resultatet att både definition och hantering till stor del är beroende av den kontext som lärarna infinner sig i. Lärarna beskrev vidare att de hade olika strategier för att hantera kontroversiella frågor i sitt klassrum. Lärarna beskrev också att de hade olika metoder som de använde sig av för att undervisa om kontroversiella frågor, där diskussioner som med hjälp av tidigare forskning kunde kategoriseras i vissa fall som deliberativa. Vidare lyfte lärarna både positiva och negativa aspekter av att ta upp kontroversiella frågor i sin undervisning och de ansåg att det krävdes specifika förmågor och kunskaper av dem som lärare för att kunna hantera dessa frågor. Lärarexamen sågs av de flesta lärare som icke stödjande, medan kollegor främst var det som lärarna upplevde som mest givande att få stöttning av när de skulle hantera kontroversiella frågor. Resultatet i denna studie överensstämmer till stor del med den tidigare forskningen kring ämnet, med den enda stora olikheten att även yttre kontext påpekades av lärarna i denna studie som viktigt, vilket tidigare forskning inte lagt lika stort fokus på. / The aim of this study is to investigate how secondary social studies teachers define and deal with controversial questions in their teaching. This includes both how the teachers themselves choose to raise controversial issues and how they handle situations where students express themselves in controversial ways. In total, eleven high school social studies teachers were interviewed and the analysis led to two themes: Definition and Handling. In short, the results showed that both definition and handling are largely dependent on the context in which the teachers find themselves. The teachers further described that they had different strategies for handling controversial issues in their classroom. The teachers also described that they had different methods that they used to teach about controversial issues, where discussions that, with the help of previous research, could be categorized as deliberative in some cases. Furthermore, the teachers highlighted both positive and negative aspects of raising controversial issues in their teaching and they felt that specific abilities and knowledge were required of them as teachers to be able to deal with these issues. The education the teacher had received were seen by most teachers as not supportive, while colleagues were mainly what the teachers experienced as the most rewarding to get support from when dealing with controversial questions. The results in this study are largely consistent with the previous research on the subject, with the only major difference being that external context was also pointed out by the teachers in this study as important, which previous research did not focus on as much.

The purpose of this study is to qualitatively investigate how social studies teachers in a high school, use group development strategies when approaching potentially controversial topics in the classroom. The study used five semi-structured interviews with social studies teachers. Bruce Tuckman's model of group development was used to organize and analyze the teachers' experiences in a way that could be linked to the phases described in the model. The results of the study have shown the importance of using group development as a method to prepare students to handle controversial conversations in a constructive way and promote their growth together. The teachers' overall goal with group development is for the students to learn to cooperate, develop their communication skills and show respect for each other's opinions. The teacher's democratic mission also appears as part of group development. Positive group development also contributes to a cohesive social environment that creates an inclusive conversation climate. The skills acquired through group development were considered applicable when students faced controversial discussions. For example, they were seen using communication skills to actively listen and strive to understand each other's perspectives instead of trying to dominate each other. Therefore, classes may need to go through different stages of development to manage controversial conversations effectively.

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The purpose of this paper is to examine how teachers for the younger ages perceive the conceptof social issues and what subject-specific didactic considerations they make regarding them intheir social studies teaching. The research questions that the paper aimed to answer are whatsubject-specific didactic considerations teachers for the younger ages make in their teaching ofsocial issues, and what role does the teacher believe they take or should take in social studiesteaching. Previous research regarding teaching social issues has examined the teaching of olderstudents. This, together with the few descriptions in the policy documents regarding socialissues for younger students, is the basis for the interest to fulfill this study.The method is based on a phenomenographic research approach and empirics were collectedthrough qualitative semi-structured interviews. A total of six teachers were interviewed, withformal qualifications in the subject of social studies. Their answers were then analyzed basedon the theory within the phenomenographic research approach and Vygotsky's socioculturalperspective.The result consists of three qualitatively different categories that describe the teacher'sperception of the concept of social issues and teaching of the content including the purpose andmethod. The results show that teachers work with social issues from a democratic perspective,a values-based perspective and based on current events.

The purpose of this master thesis has been to investigate how private economics is taught in social studies teaching for grades 4-6 through teachers' descriptions of personal finance as part of the social studies subject's civic education assignment. The purpose has also been to investigate how and in what way teachers use teaching materials in their teaching of personal finance. The selected research and literature for the degree project deal with the subject social studies and the civic education assignment, the curriculum and syllabus, social science didactic research and teaching of economics in general and personal finance in particular. Furthermore, research and literature on teachers' difficulties with the subject of personal finance and the use of teaching aids in the subject of social studies are also presented. Little research can be found regarding the teaching of personal finance, especially for younger ages such as grades 4–6, which strengthens the relevance of investigating the purpose of this master thesis.  The theoretical perspectives used as a starting point for analyzing the empirical work of the master thesis are Dewey's pragmatic perspective and Vygotsky's socio-cultural perspective. The survey was conducted using qualitative semi-structured interviews as a method. The survey involved six respondents, all of whom are active social studies teachers in grades 4-6. The results show that the respondents see a clear and important purpose of the teaching to enable the students to become responsible adult citizens who can make wise financial decisions. Furthermore, it appears from the results that teaching materials are common in the teaching of personal finance. The respondents mainly link the concept of personal finance with household or an individual's financial planning.  A conclusion that can be drawn from the results of this master thesis and the previous research is that even though personal finance teaching is a relatively new social science didactic research area, its relevance increases when research emphasizes the importance of teaching being a part of schools’ mission to succeed in their civic education. In step with this, personal finance is given more space in the syllabus for social studies, which is an important factor in the work with a school where students are given the right conditions for adult life.

Syftet med undersökningen är att finna olika arbetsmetoder som lågstadiepedagoger i årskurserna 1–3 använder i sin samhällskunskapsundervisning om nyheter. Undersökningen reflekterar även om vilka möjligheter och hinder som lågstadiepedagoger möter i sina arbetsmetoder när det kommer till nyhetsundervisning. Arbetsmetoderna skulle därmed kunna bidra till kunskap- och lärandetillfällen som man själv kan använda i sin egen undervisning. Forskning har visat att det finns ett begränsat antal undersökningar utförda på lågstadiet med yngre elever inom samhällskunskapsämnet. Forskningen som finns har bland annat belyst hur lågstadielärare arbetar med samhällskunskapsämnet i bredare omfång. En större mängd forskning finns för de äldre årskurserna då forskare bland annat undersökt hur elever förstod information i tidningsartiklar, nyheter kopplat till bilder samt hur elever i olika åldrar uppfattade sanna och falska nyheter. För denna undersökning har metoderna observation och kvalitativ intervju använts där fyra observationstillfällen och sju intervjuer med lågstadiepedagoger som undervisar i årskurserna 1 – 3 blivit utförda. Teorin som använts i denna undersökning var det sociokulturella perspektivet. Analyser och diskussioner har sedan blivit utförda med stöd av teorin och den tidigare forskningen där resultatet grundat sig i lågstadielärarnas utsagor.Undersökningens resultat visar hur lågstadielärare inkluderar nyhetsprogrammet Lilla aktuellt som en del av sin samhällskunskapsundervisning om nyheter. Lilla aktuellt har ett stort fokus i klassrummen och lärarnas arbetsmetoder relaterat till nyhetsprogrammet skiljer sig beroende på vilken skola de arbetar på samt vilken elevgrupp som klassen består av. I samband med nyhetsundervisning har samtliga lärare prioriterat muntlig kommunikation som tillvägagångsätt då man antingen tillsammans i helklass eller i mindre grupper samtalat om nyhetsinnehåll. En del lärare lägger större tyngd på att diskutera nyhetsinnehåll på ytan medan andra vill att eleverna ska gräva djupare för att förstå nyhetens bakgrund, händelse och lösning. / The purpose of this paper was to find different teaching methods that is used by primary school teachers in grades 1 – 3 in their social studies instruction regarding news. This paper would also inform the possibilities and the obstacles that the primary school teachers face with their own teaching methods when it comes to news education. The teaching methods would thereby contribute to knowledge- and learning opportunities that other teachers can use in their own classrooms. Research has shown that there are limited number of surveys done in social studies education for lower grades with younger children. The research that can be found has shown with a wider range how primary school teachers educate the students in social studies. A bigger amount of research can be found for older students in news teaching and some of this research show how students understood the information in articles, the connection between news and pictures and also what students in different ages could understand with true and fake news. The methods that have been used for this paper are observation and qualitative interview and the total of four observations and seven interviews with primary school teachers that teach in the grades 1 – 3 have been collected. The theory that has been included in this paper is the sociocultural perspective regarding teaching methods. With the support from the theory and previous research has statements from the primary school teachers been analyzed and discussed.The result of this paper has shown that primary school teachers include the news program Lilla aktuellt as a part of the social studies when it comes to teaching about news. The news program Lilla aktuellt has a big focus in classrooms but the teachers’ teaching methods related to this varied based on the school and the groups of students. The most common teaching methods when it comes to news education has shown to be oral communication either in smaller groups or with all the students together. Some teachers put energy in the basic information regarding news, for example the event, while others think it is important for the students to learn the whole picture like the news background, event and the solution.

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