Den här studien syftar på förskolan och förskollärares användning av digitala verktyg. Det ska ge kunskap om varför det är viktigt att digitala verktyg används i förskolan. Studien utgår ifrån förskollärarnas egna erfarenheter kring digitala verktyg samt varför det är viktigt för förskolans uppdrag. Förskollärarna i min studie upplever krav och utmaningar i samband med digitala verktyg, trots detta försöker förskollärarna skapa lärandesituationer, även om de själva anser att de brister i sin kompetens. Det är en fenomenografisk intervjustudie, i studien har åtta förskollärare intervjuats för att besvara mitt syfte och mina frågeställningar. I en fenomenografisk studie får läsaren ta del av specifika fenomen som undersökts, samt hur det kan synliggöras i praktiken. I en kvalitativ studie som denna valdes intervjuer för att få bukt på området, jag har använt mig av öppna frågor för att komma in på djupet i tankarna kring vad förskollärare har för uppfattning av att använda digitala verktyg till både lek och lärandesituationer. Materialet har sedan transkriberats, därefter har jag funnit gemensamma utfallsrum kring digitala verktyg. I studien framkommer viktiga parter som spelar in när det kommer till att använda digitala verktyg till både lek och lärande. Resultatet och slutsatsen visar att förskollärare delvis inte kan nå upp till alla mål, men att de har vilja, driv, och rätt bemötande som är viktigt för rollen en förskollärare ställs inför. Förskollärarna kom fram till flera bra förslag för att digitala verktyg ska bli en naturlig del i förskolans verksamhet och hur digitala verktyg kan utvecklas i lek och lärandesituationer. / This study aims at preschool and preschool teachers' use of digital tools. It should provide knowledge about why it is important that digital tools are used in preschool. The study is based on the preschool teachers' own experiences with digital tools and why it is important for the preschool's mission. The preschool teachers in my study experience demands and challenges in connection with digital tools, despite this, the preschool teachers try to create learning situations, even if they themselves believe that they lack skills. It is a phenomenographic interview study, in the study, eight preschool teachers were interviewed to answer my purpose and my questions. In a phenomenographic study, the reader gets to take part in specific phenomena that have been investigated, as well as how it can be made visible in practice. In a qualitative study like this, interviews were chosen to get to grips with the area, I have used open-ended questions to get deep into the thoughts about what preschool teachers have the perception of using digital tools for both play and learning situations. The material has since been transcribed, after which I have found common outcomes around digital tools. The study reveals important parties that come into play when it comes to using digital tools for both play and learning. The results and the conclusion show that preschool teachers are partly unable to achieve all goals, but that they have the will, drive, and the right attitude that is important for the role a preschool teacher is faced with. The preschool teachers came up with several good suggestions for digital tools to become a natural part of the preschool's activities and how digital tools can be developed in play and learning situations.

Many practitioners commonly deal with implementing a change that is imposed by an organization. Some imposed changes require practitioners to alter more than what they do in practice but also to change their identity. Many researchers have studied identity change through the lens of sociocultural theory, specifically utilizing communities of practice theory (CoP). However, the majority of these studies used CoP theory as a vehicle to implement the imposed change. Yet some studies have found that after the trial period ends many practitioners revert back to the way they performed in practice prior to the study. One reason for this problem could be that the nature of the change experience that practitioners must undergo is not understood. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to reveal the nature of the change experience of six released-time seminary teachers in response to the adoption of the teaching and learning emphasis (TLE) within the Seminaries and Institutes of Religion (S&I) for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Specifically, the research question was "What is the nature and meaning of the change experience of a sample of released-time seminary teachers who are considered to be effective at learning to understand and implement TLE"? Researching S&I teachers' change experience is important because it may relate not only to the needs of the S&I organization, but also in a broader sense to the nature of the experience of practitioners who undergo an imposed change by the organization for which they work that alters their professional identity. Three central themes were found that represented the nature of the change experience for the sample group. The themes were represented as transformational, sociocultural, and self-reflective change. Each participant's experience varied in the particular details of his individual change experience. Nevertheless, all participants experienced some degree or kind of transformational change within their particular configuration of knowledge, character, and professional practice. Furthermore, all study participants engaged in sociocultural learning practices to facilitate their change. Finally, study participants experienced self-reflective changes.

Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie har varit att utveckla kunskaper om hur filosofiska frågor i det naturvetenskapliga klassrummet påverkar elevers kommunikativa förmåga att argumentera och ta ställning. Frågeställningarna som använts för att möjliggöra studien är: På vilka sätt argumenterar elever i mötet med filosofiska frågor av naturvetenskaplig karaktär? Hur kan filosofiska frågor användas som resurs i det naturvetenskapliga klassrummet för att gynna elevers kommunikativa förmåga att argumentera och ta ställning inom naturvetenskap? Studien genomfördes vid en skola i norra Sverige och bestod av 13 deltagare från årskurserna 3-6 som deltog vid fyra undervisningstillfällen. Undervisningstillfällena bestod av utredning av filosofiska frågor med naturvetenskaplig karaktär i samtalsgrupper där en filosofisk samtalsstruktur följdes. Tillfällena observerades och data samlades in med hjälp av video– och ljudinspelning samt loggboksanteckningar. Resultatet visade att eleverna argumenterade utifrån följande kategorier i mötet med lektionsinnehållet: Nyttoargument, etiska argument, estetiska argument, hållbarhetsargument och relevansargument. Vidare visade studiens resultat att faktorer som struktur, lärarstöd, elevstöd och metaforer var viktiga för eleverna i mötet med filosofiska frågor av naturvetenskaplig karaktär. Sammanfattningsvis visade denna studie att elevernas argumentationer och ställningstagande kan påverkas i positiv bemärkelse vid arbete med filosofiska frågor av naturvetenskaplig karaktär. / The purpose of this qualitative study was to develop knowledge about how philosophical questions in the science classroom affects students' communicative ability to argue and to take positioning in a dilemma. The issues this study used to enable the study was: In what ways do students argue in the encounter with philosophical questions of a scientific nature? How can philosophical questions be used as a resource in the science classroom to benefit students' communicative ability to argue and take positioning in science? The study was implemented at a school in northern Sweden and consisted of 13 participants from the grades 3-6 who participated in four teaching opportunities. The teaching opportunities consisted of a philosophical inquiry of science questions in conversation groups where a philosophical conversation structure was followed. The teaching opportunities were observed and data was collected with the aid of video– and sound recording and logbook notes. Results show that students argued from the following categories: Utility argument, ethical arguments, aesthetic arguments, sustain arguments and relevance arguments. The result further showed that factors like: structure, teacher support, student support and metaphors were of importance to the students in their meeting with philosophical questions of a scientific nature. In summary, this study showed that students' arguments and positioning can be affected in positive meaning by using philosophical questions with scientific nature.

This essay explores the dynamics of literature and reading within the Swedish educational context, focusing on teachers' perspective on student self-selected literature and how self-selected literature can be included in the school curriculum. The two key questions are “What opportunities and challenges do teachers identify when working with student-selected fiction literature?” and “What role do librarians play in encouraging reading among the students?” Through survey responses from teachers, the pros and cons of working with student selected literature are discussed. Subsequently, interviews with school librarians follow to deepen the understanding of the role of school libraries. The study uses the sociocultural perspective, which means considering how learning is tied to the situation and how students are influenced by their social surrounding. Major findings highlights that the free choice serves as motivation and ignites engagement, but it is not without its challenges. Both educators and librarians emphasize the importance of cultivating habits related to library navigation and literature selection. The study underscores the essential role of librarians alongside teachers in guiding students through the world of literature. Additionally, it explores factors influencing literature teaching such as the tension between canonized literature and youth literature, access to literature, the challenge of selecting appropriately leveled text and the need to ensure students are engaging with their book of choice.

Det saknas, i stor utsträckning, forskning om läromedlens roll i grammatikundervisningen på lågstadiet i svenska skolor. Samtidigt framkommer grammatikens betydelse, om än inte explicit, i kursplanen för ämnet svenska och mycket tyder samtidigt på att läromedlen spelar en central roll för planeringen och genomförandet av undervisningen. Den här studien syftar till att bidra till en ökad förståelse för läromedlens funktion i grammatikundervisningen på lågstadiet samt hur lärare beskriver användningen av och uppfattningen om de läromedel de använder. Studiens teoretiska ramverk grundar sig i det sociokulturella lärandeperspektivet som kompletteras med Shulmans didaktiska pedagogical content knowledge. Genom fyra kvalitativa intervjuer med verksamma lågstadielärare samt utdrag av de läromedel de använder, framkommer efter en tematisk analys, uppfattningen om läromedel som ett stöd men även en begränsning för grammatikundervisningen. Ett stöd så till vida att det bidrar till ökad trygghet för lärarna, men en begränsning utifrån dess utformning och avsaknad av flexibilitet. Vidare utkristalliseras en bild av grammatiken som ett begrepp vilket lärare, samt läromedlen, använder med stor försiktighet. Med anknytning i tidigare forskning samt det teoretiska ramverk som studien hänvisar till förs en diskussion kring läromedlens roll i grammatikundervisningen idag, samt dess roll i framtiden. / There is, to a large extent, a lack of research regarding the role of teaching materials as a resource in grammar teaching at a primary level in L1 education in Sweden. At the same time, the importance of grammar education appears, if not explicitly, in the curriculum for the Swedish subject. Much indicates that teaching materials play a large role in the planning and implementing of the teaching. This study aims to contribute an increased understanding of how teaching materials are used in grammar teaching in primary education, and how teachers describe the use of and the perceptions they have regarding the teaching materials they use. The theoretical framework for this study is based on the sociocultural learning theory, which is supplemented by Shulman's didactic pedagogical content knowledge. The data was collected through four qualitative interviews with practicing primary school teachers, along with excerptions from the teaching materials they use. After analyzing the data through a thematic analysis, the perception of textbooks as both a support but also a limitation for grammar education was discerned. A support to the extent that it contributes to an increased security for the teachers, but a limitation based on its design and lack of flexibility. Moreover, a perception of grammar as a concept appears, which teachers as well as textbooks handle with caution. With regards to previous research and the theoretical framework this study relies on, a discussion is initiated where the role of  teaching materials in grammar education on a primary level today, and in the future is in focus.

My research studies immigrants’ learning experiences as socially organized practices. Informed by the sociocultural approach of learning and institutional ethnography, I treat learning as a material and relational phenomenon. I start by examining how fourteen Chinese immigrants learn to fit into the engineering market in Canada. I then trace the social discourses and relations that shape immigrants’ learning experiences, particularly their changing perceptions and practices and personal and professional investments. I contend that immigrants’ learning is produced through social processes of differentiation that naturalize immigrants as a secondary labour pool, which is dismissible and desirable at the same time. My investigation unfolds around four areas of learning. The first is related to immigrants’ self-marketing practices. I show that core to immigrants’ marketing strategies is to speak to the skill discourse or employers’ skill expectations at the “right” time and place. The skill discourse, I argue, is culturally-charged and class-based. It cloaks a complex of hiring relations where “skill” is discursively constructed and differentially invoked to preserve the privilege and power of the dominant group. The second area is immigrants’ work-related learning. I find that workplace training is part of the corporate agenda to organize work and manage workers. Amid this picture, workers’ opportunity to access corporate sponsorship for professional development is contingent on their membership within the engineering community. To expand their professional space, the immigrants resorted to learning and consolidating their knowledge in codes and standards, which serve as a textual organizer of engineering work. The third area is related to workplace communication. My participants reported an individualistic communication ‘culture’, which celebrates individual excellence and discourages close interpersonal relations. Such a perception, I argue, obscures the gender, race and class relations that privilege white and male power. It also leaves out the organizational relations, such as the project-based deployment of the engineering workforce that perpetuate individualistic communicative practices. My last area of investigation focuses on immigrants’ efforts to acquire Canadian credentials and professional licence. Their heavy learning loads direct my attention to the ideological and administrative licensure practices that valorize Canadian credentials and certificates to the exclusion of others.

My research studies immigrants’ learning experiences as socially organized practices. Informed by the sociocultural approach of learning and institutional ethnography, I treat learning as a material and relational phenomenon. I start by examining how fourteen Chinese immigrants learn to fit into the engineering market in Canada. I then trace the social discourses and relations that shape immigrants’ learning experiences, particularly their changing perceptions and practices and personal and professional investments. I contend that immigrants’ learning is produced through social processes of differentiation that naturalize immigrants as a secondary labour pool, which is dismissible and desirable at the same time. My investigation unfolds around four areas of learning. The first is related to immigrants’ self-marketing practices. I show that core to immigrants’ marketing strategies is to speak to the skill discourse or employers’ skill expectations at the “right” time and place. The skill discourse, I argue, is culturally-charged and class-based. It cloaks a complex of hiring relations where “skill” is discursively constructed and differentially invoked to preserve the privilege and power of the dominant group. The second area is immigrants’ work-related learning. I find that workplace training is part of the corporate agenda to organize work and manage workers. Amid this picture, workers’ opportunity to access corporate sponsorship for professional development is contingent on their membership within the engineering community. To expand their professional space, the immigrants resorted to learning and consolidating their knowledge in codes and standards, which serve as a textual organizer of engineering work. The third area is related to workplace communication. My participants reported an individualistic communication ‘culture’, which celebrates individual excellence and discourages close interpersonal relations. Such a perception, I argue, obscures the gender, race and class relations that privilege white and male power. It also leaves out the organizational relations, such as the project-based deployment of the engineering workforce that perpetuate individualistic communicative practices. My last area of investigation focuses on immigrants’ efforts to acquire Canadian credentials and professional licence. Their heavy learning loads direct my attention to the ideological and administrative licensure practices that valorize Canadian credentials and certificates to the exclusion of others.

This master’s thesis aims to explore the practice of becoming a researcher and the learning process embedded in this activity by looking at the communicative practices of PhD students, within the context of academic publishing. It is likely that the way in which these soon-to-be researchers reason about the task of communication is related to their way of approaching their field of research as well as the lived world, which makes it relevant to explore further. The study was performed based two sets of data, first open-ended semi-structured interviews with eleven PhD students at Stockholm University, where they talk about their current situation, their motivations and goals and about how they plan to publish their dissertation. Secondly, an analysis of data about publications focusing on work by PhD students at Stockholm University between 2013–2016, and information about how the intended audience, i.e. the readers, have interacted with the published material. These two sets of data were analysed with the use of theories about personal epistemology, sociocultural learning and the rationality of actions. The study shows that the majority of the PhD students at Stockholm University publishes their research findings as scholarly articles in English. The conclusion is also that the publishing process can be understood as a pedagogical tool, as it provides a vehicle for the PhD students to immerse themselves in their community of practice. These findings suggest that it could be useful to further emphasise the publishing activity as a learning process that may lead to a deeper understanding of the role of the researcher in society. / Den här masteruppsatsen avser att utforska hur doktorander lär sig sitt framtida yrke, och hur de socialiseras till att bli forskare via de kommunikativa praktiker som de ägnar sig åt, dvs. akademisk publicering. Dessa kommunikativa praktiker torde vara kopplade till hur en forskare relaterar till sitt forskningsfält, men också sin omvärld, och företeelsen är därför intressant att ytterligare belysa. Studien är genomförd i två delar. Den första delen består av intervjumaterial från samtal med 11 doktorander vid Stockholms universitet. Den andra delen består av en analys av statistik om elektroniska publikationer av doktorander vid Stockholms universitet under perioden 2013–2016. Publikationerna sätts sedan i relation till data om hur läsekretsen har interagerat med publikationerna via olika media och citeringar. De två dataseten analyseras med hjälp av teorier om personlig epistemologi, sociokulturellt lärande och handlingsrationalitet. Slutsatserna är att de flesta doktorander vid Stockholms universitet väljer att publicera sig i vetenskapliga tidskrifter på engelska, och att dessa kommunikativa praktiker kan förstås som ett pedagogiskt verktyg när det gäller lärande om och förståelse för doktorandernas kontext eller gemenskap. Resultatet av studien indikerar att det kan vara meningsfullt att fokusera på publicering, eller liknande kommunikativa praktiker, som en användbar lärandeprocess när det gäller att förstå mer om forskarens roll i samhället.

Dagligen möter eleverna multimodala texter både i skolan och på fritiden. Digitaliseringen har medfört en förändring i hur texter läses och produceras. Dessutom bidrar digitaliseringen till både möjligheter och svårigheter för såväl lärare som elever. Syftet med den här studien är att ta reda på hur lärare och elever arbetar med multimodalt berättande texter i svenskundervisningen i årskurs 1-3 samt vilka möjligheter och svårigheter som finns i arbetet. Lärares och elevers syn på arbetet med multimodalt berättande texter kommer även att jämföras med varandra. Studien utgår från ett sociokulturellt perspektiv då de multimodalt berättande texterna skapas i ett socialt sammanhang. Metoden som används för att samla in material är intervju, lärarna intervjuas personligen och eleverna intervjas i grupp. Resultaten i studien visar att skrift och bild är de modaliteter som används mest. Årskurserna arbetar på lite olika sätt men samtliga lärare använder bilder som stöd för att förstärka elevernas förståelse. Digitala verktyg används flitigt i svenskundervisningen, projektor används vid genomgångar och redovisningar, datorer används som sökmotor och att producera text på och iPads används på samma sätt som datorn men även till att spela in ljud och film. Lärarna planerar vad eleverna ska göra medan eleverna får planera vad de vill skriva om. Men det är inte alltid så lätt att komma på vad de ska skriva om. Lärarna upplever att många elever har brist på fantasi vilket även eleverna själva lägger märke till. / On a daily basis, students encounter multimodal texts both at school and at leisure. Digitization has led to a change in how texts are read and produced. In addition, digitization contributes to both opportunities and difficulties for both teachers and pupils. The purpose of this study is to find out how teachers and students work with multimodal narrative texts in the Swedish subject in grades 1—3 and what opportunities and difficulties exist in the work. Teachers´ and pupils' opinion on the work with multimodal narrative texts will also be compared with each other.  The study is based on a sociocultural perspective which considers the multimodal narratives as constructs in a social context. To collect material to my study I use the method interview, the teachers are personally interviewed and the students are interviewed in groups. The results of the study showes that writing and image are the most common modalities. The grades work in slightly different ways, but all teachers use pictures to support students' understanding. Digital tools are used extensively in Swedish teaching, projectors are used in reviews and reports, computers are used as search engines and to produce text on, and iPads are used in the same way as the computer but also to record audio and film. Teachers plan what students should do while students plan what they want to write about. But it's not always easy to figure out what to write about. The teachers feel that many students have a lack of imagination which the students themselves notice.

A trending national concern is the increasing number of English language learners (ELL) who are being reclassified as long-term English language learners (LTELL) instead of progressing to the general education classroom. This trend is a local problem for the study elementary schools. Guided by sociocultural learning theory that outlined ESL best instructional practices, the purpose of this case study was to examine the instructional practices of elementary ESL teachers. Ten ESL teachers from each grade level from 1st to 5th grades were interviewed and observed. Analysis and organization of the data through its transcription and coding led to the emergence of 5 themes: sociocultural best practices, sociocultural deficiencies, other practices, district ESL program, and teacher needs. Findings included that the district ESL program was not executed with fidelity, there was a need for teacher think-alouds during instruction, and teachers were not consistently implementing decoding strategies with ESL students. A white paper was developed to share the findings with district leaders regarding maintaining fidelity of the ESL program by training teachers, providing necessary resources and other factors related to student success. Increasing the learning and language acquisition of the ESL students within the district may produce an overall positive social impact on society by increasing students' ability to contribute in their communities.