| 1. |
- Olteanu, Constanta, 1960-
(författare)
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”Vad skulle x kunna vara?” : andragradsekvation och andragradsfunktion som objekt för lärande
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Algebraic equations and functions play an important role in various mathematical topics, including algebra, trigonometry, linear programming and calculus. Accordingly, various documents, such as the most recent Swedish curriculum (Lpf 94) for upper secondary school and the course syllabi in mathematics, specify what the students should learn in Mathematics Course B. They should be able to solve quadratic equations and apply this knowledge in solving problems, explain the properties of a function, as well as be able to set up, interpret and use some nonlinear functions as models for real processes. To implement these recommendations, it is crucial to understand the students’ way of experiencing quadratic equations and functions, and describe the meaning these have for the students in relation to the possibility they have to their experience of them.The aim of this thesis is to analyse, understand and explain the relation between the handled and learned content, which consists of second-degree equations and quadratic functions, in classroom practice. This means that content is the research object and not the teacher’s conceptions or knowledge of, or about this content. This restriction implies that the handled and learned contents are central in this study and will be analysed from different perspectives.The study includes two teachers and 45 students in two different classes. The data consist of video-recordings of lessons, individual sessions, interviews and the teachers’/researcher’s review of the individual sessions. The students’ tests also constituted an important part of the data collection.When analysing the data, concepts relating to variation theory have been used as analytical tools. Data have been analysed in respect of the teachers’ focus on the lesson content, which aspects are ignored and which patterns of dimensions of variations are constituted when the contents are handled by the teachers in the classroom. Also, data have been analysed in respect of the students’ focus when they solve different exercises in a test situation. It can be shown that the meaning of parameters, the unknown quantity in an equation and the function’s argument change several times when the teacher presents the content in the classroom and when the students solve different exercises. It can also be shown that the teachers and the students develop complicated patterns of variation during the lessons and that the ways in which the teachers open up dimensions of variation play an important role in the learning process. The results indicate that there is a convergent variation leading the students to improve their learning. By focusing on some aspects of the objects of learning and create convergent variations, it is possible for the students to understand the difference between various interpretations of these aspects and thereafter focus on the interpretation that fits in a certain context. Furthermore, this variation leads the students to make generalisations in each object of learning (equations and functions) and between these objects of learning. These generalisations remain over time, despite working with new objects of learning. An important result in this study is that the implicit or explicit arguments of a function can make it possible to discern an equation from a function despite the fact that they are constituted by the same algebraic expression.
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| 2. |
- Knutas, Edmund
(författare)
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Mellan retorik och praktik. : En ämnesdidaktisk och läroplansteoretisk studie av svenskämnena och fyra gymnasielärares svenskundervisning efter gymnasiereformen 1994.
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Swedish as a school subject has long been debated in Sweden, and ideas concerning its content, role and function in school and society have varied greatly throughout the years. In 1994, there was an upper secondary school reform which resulted in a partial revision of the Swedish subject, including its introduction within a new course and grading system. The Swedish A and B courses became obligatory for all upper secondary students. Other courses in Swedish became largely optional. This study consists of two levels – a rhetorical and practical level. The rhetorical level deals with understandings and ideas of the Swedish subject and instruction as they are expressed in curricula and course syllabi, as well as with the understandings and ideas expressed by the four teachers in the study. In addition, the external and internal frame factors which underlie this rhetoric are considered. The practical level concerns the four teachers’ concrete Swedish instruction, i.e. the aims and goals, content and working methods which underlie their teaching, as well as the factors which influence, limit and facilitate it. The aim of the study is to attempt to describe, analyse and understand the role and function of the Swedish subject after the upper secondary school reform of 1994. What ideas do the four teachers express regarding the role and function of the Swedish subject in upper secondary school and society after 1994, and how should these ideas and reasons be interpreted and understood from a more comprehensive, general perspective? How do the teachers represent the Swedish subject in their teaching, i.e. how is their knowledge of subject didactics expressed? These are two central questions in the study. A third central question concerns notions of society and the good citizen implied in the chosen views of the Swedish subject. The study has two theoretical starting points: subject didactics and curriculum theory. Shulman’s concepts of pedagogical content knowledge and transformation are central to the subject didactics drawn upon here, while frame factor theory and Bernstein’s concepts of “classification” and “framing” are central to the curriculum-theoretical perspective. The perspective of subject didactics deals with the relation between teacher and content, while the curriculum-theoretical perspective deals with the relation between content, individual and society. This study shows that the teachers’ knowledge of subject didactics is vague. The teachers’ transformation of content in teaching resides to a high degree in an adaptation to the students; the focus is thus not on a transformation and content analysis of the Swedish subject. Further, the teachers have an instrumental approach to the steering documents. A common characteristic among the four teachers, and in Swedish instruction generally, is that a large degree of responsibility is placed on the individual student for their literary and language development. Collective meetings were very infrequent in the teaching of the four teachers in the study. This study discerns four teacher codes which reflect understandings and ideas of school and education, formed by previous and current material and sociocultural conditions and which the individual teacher has encountered, adopted and reshaped into his/her own. These four teacher codes can be described as closeness and hierarchy, tradition and renewal, vision and reality and the individual and the collective. The teacher codes reveal that the four teachers have relatively similar teaching strategies, whereas their teaching aims, goals and content diverge significantly. Viewed from the perspective of curriculum theory, it is evident that the teachers emphasise the individual student over the collective. It is a matter of developing one’s thought and personality and of fostering the students to be individual, active members of society. However, this active member of society does not appear to be aware and critically active, but rather a loyal and obedient member of society.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Catarina, 1964-
(författare)
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Professional development in formative assessment : effects on teacher classroom practice and student achievement
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The potential of formative assessment, evident in several research reviews, has raised the interest in many countries to invest in reform initiatives to develop its use. However, implementation of formative assessment is not straightforward and there is a lack of knowledge about how to design appropriate professional development. The intervention study presented in this thesis aimed to see if a random selection of teachers, participating in a professional development program with many contact hours and substantial support of an expert, implemented formative assessment in a way that increased their students’ learning in mathematics. It also aimed to examine the reasons for the teachers’ changes in their classroom practice.The twenty-two year 4 teachers attended a professional development program in formative assessment in mathematics. A mixed methods approach used classroom observations, teacher interviews, questionnaire surveys and student mathematics tests to investigate the effects on teacher classroom practice and student achievement.It was found that the teachers trained in formative assessment built on their previous formative classroom practice and added new formative assessment activities into their mathematics classroom practice to a level that had significant impact on student achievement in mathematics (p = .036, d = .66). The teachers developed their formative assessment practice in three dimensions: key processes in teaching and learning, agents in the classroom, and the length of the formative assessment cycle.The reasons for teachers ́ implementation of new formative assessment activities were well explained by the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation. Important aspects of the professional development program were: (1) A formative and process-oriented character; (2) Activities directly useable in classrooms; (3) Experience of using formative assessment activities; (4) Connection between theory and practice; (5) Time; and (6) Knowledgeable support.The thesis shows that it was possible to provide sufficient support to a random selection of teachers for them to develop their formative assessment practice in a way that improved student achievement. However, this thesis also indicates that it can be expected that teachers would need substantial time and support to achieve such developments in their classroom practice.
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| 4. |
- Gustavsson, Laila, 1947-
(författare)
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Att bli bättre lärare : hur undervisningsinnehållets behandling blir till samtalsämne lärare emellan
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis reports results from a study that focuses on teachers’ professional development during an in-service training period. The aim is to analyse and describe how the teachers talk about and handle lesson content. The first question concerns changes in relation to a specific object of learning. The second question concerns how they relate to a theoretical framework and the third question concerns differences in the students’ learning outcome and if it can be understood in relation to the teachers’ development. The variation theory is the theoretical framework that is used for lesson planning as well as when analysing results. The basis of the study is that learning always is the learning of something and that the teachers’ activity as well as the students’ activity constitutes the space of variation that decides what is possible to learn concerning a delimited object of learning, i.e. the enacted object of learning. The object of learning is seen as a capability and it can be defined by its critical features. The constitution of the meaning aimed for the critical features of the object must be discerned. The intentional object of learning describes the teachers’ intention with the lesson, and the lived object of learning is what the students really discerned. The theoretical assumption is that learning always assumes an experienced variation where learning is seen as a change in the learners’ possibility to experience the world in a certain way. You have to have experienced a phenomenon’s variation to understand its meaning, i.e. what we experience is how something differs from something else. The method is Learning study and it can be described as a hybrid of the Japanese Lesson study and Design experiment. A Learning study is theoretically grounded and the primary focus is on an object of learning. The learning study group consisted of three teachers and most often two researchers. Each member had equal status in the group. The object of learning seen from the teachers’ perspective was the variation theory that was gradually introduced by the researchers. The empirical material was generated from audio-taped discussions and from videotaped lessons. The findings should be seen as a contribution to the discussion about teachers’ professional development. The teachers participated in a collective construction of professional knowledge and it can be stated that the teachers had no problem changing their discussions to focus on a specific object of learning when the theoretical framework was used in relation to their own practices. Another finding is that the change in how the teachers handled the object of learning influenced the students’ learning in a positive way although the results were subtle.
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| 5. |
- Gustavsson, Laila, 1947-
(författare)
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Att bli bättre lärare : Hur undervisningsinnehållets behandling blir till samtalsämne lärare emellan
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis reports results from a study that focuses on teachers’ professional development during an in-service training period. The aim is to analyse and describe how the teachers talk about and handle lesson content. The first question concerns changes in relation to a specific object of learning. The second question concerns how they relate to a theoretical framework and the third question concerns differences in the students’ learning outcome and if it can be understood in relation to the teachers’ development. The variation theory is the theoretical framework that is used for lesson planning as well as when analysing results. The basis of the study is that learning always is the learning of something and that the teachers’ activity as well as the students’ activity constitutes the space of variation that decides what is possible to learn concerning a delimited object of learning, i.e. the enacted object of learning. The object of learning is seen as a capability and it can be defined by its critical features. The constitution of the meaning aimed for the critical features of the object must be discerned. The intentional object of learning describes the teachers’ intention with the lesson, and the lived object of learning is what the students really discerned. The theoretical assumption is that learning always assumes an experienced variation where learning is seen as a change in the learners’ possibility to experience the world in a certain way. You have to have experienced a phenomenon’s variation to understand its meaning, i.e. what we experience is how something differs from something else. The method is Learning study and it can be described as a hybrid of the Japanese Lesson study and Design experiment. A Learning study is theoretically grounded and the primary focus is on an object of learning. The learning study group consisted of three teachers and most often two researchers. Each member had equal status in the group. The object of learning seen from the teachers’ perspective was the variation theory that was gradually introduced by the researchers. The empirical material was generated from audio-taped discussions and from videotaped lessons. The findings should be seen as a contribution to the discussion about teachers’ professional development. The teachers participated in a collective construction of pro-fessional knowledge and it can be stated that the teachers had no problem changing their discussions to focus on a specific object of learning when the theoretical framework was used in relation to their own practices. Another finding is that the change in how the teachers handled the object of learning influenced the students’ learning in a positive way although the results were subtle.
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| 6. |
- Ahrenby, Hanna, 1978-
(författare)
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Värdegrundsarbete i bildundervisning : en studie om iscensättning av policy i grundskolans senare år
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall purpose of this thesis is to describe and discuss preconditions for the enactment and the construction of fundamental values in art education in secondary school. The study is based on ethnographic methods, including classroom observations, video recordings and interviews with art teachers and pupils. Three art teachers and 36 pupils in grade eight and nine (age 14-16) have participated in the study. The schools are located in areas of different socio-economic status. Besides interviews, the empirical material consists of observation notes, video and sound recordings, documents and photographs from the observed lessons. In total, 27 lessons were observed and recorded, 20 interviews with teachers and seven interviews with pupils were conducted. The empirical material is analysed with a combination of policy enactment theory (Ball et al. 2012) and concepts form Bernstein (2000, 2003) and Bakhtin (1981, 1986).The analysis reveals that the conditions for policy enactment are created by several factors that interact. It is impossible to designate a single factor to explain why the enacted curriculum turns out the way it does. The contextual dimensions, such as material context, situated context, professional culture and external context (Ball et al. 2012), constitute a complex and unique contextual mix in every school. Together with existing subject traditions and teaching practices in art education, the unique contextual mix creates the conditions for enacting the fundamental values in art education.The art subject carries a tradition of image-making that pushes more theoretical syllabus content,such as image analysis, aside. The situated context influences the professional culture and, therefore,they function as a lens for selecting and translating the curriculum. Regardless of teachers' intentionsto enact the fundamental values in art education, the external context can create obstacles. The goal and result management of school leads to a focus on measurable subject knowledge and drive awayother curriculum parts such as the fundamental values, making it challenging to work with fundamental values in Art education.In conclusion, there are no prerequisites for realising the intentions of the fundamental values as expressed in the curriculum. Despite this, the fundamental values have a given place in Art education. Although, it is not always expressed verbally; instead, it is image-borne.
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| 7. |
- Andersson, Birgit, 1953-
(författare)
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Nya fritidspedagoger - i spänningsfältet mellan tradition och nya styrformer
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study is to increase the knowledge and understanding of how leisure-time pedagogues´ professional identity is changed as a consequence of altered governance and resulting new tasks. More specifically the study is oriented towards understanding how external demands for quality accounts, assessments and documentation in leisure-time centers and schools, affect leisure-time pedagogues´ practice of their profession and professional identity, and how the leisure-time pedagogues relate to these demands. The empirical data are generated through interviews with 23 leisure-time pedagogues, 8 school leaders, document analyses, and a survey among 105 leisure-time pedagogues. The analysis draws on profession theories perspective and concepts like knowledge base, jurisdiction and discretion to understand what is central in the leisure-time pedagogues’ profession and in what direction the profession is developing: de-professionalization, professionalization or re-configuration. Bourdieu´s sociological theories with concepts of field, capital and habitus are also used for understanding of the leisure-time pedagogues´ positions, actions, and explicit relations to other professional groups. The results indicate dilemmas that the leisure-time pedagogues face related to far-going decentralisation, introduction of new public management, reduced resources, and closer links between leisure-time centres and schools. Working with traditional methods creates problems and it becomes hard to balance the work between leisure-time centre and school. The thesis shows that leisure-time pedagogues constantly conduct independent individual assessments that are mainly hidden. This has not been pointed out before but is linked to the leisure-time pedagogues´ professional identity. Assessment as an accounting task has on the other hand been added in connection with the transfer to the educational sector and altered forms of governance. Leisure-time pedagogues are both ambivalent and critical to these demands for transparency and accountability. Even though the leisure-time pedagogues are subjected to increased control and expected to work more with assessments in different forms, and are forced to reduce their professional work in leisure-time centres, we cannot entirely talk about de-professionalization. Also features of professionalization and signs of reconfiguration of the profession are visible. The thesis illustrates that the profession of leisure-time pedagogue is being reshaped and that the leisure-time pedagogues’ professional identity can be understood in different ways. The thesis also illustrates how a core of traditional knowledge base stands out as central for most of the professionals in the various professional identities that are found. The differences that are found are related to the local governance of schools’ organisation; to what extent the leisure-time pedagogues’ work is placed in the compulsory school day; and how strong the leisure-time pedagogues’ collective base is in the school unit.
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| 8. |
- Arnesson, Daniel, 1982-
(författare)
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PISA i skolan : hur lärare, rektorer och skolchefer förhåller sig till internationella kunskapsmätningar
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis addresses the local reception and use in Sweden of the major international large scale assessments (ILSAs) of student performance: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS). The aim is to describe and analyze how Swedish teachers, principals and school directors interpret and possibly use ILSAs in their professional practice. ILSA is treated here as a new idea or a new social technology defining what constitutes good (or bad) education. The theoretical framework combines a top-down perspective provided by Rogers’ (2003) Diffusion of Innovation theory, and a complementary, more critical Policy Enactment approach (Ball et al. 2012), stressing the import-ance of context and local actors’ perspectives. Empirically, the thesis is based on 40 semi-structured interviews carried out in the 2011-2012 school year with teachers, principals and municipal school directors in five municipalities and 12 compulsory schools, selected to cover diverse municipalities, schools, and respondents.The respondents perceive ILSAs as valid evaluations of the Swedish school system. Most think it is important to compare results of different nations, although ILSA is not expected to cover the whole curriculum. Most interviewees are aware that Swedish ILSA results have been declining for years and perceive an urgent need to reverse this trend. However, few of the directors, principals or teachers believe that Swedish schools are in a deep crisis, as described in Swedish media. The participants frequently regard schools as primary determinants of ILSA results, and few blame family, socio-economic, cultural and contextual factors for the Swedish decline in ILSA rankings. There are significant differences between the three occupational groups in their reception and use of ILSA. Municipal school directors who are very well-informed emphasize the influence of ILSA on their local development efforts. Principals and teachers say that ILSAs have had modest direct effects on their work, but they argue that poor Swedish results in international assessments have had indirect effects, for instance by prompting the introduction of a new national curriculum.
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| 9. |
- Bergström, Peter, 1975-
(författare)
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Designing for the unknown : Didactical design for process-based assessment in technology-rich learning environments
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is based on a study of the development of education through theinnovative use of process-based assessment in technology-rich learningenvironments in teacher and nurse education. The study of process-basedassessment addresses the aim of creating a better understanding of the shiftin emphasis from teaching to learning with regard to theory and practice.The research questions address the use of process-based assessment, andhow the social relationships and issues of content can be understood intechnology-rich learning environments. A methodological approachinvolving design-based research was found to be especially applicable. Thestudy was designed in three iterative didactical design cycles for processbasedassessment in which the first and third cycles were analysed. Theempirical material comprises qualitative semi-structured interviews withteachers and students and questionnaires with students. The empiricalmaterial was analysed through inductive thematic analysis. The theoreticalanalyses in the comprising articles are mainly based on Bernstein’stheoretical framework for studying social relationships through concepts ofsymbolic power and control. For understanding change, with regard to theshift in emphasis from teaching to learning, the analysis is taken to a metalevelby applying Bernstein’s concept of pedagogical device.The results outline the shift in emphasis from teaching to learning fromboth a theoretical and practice perspective. Theoretically, the shift inemphasis from teaching to learning is based upon a shift in symbolic powerand control for teachers. In practice, the shift of symbolic power and controlbetween the teacher, student and content outline considerable overlapsbetween teacher-student, teacher-content and student-content. The overlapshighlight the empirical contribution in this thesis through the concept of“process” that is understood as a negotiation between teacher-student,teacher-content and student-content. The weakening symbolic powerrelationship made a multi-dimensional analysis of the teacher-studentcontentrelationship possible. Theoretically, the shift of symbolic poweroutlines a process of recontextualisation of a new discourse for teaching,learning and assessment. The multi-dimensional analysis highlights thetheoretical contributions to understanding the concept of discourse fromBernstein’s perspective through which the content and context create thediscourse. For practice, process-based assessment frames the notion ofdesigning for the unknown. Designing for the unknown is considered as aframework based upon a set of rules through which teachers and studentsadapt to a problematising approach in teaching, learning and assessment
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| 10. |
- Björk, Åsa, 1973-
(författare)
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Drama, hat och vänskap : om ungdomars interaktioner i sociala medier
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Departing from narratives of young people, the aim of this thesis is to deepen the knowledge about the meaning of their social interactions in social media.In this qualitative study, young people’s interactions when they use social media are studied in a Swedish context. The study constitutes an important contribution since it makes young people’s voices heard. It is based on semi-structured interviews with 32 young people aged 13-15.The results show that young people do not use the term bullying when they define a situation that is of a negative nature. They use other terms such as hate and drama to define a situation they perceive to be negative, both in situations when they themselves are involved and in situations when they are among the audience. It depends on how they define the situation. Explanations for why drama, hate and negative actions occur can be understood based on on-going relation-building work and an effort to fit into a certain peer culture. The results also indicate that it is important to receive attention from significant others. In interaction with others, social skills are developed to navigate drama, hate, friendship, negative actions and relation-building efforts in social media.Social norms, gender norms and negotiating identities come to expression when the young people discuss self-presentations in pictures.Explanations as to why they choose to publish a certain kind of picture can be linked with complex relationship and identity construction processes where the young peoples position themselves and others in the struggle to doing gender and a desire to participate in a certain peer culture.
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