| 1. |
- Magnusson, Maria, 1960-
(författare)
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Skylta med kunskap : en studie av hur barn urskiljer grafiska symboler i hem och förskola.
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The topic of this study is to generate knowledge about children’s understandingof graphical symbols. These forms of knowledge are prevalent in contemporarysocieties, for example, in the form of letters, numbers, road signs, maps, andcomputer icons. More specifically, in this thesis is scrutinized in detail howchildren develop symbolic skills and how this can be supported througheducational activities. The theoretical basis of the study is variation theory(Marton & Tsui, 2004). This theory conceptualizes learning in terms ofdifferentiation and integration. Two empirical studies are reported. The first isabout two children, Olle and Lasse, who both are in the age span four to fiveyears. How these children handle graphical symbols in the form of producingsigns that they put up in their homes are followed over time. Hence, thechildren’s own make and use of symbols in their everyday life are studied. In thesecond empirical study, the findings from the first study and theoretical insightfrom variation theory are orchestrated in a preschool center with two teachersand twelve children, to see if these principles can be functional in supportingchildren’s development of symbolic understanding. Both studies are based onvideo data. The findings are that a particular pattern of variation entitled,‘contrast’ is functional in developing such insight, while another pattern ofvariation entitled, ‘induction’ is not. In addition, meta-communication is arguedto be important not only for the researcher to gain access to the child’sunderstanding but also to the child’s development as such. The theoreticaldistinction made by Vygotsky between ‘pseudo concepts’ and ‘concepts (proper)’is used to discuss the findings.
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| 2. |
- Schwartz, Anneli
(författare)
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Pedagogik, plats och prestationer : en etnografisk studie om en skola i förorten
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is part of a Swedish Research Council financed project called The School and its Surroundings (Omvärlden och skolan: Vetenskapsrådet, 2005-3440) and is based on a thorough examination of the pedagogical practices that took place in a particular school in a multicultural suburb. A main aim was to analyse these practices and the pupils’ responses to them in relation to descriptions of the school and its needs, attainments and difficulties as provided by the pupils, teachers and others,including the media. The pedagogical practices of the school are based on a particular kind of pedagogy, called Monroe pedagogy. This pedagogy is characterised by strong leadership and places high expectations on pupils. Using ethnographic data, obtained from fieldwork and interviews, and an analysis informed by Bernstein’s theoretical concepts the thesis provides an analysis of the regulation of social interaction in the school and the pupils’ experiences and appreciations of this regulation. As a pedagogical discourse Monroe pedagogy exhibits principles of strong classification and framing (Bernstein, 2003). The thesis is composed of four articles and a kappa. Article one, “Bracketing” backgrounds for an effective school, describes Monroe pedagogy in relation to the school day and pupils’ results. Article two, Pupils’ responses to a saviour pedagogy: An ethnographic study, elaborates on the feedback that pupils at the studied school provide on their education. Article three, The significance of place and pedagogy in an urban multicultural school in Sweden, examines how the location of the school in a ‘multicultural suburb’ is used to attribute deficiencies to pupils and the need for strong leadership and a visible pedagogy. Article four, Complexities and contradictions of educational inclusion: a meta-ethnographic analysis, describes the importance of place for educational expectations and performances in relation to the stigmatisation of the suburban reach and its residents. Collectively the articles depict, principally through an analysis of pupils’ responses, how Riverdale School sells a success concept, based on orderliness, motivation, responsibility and hard work, and how the staff and pupils at the school identify with and believe in this concept. The articles also demonstrate how the pedagogy in use actually fails to become a saviour discourse in practice, as promised, but instead strengthens exclusion and maintains the image of a failing pupil who will be saved from, her-his background and her-his place of residence.
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| 3. |
- Tyrén, Lena
(författare)
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"Vi får ju inte riktigt förutsättningarna för att genomföra det som vi vill" : en studie om lärare möjligheter och hinder till förändring och förbättring i praktiken
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Initially the overall aim of this thesis was to describe and analyse what was happening in the educational activities when teachers at a school that I have called Tower School introduced the computer as a tool for helping pupils who were learning to write and read. Key questions concerned the issue of improvement. Did introducing the computer as a tool in the teaching and learning process help the pupils with their learning or not and, if so, in what ways. The research approach chosen was an action research approach. Action research is concerned with professional practice and improvement. It is contextual and oriented toward action processes and change. The initial phase of the research went more or less according to plan. I followed the development process of the introduction and use of the computer as a learning tool, met regularly with the teachers and together with them developed a good working relationship. After about a year things changed. With the restructuring that was taking place in the region changes began to take place also at Tower School and this had effects on the research. In addition to the initial aim to research changes related to student learning a second purpose developed. This purpose was to describe and analyse how political governance and underlying societal forces might influence what happens in school development. There were two reasons for this new extra dimension. One was a methodological interest in relation to planning action research projects at times of political change in the education sector. The other was an educational theoretical interest connected to the school as a policy-driven organization. My interest here was for changes in the political economy at the macro level and how the network of macro-political and economic relations affected the micropolitical level of the school, its classrooms, participating teachers in these classrooms, their students and me as a researcher?
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| 4. |
- Magnusson, Maria, 1960
(författare)
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Skylta med kunskap. En studie av hur barn urskiljer grafiska symboler i hem och förskola.
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Abstract Title: Signing with knowledge: A study of how children discern graphical symbols at home and in preschool Author: Maria Magnusson Language: Swedish with an English summary ISBN: 978-91-7346-767-4 (print) ISBN: 978-91-7346-768-1 (pdf) ISSN: 0436-1121 Keywords: Graphical symbols, learning, children, conceptual development, variation theory, Vygotsky The topic of this study is to generate knowledge about children’s understanding of graphical symbols. These forms of knowledge are prevalent in contemporary societies, for example, in the form of letters, numbers, road signs, maps, and computer icons. More specifically, in this thesis is scrutinized in detail how children develop symbolic skills and how this can be supported through educational activities. The theoretical basis of the study is variation theory (Marton & Tsui, 2004). This theory conceptualizes learning in terms of differentiation and integration. Two empirical studies are reported. The first is about two children, Olle and Lasse, who both are in the age span four to five years. How these children handle graphical symbols in the form of producing signs that they put up in their homes are followed over time. Hence, the children’s own make and use of symbols in their everyday life are studied. In the second empirical study, the findings from the first study and theoretical insight from variation theory are orchestrated in a preschool center with two teachers and twelve children, to see if these principles can be functional in supporting children’s development of symbolic understanding. Both studies are based on video data. The findings are that a particular pattern of variation entitled, ‘contrast’ is functional in developing such insight, while another pattern of variation entitled, ‘induction’ is not. In addition, meta-communication is argued to be important not only for the researcher to gain access to the child’s understanding but also to the child’s development as such. The theoretical distinction made by Vygotsky between ‘pseudo concepts’ and ‘concepts (proper)’ is used to discuss the findings.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Jonsson, Agneta, 1958
(författare)
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Att skapa läroplan för de yngsta barnen i förskolan. Barns perspektiv och nuets didaktik : Creating curriculum for the youngest children in preschool. Children's perspectives and didactics of the present moment
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis takes as one point of departure the concept of the expanded curriculum where curricula encompass both the formal steering documents, as well as that which goes on within the framework of preschool education and through the actors in preschools. The overarching purpose is therefore to generate knowledge about what conditions for learning the work of teachers make possible when curricula are created in preschool settings for children aged between 1 and 3. The purpose is also to contribute with knowledge about what these created curricula would mean for children’s agency, and the importance they can have for children’s opportunities for learning and development. The three empirical studies consist of digitally recorded interviews with teachers and video observations with a focus on teachers’ communication with children in preschool. The discussion in the overarching text is constructed around three aspects that emerge in the overall results of the studies. First, the studies reveal how teachers’ work can be likened to a limiting curriculum which, on the one hand, is entirely child-centered, with the children as seen actors, but, on the other, can be interpreted as entirely teacher-centered. Secondly, there is the discussion about the affirmative curriculum, where children are presented as affirmed actors. In other words, content becomes those things that children are interested in, and their modes of expression are seen, affirmed and often repeated. Finally there is the discussion about the possibilities and dilemmas related to an expanding curriculum where children are regarded and treated as real actors in the sense that their intentions and expressions are taken seriously as relevant challenges. The current curriculum text for Swedish preschool can, in this sense, be seen as an obstacle in that its formulations are extremely broad-based, as discussed related to the results of this thesis.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Larsson, Kristoffer, 1974
(författare)
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Kritiskt tänkande i grundskolans samhällskunskap. En fenomenografisk studie om manifesterat kritiskt tänkande i samhällskunskap hos elever i årskurs 9. : Critical thinking in compulsory school civics. A phenomenographic study of 9th grade students’ critical thinking in civics.
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Cultivating students’ critical thinking skills is recognized as a highly important educational goal in many societies in the western world, not least in Sweden. Despite this the research community has so far produced little substantial knowledge on critical thinking and calls for new research approaches have been made. In this study the phenomenographic perspective is offered as such a new approach, addressing, as it does, critical thinking in civics among Swedish 9th grade compulsory school students. According to phenomenography, students’ critical thinking is delimited by the way of experiencing a phenomenon that induces critical thinking. Thus differences in students’ critical thinking are linked to differences in the way of experiencing the phenomena inducing a manifestation of critical thinking. The empirical investigation in the study revolves around how 19 9th grade students experience four different tasks designed to induce critical thinking about philosophical and political views of justice. In broader terms the main aim of the study is to describe the students’ different ways of experiencing each particular task and furthermore, to link each specific way of experiencing a particular task to a specific type of critical thinking in relation to that task. Another aim is to make suggestions on how the kind of empirical results emanating from the main aim can be used in education practice to enhance 9th grade students’ critical thinking in civics. The study’s empirical results show how the way of experiencing a particular task plays a decisive role for the type of critical thinking made possible in relation to the task. A more powerful way of experiencing the task is delimited by a more powerful type of critical thinking in relation to the task. A less powerful way of experiencing the task is delimited by a less powerful type of critical thinking in relation to the task. With these results as a backbone, the study takes on an extensive discussion of how the results can be applied in education practice in order to enhance 9th grade students’ critical thinking in civics. The discussion deals with different suggestions for how the teacher can make the students’ ways of experiencing more powerful, in relation to tasks and content in civics that “call for” critical thinking, by using the phenomenographic theory of variation.
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| 9. |
- Lilliestam, Anna-Lena, 1952
(författare)
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Aktör och struktur i historieundervisning. Om utveckling av elevers historiska resonerande
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Historical reasoning is the organizing of information about the past in order to describe, compare, and/or explain historical phenomena. In this study I investigate the ability to reason historically in terms of agent and structure in an educational context. What does it mean to reason historically in this specific way? What does it take for students to develop this ability? Two main materials are used: texts, where students reason historically in terms of agent and structure, and lessons where the objective is to make it possible for the students to develop this ability. I look for qualitative similarities and differences in how the students reason, aiming at a pedagogically meaningful categorization that allows critical aspects of the ability to be identified. The analysis of the lessons deepens this understanding. The difference between a temporal description of chains of events on one hand, and reasoning about agents and structures on the other, is shown to be crucial. The students must discern what reasoning in terms of agent and structure is: a synchronous discussion of the relative importance of structural factors and factors concerning agents in a historical situation. Students must also discern that structures can be of different kinds, as can agents; that relevant factors must be selected; that connections between the factors should be made explicit; that these factors may be developed by further explanation, by an assessment of their relative significance, by making comparisons, or by making causal connections. The results also indicate that the objects of learning tend to change when enacted in the classroom: from the ability to reason historically towards the historical content, and towards temporal accounts of chains of action. A relationship is seen between the teaching in the different classes and how the students reason. Counterfactual reasoning is found to be useful in making it possible for the students to develop their understanding of structures, and as a tool for formative assessment.
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| 10. |
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