| 1. |
- Cederqvist, Anne-Marie, 1970-
(författare)
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Seeing the parts, understanding the whole : A technology education perspective on teaching and learning in processes of analysing and designing programmed technological solutions
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Analysing and designing Programmed Technological Solutions (PTS) has been introduced as a part of technology education in an effort to bring elements of programming into the curriculum for compulsory school, in order to develop pupils’ understanding of how PTS work and are controlled by programming. However, what an appropriate understanding entails at this level remains to be articulated, particularly how this understanding looks from a pupil’s perspective. Such descriptions are paramount for allowing teachers to make pedagogical decisions on what specifically is to be addressed in the classroom. The challenges are increased by a dependency on programming materials, which give a structure to teaching and learning that is not necessarily in line with pedagogical needs. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to identify key elements that are important to address in teaching and learning technology in the processes of analysing and designing PTS. The knowledge domain of PTS, in relation to technological literacy, frames the results from three phenomenographic studies that investigate the ways pupils (aged 10-14) experience PTS when analysing and designing PTS in the contexts of the BBC micro:bit material and PTS from everyday life. The results show that understanding programming concepts and how to produce code are key elements, and most importantly, that there are other key elements embedded in the processes that it is necessary to direct attention to. These are: knowledge related to the dual nature of PTS; knowledge related to the programming material used in the processes; the relevance structures provided by the contexts in terms of experienced partwhole structure of PTS; and the use of systems thinking to discern the partwhole structure of PTS. Together these direct attention to the structural and functional nature of PTS, which must be understood in order to understand how PTS can be controlled by programming. Thus, these key elements are important to consider in pedagogical practice in order to promote learning with regard to PTS
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| 2. |
- Sotevik, Lena, 1981
(författare)
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Barbiebröllop och Homohundar. Barn och barndomar i relation till queerhet och (hetero)normativa livslinjer
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation investigates relations between sexualities, children and childhoods by examining the following questions: How are heteronormativity and normative life courses repeated, negotiated and challenged by children? How are norms of age, children and childhood given significance in relation to heteronormativity and queerness? How is the child featured in contemporary discourses regarding sexualities, normative life courses and possible futures? The study is based on the discourse analysis methodology of Foucault (1972, 1980, 1993, 2002) and inspired by Marcus’ (1995, 1998) ’multi-sited ethnography.’ Children’s play and meaning-making during the school day are studied using participatory observations. Preschool policy documents are analyzed to investigate in what way ‘sexual orientation’ is discussed in relation to discrimination and equal treatment, and teachers are interviewed on the subject of working with lgbtq certification and norm criticism in preschool. Sources within children’s culture, showing representations of same-sex love, provide another entrance for investigating how queerness is presented, and how this is discussed among adults. Critical perspectives from queer theory and childhood studies, where sexuality and age are considered simultaneously discursive, material and performative (Butler, 1990, 1993; Castaneda, 2003, Foucault, 2002; Lee, 2001), are combined theoretically. How age (childhood) norms and sexuality norms interact is investigated using queer-temporal theories (Ahmed, 2006; Dyer, 2014; Edelman, 2004; Halberstam, 2005; Stockton, 2009). The results of the included articles indicate that children normalize heterosexuality by (re)producing heteronormative family and couple discourses in their family play and wedding play. This emerges as age-coded heteronormativity, where norms of children and adults become visible through the way in which heteronormativity is repeated. At preschool, representations of ‘sexual orientation’ are primarily focused on families and family constellations, rarely mentioning interactions among the children. Queerness in relation to childhood emerges, at the same time, as something that is demanded and questioned. The child is used as a space for negotiation of society values, disguised as the question of what is good or bad for children. A conditional queerness emerges, at the intersection of lgbtq+ questions, as an increasingly desirable symbol of a democratic, modern and urban society, and as the expected absence of childhood sexuality, particularly queer sexuality. Queerness is made conditional through, for instance, desexualized love and family discourses. Age norms, in this case norms of children and childhoods, are significant for how, when and with which arguments queerness is represented.
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| 3. |
- Wank, Ann-Charlott
(författare)
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Meningsskapande samtal : En studie om barns meningsskapande med fokus på processer och innehåll relaterat till förskolans praktik
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis aims to contribute to the knowledge of children’s meaning-making by focusing on processes and content in preschool practice. Meaning-making is understood as a situated process that emerges in the mutual interplay of a child’s previous and current experiences and the preschool practice in which the child participates and acts. Content describes what children create meaning about. The study is theoretically grounded in a sociocultural understanding of human development and learning. The methodological approach is based on John Dewey’s non-dualistic pragmatism concerning how meaning is constructed and shared between people who participate in a social practice. The research adopts Dewey’s concept of transaction to study children’s meaning-making as reciprocal, coordinated encounters with their environment. The analysis relies on 20 hours of video observations from two preschool departments in Sweden, which concentrated on communicative interactions between children and preschool teachers in which the participants together focused on a common conversation content and coordinated their verbal actions to develop or deepen the content. The results are interpreted with practical epistemological analysis (PEA), epistemological move analysis (EMA) and Dewey’s concepts of habit and custom. The results show that children’s meaning-making is a multidimensional process in which a child’s individual experiences and knowledge interact with situated scaffolding processes and customs in preschool. Teacher competence is a significant determinant of good conditions for meaning-making communication. When children create meaning in preschool, cognitive linguistic content is in the foreground, often intertwined with socialisation and care. The results suggest that focusing only on the social and cultural environment or on the content offered cannot provide an adequate understanding of children’s learning and meaning-making in preschool; it is also crucial to consider the individual dimension of the child, knowledge of the child’s previous experiences and how these factors interact with the child’s experiences in preschool.
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| 4. |
- Wedman, Lotta, 1975-
(författare)
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The concept concept in mathematics education : A concept analysis
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The notion concept is used in different ways within the field of mathematics education. The aim of this study is to carry out a concept analysis of the notion concept, within some frequently used frameworks describing conceptual understanding. Building on a philosophical literature review resulting in distinctions that can be used for interpreting views on concept, the study addresses the question: Which views on concept may be found in texts using the chosen frameworks, from the perspective of the distinctions mental versus non-mental, intersubjective versus subjective and molecular versus holistic? The design involves a literature review in mathematics education, resulting in a selection of texts. Views on concept, and to some extent on concept image, conception, and schema, are then interpreted with the help of indicators, and represented in 3D matrices. There are two categories of views on concept within the texts: a mental and intersubjective category, and a non-mental and intersubjective category. One difference between the views is whether conceptual structures have molecular or holistic features. Concerning the notions concept image, conception, and schema, there are generally three different views: an individual view and two culturally dependent views. The different views are sometimes combined. One result is findings regarding how language is used within the texts, where non-mental and mental arenas, and terms and meanings of terms, are not always distinguished. The main contribution of the study is to deepen the understanding of views on the notion concept and how terminology is used in mathematics education. This opens the way for a discussion of how the terminology mentioned above may be used coherently within the field of mathematics education.
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| 5. |
- Dohlsten, John, 1981
(författare)
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Vad möjliggör och begränsar en hållbar elitfriidrott? Aktionsforskning i elitidrottspraktiker inom Göteborgs friidrottsförbund
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In athletics, there are few strategies for detecting and managing ill health and poor well-being. New innovative collaborations are needed for coaches to meet the challenge of promoting health and creating well-being among athletes while developing top performers. This research explores the conditions for coaches’ professional development to develop a more sustainable elite sport. In addition, this study problematizes the coaches’ development work towards a more sustainable elite sport in Gothenburg athletics. The thesis consists of several theoretical perspectives. The theory of practice architecture and ecologies of practice are used as overarching theories to identify, understand, and describe how coaches develop. Careership theory is used to explore professional development. The theoretical concept of sustainability, the theory of ethics of care and practical wisdom are used to explore a deeper understanding of sustainability. The thesis is based on an action research project where the data are produced from semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, meeting recordings, observations, and logbook notes. The results show that coaches’ professional development for creating a more sustainable elite sport takes place while reflecting with other coaches about their coaching role and their lack of knowledge. The results also show that focus on holistic perspectives and long-term processes on athletes’ development enabled the athletes to develop and perform. However, there were no structures, requirements, or support for the athletes or coaches to prioritize long-term goals over short-term goals. The coaches’ meeting practice became a forum for professional development through cooperation although the coaches’ own drive to develop the practice was constrained by the fact that there was no support from the clubs for this organized professional development. Furthermore, the results also show that the coaches expressed an ambition to develop more knowledge to be able to work towards a more sustainable elite sport, but were constrained by unclear requirements as a coach and by their athletes’ focus on results.
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| 6. |
- Häggström, Margaretha, 1962
(författare)
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Estetiska erfarenheter i naturmöten. En fenomenologisk studie av upplevelser av skog, växtlighet och undervisning
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In a period of accelerated environmental change, a focus on how humans build embodied relationships with the more-than-human world is a critical arena for pedagogical work. The aim of this thesis is to elucidate people’s lived experiences of being in the forest. The research is directed at aesthetic experiences, as sensuous experiences, of encounters with trees. The work is based on phenomenology and analyzed through hermeneutic phenomenology. This doctoral thesis is part of the research project Beyond Plant Blindness: Seeing the importance of plants for a sustainable world (The Swedish Research Council, dnr 2013-2014) and entails a two-part study; one part conducted with adults who have a habit of being-in-the forest and the other based in two primary school classes, using an outdoor pedagogy approach. The studies are presented through five articles. Article one frames an aesthetic and ethical perspective on art-based environmental education and sustainability and aims to link ethics, aesthetical environmental education and didactics with a phenomenological approach. In this way it serves as the theoretical background for the empirical work to come. Data for article two were collected using a questionnaire placed on a tree located in a specific forest setting over the course of a year. The results highlight the intersubjectivity and historicity of people's connections to a forest environment, and reveal that the experience of ‘being’ or ‘doing’ in a forest produces a larger, more nuanced, response than simply the experience in itself. Data for article three were collected using “walk and talk” interviews. Analysis reveals that (a) childhood experiences seem to play a crucial role in adult experiences of forests; (b) place-identity and sense of belonging are significant elements in how the participants define themselves; (c) being-in-the-forest is connected to an active, exploring and moving body, and that the connection with the more-than-human world of the case study forest is deeply anchored, as part of the human body. This relationship appears to be shaped through a process of constructing and reconstructing memories, practice and selfhood, and can, it seems, last a lifetime. Article three and five builds on action research with two teachers, who planned and designed a Storyline with the aim of giving their students opportunities to discover the intrinsic value of plants, by meeting with trees and slowly becoming trees. In a post-humanist sense, this approach rejects the notion of human as an ontological given, disembodied and separate from the kingdom of plants. Students de-homogenized plants by transforming themselves into trees, thus an inverted anthropomorphization was implemented. This second part of the thesis contributes new perspectives on the emerging relationship between young students and trees initiated through authentic meetings in which such relationships developed. Thus, the result can be used in didactical discussions on concrete, pedagogical and philosophical levels. In the long term, such relationships could have a positive impact on human connections to plants, the basis of much of life on Earth.
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| 7. |
- Jungmalm, Jonatan, 1991
(författare)
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Running-related injuries among recreational runners. How many, who, and why?
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background. It is important for improving and maintaining general health to engage in regular physical activity. A major barrier to retain in regular physical activity is quitting because of an injury. In running, one of the most practiced leisure-time physical activities on a global scale, injuries are unfortunately common. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore questions related to how many, which types of and why do recreational runners sustain injuries. Specifically, how many runners sustain an injury over one year, and which are the most common anatomical locations of running-related injuries? More, are injuries more frequent in runners who have certain characteristics compared with runners having different characteristics? Finally, can exploring changes in training load help us understand why running-related injuries occur? Methods. The dissertation builds on five papers, all based on data from a prospective cohort study named SPRING. Data were collected from 2016 to 2018. In addition, one paper (paper II) includes data from three other prospective cohort studies. One paper (paper I) is a study protocol presenting the design and methods. More than 200 injury-free male and female recreational runners between the ages of 18 to 55 years were recruited from the Gothenburg Half Marathon. The runners underwent a baseline examination consisting of tests for clinical/anthropometrical factors (such as range of motion, flexibility and trigger points), running style and isometric strength. Their training and injury status were then monitored for one year, or until the runners were injured or censored (leaving the study due to other reasons than injury). A sports medicine doctor diagnosed the runners with injuries. The 1-year follow-up included training data from more than 17 000 running sessions, from all participants. How many injuries occur? We found a cumulative proportion of new running-related injuries among recreational runners to be 46% over one year. Across the four studies in paper II, the difference between cumulative incidence proportions calculated with and without censoring ranged between 4% and 22%. In the SPRING-study, the difference was 13%-points, increasing from 33% without censoring to 46% with censoring. The most common anatomical locations were the knee (accounted for 27% of all injuries) and the Achilles tendon/calf area (25% of all injuries). Who sustains an injury? It was found that runners with a previous injury were almost twice as likely to sustain a running-related injury as runners with no previous injury (Hazard ratio= 1.9, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 1.2–3.2). Moreover, the results suggest no associations at all between excessive or restricted joint range of motion, excessive or restricted muscle flexibility or having painful trigger points, and running-related injury, meaning that none of these variables served as strong predictors for running-related injury. However, runners having late timing of maximal eversion or a low ratio between hip abductor strength and hip adductor strength (i.e. relatively weak hip abductors) sustained 17%-point (95%CI= 1–34) and 21%-point (95%CI= 1–40) more injuries, respectively, compared with runners in the corresponding reference groups. Why does injury occur? The data presented in this dissertation could not reveal the answer to the question of why running-related injuries occur. Although no strong causal relationship between changes in training load and running-related injury was found, the attempt to move closer to causal conclusions is novel in the running-related injury literature. Future studies will need thousands of more runners, and injuries, to reveal potential causal relationships.
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| 8. |
- Kjellsdotter, Anne, 1965
(författare)
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Didactical Considerations in the Digitalized Classroom
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The interest in this doctoral thesis is how information and communication technologies (ICT) impact on classroom interaction and may challenge and transform teaching and learning. A reason for considering this as a field of investigation is grounded in the fact that in Sweden, digital tools and they are considered a natural part of elementary education. A lot is expected from ICT in education and the ongoing debate is based on the premise that they will be a catalyst to create change. The aim here is to explore in what way the use of ICT may affect the interaction between subject content, teachers and learners. Two theoretical approaches: the sociocultural perspective on learning (Säljö, 2000; Vygotsky, 1986; Wertch, 1998) and the tradition of Didaktik (Hopmann, 1999; 2007; Klafki, 1995; 2000) are used to answer the study’s overall aim and the different aspects of the research questions. The ambition is to contribute to the field of ‘didactics and ICT’ and also to the ongoing debate about ‘digital competencies’ in the twenty-first century. The empirical data is derived from a case study in a primary school. Ethnographic techniques were used in order to collect the data during a period of four years. The research questions have been explored through different analytical lenses and the findings are presented in four papers. The main findings of the study highlight relations between the subject content and the digital tools and challenges notions about what to teach, which affects possibilities for and limitations in how pupils interact with ICT but also the distinguishing features of the pupils’ final outcomes. This opens the way for a discussion about teaching the subject content in relation to the digital affordances, the understanding of pupils’ meaning-making in connection with the premises of digital school tasks, and what competencies are important in the digitalized classroom.
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| 9. |
- Lindbäck, Jonas, 1982
(författare)
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Värsta bästa skolan - Om unga i förorten och segregationen i skolan
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis addresses education and schooling for youth in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in Gothenburg, Sweden. Over the last two decades or so we have seen an increasing difference in students’ performance and background between schools in Sweden. Schools in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the metropolitan areas are affected the worst, and in some of these schools about half of the students lack upper secondary qualifications. This thesis builds upon data from one of these schools called Björkskolan. The overall aim of this study is to investigate what it means to be a student at Björkskolan and what significance the school and education has for the students. The following questions are examined: How do schooling and education acquire meaning for the students? How do the students describe their own opportunities and limitations in relation to school and education, and what are the different student positions that emerge in everyday school life? How do teachers and students view the learning that occurs at the school and the conditions in which it takes place? The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork that took place over a one-year period with students in 8th and 9th grade. Besides fieldnotes, interviews with students, teachers and school staff form the basis for the analysis. Theoretically, the thesis primarily draws from urban theory on territorial stigmatization and postcolonial influenced theories on difference and othering. In summary, the results show how the students negotiate representations of their school and their neighbourhood, and how they create alternative representations that question the dominant perceptions. The teachers and school staff are, just like the students, affected by the structural conditions in the segregated city, and this has implications for teaching as well as other aspects of daily life and work in Björkskolan. Furthermore, the study demonstrates how the students position themselves as learning subjects in different ways, and that anti-school culture explanations for poor school results can neither be attributed to the girls or the boys. On the contrary, the students show a positive attitude towards education and identify strongly with the school.
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| 10. |
- Lundberg Zachrisson, Andreas, 1987
(författare)
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Overuse injuries in Swedish elite athletics - Incidence, occurrence, athlete availability, and risk factors
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this thesis was to explore three aspects of overuse injuries in elite Swedish athletics. The thesis is compiled of four papers, of which the first one is a study protocol. Paper II (n=58) aimed to gain knowledge about overuse injury characteristics, and Paper III (n=59) aimed to estimate the seasonal distribution of overuse injuries and the consequences for athletes. Paper IV (n=96) evaluated potential risk factors and their relation to overuse injury. Athletes were followed prospectively during one Swedish athletics season. Injuries were diagnosed and recorded with the help of medical professionals. At enrollment, all athletes conducted a baseline screening consisting of a clinical examination, running analysis and strength tests. Male and female Swedish elite athletics athletes were recruited in Gothenburg from four event groups: middle/long distance runners, sprinters, jumpers, and throwers. All athletes were asked to fill out and submit training documentation on a monthly basis during the season. Paper II aimed to describe the incidence proportion, injury onset, injury location, and injury severity of overuse injuries during a Swedish athletics season. The overall incidence proportion for the cohort was 72.4%, with 64.8% of all injuries being categorized as injuries with a gradual onset caused by overuse and 35.2% of all injuries with a sudden onset caused by overuse. Ninety percent of recorded injuries during the study period were located at the lower extremities. The majority of injuries were located at the thigh/hip, followed by the foot/shank. Most injuries sustained by the cohort were severe, with 53.5% of injuries leading to a total or partial time-loss from training and competition of at least 28 days. In paper III, the results showed that the majority of injuries occurred in October followed by December and April. The overall incidence rate per 1000 hours of athletics training was 1.81 for the cohort, and a moderate athlete availability of 78% for the season with a large individual variability. In paper IV certain risk factors were identified. More specifically, athletes with an injury at the thigh/hip show a slower knee flexion velocity compared with athletes not injured at the thigh/hip. In conclusion, Swedish elite athletics athletes suffer from a high incidence of overuse injuries that most likely affect their potential to perform at a high level during the season. The majority of injuries are sustained at the beginning of the season during the first conditioning phase. Thus, to decrease the number of injuries, future research should focus on further investigating the athletes’ training volume and training intensity and the possible association to overuse injury.
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