| 1. |
- Björklund, Camilla, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Berättelser som redskap för att föra och följa resonemang
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nordisk Barnehageforskning. - : Cappelen Damm AS - Cappelen Damm Akademisk. - 1890-9167. ; 12:5, s. 1-18
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract: The aim of this study is to identify different ways of reasoning when preschool children create stories based on a given theme and with both a traditional and an unfamiliar framework for stories. 17 children participated in the study and the analysis shows three different ways to create stories: 1) stories with a fairy tale structure; 2) expressionist and fragmented accounts; 3) stories focusing on weather and seasonal changes. The cultural tools that children are offered (structure of a story) are used by some children to create traditional stories, but not as a tool for creating new forms of stories. The results show that children’s knowledge of the content within the stories and their conceptual understanding seem to play an important role for the ways in which the structure of stories are used as tools for reasoning.Sammadrag: Syftet med denna studie är att klargöra olika sätt att resonera när förskolebarn själva konstruerar berättelser utifrån ett givet tema och inför en traditionell och en mer kontroversiell form för berättelser. 17 barn deltog i studien och analysen visar på tre olika sätt att konstruera berättelser: 1) Berättelser med sagostruktur; 2) Expressionistiska och fragmentariska redogörelser; 3) Berättelser med fokus på väder- och årstidsväxlingar. Det kulturella redskap som barnen erbjuds (berättelsestrukturen) används av en del av barnen för att skapa traditionella berättelser, men inte som stöd för nyskapade former av berättelser. Resultaten visar att barn kunnande om innehållet i berättelserna och begreppsförståelse tycks spela en betydelsefull roll för hur barns berättelser används som redskap för resonemang.
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| 2. |
- Eldstål-Ahrens, Lea, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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Micro-genetic development of argumentation: Analysis of a primary school child's participation in a small-group discussion
- 2022
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Ingår i: European Conference on Argumentation (ECA) 2022.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Argumentation is considered to be a cultural and communicative practice used in discourse to offer standpoints and reasons for claims to increase their validity. With this non-persuasive definition of argumentation as a starting point, this study’s research interest comprises primary school children’s learning of the practice of argumentation in small-group discussions. This consideration of argumentation as a practice, instead of a (cognitive) ability or arguments as products, is motivated by a sociocultural perspective on learning. The perspective moves beyond the individual and conceptualizes learning as appropriation, the gradual taking-over of concepts, practices, or what is to be learned, through participation in activities. Therefore, an analysis of the micro-genetic development within activities offers insights into how learning happens. Here, the appropriation of argumentation in the activity of a group discussion is in focus. In particular, the analysis is geared toward one child (Antje) in the group discussion. The group was given two tasks, in which democratic concepts and practices are embedded in dilemmatic situations close to the children’s school experiences. The children (n=4, 9-10 years old, federal state Lower Saxony in Germany) are asked to argue their stance on the issues and come to a joint solution. This methodologic setup was chosen to encourage argumentation for it to become visible and thereby analyzable. The tasks were introduced by their teacher, who framed and reframed them during the discussion, which were video recorded. Transcript excerpts of Antje’s relative involvement are analyzed qualitatively and sequentially. While both verbal and non-verbal communication is in focus, special attention is given to language. The results show how Antje uses increasingly more tentative argumentation, in the form of conditional language (“I would…”) and qualifiers (“I think…” / “I believe…”), throughout the discussion. By doing this, she conveys the possibility of having different perspectives on the matter. Further, the fact that the children agree in the first task and disagree in the second task has consequences for the argumentation: Antje uses imaginative techniques to validate her own ideas, initiates compromise and elaborates on why others’ remarks are considered invalid. The teacher takes a navigating role in the discussion: asking for reasons to standpoints and modeling giving reasons when the children struggle to produce such. These findings show Antje’s and the other children’s awareness of validity as a relevant component in argumentation. Furthermore, the results show the potential role of disagreement in argumentation. The study contributes to the field of argumentation in education by offering authentic data showcasing children’s practice of and participation in group discussions.
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| 3. |
- Eldstål-Ahrens, Lea, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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Microgenetic development of a primary school child’s argumentative participation in a small-group discussion
- 2023
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Ingår i: Classroom Discourse. - 1946-3014 .- 1946-3022. ; , s. 1-23
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, we analyse a 9-year-old child’s argumentative participation in a group discussion, from a microgenetic development angle. Specifically, we follow one child through the discussion and analyse the development process, defined as changed participation and as interactionally contingent upon the other participants and the teacher. The data consist of one video recording of the group discussion including two dilemmatic tasks for which the children are asked to come to a joint solution. A sequential analysis was performed from a sociocultural perspective on learning and communication. The findings show that the focus child’s argumentative participation develops both quantitatively and qualitatively, and that this development reflects a switch between general agreement amongst the children in the first task and general disagreement in the second task. This disagreement angle is discussed both from an argumentation and an education perspective. Two of the focus child’s argumentative resources (an imaginary space she creates and the use of the concept “data protection”) are discussed in detail.
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| 4. |
- Eldstål-Ahrens, Lea, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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Premising and arguing: The variety in 9/10-year-old children taking on an equity/equality issue in the context of group discussions
- 2022
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Ingår i: DGfE (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft) Kongress 2022.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Within a sociocultural and dialogic perspective on learning, argumentation is one of the key cultural practices to be appropriated in order to effectively participate in democratic societies as active citizens. As such, the practice of arguing can be placed within the triad learning about, through and for democracy. Coming from a sociocultural perspective, capturing the process of appropriation – the gradual taking over or making one’s own of a concept or practice – is of interest. Task premises, i.e., verbal and visual clues, which structure a task and based on which children are supposed to work and/or argue, frame this process. This study aims to analyze and characterize 9/10-year old primary school children’s practice of arguing in collaborative group discussions about the democratic concepts equality and equity. More specifically, the interest lies in answering the research question: How do 9/10-year-old primary school children, in interaction with each other and the teacher, handle the task premises of group discussions about the democratic concepts equality and equity? For this purpose, 13 group discussions of 4-5 children each (total participant n=54) were led and video recorded by the two participating teachers in the school setting. The transcripts, including verbal utterances as well as interruptions, facial expressions, gestures, and laughter were sequentially analyzed based on principles of interaction analysis and sociocultural discourse analysis. The results demonstrate the children handling the premises of the given task in three different ways: (1) arguing within the premises, (2) arguing outside the premises or (3) questioning the premises. Each way of handling the premises is more specifically divided into sub-categories, which demonstrate, in more detail, the children’s take on the task. The presentation of excerpts allows for a tracking of the author’s interpretation as well as alternative interpretations. The findings reveal a more dynamic way of understanding tasks than has generally been found in educational research, especially concerning the application of real-life experiences and circumstances in questioning the task at hand. This amplifies the question of how much room children are given in discussions to develop it into new directions and even question the task’s rationale. Tasks, even when clarified and re-stated in teacher-student interaction, remain open to interpretation and have to be negotiated in a process of sense making both between the students as part of the group and between the group and the teacher.
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| 5. |
- Eldstål-Ahrens, Lea, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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Premising and arguing: The variety in 9- to 10-year-old children taking on an equity/equality task in the context of group discussions
- 2022
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Ingår i: Learning, Culture and Social Interaction. - : Elsevier BV. - 2210-6561. ; 35
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigates primary school children's practices of premising (the handling of task premises) and arguing when confronted with a dilemmatic school task as part of a group discussion. As such, the study contributes to the field of education and argumentation with new insights into how children negotiate validity and relevance in relation to the task when asked to argue their stance on an equity/equality matter. The data consist of transcripts of 247 min of video recordings capturing 13 group discussions (54 children, split into groups of four to five, and two teachers) in the German primary school subject Sachunterricht. The findings clarify how the children dynamically move in and out of the task premises, and at times question them, both implicitly and explicitly. The task's openness and ambiguity are discussed in relation to the children's arguing and premising. The teacher's role as mediator in group discussions is contrasted with other forms of classroom discourse. Furthermore, the relevance for researchers to consider the social and cultural circumstances of research in schools – for example, when interpreting children's utterances – is emphasized.
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| 6. |
- Eldstål-Ahrens, Lea, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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Taking on a task: Children handling the premises of group discussions about democratic concepts
- 2021
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Ingår i: EARLI 2021 Online.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Within a sociocultural and dialogic perspective on learning, argumentation is one of the key cultural practices to be appropriated in order to effectively participate in democratic societies as active citizens. This study aims to analyze and characterize German primary school children’s argumentation in collaborative group discussions about democratic concepts and practices. 13 group discussions of 4-5 children each (total participant n=54) were video recorded by the participating teachers in the school setting, transcribed and analyzed using interaction analysis and sociocultural discourse analysis. The results demonstrate the children handling the premises of the given tasks in three different ways: (1) arguing within the stated premises, (2) arguing outside the stated premises by changing them (e.g., adding premises) or (3) questioning the premises openly. The findings reveal a more dynamic way of understanding tasks than has generally been found in educational research. Tasks, even when clarified and re-stated in teacher-student interaction, remain open to interpretation and have to be negotiated in a process of sense making both between the students as part of the group and between the group and the teacher.
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| 7. |
- Leijon, Matti E., 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Generation Pep – study protocol for an intersectoral community-wide physical activity and healthy eating habits initiative for children and young people in Sweden
- 2024
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Ingår i: Frontiers In Public Health. - Lausanne : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 2296-2565. ; 12
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: There is overwhelming evidence for the preventive effects of regular physical activity and healthy eating habits on the risk for developing a non-communicable disease (NCD). Increasing attention has been paid to community-wide approaches in the battle against NCDs. Communities can create supportive policies, modify physical environments, and foster local stakeholder engagement through intersectoral collaboration to encourage communities to support healthy lifestyles. The Pep initiative is based on intersectoral community-wide collaboration among Sweden’s municipalities. Primary targets are municipality professionals who work with children and young people as well as parents of children <18 years. The goal is to spread knowledge and create commitment to children’s and young people’s health with a special focus on physical activity and healthy eating habits to facilitate and support a healthy lifestyle. The overarching aim of the research project described in this study protocol is to investigate factors that influence the implementation of the Pep initiative in Sweden, to inform tailored implementation strategies addressing the needs and local prerequisites of the different municipalities.Methods: The project includes a qualitative and a quantitative study and is framed by a theoretical model involving four complementary forms of knowledge, explicitly recognized in the Pep initiative: knowledge about the issue; knowledge about interventions; knowledge about the context; and knowledge about implementation. Study 1 is a focus group study exploring barriers and facilitators for implementing the Pep initiative. The study will be carried out in six municipalities, selected purposively to provide wide variation in municipality characteristics, including population size and geographical location. Data will be analyzed using thematic analysis. Study 2 is a cross-sectional web-based survey investigating the implementability of the Pep initiative in Sweden’s 290 municipalities. Conditions for implementing different areas of the Pep initiative will be examined in terms of the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility, three predictors of implementation success. Data will be analyzed using non-parametric statistics.Discussion: The findings of the two studies will increase understanding of the prerequisites for implementing the Pep initiative in Swedish municipalities, which will provide valuable input into how implementation of the Pep initiative can best be facilitated in the different municipality settings.
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| 10. |
- Nilsen, Malin, 1974
(författare)
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Barns aktiviteter med datorplattor i förskolan
- 2014
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis contributes, on the basis of original empirical research, to an on going discussion about the use of tablet computers in Swedish preschools. The aim of the study is to examine what kind of activities evolve, how the children and teachers participate in these activities, and what kind of learning is made possible with the use of tablet computers. Because of the fact that this is a fairly new digital tool that recently has begun to be used widely in the Swedish educational system, there is a pressing need to provide knowledge of what the digital tool is used for in a Swedish preschool context. Generally, discussions regarding new technologies concern their alleged effect on children’s learning (Selwyn, 2009, 2012). The point of departure for this study is to investigate empirically how the technology is used, and critically discuss what conditions for learning are created. The theoretical framework is based on sociocultural theory. Founded on the work of Russian developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky, and later theorists, such as Alexander Luria, James Wertsch and Roger Säljö, tablet computers are understood as a cultural tool used for making meaning in a specific cultural context. The concept of mediation is used to create an understanding of what kind of activities evolve when children use tablets in institutional environments. Video observations have been made of 33 children (aged 1 to 5 years) from two separate classrooms, in one preschool. The study is conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the Swedish Research Council, which includes all participation being voluntary and all participants having signed an informed consent to be part of the study. Interaction analysis (Jordan & Henderson, 1995) was used to analyse the empirical material. The main conclusions drawn from the analysis are that many different types of activities evolved when the children used the tablets. Some of these were child initiated and allowed for possibilities for agency and exploration for the children. Others were planned by the teachers in advance with a clear learning objective and more strictly organized. An important finding with an interest in learning was that the children and teachers often were uncoordinated in perspective in both types of activities. While the teachers regarded the tablets and apps as didactical tools for learning, the children mainly engaged with technology as a tool for gaming. However, the teachers play an important role in scaffolding the children and in using different strategies to facilitate the children’s appropriation of both technology and important cultural concepts and distinctions. It is also evident that the, so-called, educational apps to a large extent fail to live up to their name. The study has significance for an informed discussion about the use of tablets in early childhood settings – including the role of the teacher in technology-mediated activities.
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