The objective of the present study was to highlight preschool children?s encounters with children?s literature, in a heterogeneous language context.  The idea was to identify significant features in the linkages between the reading of children?s literature, didactic activities and children?s learning, language development and emergent literacy activities.  Our interest was directed towards the activities connected with read-alouds, as well as the preschool teacher?s perceptions of those activities.  The empiric material was collected by use of participant observations of four read-aloud sessions. After the observations the preschool teacher in charge of the observed read-aloud was in-depth interviewed. In addition, the physical print environment in the actual preschool was observed. The results indicate that the physical and social reading environment interact with each other.  Furthermore, the preschool  teachers? approaches and ways of working with literature does not always optimize the language, literacy and content area  learning opportunities for the children.

The purpose of my study was to find out how staff in after-school activities thinks they work with norms and values, we may call this values education, and how this in turn may influence children's norms and values. By extension, how children are socialized with each other and develop socially. In my research, I have interviewed five of the after-school activities staff who work with children aged 6-9 years at a school in the neighbourhood Rinkeby-Kista in northwestern Stockholm.The results show that after-school activity according to the staff can play a very important and sometimes crucial role in children's social development. Staff believes that if they do not learn the social rules by participating in playing and games in early childhood, when growing up they are outside and cannot participate. By their pedagogical approaches, in terms of values and norms, the adults in after-school activities can help children to become socialized into a community of solidarity and eventually as adults become responsible citizens able to function and participate in society..

Abstract Spiritual gardening, historical perspective and epistemology, - how do these concepts connect? A review of the ideologies of four pragmatic growers. The purpose of this thesis is: ? to present an alternative forthcoming perspective on knowledge, that may be of significance for future theories and knowledge about growing and gardening. ? to lift experiences with Nature Spirits into an academic context, that permits us a closer look at the phenomenon. ? to contribute to an academic platform connecting humanistic and natural sciences. The intention of this text is to bridge the differences between the strictly rational traditions of knowledge and those more experience based ones. The thesis wants to show that much can be won if feeling based and mental reflections once again are approached as equal sources of knowledge. The aim is to give an orientation about the subject of Nature Spirits. The interesting fact is not whether (that) one can talk to nature, but how one does it and that more can be understood about nature and the reality that the established sciences study. The form for this study of literature is a describing presentation; to put names on and give wording to the phenomena of Nature Spirits and Plantdevas. The sources of literature are four pragmatic practitioners of spiritual gardening who have written extensively about their own work.

Nature conservation agreement (NCA) is a way to voluntarily protect and manage nature for limited time-periods. The agreement is settled between the government and a landowner. All public authorities can represent the government but it is only the Swedish Forest Administration who does that regularly (because it is the only authority with economic resources for that purpose). Therefore, NCAs are almost only used to protect forested nature. The government agencies have experienced NCAs for about ten years and it is now time to examine how they are applied in the forests. This study is based on a computerized questionnaire to the persons responsible for the LEKO-projekt.

It's an everyday experience shared by many that nature can be of help in relieving pain, reducing stress, support mental recovery etc. In the last three decades or so this experience has also found support in a large number of scientific investigations. Among other things the experience of nature has been shown to reduce stress and pain in patients and to boost concentration and reduce impulsive behavior in children. Most of this research however has mainly been concerned with the visual modality. In this thesis the aim has been to focus on the auditory modality in this context by trying to reveal some effects on people from the exposure of nature sounds played indoors in three different environments: a grammar school class room, a kindergarten play room and a post-surgery wake up room at an intensive care unit.

The digital map product kNN-Sweden contains nationwide data of the country?s forest land. The estimated forest variables are mean age, mean tree height, volume per tree species and total volume. Today Södra Skog?s assessments of timber potentials are mainly based on experience rate and subjective assumptions.

Svartedalens nature reserve a social richness worth develop. The nature reserve of Svartedalen is an area of high biological and social values. The reserve is located close to several densely populated areas. The reserve has been classified as a national area of interest for nature conservation and outdoor life, and as a Natura 2000 area according to both the bird- and habitat directions. The reserve is the largest landarea in Västra Götaland, 3 410 hectares, where a resolution has been made about all these forms of protection. The foundation Skogssällskapet owns 1 956 hectares of the reserve, at 1 384 hectares of the property they pursue FSC-certified silver culture, according to current management plan.

Research has shown positive correlations between global self-esteem and physical activity, as well as between global self-esteem and school performance. However, research is ambiguous and other variables have shown importance for global self-esteem. This study aims to investigate the correlations between global self-esteem and physical activities, school performance and social participations within high-school students in the northern part of Sweden. The study also investigates gender differences regarding correlations between the variables. The study was conducted using a questionnaire that included Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and self-rated physical activity, social participation and grades in Swedish, English and mathematics.

Work environment activities, such as work health promotion, can take place at different levels - though the best result is obtained when all levels can interact. The overall aim with this study was to examine the impact of health promotion on work related well-being and stress in an industrial company. The focus was on employee experience of and participation in company initiated wellness activities. A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted in which parts of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ II) were used to examine factors in the psychosocial work environment, and well-being was examined with the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). In all 303 employees (50 %) responded to the survey.

The last years trends of increasing globalisation and the decreasing importance of the nationstate has led to rising flows of travellers and information throughout the globe. This has affected the competition between destinations; they are now competing in a global market. The importance of placemarketing and representing a place identity, is today essential to attract customers from around the world. The purpose of this essay was to examine how Iceland as a place is represented through the photographs in horse tourism. The research questions asked were: How is the Icelandic landscape represented in photographs? How is people and horses represented in the landscape? And how can the horse be analysed as a part of the Icelandic landscape? The method used for research was image-analysis, a qualitative approach where horse tourism-websites and photographs on these websites were strategically selected.

The aim of this study is, using the Swedish expression ?kulturtant? (cultured lady) as starting point, to understand how and why women consume the products of the culture industry more eagerly than men. The study is using the concepts put forward by Pierre Bourdieu; fields, capital and habitus. It is a qualitative study based on discussions in focus groups, interviews and material gathered through Google Alerts. In the literature this gap between the sexes with regard to the higher consumption on behalf of women has been referred to as the ?puzzle? of women´s cultural consumption.The empirical results show that the women in the study are well aware of what they want to gain by participating in cultural activities like reading, going to concerts, watching plays or going to the movies.

A substantial part of the Swedish outdoor education is being practiced in so called ?school forests?. The concept school forest was first introduced in the 1980?s by the organization Skogen i Skolan. The definition of a school forest is an area that is being used for educational purposes, over which the school and the land owner has reached an agreement of how the school may utilize it.

The purpose of this thesis has been to; based on interviews with four teachers in Stockholm city, get at picture of preschool teacher?s viewpoint on children?s influence in preschool.Research questions: How is the children`s influence looked upon by the teachers in preschool?, In what ways do children?s influence affect their learning, In what ways are the interviewed preschool teachers working with democracy in preschool?To carry out this thesis, I used the qualitative method. In the qualitative method, use is made of the interview method to collect empirical data with interviews. I interviewed four preschool teachers from three different preschools. This thesis is built upon John Dewey?s philosophical thinking as a theoretical base.The result of this thesis shows that all preschool teachers felt that the application of children?s influence in the daily activities, although complicated, is essential in their work.

During my practical training I have seen what after-school offers children. Large groups of children and little staff, often results in that the children had to play freely until they go home. Few activities are offered to the children and the staff is busy looking after the children and ensures that they are not fighting.The purpose of this study is to find out how children feel about their leisure activities and if they think they are being offered a meaningful leisure. The main research questions were:How do children experience their leisure-time?Do after-school offers children a meaningful leisure and is it the children's interests and needs that govern the activities and the environment?How do the number of children in the leisure group affect the leisure time?The methods to collect data in the study are observations and interviews.

In the curriculum for Swedish pre-school the focus is mainly on five concepts. These are care of the children, learning, influence, rearing and security. These concepts are to characterize the activities of the pre-school in Sweden.Back in time the focal point of pre-school activities for young children was mainly on security. The learning part became more prominent as the children grew older. When speaking to teachers and parents I do sense that some believe this is the case even nowadays.