This research is about the experience educationalists have of children encountering mathematics in a preschool. What is the impact of introducing mathematics in preschool? How do educationalists work with mathematics and how do they experience the children?s interest in mathematics?  The aim of this degree project is to examine how educationalists experience children´s interest in mathematics when they encounter mathematics at an early age. The degree project is limited to educationalists and children within a preschool located north of Stockholm.This research seeks answers to the following questions at issue. Does an early encounter with mathematics in preschool lead to increased interest in mathematics among children?  How can educationalists in preschool work in a appropriate way with mathematics to stimulate children to develop within mathematics and to increase their interest? How does educationalists in preschool experience children´s interest in mathematics?Theories by Piaget, Vygotskij and Dewey were used as well as former research in this subject.To answer the aim and the questions at issue in this research, three interviews was conducted with educationalists at the preschool and recorded with a Dictaphone.

In the previous curriculum for the preschool Lpfö 98, the educational responsibility was documented belonging to all the team members. On the 1st of July 2011 a new curriculum was introduced to the preschool, Lpfö 98/10, where it is documented that the educational responsibility now belongs to the preschool teachers. According to curriculum experts at the Swedish school board this educational responsibility is not new, just a clarification of the preschool teacher?s educational responsibility.This study is a qualitative study and the purpose was to interview the preschool teachers about their thoughts concerning their educational responsibility. The purpose was also to examine if their educational responsibility has affected their role in the team at the preschool and if they believe that this has any significance for their profession.My result of the study shows that the educational responsibility of the preschool teachers now has been clarified and that they should take a leading role in the team towards the goals that are set for the preschool.

Algebra in school, - a study on students` algebraic knowledge of the field equations in ninth grade.International (TIMSS) and national mathematics studies detects that Swedish pupils math skills is deteriorating in comparison to other countries. Therefore has the subject of mathematics become one of the school subjects which are becoming increasingly in focus. The government has made a big effort, Matematiklyftet, in mathematics in primary education, 650 million has been invested and the Agency has been tasked to train all current mathematics teachers through peer collegial learning. This effort is the most pervasive in modern times in Sweden.The aim of this study is that we as prospective mathematics teachers want to find our approach to surveys results. By using the Governments? diagnoses, Diamant, student group interviews, teacher interviews and theories in mathematics education, we want to make students' algebraic knowledge of the field equations visible.

The aim of this study is to investigate into the use of discussions in the classroom to help the pupils develop a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts and operations. The empirical data contain interviews with two teachers and observations from their lessons. The purpose of the interviews was to find out what importance the teachers ascribed to the ability of their pupils to talk about mathematics, and how they organised their classes to encourage mathematical discussions. With the observations, I was able to see the interaction in the classroom and hear discussions between the teacher and the pupils, as well as between the pupils themselves.The interviewed teachers proved to share my own belief in the results of researchers like Malmer (1999) and Löwing (2006) about the importance of verbal discussion, argumentation and reflection during mathematics classes. But convictions derived from the research of others are one thing, the practical application of the wisdom in the classroom another.

The purpose of this study was to, from the teacher's point of view; discover pupils with reading difficulties in connection with text assignments in mathematics, the teacher's support for these students, if difficulties coincide and whether it's the mathematics teacher's responsibility to make sure pupils with reading difficulties develop their reading ability. The study is based on a qualitative method and five semistructured interviews with mathematics teachers and one language support teacher.The result shows there is a strong connection between the pupils' reading ability and their ability to manage text assignments in mathematics. A weak reading ability affects the pupil in a negative way when solving text assignments in mathematics due to wrong reading technique if the teacher is absent. It is not unusual that reading difficulties and mathematics difficulties coincide. The teacher's most important role in the learning process is to teach the pupils understanding about the reading technique in different ways and to give the pupils opportunity to get spoken texts.

Mathematics is a central topic in today?s society. There are many different approaches each teacher has their own way. In this essay, I compare four teachers? mathematics teaching in two different countries with regard to ways of learning, particularly in the four operations.

AbstractThe purpose of this investigation was to understand how teachers/pedagogues nowadays work with mathematics in school. In what way can they pin point the difficulties a pupil with another language might have with mathematics.I started the process of this investigation by reading litterature on the subject. Then I did interviews with several teachers and pedagogues teaching in different schools with children at different ages.The results found in my investegation pointed to a lack of practical work with mathematics especially in classroom and revealed from the teachers a strong desire to work with mathematics in different ways.?Talking maths? with pupils in class will help them understand the subject better. Several teachers are of the opinion that the pupils will reach the goals in school with this method.The teachers are also aware of the importance of having practical mathematics.

Swedish students' knowledge of mathematics has deteriorated in recent years. Teaching of mathematics is therefore starting point in an ongoing discussion among researchers, school leaders, politicians, teachers and others, who all thinks they know best about how teaching should be designed to the greatest extent possible to raise students' proficiency levels in the subject. Teachers' practices have long been the focus of discussions and views on these differ. The purpose of this paper is therefore to study students 'conceptions of mathematics and mathematics teaching, with teachers' methods and tools of focus, in relation to previous research on the subject. The method used was a survey of students in secondary school and a textual analysis of previous studies on the subject.As revealed by the survey was that the textbook has a big advantage in mathematics education in Sweden today.Many students are not accustomed to working in a different way and thereforedoes not know either what the alternative approach entails.

With a new digital world that runs parallel with our physical one, we are also facing a new type of architecture and new materials that this new architecture is built on. In this thesis I examine pixels and vectors, two of the digital materials used to create pictures. By approaching them as digital materials, I have mapped their different qualities, when and where one or the other is more or less applicable and the reason behind it. My main research question asked was the following: Are the (digital) materials challenged outside their primary fields of application, and in that case, in which way? With this question in mind, I carried out a semiotic picture analysis on four pictures, later on dividing them into four different categories, based on their different qualities and their ability to deliver information.

The aim of this thesis is to try to make the mathematics content of textile handicraft visible. This is done through an attempt at integrated studies in the two subjects with 6th grade students.The main question is: In what way may integrated studies in mathematics and textile handicraft lead to making the mathematics content of textile handicraft visible to the students? This question has been divided into three sub-questions: 1. What knowledge do students have on the order of the millimeter, centimeter, decimeter and meter units of length?, 2.

A change has occurred in terms of recruitment to teacher education. From having been an educationof high status and reputation, a reduced application rate has led to lower admission requirementsand thus that students with much lower educational qualifications entering, which in turn means thatthe education status and reputation have been reduced significantly. Mathematics, on the other hand,has always been a topic of high status and reputation. Although there are few students who chooseto study to be a mathematics teacher. By conducting a survey of students on teacher educationtoday, both with mathematics and other approaches, I wanted to get answers to my questions aboutwhat influences students' choice of education: who are the students studying to be teachers inmathematics? Do they distinguish themselves from the student teachers who studies to be teachersin other subject specializations? Pierre Bourdieu's sociological ideas about cultural capitaltransmitted from parent to child constitute the theoretical framework of the study.Early in the study, I noticed that there is a difference between students studying to be a teacher inpreschool, primary or middle school and them studying to be a teacher in secondary and highschool, especially in terms of the mathematics student teachers.

AbstractThe intension with this paper was to describe the understanding students in third grade had about mathematics and how these students, based on their previous mathematics experiences, apprehend the coming national tests in mathematics. After the test period the student was interviewed on how they experienced their participation in the test. The choice of method was the qualitative case study where the data was collected from interviews and observations. In the result that was found, the interviewed students described mathematics as counting. Students preferred easy math work and to solve routine tasks in math books instead of more demanding work.

This research is about how the educators view the best way to help multilingual students develop their understanding for mathematics. The aim of the study is to identify the different aspects from the teacher?s point of view of this new approach of teaching: what are the limitations versus the opportunities? The study is limited to a multicultural school in Stockholm and to the experience of a few class teachers and mother tongue teachers.A qualitative approach was used and the interview was selected as the method to collect the data. Three class teachers as well as three mother tongue teachers were interviewed about their experiences. The interviews were recorded and transcribed word by word.There have been discussions about the skills in mathematics in multilingual speaking students, and that their greatest obstacle of understanding mathematics is that they are being taught in another language than their own mother tongue.

During my practical training period I observed that many of the students have a negative attitude against mathematics. I also observed that these students have a difficulty reaching the goals in the subject. In my opinion there are different factors that can be the reason to why these students experiences mathematics as a difficult subject in school. This is the reason why I wanted to find out which factors that lies behind the difficulties and how the pedagogues work to support these students. It is also significant that every single student get their rights to develop a positive attitude against mathematics and that the pedagogue supports the students in their development.The point with this degree project is to find out, with the help of three pedagogues, which factors that could lead to difficulties in mathematics with students.

The purpose of this study is to compare different ways to teach mathematics in the school's lower age groups, and to examine whether certain practices increase students' desire and motivation to learn the subject. The questions used to determine the purpose is the following: What vision has the students in the class at maths? How does the teaching of mathematics in the class look like?What vision has the students in the class at working with different approaches in education?Does the traditional approach  and the options that I am examining meet the steering documents requirements?  The essay is organized as a qualitative study. The study was conducted in an elementary school in Sweden, third grade. The methods used included interviews with students and observations in the classroom.