The aim was to evaluate and suggest improvements for the prototype TIVOLI (sign-learning via computer-based playful interaction). The game purposed to give children who need signing as augmentative and alternative communication enhanced signing skills. Three children in need of signs played TIVOLI at home during 4-5 weeks. Data contained parental interviews, Talking Mats interviews, assessment of signing competence before and after the evaluation period and game protocols. One game interaction per child was filmed.

The aim of the study was to examine the reading ability of adultswith intellectual and/or communicative disabilities. The group adults withintellectual and/or communicative disabilities consisted of 66 individuals.One control group consisting of 36 children aged 7 to 12 years and onereference group consisting of 14 adults were used. Participants were given anumber of language and reading related tests. Adults with intellectual and/orcommunicative disabilities had significantly lower results than the adultreference group regarding all tests and significantly lower results than thechild control group regarding phonological processing. There was nodifference between adults with intellectual and/or communicative disabilitiesand the child comparison group regarding word decoding and readingcomprehension.

Being able to study at the Municipal Adult Education, Komvux, is a privilege available to adults in Sweden of age 20 and above. Although almost 200 000 people attended Komvux 2011 in Sweden, a fifth of the participants discontinued their studies before completing their course(s). This becomes costly for the society, but it is also diminishes the future chances of a career and college studies. In our thesis we have done a quantitative investigation trying to determine what the reasons for dropping out could be. A request to participate in our survey were sent out to all 64 people who dropped out one or more courses during the fall semester 2012 at a Municipal Adult Education in southern Norrland.

This study describes and analyzes how one teacher perceives her monitoring of the students´individual plans of development as expressed in the Education Act chapter 10, 13§. Today there are nonational guidelines published in the monitoring area for these plans of development, although this is anobligation for all teachers in Sweden. Also, it presents some students´ opinion on this and how themonitoring affects their learning.The progressive perspective on learning with the content spirit of the concepts responsibility,participation and experience, as well as research in this field provides the background for the study.The most important features of the data were presented in relation to these three concepts and thecommon themes found between them.The study reveales that the monitoring of the individual plans of development can never be taken forgranted due to the absence of national guidelines on this matter. Either the intention of this absence isto hand over to a professional profession, such as teachers, to decide themselves how the work shouldbe designed, or they are not capable of doing this based on their education and the other conditionsgiven in their work. The conclusion is therefore that it is up to each school and each teacher to decideon how to work with this matter..

THE PAINTING CHILD. A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF AESTHETIC PROCESSES OF LEARNING IN RELATION TO DEWEY´S ART AS EXPERIENCE.The aim of this study is to present a discourse analysis made on five-year-old children during art activities in a preschool in Sweden. The questions asked are: how does interaction take place between the children, or the child and the teacher, during art activities? And what does this tell us about the relationship to art in preschool? In Art as Experience John Dewey claims that art is separated from other experiences of life, but that it ought to be close to ordinary life-experiences. Today visual culture is important in society but not in school.

This essay examines whether feminist theory can give a plausible answer to the question: does female and male students have different attitudes towards the labour market and towards wages? Further more, I examine if factors such as class and ethnicity affect student's attitudes. These questions are investigated through a quantitative study of students at four educations on two different universities in Sweden. Two of the educations have a high degree of female students, and the other two represent educations with at high degree of male students.The main conclusion is based on the quantitative research results. Female and male student's attitudes are similar in some cases.

Animal welfare is impaired if the diet does not provide sufficient feeling of satiety or the ability to perform natural feeding behavior. Pigs are omnivores and spend most of the day searching for food by rooting, grazing and chewing. Both inability to perform foraging behavior and insufficient feeling of satiety often leads to direction of foraging behavior towards stereotyped and abnormal oral behavior. Dry sows are often fed restrictively which leads to unsatisfied feeling of hunger. Dietary fiber has been found to reduce stereotypic and abnormal behavior as well as aggression, which could indicate that pigs need to forage has been met giving a feeling of satiety.

According to the Swedish curriculum the education should establish respect for human rights and democratic values (Skolverket, 2011, s.7). The purpose of this study is to investigate how five first grade teachers understand the democracy education and how they practice it in reality. I have, based on the purpose of this study issued following questions:What is the teachers interpretation of the democracy education? How does the teachers work with democracy in practice?What difficulties does the teachers see with the democracy education?This study is made through a qualitative method based on interviews with five teachers. The results show that the teachers at both schools, despite the different definitions of the concept of democracy, yet interprets democracy education relatively equal.

The purpose of this study is to provide a description of how mathematics teachers in grades 3 choose to work with mathematics and how it affects of student performance in national tests. The categories I will use are outdoor education, textbooks, learning materials and problem solving. Laboratory materials can be everyday materials and educational materials in which pupils have an abstract understanding of the subject. This survey was conducted through interviews and observations. The survey was also conducted in relation to student performance in national math tests.

The purpose of the essay was to investigate the way four different educators, at a pre-school with a bilingual profile, work towards strengthening the children?s bilingualism as well as their identity. The research questions concern which guidelines are being used, the educators perceptions concerning children?s bi- and multilingualism and in what way they believe that their pre-school distinguishes itself from others.Qualitative individual interviews and observations were conducted and the empirical data was analyzed using a theoretical framework, constructed of theories concerning language development, ethnicity and identity.The result presented in the study shows that the pre-school not only follows the national curriculum but also their own guideline. The guideline states that there should be both Spanish- and Swedish speaking personnel and that they are ?responsible? for the education in their own language.

The aim of this study was to understand how staff at residential homes for unaccompanied children experiences their professional role. The main focus of the study was on how the staff defines their professional role and how they handle the situation to be close and at the same time keep a distance towards the children in care. Five women and two men were interviewed at five different residential homes for unaccompanied children. By symbolic interactionism we are able to see that the professional roles are shaped through interaction with the children in care as well as in relation to colleagues. The main role for the staff is to build up a relationship with the children.

The aim of this study is to examine what preschool teachers within Reggio Emilia inspired early childhood education express as important regarding the physical indoor environment in preschools. The study is implemented with a qualitative method and is based on four interviews with preschool teachers that have been involved in a course on Reggio Emilia. The interviews were complemented with four observations on the departments where the preschool teachers work. A second aim of this study is to examine how the relationship between the teachers statements correlate with the environment they have created at their preschool. The collected material was gathered and then categorized.

Children and youth inactivity and sedentary at school is increasing. This means that some of the students have a significant unhealthy lifestyle with physical inactivity, which in turn implies risks of suffering from various diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, all related to a sedentary lifestyle. To prevent illness, it is important that children and young people early get a positive attitude towards physical activity.The purpose of this study was to study the causes of child and adolescent physical inactivity in school, based on teachers 'and parents' perspectives.A qualitative research has been selected. To achieve the study objectives, the author has conducted seven semi-structured interviews, with an appropriate choice of five teachers and two parents with children in school. Data was analyzed with a manifest content analysis.The results show that teachers and parents felt that physical activity is a protective factor for children's health.

-------------------------- 4AbstractThis study is a qualitative case study in order to delineate how visible learning processes in the classroom. The study draws its theory from researcher John Hattie's findings about effective teaching. Data collection is taken from a class in grade 2 in a medium-sized Swedish municipality. The result demonstrates how the communication takes place in the classroom based on the teacher's strategies and planning in relation to pupils' interests and their own initiative. Is there a mutual feedback between teachers and students while teaching? From five perspectives, and the definition of what visible learning is all about, the results shows many good examples of excellent teaching.

The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers 'and students' understanding of why students finish school with incomplete scores and which resources they consider necessary for students to accomplish the goals that are set for the students. Owing to the reuse of pupils and teachers' experiences, this study will highlight significant qualitative aspects of work with students who finish school with incomplete high school grades. Hopefully, will this study be a support and information base in secondary school.The material forming the basis for the report's theoretical assumptions and the basic assumption is based on Lev Vygotsky sociocultural perspective on learning that Olga Dysthe discuss and develop further in his book, Dialog, samspel och lärande.  The present work is based on qualitative research method. I selected this research method because I am interested in getting an understanding of the importance and significance of this research The study applied a qualitative interview format.As a result of the investigation as it has appeared that students difficulties to achieve the goals,depends on several factors, mostly on the student's socio-economic and psychosocial situation they live in. The life situation of the students determines the learning and knowledge process and how they reach their goals.