As a result of my fascination for nature I have chosen to study the possibilities to introduce natural environments on schoolyards. Too many schoolyards are lacking vegetation and many of them look like sterile asphalt deserts. The master thesis consists of two parts. The first part is based on literature studies and the second part in which findings from part one are put into practice. Five examples are presented; four schoolyards in Malmö; Kryddgårdsskolan, Kirsebergsskolan, Rörsjöskolan and Lindängeskolan and one in Kalmar; Åbyskolan. Malmö Naturskola has been working with the chosen areas on the schoolyards in Malmö.

Preschool is an important social arena for children. This might be the first time that children find themselves in a larger social context and create their first peer-relations. The aim of this study was to examine children?s peer-relations with particular focus on the acts of social exclusion and inclusion, and how children use different strategies to exclude and include each other. Another aim was to investigate how both verbal and non-verbal communication is used in these processes.This study has an ethnographic approach, and the use of video observation as a method enabled us to capture the children?s everyday interactions at preschool.Our results show that children use a number of different strategies to exclude other children that seek access to an ongoing activity to protect the interactional space that they already share.

The study has been conducted to find out whether aesthetic expressions and experiences can benefit the smallest children's language development. How do the teachers at the preschool relate to aesthetic expression? Do they think that aesthetic expression and experience will be favorable for stimulating children's language? Children perceive through their senses, logically aesthetic expressions should promote children's learning and development. How does this claim stand in relation with the smallest children's language development and teachers' views on aesthetics as a pedagogical tool for language stimulation? To get closer to the answer a survey have been done.

The intention of this essay is to study the Swedish General Staff as a learning organisation during the period of 1914-1918 based on the theoretical work developed by the philosopher Bertil Rolf. Previous international research on the Prussian/German General Staff has shown that it is considered to be the first learning organisation in history. The Swedish General Staff was based on the German General Staff model and the focus of this study is to compare the development the tactics in Germany and Sweden regarding defence and attack in trench warfare. The questions are: How were the possibilities for gathering and analysing informa-tion affected by the war? Which conclusions were made for trench warfare in Swedish conditions? What experiences from the war and exercises in Swedish army were implemented in manuals and training?The conclusion of the study is that the Swedish General Staff was functioning as a learning organisation during the WWI through the ability to follow the international development, mainly in the Central Powers, and by modifying the experiences to the prevailing Swedish strategic and tactical conditions.

This study means to research the importance and significance of the social and informal learning opportunities offered at a workplace. With Wenger?s theory about social learning and communities of practice as a starting point, this study will create understanding about how teachers at a school comprehend their opportunities for learning within the teacher community. The study is conducted at an independent school in Sweden, and is based on interviews with eight of the teachers employed at the school. The purpose of the study was to research how employees perceive how their social interactions with their colleagues can create learning, and what obstacles they might face along the way.

The purpose of this article was to examine how students learn to use the Individual Development Plan (IUP) with written assessments as a tool for learning. The study is conducted according to an ethnographic approach. A total of 20 students, aged 13-14 years, participated. The production of data took place through participating observations, field notes and conversations. A qualitative content analysis was used for data analysis.

A vivid democracy requires participation from those who live in it, including children. Unlike adults, children have special laws and regulations to ensure them their democratic rights. Librarians? decision on what to buy makes an impact to someone else, which puts the librarian in a hegemonic position. Therefore, the purpose of this bachelor thesis is to, out of the child librarian?s perspective, view children?s participation at the public library in the matter of purchasing literature.

In this study the semi structured interview method was used to explore what kind of knowledge one In State Authority: The Migration Board, and three Non Governmental Organisations: Red Cross, Save the Children and ISS- International Social Service have about the situation for separated children. Another purpose in this study was to explore if people who are close to the children are working for the best of the children and if their cases were treated with legal security. The result shows that the children?s cases are not treated with legal security and some of the children suffer psychologically from separations from the families and other children need new families because they were maltreated. The result also shows that there are signs that separated children are discriminated compared to children with a Swedish background..

The purpose of this study is to find out how teachers in preschool interact with children.By unstructured observations of teachers in preschool I intend to find out how they interact with children. Is it possible to see that the operation is built on guided interaction speciality?Positive interaction between adults and children is of importance to a good childhood and a child?s learning. I have asked myself how teachers interact with children in preschool. There are different ways of interaction.

AbstractThe aim is to find out the teachers´ different point of views regarding what and why it´s important to teach children about the human body and in what way educationists can teach this knowledge. Seven teachers are asked, through qualitative interviews, about their point of views on teaching the human body in pre-school.The teachers don`t seem to reflect upon the subject, which shows that a development of knowledge needs within the area.Fist of all the children´s spontaneous questions direct what the educationists talk about with the children. The most frequently mentioned questions are about the circulation of the blood and the digestion organs. The teachers think it´s important that the children get knowledge about the human body in order to get a better opinion of their own bodies and themselves. It´s also important because this is the basis of other kind of knowledge, for instance the knowledge about animals..

My main question in this essay has been: why does the preschool advocate being outdoors? How should we respond to parents who have a different view on this? Children's right to participation and influence is also a question that I raise. How should we preschool teachers do when we stand between the child's desire to be out and the parents wish that their child should be indoors? By reading what is written in the preschool curriculum on children's influence, I have come to the conclusion that we preschool teachers must listen to what the children express that they wish to do, otherwise we go against our policy documents.My dilemma is about how to respond to parents who have a different opinion on being outdoors than we have. Many parents express an aversionagainst their children having to be outdoors.

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to examine how children interact with each other and what social positions they assume when using the learning pad. The social positions reffered to is the Owner, the Participant and the Spectator, defined by Ljung Djärf (2004). According to Ljung Djärf (2004), the Owner is defined as the one in control of the mouse and keyboard. The Owner is expected to be in charge of what is happening on the screen. The Participant is typically found on a chair near the computer.

The aim of this thesis is to ascertain how primary school teachers would like to improve their mathematics teaching. The central questions for this research are:In what ways do teachers want to improve their mathematics teaching?How do the teachers justify their statements?What main features can be distinguished out of the teachers answers?Three interviews and seven surveys have been used to collect information from a total of nine teachers, at one primary school. Teaching pupils from preschool to sixth grade. The results have been analysed, interpreted and discussed using a drama pedagogical perspective, inspired by a holistic approach to learning.

This study aims to discover pedagogues perceptions of children?s sedentary behavior linked to the school and its activities. Questions that the study sought to answer was: What do pedagogues think of when they hear ?sedentary children?. How do the pedagogues look at their own and the schools responsibility? Advantages and disadvantages with sedentary behavior? Relationship between physical activity and sedentary behavior and the impact of environment connected to sedentary behavior? The study is qualitative and implemented through seven interviews with pedagogues in the schools earlier years.

In Montessori pre-schools early reading and writing is an important feature. By tracing sandpaper letters with their fingers and voicing the sound simultaneously the children connect phonemes to graphemes and normally learn to write between the ages of four and five. 24 sixyear old children who attended Montessori pre-school and 26 six-year old children who had not attended Montessori school were assessed with a test assessing their linguistic awareness.The result showed that the Montessori children were more linguistically aware than the children who hadn?t received any literacy training. The scores of the Montessori children were highest on phonological awareness.