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.

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 majority of the interest for Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794), has been focused on his work in mathematics and political science, especially on his famous method on voting tally. With a background in the French enlightenment, on the brink of the revolution, this essay focuses on his political and philosophical ideas, specially his thoughts on the role of education in humanity?s struggle toward greater freedom. Is it possible to identify a connection between the concepts of education and freedom in his writings? This question is largely unanswered, even though it is fundamental for the understanding of the underlying reasoning of Condorcet.

ABSTRACT INSTITUTION:                                        Institutionen för pedagogik                                                                Avdelningen för bild                                                               Växjö UniversitetADRESS:                                               351 95 VäxjöTELEFON:                                              0470 - 70 80 00HANDLEDARE:                                      Margareta Wallin-WictorinTITEL:                                                     Konst och verklighet? ? En undersökning                                            av den samtida konstutställningen Reality Check.ENGELSK TITEL:                                    Art and Reality? ? A study of      the contemporary art exhibition Reality Check.FÖRFATTARE:                                       Nina WennbergADRESS:                                                Hertered, Ekebo 182                                                                310 38 SimlångsdalenTELEFON:                                              0707-124957TYP AV UPPSATS:                                 C-uppsatsVENTILERINGSTERMIN:                       Ht 2008. I uppsatsen behandlas den samtida konstutställningen Reality Check och dess tema ? konst och verklighet. Fokus läggs på att undersöka hur man arbetat kring tema och hur man gjort urvalet av konstnärer utifrån det. I uppsatsen undersöks även hur man arbetat med konstpedagogik för att nå ut till sin publik och hur man lyckats med detta. Diskussioner förs kring teorier om verklighet och huruvida det går att återspegla verkligheten genom konst. Keywords: samtidskonst, verklighet, Reality Check, konstpedagogik.

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.

The study´s main purpose is to examine how three educators who work with children ages 1-3  in three different preschools working with mathematics in preschool. I have used a qualitative research in the form of interviews to obtain educators perspectives on their working. The educator´s stories about their working methods are the most important findings and it turned out that the interviewed educators was working fairly similar in terms of mathematics learning with the youngest children  in preschool. They both schedule mathematics in various activities and work with it in everyday situations. Their different approaches can be divided into five different categories which are: planned theme work and experiences, body and play, interaction and conversation, environment and materials, visualize mathematics..

The aim of my study is to examine how six teachers discuss their choices of work methods in teaching mathematics, as well as the methods they are currently using and what they have based their choices on. This study also covers how these teachers approach educational planning and where they get inspiration for their teaching material, and finally the advantages and disadvantages of each method according to the teachers. To be able to fulfill my purpose of this study some questions had to be considered: How do these teachers approach the planning of studies of mathematics and where do they find ideas for their lesson planning? Which methods do these teachers use in the teaching of mathematics and what are the reasons behind their choices of methods? Which advantages and disadvantages do these teachers see in the methods they use during the teaching of mathematics? This is a qualitative study, mainly based on qualitative research interviews according to an interview guide. Six teachers, from five different elementary schools, grade 1- 3, have been interviewed for this study.

The Squares Family is a game developed as a learning aid in mathematics. With its graphical representation of the decimal system, the four basic arithmetic operations and positive and negative numbers together with a learning agent as pedagogical approach, the game?s primary purpose is to motivate students in their learning of mathematics. Although the game is strictly based on mathematical rules it attempts to encourage students to play and work with math without experiencing it as mathematics as this is initially not obvious. The game being internationally tested on normal performing students, this project introduced the game to six Swedish students who experience low motivation for and/or difficulties in mathematics.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to find out what mathematical content primary school children encounter in their free options at school.Through observation, the study defines mathematical areas that primary school students encounter in their free options at school. We want the study to show the reader the mathematics that students continuously meet without associating it with regular mathematics as taught in school.A number of mathematical areas have been defined in the analysis of the observations. These areas have subsequently been discussed more thoroughly. Finally, the areas have been arranged in a grid system to clarify the results.In our study, we have discovered that mathematics exists in all the observed situations the students participated in.We believe that observation as a method can give teachers a tool for helping students associate practical actions during their free options with the more theoretical aspects of formal teaching of mathematics. We discuss this further in the study..

Most of my 16 students show a negative attitude towards mathematics and have difficulty understanding why they need mathematics to work as cooks. Their lack of knowledge has a negative effect on their work in the kitchen because they cannot master relatively simple mathematical solutions. The purpose of this study is to examine if an integrated working method of the subjects mathematics and cooking can change students? attitude towards mathematics and increase their understanding of the value of it in restaurant work. An integrated working method means to integrate the core subjects with programme specific subjects and that teaching is directed towards the main features of the vocational programme in order to create a holistic view.A theory of action research has been applied in this study, aiming to change something perceived as problematic through combining theory and practice in the cooking subject.

The aim of this study is to examine how students and teachers experience full class lectures in contrast to working individually in mathematics education. Furthermore, the study explores how different ideas of individualization influence the teaching practice.The investigation uses qualitative interviews and the survey analysis is based on the phenomenographic method. The interviews took place in two senior level compulsory schools and both teachers and students were interviewed. The ambition has been to explore the teachers? perspectives regarding their choice of method in the teaching of 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.

My aim with the experience-based essay is that I want to explore the implications of mathematics on children's development. I also want to examine my approach in relation to the various mathematical tasks. Why do we think that mathematics is important for pre-school children? What does the research say about how the teacher is thinking about mathematics? Can the teacher combine playing and learning and create meaningful moments and activities related to mathematics? I also want to explore our policies and the objectives that the teacher should relate to. What is required of me as a teacher in order to meet those goals?My essay is about mine and my boss?s view of the mathematical tasks that I usually perform in the preschool.