ABSTRACTA Qualitative Discursive Analysis of Eight Contemporary Geography BooksTeacher Training with an Intercultural Profile 2006Author: Susanne LjunglöfTutor: Jan-Eric MattsonThe aim of this paper is to describe which discourses concerning the different continents problems, future and development that I can find in the descriptions of the continents in a number of contemporary geography books.The aim has been divided in four questions:- Which aspects of the continents problems are expressed in these geography books?- Which impressions concerning the continents development and future are expressed in these geography books?- Which conceptions about the population in the different continents are expressed in these geography books?- Which cultural reference creates these discourses?The method used for conducting this study is a text analytical method called general discourse analysis.My conclusions:- The different continents problems, development and future are described through entirely diverse discourses.- The reviewed geography books take their origin i a western perspective in their description of the different continents.- As a reader it is always important to be aware of the ethnocentric perspective that could be expressed.

Background: The request for the Reggio Emilia practice has expanded enormously the last couple of years within the Swedish preschools. This particular practice describes the environment as a third educator. This third educator is supposed to work as - not only a tool - but also a support to ease children's learning experiences and help develop their mind. Previous research has shown that design of, for instance, furniture has a way of affecting the children's learning process and development.Aims: The purpose of this study is to see how two different teams of preschool educators on two differed Reggio Emilia inspired preschools work and handle the physical indoor environment. Method: We started out by contacting Reggio Emilia inspired preschools.

The use of digital technology in preschool has been a question aboutif it will be used. By the new curriculum for preschool, it now is a question about how it will be used. My experience shows that many pedagogues are still afraid that the children will miss the interaction whit other children when they are using digital technology.The aim of the study is to see if it is social for the children to use digital technology in preschool.This study is made by inquiry, qualitative interviews and observations.My result shows that children are social active with each other while using digital technology. Turn taking and time determines who will play and what the conditions are. The thesis concludes that children perform social interaction when using digital technology.

The continuous process of urbanization results in demands on research and development for ecological and sustainable city development. Because of this, the current systems for wastewater treatment may have to be improved. In order to evaluate new technologies for municipal wastewater treatment, a development project has been initiated for the new district Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm. The project is lead by the company Stockholm Water. High environmental standards have been put up for the district, as it must be twice as good as an ordinary new district.

By conducting qualitative interviews five pedagogues and eight children in the ages three to five have answered questions regarding environmental work in preschool.The purpose of this report was to examine how environmental work is pursued at two preschools and what children at these preschools think about environmental work. Recycling of garbage and small cultivation projects together with the children is what the pedagogues consider being the most common environmental work at their particular preschools. In the professional role of the pedagogue if can be clearly seen what special interests he or she has.Most of the children associate the forest with some kind of snack and animals. Half of the interviewed children also think about animals when they visit the forest. Half of the interviewed children also have an understanding of where peels from fruits should be tossed, but no one knows the meaning of the word environment.

The purpose of this thesis is to find how to work with pedagogical documentation with the aesthetic subjects of dance, music and visual arts. The study also aims to investigate how teachers themselves believe that documentation of these subjects make visible the children?s learning processes. Also to explore if there are any differences in how teachers document the various subjects, and if so, how they can learn from each other to develop the work with pedagogical documentation. I have chosen to use qualitative interviews with a selection of three pre-school teachers who have been working with either dance, music or visual arts.

Syftet med undersökningen var att undersöka hur barn bygger utifrån en inspirationsbild samt om barnen lär sig mer då de utmanas av en pedagog. Undersökningen genomfördes med hjälp av observationer av barn på en förskoleavdelning där samtliga barn var tre år gamla.  Resultatet visade att de flesta barnen byggde vertikalt. Endast ett barn valde att bygga horisontellt och använde inspirationsbilden som underlag till sitt bygge. Resultatet visade även att det har stor betydelse om det finns en pedagog närvarande som utmanar barnen vid bygg och konstruktionslek och kan synliggöra deras lärande. Skillnaden i barnens byggande när de blev utmanande av en pedagog var att de använde sig av flera byggklossar när de byggde samt av flera olika geometriska former på byggklossarna..

There is a growing awareness that multinational companies have opportunities to influence political conditions. Ethical activities made by multinational companies and ?Corporate Social Responsibility? (CSR) can therefore function as a positive input in society. The primary purpose of this master thesis is to investigate CSR´s contribution to strengthen human rights, and thereby to democratization. The research questions are listed below:1.

This essay talks about how teachers in schools are working with a particular focus on students with autistic syndrome. The aim is to investigate the methods used for these students, who develop their learning and achieve the goals of the school. The methods that were used in this study were two interviews in two different schools in central Sweden where teachers and professionals were interviewed. One part of the study was to compare both schools to see which methods they used and when they used them. My interest for autistic students started during my practice in a school.

This essay discusses the decision of licensing for nursery and school teachers. In Swedish society there has for a long time been discourse about professionalisation within various industries, including teaching. One strategy towards achieving professional status is official authorisation of a profession, which occurs when a profession obtains licensing. In February 2011, the Swedish government announced the decision that nursery and school teachers would be licensed. This means that only those with an education can be employed as a teacher and obtain that license.

Participation, public art and participatory public art as phenomenons and subjects have been studied and discussed. With interviews and observations as a base, we have studied projects and discussed participation, effect and quality in relation to these. Furthermore we have looked at how the participatory art processes work in Sweden and England. This essay seeks to discuss the process of participatory public art and to emphasize the elements contributing to the quality of this process. It is up to us as planners to recognize the possibilities for a qualitative place. To mediate between different interests, for example between politicians and stakeholders, between economics and quality, between the place and its users, between individuals and the community, and in our case between artists, users and the municipality. Public art has gone from being about the product, an art piece, to becoming more of a process, from non interactive to interactive. Participation ranges from receiving information to play an active part in the process. Four cases have been studied, taken both from Sweden and England, showing the diversity of processes connected to Participatory Public Art. From interviews conducted in Sweden and England information and thoughts have been received and they show a higher degree of use of participatory public art in England, and also a higher consciousness.

This study intends to examine teacher´s thoughts and perception of esthetic activities at preschools. I have chosen to restrict the esthetic area to the significance and function of clay to the teachers and children. On the basis of the belief that children can, and need access to a variety of ways to express themselves, we used the interviews to take part of teachers work and thoughts concerning clay, and the esthetic work. I have in this qualitative study addressed four questions: How do the teachers use clay in preschool activities? What do the teachers think about clay as a tool in the educational work at the preschool? Are the teachers working from the perception of children?s rights to express themselves in different ways and with the help of different tools? What function does clay fill for the children?I have interviewed eight teachers and taken part of both older and more recent theories around children and the creativity in esthetic contexts.

By using the children's own thoughts and stories this theses aim to investigate and illustrate the phenomenon of rough and tumble play and its existence among five year olds in preschool.    The formulations of the questions are:What do children consider as rough and tumble play? - and what characterise that?From without a perspective of rough and tumble play, which kinds of rough and tumble play do the children play in preschool? - and how do those characterise?What makes rough and tumble play possible and accepted for the children to play in preschool?In this thesis I have investigated the questions above by interviewing 11 five years olds about how they consider rough and tumble play in preschool. From without Birgitta Knutsdotter Olofsson's and Torben Hangaard Rasmussen's view about play and rough and tumble play I created a perspective of rough and tumble play, which I used for analyzing the empirics. With rough and tumble play I mean games or plays that includes wrestling, hitting, kicking, pushing, chasing, running or/and the use of weapons against other human beings or other visualized beings or/and human beings.The conclusions are that children has many different opinions of what rough and tumble play is. Depends on who you are asking you will get a different perspective.

AbstractThis study has two aims:[X] to create an analytical framework consisting of factors that might trigger terrorism[X] to apply the analytical framework on the case of IRA, in order to be able to examinewhich factors that exist behind the appearance of terrorism in the current caseTo reach the first aim the author has studied the theoretical discourse on the complexed issueof terrorism. This has constituted the point of departure for the creation of an own analyticalframework. The purpose of the framework is to bring clearness to why terrorism appears. Theanalytical framework is not only suited for application on the case of IRA, but for applicationon terrorismcases in general. To reach the second aim the framework was applied on the caseof IRA.The aims of this study have been fulfilled through the method of qualitative text analysis.

The objective of this graduate work is to gain a better understanding in how pre-school educators are able to work with music in their pre-school activity to promote child development. We also want to enlighten possible factors for the development of children based on music and to form our own ideas of whether teachers choose to apply music in their didactic practice or not.The point of this essay has been to attempt answering on what importance music makes for children's development and learning in pre-school, and how teachers could work with music in pre-school in order to promote children?s development. Our data consists of six interviews and two observations realized at a pre-school in Södertälje.We took heed from the theories laid out by Lev Vygotsky's which describe four different levels of development that includes educational development in social interaction between teacher and child. Our choice of this theory is inspired by our seeking deeper understanding of Vygotsky's theory´s application to the aesthetic approach in the interaction in meaning making and learning.The result of our study confirms previous theory and research in that music as a form of expression has a major impact on children's development.