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.

The purpose of this study is to present arguments concerning a zestful learning for children ages 6-9 in mathematics. Four books in mathematics has specifically been analyzed to investigate what is written concerning a zestful learning. By means of an argumentation analysis within a qualitative text analysis the arguments are put forth. The didactic choices of the chosen literature are analyzed in a subject-matter didactic context. The result implicates a multitude of arguments and didactic choices supporting a zestful learning.

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 aim of this Master's thesis is to examine and analyze what discourses about children that can be found in three Swedish culture publications, and also to identify the different social roles that are attributed to children in these publications. The theoretical and methodological background is discourse theory, as described by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Additional theory used is social constructionism and Norman Fairclough?s critical discourse theory. Three questions are asked: What discourse/s can be found in these publications? What do these discourses tell us about the view on children within the library domain? What social roles are attributed to the children in the texts and what consequences do these have for the power configuration between children and adults? Furthermore there is a discussion concerning what effects these discourses might have on the direct and indirect reception of children in the library.

The purpose of my study has been to find out how four preschool teachers at four different preschools looks at the pedagogical meal from a health and overall learning perspective. I also want to examine how, through the pedagogical meal the preschool teacher works to promote children´s learning and give them an understanding of need to safeguard their health. To achieve my aim I set the following questions;What are the different types of learning preschool teachers believe that children can acquire the basis of the pedagogic meal?How do preschool teachers describe their work from the pedagogical meal to benefit children´s overall learning?How do preschool teachers describe their work at the pedagogical meal for the children to gain an understanding of their health?The study is based on a qualitative method with interviews and observations, triangulation. The theoretical approach to this study is based on the socio-cultural perspective to learning and development.

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.

In this thesis the positioning of children and adults in the context of children?s rights in SouthAfrica and Sweden are examined. With theoretical terms as children in vulnerability and adults incharge the analysis examines how South Africa and Sweden has been using the UN children?sconvention to empower children and for what consequences in the positioning of children that hasshown. And that adults are positioned as a powerful group with a responsibilty of protectingchildren.

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 purpose of this study is to see a display on how family, gender and sexuality are produced in four same-sex parents? stories about their children?s pre-school start. The question formulations that have been used were aimed to find out what expectations and concerns parents may have on the pre-school organization, if the parents have any saying regarding the organization, if the pre-school have worked with equality and how they have been treated as a family. The method used is a qualitative study based on interviews. Four lesbian women have been interviewed on their experiences of their children?s pre-school start and after finishing the interviews the content has been analyzed from different viewpoints found in the material.

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.

Ella Mathematics is a web portal that will completely replace the printed math text book in the Swedish elementary school. When the math education is moved in to the digital world the flexibility and adaptability will increase.In 2011 the Swedish government revised the Swedish school system, which contained a whole new curriculum for the elementary school math education. This has been the foundation for the development of Ella Mathematics and the design of the three different users; student, teacher and parent. The development has been done with Dynamic Product Development methods from the project start in September 2011 until the final exam in May 2012.Ella Mathematics has been developed with the pupil?s math knowledge in focus.

The purpose of the paper is to examine how teachers in preschool is working with language stimulation for the prevention of difficulties in reading and writing before school starts. The method that was used to illuminate the problem is a qualitative interview. A specialpedagog and six preschool teacher, which is specifically focused on language stimulation in the work with children, have been included in the study. The results indicated that preschool teacher are working a lot with language stimulation. They work mostly with children throughout the group, to encourage and provide children with the tools to be able to communicate with each other and staff.

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.

Endocrine disruptive chemicals (EDCs) are found in many everyday products and can cause adverse effects on human health. Small children are particularly sensitive to EDCs and they are also exposed to them in a greater extent than adults. Despite this, EDCs are only banned in a few toys and childcare products. There are many sources of exposure and if no steps are taken to reduce the incidence of EDCs we may face an increasing number of people diagnosed with obesity, diabetes type 2 or various types of cancer.The Swedish Government has set a number of environmental objectives, one of which is calleda non-toxic environment. The Swedish Chemicals Agency was instructed to produce and conduct a national action plan to achieve this goal.