Since studies points out declining interest in science among students in Swedish schools, I have in this paper chosen to examine how some students at the Social Science Programme are experiencing the lessons in Natural Science and how to make lessons more interesting according to these students.The purpose of this study was to gain a greater understanding of how teachers would develop new perspectives and tools to make lessons in Natural Science more interesting. I also wanted to investigate whether an intercultural perspective could be a possible tool to increase students? interest and motivation.As a theoretical framework, I have assumed Vygotskij's Sociocultural perspective, Habermas's theory of deliberative conversations and an intercultural perspective. Through a qualitative approach, I conducted interviews with students and teachers. The main results showed that students felt that natural Science lessons were too theoretical and undemocratic and that they wanted to have more student interactions, such as discussions and group works.

The purpose of this study is to illustrate how some teachers in multicultural school environments reflecton and experience the educational work with national tests in the third grade for students who do not have Swedish as their native language. The research questions I have chosen to work with are:How do teachers experience working with national tests in groups of students where there are children with Swedish as a second language?How do the teachers reflect on the students linguistic preconditions relating to the national tests in these groups of students?What strategies in their teaching on national tests do the teachers use when it comes to students with Swedish as a second language?In this study I have chosen to use a qualitative interview method. Since the purpose of the study is to understand how teachers reflect on students with Swedish as a second language the obvious choice was to interview teachers who work in a multicultural school. In my thesis I have chosen to use Sociocultural theory, Cummins four quadrant model and context for theoretical approach.

I dagens skola handlar det om att kunna förmedla kunskaper som eleverna har nytta av i livet och i sitt valda yrke med omvärldens och branschens krav och förväntningar. Som yrkeslärare skapas mycket eget läromedel och syftet med rapporten är att ta reda på hur ett undervisningsmaterial kan se ut som genererar motivation och som integrerar ett sociokulturellt perspektiv.De begrepp som används i studien är sociokulturellt perspektiv, motivation och läromedel. En översiktlig förklaring av begreppen och en litteraturstudie som beskriver olika teoretiska utgångspunkter genomförs i bakgrunden. Metoder som har nyttjats har varit dels litteraturstudier och dels en kvantitativ enkätundersökning.Resultaten av vår undersökning visar på en kombination av elevernas svar och litteraturens olika teorier. Eleverna föredrar träning, mindre grupparbeten och traditionella prov, men vill gärna ha både teoretiska och praktiska presentationer av läraren.

Kvinnors föreställningar om den egna kroppen är ett välstuderat område medan motsvaradestudier om manliga uppfattningar är mindre vanliga. Utifrån denna iakttagelse väcktes intressetför studien. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att utifrån ett sociokulturellt perspektiv belysa hurunga män talar om den manliga kroppen samt uppmärksamma normer, vad som underdiskussionerna framstår som sanningar i de unga männens verklighet. Teoretisk referensram: Studien har sin teoretiska utgångspunkt i sociokulturellt perspektiv. Det vill säga att individerformas och får kunskap utifrån den kultur de befinner sig i.

In this essay I examine if socio cultural theory is present for teachers when pupils and students are using computers in class, especially when using blogs as a tool for learning. The aim of the essay is also to examine if blogs among pupils in class can promote peer support, co-operation and reflective dialogue, and in that case in what way. The essay consists of two studies, one small interview study and one literature study.  The interview study is made with the qualitative method phenomenographic analysis, presenting four Swedish teachers who have much experience using blogs in education. The aim of the literature study where some national and international research studies of relevance are presented, is to broaden the perspective.The result of the interview study shows that a socio cultural theory is highly present among the teachers who already use blogs in education. In addition, those teachers experience that the blog in the classroom supports dialogue and co-operation among the pupils.  In contrast, the literature study shows that most teachers in Sweden who made their pupils work with computers in classroom seem to let their student work alone, without guiding them and without creating co-operation or dialogue in the classroom.

The purpose of this study is to describe some primary school teachers understanding of language development and approach of first and second language speakers with Arne Tragetons Writing to reading, for pupils in early ages.By using a qualitative method with interviews and participant observations and informal conversations, the basis for the survey was collected. Four teachers in three schools participated. The proportion of second-language pupils at each school was 35%, 17% and 0%. My theoretical starting point in the study was the hermeneutic research tradition, which has been used to interpret and understand the collected material. Theories of behaviorism, constructivism and socio-cultural perspective has been used in the analysis part of this study.

The aim of this thesis is to critically analyse the subject heading list in the database KVINNSAM at Kvinnohistoriska samlingarna. This list is intended for the retrieval of gender specific information and the subject heading women is implied. The main question is: which woman is represented in the list? The thesis analyses specifically the representation of disability, ethnicity and other sexualities than heterosexuality. Kvinnohistoriska samlingarna, the concept of gender studies and KVINNSAM is presented.

 This study aims to deepen the understanding of which opinions and perceptions the teachers in the study have about the national goals, as well as local, when they plan their lessons in science studies for the younger ages. We wish to illustrate which goals these teachers find most important, their opinions on how they use these and how the different goals affect their design of teaching. The study also aims to examine which syllabuses, national or local, the teachers believe have an effect on their planning. Data were collected by interviews with four teachers, combined with questionnaires sent to 25 teachers teaching in science studies in forms 1-6. To analyse the data, key terms from Vygotsky and a Sociocultural theory was used, such as situated learning, artifacts, the zone of proximal development, thinking in group and mediation. The data was also interpreted and examined by recent studies regarding this subject. The results show that the teachers find their own knowledge, the national syllabus and their colleagues as most important for their planning.

This master's thesis examines information literacy and students in secondary education. The study is framed within a Sociocultural perspective of learning and the method used is questionnaires. The major question posed is how and where students seek information. Other questions are if the students critically evaluate and analyse in­formation sources and if teachers and school librarians cooperate with each other in order to help the students with their assignments.The findings indicate that most students regard information seeking as fact-finding or finding the right an­swers to the question. Only one third of students experienced information seeking as seeking and using informa­tion for understanding a topic.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how twelve middle school teachers use educational tools and what influences their choice of educational tools in Swedish language writing instruction. To answer this purpose, three research questions were formulated: What does writing instruction look like for middle school students according to the teachers in the study? What influences teachers' choice and use of educational tools in writing instruction? What opportunities and challenges do teachers experience in Swedish language writing instruction when using different educational tools? Twelve teachers from variously sized municipalities and with different experiences participated in the study through purposive sampling and convenience sampling. The chosen method is qualitative semi-structured teacher interviews. To analyse the results, this study employs analytical tools from the Sociocultural perspective, using concepts such as mediation, appropriation, the zone of proximal development, and scaffolding. The results show that both analogue and digital tools are used in the teachers' writing instruction. The choice of tools should be based on pedagogical considerations, with an emphasis on social interaction and collaboration during the learning process.

Syftet med den här studien syftar till att synliggöra möjliga samband mellan barns umgänge med djur och barnets lärande i ett sociokulturellt perspektiv. Genom litteraturstudier analyserades vilka faktorer som påverkar barns utveckling och lärande. Vidare genomfördes en enkätundersökning i 2 klasser i år 6, vilket visade enskilda elevers kontakt med djur. Detta jämfördes med bedömningar av varje elevs lärande, gjorda av en lärare i teoretiska ämnen och en lärare i sociala och motoriska ämnen. Resultaten diskuterades utifrån teorier om lärande, barns umgänge med djur samt barns behov att utvecklas psykologiskt, kognitivt och socialt.

The purpose of this study has been to examine reading habits and the use of the library by pre­school teachers in a mainly multicultural community, and also explore to what extent activities in the local library are aimed at preschoolers.The study used a Sociocultural approach based on Vygotsky?s theories of learning and development and Söderbergh?s theory of early childhood language development, and was carried out during the summer 2009. The methodology used was both quantitative and qualitative, with a combination of questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were sent out to each section of the municipal pre­schools within the catchments area of the local public library in a multicultural suburb of Uppsala. Three short interviews were carried out with staff at the local and main library branches, as well as library staff at the County Council.The results show that, although preschool teachers find reading important in their work, many teachers read spontaneously and/or sporadically.

BAKGRUND: Psykisk ohälsa bland unga kvinnor är ett folkhälsoproblem. Anorexia nervosa kategoriseras in som en psykisk sjukdom. Anorexia nervosa drabbar främst unga kvinnor, vilket exempelvis kan bero på tidigare händelser i livet som gett upphov till psykisk obalans i deras vardag. SYFTE: Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka sociokulturella orsaker som bidrar till utvecklingen av Anorexia nervosa bland flickor och unga kvinnor i åldrarna 12-25 år. METOD: En literaturstudie utfördes, som baseras på 21 olika vetenskapliga artiklar. Databaserna som användes var pubmed och psycinfo. Temaanalys användes och artiklarna kategoriserades in i huvudteman och underteman. RESULTAT: Resultatet i studien delades in i två huvudkategorier, med två underkategorier vardera.

This master thesis investigates attitudes toward electronic publishing of fiction among the key participants authors and publishers in Sweden with the overall purpose of analysing the nature of these attitudes and what sort of tensions that exist between the two groups. The major areas of concern were formulated as: what sort of attitudes do authors and publishers display toward electronic publishing of fiction?, how do these attitudes affect the way the two groups relate to electronic publishing and to each other? and how do they perceive the future of this practice?. Everett Rogers diffusion of innovations theory was applied to characterise electronic publishing as an innovation cluster, and to investigate innovation attributes in form of relative advantages and disadvantages, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability. Data was gathered using quantitative questionnaires, but respondents were also given the opportunity to elaborate freely on some of the questions.

Issues related to knowledge assessment and its consequences for both the individual and the entire school system are topical in today's school debate. The mere fact that didactic issues that focus on assessment are discussed actively not only in scholastic environments but even in media and other communities is further proof that knowledge assessment is an important and complex phenomenon in our lives.The subject that I have chosen to look into is about how the work with assessment issues is handled in Swedish as well as Russian elementary school's early years. The goal with this study is to see how my studies have been conducted with a qualitative approach by which I collected qualitative information in the form of documents, papers and interviews. To make the approach even more appropriate for my area of research, I have chosen to merge two qualitative research methods. The first is a qualitative content analysis which analyses the governing documents.