Teaching preschool children about the environment. A comparative study of how two preschools work with environmental issues.My investigations are based on qualitative interviews and observations carried out at two preschools, one of which has a nature and environment profile while the other works in traditional ways with these questions. I sought to explore the ways in which pedagogues in each preschool raise environmental awareness and, more generally, awaken an interest in nature in the children. The consequences of methodological similarities and differences will be considered.This term paper concludes that the difference between an environmental profile preschool and a traditional preschool working on environmental awareness is not large. The knowledge gained by children in the latter preschool surpassed that gained in the former.

The curious nature of humans has been the puzzle of psychologists, philosophers and scientists since the time we began to use those terms. Why are we curious? Why do we behave the way we do and why? The span of views on curiosity covers all. From being viewed as part of our animalistic nature and compared to instincts, to be viewed as a virtue to scientists and the reason behind why we explore space. Behaviorists tried to define it as an innate drive and some say that it has a crucial role in our ability to learn and understand.

Fisksätra has a historical background that goes back to the battle between Russia and Sweden that took place in 1719. This battle is known as "Slaget vid Stäket". Today there are plans to develop Fisksätra as a tourist destination where focus lays on the historic factor of the battlefield that took place there. As of this a project called the HAMN project has started to try to develop a new experience park at this destination unlike any other.The aim of this essay has been to study how much potential this experience park has to become a popular tourist destination in the future, while looking at the potential interest of the foreign tourists. This essay is written as an assignment for Göran Andersson, who is in charge of the tourism department at Södertörns Högskola.

Sweden is currently a country in which a large amount of children?s time has changed to be spent within institutions, for small children these institutions are preschools. These are places where notions are created regarding what children are, what?s good for children, what?s normal and desirable regarding children. The purpose of this study has been to decipher what?s considered desirable and what notions or ideas regarding children are prevalent in preschools with an I Ur och Skur profile.

The object of investigation in this essay is the epic novel sequence Jernbanan written by Sara Lidman. More specifically the investigation takes on the idea of a ?sam-vett? as it is formulated in Jernbanan. The ?sam-vett? is an idea about the undivided unity of man, nature and animal, and with a kind of primitive trait.

The purpose of this investigation is mainly to study if pupils have enough knowledge concerning the water cycle and the life of the plants?, and what kinds of household word they have, to discuss pollution within these areas. I also studied how the pupils? knowledge are holding up against what the course-plans says, since it have come to light by other investigations that knowledge are insufficient within the nature-oriented (No) subject in school.The survey has carried out on 28 pupils in a 5th grade, with help of a questionnaire survey. Their teacher has been interviewed and I have studied their local course-plans and also the pupils? schoolbooks in No.The result of the questionnaire survey indicates that the pupils had insufficient knowledge within the areas of plants? life and pollution, something their teacher had a presentiment about.The conclusion is that they need to go out more often in the nature and see how the plants and the environment are affected by different factors.

An increasing number of peole are resisting the attraction of living around nature and opting instead to spend their lives in cities. Parks and green areas play an important part in our well-being and we become fascinated with the diversity of nature, in which we find a peacefulness that is unique. Amongst other things, being surrounded by nature can reduce high blood presure, lower the production of stress hormones and stimulate the mind and our ability to concentrate. It is therefore vitally important to entice city residents to parks and green areas to improve their physical and mental well-being. Previous research has shown that humans are seeking for certain characteristics in the parks and green areas which they are visiting.

In recent time, agile methods have been devoted much attention, and the concept is widely used in the IT industry in particular. An increasing number of companies are interested in this way of working. The following report is the result of a study on the ability to create value for customers in business development through the use of agile methods. We ask what the advantages and limitations of agile methods are in the creation of customer value. Grounded Theory and an initial literature review was used to answer this question.

The area around the stream Orsundaan, which runs trough the valley Harsbacksdalen, is famous for its beautiful landscape. The upper area of Orsundaan and Harsbacksdalen is situated just south of Heby in Uppland, Sweden. Even though the area is protected by different nature conservation acts, it is difficult to find any information about the geodiversity in the area. Geodiversity, or geological and geomorphological diversity, includes the concepts of geoprocesses and geoelements. Very high geodiversity could be seen at an inventory of the geomorphology in the upper area of Orsundaan and Harsbacksdalen.

Local participation in nature conservation has gained more attention over the last decades due to international conventions as well as local and national initiatives. This development can be seen as a reaction to a more expert oriented nature conservation characterized by centralized control and strict preservation of so called "original" nature. The overall objective of this thesis is to contribute to research on new forms of conservation where democracy and local participation is included. The case study focuses on the process of producing a pre-study for a suggested national park in southern Jämtland in the Swedish mountain region, and aims to investigate to what extent local participation was included. The pre-study was led by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and the County Administrative Board (CAB) in Jämtland.

Semi-natural grasslands are threatened biotopes in the landscape and without conservation measures high values of nature will be lost. Meanwhile, the biological values associated with cultural values of the traditional agricultural landscape in Sweden. Studies of land use history may help to understand how today biological diversity has evolved and how it can be preserved. Färsna farm in Norrtälje has left some of the old heritage of biological diversity in the form of nature - forest and grassland, which hosts an unusual herb-rich flora. Through the study of historic maps and från1673/1767/1801/1901 1952 and orthophoto of the area has a picture of how land use has changed over time emerged.

Animals in zoos live in more barren environments than their conspecifics in nature. In nature, elephants spend more than 75 % of the day foraging and have been observed lying down two hours during night. Stereotypies are common in many different species in zoos. Stereotypic behaviors may constitute up to 50 % of the daily activity budget of zoo elephants. Modern zoos try to reduce stereotypic behaviors by means of environmental enrichment.

The use of out-door pedagogy in the school has been frequently high-lighted during recent years. To which extent out-door education was practised in the school depends on the opinions among the active teachers. The aim of this study was to examine the opinions on out-door pedagogy among teachers in classes 4-6 of the elementary school and to find out to which extent the teacher used out-door teaching. The study was based on qualitatively structured interviews with 4 teachers having different lenght of teaching experience. The results of the interviews showed that the teachers had different opinions on the definition of out-door pedagogy.

The purpose of this essay is to analyze and show possibilities how a city can grow into the scenery of a oak dominated landscape and how this encounter can add values to the city. The city in focus is Linköping, a city that is approaching one of Sweden?s largest oak dominated cultural landscapes. To this landscape high ecological and cultural values are connected. The recreational values are also of importance especially because of its urban location also because the city is mainly surrounded by flat agricultural land.

The purpose with this study is to map the research front and the research base in information science, by using the bibliometric methods bibliographic coupling and author-co citation analysis. The research questions are: 1. What is the nature of the research front in information science, regarding which areas that are being studied? 2. What is the nature of the research base in information science, regarding which authors who are most cited, and how they can be grouped? The data used in the study were gathered from articles published in the journal Journal of the American society for information science and technology, published between 2004-2006, respectively 1986-2006.