For many years, I have tried to understand why students end up in difficulties in mathematics. As a future teacher, it is extremely important to have knowledge of the various factors that leads to difficulties in mathematics. As a teacher it is obvious to meet the students who find mathematics a difficult subject, and, therefore it is necessary to have a broader knowledge of how to respond and support these students. According to Ahlberg, number of students with mathematics difficulties is increasing every year, therefore, it is important to help students and organize a supporting school environment that promotes and encourages learning (Ahlberg 2001, p. 104-105).

For many years, I have tried to understand why students end up in difficulties in mathematics. As a future teacher, it is extremely important to have knowledge of the various factors that leads to difficulties in mathematics. As a teacher it is obvious to meet the students who find mathematics a difficult subject, and, therefore it is necessary to have a broader knowledge of how to respond and support these students. According to Ahlberg, number of students with mathematics difficulties is increasing every year, therefore, it is important to help students and organize a supporting school environment that promotes and encourages learning (Ahlberg 2001, p. 104-105).

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 purpose of my study is to contribute knowledge about how class teachers can work with students who are in mathematics difficulties. The question at issues I have is: Which methods can class teachers in grades 1-3 use to help students with mathematics difficulties? and Which obstacles and opportunities are there in this work? To get answers to my questions, I have read relevant literature and interviewed 3 class teachers in central Sweden. Through my interview I learned that education should include and build on concrete materials and methods. I also got to know that time is the biggest obstacle to helping students with mathematics difficulties. Keywords: mathematics difficulties, methods, obstacles, opportunities.

We have done a qualitative and quantitative study about math problems on second­ary school students. The study is based on the diagnosis, treatment and training of teachers, about students who have math difficulties. The aim of this work is to obtain teachers ?perceptions about students? diagnosis, treatment / improvement and continuing education for students who have math difficulties. By having interviewed various teachers through surveys we have received answers to their concerns about the diagnosis, treatment and the importance of continuous training of teachers on students? mathematics difficulties.

The purpose of my study is to investigate teachers? opinions about learning difficulties in mathematics.I have read relevant literature on this subject. I have conducted interviews with seven class teachers, one special-needs teacher, a psychologist and one special-needs teachers who specifically worked with investigations concerning pupils with difficulties in mathematics.The result of my study shows that learning difficulties in mathematics can/might be prevented if children in pre-school are introduced to mathematics as early as possible. This should be done in a delightful way in their daily activities and while there are playing. I didn?t find any complete method to help children with mathematics difficulties in compulsory school.

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.

We have done a qualitative and quantitative study about math problems on second­ary school students. The study is based on the diagnosis, treatment and training of teachers, about students who have math difficulties. The aim of this work is to obtain teachers ?perceptions about students? diagnosis, treatment / improvement and continuing education for students who have math difficulties. By having interviewed various teachers through surveys we have received answers to their concerns about the diagnosis, treatment and the importance of continuous training of teachers on students? mathematics difficulties.

An increasing number of students leave the Swedish compulsory school without having a satisfactory grade in mathematics. Causes why students risk ending up with difficulties in the subject of mathematics are debated but one explanation might be that more and more students are diagnosed with dyscalculia. The purpose of this study is to investigate how educationalists identify and organize their teaching in order to help Students with difficulties in mathematics to reach the schools requirement and long-term goals that are defined in advance. It is vital to detect learning difficulties at an early stage. Accordingly, it can be avoided that the student starts to develop a negative self-image due to repeated failures and in the same time provide relevant help.

This study examines how formal mathematics can be taught in the Swedish secondary school with its new curriculum for mathematics. The study examines what a teaching material in formal mathematics corresponding to the initial content of the course Mathematics 1c could look like, and whether formal mathematics can be taught to high school students.The survey was conducted with second year students from the science programme. The majority of these students studied the course Mathematics D. The students described themselves as not being motivated towards mathematics.The results show that the content of the curriculum can be presented with formal mathematics. This both in terms of requirements for content and students being able to comprehend this content.

The purpose of this study was to, from the teacher's point of view; discover pupils with reading difficulties in connection with text assignments in mathematics, the teacher's support for these students, if difficulties coincide and whether it's the mathematics teacher's responsibility to make sure pupils with reading difficulties develop their reading ability. The study is based on a qualitative method and five semistructured interviews with mathematics teachers and one language support teacher.The result shows there is a strong connection between the pupils' reading ability and their ability to manage text assignments in mathematics. A weak reading ability affects the pupil in a negative way when solving text assignments in mathematics due to wrong reading technique if the teacher is absent. It is not unusual that reading difficulties and mathematics difficulties coincide. The teacher's most important role in the learning process is to teach the pupils understanding about the reading technique in different ways and to give the pupils opportunity to get spoken texts.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the teacher's background affect students' approach to mathematics teaching. Characteristically, in Sweden today is that mathematics is perceived as difficult subject and that the number of foreign teachers has increased. The study examines a phenomenon which the relationship between the teacher's language accent and substance difficulties.The method used for data collection is questionnaires, in order to investigate the phenomenon as the relationship between the teacher's accent and substance difficulties.The investigation has been carried out based on the students' point of view, both secondary and primary school pupils. What difficulties have arisen in teaching?  What is the biggest obstacle to achieve the goals of mathematics, to understand the teacher's language accent first in order to understand the subject, or that mathematics is difficult in itself to be understood as a substance.The result clearly shows that the teacher's accent does not affect teaching and students' view of mathematics as a subject.

The purpose of my examination work was to show the need for support for students with another mother-tongue than Swedish, so that these students would be able to get through mathematics tuition better. To achieve this purpose, I chose to start from the perspective that presented itself at interviews with two class teachers and two mother-tongue supervisors. I also chose to use the qualitative research interview as study method, as I tried to understand those informing me in a thorough and in-depth way. In my study I have had a sociocultural perspective as starting point where the conceptions teaching, language and communication, support and individualizing are central for the development of knowledge. The questions for my study during this process were as follows: What difficulties, according to the teachers interviewed can occur for second language students in mathematics? What ways and methods of working do the teachers chosen give priority to, so that   the second language students` results in mathematics will improve? The results from my interviews show that the difficulties with mathematics for second anguage students can be perceived as being dependent on a combination of reasons, where amongst other things language plays a central part.

Background: Mathematics is a subject that many students perceive as difficult. In recent years, results in mathematics declined, while many students have difficulties in the subject of Swedish. However, there is not much research on the relationship between difficulties in mathematics and language weaknesses.Purpose: The purpose of this work is to find out what role the advocate competence of learning opportunities for the students to understand mathematics. A further aim of this work is to find out how mathematics is verbalized and individualized in preschool and find out how teachers in those classes describes how they work to verbalize and individualize mathematics.Method: The purpose is answered by observations in preschool and interviews of the teachers working in the observed classes. The empirical data are discussed and analyzed with theories related to children's learning and literature of mathematics and language.Result: The results show that mathematics is extensively verbalized in preschool classes.

The aim with this study is to illustrate the underlying causes of students? difficulties in Mathematics from a teacher perspective. The approach that has been used through this study is qualitative, method wise interviews were used. The selection for the study consists of five teachers with many years? experience in the subject of Mathematics.