Omvårdnad ? Självständigt arbete I VOM080 VT 2008.

This study aims to highlight and analyze eight secondary teachers' views and thoughts on mathematics. Hopefully this study will provide a deeper understanding of how teachers think and reason about their subject and how this affects their teaching. The study was conducted using a qualitative interview method, based on interviews with eight middle school teachers who teach in school mathematics for grades 6 - 9. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed and analyzed. After the interview analysis one can conclude that the teachers? thoughts concern three main themes: the importance of mathematics, children?s lack of basic knowledge and the teachers? lack of time.In discussion and analysis the teachers conceptions of the own subject is being analyzed, and that is the foundation of this study.

The purpose of this essay is to describe what difficulties and challenges are for teachers of religious education at upper secondary school. The essay is written from a teacher's perspective, where the focus is on the teacher's perceptions of the difficulties and challenges of teaching religious education. The methodology for the collection of information was done through qualitative interviews. Previous research shows that one of the challenges in the teaching profession is the interpretation of the curriculum, and then which of those is correct. The essay shows that the biggest challenges that teachers experience in the subject of religious education is the students' prejudice against different religious groups, and also the difficulty of getting students to understand the purpose of what is being taught.

The aim of this study is to examine the attitude among teachers towards working in subjectspecific groups, so called professional learning communities. The questions being asked arewhat the teachers want to acquire from working in them and how they consider them to beorganised.Previous research show that professional learning communities are means of strengtheningteachers and their teaching from criticism from outside stakeholders such as local politicians,but also parents. They are also means of developing the teaching and the individualteachers at schools.A qualitative study has been made at a Swedish secondary school and is reported in thisstudy. It was done in a hermeneutic discourse and when analysing the results four categoriesof answers appeared. It showed that the teachers working in professional learning communitieswanted to acquire a qualitative discussion regarding what should be taught and in whatway that should be assessed.

The study aims to investigate student participation as a tool for democratic development in secondary school from a student perspective. Furthermore, students' perceptions of the school's work with student participation in formal and informal contexts are also investigated, with basis in the teaching structure. The results are based on interviews conducted with students who all attend the same class in their last year of high school. Subsequently, an analysis is made based mainly on three different theories: democracy, curricula and sociocultural theory. The result shows that students feel that they are able to practice student participation but the amount of influence they get differs between individuals depending on devotion and commitment.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how practicing teachers have included their education in their teaching profession. The five teachers who were interviewed expressed that they lack experience in dealing with administrative issues, conflict management, parental contact and how to manage stress. There has been prior research on how teachers perceive their everyday working lives. Those results showed that teachers are becoming stressed by not knowing how to handle certain situations.My results showed that the teachers were to busy so they created their own methods on how to deal with phenomena that the education have not treated or discussed. The interviews were analyzed with the help of two constructivist concept, authenticity and activity .Authenticity focuses on knowledge is created and constructed by everyday situations.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether intensive teaching of reading strategies at an individual level can affect reading comprehension for students in second grade. A quantitative method with quasi-experimental design is used. All students in the experimental class trained on reading comprehension strategies at their particular level five times each. Before and after training a reading comprehension test was made. The reference class did the same test.

The purpose of this paper was to carry out and evaluate a pedagogic ICT-project, where the computer was implemented in art class. Focus was on the consequences of collaboration and also on the students? understanding of their own performance, compared to techniques in traditional art class.The study was qualitative and began with studies in literature. The contents of the literature are the foundation of the discussion, especially theories concerning the learning process, IT and computer-based learning. In the project, three different groups of students from upper secondary school attended and they where given tasks to solve in the image editing program Paint Shop Pro.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how teachers choose to work with the teaching of reading and writing skills, how teachers justify their choice of teaching method and how the documentation of student development is being used. This paper also discusses the definition of reading and writing, phonological awareness and how different reading- and writing educational methods can be combined. The gathering of information has been done through a literature review in which I have looked at past research on reading and writing. I have also conducted qualitative interviews with teachers involved in literacy learning. The result of my research shows that it is not possible to determine which literacy learning methods that are most effective.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the interest in Sami reindeer herders to use the Low Stress Stockhandling (LSS) method for handling reindeer. Also to find out which reindeer handling situations they think works the best and the worst, and which might need improvement. The purpose of LSS is to reduce the stress animals are subjected to during handling by creating consistent and calm responses from the animals. This is done by handling the animals through the animals? point of view and using natural herd behavior to accomplish this.

The purpose of this study is to stress what experiences men working in the earlier school years share about being a minority group and what thoughts they have about why other men tend to avoid this profession.In this survey I have interviewed four male teachers in the earlier school years. In previous research it is claimed that men choose not to get a teacher training for the earlier school years partly because this profession is known to be dominated by women where it is difficult for men to feel at home. It is also claimed that teachers in training choose the later school years in order to focus more on teaching than looking after the children. None of the interviewed men sees it as a problem being a minority group, neither during training nor in teaching. What the men in this survey state as the main reasons for why other men do not choose to become teachers are the low levels of status and salary.

This research focus on key groups; students with dyslexia, librarians and teachers, and interaction between these two professional groups regarding students with dyslexia. In searching for the exchange of knowledge and experience to meet dyslexic students needs, I have in this study turned the attention to librarians and their experiences with students with dyslexia.The purpose of the research has been through semi-structured qualitative interviews with four librarians, to explore and describe how they experience their work, in working with pupils with severe reading and writing problems, dyslexia, and interaction with teachers on this user group. The qualitative approach in the gathering of the empirical evidence is based on a desire to have an indepth and thoroughly understanding of the librarians experience.All informants in this study indicate that they see it as a natural part of their duty to keep themselves updated about dyslexia and what materials to suit the dyslexic user group. The informants have knowledge of dyslexia and have great knowledge and keep abreast on the latest technology of compensatory aids - alternative tools.The informants have primary a consulting and supply function for teachers and dyslexic students, where they are consulted on  suitable material in both fiction and facts in various disciplines. The informants highlights the importance of planning and preparation time to find suitable material, as audio books or easy read, so students who have a need for this also can be provided.

This Masters thesis concerns collaboration between teachers and librarians. Three theoretical perspectives, profession, power and legitimacy, are used to analyse the results of written interviews with eight teachers and one librarian at a comprehensive school. We did not find evidence of any deeper collaboration between teachers and the librarian. The effects of profession had little impact on the relation although the involved parties seemed to appreciate differences in education and points of view. The teacher retains power over education and grades while the librarian holds sway over the physical library and the purchase of books and other media.

Abstract:According to the curriculum of the Swedish school the pupils should develop their historical consciousness. The aim of this study was to find out which pupils develop this consciousness by listing to an historical novel, talking about that book and writing stories. The study went on for four weeks and the subject of the teaching was the Middle Ages. 28 pupils took part and a variety of methods were used: 1: questionnaire about the lives of the pupils, 2: Making observations of their attitude to the teaching and 3: story writing. The results show that the social background does not influence the development of an historical consciousness.

Today an increasing number of schools and organizations are investing in so called Learning Management Systems. Researchers disagree on the pedagogical value of these tools. Some mean that Learning Management Systems cement old-fashioned behaviouristic teaching practices; others mean that the systems provide good opportunities in supporting learning in a socio cultural perspective. The aim of this study is to reach better understanding and increased knowledge of how the introduction of a Learning Management System influences the role of the teacher and how the learning is organized. We have conducted two case studies.