The study aims to contribute knowledge about children's perceptions of the leisure-time as a learning environment. The study can be seen as an attempt to highlight the possible learning in the leisure-time, formally or informally.The study is based on two group interviews with a total of 11 children and was conducted by an interview guide with question areas to be discussed freely so that the children could give as full an answer as possible.Main results of the study show that children feel that they are staying at the leisure-time to get care when their parents are working and that they primarily associate the leisure-time with playing. The results show however that children feel that they learn things when participating in the leisure-time teaches controlled activities.It is possible to draw conclusions about the child actually experienced the leisure-time as a learning environment, but it can be difficult to identify when and how learning actually occurs. However, children do not perceive that there is learning while they play..

The aim with this master thesis is to analyze a scientific material concerning the context between learning and child/student development, and factors which controls process of learning, to create an image with quality account and teaching in mathematics, which then can raise the mathematical knowledge among students.The phenomena which stand in focus for the investigation is: why there is a negative tendency for development of knowledge in mathematics, among the Swedish students that TIMSSs investigations showed in intercultural comparison within the years 1993, 1999, 2003 and 2007.The method is the ethnographical method, which is based on: analyzing scientific theories about learning child/student development, factors which controls process of learning, and factors which controls process of learning the most and qualitative empiric investigation with qualitatively analyzes the questionnaires, which is about factors which are controlling the process of learning and factors which are controlling the process of learning the most.Result of the theoretical and empiric analyzes shows that factors as school environment, attitude for subjects and teaching, controls and influence the learning. To end a unenthusiastic tendency as a negative development of mathematical knowledge among students that is shown in TIMSS investigation and to elevate the students' performance in mathematics, an elevated qualitative account and teaching in mathematics, by the factors named. Safe school environments as the intercultural meeting place, the teachers influence part to the students' subjects' attitude in mathematics and goal related grading criteria in teaching, is all required for e qualitative teaching in mathematics..

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how students who study with Problem-based learning PBL in a distance learning course perceive the support from the university library. I first went into adult education, PBL and distance studies, one at a time, and then took a look at the combination of problem-based learning in distance studies. During the investigation, I conducted five interviews using a phenomenographic method to understand how the students perceived the support they received from the university library. The university library gives a lot of support but what I noticed while I was writing was that it is difficult to reach the students with the information regarding the help that is available to them. I give some example on how to develop the support and find that the students have a wide range of different needs for support from the library depending on their individual situation, social context, academic ability, location and course of study.

A Large part of the education provided at colleges and universities of today requires for thestudent to be more independent in their studies. This demands that the physical space,where the students choose to study, is designed in a way that can encourage and supportlearning. It seems as though that many of the learning spaces of today don?t always meetthe students? needs. The university library at the University of Umeå is currently planningto design new learning spaces for the students.

The purpose of the study is to analyze what conditions the specific company provides employees to enable organizational learning. To clarify the framing of the study a few quastions has been specified to narrow the issu. The questions that has been used are: what opportunities does the company creat to enable organizational learning and how does the emplyees contribute to organizational learning.In the search of knowledge to the previously questions this study becames a qualitative study with an ethnographic approach based on observations and interviews. This method gives the knowledge that makes us understand the actions that takes place in the oraganization and the shared image the oraganization provides. An understanding for the employees and the organization has been achived after compiling the empirical material from observation notes and transcripts from the interviewsIn the work whit the analysis the empirical material based on transcripts and observation notes has been the main material.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how a group of students experience their learning when working in groups, and determine if they prefer to work individually or in groups. This study will also investigate what the students believe that they learn when working in groups. The study is based on these two questions:How and what do students perceive that they learn from working in groups?Do the students in my study prefer to work in groups or individually?The method I have used to retrieve information has been to interview four different students. The interviews were individual; I did so to get a deeper view of how students perceive their own learning in groups.

The role of small businesses is fundamentally important for the economic development in countries. Within this context, business incubation is used as an entrepreneurship development instrument to promote and support new firms in the early stage of their existence. However, research in the field tends to disregard the perspectives of incubatee entrepreneurs. The performed investigation is based on interviews with entrepreneurs from two different business incubators at Swedish universities. This study uses a Situated Learning Theory (SLT) as a theoretical framework, to examine the entrepreneur's experience of the learning environment in a business incubator.

The overall aim with this study is to elucidate outdoor education as an education method and on the basis of that illustration to examine active educators vision on it as a way to motivate students' learning. This study is based on a literature component and a qualitative study through interviews five teachers.The results of the interviews show how to interpret the motivation and how to work with students' motivation. As well as outdoor education as part of the activity.  The interviews show the importance of outdoor education can be to increase students'motivation for learning. They also show the importance of outdoor education is for student learning and test scores have shown the effectiveness of student learning through outdoor education.

This essay examines the possibilities for the use of ICT for learning in the subject of history. By interviewing history teachers in upper secondary school about their experiences and thoughts regarding the subjects of learning, history and ICT, as well as the relations there between, based on Mishra and Koehlers TPACK model, I come to the conclusion that ICT may enhance learning in history. I also conclude that ICT may create new learning environments in history, where knowledge may or may not grow.The more unique ways of using ICT in history, compared to other school subjects, appears to be the possibility of using a variety of new sources, for example digitized primary sources from archives, that perhaps will motivate students, and make it possible to work from a con- structivistic point of view in history.Other unique possibilities are to satisfy the need of concretizing and visualizing the history being taught, by using a broad range of different media when presenting it. .

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.

Bilingualism and multilingualism have always existed in Sweden. Preschool teachers must provide a stimulating pedagogical environment adapted to bilingual children.The purpose of this examination is to study the perspective of the preschool teachers and their knowledge regarding bilingual and multilingual children. Their knowledge will be examined related to their language experiences. I hope to find similarities and dissimilarities in the preschool teachers? opinions concerning teaching and learning what they actually do when they are teaching.My study is based on qualitative method, based on interviews and repeated observations.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how teachers perceive that they work with science in preschool through aesthetic learning processes as tools both in the indoor and outdoor environment and make visible what the educators' underlying beliefs are that affect how they perceive aesthetic learning processes as tools used to deepen children's understanding of different scientific phenomena.This is an interview study using the phenomenographic approach as a means and method to make visible and report on teachers' views on how aesthetic learning processes can be used to extend preschool children's learning about science. The results are analyzed and discussed based on John Dewey's theoretical ideas about children's learning, aesthetics and science.The study clearly shows that teachers' views on aesthetic learning processes and how they can be used in the work whit science is very divided and in some cases unreflective. The most striking results are that teachers often are unaware that they make use of aesthetic learning processes because they have a more limited view of what it is than we have in the paper. All informants have science as a core subject. Their focus of the activity is located at the showing and visualizeing of scientific phenomena and some of them express that they submit the aesthetic learning processes to their colleagues or that they collaborate with someone who has training in some art form.

The purpose of this study is to gain understanding of how self employed entrepreneurs (hereafter referred to as ?entrepreneurs?) develop their competence based on their perceived learning space. The main question is: How do these entrepreneurs develop their competence based on their perceived learning space? Other questions relevant for the study are: How important is the social environment for these entrepreneurs and how do they interact with their social environment in order to develop their competence. The study has a qualitative approach.

The purpose of this study is to find out how four preschool teachers view children?s free playing and its impact on their learning. My main questions are:How do the teachers view the children?s free playing?In what ways does the children?s free playing affect their learning, according to the teachers?This essay is based on a qualitative study in which I have interviewed four female preschool teachers of different ages. I highlight various theories of children?s playing and learning in preschool, by theorists such as Vygotsky, Lillemyr, Knutsdotter Olofsson, Lindqvist, among others.

Based on earlier experiences of mathematics and mathematical learning, both as a student and as a teacher, I became more and more interested in how well the publicly accepted opinions about mathematics as an uninteresting, difficult and ?geeky? subject corresponded to reality. What do Swedish pupils really think about mathematics and is it possible to identify any differences in their attitudes based on the pupils? age?From this point of view the following questions were formulated:·What are pupils? attitudes towards mathematics in grades 3, 6 and 9 and how do they conceive their learning conditions?·Is it possible to detect any differences in the attitudes and preferences depending on the pupils? age?The result of this study compares well with previous studies done in this and overlapping fields and indicates that:·Younger pupils tend to have a better liking of mathematics but with increasing age that interest fades out.·Most pupils, without regard to age, consider mathematics to be one of the most important subjects, despite the fact that many pupils also find mathematics difficult and boring.·For pupils of all ages, the teacher is the most important factor in the learning process. Older students have more specific demands on the teacher for knowledge and pedagogical skills.·A high noise level, talking and disturbances in the classroom are the most bothering elements when it comes to learning mathematics.