The purpose of this study was to examine the use of Manipulative materials in mathematics education with the main focus on grades 4 to 6. With the use of a phenomenological approach all the aspects of this phenomenon was examined. Qualitative interviews, participant observations and comparative content analysis of textbooks has been conducted to investigate the use of Manipulative materials in mathematics education. The results indicates that the teachers that were interviewed possesses good knowledge of this teaching method. However these teachers struggled to find time to put this method into practice and there was not enough teachers to attend these classes.

Under de senaste åren har intresset för användningen av laborativt material ökat markant. Syftet med denna studie är att ta fram och göra en jämförelse mellan lärare och elevers uppfattningar och åsikter angående användningen av laborativt material i matematikundervisningen. Studien har genomförts på fyra lärare i Örebro samt deras klasser i årskurs 5. Resultatet visar att laborativt material underlättar lärandet, gör matematiken roligare och mer intressant, för många enligt både lärare och elever. Lärarnas och elevernas uppfattning om hur ofta laborativt material plockas fram och då finns tillgängligt skiljer sig åt.

In support to a decision to be made by the Swedish central competent authority on a minimal amount of straw for conventional growing-finishing pigs, a study using 168 pigs provided 7 different amounts of straw (20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 200 or 300 grams/pig/day) was performed. The straw was provided either once or four times per day. Detailed behaviour observations were made using focal animal sampling and continuous recording for one hour between 9 and 10 am and again between 3 and 4 pm. The data analysis is presented in three ways: broken stick model, polynomial trend line and logarithmic trend line. No method was suitable on its own but the use of all the methods simultaneously was found to portray the data in the best way.No significant differences were found when comparing pens provided with straw once or four times per day.

Syftet med denna studie var att ta reda på elevers uppfattningar om laborativt material i matematikundervisningen. Även hur liknande form av undersökning kunde gynna läraren till att få reda på vilken typ av undervisning som eleverna föredrar. Motivationen som låg till grund för studien var erfarenheter utifrån VFU (verksamhetsförlagd utbildning) samt erfarenheter av forskningslitteratur. En stor del av forskningen har påvisat att elever som arbetar med laborativt material i matematik presterar bättre än elever som inte arbetar med laborativt material. Därför förespråkar forskningslitteraturen inom detta område att lärare borde arbeta med laborativt material under alla åren i skolan.

The purpose of this study is to find out teachers view on manipulatives as a way to concretize a certain mathematical content and to highlight knowledge and experiences within the range of using manipulatives to concretize. By answering the questions below different approaches a teacher may have towards the manipulatives and how that may impact on student?s learning will also be discussed in comparison to mainly traditional and socially constructive theories of learning.What is the teachers view on manipulatives as a way to concretize?What purpose do they have when using manipulatives?According to the teachers, what does it mean to concretize a certain mathematical content?According to the teachers, what connection is there between manipulatives and concretizing?Through interviews and observations conclusions can be made that the teachers are in general positive towards using manipulatives as a way to concretize a certain mathematical content although the definition of what a manipulative is differ somewhat between the teachers. The teachers working with manipulatives do it in a well thought out fashion but more research is needed to furthermore define the purpose of using manipulatives. Few countries spend so much time concretizing and working with manipulatives as Sweden do, but still Sweden score below the OECD-average on the mathematical PISA-tests.

The purpose of this essay is to analyze three works that are regarded as fictional biographies. In all three selected works the protagonists are historical Swedish women who are known for being a part of the cultural sphere of their time. Two of them are also recognized as important and somewhat pivotal characters in the struggle for women?s rights at the turn of the 19th century. The analyzed works, however, accentuate the women?s private life.

The aim with this thesis is to study how the phenomenon young people who run away from home (runaways) is presented in the research literature. The question at issue in our thesis is: How does research literature present the phenomenon of young people who run away from home? We have selected seven primary documents that we consider gives a broad picture of the knowledge about runaways. We have a postmodern and a hermeneutic approach in our thesis. Our material has been analyzed on the basis of social constructionist theory and the new sociological paradigm of childhood.

My aim for this essay is to investigate if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a religious sect, on the basis of literature and information about the Mormons organisation and their religious standpoints. My conclusion is that Mormon Church is a religious sect. Their organisation has several sect characteristics according to sect definitions; see for example Göran Gustafsson (2000), Mikael Rothstein (1997) and Bryan R. Wilson (1970). Other researchers in religious studies think that the Mormon Church is not a sect but a cult.

The purpose of this study has been to investigate the extent of listening in a debate in the Swedish media. If the debaters listen to each other in a complex issue such as religion's place in society and if a debater who has a high degree of listening initially already in problem definition phase, has more possible solutions than the one that has a lower level of listening. The results show that there is a listening in all the articles, but the articles that have a broader definition of the problem also have a broader problem solving, than the articles that have a more narrow definition of the problem.The articles with a broader definition of the problem and a broader problem solving, have a predominantly agonistic debate strategy. Even if the debate rhetoric is primarily designed to win over the opponents, there is partly a genuine listening and an interest in finding new possible solutions. But despite that the opponents? arguments are mainly used to present the authors own arguments, the authors? intentions seems to be predominantly honest.

The purpose of this study is to give a description of how six pedagogues in the third and fourth grade teaches mathematics and which working methods they use. When using the term working methods it is implied that it can for example be outdoors pedagogic, laboratory material, problem solutions et cetera. This material can both be an everyday material or a pedagogical material. The research was carried through by interviews and observations. Six pedagogues were interviewed in two different districts.

This study aims to theoretically investigate the concepts of the interpersonal actions 'to motivate' and 'to manipulate' and also to examine possible differences and similarities between the two. The method used is a conceptual review based on the Self-Determination Theory, related to the concept of motivation, and Machiavellianism, related to the concept of manipu-lation. The results show that 'to motivate', according to Self-Determination Theory, concerns influencing the intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, where intrinsic motivation is related to the feeling of self-determination, inner locus of causality, being or feeling competent and exercise activities for the pleasure of it, whilst extrinsic motivation is related to external locus of cau-sality, external pressure and engaging in activities for the purpose of reaching a goal or re-ward. 'To manipulate' is according to Machiavellianism based on the manipulator doing whatever it takes to reach a certain goal and gain something for himself with no regard of what methods being used. The comparative analysis showed that the crucial difference in how an behaviour is interpreted as either, or both, motivating and manipulative is based on who is doing the interpretation, what information she has and which aspects that are focused on..

The purpose of this thesis is to study the personal problems that can occur when defecting from a destructive cult, and what kind of support you may need from social authorities. The aim is to develop guidelines for social workers who are in contact with sect defectors. It?s a qualitative study based on interviews with six defectors from Jehovah?s witnesses. The results shows that all the defectors that have been interviewed have had anxiety problems, lost contact with friends and relatives, low level of education, and low self esteem when defecting or after.

I examensarbetet ÄGG har jag testat att anända en sökande och experimentell inställning till textila material och tekniker som utgångspunkt för att formge en kollektion plagg. Som inspitration och utgångspunkt för arbetet med material och teknik har jag använt mig av ägget, dess material och funktioner..

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe how nurses experience meeting patients with self-injurious behavior in health care and the factors that influence nurses' attitudes towards this particularly group of patients. The literature study also contains a review of the articles included datacollection method. Method: A descriptive literature review of quantitative and qualitative articles published between 2004 and 2014. The articles were sought in the databases PubMed and PsycINFO. The result of the present literaturestudy was based on 11 articles.Result:The nurses experiences were mainly positive, however, the results also shows that they feel antipathy, negative emotions, inadequacy and obstacles in the care of patients with self-injurious behavior.

Syftet med mitt examensarbete var att få mer kunskap om konkreta material som behandlar multiplikation och division. För att få veta vilka konkreta material som finns att tillgå gjorde jag intervjuer med två lärare som fick beskriva vilka material de använder sig av. Jag valde att observera två elever enskilt då de löste de multiplikations- och divisionsproblem som jag hade designat för studien. Det jag fick ut av undersökning var att det finns många olika material som elever kan arbeta med samt att det är viktigt att de får möjligheten att arbeta med dessa material. Jag kom fram till att lärare bör vara medveten om i vilket område som materialet är bäst tillämpad och att elever behöver använda sig av konkreta material för att lättare förstå uppgiften.