Myt eller verklighet
Mytens roll i historieundervisningen
The purpose with this essay is to find out the role of mythology in history in Swedish elementary schools to day. The questions I used to fulfill the purpose in my essay are these: How is the relationship between the school subject history and northern mythology, (what is myth, what is history) how does history and myth being linked together? And How is the practical use of northern mythology shaped in to days school, How does the teacher form the education in northern mythology and what controls it? The method I used was an interview, a case study and a literature study, based on the didactical questions how, why and what.The mythology is motivated by the guidelines and goals, set up by the Swedish government, and is supposed to give the student history knowledge and thereby help the student to build up their identity. It is also supposed to give knowledge about the Swedish and Nordic cultural heritage. The role the mythology has is to support the history education.According to the interview in this essay the northern mythology is given a central place in the education in the Swedish elementary school today. It also showed that the literature controls what in the mythology that is being presented to the students. What the school literature present is very basic and short, and probably has the goal to encourage the students to further research.My essay reflects that northern mythology is an important part in the education, and the keyword for its existence in the education is history knowledge, cultural heritage and identity.