“It’s fun but at the same time difficult”: Experiences of and perspectives on children’s participation in decision-making processes in Physical Education and Health

Swedish compulsory school education rests upon the foundation of democracy, and the Curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool class and school-age educare 2011 (Skolverket, 2018) stresses that children should have the opportunity to take initiatives. Research shows that children are not able to have any influence on activities in Physical Education and Health (PEH). Usually, they have to follow the teacher’s instructions and reproduce specific movement patterns. This article discusses a research project that challenged traditional ways of teaching PEH, in order to give 10-year-old children the opportunity to have an influence on PEH. The project involved 10 circus lessons in which the children were encouraged to explore movement and put their own ideas into practice. In terms of theory, the approach is based on Hart’s (1997) Ladder of Children’s Participation. Data were collected through participant observations, video observations, interviews, and a field diary. The results show that the children participated in varying degrees and experienced attempts to increase their influence in different ways: Some found it fun and free, while others found it difficult and boring. One important conclusion is that influence and participation need to be practised – both by children and by teachers. Circus activities, because of the playfulness and creativity involved, may be very suited to practising influence and participation..

Pupils as subjects or objects: Policy changes in the area of pupils influence

The aim of this article is to describe and analyse how policy changes in the three latest Swedish compulsory school, preschool class, and school-age educare curricula affect the political goal of pupil influence. This is done with an interest in implications for utterances of power relations and for didactical considerations for living and learning democracy in school. This article analyses pupil influence by using theories of democracy, power, and didactics. The method used is content analysis. The empirical results show that pupil influence in the curricula is linked to seven concepts: democracy, value, norm, rights, responsibility, influence, participation. Our conclusion is that only small differences exist in terms of the central concepts mentioned in the curricula linked to pupil influence. Secondly, we found a policy shift with respect to the pupils, i.e., viewing pupils as subjects or objects. Thirdly, we found a shift in how learning is viewed in the curricula and the type of didactical questions that are in focus, which illuminates a change in utterances of power relations that challenges possibilities for living and learning democracy in Swedish school education.

Barns övergång från förskola till skola

The aim of this study was to investigate the parents’ perspectives of children’s transitions from preschool to school (preschool class and recreation centre) in two Swedish municipalities. The aim was also to investigate the importance of transition activities from the parents’ perspectives. In this study, a transition is understood as a mesosystem, a discontinuity and a non-linear process. A questionnaire with close-ended questions in paper form was constructed and distributed to the parents with the help of the heads and teachers. 131 parents, whose children had recently moved from preschool to school, received the questionnaire, while 70 parents answered it. The data was statistically analysed. The results showed that i) the parents, with few exceptions, experienced children’s transitions as safe and well-functioning, ii) about half of the parents felt some concern or concern in conjunction with the children’s transitions, iii) the parents of children in need of extra support and/or extra stimulation and challenges felt some concern or were concerned more often and iv), overall, the parents considered transition activities to be important. The study has relevance for staff working in preschools and schools, heads and teachers in training, researchers and others interested in educational transitions and transition activities.

Children’s experiences of participating in a school-based health promotion parental support programme – a qualitative study

Background Children’s voices are seldom heard in process evaluations concerning health promotion programmes. A Healthy School Start Plus (HSSP) is a parental support programme, conducted in Sweden, with the aim of promoting healthy diet, physical activity and preventing obesity in preschool class children. The 6-month programme includes: (1) Health information to parents; (2) Motivational Interviewing with parents by school nurses; (3) Classroom activities and home assignments for children; (4) A self-test of type-2 diabetes risk for parents. We aimed to describe children’s experiences of the third component regarding barriers and facilitators of participating in and learning from the classroom activities in the HSSP. Methods In total 36 children from 7 schools in Sweden, mean age 6 years, participated in 7 focus group discussions. Purposeful sampling with maximum variation was used to collect the data. The focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results Four categories were identified; (1) Time available to work on intervention activities; (2) Others’ interest; (3) Abilities and interests in intervention activities; and (4) Practicing the concept of health. Conclusions The findings may improve the HSSP and other similar interventions that include classroom-based learning regarding health by highlighting the following points to consider: aiming for homework to be an integrated part of the school-setting to enhance parental involvement; using flexible material, tailored to the children’s abilities and giving children adequate time to finish the intervention activities; and making teachers and parents aware of the importance of verbal and body language regarding intervention activities. Trial registration The Healthy School Start Plus trial was retrospectively registered in the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number Registry on January 4, 2018 and available online at ClinicalTrials.gov: No. NCT03390725.

A librarian in the Classroom

In Linköping there is an ongoing investment in staffed school libraries, so-called focus libraries. Focus libraries has three aims: to be an integrated part of the school, to promote reading and develop students' information literacy. At Hjulsbroskolan the librarian cooperates with teachers in the classroom to implement these aims. The work to develop student’s information literacy starts in preschool class. The development continues the coming years in close collaboration with teachers. The librarian devotes most of her time in the classroom with the teachers to plan, implement and evaluate the area of work and assess the students' efforts. This way, there has been an increased student learning. This is shown in the results of the national tests, regarding the issues of source criticism. A dedicated and structured teaching in information retrieval and source evaluation, implemented by teacher and librarian in cooperation, leads to increased achievement for students.

Yngre elevers uppfattningar av det matematiska i algebraiska uttryck

Det övergripande syftet med denna artikel är att analysera och beskriva yngre elevers uppfattningar av det matematiska i ett algebraiskt uttryck och utifrån det diskutera vad som kan utgöra kritiska aspekter för utvecklandet av mera kvalificerade uppfattningar. Artikeln bygger på data från ett forskningsprojekt där elever i förskoleklass, årskurs 1 och årskurs 4 intervjuades med syfte att analysera de aktuella elevernas kvalitativt skilda sätt att uppfatta det matematiska i algebraiska uttryck. Intervjuerna analyserades fenomenografiskt. Studiens resultat visar tre kvalitativt skilda kategorier av yngre elevers uppfattningar av det matematiska i algebraiska uttryck. Det matematiska i ett algebraiskt uttryck erfars som ”något som kan och bör räknas ut”, ”något som beskriver en relation mellan komponenter” och ”något som representerar en situation”. Vidare identifierades tre kritiska aspekter i relation till kategorierna. De kritiska aspekter som ger eleverna möjlighet att kvalificera sina uppfattningar för att utveckla ett mer komplext kunnande av algebraiska uttryck är att kunna urskilja att 1) ett uttryck består av olika komponenter som har olika funktioner, 2) en och samma variabel i ett uttryck har samma värde och 3) värdet på en variabel i ett uttryck bestäms relationellt. Att urskilja sådana kritiska aspekter kan hjälpa eleverna att kvalificera sitt kunnande. Således måste de kritiska aspekterna beaktas vid utformningen av undervisningen. Abstract in English The overall purpose of this article is to analyze and describe younger students’ conceptions of or ways of experiencing the mathematics in an algebraic expression and to discuss what can be critical aspects for the development of more qualified conceptions. The article is based on data from a research project where students in preschool class, Grade 1 and Grade 4 were interviewed with the aim of analyzing the students' qualitatively different ways of experiencing the mathematics in algebraic expressions. The interviews were analyzed with phenomenography. The results show three qualitatively different categories of younger students’ conceptions of the mathematics in algebraic expressions. The mathematics in an algebraic expression is experienced as ”something that can and should be calculated", ”something that describes a relationship between components”, and ”something that represents a situation”. Furthermore, three so-called critical aspects the students need to discern were identified in relation to the categories 1) an expression consists of different components that have different functions, 2) one and the same variable in an expression has the same value and 3) the value of a variable in an expression is determined relationally. Discerning such critical aspects may help the students to qualify their ways of knowing. Thus, the critical aspects need to be considered in the design of teaching. FULL TEXT IN SWEDISH.

Variability in Preschool CLASS Scores and Children’s School Readiness

The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) is a widely administered measure of classroom quality that assesses teacher-child interactions in the domains of Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support. We use data from an evaluation of state-funded prekindergarten provided to 684 children from families with low incomes (Mage = 57.56 months, 48% female) to examine the extent to which CLASS scores vary over the course of an observational period within a single day and investigate whether this variability is related to children’s school readiness at the end of the preschool year, holding constant two additional measures of quality. Teacher-child interactions in all three domains were moderately stable. Mean Classroom Organization was positively related to math, and variability in Classroom Organization was negatively related to literacy. Mean Instructional Support was negatively associated with language. Findings have implications for programs that utilize the CLASS to make high-stakes decision and inform professional development.

CONCEPTUAL SUBITIZING AND PRESCHOOL CLASS CHILDREN’S LEARNING OF THE PART-PART-WHOLE RELATIONS OF NUMBER

Few research studies within the field of mathematics education have focused on the ability to recognize quantities quickly and accurately without counting (i.e. subitizing). The aim of this research was to empirically explore the role of conceptual subitizing activities for enhancing preschool class children’s learning of the part-part- whole relations of number. 24 children (aged 6-7) and two teachers participated in the intervention. Due to ethical issues, data were only collected from 18 of the children. The design was a collaborative and iterative intervention, employing a mixed-method approach. Data consisted of pre-and post-test, teacher observation notes and teacher responses to questions about the children’s learning. Both the quantitative and qualitative analysis showed that conceptual subitizing activities supported children’s knowledge development regarding part-part-whole relations of number. At the group level, the children´s results between pre-and post-test showed an increase of 18.1 percent units and more than half of the children showed conceptual subitizing abilities in a qualitatively more developed way after having participated in the intervention. The result indicated that conceptual subitizing activities might enhance preschool class children’s understanding of the part-part-whole relations of number. The results however also elucidated that not all children improved their understanding of the part-part -whole relations of number. Future research should therefore consider individual differences when developing and carrying out interventions. Keywords: collaborative intervention, conceptual subitizing, part-part-whole relations of numbers, preschool class children

Harnessing the Potential of Storytelling and Mobile Technology in Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Case Study in Early Childhood Education in Sustainability

Digital storytelling can offer multiple benefits both to students and teachers, and new media provide multimodal ways to produce, transmit and communicate stories. In parallel, the need to engage preschool children with the creative use of technology emerges in order to address concerns that arise from the modern way of life and the need to safeguard intangible cultural heritage and to communicate its value for sustainable development. The current study presents an example of digital storytelling utilization in a preschool class to raise awareness on sustainability issues. A linear digital storytelling was created, representing a local myth about watermills, then an educational intervention was conducted, where the myth’s digital representation was used as an educational tool to raise awareness on local cultural heritage and sustainability issues and also as an example to inspire and guide teachers and students to create their own stories. Results showed that the digital storytelling was an effective educational tool to the acquisition of new knowledge and the motivation of preschool children’s interest about the cultural asset of watermills and that the production of digital storytelling is feasible in the class context. These findings prove the potential of digital storytelling and mobile technology by using low-cost devices and applying simple techniques in preschool education.