Agneta Ljung-Djärf

Ways of relating to computer use in pre‐school activity

In the present study, three different pre‐school settings were investigated. The dual aim of the study was to analyse the teachers’ ways of relating to the computer as a tool in pre‐school activity, and to describe the three learning environments focusing upon how the computer was used. Data were collected at three Swedish pre‐schools, where one computer was available in each department. Three ways of relating to computer use were identified: as a threat to other activities, as an available option, and as an essential activity. A relationship was found between these categories and the three learning environments, characterized respectively as protective, supporting, and guiding.

The owner, the participant and the spectator : positions and positioning in peer activity around the computer in pre-school

One of the most important benefits of computer use within educational settings has been described as its potential for use in collective activity. However; there is a need to take a closer look at the apparently unproblematic picture of childrens actual cooperation around the computer. The purpose of this research was to study positions and positioning in peer activity around the computer in pre‐school. Data were collected in three different Swedish municipal pre‐school units with children from three to six years of age. In this paper three positions, described as ‘owner’, ‘participant’ and ‘spectator’, are identified and discussed. The positions are static as they constitute a specific space for acting, including rights, duties and obligations. They are also dynamic as, in relation to previous experiences, they appear to imply different opportunities to use the afforded space for acting. The play around the computer implies that positions and positioning are continuously defined and transformed in relation to each other.

To Play or Not to Play--That Is the Question: Computer Use within Three Swedish Preschools.

Research Findings: This article is about computer use in 3 Swedish preschools with a specific focus on the preschool teachers way of managing this use. Data were collected in 3 preschools serving children from 3 to 5 years of age. The data consisted of approximately 13 hr of video-documented observations and interviews with 9 teachers. The study is an example of a situated evaluation, which is an evaluation that takes place within an institutional practice such as a preschool. A key question is how this new artifact should be used in preschool activities. Practice or Policy: The study revealed how political and theoretical visions may be realized in everyday preschool practices. The teachers approach to computer use was shown to be determined by a combination of the teachers assumptions about the possibilities of computers and the dominant underlying principle or rationale at work in the preschool. It is argued that the computer is treated differently depending on whether a caring, nurturing, or teaching rationale dominates. It is also argued that the dominant rationale produces three different meaning-shaping practices; in the study, these are labeled protective, supporting, and guiding. These environments afford quite different possibilities for children to learn about and from the computer.

From doing to learning : changed focus during a pre-school learning study project on organic decomposition

We explored the use of the learning study (LS) model in developing Swedish pre-school science learning. This was done by analysing a 3-cycle LS project implemented to help a group of pre-school teachers (n = 5) understand their science educational practice, by collaboratively and systematically challenging it. Data consisted of video recordings of 1 screening (n = 7), 1 initial planning meeting, 3 analysis meetings, 3 interventions, and 78 individual test interviews with the children (n = 26). The study demonstrated that the teachers were initially uncomfortable with using scientific concepts and with maintaining the childrens focus on the object of learning without framing it with play. During the project, we noted a shift in focus towards the object of learning and how to get the children to discern it. As teachers’ awareness changed, enhanced learning was noted among the children. The study suggests that the LS model can promote pre-school science learning as follows: by building on, re-evaluating, and expanding childrens experiences; and by helping the teachers focus on and contrast critical aspects of an object of learning, and to reflect on the use of play, imagination, and concepts and on directing the childrens focus when doing so. Our research showed that the LS model holds promise to advance pre-school science learning by offering a theoretical tool useable to shift the focus from doing to learning while teaching science using learning activities.

Making sense of iconic symbols : A study of preschool children conducting a refuse-sorting task.

This article is part of a larger project focusing upon explanatory illustrations that children encounter in pre- and primary school education. The research questions concerned (a) how preschool children make sense of iconic symbols when placing items of refuse on illustrations of refuse bins in a sorting task and (b) what stumbling blocks they encounter when interpreting these symbols. Video data were collected with 30 children between four and five years of age. From the children’s verbal and non-verbal interactions, four different categories of sense-making were constructed: by material, by object type, by appearance and by function. Three stumbling blocks were identified. The first had to do with giving the symbols a different logical meaning to the intended one; the second related to what materials the different refuse items were made of; the third was being able to stick to one correct way of interpreting each symbol.

Chapter 4 Using Learning Study as in-Service Training for Preschool Teachers

The main focus of this study is preschool teachers’ own learning from a specific course aimed to develop their knowledge of how to use learning study (LS) in preschool. The study included 24 qualified and experienced preschool teachers who took part in the course. The course was funded by the Swedish National Agency for Education and the teachers were chosen by their municipal employers. An analysis is made of their experiences of the in-service course on LS and variation theory. The 24 preschool teachers were divided into seven groups, each of which implemented one LS. A total of 162 preschool children participated. After the course, the participants were asked, “How do you think LS can contribute in preschool?” Their answers were analyzed, and six qualitatively different categories were found, capturing their different perspectives. In the studies reported in this chapter, the results of the childrens learning outcomes are also briefly reported to offer readers a background understanding of the teachers’ experiences. The childrens learning outcomes did all show an improvement. In describing their experiences of the in-service training using LS, all of the 24 participating preschool teachers reported that their understanding of childrens learning had changed and improved. They specifically mentioned having a stronger focus on content than before, seeing the difference between learning and method by separating them, and focus on the learning of a defined content in the first place.

Ways of Dealing with Science Learning: A Study Based on Swedish Early Childhood Education Practice.

ABSTRACT The Swedish school system offers curriculum-based early childhood education (ECE) organised as preschool (for 0–5-year-olds) and preschool class (for 6-year-olds). The intention to create a playful and educational environment based on children’s perspectives, interests, and questions is strongly based on historical and cultural traditions. This article develops knowledge of ECE teachers’ approaches to science-learning situations. The study applies a phenomenographic approach. The analysis is based on approximately 9.5 hours of video documentation of teacher-led and child-initiated Swedish ECE science activities. We identified two descriptive categories and four subcategories dealing with science-learning situations: (A) making anything visible, containing the three subcategories (Aa) addressing everyone, (Ab) addressing everything, and (Ac) addressing play and fantasy; and (B) creating a shared space for learning (Ba) addressing common content. These categories are related to how efforts to take advantage of children’s perspectives are interpreted and addressed in educational practice. The article discusses and exemplifies the use of various categories and their potential implications for ECE learning practice.

Young primary students making sense of text and illustrations about how refuse can become soil

Explanatory pictures and models are frequently used in teaching and learning situations. However, it seems to be simply assumed that they are always beneficial. In this article results from an investigation with 16 Swedish pupils aged 7–9 year are presented based on an analysis that has examined how well this assumption holds up. Concepts from multi-modal theory have been used to investigate how young learners deal with illustrations and text from an early reader booklet about composting domestic refuse. The analysis suggests that expectations that illustrations facilitate the meaning-making of young pupils may be exaggerated. Although the booklet claimed to provide interactive support between image and text most of the examples show pupils ignoring pictures or misinterpreting vital information about composting in both the verbal and non-verbal material. The illustrations did not compensate for the most crucial deficiencies in the written text.