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This article is based on a meta-approach to the results of two separate studies and concerns the areas of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) in early childhood education. One of the studies focuses on how preschool teachers understand STEM and how it is taught in the preschool. The other concerns children?s perspectives and strategies in their use of digital technology as part of the preschool?s arts activities. Methodologically, the researchers have developed the idea of reading one study through the other using a meta-approach design. The results from this analytical approach show how different aspects of children?s agency in play and aesthetic activity in the art room (i.e. atelier) can develop and inspire the teachers? pedagogical content knowledge in the subjects of mathematics and science. The results of following children and their processes and actions in the atelier can also influence teachers? knowledge and didactic choices in selecting teaching content and strategies. The findings are considered useful for educators and researchers in the field of early childhood education.

The study presented in this article investigates how the curriculum is implemented and transformed by teachers in mixed-age and age-homogeneous groups, the most common age-constellations in the Swedish preschool. The data was collected through group interviews with preschool teachers. The interviews were transcribed and analysed with the support of thematic analysis and connected to a sociocultural perspective on learning. The findings show that the teachers in the different age formations use both the same and different teaching strategies, which means that the curriculum is implemented and transformed in different ways. The teaching and learning events in the age-homogenous groups appear to be more structured and planned, whereas in the mixed-aged groups the teaching is more spontaneous and embedded in the everyday activities.

Syftet med artikeln är att bredda och fördjupa förståelsen för hur dokumentation gestaltas i de finländska och svenska styrdokumenten i relation till förskolläraruppdraget. En kvalitativ summerande innehållsanalys har använts i syfte att förstå den kontextuella användningen av dokumentation i förskolans styrdokument. I resultatet presenteras de nyckelord och teman som framkommit i analysarbetet av styrdokumentens skrivningar om dokumentation. Temapresentationerna visar hur dokumentation kan förstås i relation till läraruppdraget. En slutsats som dras av denna studie är att dokumentationsarbetet påverkas av förståelsen av förskollärares uppdrag och professionskunskaper. Detta innefattar medvetenhet om formuleringar i styrdokumenten och de båda perspektiven av professionalism ”utifrån och in” samt ”inifrån och ut”, i relation till dokumentation och läraruppdraget., This article aims to broaden and deepen the understanding of how Finnish and Swedish governing documents for preschool highlight documentation in relation to the teaching assignment. A qualitative summative content analysis was used in order to understand the contextual use of documentation. The results show keywords and themes on documentation in the analyzed documents and the presentation of themes show how documentation can be understood in relation to the teaching assignment. One conclusion drawn from the present study is that the understanding of the teaching assignment and the teachers’ professional knowledge affect the documentation work. This includes awareness of formulations in governing documents and the ability to relate to the two perspectives of professionalism “outside in” and “inside out” in relation to the documentation and teaching assignment.

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Over the past decades, the concepts of STEM and STEAM has been discussed and used in educational research in different ways. This paper is based on the results from two separate studies. One concerning preschool teachers' understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, in relation to teaching in preschool. The other study concern children’s perspective and strategies in their use of digital technology concerning visual aspects of arts, the A in STEAM. The purpose of this paper is to compare and connects results from the two studies out of the question: What does the A in STEAM add to manners of teaching the subjects referred to in STEM? One theoretical point of departure derives from Shulman's (1986) theory of how knowledge develops in teaching and that teachers use special knowledge in teaching, i.e. pedagogical content knowledge, PCK. We also relate to the concepts of children’s perspective and child perspective (Halldén, 2003; Sommer, Pramling Samuelsson, & Hundeide, 2011) as well as the complexity of diffractive readings (Barad 2014; Magnusson, 2017). The two studies that are in focus are conducted in different ways, with varying methodological approaches and analysed with different theoretical perspective. In this paper, we want to do a meta-analysis with the help of the concepts of children’s perspective and child perspective. By doing that we hope to find new knowledge and thereby contribute to teacher knowledge about teaching STEAM areas. The research follows guidelines for research ethics adopted in the humanities and social sciences in Sweden (codex.vr.se). The preliminary results of the meta-analyses presented in this paper concern how different aspects of the intercept of teacher’s perspective/child perspective and children's perspective, in the two studies, can come to show learning, teaching/education and knowledge practice concerning the contribution of A in STEAM in relation to STEM. In an extension, we mean that the resu

The aim of the research is to investigate how preschool teachers' content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) can be understood in relation to mathematics, science and technology (MST) in preschool i.e. the knowledge and values that underlie preschool teachers' choice of content and how it effects teaching in preschool. Teachers' knowledge of how children learn and the specific knowledge of how all children can be involved in the classroom is one of the components of PCK (Shulman, 1986) that together with issues of gender, class and ethnicity form the framework of the study. Data will be analysed with support of Shulman's theory (1986) and the sociocultural perspective (e.g. Rogoff, 2003, Wenger, 1998). A survey was conducted together with a reference group consisting of experienced preschool managers and preschool teachers. The survey is based on concepts that derive from Shulman (1986) and on the objectives spelled out in the national preschool curriculum (National Agency, 2016). The survey has been sent to 2000 Swedish preschool teachers and has been analysed by multivariate methods. We follow ethical guidelines on anonymity and confidentially from the Swedish Research Council (2011). Findings provide knowledge on how preschool teachers talk about MST, what words they use and their pedagogical content knowledge in relation to their teaching about mathematics, science and technology. The findings show the preschool teachers PCK and also needs and dilemmas when teaching MST content in preschool activities.

The aim with this paper is to discuss play as an arena for mathematical learning and children’s everyday mathematics in preschool. The study focuses on what the children are doing in the play activities and how they express their everyday mathematics. Play can be a mathematical activity (Bishop, 1992) and children’s mathematical formation in play shows their everyday mathematics (Ginsburg, 2006). This paper discusses play and everyday mathematics from a sociocultural perspective (Vygotskij, 1990) and in relation to curriculum (National Agency, 2010, 2012). The empirical data is drawn from a larger study in Sweden (Bäckman, 2015) and video observation is used as a method to explore 4 year old children’s play and everyday mathematics. The examples used in this paper were chosen because they are common play situations in the participating preschools. The ethical considerations follow the rules from The Swedish Research Council (2011). The parents have given permission for the video observations and research to be conducted. The results of the analysis of children’s mathematical formation show two main categories: Exploring mathematics through play and children comparing mathematical experiences. Exploring mathematics through play consists of five sub-categories: experiencing volume, exploring geometrical shapes, discerning weight, discerning quantity and acting for positioning. The category children comparing mathematical experiences consists of four sub-categories: experiencing and comparing size, creating and comparing patterns, comparing proportions and counting and pair production. Implications for practice is that the preschool teachers should have knowledge to design a learning environment that support children’s mathematical exploring and learning through play.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the knowledge preschool teachers need when they teach mathematics. The study focuses on how the knowledge from curriculum affect and is transmitted to teaching and how content is selected, valued and organised when they work with mathematics and documentation. Earlier research shows that the official curricula are important and have impact on how teachers organise the practice (Carr, 2007; Clements & Sarama, 2007). This paper is discussing preschool teacher’s professional knowledge in relation to mathematics and documentation and curriculum. Curriculum theory is used as frame factor in the analysis (Dahlberg et al., 2005; Lundgren, 1972; National Agency, 2010 & 2012). The empirical data drawn from a larger study in Sweden (Bäckman, 2015) include interviews with 19 Swedish preschool teachers. Focus was on their understanding of knowledge and strategies in teaching mathematics. Analyses also consist of frame factors like policy documents and the national preschool curriculum. The ethical considerations follow the rules from The Swedish Research Council (2011). The main findings of the analyses concerning preschool teachers' professional knowledge in relation to teaching mathematics are that policy documents and the national curriculum are strong frame factors and also support different educational strategies. The teachers want to design learning environments that supports children’s mathematical exploring and learning. In that work they used documentation as a strategy to organise the teaching. Children’s teachers need knowledge of the frame factors, both international and national, when they create participatory practice and learning opportunities for children., Barns lärare-antologi

The purpose of the thesis is to study how mathematics is experienced and used in preschool children’s activities and how preschool teachers frame their teaching of mathematical content. The studies include analyses of children’s actions in different activities from a mathematical perspective and preschool teachers’ intentions with and their teaching of mathematics. Preschool teachers’ understanding of the knowledge required in this area is also scrutinised. The theoretical points of departure are variation theory and sociocultural theory. With variation theory the focus is directed towards how mathematical content is dealt with in teaching situations where preschool teachers have chosen the learning objects. The sociocultural perspective has been chosen because children’s mathematical learning in play often takes place in interactions with others and in the encounter with culturally mediated concepts. The theoretical framework also includes didactical points of departure. The study is qualitative, with videography and phenomenography as metholological research approaches. In the study, video observations and interviews with preschool teachers have been used as data collection methods. The results show that in children’s play mathematics consists of volume, geometrical shapes, gravity, quantity and positioning. The situations also include size, patterns, proportions, counting and the creation of pairs. The preschool teachers’ intentions, planning and staging of their goal-oriented work are that all children should be given the opportunity to discern a mathematical content. This also includes making learning objects visible in here-and-now-situations. Variation and a clear focus on the mathematical content are important in this context. One of the study’s knowledge contributions concerns the didactics of mathematics in the preschool. This relates to the teaching of mathematics and includes the knowledge that preschool teachers regard as essential for their teaching. T, Avhandlingens syfte är att studera hur matematik erfars och används i förskolebarns aktiviteter och hur förskollärare utformar undervisning med matematiskt innehåll. Studierna omfattar barns handlingar i olika aktiviteter utifrån ett matematiskt perspektiv och vidare förskollärares intentioner med och genomförande av undervisning i matematik. Dessutom studeras förskollärares uppfattningar av kunskapsbehov i undervisning. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna är variationsteori och sociokulturell teoribildning. Med variationsteorin sätts bl.a. fokus på hur matematikinnehållet behandlas i lärsituationer där förskollärarna valt lärandeobjekt. Det sociokulturella perspektivet har valts därför att barns matematiska lärande i lek ofta sker i samspel med andra och i mötet med kulturellt förmedlade begrepp. Till det teoretiska ramverket hör även didaktiska utgångspunkter. Studien är kvalitativ med videografi och fenomenografi som metodologiska forskningsansatser. I studien har videoobservationer och förskollärarintervjuer använts som metoder för insamling av data. Resultatet visar att matematik i barns lek omfattar volym, geometriska former, tyngd, ”många” och positionering. Situationerna inkluderar även storlek, mönster, proportioner, räkning och parbildning. Förskollärares intentioner, planering och iscensättning av sitt målinriktade arbete är att alla barn ska ges möjlighet att urskilja ett matematiskt innehåll. Intentionen omfattar också att synliggöra lärandeobjekt i här-och-nu-situationer. Variation och ett tydligt fokus på det matematiska innehållet är viktigt i iscensättningen. Ett av studiens kunskapsbidrag handlar om matematikdidaktik i förskolan. Det rör undervisning av matematik och omfattar de kunskaper förskollärare anser sig behöva när de undervisar. Detta inkluderar såväl teoretiska som praktiska kunskaper om barn och barns lärande som didaktiska frågeställningar och strategier. Slutsatser är att förskollärare behöver ha vissa baskunskaper som omfattar matematik oc

This presentation contributes to the knowledge about how children learn about and explore mathematics in their everyday activities. Children´s mathematical encounters in play activities give them experiences as a base for education. The understanding of children’s mathematical encounters in play and teachers’ teaching is presented as teachable and learnable moments in ‘here-and-now’ situations. The data used for this study consists of video recordings of young children’s play in four Swedish preschools. In the presentation I use two examples to illustrate and discuss how children’s play can be a starting point for teachers’ teaching. The results display that a teacher’s questions in play can support children’s explorations if the teacher observes, recognizes the mathematical content and asks questions.

The aim with this paper is to present research about teaching in preschool and the meaning of education in the preschool context within the perspective of quality. More specific the research focus on teaching mathematics and didactical considerations.Teaching mathematics always consists of several components with teacher, children and the mathematical content as three major parts. One of these basic components includes preschool teachers' intentions, choices and actions in which the goal is to create opportunities for children's learning in mathematics. Another component is the children, with their own experiences, intentions and their own choices. A third component is the mathematical content of the teaching situation (Brousseau, 1997). Play is a keyconcept in mathematical activities (Bishop, 1992) and in teaching of a mathematical content (Brousseau, 1997).The research focus is on didactic situations and more specifically the social interaction in teaching so-called didactic contract (Brousseau, 1997). Didactic contract can be understood as the dilemma between the educational goals and the participants’ intentions. A case study illustrates didactic situations in one Swedish preschool.Permissions has been gathered from the parents. The ethical rules for researcher in Sweden have been followed.The findings show the teachers use of play aspects in didactic situations expands the learning opportunities. The didactic contract in teaching give learning opportunities for children. Preschool teachers use of play in didactic situations make the teacher's aware of the mathematical and didactic considerations in relation to context and thereby improve the teaching of mathematical content.

The research objective is to explore the knowledge teachers in Botswana and Sweden, which is important and/or necessary when they teach mathematics and science in Early Childhood Education (ECE). The aim is to discern the basic teacher knowledge that might be global and knowledge shaped by culture. Previous research shows that Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in early childhood includes didactical considerations in relation to culture and children’s experiences (e.g. Clements & Sarama, 2009). According to Shulman (1986) and later Grossman (1990) teachers’ subject knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge both influence teaching. The study involves one survey in Sweden with 64 preschool teachers and one survey in Botswana with 65 preschool educators. We have also used focus groups interviews to gain deeper knowledge of certain issues. We follow the ethical rules for researchers in both countries. The considerations include informed consent and confidentiality. The knowledge base teachers need in preschool include pedagogical and didactical knowledge together with subject knowledge. Data shows that there is basic knowledge that is similar and maybe global when it comes to mathematics and science. However, some knowledge is shaped by culture, local traditions and expectations. To ensure quality education for the youngest children educated teachers with knowledge about content like mathematics and science is needed. Teachers also need knowledge about children and of the learning strategies they are using. Teacher knowledge also includes curriculum goals and how to implement curriculum in daily activities and play.

Matematikundervisning i förskolan - Vad då undervisning!? I föreläsningen presenteras ett aktionsforskningsprojekt där vi fokuserat på förskollärares matematikundervisning i etniskt mångkulturella förskolor. I projektet medverkar 15 förskollärare som alla arbetar på etniskt mångkulturella förskolor. Vi problematiserar undervisningsbegreppet och beskriver hur vi med stöd i bl.a. variationsteori synliggör det matematiska innehållet i förskolans vardag, där omsorg och lärande, tillsammans med barns intressen och erfarenheter utgör en grund. I undervisningen används estetiska uttrycksformer och Tecken som Alternativ och Kompletterande Kommunikation (TAKK). Pedagogiska verktyg i aktionsforskningen är till loggboksskrivande, observationer, intervju/samtal och dokumentation (förutsättningar-process-resultat-reflektion). Vi visar hur barns intressen och erfarenheter kan synliggöras och tas till vara i undervisnings- och lärandesyfte. Exempel från verksamheterna kommer att visas tillsammans med hur vi dokumenterar barns erfarande. Projektet har även ett samarbete med lärare och forskare i Botswana och vi kommer också att berätta om våra erfarenheter från de enkätundersökningar vi gjort beträffande vilka kunskaper som förskollärare i anser sig behöva i matematikundervisning. Projektet är en del av arbetet inom forskargruppen Early Childhood Education (ECE) vid Högskolan i Gävle och i samarbete med University of Botswana (ett Sida finansierat projekt).

Preschool teachers need a knowledge base that includes pedagogical and didactical knowledge together with the subject knowledge. This paper sheds light on preschool teachers’ experiences in mathematics and science teaching in the early years. The paper covers the situation in Botswana, a developing country and Sweden, a developed one. The aim is to present a comparison of the pedagogical and didactical knowledge of a preschool teacher in mathematics and science. The study highlights Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) and didactical considerations of maths and science teaching in preschools with reference to varied contexts, cultures and values. The Research intends to find out existing practices and derive the best method of teaching math and science in countries with diverse cultural and traditional framework. The survey conducted used a sample of 72 preschool teachers in Sweden and 64 in Botswana. Questionnaires and Focus Group Discussions were used for data collection; quantitative as well as qualitative analysis was used to compare the groups in the research study. The findings show that the context and culture play a significant role in teaching learning process. In a developing country like Botswana, the teachers were untrained in ECE and needed professional training to acquire pedagogical and content knowledge to plan maths and science activities and use available resources effectively. In a developed country like Sweden, on the contrary, teachers were trained in ECE, who planned activities and used available resources effectively and yet emphasised on updating content knowledge through specialized training. Both the countries however, need a Science Centre, documentation of experiences, knowledge handling and an administrative support to execute the BEST PRACTICE in teaching of mathematics and science to young children.

I samband med implementeringen av den reviderade läroplanen har matematik och undervisning som begrepp samt hur förskollärare förhåller sig till detta aktualiserats. När förskollärare ska förhålla sig till barns matematiska lärande är omsorg hela tiden en lika viktig aspekt. Det är viktigt att båda begreppen finns med i förskolans pedagogik och didaktik. Syftet med aktionsforskningsprojektet är att förskollärarna och barnskötarna med stöd i teorier ska fördjupa sina kunskaper. Med frågeställningar som rör undervisning i matematik ska deltagarna tillsammans utveckla metoder för att tillgodose alla barns möjlighet att lära utifrån sina perspektiv. Projektets utgångspunkter och frågeställningar berör och problematiserar: Undervisning i förskolan, omsorg och lärande Matematik i förskolan Barns intressen och erfarenheter Urskiljning av lärandeobjekt Dokumentation Värdering Teoretiskt ramverk är variationsteori (ex. Björklund, 2007), estetiska uttrycksformer (ex Bamford, 2006) och TAKK - Tecken som Alternativ och Kompletterande Kommunikation (Nylund m.fl, 2010). Förutom dessa teoretiska perspektiv har de 15 deltagande förskollärarna från tre etniskt mångkulturella förskolor läst Nylund, Rönnerman, Sandback och Wilhelmsson (2010). De pedagogiska verktyg som förskollärarna använder sig av är loggboksskrivande, observationer, intervju/samtal med barnen och dokumentation (förutsättningar-process-resultat-reflektion. Projektet är en del av arbetet inom forskargruppen Early Childhood Education (ECE) vid Högskolan i Gävle och i samarbete med University of Botswana (ett Sida finansierat projekt).

The aim of this study is to describe what kind of knowledge base is needed when pre-school teachers work goal-oriented with children’s mathematical learning. The question of this study aims to answer is: What kind of knowledge base do pre-school teachers need when they work with the object of learning in the pre-school context? Both as a theoretical and an analytical framework, we use variation theory. In all, four pre-school teachers are involved in the study. The research results indicate that it is important for pre-school teachers to have subject and pedagogical content knowledge in order to recognize children’s experiences and be aware of their expressions.

TEACHING AND LEARNING GEOMETRY IN PRESCHOOL The main aim of the study presented in this paper is to explore how preschool teachers can use everyday life settings as teaching and learning situations. The research is praxis near and a goal is to shed light on teaching and learning geometry in three Swedish preschools. In the Swedish preschool curriculum (Lpfö 98 revised 2010, 2011) it is expressed that preschool teachers will create learning environment that enable children to develop the ability to discern and perceive the relationships between concepts. In this on-going research the variation theory (Björklund, 2007; Marton et al., 2004; Runesson; 2006) is used as a theoretical and an analytical framework. In this theory, learning always has an object, ‘what’ and in this study it is geometric figures. The objects are experienced and conceptualized by the children (the learners) in different ways, ‘how’. Marton et.al. (2004) describe three types of the object of learning: the intended object of learning, the enacted object of learning and the lived object of learning. In all, 15 preschool teachers from three preschools are involved in the study. The children are between 1, 5 to 5 years old. In this study the preschool teachers work with variation and contrasts in order to make the object (for example circles) visible for children, and thereby possible to discern. They use fairy tales and children’s play with artefacts as pedagogical tools in everyday life. Observations and documentations are methods to have knowledge of the different forms of the object of learning. So far the findings show that teaching in preschool can be based on a theory of learning where children learn geometry by the discernment of differences and similarities between objects with the help of artefacts in play. The results also show that preschool teachers need knowledge about both the learning theory and the subject. The findings have relevance to Nordic educational research and also in wider