Independent thesis Advanced level (professional degree), 20 credits / 30 HE credits
The purpose of the thesis project is to investigate if social studies in grade F-3 is taught by
way of textbooks. The secondary aim is to learn if, and in what way, teachers include news
media in their teaching, and what knowledge and skills can be developed by the students by
doing so? Research shows that news media is included in social studies education in order to
achieve knowledge goals. On the other hand, there is no research that highlights the inclusion
of news media at lower grades. This created questions and raised considerations for me. These
questions and considerations are the basis for this thesis work.
The research for this thesis project was carried out using qualitive interviews of teachers. Four
respondents from four different schools participated in the survey. In the analysis, it became
clear that the teachers use news media for different purposes in their teaching. It also emerged
that the pupils develop diverse knowledge and skills when they learn from news media during
the teaching. The teachers also perceive that teaching using the teaching aids, such as textbooks,
that already exist at the schools is seen as outdated. The teachers believe that current
developments in society limit the existing teaching aids preventing the students from achieving
deeper knowledge.
2019. , p. 78