Medier, lärande och det mediespecifika : en undersökning om den rörliga bildens plats och betydelse i ett ämnesövergripande projekt

The overall purpose of this licentiate thesis is to explore how different media is considered and valued by teachers in an interdisciplinary project in which the subjects of Art and Swedish are included. In the project, The Horror Genre in Literature and Film, a variety of mediations are represented: speech, writing, still- and moving images. The study focuses on the teaching strategies and approaches that participating teachers have in relation to the project's various mediations. My central concern is how the media of moving images is considered in the project. Of particular interest for my study is the question if teachers takes into account the media's special possibilities and limitations in their teaching. The theoretical framework is sociocultural theory, narrative theory and theories from the field of media and multimodality. The study was conducted in a Swedish primary school where three classes in 8th grade participated. The empirical material consists of interviews with three teachers in the subject Swedish and with one Art teacher. Also part of the empirical material, are the films produced by the pupils in the project. These films were analysed with the purpose of identifying to what degree the pupils used a narrative that is particular to the medium of moving image. The project in my study was carried out as an interdisciplinary project. Nonetheless, the results show that the teachers in the various subjects work toward the goals set in their own school subjects and that no common goals or overall objectives were formulated in the project. My study also shows that the mediations that are rewarded and have a superior role in the project are the spoken and the written word. The media of moving images has a marginalised place in the project and is regarded as less important. The main result of my study shows the problems that may arise when different forms of mediation co-exist in project-based learning within a school context. It also points out the difficulties that interdisciplinary projects have to face in terms of national regulations, frame factors such as the distribution of lesson hours, resources, as well as other factors that can affect the possibility of cooperation between the subjects