| 1. |
- Areljung, Sofie, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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Why and how teachers make use of drawing activities in early childhood science education
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Journal of Science Education. - : Routledge. - 0950-0693 .- 1464-5289. ; 43:13, s. 2127-2147
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Researchers have provided many arguments for why drawing may contribute to science learning. However, little is known about how teachers in early childhood education (ECE) make use of drawing for science learning purposes. This article examines how teachers’ views and framing of drawing activities influence the science learning opportunities afforded to children in the activities. We use activity theory to analyse teacher interviews and observation data from ten science classrooms (children aged 3–8 years) where drawing activities occurred. The interviews reveal that few of the teachers relate drawing to science learning specifically. Rather, they portray drawing as a component of variation in teaching and learning in general. Looking at what happens in the classrooms, we conclude that drawing has a relatively weak position as means of communicating and learning science. Instead, the teaching emphasis is on writing or on ‘making a product’. However, there are examples where teachers explicitly use drawing for science learning purposes. These teachers are the same few who, in interviews, relate drawing to science learning specifically. Based on these findings, we encourage school teachers, teacher educators, and researchers to identify, and overcome,obstacles to realising the pedagogical potentials of drawing in ECE science classrooms.
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| 3. |
- Sundberg, Bodil, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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The Development of Pre-school Student Teachers´ Attitudes Towards Science and Science Teaching During Their University Studies
- 2010
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Ingår i: Contemporary science education research. - Istanbul : Ankara Pegem Akademi. - 9786053640325 ; , s. 157-166, s. 157-166
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Considerable concern has been raised in Sweden about decreasing interest in science among young people. One key to improving attitudes towards science is an early positive contact with science. Numerous studies have however shown that elementary and pre-school teacher generally have negative attitudes towards science and science teaching, as well as poor science content knowledge. As a consequence, science teaching in pre-schools often is fragmented. A pre-school teacher education that prepares student teachers for teaching science with confidence has therefore been put forward as a way of increasing quality science teaching in pre-schools. In this longitudinal study, attitudes towards science and science teaching of students enrolled in a science and art oriented pre-school teacher programme were followed during their first years of university studies.The results show that the socialization process into the scientific discourse takes time, and that one full year of exposure to activities with scientific content was needed for skeptical attitudes towards science to change. The results also indicate that dominant attitudes, norms and behaviors of the pre-school professional culture may clash with developing science teaching skills. Pre-school teacher education therefore also needs to communicate about these contradicting cultures.
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| 4. |
- Sundberg, Bodil, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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Science in Preschool : a foundation for education for sustainability? A view from Swedish preschool teacher education
- 2014
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Ingår i: Research in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability. - oxon : Routledge. - 9780415854481 - 9780415854498 - 9781315767499 ; , s. 280-293
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this chapter we elaborate on how science encounters can be used within education for sustainability (EfS) in preschool practice as a means of empowering children to engage with sustainability. We acknowledge recent research arguing for a rethink of what science teaching in preschool can be. Such rethinking involves a shift from viewing science in preschool as mainly nature experiences towards introducing young children to science inquiry. By doing so, the interplay between knowledge, values and the ways in which humans build and make use of new knowledge can become visible thus, laying a foundation for EfS. Implementation of science inquiry processes in preschools would, however, necessitate changes in preschool teachers’ personal and professional views of science, nature and pedagogy. In our research we have explored how competence in inquiry-based teaching may, or may not, develop during pre-service preschool teacher education. We have also observed how competence can develop, but still not be realized in practice due to culturally and historically grounded attitudes and notions about science and about teaching. Drawing on these findings, we initiate discussion about how pre-service and in-service teacher education can support a broader view of teaching and science to fit the ‘community of practice’ of preschools and hence make a contribution to EfS. Our suggestions highlight the need for pre-service and in-service education to explore the historical/cultural contexts of preschool practices and teachers’ roles in raising children’s awareness of their own scientific observations and science learning processes. We also stress the need for stronger co-operation between teacher educators and teachers in practicum settings to ensure that pre-service students experience preschool environments where they have opportunities to challenge norms and practice inquiry teaching skills that are foundational for EfS.
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| 5. |
- Hedefalk, Maria, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Didactical dilemmas when planning teaching for sustainable development in preschool
- 2021
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Ingår i: Environmental Education Research. - : Routledge. - 1350-4622 .- 1469-5871. ; 27:1, s. 37-49
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article we analyze preschool teacher students' conversations on planning teaching for sustainable development; a project. Previous research shows that teaching situations often involve strategies of achieving behavioral change; i.e. teaching "the right way" to handle garbage, and less activities allowing children to value and critically discuss sustainability issues. We take a pragmatic theoretical perspective to identify discourses on didactic choices created by teacher students during seminars. Texts in the form of transcripts of audio recordings from three seminars were analyzed, with the purpose of determining what didactical dilemmas were created in the students' discussions and in their reasoning about how to solve them. The results show a didactic dilemma common among the five groups of students. A tension between content as given, based on the curriculum, and content as created, based on children's experiences and ideas. Furthermore, the teacher students verbalized a third way of handling content, involving oscillating between given and created content. This oscillation allowed them to avoid normative teaching and instead achieve pluralistic teaching. Pluralistic teaching does not exclude predefined content such as facts, but it also includes other knowledge sources as well as allowing children to form their own opinions about sustainability issues.
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| 6. |
- Högström, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Laborativt arbete i grundskolans senare år : lärares perspektiv
- 2010
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Ingår i: NorDiNa. - Oslo : University of Oslo Library. - 1504-4556 .- 1894-1257. ; 6:1, s. 80-91
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we describe the results from interviews with science teachers in lower secondary school. The teachers were asked what they wanted to achieve with laboratory work, what difficulties they experienced and if there were any differences between lab work in biology, chemistry and physics. The results show that the teachers wanted lab work to help the students develop their understanding, to make them interested and to develop their laboratory skills. Some of the teachers described lab work that included scientific inquiry but not, specifically, knowledge about how to systematically investigate phenomena in nature. Aspects of nature of science were rare. Lack of time to discuss with the students during lab work was seen as one difficulty which resulted in problems for students to linkobservables to scientific ideas. Laboratory exercises in chemistry were often regarded too abstract while lab work in physics and biology were much easier to link to everyday life.
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| 7. |
- Caiman, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
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Pre-school teaching for creative processes in education for sustainable development - invisible animal traces, purple hands, and an elk container
- 2022
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Ingår i: Environmental Education Research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1350-4622 .- 1469-5871. ; 28:3, s. 457-475
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Living in the anthropocene requires addressing several challenges. New forms of teaching where experiences of problem solving, creativity and innovation strategies are needed and considered important. This Swedish study contributes with knowledge on pre-school children’s creativity processes when working on an authentic, child-initiated sustainability problem about consumption. Teachers’ careful listening was important when forming the teaching context for the sustainability problem. A pragmatic perspective on learning and meaning-making is used to identify the significant features of the different phases in the creativity processes. The empirical results show: the importance of affording a creative context with uncoded material for children to transact with; previous experiences have a prominent role when imagining and reaching beyond the ordinary; the importance of teachers’ positive aesthetic judgments for sustaining the creative process. In alignment with the idea of learning as participation, the children broadened the consumption topic to contribute with creative outcomes for animals’ welfare.
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| 8. |
- Sundberg, Bodil, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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TEACHING ABOUT WATER IN PRESCHOOL, PRESCHOOL-CLASS, AND PRIMARY SCHOOL : STEPPING STONES TOWARDS SCIENCE LITERACY OR MORE OF THE SAME?
- 2021
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Ingår i: NFSUN 2021: Science Education in the light of Global Sustainable Development – Trends and possibilities.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Water is a substance commonly used in early childhood (EC) science education, both as a content to learn about, and as a medium for exploring chemical and physical processes. In this presentation, we will compare how educators across different EC school forms shape science activities focusing on water. The aim is to contribute knowledge about science teaching continuity across EC school forms. Activity Theory was used to describe and analyse how science teaching was shaped, and to compare what was afforded to the children in the different school forms. Data was collected through individual interviews with teachers and observations of classroom activities focusing on water. Many similarities were found in how science was dealt with across the EC school forms, but gradual shifts in how the subject was communicated and from exploring and ‘doing’ towards an emphasis on facts, processes and inquiry resulted in an overall picture of science teaching continuity, rather than ‘more of the same’. Our results also revealed a rather sharp shift between preschool and school in how teachers make way for children’s own questions and agency during science activities, demonstrating how different curricula may give different possibilities for science based on children’s interests.
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| 9. |
- Sundberg, Bodil, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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The conflict within the role : a longitudinal study of preschool student teachers' developing competence in and attitudes towards science teaching in relation to developing a professional role
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education. - London : Informa UK Limited. - 1090-1027 .- 1745-5642. ; 34:1, s. 80-94
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this exploratory, longitudinal study was to describe an overall picture ofhow perceptions of the teacher role and attitudes toward science and science teachingdevelop and interact during preschool teacher education, and how this in turn influencesbehavior when students are engaged in teaching science. Sixty-five students enrolled in apreschool teacher education program at a Swedish university were followed throughouttheir teacher education. The study used a phenomenographic approach within a theoreticalframework of sociocultural and situated learning perspective. Questionnaires withopen and closed questions were combined with interviews. The results show that in spiteof growing competence and confidence, many of the students still found science activitiesto be awkward in preschool, mainly due to a wish to protect the children from schoolculture. The results have implications for teacher education and the preschool community,showing a need to problematize the purpose of teaching science in preschool andthe meaning of pedagogical content knowledge in this context.
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| 10. |
- Sundberg, Bodil, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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Opportunities for and obstacles to science in preschools : views from a community perspective
- 2018
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Ingår i: International Journal of Science Education. - : Routledge. - 0950-0693 .- 1464-5289. ; 40:17, s. 2061-2077
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, Activity Theory (AT) is used to analyse general patterns for how cultural and historical factors interact with the shaping of science activities in preschools. Data was produced from field notes, video observations, video stimulated recall group discussions and individual interviews with preschool teachers at fourteen preschool units, where science activities were described as a common feature of the practice. Two factors were found to be particularly important for how and whether science learning opportunities were afforded the children: the structure of the preschool community and the type of educational culture within it. In communities characterised by weak mutual commitment and without joint understanding of the purpose of the activities, the science learning objects of the activity often became fragmented and thereby elusive. This was also true for strong communities, with a shared approach and a joint understanding of the purpose of the science activities, but with educational cultures where science learning was not actively supported. In contrast, a strong community combined with an educational culture that allowed teachers to lead and intentionally frame the science content, offered child-centred science activities with clear science learning objects.
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