| 1. |
- Berglund, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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On insights into teaching and learning technological systems
- 2016
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Ingår i: Different horizons: setting directions for phenomenographic research, EARLI Special Interest Group 9, Phenomenography and Variation Theory, Gothenburg 24-26 Aug..
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of the ETSC project is to explore how pupils, aged 11 - 13, learn about technological systems, with a further goal of offering insights useful for designing good teaching. This is a complicated tak as there is only is little previous research, no jointly agreed definition of the object of the pupils’ learning or how it should be taught exists, and the research on learning situations where learners work in teams with a high degree of agency is methodologically not well developed. Inspired by phenomenography and variation theory, we have collected data from lessons in technological systems. To analyse this learning we have developed a framework, where the four positions on which it is based together offer insights in the pupils’ learning, valuable for teaching. •A core position is technology itself, as it is the object of the pupils’ learning. •A classic phenomenographic analysis reveals how the pupils experience technological systems. •The teaching emphasis three dimensions of variation in understanding technological systems (Svensson, 2011). We investigate to what extent these dimensions are mirrored in the pupils’ learning. •The phenomenographic distinction on deep and surface learning offers a way to express how the pupils approach their learning. In our presentation, we will exemplify how these positions, taken together, can offer insights in the pupils’ perspective on technological systems.
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| 2. |
- Ingerman, Åke, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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The focus of phenomenography: the phenomenon and the object of learning
- 2014
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Ingår i: Presentation at the EARLI SIG9 conference ”Disciplinary Knowledge and Necessary Conditions of Learning”, Oxford, September 1-3.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Phenomenographic studies normally aim towards exploring different ways of experiencing or understanding a phenomenon. There is an explicit claim that these ways of experiencing capture what the phenomenon may look like from the point of view of the students (or experiencers), rather than what the phenomenon is per se (ontologically or epistemologically). Studies based on the variation theory of learning, and in particular learning studies, rather refer to the object of learning as the relevant point of experiential reference in processes of learning and classroom teaching. The object of learning is generally identified and delimited by the teachers. It can be argued that the “success” of a learning study in a way can be measured by the alignment of the intended, enacted and experienced object of learning. Thus, there are succinct differences in perspective (student vs teacher) between phenomenon and object of learning. In this discussion we explore overlaps and tensions between them in relation to the ambition of analytically addressing empirical data from students discussing in groups with and without the teacher as a part of classroom teaching. Phenomena as emergent in such discussion may then be constituted differently and as distinct from the object of learning (and not reducible to the lived object of learning). Theoretical and empirical considerations are done.
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| 3. |
- Svensson, Maria, 1969, et al.
(författare)
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Classroom expressions of knowing technolgoical systems
- 2014
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Ingår i: Presentation at the EARLI SIG9 conference ”Disciplinary Knowledge and Necessary Conditions of Learning”, Oxford, September 1-3.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The idea of technological systems is potentially powerful for citizens of our society relevant for reasoning, acting and making decisions in relation to societal infrastructures such as water supply, electricity and information systems. Even though we daily interact with and use these systems, what knowing technological systems means in the societal and citizenary context is not well established. Even less is known about what may constitute good teaching for learning. This presentation aims towards explicating critical aspects of knowing technological systems, as it is expressed across various contexts within classroom teaching focusing the area. The analysis is reminiscent of a phenomenographic analysis in that it focuses critical aspects and qualitative differences between expressions, but is unusual in 22 that it derives from a broad array of empirical material: classroom discussions, pupil writings and interviews. Seen across the different contexts, it is clear that the different expressions relevant for the object of learning - technological systems - not easily can be aligned with one phenomenon, at least not in the traditional phenomenographic sense. The identified critical aspects include, but are not restricted to recognising infrastructural relations, functional dependencies, internal-external horizons and information-energy-matter transformations. The subject context (as the technology knowledge domain) and the integration of knowing technological systems emerge as an independent quality.
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| 4. |
- Ingerman, Åke, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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On the exploration, expansion and expression of experiencing technological systems across contexts: learning technology in the Swedish compulsory school
- 2012
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Ingår i: The EARLI SIG9 conference, Jönköping, Sweden, 27-28 August 2012.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the phenomenographic tradition, the process of learning is usually described as becoming capable of discerning a phenomenon in qualitatively new ways. In a project that focuses on what it takes and means to learn technological systems, we will study the relationship between learning in this sense, and the variation and invariance in the moment-to-moment manifestation of such an emerging capability. The object of learning, technological systems, comprises complex systems of technical and human components that facilitate much of the experienced needs of modern society, constituted of the transformation and transport of matter, energy and information. The context of the study is the Swedish compulsory school. To allow for such a detailed investigation, the empirical design includes a teaching plan, jointly developed by involved teachers and researchers, which leads to a variation of pedagogical activities across contexts in which different technological systems may be encountered. The design includes the collection and analysis of video and audio data, and discussions with teachers and students. The different communicative situations which focus on technological systems are bound together by the individuals involved, who are working, collaboratively as well as individually, to develop their experience of technological systems. The presentation focus challenges and open questions.
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| 5. |
- Ingerman, Åke, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Technological systems across contexts: Designing and exploring learning possiblities in Swedish compulsory technology education
- 2012
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Ingår i: Technology Education in the 21st Century, Proceedings from the PATT 26 Conference, Stockholm, Sweden 26-30 June 2012, Edited by Thomas Ginner, Jonas Hallström, Magnus Hultén. - 1650-3740. - 9789175198491 ; , s. 232-238
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the world we live in there are powerful broad frameworks for understanding specific objects, relationships and events. This paper focuses the learning and understanding of one such frame- work, namely, technological systems, which are complex systems of technical and human compo- nents that facilitate much of the experienced needs of modern society. Technological systems are constituted of transformation and transport, acting on matter, energy and information. This paper outlines a larger project, which is expected to contribute substantially to a pedagogical knowledge base for systems thinking in technology. The specific focus of the paper will be the first step in the project – the development of a design for learning technological systems in Swedish compulsory school based on previous empirical studies as well as theoretical principles. The core of that design revolves around creating patterns of variation supporting the separation and differentiation in and between four empirically identified dimensions of variation: resource, intention, internal struc- ture and external structure. It also includes patterns of variation that support the fusion of these dimensions and simultaneous awareness of several different technological systems, focusing their systemic nature.
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| 6. |
- Svensson, Maria, 1969, et al.
(författare)
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Teaching and learning system thinking in technology
- 2015
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Ingår i: Plurality and Complementarity of Approaches in Design and Technology Education: PATT29 conference proceedings. Apr 2015, Marseille, France. - Marseille : Presses Universitaires de Provence. - 9782853999946 ; , s. 404-409, s. 404-409
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Complex technological systems have emerged during the last decade as an important strand in technology teaching in several national curricula for compulsory school. However, even though understanding the systemic aspects and connected nature of contemporary society, it remains unclear what such understanding entails in detail, and even more unclear what may constitute good teaching. We present the results from a teaching-learning design project on the topic of large societal and complex technological systems, which are seen as constituted of transformation and transport, acting on matter, energy and information. The main results are a suggested and evaluated plan of teaching developed in collaboration with a team of technology teachers, as well as descriptions of how pupils’ system thinking is constituted in terms of four basic aspects: Resource and intention of the system; System component constitution; Process and transformation in components and system; Network character. In total, a teaching plan spanning four lessons was realised in four different classrooms, with classes’ sizes ranging 15 to 25 pupils in the ages 14 and 15. The teaching design progresses through focusing specific parts of various systems, for example the transformation of polluted water to clean water in a water purification plant as part of the water supply system. There is an emphasis on the function of the part in relation to the system on the one hand, and on how the part is and can be realised technically, taking care to relate the latter to what is taken up in other curricular strands of technology. The last part focuses the examination of technological systems as constituted by interacting and meaningful parts, where their network nature may emerge.
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| 7. |
- Svensson, Maria, 1969, et al.
(författare)
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Teaching salient features of complex technological systems
- 2013
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Ingår i: Presented at WALS 2013, Göteborg, September 2013.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the world we live in there are powerful broad frameworks for understanding specific objects, relationships and events. One such focused in this action research project is Technological Systems, which are complex systems of technical and human components that facilitate much of the experienced needs of modern society. Technological systems are constituted of transformation and transport, acting on matter, energy and information. Teaching technology in Swedish compulsory schools implies supporting students aged 13-15 to grasp some of the systemic aspects of contemporary society such as internet (information), water supply system (matter) and the power grid (energy). Such elements are emphasised in the current curriculum. However, what are the salient features of such an understanding is not well understood. This poster reports on experiences of a teaching design spanning four lessons addressing this. The design is based both on recent educational research and technology teacher experiences, partly framed with variation theory. There is four identified salient features: resource – What the system acts on, in terms of matter, energy and information, intention – What can be identified as the system’s intended function, internal structure – How the systems is organised in terms of components, framework of relationships and human agency, external structure – How the system is organised in terms of how it interacts with the surrounding world, such as other technological, natural and social systems. The teaching design explicitly has the ambition to address the expressions of complex systems in different contexts, and supporting that students discern that it is meaningful to see what to them may appear as unrelated events as elements constituting a system. The first lesson addresses this starting in students’ morning habits, relating this to resource and intention in the associated technological systems. The second lesson focuses the interrelated aspects of systems through investigating breakdowns in system components, and thus the constitution of the internal structure. The third lesson focus representations and visualisations of the system, furthering the internal structure. The fourth lesson brings out the interaction with society (external structure) and the evolving aspects of systems in a historical and futuristic perspective. The design has been developed through two cycles of planning, actualisation and evaluation. The design is evaluated through group discussion and analysis of video and audio data from the classroom and from student interviews, as well as documentation of student tasks.
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| 8. |
- Adawi, Tom, 1970, et al.
(författare)
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On context in phenomenographic research on understanding heat and temperature
- 2001
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Ingår i: The 9th EARLI conference, Fribourg, August 2001, Fribourg, Switzerland.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Starting from an empirical study of lay adults' everyday understanding of the scientificconcepts of heat and temperature, we have found it necessary to distinguish betweendifferent meanings of the notion of context in phenomenographic research.In order to reveal interesting and important differences in the ways in which aphenomenon is experienced, the phenomenographic researcher relegates experience ofthe context to the background. To confuse the variation in ways of experiencing thecontext(s) of the study with the variation in ways of experiencing the phenomenon ofstudy is to risk losing fundamental insights.This does not mean, however, that the researcher can neglect the context(s), even if it isnot of main interest. Since the research object of a phenomenographic study is "variationin ways of experiencing something", we discuss context as experienced and interwovenwith the experience of the phenomenon. We argue that the experienced context, thecontext as created and understood by the researcher, and the relation between these arerelevant to varying degrees and in varying ways at different stages of the research project.In our paper we see the experienced context from the perspective of "who isexperiencing" the context: the individual, the collective, or the researcher (whether asphenomenographer or as physicist). This will be illustrated from the empirical data.The proposed distinctions provide a better ground for generalising the results of thestudy, since they help us to understand the differences between the research situation(s)and the research object(s).
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| 9. |
- Collier-Reed, Brandon I., et al.
(författare)
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Reflections on trustworthiness in phenomenographic research : Recognising purpose, context and change in the process of research
- 2009
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Ingår i: Education as Change. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1682-3206 .- 1947-9417. ; 13:2, s. 339-355
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In interpretive research, trustworthiness has developed to become an important alternative for measuring the value of research and its effects, as well as leading the way of providing for rigour in the research process. The article develops the argument that trustworthiness plays an important role in not only effecting change in a research project’s original setting, but also that trustworthy research contributes toward building a body of knowledge that can play an important role in societal change. An essential aspect in the development of this trustworthiness is its relationship to context. To deal with the multiplicity of meanings of context, we distinguish between contexts at different levels of the research project: the domains of the researcher, the collective, and the individual participant. Furthermore, we argue that depending on the primary purpose associated with the collective learning potential, critical potential, or performative potential of phenomenographic research, developing trustworthiness may take different forms and is related to aspects of pedagogical legitimacy, social legitimacy, and epistemological legitimacy. Trustworthiness in phenomenographic research is further analysed by distinguishing between the internal horizon – the constitution of trustworthiness as it takes place within the research project – and the external horizon, which points to the impact of the phenomenographic project in the world mediated by trustworthiness.
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| 10. |
- Adawi, Tom, et al.
(författare)
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On context in phenomenographic research on understanding heat and temperate
- 2002
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Ingår i: EARLI, Bi-annual Symposium, Fribourg, Switzerland.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Starting from an empirical study of lay adults' understanding of heatand temperature, we distinguish between different meanings of "context" inphenomenographic research. To confuse the variation in ways of experiencingthe context(s) of the study with the variation in ways of experiencing thephenomenon of study is to risk losing fundamental insights. We discuss contextas experienced and as interwoven with the experience of the phenomenon, andanalyse its significance in two dimensions: (1) the stage of the research project:formulating the question, collecting data, analysing data and deploying results;and (2) "who is experiencing" the context: the individual, the collective, or theresearcher. The arguments are illustrated from the empirical study.
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