| 1. |
- Anderhag, Per, et al.
(författare)
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What can a teacher do to support students’ interest in science? : A study of the constitution of taste in a science classroom
- 2015
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Ingår i: Research in science education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0157-244X .- 1573-1898. ; 45:5, s. 749-784
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, we examined how a teacher may make a difference to the way interest develops in a science classroom, especially for students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. We adopted a methodology based on the concept of taste for science drawing on the work of John Dewey and Pierre Bourdieu. We investigated through transcripts from video recordings how such a taste is socially constituted in a 9th grade (ages 15–16) science classroom, where there was evidence that the teacher was making a positive difference to students’ post-compulsory school choice with regard to science. Salient findings regarding how this teacher supported students’ interest are summarized. For example, the teacher consistently followed up how the students acknowledged and enjoyed purposes, norms, and values of the science practice and so ensuing that they could participate successfully. During these instances, feelings and personal contributions of the students were also acknowledged and made continuous with the scientific practice. The results were compared with earlier research, implications are discussed, and some suggestions are given about how these can be used by teachers in order to support student interest.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Kristina
(författare)
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"It's Funny that We Don't See the Similarities when that's what We're Aiming for"-Visualizing and Challenging Teachers' Stereotypes of Gender and Science
- 2012
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Ingår i: Research in science education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0157-244X .- 1573-1898. ; 42:2, s. 281-302
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study illuminates teachers' conceptions of gender and science and possibilities to challenge these conceptions. Since 2005, a group of teachers (K-6) in Sweden have met approximately once a month in two-hour seminars to discuss and develop their instruction in science and technology based on a gender perspective. The present data consist mainly of audio-recordings of the teacher seminars and video-recordings of science activities with students. Analysis of the empirical data has been carried out in several stages and was inspired by thematic analysis, the theoretical framework of which is based on Hirdman's and Beauvoir's theories of gender. The results show that the teachers' ideas about gender/equity and science exist on several levels, within which various conceptions are represented. On the one hand, "reasoning around similarity", where teachers consider that both girls and boys should have the same prerequisites for working with science. In contrast, stereotypical conceptions of girls and boys occur when the teachers evaluate their activities with students, and condescending attitudes toward girls are also observed. The girls' ways of working with science are not as highly valued as the boys', and this outlook on children can ultimately have consequences for girls' attitudes towards the subject. When teachers are allowed to read their own statements about the girls, they get "a glimpse of themselves", and their condescending ideas about girls are made visible. In this way, the teachers can begin their active work towards change, which may lead to new outlooks on and attitudes towards students.
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| 3. |
- Andrée, Maria, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Spontaneous Play and Imagination in Everyday Science Classroom Practice
- 2013
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Ingår i: Research in science education. - : Springer. - 0157-244X .- 1573-1898. ; 43:5, s. 1735-1750
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In science education, students sometimes create and engage in spontaneous science-oriented play where ideas about science and scientists are put to use. However, in previous research, little attention has been given to the role of informal spontaneous play in school science classrooms. We argue that, in order to enhance our understanding of learning processes in school science practices, research that investigates play as an aspect of everyday culture is needed. The aim of this paper is to explore students’ informal play as part of activity in lower secondary school science. The empirical study was conducted in two Swedish compulsory schools in grade 6. Data were collected throughout a teaching unit called ‘The Chemistry of Food’ during a 10-week period using video and audiotape recordings of classroom work. Our analyses show that the play students engage in involves the transformations of given tasks. We find that students’ spontaneous collective play offers opportunities for them to explore the epistemic values and norms of science and different ways of positioning in relation to science. Our findings contribute to the understanding of how learning in the school science classroom is socially and culturally–historically embedded and how individual students’ engagement through play may transform and transcend existing classroom practices.
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| 4. |
- Areljung, Sofie, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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"Drawing the leaves anyway" : teachers embracing children's different ways of knowing in preschool science practice
- 2017
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Ingår i: Research in science education. - : Springer. - 0157-244X .- 1573-1898. ; 47:6, s. 1173-1192
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study explores if and how teachers combine practices of science and of preschool (children 1–5 years old) into preschool science practice. Views of knowing may differ between science practices, traditionally associated with masculinity and rationality, and preschool practices, traditionally associated with femininity and caring. Recognising this, wehave chosen to focus on how teachers’ talk constructs and relates to possible ways of gaining knowledge and reaching explanations of phenomena in preschool science. The analysis buildson two concept pairs often associated with gender as well as knowing: objective-subjective and logical-intuitive. The analysed material consists of 11 group interviews where preschool teachers talk about activities concerning science content. Our results show that several ways of knowing are possible in work with science content in preschool. These include ways of knowing more associated with subjectivity, such as ‘individual liking’ and ‘whole-body perception’, as well as more associated with objectivity, such as ‘noticing differences and similarities’. Furthermore, the results show that the teachers’ talk moves readily between possibilities associated with femininity (subjective and intuitive) and masculinity (objective and logical). This indicates that the teachers in this study have found ways to handle science in preschool that goes against presumed tensions between science and preschool practices. The results contribute to more nuanced ways of describing and thinking about science in preschool and pave the way for further development of science education in early childhood education.
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| 5. |
- Areljung, Sofie, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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Teaching for Emergent Disciplinary Drawing in Science? Comparing Teachers' and Children's Ways of Representing Science Content in Early Childhood Classrooms
- 2022
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Ingår i: Research in science education. - : Springer. - 0157-244X .- 1573-1898. ; 52:3, s. 909-926
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This classroom-based study aims to contribute knowledge about children's opportunities to make use of drawing to make meaning in science. Employing a social semiotic approach to drawing, we examine what ways of representing science content that are (1) made available by the teacher and (2) adopted in children's drawings. We analysed observation data from 11 science lessons in early childhood classrooms (children aged 3 to 8 years), including the drawings that children made during those lessons (129 drawings in total). Our findings suggest that the semiotic resources that teachers provide have a large impact on how children represent science content in their drawings. Moreover, we interpret that teachers strive to support children's 'emergent disciplinary drawing' in science, since they predominantly provided semiotic resources where the science content was generalised and decontextualised. Finally, we propose that 'emergent disciplinary drawing' is incorporated as an element of science pedagogy in ECE practice and ECE teacher education.
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| 6. |
- Arvola Orlander, Auli
(författare)
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"So, what do men and women want? Is it any different from what animals want?" Sex education in an upper secondary school
- 2016
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Ingår i: Research in science education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0157-244X .- 1573-1898. ; 46:6, s. 811-829
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of the study is to discuss and problematise notions of femininity and masculinity constructed in teaching situations among 16-year-old upper-secondary students studying science. The empirical examples originate from a teaching session with the theme of ‘sex and relationships’. The analysis is focused on metaphors inherent in a lesson that has its origins in the animal world. The findings show that the lesson ‘sex in the animal world’ is full of anthropomorphism, metaphors that humanise animal behaviour. Teachers and students compare the animals’ sexual behaviour with human behaviour, with the result that the animal world can be perceived as representative of natural sexual behaviour. The survey illustrates problems with how the examples are permeated by cultural values in the presentation of the animal world and how these examples form constructions of femininity and masculinity in the classroom.
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| 7. |
- Berge, Maria, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Characterising learning interactions : a study of university students solving physics problems in groups
- 2013
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Ingår i: Research in science education. - Dordrecht : Springer. - 0157-244X .- 1573-1898. ; 43:3, s. 1177-1196
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this article is to explore how a group of four university physics students addressed mechanics problems, in terms of student direction of attention, problem solving strategies and their establishment of and ways of interacting. Adapted from positioning theory, the concepts ‘positioning’ and ‘storyline’ are used to describe and to analyse student interaction. Focused on how the students position the physics problems, themselves, and each other, the analyses produced five different storylines. The dominant storyline deals with how the students handled the problem solving, whilst two other storylines characterise alternative ways of handling the physics problems, whereas the two remaining storylines are concerned with how students positioned themselves and others—as either funny and/or knowledgeable physics students—and constitute different aspects of the physics community. Finally, the storylines are discussed in relation to the pedagogical situation, with recommendations made for teaching practice and future research.
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| 8. |
- Berge, Maria, 1979-
(författare)
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The Role of Humor in Learning Physics : a Study of Undergraduate Students
- 2017
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Ingår i: Research in science education. - : Springer Netherlands. - 0157-244X .- 1573-1898. ; 47:2, s. 427-450
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We all know that they do it, but what do students laugh about when learning science together? Although research has shown that students do use humor when they learn science, the role of humor in science education has received little attention. In this study, undergraduate students’ laughter during collaborative work in physics has been investigated. In order to do this, a framework inspired by conversation analysis has been used. Empirical data was drawn from two video-recorded sessions in which first-year engineering students solved physics problems together. The analysis revealed that the students’ use of humor was almost exclusively related to physics. Five themes identified summarize the role of humor in the group discussions: Something is obvious, Something is difficult, Something said might be wrong, Something is absurd, and Something said is not within informal norms.This study shows that humor may contribute not only to a good working atmosphere and thereby to the students’ learning but also how humor interrelates with both disciplinary culture of physics and its epistemology. The students do not only create and re-create humor that facilitates their social interactions, but through humor they constitute local norms of science and engage with the disciplinary discourse.
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| 9. |
- Bossér, Ulrika, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Students' positioning in the classroom : a study of teacher-student interactions in a socioscientific issue context
- 2019
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Ingår i: Research in science education. - : Springer. - 0157-244X .- 1573-1898. ; 49:2, s. 371-390
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The integration of socioscientific issues (SSI) in science education calls for emphasizing dialogic classroom practices that include students’ views together with multiple sources of knowledge and diverse perspectives on the issues. Such classroom practices aim to empower students to participate in decision-making on SSI. This can be accomplished by enhancing their independence as learners and positioning them as legitimate participants in societal discussions. However, this is a complex task for science teachers. In this study, we introduce positioning theory as a lens to analyse classroom discourse on SSI in order to enhance our knowledge of the manners by which teachers’ interactions with students make available or promote different positions for the students, that is, different parts for the students to play as participants, when dealing with SSI in the classroom. Transcripts of interactions between one teacher and six student groups, recorded during two lessons, were analysed with respect to the positioning of the students as participants in the classroom, and in relation to the SSI under consideration. The results show that the teacher-student interactions made available contrasting student positions. The students were positioned by the teacher or positioned themselves as independent learners or as dependent on the teacher. Furthermore, the students were positioned as affected by the issue but as spectators to public negotiations of the issue. Knowledge about the manner in which teacher-student interactions can function to position students seems important for dialogic classroom practices and the promotion of student positions that sustain the pursuit of intended educational outcomes.
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| 10. |
- Bossér, Ulrika, Dr. 1976-
(författare)
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Transformation of School Science Practices to Promote Functional Scientific Literacy
- 2024
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Ingår i: Research in science education. - : Springer. - 0157-244X .- 1573-1898. ; 54, s. 265-281
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The incorporation of socioscientific issues into science teaching to promote students’ scientific literacy may require that science teachers reconsider and transform their teaching practices. This study examines the knowledge and considerations involved when two teachers incorporated socioscientific issues into their teaching, with the aim of understanding conditions for developing teaching to promote functional scientific literacy. Data consisted of written records of teaching, field notes of classroom observations and transcripts of meetings between the teachers and a researcher, generated during a year-long professional development project. Data were analysed through the framework of didactics that understands teaching as framed by societal conditions, curricula, teaching traditions and teacher and student knowledge and intentions. The results show that the incorporation of socioscientific issues enabled student engagement with scientific content, the practice of evidence-based reasoning and the consideration of values and norms. The teachers strove to seize upon student questions in teaching, and the results show that this may require strategies to raise questions among students, as well as profound science content knowledge on the part of teachers. Moreover, the results indicate that tensions arose between students’ instrumental views of teaching and learning and the teachers’ promotion of an exploratory classroom culture. The teachers had to support student adaption to the new requirements, and in this process, mutual trust and clear expectations were considered important. Implications for teachers’ professional development in relation to the incorporation of socioscientific issues in science education are discussed.
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