| 1. |
- Berg, Astrid, et al.
(författare)
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Representational challenges in animated chemistry: self-generated animations as a means to encourage students reflections on sub-micro processes in laboratory exercises
- 2019
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Ingår i: Chemistry Education Research and Practice. - : ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY. - 1756-1108 .- 1109-4028. ; 20:4, s. 710-737
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A central aspect of learning chemistry is learning to relate observations of phenomena to models of the sub-microscopic level of matter, and hence being able to explain the observable phenomena. However, research shows that students have difficulties discerning and comprehending the meaning of the sub-micro level and its models, and that practical work in its traditional form fails to help students to discern the relation between observations and models. Consequently, there is a strong call for new teaching activities to address these issues. This paper emerges from a growing number of studies showing that learning is supported when students are set to cooperatively create their own multimodal representations of science phenomena. In this paper, we explore the approach of letting students create their own stop-motion animation as a means to explain observations during practical work. The students work of producing a phenomenon in the laboratory and creating an animation was recorded (audio-video) to capture students verbal and non-verbal interactions and use of resources. Data was analysed using a thematic content analysis with a deductive approach aimed at identifying the aspects of chemistry content that are being reasoned. The analysis showed that the task enabled students to engage in reasoning concerning both the observations and the sub-micro-level models, and how they relate to each other. The task also enabled students to reason about features of the representation that are needed to make sense of both the observational and sub-microscopic aspects of a phenomenon, as well as reflecting upon the meaning of a model.
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| 2. |
- Bolton, Kim, 1964, et al.
(författare)
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SimChemistry as an active learning tool in chemical education.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Chemistry Education Research and Practice. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1756-1108 .- 1109-4028. ; 9:3, s. 277-284
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The publicly available free computer program, SimChemistry, was used as an active learning tool in the chemical engineering curriculum at the University College of Borås, Sweden. The activity involved students writing their own simulation programs on topics in the area of molecular structure and interactions. Evaluation of the learning experience was done using interviews and by comparing learning outcomes with previous teachings of the topics. Overall, the outcome was interactively engaging group work, high quality construction of simulations, and a much better ability to explain molecular-level chemical concepts and their relations. An interesting perception that emerged during the interviews was that many of the students were unable to explicitly describe the improvement in learning that they had experienced. However, they did recognize that learning had occurred, and all firmly and positively recommended that the initiative be continued for subsequent courses.
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| 3. |
- Haglund, Jesper, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Language aspects of engineering students’ view of entropy
- 2016
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Ingår i: Chemistry Education Research and Practice. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1756-1108 .- 1109-4028. ; 17:3, s. 489-508
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Entropy is a central concept in thermodynamics, but has been found to be challenging to students due to its abstract nature and the fact that it is not part of students’ everyday language. Interviews with three pairs of engineering students (N = 6) were conducted and video recorded regarding their interpretation and use of the entropy concept, one year after a course on chemical thermodynamics. From a syntax perspective, students were asked to assess whether sentences involving temperature, internal energy, and entropy make sense. With a focus on semantics, they were asked to rank a set of notions with regards to how closely they are related to entropy, how scientific they are, and how useful they are for explaining what entropy is. From a pragmatics point of view, students were asked to solve two qualitative problems, which involve entropy. The results show that these chemistry students regard internal energy, but not entropy, as a substance-like entity. The students’ ranking of how closely related to entropy notions are and how useful they are for explaining entropy was found to be strongly negatively correlated to how scientific the notions were seen to be. For example, disorder was seen as highly unscientific, but very useful for explaining entropy. In the problem-solving tasks, Chemical Engineering students were comfortable relating entropy to enthalpy and Gibbs free energy, the three notions being seen to form a “trinity” in thermodynamics. However, the students had challenges grasping the unchanged entropy in reversible, adiabatic expansion of an ideal gas, in which they did not consider how entropy relates to the second law of thermodynamics. In final reflections on their learning processes, the students saw weak connections between their problem-solving skills and their conceptual understanding of entropy, although acknowledging that both aspects of learning are important.
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| 4. |
- Herranen, Jaana Kristiina, et al.
(författare)
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How to measure elementary teachers' interest in teaching chemistry?
- 2015
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Ingår i: Chemistry Education Research and Practice. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1756-1108 .- 1109-4028. ; 16:2, s. 408-416
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study was to create an instrument to measure elementary teachers' interest in teaching chemistry. The interest in chemistry teaching instrument (ICTI) was created to measure both the affective and cognitive components of interest. After establishing the face and content validity of the instrument, the internal consistency of the instrument was verified by calculating Cronbach's alpha for the items. This was done using questionnaire data collected from 149 Finnish elementary teachers teaching chemistry in integrated chemistry and physics lessons. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to identify the underlying dimensions of interest. Based on the results of the factor analysis, elementary teachers' interest in chemistry teaching had two components: personal and value- related. The usefulness of the ICTI instrument was tested by conducting a correlation analysis of the measured level of interest and the reported use of teaching methods. As expected, the results indicated a positive correlation between the elementary teachers' interest measured with ICTI and the use of for example inquiry- related methods: creative problem solving and laboratory work. The ICTI may be used, for example, to evaluate and develop in- service and pre- service teacher training.
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| 5. |
- Nimmermark, Anders, 1971, et al.
(författare)
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Teaching of chemical bonding: a study of Swedish and South African students' conceptions of bonding
- 2016
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Ingår i: Chemistry Education Research and Practice. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1109-4028 .- 1756-1108. ; 17:4, s. 985-1005
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Almost 700 Swedish and South African students from the upper secondary school and first-term chemistry university level responded to our survey on concepts of chemical bonding. The national secondary school curricula and most common textbooks for both countries were also surveyed and compared for their content on chemical bonding. Notable differences between the countries were found in textbooks and in the curriculum regarding the topics of ionic bonding, bond energetics and use of the VSEPR model, the latter being absent in the Swedish curriculum and ionic bonding not explicitly mentioned in the South African curriculum. To some extent these differences are reflected in the students' responses to the survey. It is also clear that university teachers in both countries must prepare effective counter-measures against deep rooted misunderstandings. For the upper secondary school level it is suggested that the bond energetics and exothermic and endothermic reactions be clearly and carefully presented and separated as the study indicates that mixing of these two concepts is a major cause of confusion.
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| 6. |
- Samuelsson, Christopher Robin, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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Looking for solutions : students' use of infrared cameras in calorimetry labs
- 2023
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Ingår i: Chemistry Education Research and Practice. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1756-1108 .- 1109-4028. ; :24, s. 299-311
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study adds to the growing body of research on laboratory work. The study involves four pairs of students in a university introductory calorimetry lab of which two pairs, the IR-pairs (infrared camera-pairs), were given access to infrared cameras to use however they liked during their course lab work. Two other pairs, the T-pairs (thermometer-pairs), were not given access to infrared cameras during their course lab work. The IR-pairs were video recorded when they chose to use the IR cameras and the T-pairs were video-recorded during the corresponding sequences. Additionally, all pairs participated in a modified lab after their course lab, in which the pairs had access to IR cameras and were presented with the same phenomena although with equipment modified to better accommodate for the use of IR cameras (thin plastic cups were used instead of calorimeters). Students' practice, communication and reasoning was studied to explore how the IR cameras affect students' activity. The results show that the access to IR cameras led to a reasoning focused on a macroscopic level of chemistry knowledge, involving heat transfer to the surrounding and measurement errors, and that the lab practice of most of the students was continuous (rather than intermittent) when they had access to IR cameras. We conclude by arguing that the access to IR cameras affects students' conceptual and epistemological framing of the lab, i.e. that the students perceive the lab activity differently when they get access to IR cameras (both in a conceptual and epistemological sense). As an implication for teaching, we suggest that giving students access to IR cameras in a chemistry lab may be a way to introduce flexibility in the degree of openness of the lab.
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| 7. |
- Stadig Degerman, Mari, et al.
(författare)
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Learning Goals and Conceptual Difficulties in Cell Metabolism : An explorative study of university lectures' views
- 2012
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Ingår i: Chemistry Education Research and Practice. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1756-1108. ; 13:4, s. 447-461
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The rapid development and increasing inter- and multi-disciplinarity of life sciences call for revisions of life science course curricula, recognizing (inter alia) the need to compromise between covering specific phenomena and general processes/principles. For these reasons there have been several initiatives to standardize curricula, and various authors have assessed general curricular requirements. The results have shown that teacher preferences strongly influence both topic arrangement and course content, and generating consensus among scientists and lecturers is challenging. Applying a somewhat different approach, we have focused on a limited part of the curriculum (cell metabolism). Using Delphi methodology, in four rounds of surveys we investigated phenomena that 15 experienced, practicing lecturers consider to be central aspects for students to learn in the cell metabolism module of an introductory university course.The overall aim was to identify learning goals of special concern, i.e. aspects considered by the teachers to be both central and difficult for students to understand. Our informants emphasized learning goals of overarching and principal type, e.g. to be able to couple different system levels (from molecules to cells to organisms) and grasp the interactions between them. However, they also expect detailed knowledge, e.g. to know the structure of central biomolecules and metabolites. The main result of the study is a ranked list of learning goals of special concern in cell metabolism. We also identified both important learning goals and difficulties that have not been previously reported (even though they are covered by most textbooks), e.g. that energy production occurs in well-regulated steps and the necessity of proximity and common intermediates for coupled reactions.
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| 8. |
- Widing, Lizette, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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A social semiotic lens to capture meaning-making of polymeric concepts during modelling in chemistry education
- 2023
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Ingår i: Chemistry Education Research and Practice. - Cambridge : RSC Publishing. - 1756-1108 .- 1109-4028. ; 24:2, s. 659-673
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigated students’ meaning-making of polymeric concepts during modelling and discuss students’ creation of visible representations in chemistry. The analysis combines a phenomenographic and social semiotic approach and leads to the finding and description of 21 different meaning-making processes. We refer to meaning-making as the outcome of translative communication through representations, discerned by students, where the collective meaning of created representations that build on each other constitutes the meaning as a whole. The study took place in three Swedish upper secondary chemistry classes. Data were collected from eight groups of 3–4 students (n = 30). Video, audio recordings and photos taken during modelling were analysed to investigate students’ meaning-making during the modelling process. The results show translative changes between and within semiotic resources, indicating meaning for students’ learning of polymeric concepts. Additionally, the representations produced during modelling were essential resources connecting the submicro and macro levels by creating a ‘bridge’ between levels. The results show that the modelling activities practised by all groups were multimodal. The study acknowledges that teachers can use the social semiotic lens as a tool to evaluate students’ modelling in addition to the importance of translative processes during modelling. © 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
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| 9. |
- Elg, Mattias, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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Solicited Diaries as a Means of Involving Patients in Development of Healthcare Services
- 2011
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Ingår i: International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1756-669X .- 1756-6703. ; 3:2, s. 128-145
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of how patients experience their health problems and how they can generate innovative ideas about health care services. The research questions that guide the present study are: how can solicited diaries be used for capturing patient ideas? What type of data is generated from solicited diaries used for generating patient ideas? And what are the potential benefits and shortcomings of using patient diaries in generating ideas for improvement of health care services? Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on an exploratory case study using patient diaries to solicit ideas about how health care services in Sweden can be improved. From the methodological viewpoint, the diaries are used as a tool for patient co-creation of health care services. Findings – When analyzing dairies written by patients four different types of diaries emerged from the study: brief, reporting, descriptive and reflective diaries. Furthermore, 102 ideas for improvements within nine areas were identified from the contents of dairies. Research limitations/implications – Adopting patients' diaries as a way to activate and promote co-creation of values is at an embryo stage, and hence more research is needed. Originality/value – One of the strengths of the paper includes its potential for practical implications, either clinical or methodological, by using patients' dairies. It focuses both on the content generated from the diaries for improving health services, as well as the use of the diaries for practicing the idea of patients as co-creators in health care service.
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| 10. |
- Lindholm Dahlstrand, Åsa, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Women business ventures in Swedish university incubators
- 2013
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Ingår i: International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship. - Bingley : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1756-6266 .- 1756-6274. ; 5:1, s. 78-96
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Despite a growing interest in both women and university academic entrepreneurship, there are very few studies addressing women’s academic entrepreneurship. The authors address this gap by focusing on university incubators for women’s academic entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is to examine and analyze the significance of university incubators for the promotion and development of women’s academic business start-ups.Design/methodology/approach: The authors use a unique Swedish database for multivariate statistical tests on the performance of groups of women- and men-led ventures, as well as on groups of women incubatees. The database includes data for over 1,400 ventures, out of which 210 ventures are by women entrepreneurs.Findings: About 15 percent of the ventures in the incubators are started and managed by women entrepreneurs. Several significant differences were found between the groups, but the overall conclusion is that the Swedish incubators in this study do not show any evidence of being able to decrease the gender gap in the commercialization of university science.Originality/value: The study makes three important contributions. First, it applies a multilevel design that takes into consideration the relationship between individual firms and the incubator environment. Second, the authors conducted their analysis on women academic entrepreneurs who start their ventures in incubators, which means that the authors are concerned with a specific knowledge-intensive context, where men and women entrepreneurs possess fairly similar levels of human capital. Third, the unique database allows statistical analysis on a large data set, which provides research-based knowledge about the conditions for entrepreneurial career development among women in academic environments. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
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