| 1. |
- Larsson, Andreas, 1977-
(author)
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Metaphor in Mind : Programming Teachers' Knowledge and Beliefs in Action
- 2023
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Programming has become an integral component of technology education around the world and is an important part of Swedish curriculum reform and classroom teaching. This thesis aims to explore relations between programming teachers' knowledge and beliefs about programming teaching and how it is enacted in their practice. In response, three studies were designed to investigate teachers' knowledge on three analytical levels: metaphorical expression, meaning, and understanding. The research relies heavily on triangulation and draws on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and the Refined Consensus Model (RCM) for Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) as an analytical framework. Data consists of metaphorical expressions in four educational texts, three classroom observations and interviews, and eighteen online video clips. Metaphors were analysed by deploying the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP), Metaphor Identification Guidelines for Gesture (MIG-G), and Procedure for Identifying Metaphorical Scenes (PIMS), respectively. Study 1 revealed that programming metaphors (designated in uppercase) can be categorised as being either related to the function (e.g., PROGRAMMING IS BUILDING, or DATA IS A PHYSICAL OBJECT) of the computer, or the intention of the programmer (e.g., "jump between code lines", or "tell the system that..."). In addition to confirming that many of the metaphors in Study 1 are employed in classroom teaching, Study 2 shows the teachers use of metaphor in gestures when teaching programming. For example, a teacher might hold an "object" while speaking about a programming concept, and thereby expose the use of the metaphor A PROGRAMMING CONCEPT IS A PHYSICAL OBJECT. The study also found that the teachers frame their teaching in relation to building, instructing, mentoring, and problem solving. Study 3 explored spatiality of a teacher’s metaphorical expressions. Findings illuminated that the teacher’s utterances rarely display connections between programming concepts and spatiality. Overall, the thesis identifies key metaphors contained in texts, speech, and gestures in the programming classroom. The research also shows how the teachers enact teaching differently, thus implying salient connections between their knowledge, beliefs, and action.
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| 2. |
- Stenlund, Jörgen, 1959-
(author)
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Visualizing the abyss of time : Students’ interpretation of visualized deep evolutionary time
- 2023
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The immense time scales involved in Deep evolutionary time (DET) is a threshold concept in biology and interpreting temporal aspects of DET is demanding. DET is communicated through various visualizations that include static two-dimensional representations, low interactivity animations, as well as high interactivity interfaces. Given the importance of DET as fundamental scientific knowledge of potential societal application, there is a need for educational research on students’ interpretation of visually communicated DET. This thesis explores students’ interpretation of different forms of visualized DET along a continuum of interactivity. The research aim is four-fold, and probes how students interpret DET visualizations in terms of temporal aspects, communicated evolutionary concepts, degree of visualization interactivity, and generated affective responses.The work comprises four studies, which as a collective, adopt exploratory and multi-method designs. A total of 505 students participated. Data were collected from questionnaires, task-based questions, and semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was qualitative and quantitative, and incorporated deductive and inductive approaches. In analysing students' interpretation of static two-dimensional DET visualizations, an instrument for measuring knowledge about the visual representation of deep evolutionary time (DET-Vis) was developed. Emergence of a unidimensional construct during validation represents knowledge about the visual communication of DET. Inspection of item performance suggests that interpreting visualized DET requires both procedural and declarative knowledge. Analysis of students’ interpretation of a low interactivity DET animation, communicating hominin evolution revealed five temporal aspects influencing interpretation: events at specific times, relative order, concurrent events, time intervals, and time interval durations. A further shift across the continuum involved analysing students’ interpretation of a high-interactivity DET visualization of a three-dimensional phylogenetic tree. Finger-based zooming was associated with movement within the tree itself, or as movement in time, respectively, and related to identified misinterpretations. Further analysis showed that interpreting DeepTree evoked the epistemic affective responses of awe, curiosity, surprise, and confusion. Affective responses were expressed in relation to five evolutionary conceptual themes, namely biological relationships, evolutionary time, biological diversity, common descent, and biological structure or terminology. The thesis findings have implications for teaching, visualization design and future research. Exposing students to various DET visualizations across the continuum could support DET teaching. Visual communication of temporal aspects should be carefully considered in DET visualization design. Future work on relationships between affect, highly interactive visualizations, and evolution concepts will provide further insight for leveraging learning and teaching of DET.
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| 3. |
- Frejd, Johanna, 1986-
(author)
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Encountering Evolution : Children's Meaning-Making Processes in Collaborative Interactions
- 2019
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis explores preschool class children’s meaning making processes when they encounter evolution. By adopting social semiotic and sociocultural perspectives on meaning making, three group-based tasks were designed. Video data from the activities were analysed using a multimodal approach. The analysis focuses on how the communicated science content affects the science focus of the tasks, how different materials function as semiotic resources and influence meaning making, and interactive aspects of doing science in the meaning-making processes.The findings reveal that, by using the provided materials and their previous experiences, the children argue for different reasons for animal diversity and evolution. Throughout the tasks, a child-centric view of life emerged in a salient manner. This means that, apart from the science focus, the children also emphasise other aspects that they find important. The child-centric perspective is suggested to be a strength that enables children to engage in science activities.The results show that the provided materials had three functions. Children use materials as resources providing meaning. This means that the children draw on the meaning potential of the materials, a process that is influenced by their previous experiences. Moreover, in interaction with peers, the materials also serve as communicative and argumentative tools. Thus, access to materials influences the children’s meaning making and enables them to discuss evolution and “do science”.The findings also reveal an intimate relationship between task context and interaction. More scripted tasks convey more child–adult interaction (scaffolding) while less scripted tasks, during which children build on previous experiences instead of communicated science content, stimulates child–child interaction (mutual collaboration). In scaffolding interactions, a greater emphasis is placed on the science topic of the task due to guidance from the adult. Consequently, meanings made by children in more scripted tasks are more likely to be “scientifically correct”. However, if the teacher or the adult steps back and allows the children to engage in mutual collaboration, they engage in multiple ways of doing science through evaluating, observing, describing and comparing.Overall, the research reported in this thesis suggests that task contexts and materials have a great impact on children’s meaning making and how science is done.
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| 4. |
- Göransson, Andreas C., 1975-
(author)
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Crossing the threshold : Visualization design and conceptual understanding of evolution
- 2021
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The theory of evolution is considered the unifying theory of biology. An accurate understanding of evolution is vital both for the understanding of diverse topics in biology, but also for societal issues such as antibiotic resistance or biodiversity. In contrast, decades of research in science education have revealed that students have difficulties to accurately understand evolutionary processes such as mutation and natural selection. The majority of this research relies on a conceptual framework of so-called key concepts (variation, selection, inheritance), derived from scholarly descriptions of natural selection. Recent research suggests that non-domain specific concepts such as randomness, probability, spatial and temporal scales, so called threshold concepts, are important for evolution understanding in addition to the key concepts. Thus, many important elements of evolutionary theory are counter-intuitive or lie outside direct perception. Hence, representations such as visualizations, models and simulations are considered to be important for teaching and learning evolution. While the importance of visualizations is generally acknowledged for science education, less is known about how visual design can facilitate students understanding of threshold concepts, such as random mutations or spatial scales.This thesis uses the Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER) as the guiding framework for exploring the significance of threshold concepts by analysing the conceptual content of students’ explanations and extant visualizations of natural selection. MER combines scientific content with teaching and learning perspectives for the analysis and design of learning environments. Content analysis of visualizations available online showed that most fail to fully represent the basic principles of natural selection (variation, selection and inheritance). Moreover, the representational potential of visualizations was seldom used to represent threshold concepts such as randomness in origin of variation. Visualizations were also biased to animals as the context of evolution. Similarly, upper-secondary and tertiary students’ explanations of natural selection were seldom complete in terms of the basic principles and threshold concepts such as randomness were often lacking. Especially significant was the almost complete lack of randomness in upper-secondary students’ explanations. In addition, threshold concepts were context-sensitive across the items used (bacteria, cheetah and salamander), for example spatial scale and randomness was significantly more common in responses to the bacteria item compared to the cheetah and salamander items. Considering the results from these studies, three interactive visualizations were developed (evolution of antibiotic resistance and fur colouration in mice). The visualization design was conducted iteratively following a Design-Based Research approach and evaluated in classroom settings in secondary and upper-secondary Swedish schools. The results showed that visualizations targeting randomness and genetic level events such as mutations can guide students towards a more scientific conception of natural selection. However, there were differences across the visualizations and student samples. In addition, while students often inferred randomness from the visuals, the results showed that integration of randomness into explanations of natural selection may be challenging. Hence, future research should explore the role of guidance and reflection for students understanding of randomness. The thesis also discusses the role of students’ intuitive conceptions in relation to the use of interactive visualizations and how these preconceptions interact with the presented message. By using the theory of frame semantics, framing effects and conceptual integration, students’ issues of achieving an accurate understanding of evolution are discussed in relation to the theory of conceptual change. Implications for teaching and learning natural selection as well as visualization design for learning are also discussed.
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| 5. |
- Hallström, Jonas, Professor, 1969-, et al.
(author)
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Authenticity in Integrated STEM Education – Boon or Fantasy? : Observing Upper Secondary Technology Classroom Practice
- 2023
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In: Pupils’ Attitudes Towards Technology (PATT) 40. - Liverpool : Liverpool John Moores University. ; , s. 397-404, s. 397-404
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Engineering design and technological modelling have been argued as valid premises from which to increase authenticity, relevance and create bridges between the STEM disciplines while maintaining subject integrity. Previous research indicates that projects which emulate how engineers work has the potential of both integrating STEM disciplines and being authentic. At the same time, earlier research also cautions that few integrated STEM projects consider students’ interests and their everyday contexts. The aim of this study is to investigate the implementation of an integrated STEM project in the Technology Programme at a Swedish upper secondary school. The studied STEM project involves students’ designs for improving their physical school environment in terms of well-being, feasibility, and sustainability. Data collection consisted of participatory observations, as well as teacher and student interviews. The results are presented in terms of three themes, namely (1) cooperation and real-life application are fundamental for authentic learning; (2) using models and modelling for communicating design ideas are central to authentic technology and engineering; and (3) integration of STEM content and methods do not draw on all four disciplines. It is concluded that there might be easily accessible pathways to promote integrated STEM and authenticity, such as utilizing the school environment as a starting point. However, formally implementing authentic practices remain a challenge even though a majority of teachers are enthusiastic about real-world relevance in design projects. Integrated STEM in the design project mostly included technology and engineering content, and aspects of science and mathematics albeit to a lower degree, which made simultaneous integration of all STEM disciplines a challenging task.
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| 6. |
- Otterborn, Anna, 1961-
(author)
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Det bästa av två världar : Förskollärares arbete med digitala och analoga resurser i förskolans STEM-undervisning
- 2023
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Den här avhandlingen undersöker hur erfarna förskollärare integrerar digitala och analoga verktyg i sin undervisning. Avhandlingen fokuserar på så kallad STEM-undervisning där ämnesområdena naturvetenskap (science), teknik (technology), ingenjörsvetenskap (engineering) och matematik (mathematics) integreras. Avhandlingens resultat bygger på fyra studier där empiriskt material genererades från online-enkäter, intervjuer och dokumentation av STEM-undervisning där digitala verktyg användes av förskollärarna. Artikel I redogör för en online-enkätstudie som syftade till att beskriva hur datorplattor används för att stödja förskolans lärande både generellt och med särskilt fokus på teknikundervisning. I Artikel II fördjupas resultat från studie I en online-enkät med fokus på hur förskollärare implementerar programmeringsaktiviteter i sin pedagogiska praktik. Artikel III, som baseras på semi-strukturerade intervjuer, studerar hur erfarna förskollärare integrerar digitala verktyg när de undervisar i naturvetenskap. I artikel IV fördjupas resultaten från studie III genom recall intervjuer och analyser av insamlad dokumentation av de naturvetenskapliga aktiviteterna. Avhandlingens övergripande resultat visar att förskollärarna hanterar uppdraget att digitalisera förskolans undervisning genom att kombinera digitala och analoga verktyg för att erbjuda innovativ och multidimensionell undervisning där läroplanens grundläggande värderingar är i fokus. Till exempel sätts barns perspektiv, intressen och aktörskap i förgrunden genom att digitala och analoga verktyg kombineras för att komplettera barns olika sätt att lära. Förskollärarna ser analoga resurser som grundläggande och de digitala verktygen som kompletterande och förstärkande. Inom naturvetenskapsundervisningen används de digitala verktygen målmedvetet för att utvidga en redan multidimensionell undervisning och för att erbjuda olika vägar för kreativa utforskningar. Programmeringsaktiviteterna som förts in verksamheten beskrivs ofta som didaktiska redskap för att utveckla barns generiska färdigheter och kompetenser. Den arbetsgemenskap som lärarna arbetar inom visar sig vara betydelsefull för hur, och om, digitaliseringsinitiativ blir genomförda eftersom rutiner och rådande epistemologiska föreställningar inom arbetsgemenskapen inverkar på vad som faktiskt blir möjligt att genomföra Avhandlingens resultat visar sammanfattningsvis hur en digitaliserad undervisning kan tänja på gränserna för en redan etablerad multidimensionell pedagogisk praktik inom förskolans STEM-undervisning när lärare har kunskap, resurser och intentioner att på ett meningsfullt sätt implementera detta.
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| 7. |
- Stenlund, Jörgen, 1959-
(author)
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Travelling through time : Students’ interpretation of evolutionary time in dynamic visualizations
- 2019
-
Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Evolutionary knowledge is important to understand and address contemporary challenges such as loss of biodiversity, climate change and antibiotic resistance. An important aspect that is considered to be a threshold concept in teaching and learning about evolution is the time it involves. The history of evolution comprises several scales of magnitude, some of which are far from direct human experience and therefore difficult to understand. One way of addressing this issue is to use dynamic visualizations that represent time, for example, to facilitate teaching and learning about evolution.This thesis investigates how students’ comprehension of evolution and evolutionary time can be facilitated by visualizations in educational settings. Two different dynamic visualizations were investigated. In paper I different temporal versions of a spatio-temporal animation depicting hominin evolution were explored. The temporal information was expressed as one or several timelines along which an animated cursor moved, indicating the rate of time. Two variables, the number of timelines with different scales, and the mode of the default animated time rate (either constant throughout the animation or decreasing as the animation progressed), were combined to give four different time representations. The temporal aspects investigated were undergraduate students' ability to find events at specific times, comprehend order, comprehend concurrent events, comprehend the length of time intervals, and their ability to compare the lengths of time intervals.In paper II, perceptions and comprehension of temporal aspects in an interactive, multi-touch tabletop application, DeepTree, were investigated. This application depicts the tree of life. The focus was on the interactive aspects, especially how the zooming feature was perceived, but also on any misinterpretations associated with the interaction. The same temporal aspects listed for paper I were also implicitly investigated.The findings indicate that handling the problem of large differences in scale by altering the rate of time in the visualization can facilitate perception of certain temporal aspects while, at the same time, can hinder a correct comprehension of other temporal aspects. Findings concerning DeepTree indicate that the level of interactions varies among users, and that the zooming feature is perceived in two ways, either as a movement in time or as a movement in the metaphorical tree. Several misinterpretations were observed, for example the assumption that the zooming time in the tree corresponds to real time, that there is an implicit coherent timeline along the y-axis of the tree, and that more nodes along a branch corresponds to a longer time.The research reported in this thesis supports the claim that careful choice, and informed use of visualizations matters, and that different visualizations are best suited for different educational purposes
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| 8. |
- Besançon, Lonni, et al.
(author)
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Exploring and Explaining Climate Change: Exploranation as a Visualization Pedagogy for Societal Action
- 2022
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Engaging mass audiences with crucial societal issues, such as cli-mate change, can be provided through interactive exhibits designed around the paradigm of exploranation. We present example inter-active installations in the newly founded Wadstr¨oms Exploranation Laboratory that explain various aspects of climate change while allowing public participants to explore the real scientific data. We describe how effects and causes of climate change can be communi-cated by two of the installations that allow for interactive opportuni-ties to explore the underlying data while gaining insight into climate change sources and effects. We close with implications for future work on exploranation as an emerging visualization pedagogy in public spaces.
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| 9. |
- Göransson, Andreas C., 1975-, et al.
(author)
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Towards defining success factors for school visits to digital science centers
- 2023
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- School visits to science centers can provide valuable opportunities for pupils to engage with science content and practices different from the traditional classroom and raise pupils' interest in science and science careers. Teachers play a key role in the success of a visit by linking to classroom practice. Unfortunately, visits tend to be viewed as an isolated experience by teachers and pupils, wherein pre- and post-visit activities that actively integrate the visit into classroom practice are often lacking. While many science centers offer suggestions for such pre- and post-visit activities, teachers do not typically take advantage of them. Thus, it is imperative to explore teachers’ views on successful visits and barriers that may influence the experience for pupils. As part of a larger research project on success factors for school visits to science centers, we examined teachers views on success factors, motivations and barriers to visiting a digital science center in Sweden. Based on interviews and the accompanying literature, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to teachers in local compulsory schools. Responses from 50 teachers revealed that the most important success factors were a well-prepared program, that the content is conveyed visually, that the visit induces pupils’ curiosity, and that the activities are linked to the curriculum. Teachers most common motives for visiting were that it offers a unique experience from the classroom, that the visit is free and that the program considers pupils’ needs. The majority of the teachers conducted no or limited pre- and post-visit activities, although the science center offers lesson plans linked to the visit. Main obstacles to visits included public transport costs for suburban and rural area schools. Our results suggest that the design of a visit should also consider and support the practical constraints for teachers and schools.
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| 10. |
- Hallström, Jonas, 1969-, et al.
(author)
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Models and modeling in STEM education: nature, roles, and implementation
- 2023. - 4
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In: International Encyclopedia of Education. - London : Elsevier Science. - 9780128186299 ; , s. 112-116
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article elaborates the key aspects of the nature, roles, and implementation of models and modeling in STEM education. Regarding nature, although models and modeling differ between the STEM subjects there are also similarities, for example, concerning visual models and representations. The roles of models in the STEM subjects are dominated by conceptual models, while in technology/engineering manipulation of physical models is also important. Furthermore, common to all STEM subjects is the construction, evaluation, revision and (re-)use of models. Concerning the implementation of models and modeling in STEM education, evidence points to the relevance of including modeling in authentic engineering activities.
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