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- Eriksson, Maria
(författare)
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Att kommunicera naturvetenskap i nationella prov : En studie med andraspråksperspektiv
- 2015
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In Sweden, as in many other countries, there are major focuses on knowledge assessment and accountability in school. It has been decided that National Tests will be conducted in biology, physics and chemistry in grade 6 from 2013. According to the Swedish national curriculum, language and communication skills are important in all school subjects. The National Tests are expected to test the skills specified in the curricula, including the ability to communicate scientific knowledge. However, including the use of communication skills in a science test may prevent some students, such as students who do not have Swedish as their first language, from properly displaying their knowledge in science. The results of the national tests in science also show that students with Swedish as a second language perform lower in the tests than students with Swedish as their first language. Based on these results the purpose of this study is to investigate the difficulties of students with Swedish as a second language in relation to the part of the national test in science that assess communication skills. The study also investigates whether students' first language can be a resource in verbal conversation about the test questions. The study is based on test scores and interviews with 15 students with Arabic as their first language. Results from this study show that students' first language are used as a resource in the discussions and then primarily to get difficult words and concepts explained. Furthermore, the results indicate that the authentic (or realistic) questions contained in the tests, are likely to make the students' background important for their test performance, since similarcontents are not necessarily part of the teaching of science subjects. Most of the questions are also presented in an ”everyday context”, while the answers expected include scientific concepts and reasoning. Therefore the requirements and expectations become unclear to the students. Although these difficulties with authentic questions are not specific to students with Swedish as a second language, there is a risk that the difficulties have greater impact on this particular group of students. Thus, this can contribute to these students perform lower in the National Tests in science subjects, compared to students with Swedish as their first language.
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| 2. |
- Elm Fristorp, Annika, 1958-
(författare)
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Design för lärande : barns meningsskapande i naturvetenskap
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of the study was to describe and analyse the design of learning environments and how children in preschool, preschool class and primary school create meaning and learn from the teaching aids offered to them in scientific activities planned by teachers.The theoretical reference frame was obtained from multimodal and design-oriented theory, with its focus on the creative dimensions of learning and detailed aspects of how learning takes place. The study is based on video-observations and constituted an in-depth study of a limited number of occasions spent in preschool, preschool classes and the first year of primary school when science lessons were in progress. Four children’s groups, thirty-six children and five teachers took part in the study, from different schools and municipalities. The children are aged between three and seven. The video-observations have been transcribed as text and analysed with analytical concepts found within the theoretical framework.The results show that considering the number of children in the children’s groups, relatively few children take part in the scientific learning contexts. Changes in the balance of power were evident in the learning settings and followed the interaction patterns that were identified in the children’s groups. The results also show that children create representations – both individually and corporately – in new or different ways that are made up of analogies expressed in terms of equivalent, existential, expressive and figurative analogies. The children’s verbal expressions that corresponded with the responses expected by the teachers were highly valued, were paid attention to and were recognised as know-how. This meant that many of the potential meanings that exist in children’s meaning-making in science become invisible. The results have educational implications for teachers’ work at the local level and for teacher training.
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