| 1. |
- Olande, Oduor
(author)
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Students' narratives from graphical artefacts : Exploring the use of mathematics tools and forms of expression in students' graphicacy
- 2013
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The research concerns presented in this dissertation addresses aspects of students’ interaction with commonly occurring graphical artefacts in teaching and learning environments. In particular, focus is on how the students make sense of these artefacts in relation to subject specific tools and forms of expression.The dissertation comprises of four studies guided by a semiotics cultural- historical perspective to cognition. The first study which is largely quantitative, analyses the percentage scores from students’ responses to selected items from OECD PISA surveys for items containing graphical elements. The second and the third studies in keeping with a more sociocultural perspective to learning as point of departure, examine the students’ collaborative interaction around tasks containing graphical elements. The fourth study explores the nature of students’ solutions from the Swedish national test in mathematics based on a tools and forms of expression sensitive empirically derived construct of Identification contra Critical-analytical approach to graphicacy.The main outcomes of these studies can be summarised as follows: first there is justification for re-examining the predominant characterisation of students’ interaction with graphical artefacts. Secondly, while it is not uncommon for students to take a more visual-perceptive and intuitive approach to graphicacy, results from task items interactions indicate that a Critical-analytical approach seems to be more reliable and capable of yielding desirable outcomes. The outcomes of these studies call for vigilance on the type of tasks used in relation to graphicacy and how these can be used to foster students’ Critical-analytical disposition.
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| 2. |
- Karlsson, Karl-Göran, 1959-
(author)
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The use of a satellite-derived cloud climatology for studying cloud-aerosol processes and the performance of regional cloud climate simulations
- 2006
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The entry of satellite-derived decadal cloud datasets with homogeneous coverage in time and space enables studies not possible before. This thesis presents two such applications. The first study deals with cloud-aerosol processes and the second with an evaluation of cloud simulations from a regional climate model.The first part of the thesis describes the used satellite-derived dataset based on imagery from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on the polar orbiting NOAA satellites. A method for cloud retrieval and the compilation of a 1991-2000 Scandinavian cloud climatology are described.The second part reveals an intriguing anti-correlation between monthly mean satellite-derived cloudiness and the concentration of the cosmogenetic isotope Beryllium-7 in near-surface aerosol samples for three measurement sites in Sweden. Large-scale transport processes are suggested as the most likely physical mechanism for this behaviour but more complex relations to cloud microphysical processes are not ruled out.The final part presents a thorough evaluation of cloud simulations of the SMHI Rossby Centre regional atmospheric model (RCA3). Several model-to-satellite adaptations are applied to avoid artificial biases of results. The study stresses the necessity to account for initial differences between observed and modelled clouds caused by satellite cloud detection limitations. Results show good agreement of modelled and observed cloud amounts while the vertical distribution of clouds appears largely different. RCA3 underestimates medium-level clouds while overestimating low- and high-level clouds. Also, the current use of the Maximum cloud overlap approach in the radiation scheme and an indicated excess of cloud condensate in modelled clouds appear to create excessive cloud optical thicknesses with serious implications for the surface radiation budget.Future applications are outlined based on greatly enhanced satellite-derived cloud and radiation budget datasets.
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| 3. |
- Westman, Anna-Karin, 1967-
(author)
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Meningsskapande möten i det naturvetenskapliga klassrummet
- 2016
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Bakgrund Syftet med denna avhandling är att få veta mer om hur elever skapar mening i mötet med innehållet i skolans naturvetenskap. De resultat som presenteras i avhandlingen är resultat som visar hur eleverna uttrycker sig under utvalda interaktioner från naturvetenskaplig undervisning. Elevernas uttryck för meningsskapande jämförs också med vad som tidigare forskning rapporterat som svårt i skolans naturvetenskap. Lärandet betraktas genomgående som en sociokulturell aktivitet.Metoder För att kunna besvara frågan om hur ett meningsskapande uttrycks har elevernas uttalanden under interaktioner karaktäriserats kvalitativt och med objektet för undervisningen i förgrunden. Datainsamlingen har gjorts med ljud- eller videoinspelningar. Ämnesinnehållet i interaktionerna är i fokus och hur eleverna samtalar om genetik, cellandning, blodomlopp eller genomförandet av en laboration är centralt i avhandlingens delstudier. De deltagande eleverna är från grundskolans årskurs fem, årskurs nio och från gymnasiet.Resultat Resultaten visar en variation i hur ofta elever diskuterar och uttrycker någon egen mening om de naturvetenskapliga förklaringsmodellerna. När elever konstruerar begreppskartor med utvalda begrepp uttrycker gruppen sitt meningsskapande på sätt som många gånger närmar sig det vetenskapliga. En undervisningsfilm presenterar många vetenskapliga förklaringsmodeller av blodomloppets funktion, men få av dem används av eleverna i det efterföljande samtalet. I interaktioner under laborationer uttrycker elever inte så ofta ett meningsskapande av de naturvetenskapliga förklaringsmodellerna.Sammanfattning Avhandlingens delstudier ger prov på flera tillfällen när eleverna diskuterar ett meningsskapande av de naturvetenskapliga förklaringsmodellerna. Det finns också exempel när förklaringsmodellerna inte diskuteras, även om de för en skolad naturvetare helt uppenbart presenteras. En viktig faktor för att elevernas naturvetenskapliga meningsskapande ska ske är i studierna om undervisningen uppmärksammar hur naturvetenskapliga förklaringsmodeller knyter samman synliga fenomen med molekylära förklaringar och symboler. En annan faktor är om undervisningen lyfter fram naturvetenskapens sätt att kommunicera. Ytterligare en viktig faktor för att de naturvetenskapliga förklaringsmodellerna ska bli ett verktyg för elevernas meningsskapande är om det nya innehållet knyter an till elevernas tidigare vardagserfarenheter eller erfarenheter från tidigare undervisning.
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| 4. |
- Åström, I. Maria, 1965-
(author)
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Integrated and Subject-specific : An empirical exploration of Science education in Swedish compulsory school
- 2007
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis is an explorative experimental study in two parts of different ways of organising Science education in the Swedish context. The first study deals with the question if students attain higher scores on test results if they have been working with integrated Science compared to subject-specific Science i.e. Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The second study concerns the similarities and differences between integrated Science education and Science education in Biology, Chemistry and Physics, especially in the teaching organisation. The introduction describes the nature of integrated curriculum, what integrated learning is, issues about integrated Science education, in what way integration is carried out, between subjects or within subjects, what the opposite to integrated Science is (here named as subjectspecific science education) in the Swedish context and what the Swedish curriculum has to say about integrated Science. Previous studies in integrated curriculum looking at students’ results are referred to, and it is argued for the use of the OECD’s PISA assessment instrument in this study. The thesis consists of two studies, one quantitative and one qualitative, within the above framework. The quantitative study is an attempt to find differences in scores on students’ written results on a large-scale assessment in scientific literacy between students studying in different organisations of Science education. The qualitative study is an attempt to describe differences at classroom level between integrated Science and subject-specific Science. This gives a quite rich description of four schools (cases) in a small town and how they organise their teaching integrated or subject-specific. No differences in students’ results between different Science organisations were found in the quantitative study in this thesis. Possible explanations for the lack of differences in students’ results are discussed in the article. An additional investigation that attempts to test the variable used in the quantitative study is carried out in the thesis, with an attempt to sharpen the teacher organisation variable. This is done to find out if it is possible that there can be found differences with the sharpened variable. The qualitative study gives a glimpse of some differences in the implemented curriculum between schools working with integrated Science education and a school that works subjectspecifically. The teachers do the overall lesson plans in different ways according to which organisation according to integrated or subject-specific Science they work with. When asked in a survey what kind of Science organisation they have, students from the four schools studied answered differently between schools and also, sometimes, within the same school. A further analysis of this second study is carried out by defining a conceptual framework used as structure and a possible explanation for differences between students’ views and teachers’ views on the organisation of Science education. This latter analysis tries to give an enriched description in mainly the two levels of the implemented and attained curricula, and tries to discuss the difference in students’ attained curriculum. A final discussion concludes the thesis and concerns an elaboration of the results of the thesis, problems with the main variable involved in the two studies and the possibility that the teacher actions effects also the magnitude of students’ achievement on tests.
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| 5. |
- Åström, Maria, 1965-
(author)
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Defining Integrated Science Education and Putting It to Test
- 2008
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The thesis is made up by four studies, on the comprehensive theme of integrated and subjectspecific science education in Swedish compulsory school. A literature study on the matter is followed by an expert survey, then a case study and ending with two analyses of students’ science results from PISA 2003 and PISA 2006. The first two studies explore similarities and differences between integrated and subject-specific science education, i. e. Science education and science taught as Biology, Chemistry and Physics respectively. The two following analyses of PISA 2003 and PISA 2006 data put forward the question whether there are differences in results of students’ science literacy scores due to different types of science education.The expert survey compares theories of integration to the Swedish science education context. Also some difference in intention, in the school case study, some slight differences in the way teachers plan the science education are shown, mainly with respect to how teachers involve students in their planning.The statistical analysis of integrated and subject-specific science education comparing students’ science results from PISA 2003 shows no difference between students or between schools. The analysis of PISA 2006, however, shows small differences between girls’ results with integrated and subject-specific science education both in total scores and in the three scientific literacy competencies. No differences in boys’ results are shown on different science educations.
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| 6. |
- Eliasson, Nina, 1965-
(author)
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Att kommunicera skolans naturvetenskap : ett genusperspektiv på elevers deltagande i gemensam och enskild kommunikation
- 2017
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Both individual and whole class communication of students are described in this thesis, which is based on a clear gender perspective. Two articles describe the participation of boys and girls in communication with the whole class, the empirical data collected consisting of videotaped lessons. The extent to which boys and girls participate in the communication is reported in the first study, and in the second the extent to which boys and girls respond to the teacher's closed or open questions about science is presented. The third study reports boys' and girls' individual communication when responding to written science questions. The summary chapter ties the results together from the perspective of Positioning Theory, making the thesis a result of Mixed Methods Research.Results show that boys participate in whole class communication more often than girls, with approximately the same level of dominance as shown in research from the early 80s. Boys also answer more questions than girls, the differences becoming apparent when teachers ask closed questions that can be answered in one or two words. In isolation, girls answer written questions to the same extent as boys, but give longer responses containing a more developed scientific language.Results showing that boys position themselves as knowledgeable more often than girls when teachers ask closed questions, are explained from the perspective of Positioning Theory. Girls more often position themselves as knowledgeable when teachers ask open questions that require reflection. In test situations, with time for reflection, the boys and girls position themselves as knowledgeable students to the same extent.Teachers need to be aware of the positioning attempts created by teaching, and consequently take into account that different approaches in teaching provide boys and girls with different access to the communication space.
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