| 11. |
- Johansson, Annie-Maj, 1960-
(författare)
-
Undersökande arbetssätt i NO-undervisningen i grundskolans tidigare årskurser
- 2012
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis deals with the use of inquiry-based approaches in primary school science. The aim is to investigate the goals and purposes that are constituted by the curriculum and by the teachers in interviews and through their teaching in the classroom. The results are used to develop conceptual tools that can be used by teachers’ in their work to support students’ learning of science when using an inquiry-based approach. The thesis is comprised of four papers. In paper one a comparative analysis is made of five Swedish national curricula for compulsory school regarding what students should learn about scientific inquiry. In paper two 20 teachers were interviewed about their own teaching using inquiry. Classroom interactions were filmed and analyzed in papers three and four, which examine how primary teachers use the various activities and purposes of the inquiry classroom to support learning progressions in science. The results of paper one show how the emphasis within and between the two goals of learning to carry out investigations and learning about the nature of science shifted and changed over time in the different curricula. Paper two describes the selective traditions and qualities that were emphasized in the teachers’ accounts of their own teaching. The results of papers three and four show how students need to be involved in the proximate and ultimate purposes of the teaching activities for progression to happen. The ultimate purposes are the scientific purposes for the lesson (as given by the teacher or by the curriculum), whereas the proximate purposes are the more student-centered purposes that through different activities should allow the students to relate their own experiences and language to the ultimate purpose. The results show the importance of proximate purposes working as ends-in-view in the sense of John Dewey, meaning that the students see the goal of the activity and that they are able to relate to their experiences and familiar language.
|
|
| 12. |
- Lundegård, Iann, 1955-
(författare)
-
På väg mot pluralism : Elever i situerade samtal kring hållbar utveckling
- 2007
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation highlights and discusses some essential aspects of young people’s meaning-making deliberations on future issues and sustainable development. In the first two of four articles, recurring components of the discussion that appear to be important for its progression are both identifi ed and illustrated. In the two latter articles these components are then used to study how the identities of the conversers are constituted through the deliberations and to describe how the individual participants assume their place in them as free political subjects. The dissertation’s theoretical starting point has been the pragmatist arguments and positions mainly found in Dewey’s concept of experience, Rorty’s anti-representationalistic perspective of meaning-making and Wittgenstein’s discussions relating to language games. A methodological attempt developed from these arguments is transaction analysis – originally formulated by Wickman and Östman and later called practical epistemology. The study begins with this analysis and develops it further. The empirical data included in the dissertation’s studies is based on recorded interviews and students discussions. The students who participated either attended upper secondary school or a folk high school. The results of the dissertation’s four articles show that human confl icts of interest and value relations should be regarded as central stages in students’ discussion processes on sustainable development. The dissertation also shows how these components can be used to study pluralism and how students’ collective identity is constituted. In the dissertation’s conclusion, a number of tools are developed that are suitable for research where one intends to further analyse how students create meaning about future issues and sustainable development through discussion. The conclusion also describes eight educational points that need to be taken into account when creating constructive discussion situations that support students’ learning in the field of sustainable development.
|
|
| 13. |
- Sund, Per, 1958-
(författare)
-
Att urskilja selektiva traditioner i miljöundervisningens socialisationsinnehåll - implikationer för undervisning för hållbar utveckling
- 2008
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Discerning selective traditions in the socialization content of environmental education – implications for education for sustainable developmentThis thesis offers an empirical contribution to research on content issues in environmental education. One way of approaching content issues is to study the socialization content. Socialization content forms an educational context in which subject matter content can develop into meaning. Through their different actions teachers communicate companion meanings to students, which together constitute the socialization content. These are messages about the subject and about education, such as the importance of students’ participation.One important starting point for this thesis is that the learning of subject matter and socialization content is simultaneous. Learning is often regarded as an inner individual process, while socialization is more often understood as an external fostering. By using the concept of meaning making, learning and socialization can be regarded as both simultaneous and mutual.The thesis has two main purposes, namely, methodological development and a more substantial study of socialization content. An interview method and analytical tool for researchers has been developed as a result of conducting a literature review and interviewing upper secondary school teachers involved in a general science course. This tool can be used to study the qualitative aspects of socialization content by examining shifts in five important educational aspects, and has been applied to the empirical data collected from teacher and student interviews.The analytical tool can also be transformed into a reflection tool for teachers to render their educational habits more visible. Teachers’ collective habits can develop into selective traditions in environmental education. Socialization content can be regarded as an important value-laden content that needs to be critically examined in an open democratic school system. These discussions could facilitate the development of a more pluralistic environmental education, which in turn could be further developed into an education for sustainable development.
|
|
| 14. |
- Ünsal, Zeynep, 1983-
(författare)
-
Bilingual students' learning in science : Language, gestures and phyiscal artefacts
- 2017
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The objective of this thesis is to examine how language, gestures and physical artefacts are used in science classes with emergent bilingual students who do not share the same minority language as their classmates or teachers. The purpose is to contribute to findings that can enhance emergent bilingual students’ learning in science. The data consist of classroom observations in one 3rd grade (9–10 years old) and one 7th grade (13–14 years old) science class. In addition, the students in the 7th grade were interviewed. Whole-class instruction was carried out monolingually in Swedish. The students typically made meaning of the activities without any language limitations during conversations following an initiation, response and evaluation pattern (IRE). However, during longer conversations the students’ language repertoire in Swedish frequently limited their possibilities to express themselves. During group-work activities, students with the same minority language worked together and used both of their languages. One strategy used among the students to overcome language limitations was translating unfamiliar words into their minority language. In general, this supported the students’ learning in science. Occasionally, the students made incorrect translations of scientific concepts. The interviews with the students demonstrated how monolingual exams may limit emergent bilingual students’ achievements in science. When students’ language proficiency limited their possibility to express themselves, the students showed what they meant by using gestures. This resulted in the continuation of the lessons as both other students and teachers drew on the used gestures to talk about the science content. The physical artefacts implied that the students experienced the science content by actually seeing it, which the teacher then drew on to introduce how the phenomena or process in question could be expressed in scientific language. When students’ proficiency in the language of instruction limited their possibilities to make meaning, using physical artefacts enabled them to experience unfamiliar words being related to the science content and learn what they mean.
|
|
| 15. |
- Flodin, Veronica S., 1960-
(författare)
-
En didaktisk studie av kunskapsinnehåll i biologi på universitetet : Med genbegreppet som exempel
- 2015
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is about knowing in biology in higher education and research. The gene concept is used as an example of knowledge content that is common to both biological research and education. The purpose is to study how knowing about the gene is expressed in different forms of knowledge contexts at the university. This is important to study in order to understand documented learning problems regarding the gene concept but also to better understand the relation between knowledge in research and teaching. Knowledge has to be transformed to become an educational content, a process that is of special interest within the field of Didaktik. The thesis is based on three qualitative case studies. Study I is an analysis of a textbook in biology. The purpose is to examine the content as presented to the students to see how its structure may contribute to the problems students have. How does the gene concept function as a scientific representation and at the same time as an object for learning in a biology college textbook? A phenomenographic approach is used to study implicit variation in gene concept use when the textbook treats different sub disciplines. The results show conceptual differences between them. The different categories of the gene found–as a trait, an information structure, an actor in the cell, a regulator in embryonic development or as a marker for evolutionary change–mean that we deal with different phenomena. The gene as an object is ascribed different functions and furthermore these functions are intermingled in the textbook. Since, in the textbook, these conceptual differences are not articulated, they likely are a source of confusion when learning about genes. Study II examines the gene concept use in a scientific context, as exemplified by five research articles from a scientific journal. Using an adaptation of Hirst’s criteria for forms of knowledge, the study characterizes how the scientific contexts for the gene concept use vary. What kinds of different gene concept use in these contexts can be discerned? When comparing the articles, it becomes evident that the gene concept is used to answer different kinds of questions. The meanings of the gene concept are connected to various knowledge projects, their purposes and the methods used. Shifts of methodologies and questions entail a concept that escapes single definitions and “slides around” in meanings. These contextual transformations and associated content leaps are here referred to as epistemic drift. Study III follows an integrative research project in biology. What are the characteristic content conditions for knowledge development? What different ways in using the gene concept can be distinguished? By using the analytic methodology developed in study II, the scientific contexts are categorized according to their knowledge project, methods used and conceptual contexts. The results show that the gene concept meanings and the content vary in focus, are more or less explicitly formulated, or possible to formulate, and consist of different skills. One didactic conclusion is that by being more overt about the conditions for problem solving within a specific subdisciplin (i.e. fruitful questions to ask, knowledge needed to answer them, and methods available), students may be given opportunities to get a broader perspective on what it means to know biology.
|
|
| 16. |
- Hansson, Lena, 1975-
(författare)
-
Enligt fysiken eller enligt mig själv? : Gymnasieelever, fysiken och grundantaganden om världen
- 2007
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I avhandlingen studeras elevers grundantaganden om världen, samt de grundantaganden som eleverna förknippar med fysiken. Det är utifrån de grundantaganden vi gör om hur världen är beskaffad som vi försöker tolka och förstå nya fenomen och företeelser vi möter, t.ex. i den naturvetenskapliga undervisningen. I avhandlingen ligger intresset primärt på grundantaganden som vanligtvis tas för givna i naturvetenskapen samt sådana som är av intresse för relationen mellan naturvetenskap och religion. För de empiriska studierna har ett specifikt område, nämligen universums uppkomst och utveckling samt existentiella frågor relaterade till detta, valts som ram för elevernas resonemang. Avhandlingen bygger på två studier. I den första studeras elevers skriftliga svar och uttalanden under intervjuer och i den andra studeras elevers gruppdiskussioner. Eleverna som deltar i de båda studierna går alla det tredje året på gymnasiet och läser kursen Fysik B.Resultaten visar att det finns elever som beskriver sin egen och fysikens syn på olika sätt. Detta gäller såväl frågor om universums uppkomst och utveckling som frågor om t.ex. relationen mellan naturvetenskap och religion. Resultaten visar vidare att de grundantaganden som vanligtvis underförstås i fysiken inte med självklarhet associeras med fysiken av eleverna. Detta kan göra det svårt för dem att förstå resonemang och modeller i fysiken. Resultaten visar vidare att det är vanligt att elever associerar scientistiska synsätt med fysiken. Scientism innebär att man menar att ingenting utom det som är åtkomligt för naturvetenskapen existerar. Detta uteslutet möjligheten att andra möjliga dimensioner av verkligheten än den materiella existerar. Att förknippa fysiken med antaganden som inte av nödvändighet måste förknippas med fysiken (t.ex. scientistiska synsätt) kan göra att elever, som inte själva delar dessa antaganden, får svårare att identifiera sig med fysiken och kanske t.o.m. väljer bort studier i fysik när möjlighet ges.
|
|
| 17. |
- Lunde, Torodd, 1976-
(författare)
-
Undersökande arbete i en laborativ tradition : Från implicita till explicita syften med praktiskt arbete i grundskolans senare del
- 2020
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall purpose of this study is to contribute with increased knowledge of what happens when ideas from science education research are introduced in a teaching tradition where other purposes and ideas have dominated for a long time and how gaps between these can be bridged. The study consists of three sub-studies. The first part of the study examines how inquiry-based science teaching as it is presented in the Swedish curricula has been interpreted by teachers. Twelve lower secondary teachers were recorded during group reflections on inquiry-based teaching. The study indicates that the teachers interpreted inquiry-based teaching selectively on the basis of what characterizes the laboratory teaching tradition. The second sub-study examines approaches that can be used to avoid selective interpretation of ideas during in-service teacher training. A teacher professional development program was designed to make underlying assumptions in the laboratory teaching tradition visible through three didactic models. The study is based on data from group reflections, group interviews, presentations and written documentation from 10 lower secondary teachers. The results show that several teachers gradually become more aware of separating between different purposes when designing inquiry-based teaching. The last sub-study problematizes the gap between the view of inquiry-based teaching in science education literature and the teaching tradition. The sub-study presents a didactic model in the form of a conceptual apparatus for inquiry-based teaching, which is based on critical realism as an epistemological foundation. Arguments are presented for how this conceptual apparatus can contribute to bridging the gap between the teaching tradition and science education literature.
|
|
| 18. |
- Persson, Lena, 1947-
(författare)
-
En aktionsforskningsstudie om undervisning och lärande för hållbar utveckling
- 2011
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Researchers in environmental education and education for sustainable development (ESD) have discussed in what way young people’s experience impact their action competence (e.g. Almers 2009; Schnack 1996; Breiting &Mogensen 1999; Lundegård 2007). In my research I wanted to study if and how action research (AR) including the students’ reflections may contribute to a pluralistic education in ESD. The AR was made together with a teacher at a secondary school in year 9. We worked on equal level in planning and often during the lessons, but I, as the researcher, was making the Analysis and the Questions of the interviews. I made three group interviews with five students. The other students were answering questions in logbooks. I also interviewed the teacher. Early on the class visited an exhibition at the National Museum of Science in Stockholm. During the next lesson the students wrote in their logbooks about their thoughts after visiting the museum, and I interviewed five students. The teacher and I read their reflections and observed what we had to pay attention to during the next lesson. Many students had been afraid of the future and started thinking that their children might not have a future; everything on the globe is spoilt, ice flows everywhere. The teacher and I decided to talk more about whose responsibility it is (Öhman 2006; Lundegård 2007). We found support in Ojala’s (2007) thesis.This was the first question we had to deal with in our Action Research. The teacher and I planned a new cycle of action, where we talked about the environment and whose responsibility is it.We talked about society, economy and politics, because we had noticed that the students were thinking that they were guilty for the global situation. Further on the students got more action competence and were more motivated and interested in environmental problems, and also critical in many ways about how societies and politicians were dealing with the environment issues. The next time the students were reflecting, they were not talking about worries for the future. Instead they had started to think about constructive actions favoring the globe’s future. Other things we took care of were when the students needed help with their studies about life-styles. They were working in groups, 3-5 members in each group, and they were taking initiatives, planning and acting and after the study they made presentations of their work in front of the whole class. I found that the Pluralistic way of education worked fine together with my action research and the students were able to take their own decisions in the environmental questions. They had gained action competence now and for the future.
|
|
| 19. |
- Petersson, Maria
(författare)
-
Lärares beskrivningar av evolution som undervisningsinnehåll i biologi på gymnasiet
- 2012
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Biological evolution is part of the syllabi for Biology and Science in Swedish upper secondary school. In the syllabi, evolution is not only presented as a topic in Biology courses, but is also regarded as a unifying theme. The teacher has a fundamental role in deciding how the national curriculum is translated into the educational situation. This thesis investigates teachers’ accounts of their teaching of evolution in Swedish upper secondary school, describing their understandings of the purpose of teaching and learning evolution as part of biology education.The thesis is based on interviews of teachers teaching the course Biology A, which is compulsory as dictated by the Natural Science Program. The interviews were supplemented with questionnaires. The interviews were orientated towards questions about selection of course content and the reasons for choosing this content. The interviews were focused on teachers experiences based on their own practice. Two aspects of content were examined: (1) the scientific content taught in terms of themes and (2) the socializing value-laden aspects, such as priorities taken by the teachers and the teachers´ overarching aims. The results showed that teachers described different teaching contents with regard to values, even when the core content of themes was similar. Four different selective traditions for choosing content were identified among teachers. The results are discussed in relation to the context and conditions that the teachers identify as influential on the content chosen. Teachers’ interactions with their students as well as their world views are important for their selection and adjustment of content. There are also indications that teachers’ personal views about purposes are important for selecting the teaching content.
|
|
| 20. |
- Svennbeck, Margareta, 1958-
(författare)
-
Omsorg om naturen : Om NO-utbildningens selektiva traditioner med fokus på miljöfostran och genus
- 2004
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is intended as a contribution to the discussion about science education, especially with regard to how care for nature can be understood, to what extend care for nature is included or excluded in the science education discourse and the importance of this in regard to an environmental education and a gender perspective. The empirical part of the thesis is carried out as a case study, where the discourse of physics is studied as a case within the discourse of science education. The discourse of physics is investigated by analyses of textbooks for lower secondary school in Sweden. In the thesis, I present two ways of understanding care for nature. The first way is related to a systemic aspect of ethics that is based on principles. If the principles in use ascribe intrinsic value to nature, then the ethics can be seen as an expression of a systemic aspect of care for nature. The second way is related to an aspect of ethics based on care in ‘I-Thou encounters’ with nature, and is seen as a non-systemic aspect of care for nature. Three forms of analyses are performed: 1) of the discourse and selective traditions in physics, 2) of orientations (attitudes) towards nature, and 3) of ways of knowing (indicating what meetings with nature students are offered in science education). The analyses performed showed one discourse in physics education, consisting of two selective traditions. The systemic aspect of care for nature is excluded as the discourse has an anthropocentric foundation. The non-systemic aspect of care for nature is also excluded, as no I-Thou meetings are offered through the ways of knowing and no expression for the I-Thou attitude is found in either of the traditions. Further, ways of knowing and an ethical orientation associated with female gender are excluded. Thus, the discourse in physics does not contribute to obtaining the goals of the national syllabuses concerning gender equality and care for nature from the perspectives investigated.
|
|
