| 1. |
- Clucas, Paul, et al.
(författare)
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Traces of Bildung in Upper Secondary Science Education : A Critical Investigation of Chemistry Teachers' Orientation Towards Promoting Bildung in Chemistry Education
- 2024
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Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a need of a component in science education that can orient students to the complexity characterising the natural sciences position in relation to a globalised risk society and the Anthropocene. Recently, the implications of the German philosophical and educational construct Bildung have been discussed in this regard. In this paper, we investigate in what aspect an orientation towards promoting Bildung manifests in Swedish upper secondary school chemistry teachers' visions and views for their teaching. In view of the reported impact of neoliberal policy in narrowing the scope of education, with such narrowing possibly excluding dimensions of philosophical-ethical reflection in science teaching, we also investigate in what aspect economic goals associated with neoliberalism might hinder a Bildung orientation in the vision and views of the five chemistry teachers that were interviewed. Results revealed "Bildung-related elements" to be present in the chemistry teaching visions of all the teachers, however without strong Bildung orientation. Significantly, four of the five teachers reported contextual factors consistent with the impact of neoliberal policy in education as marginalising their work to realise Bildung-related elements. In addition, factors outside of teachers' awareness were also found to marginalise Bildung. Common for all five teachers were neoliberal values at the level of teachers' implicit beliefs, with our analysis pointing to the possibility that teachers view Bildung-related elements in their chemistry teaching as commodifiable entities. We argue that these implicit beliefs disempower the teachers in relation to a teaching praxis that seeks to guide students towards their own Bildung.
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| 2. |
- Dudas, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
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Exploratory Considerations in Chemistry Education—Didactic Modelling for Complexity in Students’ Discussions
- 2023
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Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 32:2, s. 481-498
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research has shown the importance of dealing with real-life issues and of enabling student encounters with complexity in chemistry education in order to increase student participation. Therefore, this study aims to analyse how complexity evolves in students’ discussions and how this complexity relates to aspects of tentativeness in chemistry. In the study, we analyse how a previously developed didactic model can be refined from the students’ considerations evolving from the present context. The study was conducted as an in situ study in one upper-secondary school. Students’ discussions were recorded on video. The recordings were transcribed and analysed using deliberative educational questions. Two different kinds of considerations emerged in the students’ discussions: factual and exploratory considerations. While factual considerations are an important element of chemistry education, students also need to encounter exploratory considerations. The study proposes a didactic model useful for teachers in didactic analysis and design of activities aiming to support students to unfold complexity through exploratory considerations. One implication is to base activities on real-life issues in order to invite the unpredictability needed for experiencing complexity and the exploratory nature of chemistry. These issues enable students to experience aspects of tentativeness in chemistry and thereby increase their understanding of NOS and chemistry as a knowledge building practice. Furthermore, this might also increase student participation in chemistry education.
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| 3. |
- Fingalsson, Rebecka, et al.
(författare)
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'Happy Stories' of Swedish Exceptionalism : Reproducing Whiteness in Teaching and Biology Textbooks in Sexuality Education
- 2023
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Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer Nature. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sexuality education (SE) takes place in fields of tension where biology, legislation, norms, and values intersect. Drawing on Ahmed’s phenomenological account of whiteness, this article examines how Swedish whiteness is constructed and reproduced within SE. In Sweden, SE is formalised as an overarching, subject-integrated knowledge area where the biology subject plays a crucial role in its delivery. To include a wide spectrum of SE, where both planned and unplanned aspects of teaching are considered, as well as tensions in the content, we have analysed eight semi-structured teacher interviews and five biology textbooks. Our analysis shows how Swedish whiteness is reproduced as a form of institutionalised orientation constructed by norms, social values, people, subject knowledge, policies, and legislation, all intertwined in a complex web. This web places SE, teachers, and pupils in a racial landscape that constructs and reproduces specific forms of Swedish whiteness by assigning each a position in relation to familiarity. This familiarity provides a taken-for-granted starting point in SE, where ‘here’ is constructed as a place of progression, openness, and possibilities for happy future sexual lives, while other places come to stand out as hyper-visible examples of the less familiar, less happy, and ‘far away’. From this outpost, teachers and biology textbooks construct and reproduce Swedish whiteness through 'happy stories' of Swedish exceptionalism. Although these positive messages in SE may stem from good intentions, our findings show that a colourblind view of racial hierarchies in the rendering of ‘happy stories, about, for example, gay rights, free abortion, and equality also contributes to reproducing whiteness and reinforcing ideas about race and Swedish exceptionalism in SE.
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| 4. |
- Högström, P., et al.
(författare)
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Teaching Socioscientific Issues : A Systematic Review
- 2024
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Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To provide a comprehensive picture of socioscientific issues (SSI) pedagogy in primary and secondary school contexts, we present a systematic review of research on how SSI in science education practice is characterized in studies of teaching and learning from 1997 to 2021. The review addresses the identified need for guidance on SSI teaching as experienced by practicing teachers. The aim of the study is to define and describe how SSI as a pedagogical approach is characterized in studies of teaching and learning in science education research. From a sample of 5183 peer-reviewed articles, 157 were selected for the data extraction and systematic review process. The result is structured around teaching objectives, teaching topics, and teaching methods. Our findings show that much of the research revolves around the development of students’ higher-order thinking skills and science content knowledge. The topics identified fall mainly within two themes: the environment and sustainable development, and health and technology. Group discussions stand out as the primary teaching method. The findings are discussed in the light of previous reviews, and recommendations for future research are suggested.
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| 5. |
- Kersting, Magdalena, et al.
(författare)
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A Growing Body of Knowledge On Four Different Senses of Embodiment in Science Education
- 2021
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Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; :30, s. 1183-1210
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Science deals with the world around us, and we understand, experience, and study this world through and with our bodies. While science educators have started to acknowledge the critical role of the body in science learning, approaches to conceptualising the body in science education vary greatly. Embodiment and embodied cognition serve as umbrella terms for different approaches to bodily learning processes. Unfortunately, researchers and educators often blur these different approaches and use various claims of embodiment interchangeably. Understanding and acknowledging the diversity of embodied perspectives strengthen arguments in science education research and allows realising the potential of embodied cognition in science education practice. We need a comprehensive overview of the various ways the body bears on science learning. With this paper, we wish to present such an overview by disentangling key ideas of embodiment and embodied cognition with a view towards science education. Drawing on the historical traditions of phenomenology and ecological psychology, we propose four senses of embodiment that conceptualise the body in physical, phenomenological, ecological, and interactionist terms. By illustrating the multiple senses of embodiment through examples from the recent science education literature, we show that embodied cognition bears on practical educational problems and has a variety of theoretical implications for science education. We hope that future work can recognise such different senses of embodiment and show how they might work together to strengthen the many roles of the body in science education research and practice.
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| 6. |
- Kersting, Magdalena, et al.
(författare)
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What is the role of the body in science education? A conversation between traditions
- 2023
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Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bodily engagement with the material and sociocultural world is ubiquitous in doing and learning science. However, science education researchers have often tended to emphasize the disembodied and nonmaterial aspects of science learning, thereby overlooking the crucial role of the body in meaning-making processes. While in recent years we have seen a turn towards embracing embodied perspectives, there persist considerable theoretical and methodological differences within research on embodiment in science education that hamper productive discourse. What is needed is a careful examination of how different traditions and disciplines, among them philosophy, social semiotics, and cognitive science, bear on embodiment in science education research. This paper aims to explore and articulate the differences and convergences of embodied perspectives in science education research in the form of a dialogue between three fictitious personas that stand for the cognitive, social-interactionist, and phenomenological research traditions. By bringing these traditions into dialogue, we aim to better position the role of the body in the science education research landscape. In doing so, we take essential steps towards unifying terminology across different research traditions and further exploring the implications of embodiment for science education research.
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| 7. |
- Li, Baoyu, et al.
(författare)
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Education for Sustainability Meets Confucianism in Science Education
- 2023
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Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 32:4, s. 879-908
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Confucianism provides a specific view on the world held by many people living in several Asian societies. It offers views on humans and nature that generally differ from other traditional or Western modern views. The paper presents a systematic analysis of the literature in education with a focus on science education about the connection of Confucianism with education for sustainability. It suggests a framework for how education for sustainability can be operated in the foreground of Confucian societies taking concepts from the international literature into consideration. This critical review provides justification for a stronger reflection about how to include ideas from Confucianism into education for sustainability in the teaching and learning of science. It suggests that Confucian thinking offers a rich and authentic context for science learning in Confucian societies and and also provides a chance to reflect on views of humans, nature, and science in science education in other societies, potentially contributing to the development of more balanced and holistic worldviews.
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| 8. |
- Mc Ewen, Birgitta, Associate professor
(författare)
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Construction of a Review About Epigenetics for Biology Teachers and Other Non-experts
- 2021
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Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer Nature. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 31, s. 997-1026
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Epigenetics, the new research field at the cutting edge of biology research, needs to be introduced in biology education. The aim of this review is to support biology teachers and other non-experts to get an overview of the field, as a review in epigenetics has hardly been written for these groups. This review was done by finding documents describing central features of epigenetics, increasing the understanding of epigenetics’ contribution to perspectives in society, and to be a model for a review in a rapidly developing science field. As an example of societal perspectives, the old dispute about “nature” or “nurture” is discussed, epigenetics focusing on the role of “nurture’s” influence on “nature.” Consequently, epigenetics dispels biological determinism. As this review was intended to fill a gap in the literature, a theoretical framework for the construction of the review had to be invented. This was done in an iterative process during the construction of the review. Documents were searched for in the databases of ERIC, Scopus, and Web of Science, peer-reviewed, and had been published by a well-renowned publisher. The search time frame was January 2016 to December 2019, including document types books and book chapters, plus journal articles for ERIC; documents had to be written in English and published as open access. Searches were divided into pre-defined categories based on a newly performed Delphi study. Exemplar studies, which best described each category, are discussed in the light of frontline research. As implications from epigenetics are important for a variety of areas within society, the review is a contribution to the field of sociology of science, aiming to support science education at the very front of science.
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| 9. |
- Mc Ewen, Birgitta, Associate professor
(författare)
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The Connection Between the Body and the Environment : a Changing View
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer Nature. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 29, s. 1093-1096
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Recension (refereegranskat)abstract
- The author of the book takes a broad scope of different perspectives to cover our constantly increasing knowledge in biology. This is an ambitious book, written by a sociologist with great knowledge in biology although with some exceptions concerning facts about epigenetic inheritance (see my comments on chapter five). The book is divided into five chapters, all focussing on the connection between the body and the environment, and how the view of this connection has changed over time. The title of the book, Impressionable biologies, points to another perspective of biology than the natural science one—expressed in the words of the author as—“defining biological matter as deeply imbued with social meanings, not just ‘malleable’ but durably ‘impressionable’” (p. 28). The text is sometimes too verbose, especially in chapters one and three, and sometimes not stringent, implicating difficulties to follow the line of argument. The level is rather advanced. Thus the book is best suited for university teachers and researchers in biology education.
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| 10. |
- Nordqvist, Ola, 1970, et al.
(författare)
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Upper Secondary School Science Teachers' Values in Sweden: What Decides What is Taught?
- 2023
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Ingår i: Science & Education. - : SPRINGER. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Download PDF Article Open Access Published: 26 May 2023 Upper Secondary School Science Teachers' Values in Sweden: What Decides What is Taught? Ola Nordqvist & Anders Jidesjö Science & Education (2023)Cite this article 187 Accesses Metrics details Abstract There is a substantial literature in science education research showing that many students experience a lack of relevance in science education. For this reason, science teachers’ selection of content and the way content is treated when exposed to students for learning purposes is an important part of the problem. In this connection, research show that science teachers’ values strongly influence several aspects of teaching and learning science. Therefore, science teachers’ values are important to investigate, to be empirically informed and to be able to develop science education. Accordingly, there is an increased volume of research studies about teachers’ values in science education and their effects. The study presented here is part of a larger national exploration of biotechnology education in upper secondary schools in Sweden and contributes by showing variation in teachers’ values and relations with practice. Theoretically, the study is rooted in a philosophy of science recognizing the potential importance of teachers’ non-epistemic values. Empirically, it is based on surveyed upper secondary school biology teachers’ views of the importance of including value-laden topics in their science teaching. Their responses were analyzed by latent profile analysis and non-parametric testing, to assess the variation in their views and explore associations with several explanatory factors. The results show that the surveyed teachers could be divided into two distinct groups: one favoring inclusion of value-laden topics in their teaching and another (smaller group) opposed to it. The result also shows a variation in teachers’ selection of topics to teach and their teaching approach, as the former group were more inclined than the latter to include value-laden aspects in their teaching which contributes to the research literature. Furthermore, experienced science teachers were overrepresented in the group holding more negative views, a result not reported elsewhere in the research literature. The importance of the results is discussed in relation with the theoretical framing of non-epistemic values and points out the importance to further investigate underlying causes to science teachers’ expressed values and ways that they might vary temporally together with ways that they cluster, as they are shown to be grouped. The result is also discussed in relation with practice in being able to make use of the evidence to develop science education.
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