| 1. |
- Holmqvist, Mona, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Differences between learning facts and complex phenomena : a learningstudy in history based on the variation theory
- 2010
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Ingår i: Problems of Education in the 21st Century. - 1822-7864 .- 2538-7111. ; :20, s. 80-92
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study has been carried out as part of a project entitled “The Pedagogy of Learning” (Holmqvist, 2002) whose objective is to use theory and practice to extend our knowledge of learning and teaching. The study was implemented at the upper secondary school level and involved students in the first year of the social science programme. Two classes were evenly divided into three groups. The “learning study” model (Holmqvist, 2006) was employed and three research lessons in history were the focus of the study. The aim was to describe what students could potentially learn, and then compare this with what they actually learned with regard to critical aspects of historical knowledge of the learning object. The learning object was exemplified by the period when Skåne, the southern part of the present country of Sweden, became Swedish after a period of Danish rule. By examining different aspects of the learning object, the aspects necessary to bring about learning were clarified. The lessons themselves were analysed in accordance with Variation Theory (Holmqvist, Gustavsson & Wernberg, 2008; Holmqvist & Mattisson, 2008), according to the constituent concepts of discernment, simultaneity, and variation. What varies and what is invariant in a learning situation are important in determining what can be learned (Marton & Booth, 1997). Changes were implemented in how certain critical aspects of the subject were presented to students with the goal of improving the student learning outcomes. The results confirmed that the nature of what was taught resulted in different learning possibilities. One such element was the ability to identify with those who lived during the period studied. Creating a kind of compassion for one or more fictitious persons enabled students to discern more easily the critical aspects. One conclusion of this study was that an effective learning strategy for students is hard to develop because they try to focus both on understanding the learning object itself, and on gathering hints from the teacher about what will be on the upcoming examination (which constitutes a second implicit learning object). This is amounts to a ‘Guess what he is thinking’ game with the teacher, rather than developing a real understanding of the learning object itself. Another conclusion underscored the important role played by the developed understanding of the learning object in producing long-term or so-called ‘generative learning’. Our study demonstrated that there is a difference in the long term between decreased learning of isolated facts and increased comprehension of overall historical phenomena.
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| 2. |
- Holmqvist, Mona, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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The same lesson in two different cultures - what differs and what is the same? : a Learning Study on reading comprehension in Sweden and Hong Kong
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Problems of Education in the 21st Century. - 1822-7864 .- 2538-7111. ; :21, s. 71-82
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This project is about the relationship between what happens in the classroom and what the students learn from reading. We have found that what the students learn may differ in different classes radically even if the school resources are the same, learning is organized in the same way, even if the students are equally capable and motivated and even if the teachers are equally well educated and experienced. We have found that radical differences in what the students learn frequently originate from differences in how the content of learning is handled, structured in the interaction between teachers and students. Such differences have to do with what is made possible for the students to discern, to notice, to become aware of, through what is said, what is exemplified, what commonalities and what differences are brought out by means of discernment, simultaneity and the systematic use of variation. The study is a comparison between how reading comprehension is taught in two different cultures, Sweden and Hong Kong. The same lesson, developed and designed in Hong Kong, and content is given to three school year four-classes in Sweden and one school year-four class in Hong Kong, in the learning study model. The results show the similarities and differences between the learning outcomes, but also the similarities and differences in how the teachers offer the students to experience the object of learning and what implications this have on the student‘s results. The results show how powerful the design of the lessons is independent of the different cultural settings.
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| 3. |
- Karlsudd, Peter, 1958-
(författare)
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Assessing Essays to Develop Writing
- 2010
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Ingår i: Problems of Education in the 21st Century. - 1822-7864 .- 2538-7111. ; 25, s. 67-76
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Special needs teacher education in Sweden has by tradition been pragmatic and action-oriented. The higher degree of academization the education is now undergoing has revealed deficiencies in the concluding essay project. A low problematization degree, poor grounding in theory as well as undeveloped analyses are among the explanations of the low quality. This article describes a development project conducted at Linnaeus University with a view to improving the quality of student essay writing. With the overarching aim of making students aware of the quality criteria involved in essay writing, students and teachers assessed essays on the basis of 24 different criteria. Initially worked out by teachers, the criteria were developed and supplemented in dialogue with students. After the appraisal the conformity of assessment between student-student, teacher-student and teacher-teacher was presented. The result demonstrates that disagreement exists in the assessment. Teachers and examiners assess the quality of the essays as being somewhat lower in certain respects than what students do, whereas they may give higher values on the basis of other criteria. However, individual differences in assessment among teachers are not fewer than among students. There are clear differences in the evaluation of method, theory grounding, innovativeness and creativity. Subsequent discussions have led to clearer quality requirements for essays and have also to some extent reduced the former interpretation gap.
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| 4. |
- Karlsudd, Peter, 1958-
(författare)
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Tablets as learning support in special schools
- 2014
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Ingår i: Problems of Education in the 21st Century. - 1822-7864 .- 2538-7111. ; 59, s. 49-58
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Within special education research, ICT has occupied a relatively small space, especially when it comes to implementation and pupils’ learning effects. Few studies emphasize how ICT can promote a learning environment for pupils with cognitive disadvantages. The studies conducted in Sweden are about children and young people with physical rather than cognitive disabilities. Against this background and with the view to find new ways of learning for special school pupils the present research started. The overall aim was to increase pupil participation and promote learning in special schools by means of tablets. The research project involved researchers, teachers and student assistants in research circles, a method that can in many respects be compared with action research. Three special schools, two middle schools and one high school participated in the research project in which teachers and pupils were given Tablets. The data were using four different methods: Interview, Observation, Questionnaire and Essays. The data were tested against Professor Englund’s theory of Educational Philosophies. The theory has been a valuable tool for measuring and discussing how the discourse of change has occurred. The results show improved skills and a clear declaration of intent of staff to work in a reconstructive direction.
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| 5. |
- Ljung-Djärf, Agneta, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Doing pre-school : knowledge utilization and discursive patterns during pre-school planning meetings
- 2010
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Ingår i: Problems of Education in the 21st Century. - 1822-7864 .- 2538-7111. ; :25, s. 77-86
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this research is to study knowledge utilization and discursive patterns during pre-school planning meetings fronstage. The study is designed as a qualitative case study based on tape recordings of five planning meetings and three video documented activities. Three pre-school teachers and three researchers participated. In the analysis, Foucault’s work on discursive practices is used as theoretical framework. The study highlights knowledge used and cited in the local negotiations. The conclusions are that the knowledge used is based on both professional knowledge related to children's learning and development, and local knowledge of children and their abilities, conditions and personalities. The professional knowledge appears as rather implicit and it is primarily the local knowledge of children and their individual needs and circumstances that is most clearly expressed. Dominant discursive patterns are formulated as the staff make themselves responsible for making the pre-school activity not school-like for the maturing child. On the front stage arena the teachers' tasks primarily appears as a desire to maintain the pre-school content in accordance with pre-school ideology that also controls how they see the children’s learning in pre-school in another perspective than student learning in a school context
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| 6. |
- Mattisson, Jane, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
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Learning through technology : a report on the implementation of a "new" e-learning tool
- 2010
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Ingår i: Problems of Education in the 21st Century. - 1822-7864 .- 2538-7111. ; :23, s. 146-157
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article discusses an on-going pilot project for improving essay writing at Kristianstad University, Sweden. It presents a so-called boilerplate which has been designed for Master’s-level English students. This e-learning tool is used as a cognitive tool that facilitates learning with as opposed to learning through technology. The boilerplate is part of a joint learning system (Kim & Reeves, 2007) in which there are three equal participants in the learning process: the tool, learner, and activity.As technology is increasingly implemented in education, there is a need to understand pedagogical processes that not only take into consideration the student, but how the technology is used by the student. Our paper discusses the e-learning tool created at Kristianstad University, and looks at the first, preliminary results of its use in connection with pedagogical issues, usability, and interaction.
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| 7. |
- Willén-Lundgren, Berit, et al.
(författare)
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Special needs education perspectives in the practice of leisure-time centres
- 2014
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Ingår i: Problems of Education in the 21st Century. - 1822-7864 .- 2538-7111. ; 62, s. 51-61
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study carried out at Linnaeus University in the spring of 2012 where students in a special needs education module problematised the teacher’s mission with the focus on being able to face differences among children in a pedagogical activity. The aim of the study was to make visible how the teaching and learning of values and attitudes can be promoted in educational practice, as well as to examine student views on including values for leisure-time centre work as stated in the target documents. In the study the students were required to observe activities primarily from the perspective of special needs education concepts referred to as categorical and relational. The results of the observations point to a number of concrete professional pedagogical actions that can be linked to a relational special pedagogy approach.
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| 8. |
- Diedrichs, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Flexible examination as a pathway to learning
- 2012
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Ingår i: Problems of Education in the 21st Century. - 1822-7864. ; 40:40, s. 26-34
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previous research in the field of educational development has highlighted the importance of examination in the learning process. In most educational contexts tests and grades are the most important influences on the students’ learning strategies. A well planned examination strategy is seen as contributing to better learning. A test of flexible examination forms was carried out in the Linnaeus University’s teacher training program in Sweden. During a course in special needs education, 119 teacher trainees were given the opportunity to choose examination method at the start of the course. They were able to choose between four different examination methods and were in addition allowed to propose their own examination method. After the students had been examined they completed an evaluation on their newly acquired and previous examination experience and with the key question being which form of examination was most beneficial to the learning process. The results show that even if the students saw examination as an opportunity for learning and appreciated the option of freely choosing examination method, they did not choose the examination form according to its benefit for the learning process. On the contrary they chose the examination form that they expected to be the easiest path towards high grades.
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| 9. |
- Holmqvist, Mona, et al.
(författare)
-
Differences between learning facts and complex phenomena : a learningstudy in history based on the variation theory
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Problems of Education in the 21st Century. - : Scientia Socialis. - 1822-7864. ; :20, s. 80-92
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study has been carried out as part of a project entitled “The Pedagogy of Learning” (Holmqvist, 2002) whose objective is to use theory and practice to extend our knowledge of learning and teaching. The study was implemented at the upper secondary school level and involved students in the first year of the social science programme. Two classes were evenly divided into three groups. The “learning study” model (Holmqvist, 2006) was employed and three research lessons in history were the focus of the study. The aim was to describe what students could potentially learn, and then compare this with what they actually learned with regard to critical aspects of historical knowledge of the learning object. The learning object was exemplified by the period when Skåne, the southern part of the present country of Sweden, became Swedish after a period of Danish rule. By examining different aspects of the learning object, the aspects necessary to bring about learning were clarified. The lessons themselves were analysedin accordance with Variation Theory (Holmqvist, Gustavsson & Wernberg, 2008; Holmqvist & Mattisson, 2008), according to the constituent concepts of discernment, simultaneity, and variation. What varies and what is invariant in a learning situation are important in determining what can be learned (Marton & Booth, 1997). Changes were implemented in how certain critical aspects of the subject were presented to students with the goal of improving the student learning outcomes. The results confirmed that the nature of what was taught resulted in different learning possibilities. One such element was the ability to identify with those who lived during the period studied. Creating a kind of compassion for one or more fictitious persons enabled students to discern more easily the critical aspects. One conclusion of this study was that an effective learning strategy for students is hard to develop because they try to focus both on understanding the learning object itself, and on gathering hints from the teacher aboutwhat will be on the upcoming examination (which constitutes a second implicit learning object). This is amounts to a ‘Guess what he is thinking’ game with the teacher, rather than developing a real understanding of the learning object itself. Another conclusion underscored the important role played by the developed understanding of the learning object in producing long-term or so-called ‘generative learning’. Our study demonstrated that there is a difference in the long term between decreased learning of isolated facts and increased comprehension of overall historical phenomena.
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| 10. |
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