| 1. |
- Ideland, Malin, et al.
(författare)
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Naturvetenskap för medborgerlig bildning
- 2013
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Ingår i: Medborgerlig bildning. - Lund : Studentlitteratur AB. - 9789144060620 ; , s. 145-166
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I den här boken diskuterar och problematiserar författarna medborgerlig bildning ur olika perspektiv. De ställer frågor om vad som krävs för att barn och ungdomar ska utvecklas till kompetenta, reflekterande, kritiska och aktiva medborgare med möjlighet att ta ansvar. Vilka krav på kompetenser krävs inom så specifika områden? I detta specifika kaptiel får läsaren ta del av varför medborgerlig bildning har en plats inom det naturvetenskapliga fältet.
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| 2. |
- Ideland, Malin, et al.
(författare)
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Who fits into the science classroom? : Critical perspectives on pedagogical models in science education.
- 2012
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This mini-symposium aims to stress issues about how pedagogical models like e.g. SSI, science for girls and ESD construct who fits in or not in the science classroom. These models are developed from a good intention of including "all" students, opening up possibilities for them who often are seen as outsiders in science culture. But we claim that these seemingly democratic pedagogical models fabricate desirable and undesirable subjects. Often, the norms for fitting in can be understood in terms of images of gender, ethnicity and social class.A movement in science education research highlights the importance of making science knowledge “useful” for "everyone" in "everyday life". The aim with these efforts is to let students develop scientific literacy, which often is talked about as “necessary” for citizenship. Different practices carry strong ideas of designing the future, and emphasize the need of competences that are inscribed in the concept of “future citizen”. These competencies are often described in terms of problem-solving, critical thinking and making rational decisions to contribute to a sustainable world. In relation to this image, those children that don’t want to make decisions, solve problems become constructed as failures. In a wider perspective, they can be seen as threatening the intentions of science contribution to a sustainable world.In this symposium we would like to raise critical issues about what norms that are constructing individuals, from different social categories, as desirable or non-desirable in science classroom. These issues will be discussed in relation to six examples from empirical studies which are problematizing the construction of the desirable science student. These examples are: 1) PISA construction of the science student; 2) Social class in science class; 3) Narratives of females and science; 4) Gender, sexuality and normality; 5) Who is the democratic citizen?; 6) Who is the sustainable citizen?
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| 3. |
- Jobér, Anna
(författare)
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”But with the girls, I have to do test or else I don’t know”
- 2012
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This presentation takes it starting point in larger study (Jobér, 2012) with the aim to contribute to a more complex and multi-faceted description and analysis of inequalities in education, focusing on social class in the science classroom. Inspired by an ethnographic approach, the data was produced through observations, interviews, and a questionnaire in a Swedish compulsory school. The students aged fourteen and fifteen, were followed during a five week unit on physics. Building upon sociological frameworks, provided by foremost Bourdieu (e.g. 1990, 2010) and Bernstein (e.g. 1975, 2000), the descriptions and analyses of the school, the teacher, the student and the science classroom revealed a number of things. For example, when analysing the communication in the classroom it was showed that a number of students never were heard. This happened for example due to the fact that many activities in this science classroom relied on group activities (e.g. laboratory work), stipulated by both sociohistorical legacies (Carlone 2003, 2004) and national curricula (SNAE 2011). This implied that the teacher lacked sufficient information regarding the individual students’ knowledge. The teacher felt she had to use tests to figure out what the students (in this case a number of girls) knew and stated “but the girls, I need to give them tests or else I don’t know”. Due to the activities in the classroom the teacher hesitated, the pedagogy was changed and the teacher chose another form of assessment. What also was shown was that what happened in the classroom were effects of complex collective interplays often with hidden negotiations (Jobér, 2012). This implied that the way the teacher used test influenced all the students in the classroom, not only the particular girls. Stating this, this presentation aims to focus on the issues that “classroom learning is social, classroom testing is individual” (Lemke, 1990 p. 80). There is therefore a contradiction in the science classroom in learning as social collective process, and assessment and outcomes as individual processes. In addition this presentation aims to address the same issue however on a national level. If the curricula stipulate group activities and communication, (reasoning, argumentation, etc.), how can the national tests in the science subjects be understood and used (c.f. Lundahl, 2009)? Recalling that assessment often provides the admission ticket to their future: How can we relate the individual student and his or her options and room to manoeuvre to national criteria and desirable knowledge?
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| 4. |
- Jobér, Anna
(författare)
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Descriptions and analyses of the science classroom with a social class perspective
- 2013
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Ingår i: Narst 2013. ; , s. 1-5
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Earlier research shows that there is a relationship between low achievements in science education and low socioeconomic background. Despite the aim to give all children an equal education, school science contributes to a reproduction of social. The overall aim of the research is to contribute to a more complex and multi-faced description and analysis of the relation between inequalities in education, focusing on social inequalities in the science classroom. With a characterizing of the science subject and asocial class perspective as a backdrop, the aims of this research will be elaborated on through the theoretical frameworks from foremost Bourdieu and Bernstein. Inspired by an ethnographic approach the data was produced through observations, field notes, interviews and questionnaire in a Swedish compulsory school and students aged fourteen and fifteen, were followed during a five weeks unit on physics (mechanics). The results revealed for example that room to manoeuvre, possibilities, options and success in this science classroom were a collective process. It was shown that science learning and teaching were deeply complex and that social class clearly gets manifested and sometimes created and established in the science classroom with its activities and practices however in collective social processes where many actors interplay.
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| 5. |
- Jobér, Anna
(författare)
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Reproduction of inequalities in the teaching and learning of science
- 2011
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Being good at science is a qualification needed to reach prestigious higher education and societal positions. Since the pass rate in the science subjects is lower than in other school subjects and failure in school science subjects is correlated to low social class, it has been showed that science is a factor in the reproduction of an unequal society. The way science is taught and learned in schools thereby contributes to an unjust society where children from e.g. disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds have less chance to succeed therefore addressing science education as an important part in the citizenship education. Thus, the overall aim of my research is to contribute to our understanding of how school science reproduces unequal structures in society. Data were collected at Swedish compulsory schools. Results were discussed and analysed using concepts derived from Bourdieu and Bernstein. Preliminary findings indicate that habitus play a role in the science classroom and influence how students react and respond to the way the teaching and learning is organized and presented. Moreover, the first analysis point out that e.g. when framing is weak, student with inappropriate cultural capital fails. The preliminary results indicates that science education contribute to an unequal society through the way that science is taught and learned in the science classroom. Thus, this research calls for attention to issues regarding equity and citizenship in the science classroom.
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| 6. |
- Jobér, Anna
(författare)
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Reproduction of Inequalities in the Teaching and Learning of Science
- 2011
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Being good at science is a qualification needed to reach prestigious higher education and societal positions. Since the pass rate in the science subjects is lower than in other school subjects and failure in school science subjects is correlated to low social class, it has been showed that science is a factor in the reproduction of an unequal society. The way science is taught and learned in schools thereby contributes to an unjust society where children from e.g. disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds have less chance to succeed. Thus, the overall aim of my research is to contribute to our understanding of how school science reproduces unequal structures in society. Data were collected at Swedish compulsory schools with ethnographic methods. Results were discussed and analysed using concepts derived from Bourdieu and Bernstein. Preliminary findings indicate that habitus play a role in the science classroom and influence how students react and respond to teaching instructions, goals and criteria. Moreover, the first analysis point out that when framing is weak, student with inappropriate cultural capital fails.
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| 7. |
- Jobér, Anna
(författare)
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Science for citizenship
- 2010
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In many countries, to be good at Science is a qualification needed to reach prestigious higher education and societal positions. Since the pass rate in the science subjects is lower than in other school subjects, it can be assumed that Science is a key factor in the reproduction of an unequal society. The way Science is taught in schools may thereby contribute to a society where children from minority cultures or disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds have less chance to succeed. It may even be assumed that these practices can contribute to the increasing stratification and polarisation of Swedish society. The overall aim in this study is to understand how school Science reproduces structures in society. Based on theories of reproduction, I will try to understand how school Science (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) can be a key factor in the reproduction of an unequal and unjust society. Data are collected at Swedish compulsory schools with ethnographic methods. Results will be discussed and analysed using concepts derived from Bourdieu (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Mills, 2008a, 2008b; Reay, 2004), as well as from a science education point of view. In particular, the study will be informed by research regarding impacts of gender, ethnicity and/or socioeconomic background in science education (Aikenhead, 1996, 2001, 2007; Costa, 1995; Lee, 2003).
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| 8. |
- Jobér, Anna
(författare)
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Social class in science class
- 2012
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Earlier research shows that there is a relation between social class and science education. Many students do not reach the goals for science set by their national curricula and failure in science has been shown to be more strongly correlated to social class than any other school subject. Moreover, success in school science has been shown to act as a gatekeeper to higher education, thus broadening life chances of those who succeed, while limiting the future opportunities of those who fail. Consequently many students from low social class fails in subjects that are constructed as important and highly valued. Science education becomes key factor in the reproduction of an unequal society rather than to contribute to science for all. However, there is little research done regarding how social class is shown and manifested in the science classroom, in the everyday life of the classroom. Thus, the overall aim of this research is to contribute to our understanding of the relation between social class and science class. Data were collected with an ethnographic approach at a Swedish compulsory school during a unit of physics. Results were analysed using concepts from foremost Bourdieu and Bernstein. The results showed that many taken for granted activities and practices in this science classroom reproduced inequalities. For example; a weakly framed laboratory work gave a sense of freedom however reduced the possibilities for those student that could not recognise and realize what to do. The result also showed that it is the form of the content, rather than the content itself that hinder students. This was clearly shown in the dialogues where student with appropriate cultural capital could interact more easily while others struggled with the interpretation. Thus, this research addresses the everyday classroom practices and different pedagogical models in the science classroom.
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| 9. |
- Jobér, Anna
(författare)
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Social Class in Science Class
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- One of the most important aims of schooling is to give all children an equal education. Despite this, social differences continue to be reproduced in school. Earlier studies show that there is a relation-ship between low socioeconomic background of students and low achievement in science education, thus excluding many students from highly-valued education and positions in society. Building upon established sociological frameworks – particularly those pro-vided by foremost Bourdieu and Bernstein - the overall aim of this thesis was to contribute to a more complex and multi-faceted de-scription and analysis of inequalities in education, focusing on so-cial class in the science classroom. Inspired by an ethnographic ap-proach, the data was produced through observations, field notes, interviews, and a questionnaire in a Swedish compulsory school. The students, aged fourteen and fifteen, were followed during a five week unit on physics (mechanics). Firstly, the descriptions and analyses of the school, the teacher, the student and the science classroom revealed that the knowledge threshold in the classroom has been lowered. This had been done in hidden negotiations (often with good intentions) between the students, the teacher, the sociohistorical legacy of science educa-tion, and a social discourse. It created a knowledge threshold, a lowest common denominator - which was altered not only for stu-dents from lower classes but for all the students in the classroom. Secondly, the descriptions and analyses of the classroom communi-cation showed that being able to translate, interpret and adapt to new or changed ways of talking increased the possibilities of un-derstanding what ways of talking and acting that were valid or not. What also was also shown was that ways of talking were created and influenced in an intricate interplay between the practices in the classroom, the teacher, and the students often in hidden negotiations. Together they constructed what ways of talking were valued and how you could act and talk in the science dialogues. In strongly controlled dialogues, more students could be heard and evaluated. However, it became a type of communication based on the lowest common denominator that in the long term might exclude all students and narrow their room to manoeuvre. Thirdly, laboratory work lessons could be lessons filled with curiosity, freedom and exciting challenges. However another picture emerged in this very common way to work in the classroom. For example, the regulative discourse totally overrode the instructional discourse and became decisive in this practical science activity. In addition, there were at least two parallel codes that needed to be translated and adapted to in the classroom. Laboratory work in this classroom was a social process that needed and was expected to be performed in groups. However, this became problematic since the grades were awarded to individuals and in addition, the reactions and the effects of a hierarchical class-marking group process became decisive. The groups became to some extent safe havens for the students, on the other hand, undermined their chances in the classroom. Labor-atory work left the students and the teacher blaming themselves even though the outcome was a result of the complex interplay be-tween practices, the science field doxa, the curriculum, social class, school premises and educational codes. Science learning and teaching in this classroom at its most basic was a social process and could not be correlated to, for example, inborn facilities per se nor to certain agents in the field. Social class was manifested in the science class, for example in the dialogues or in the laboratory work always performed in groups. However so-cial class must be understood as collective processes and in rela-tionship with, for example, the value that science is ascribed. It must be understood from the possibilities, limitations and the ex-pectations the students and teacher have and how these are used. Through descriptions and analyses of social class in the science class, this thesis revealed that science classroom activities and prac-tices and in turn room to manoeuvre and possibilities, are collec-tive processes.
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| 10. |
- Jobér, Anna
(författare)
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Three in one. How to combine theories from different traditions in one study
- 2010
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Three in one. How to combine theories from different traditions in one study. To be positioned in the cross-section between natural science, education and sociology traditions, what does it mean? What does it imply to have a critical perspective on science education? It is a well known fact that many students fail in the school science subjects (OECD, 2007; Skolverket, 2005). Studies show that students form disadvantaged home and/or foreign backgrounds are failing to a greater extent and there is a considerable risk that they are excluded from school science. Instead of equipping students to take responsible and thoughtful decisions that build a democratic society, school science might contribute to reproduce an unequal society (Banks, 2008; Linder, Östman, & Wickman, 2007). The aim of my thesis is to contribute to the understanding why so many students from home with low socioeconomic standard and/or with foreign background fails in physics, chemistry and biology and what consequences this might have. The study has progressed towards a critical perspective dealing with questions such as: What is a failure? Who and what determines what constitutes a failure? Who decides what kind of knowledge to be included in the scientific knowledge? The overall aim is to study how relations of power and structures are reproduced in school and particular in school science (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Broady & Börjesson, 2008). Spring 2010 data will be gathered by using methods from the fields of ethnographic studies. The data will be analysed from a sociological perspective by applying notions from Pierre Bourdieu(Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Broady, 1985). At the NFPF/NERA conference I would like to discuss following questions: What kind of problems and concerns do I have to deal with in the cross-section between natural science, education and sociology? How to run methods inspired by ethnography in a critical perspective? What is my unit of analysis in this point of intersection? How do I combine theories from different traditions in one study?
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