| 1. |
- Leden, Lotta
(författare)
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Black & white or shades of grey : teachers perspectives on the role of nature of science in compulsory school science teaching
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Avhandlingen utforskar lärares perspektiv och förhandlingar gällande vilken roll “naturvetenskapens karaktär” (engelska ”nature of science”, NOS) kan spela i grundskolans NO-undervisning. Tidigare forskning har visat att NO-undervisning ofta har ett starkt fokus på naturvetenskapliga begrepp och strukturerade laborationer med ett implicit fokus på ”korrekta svar”. I den sortens undervisning ges sällan en bild av de människor och kontexter som är av betydelse för naturvetenskaplig kunskapsproduktion. I avhandlingen diskuteras den här beskrivningen av naturvetenskap och NO-undervisning som “svart-vit”. Inom ramen för forskning om naturvetenskapernas didaktik har förslag lagts fram som handlar om att bredda bilden av naturvetenskap. En sådan breddning skulle kunna medföra att fler elever kan identifiera sig med naturvetenskap och att mål som handlar om naturvetenskaplig literacitet (scientific literacy) lättare skulle kunna nås. I linje med dessa mål, har forskningen föreslagit att NOS inkluderas i NO-undervisningen. Att inkludera NOS i NO-undervisningen innebär att det skapas spänningar i förhållande till rådande undervisningstraditioner. Här blir lärare en viktig faktor eftersom de befinner sig i gränslandet mellan naturvetenskap och undervisning om densamma. I detta gränsland får policy, styrdokument och traditioner betydelse för vilken undervisningspraktik som blir möjlig. Avhandlingens metoder för att utforska lärarnas perspektiv är: enkäter, intervjuer och fokusgruppdiskussioner. Fokusgruppdiskussionerna, som var återkommande under tre år, är särskilt viktiga för att belysa olika perspektiv och spänningar. Ett teoretiskt ramverk som består av fem övergripande NOS-teman utvecklades och användes som en guide för fokusgrupperna och delar av analysen. Avhandlingen inkluderar fyra artiklar, med egna syften och specifika forskningsfrågor. Huvudresultaten från dessa artiklar sammanfattas och diskuteras i relation till policy och traditioner som omger NO-undervisning. Resultaten visar att den NOS-praktik som konstrueras genom lärarnas förhandlingar: a) syftar till en bred snarare än djup NOS-förståelse (d.v.s. inkluderar många NOS-områden, men undviker filosofiskt djup), b) är kontextualiserad och integrerad i laborations- eller kommunikationspraktiker, och c) syftar till att utveckla elevers intresse och engagemang samt att nå kunskapsmål som går utöver lärandet av naturvetenskapliga begrepp. Den här konstruktionen av NOS-praktik resulterar i starka spänningar i relation till traditionell NO-undervisning (t.ex. undervisning av begrepp och modeller), vilket i sin tur innebär att lärar- och elevroller utmanas. Däremot, blir NOS ett medel i arbetet med att utvidga laborationspraktiken och en katalysator i formandet av en kommunikationspraktik (t.ex. att reflektera kring naturvetenskap och dess relation till samhället både från ett inom- och utomvetenskapligt perspektiv). Motståndet mellan undervisningen av NOS och naturvetenskapliga begrepp medför att dessa inte integreras utan blir delar i formandet av parallella praktiker. Som En följd av denna uppdelning får eleverna möta olika bilder av naturvetenskap som sällan jämförs eller förhandlas. Ett förslag för framtida forskning och lärarutbildning är att skapa strukturer för att sammanfoga parallella praktiker som ett led i att minska spänningar och utvidga den begrepps-fokuserade traditionen.
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| 2. |
- Leden, Lotta, et al.
(författare)
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Context-rich vs. context-stripped approach to NOS teaching : teachers’ reflections
- 2015
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The inclusion of nature of science (NOS) in science education, has for a long time been regarded a crucial component in the teaching for scientific literacy. Much has been written about teachers’ views of NOS and how NOS is taught in the science classroom, but less is known about the teachers’ views of the teaching of NOS. To be able to better understand how NOS becomes (or does not become) a part of science education, teachers’ views of the teaching of NOS needs to be investigated. Therefore, in this project, we aim to shed light on teachers’ ways of coping with two different approaches to NOS teaching – contextualized and decontextualized. We explore how the teaching of NOS is planned for, and communicated in the science classroom, as well as what difficulties and gains the teachers experience with the different approaches. The participants are Swedish in-service science teachers (n=6) in grades 3-9. During the project the teachers meet in focus groups, guided by a researcher, and discuss NOS and the teaching of NOS. Sources of data are audio recorded focus-group discussions and classroom observations. The results indicate that both approaches have benefits. A larger amount and more complex NOS aspects are addressed in the context-rich approach. However, the teachers in this study find the decontextualized task easier to fit within the traditional science-teaching frame.
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| 3. |
- Leden, Lotta, et al.
(författare)
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From black and white to shades of grey : a longitudinal study of teachers’ perspectives on teaching sociocultural and subjective aspects of science
- 2017
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Ingår i: Science and Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-1901 .- 0926-7220. ; 26:5, s. 483-511
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Traditional school science has been described as focused on indisputable facts where scientific processes and factors affecting these processes become obscured or left undiscussed. In this article, we report on teachers’ perspectives on the teaching of sociocultural and subjective aspects of the nature of science (NOS) as a way to accomplish a more nuanced science teaching in Swedish compulsory school. The teachers (N = 6) took part in a longitudinal study on NOS and NOS teaching that spanned 3 years. The data consists of recorded and transcribed focus group discussions from all 3 years. In the analysis, the transcripts were searched for teachers’ suggestions of issues, relevant for teaching in compulsory school, as well as opportunities and challenges connected to the teaching of these issues. The results of the analysis show that (a) the number of suggested issues increased over the years, (b) teachers’ ways of contextualizing the issues changed from general and unprecise to more tightly connected to socio-scientific or scientific contexts, and (c) the number of both opportunities and challenges related to NOS teaching increased over the years. The most evident changes occurred from the beginning of year 2 when the focus group discussions became more closely directed towards concrete teaching activities. Tensions between the opportunities and challenges are discussed as well as how these can be met, and made use of, in science teacher education.
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| 4. |
- Leden, Lotta, et al.
(författare)
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Socio-cultural aspects of science in the science classroom : teachers' perspectives
- 2016
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Students' interest in science is declining. Science teaching often have science as facts as its main focus. In such science teaching there is often little room for socio-cultural aspects of science. It has, however, been shown that students could gain more interest in science if broader perspectives are included. Making socio-cultural aspects a topic in the science classroom is considered hard. In order to gain more knowledge about issues related to the implementation of socio-cultural aspects in the science classroom we have focused on teachers' perspectives. In this presentation we will provide results from a three-year research-project. It is a case study of six teachers, teaching science in grades 1-9. During the project the teachers met in focus groups four times a year and discussed different aspects of science. During the focus-group meetings they also planned and reflected on classroom activities with a focus on socio-cultural issues, which they implemented between meetings. Questionnaires, interviewsand classroom observations where used in addition to the data collected from the focus groups. The results provide information on teachers' perspectives on appropriate approaches and activities for different years, as well as information about teachers' perspectives on both challenges and benefits from implementing socio-cultural aspects.
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| 5. |
- Leden, Lotta, et al.
(författare)
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Teachers discussing, planning and implementing NOS-aspects in their teaching
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The inclusion of "nature of science" (NOS) in science education has for a long time been regarded as a crucial component in the teaching for scientific literacy. The aim of this study is to investigate how in-service science teachers plan, implement, and afterwards reflect on a NOS teaching session. The participants in the study are Swedish in-service science teachers (n=4) in grades 4-9. Sources of data are teacher-group discussions (before and after the NOS-session), classroom observations, and teachers’ reflective notes. The analytical framework used in this study is developed with a point of departure in the NOS tenets described by Lederman (2007). The preliminary results indicate that although the teachers in different ways explicitly address many different aspects of NOS during the teaching sessions, and they believe that their students are interested in the provided tasks, the teachers themselves are having a hard time coping with the clash between the implemented NOS-session and more traditional views of science teaching.
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| 6. |
- Leden, Lotta, et al.
(författare)
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Teachers’ ways of talking about nature of science and its teaching
- 2015
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Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 24:9, s. 1141-1172
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nature of science (NOS) has for a long time been regarded as a key component in science teaching. Much research has focused on students’ and teachers’ views of NOS, while less attention has been paid to teachers’ perspectives on NOS teaching. This article focuses on in-service science teachers’ ways of talking about NOS and NOS teaching, e.g. what they talk about as possible and valuable to address in the science classroom, in Swedish compulsory school. These teachers (N = 12) are, according to the national curriculum, expected to teach NOS, but have no specific NOS training. The analytical framework described in this article consists of five themes that include multiple perspectives on NOS. The results show that teachers have less to say when they talk about NOS teaching than when they talk about NOS in general. This difference is most obvious for issues related to different sociocultural aspects of science. Difficulties in — and advantages of — NOS teaching, as put forth by the teachers, are discussed in relation to traditional science teaching, and in relation to teachers’ perspectives on for which students science teaching will be perceived as meaningful and comprehensible. The results add to understanding teachers’ reasoning when confronted with the idea that NOS should be part of science teaching. This in turn provides useful information that can support the development of NOS courses for teachers.
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| 7. |
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