| 1. |
- Bohlin, Gustav, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
-
A conceptual characterization of online videos explaining natural selection
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer Netherlands. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 26:7-9, s. 975-999
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Educational videos on the Internet comprise a vast and highly diverse source of information. Online search engines facilitate access to numerous videos claiming to explain natural selection, but little is known about the degree to which the video content match key evolutionary content identified as important in evolution education research. In this study, we therefore analyzed the content of 60 videos accessed through the Internet, using a criteria catalog with 38 operationalized variables derived from research literature. The variables were sorted into four categories: (a) key concepts (e.g. limited resources and inherited variation), (b) threshold concepts (abstract concepts with a transforming and integrative function), (c) misconceptions (e.g. that evolution is driven by need), and (d) organismal context (e.g. animal or plant). The results indicate that some concepts are frequently communicated, and certain taxa are commonly used to illustrate concepts, while others are seldom included. In addition, evolutionary phenomena at small temporal and spatial scales, such as subcellular processes, are rarely covered. Rather, the focus is on population-level events over time scales spanning years or longer. This is consistent with an observed lack of explanations regarding how randomly occurring mutations provide the basis for variation (and thus natural selection). The findings imply, among other things, that some components of natural selection warrant far more attention in biology teaching and science education research.
|
|
| 2. |
- Caiman, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
-
The Role of Art Practice in Elementary School Science
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 28:1-2, s. 153-175
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study was to examine the role of aesthetic practice in elementary school and the consequences for children's meaning-making in science. More specifically, we intended to scrutinise what science learning emerges within the process, to target the consequences of adopting art practice in science class and to explore these two dimensions as a whole in order to better understand how children make meaning when exploring animals' ecology. The data, comprising audio recordings, photographs of children's drawings and field notes, were collected in one school which we visited on three occasions over a period of four consecutive days. The school is located in Sweden, and the children participating in the study were between 6 and 7years old (Swedish grade 1). In this particular study, the children were involved in exploring animals' ecology. Data was analysed by means of practical epistemology analysis (PEA), taking its stance in Deweyan pragmatic philosophy on learning and meaning-making. The results reveal that art practice was important for children's cognitive and aesthetic learning in science. The entanglement of science learning and art-in-the-making was shown to be of significance for broadening and deepening children's science repertoire. In addition, children's imagination and creativity was a vital part of their meaning-making when exploring a complex phenomenon, such as the spinneret, the spider-thread machine. All along the process, the young learners, in transaction with the contextual features, developed agency meaning that the children owned the problems and developed action strategies through art and speech.
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
- Flodin, Veronica S.
(författare)
-
Characterisation of the Context-Dependence of the Gene Concept in Research Articles : Possible Consequences for Teaching Concepts with Multiple Meanings
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 26:1, s. 141-170
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this study is to interpret and qualitatively characterise the content in some research articles and evaluate cases of possible difference in meanings of the gene concept used. Using a reformulation of Hirst’s criteria of forms of knowledge, articles from five different sub-disciplines in biology (transmission genetic, molecular biology, genomics, developmental biology and population genetics) were characterised according to knowledge project, methods used and conceptual contexts. Depending on knowledge project, the gene may be used as a location of recombination, a target of regulatory proteins, a carrier of regulatory sequences, a cause in organ formation or a basis for a genetic map. Methods used range from catching wild birds and dissecting beetle larvae to growing yeast cells in 94 small wells as well as mapping of recombinants, doing statistical calculations, immunoblotting analysis of protein levels, analysis of gene expression with PCR, immunostaining of embryos and automated constructions of multi-locus linkage maps. The succeeding conceptual contexts focused around concepts as meiosis and chromosome, DNA and regulation, cell fitness and production, development and organ formation, conservation and evolution. These contextual differences lead to certain content leaps in relation to different conceptual schemes. The analysis of the various uses of the gene concept shows how differences in methodologies and questions entail a concept that escapes single definitions and “drift around” in meanings. These findings make it important to ask how science might use concepts as tools of specific inquiries and to discuss possible consequences for biology education.
|
|
| 5. |
- Gericke, Niklas, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
-
Exploring Relationships Among Belief in Genetic Determinism, Genetics Knowledge, and Social Factors
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 26:10, s. 1223-1259
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Genetic determinism can be described as the attribution of the formation of traits to genes, where genes are ascribed more causal power than what scientific consensus suggests. Belief in genetic determinism is an educational problem because it contradicts scientific knowledge, and is a societal problem because it has the potential to foster intolerant attitudes such as racism and prejudice against sexual orientation. In this article, we begin by investigating the very nature of belief in genetic determinism. Then, we investigate whether knowledge of genetics and genomics is associated with beliefs in genetic determinism. Finally, we explore the extent to which social factors such as gender, education, and religiosity are associated with genetic determinism. Methodologically, we gathered and analyzed data on beliefs in genetic determinism, knowledge of genetics and genomics, and social variables using the "Public Understanding and Attitudes towards Genetics and Genomics" (PUGGS) instrument. Our analyses of PUGGS responses from a sample of Brazilian university freshmen undergraduates indicated that (1) belief in genetic determinism was best characterized as a construct built up by two dimensions or belief systems: beliefs concerning social traits and beliefs concerning biological traits; (2) levels of belief in genetic determination of social traits were low, which contradicts prior work; (3) associations between knowledge of genetics and genomics and levels of belief in genetic determinism were low; and (4) social factors such as age and religiosity had stronger associations with beliefs in genetic determinism than knowledge. Although our study design precludes causal inferences, our results raise questions about whether enhancing genetic literacy will decrease or prevent beliefs in genetic determinism.
|
|
| 6. |
|
|
| 7. |
- Haglund, Jesper, 1973-
(författare)
-
Good use of a ‘bad’ metaphor : Entropy as disorder
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 26:3, s. 205-214
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Entropy is often introduced to students through the use of the disorder metaphor. However, many weaknesses and limitations of this metaphor have been identified, and it has therefore been argued that it is more harmful than useful in teaching. For instance, under the influence of the disorder metaphor, students tend to focus on spatial configuration with regard to entropy but disregard the role of energy, which may lead their intuition astray in problem solving. Albeit so, a review of research of students’ ideas about entropy in relation to the disorder metaphor shows that students can use the metaphor in developing a more nuanced, complex view of the concept, by connecting entropy as disorder to other concepts such as microstates and spreading. The disorder metaphor—in combination with other explanatory approaches—can be used as a resource for learning, in giving students an early flavour of what entropy means, so long as we acknowledge its limitations; we can put this “bad” metaphor to good use in teaching.
|
|
| 8. |
- Haglund, Jesper, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
-
Tension between visions of science education : The case of energy quality in Swedish secondary science curricula
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 26:3, s. 323-344
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study is to contribute to an understanding of how curricular change is accomplished in practice, including the positions and conflicts of key stakeholders and participants, and their actions in the process. As a case, we study the treatment of energy in Swedish secondary curricula in the period 1962–2011 and, in particular, how the notion of energy quality was introduced in the curricula in an energy course at upper secondary school in 1983 and in physics at lower secondary school in 1994. In the analysis, we use Roberts’ two competing visions of science education, Vision I in which school science subjects largely mirror their corresponding academic disciplines and Vision II that incorporates societal matters of science. In addition, a newly suggested Vision III represents a critical perspective on science education. Our analysis shows how Vision II and III aspects of science education have gained importance in curricula since the 1980s, but in competition with Vision I considerations. Energy quality played a central role in providing Vision II and III arguments in the curricular debate on energy teaching. Subsequent educational research has found that Swedish teachers and students struggle with how to relate to energy quality in physics teaching, which we explain as partly due to the tension between the competing visions.
|
|
| 9. |
- Hansson, Lena, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
-
Reality - theoretical models - mathematics : a ternary perspective on physics lessons in upper-secondary school
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Science & Education. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 24:5-6, s. 615-644
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article discusses the role of mathematics during physics lessons in upper-secondary school. Mathematics is an inherent part of theoretical models in physics and makes powerful predictions of natural phenomena possible. Ability to use both theoretical models and mathematics is central in physics. This paper takes as a starting point that the relations made during physics lessons between the three entities Reality, Theoretical models and Mathematics are of the outmost importance. A framework has been developed to sustain analyses of the communication during physics lessons. The study described in this article has explored the role of mathematics for physics teaching and learning in upper-secondary school during different kinds of physics lessons (lectures, problem solving and labwork). Observations are from three physics classes (in total 7 lessons) led by one teacher. The developed analytical framework is described together with results from the analysis of the 7 lessons. The results show that there are some relations made by students and teacher between theoretical models and reality, but the bulk of the discussion in the classroom is concerning the relation between theoretical models and mathematics. The results reported on here indicate that this also holds true for all the investigated organisational forms lectures, problem solving in groups and labwork.
|
|
| 10. |
- Hansson, Lena, et al.
(författare)
-
Reality - theoretical models - mathematics : a ternary perspective on physics lessons in upper-secondary school
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Science & Education. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 24:5-6, s. 615-644
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article discusses the role of mathematics during physics lessons in upper-secondary school. Mathematics is an inherent part of theoretical models in physics and makes powerful predictions of natural phenomena possible. Ability to use both theoretical models and mathematics is central in physics. This paper takes as a starting point that the relations made during physics lessons between the three entities Reality, Theoretical models and Mathematics are of the outmost importance. A framework has been developed to sustain analyses of the communication during physics lessons. The study described in this article has explored the role of mathematics for physics teaching and learning in upper-secondary school during different kinds of physics lessons (lectures, problem solving and labwork). Observations are from three physics classes (in total 7 lessons) led by one teacher. The developed analytical framework is described together with results from the analysis of the 7 lessons. The results show that there are some relations made by students and teacher between theoretical models and reality, but the bulk of the discussion in the classroom is concerning the relation between theoretical models and mathematics. The results reported on here indicate that this also holds true for all the investigated organisational forms lectures, problem solving in groups and labwork.
|
|
