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| 2. |
- Anderhag, Per, 1971-, et al.
(author)
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Students' choice of post-compulsory science : In search of schools that compensate for the socio-economic background of their students
- 2013
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In: International Journal of Science Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0950-0693 .- 1464-5289. ; 35:18, s. 3141-3160
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is commonly argued that socio-economic inequalities can explain many of the differences in achievement and participation in science education that have been reported among countries and among schools within a country. We addressed this issue by examining (a) the relationship between variables associated with socio-economic background and application frequencies to the Swedish Natural Science Programme (NSP) in upper secondary school and (b) whether there are lower secondary schools in Sweden that seem to compensate for these variables. Data from Statistics Sweden (SCB) covering the whole population of 106,483 ninth-grade students were used to calculate the probability for each student to apply to the NSP. Our results indicate that the variables, such as parental educational level and grades, have explanatory power, but with varying effect for different subpopulations of students. For example, grades in mathematics have a greater impact than grades in science for females’ choice of the NSP. The opposite holds for male students. Out of 1,342 schools, 158 deviated significantly from predicted, that is, the students in these schools applied to the NSP in greater or lesser extent than expected. The number of deviating schools is greater than predicted by pure random variation. This suggests that variables of socio-economic background are only a partial explanation of the application frequencies, and that the deviation needs to be investigated further. Our findings suggest that in order to understand why schools deviate positively and so compensate for the socio-economic background of their students, we need to study their practices more closely
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| 3. |
- Anderhag, Per, 1971-
(author)
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Taste for Science : How can teaching make a difference for students’ interest in science?
- 2014
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The objective of the thesis is to describe and analyse aspects of home background and teaching that may be important for students’ capability and will to participate in science. The purpose is to make explicit how teaching can support students in developing an interest in science and so counter-balance the restricted opportunities some students may have due to upbringing. In study 1 population data is used to make evident what associations there are between home background variables and the students’ choice of applying for the Swedish post-compulsory Natural Science Programme (NSP). The findings show that home background is important for Swedish students’ choice of the NSP but also that some lower secondary schools can make a difference. Students’ interest in science has usually been examined through questionnaires and rarely studied as constituted in classroom action as a result of teaching. In study 2 therefore an action-oriented methodology is developed based on the concept of taste to study what difference a teacher can make for the constitution of interest in the science classroom. The concept of taste is grounded in pragmatism and the works of Pierre Bourdieu and acknowledges the affective, normative, and cognitive dimensions of situated science learning. In study 3 this methodology is used to examine how a teacher located through Study 1 supports his students in developing an interest in science. The results of study 3 suggest how teaching can make the object of science the focus of students’ interest and so showing that science, with its aims, norms, and values, can be enjoyed in itself. Study 4 draws on the findings of studies 1-3 to discuss the possibility of an overlooked field in studying interest in science; namely whether primary, secondary, tertiary students in effect have different objects of interest. The findings of studies 1-4 are used to discuss how teaching may make a difference to a continued student interest in science.
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- Wickman, Per-Olof, 1955-, et al.
(author)
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Taste and aesthetics in science education
- 2014
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- We present the result of more than ten years of research transforming John Dewey’s writings into operational concepts that can be used to study empirically how education influences students’ interest and learning in school. Here we report results from science education on how (1) aesthetic experience and its continuity with learning and participation can be studied in classrooms, (2) such studies can be employed to meliorate school practice, and (3) this conceptual apparatus has been employed to study the formation of taste and interest in classrooms beyond that which students accrued because of their home background. To support the theoretical basis of these studies they also draw on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophical investigations into language and Pierre Bourdieu’s macro-sociological studies of French society. The validity of this perhaps surprising combination of scholars will be supported pragmatically by how their methodological and conceptual developments can be made continuous for the purpose of better coping with (1)–(3).
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| 6. |
- Anderhag, Per, 1971-
(author)
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Hur skapas intresse för ett skolämne?
- 2014. - 1
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In: Lärande i handling. - Lund : Studentlitteratur AB. - 9789144088785 ; , s. 239-248
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)
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| 7. |
- Anderhag, Per, et al.
(author)
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Syften och tillfälligheter i högstadie- och gymnasielaborationen : en studie om hur elever handlar i relation till aktivitetens mål
- 2014
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In: NorDiNa. - : University of Oslo Library. - 1504-4556 .- 1894-1257. ; 10:1, s. 63-76
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purposes and contingencies in the lower and upper secondary school labStudies have shown that students’ awareness of the goals and purposes of the laboratory activity is important for their possibility to participate in and learn from the activity. While practical activities often have been considered to be a central part of science education, relatively few studies have examined laboratory work in situ. In this paper we addressed these issues by examining (a) what purposes are distinguished when students’ work with a laboratory assignment and (b) how these purposes are made continuous with the teacher’s aim with the assignment. The data was based on classroom observations from two ordinary laboratory settings, one from a chemistry class in lower secondary school and one from a physics class in the natural science programme in upper secondary school. Although both student groups acknowledged their teacher’s intentions with the practical and could act towards the more student centered purposes of the activity, e.g. describe what happens with the copper and measure the speed of a small vessel respectively, there were differences regarding the possibilities the students had to act toward the activity’s final aim. The results showed that these factors can be referred to the amount of purposes introduced by the teacher as well as those that arose because of contingences, and the connection of these purposes to students’ prior experiences.
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