This article addresses physics teachers’ views about physics teaching in upper-secondary school. Their views have been investigated nationwide through a web-based questionnaire. The questionnaire has been developed based on several published instruments and is part of an ongoing project on the role of mathematics in physics teaching at upper-secondary school. The selected part of the results from the analysis of the questionnaire reported on here cross-correlate physics teachers’ views about aims of physics teaching with their view of physics classroom activities, and perceived hindrances in the teaching of physics. 379 teachers responded to the questionnaire (45% response rate). The result indicates that teachers with a high agreement with a Fundamental Physics curriculum emphasis regarded mathematics as a problem for physics teaching, whereas teachers with high agreement with the curriculum emphases Physics, Technology and Societyor Knowledge Development in Physics did not do so. This means that teachers with a main focus on fundamental theories and concepts believe that mathematics is a problem to a higher extent than teachers with main focus on the role of physics in society and applied aspects or physics knowledge development do.  Consequences for teaching and further research are discussed. 

This paper describes an analysis of teaching instances that were part of an in-service preschool teachers programme. The overall aim of the project was – together with teachers – to study model-based teaching and collaborative inquiry learning of chemical processes and physical phenomena in preschool, in relation to an object of learning. Central was the teaching of science in preschool, with particular focus on use of digital tools and the verbal communication as well as obstacles ‘threatening’ the intersubjectivity between teachers and children during learning situations in preschool. Our results show the need for the teacher to address what we call ‘intermediary objects of learning’ and the role of chosen wording andabstract models are emphasised. In addition, the paper highlights different communication categories used by teachers and children during science activities. How the communication varies with e.g. children’s age during teaching will be discussed at the conference.

A physics lecture and a mathematics lecture, by the same teacher and partly the same students, were studied at upper secondary school. Both lectures covered ordinary differential equations. The main aim of the present paper was to investigate the teacher’s different and similar ways to handle related mathematical content in the two school subjects. The findings show a structural use of mathematics with an analytical approach in mathematics and an applied approach in relation to formulas in physics. This study is part of a larger study about mathematics in physics education funded by the Swedish research council.

The overall aim of the present study is to study model-based teaching and collaborative inquiry learning of chemical processes and physical phenomena in preschool, with a specific focus on the verbal communication established between teachers and children (4-5 years old). According to variation theory, learning is always directed at a specific content, called the object of learning. This study aims at highlighting what ‘threatens’ the teacher’s and preschool children’s intersubjectivity during the teaching of chemistry and physics content, and at discussing possible ways to continue the teaching of an object of learning, once sufficient intersubjectivity in a teaching/learning situation has been lost. The result shows the need for the teacher to divide and split a larger object of learning, such as e.g. water purification, into smaller learning steps ‘on the way’ in order to hinder breaks in intersubjectivity that otherwise may arise. We introduce the notion of ‘overarching object of learning’ and ‘intermediary object of learning’, and the intermediary objects of learning identified in this study are categorized as belonging to three different themes: the role of words, the role of theoretical models and science concepts and the role of analogies and abstractions. The teacher’s awareness of intermediary objects of learning as critical aspects for children’s individual learning is crucial for the teaching of everyday science in a preschool setting.

This paper describes analysis of teaching instances that are part of an in-service preschool teachers programme about chemistry and physics in preschool. The aim is to develop knowledge about the communication established between teacher and children in relation to an object of learning, specifically the role of intersubjective communication in relation to an object of learning. A set of science activities with a specified object of learning was developed in groups of teachers and researchers. A qualitative analysis of the communication in relation to the chosen object of learning was performed. The focus of the analysis was excerpts representing differences in intersubjectivity related to the object of learning and what can be said to characterise the communication between teachers and children in these situations. The results show that intersubjectivity can occur in different ways with different consequences for children’s opportunities to experience the intended object of learning. In connection to this, the importance of teachers having a mutual simultaneity in the communication with children about a specific content is highlighted. The teachers have to create links between the child’s perspective and the object of learning. Intermediary objects of learning are discussed as supporting elements in the conquest of new knowledge.

A prerequisite for the teaching of physics is that the teacher realizes the importance of theoretical models in Physics, and their role in the interplay between Physics and the real world. The intention and strength of physics is to describe and predict real phenomena by organizing explanations through theories and theoretical models. In the scientific research process, empirical and theoretical work is intertwined leading to (re)construction of theories and theoretical models. The formation of these is an interactive process of discussions, experiments and observations made within the science community. However, from a Nature of Science (NOS) perspective, it is known that different emphases are possible on how these processes could be described, which adds to the complexity.

The presented project uses a semantic view of theoretical models (Adúriz-Bravo, 2012; Koponen, 2007 and references therein to Develaki, 2007; Giere, 1997; Suppe, 2000; van Fraassen, 1980), where theoretical models are viewed to form families or classes linking theories with experiments and practices, and where the focus is on the explanatory powers of the theoretical models. The relation between a theoretical model and real world phenomena, is in many ways complex, and observations and experiments are by necessity embedded in theory and therefore “Theory laden” (Hanson, 1958). Furthermore, theoretical models used in explanations are conjured up – depending on the context – as the explanation starts, and students uses of theoretical models in explanations are often context dependent (Redfors & Ryder, 2001).

We have developed and implemented a model-based science course in pre-service primary teacher education in Sweden. The author was one of the teachers and it was a student-centered approach. The Swedish teacher education for middle school is 4 years long and comprises theoretical studies of 1) general studies of teaching and learning, 2) the different school subjects and 3) practice teaching. The science course was based on the idea of contrastive teaching (Schecker & Niedderer, 1996; Redfors, 2008). The course had interactive lectures and lab-work, but alongside these, the students worked in groups with a teaching and learning project, where they developed, and during practice teaching implemented and evaluated a teaching sequence.

The purpose of this project is to study the model-based teaching and the collaborative inquiry learning of physics. A special focus is to investigate the teaching and learning processes coupled to the project work, with a special focus to effects of scaffolding by ICT.

Preliminary results indicate that after completion of the course it seemed that student learning was helped by the project work they did alongside the lectures and labs. The project gave students opportunities to engage and expand into areas chosen by them. The project became a way to directly apply and develop new knowledge and it helped students to use knowledge in new contexts.

We conclude that there are good reasons for student teachers to be given the opportunity to discuss in groups and challenge peer ideas in a project, especially when the project involves classroom teaching. The project work needs to be closely interrelated with the course content, and explicit use of the theoretical models presented in the course should be required. Also of importance is that students get to define or expand on the project tasks themselves.

This paper reports on a project aiming to extend the current understanding of how emerging technologies, i.e. tablets, can be used in preschools to support collaborative learning of real-life science phenomena. The potential of tablets to support collaborative inquiry-based science learning and reflective thinking in preschool is investigated through the analysis of teacher-led activities on science, including children making timelapse photography and Slowmation movies. A qualitative analysis of verbal communication during different learning contexts gives rise to a number of categories that distinguish and identify different themes of the discussion. In this study, groups of children work with phase changes of water. We report enhanced and focused reasoning about this science phenomenon in situations where timelapse movies are used to stimulate recall. Furthermore, we show that children communicate in a more advanced manner about the phenomenon, and they focus more readily on problem solving when active in experimentation or Slowmation producing contexts.

This article reports on student preschool teachers’ views of science and its role in preschool. Three cohorts of students have been given a written questionnaire with open-ended questions before and after a one-semester course including science (specifically Chemistry and Physics) in a 3.5-year preschool teacher programme in Sweden. The science content in the course is integrated with other subjects and lecturers with different subject backgrounds work together in forming an integrated and meaningful context. A phenomenographic qualitative analysis of responses to the questionnaires before and after the course is presented. The analysis gave that many students equate science with biology (nature studies), and several did not adjust this view even though chemistry and physics were explicitly taught. Surprisingly few students were negative towards science, none after the course. However, several remain hesitantly positive. Most students described ‘what’ and ‘how’ perspectives of science, but few developed a synthesised view of science activities. However, there was a shift towards a more integrated perspective after the course. Also the quality and eloquence of the students’ response were noticeably improved in responses given after the course. Prior expectations and implications of the results for preschool teacher education are discussed.

This chapter discusses a framework for analysing the role of mathematics during physics lessons in upper-secondary school. It takes as a starting point that relations made during physics lessons between Reality, Theoretical models and Mathematics are of the outmost importance. The framework was developed to analyse the communication during physics lessons. It was developed during a pilot study exploring the role of mathematics for physics teaching and learning in upper-secondary school during different kinds of physics lessons (lectures, problem solving and labwork). In the overall project observations have been made in three physics classes (in total 7 lessons) led by one teacher. Here the developed analytical framework is described together with selected results from one class (3 lessons) showing how the framework could be used. This chapter describes and discusses the uses of the framework and shows how results on students and teachers usages of links between the three entities Reality, Theoretical models and Mathematics can be brought to the forefront in an analysis of complex physics teaching situations. And, how the framework can be used to analyse the different organisational forms: lectures, problem solving in groups and labwork.