In science education, critical discussions on the engagement of industrial actors in STEM education are scarce. In this study, we take the perspective that industrial STEM education initiatives are an arena for governing STEM education. The aim is to contribute to a critical discussion on the involvement of industrial actors in STEM education by scrutinizing how they describe their engagement. More specifically, we look at the discursive repertoires industrial actors put forward as rationales for engaging in STEM education initiatives. The data consist of web materials wherein industrial actors describe and justify their engagements. We identify the following interpretative repertoires used by industrial actors when justifying their engagement in said initiatives: a) Securing competent labour, b) Securing economic growth, c) Improving the public image-marketing, d) Contributing to a bright future, e) Increasing interest in STEM, f) Increasing knowledge in and of STEM and g) Empowering young people. The repertoires are discussed in light of potential tensions between public and private good. The notion of 'boundary repertoires' is introduced to discuss repertoires which can be adapted across discursive practices and which afford industrial actors possibilities for speaking to a varied audience-shareholders as well as teachers.

This study examines teachers' evaluations of teaching resources produced by industry to support science and technology teaching. The aim is to contribute to an understanding of how teachers negotiate the usability of industrial school initiatives for compulsory school science and technology. These evaluations are conceptualized in terms of teacher agency and educational governance. The collected data consist of focus group interviews where Swedish lower secondary school teachers discuss the usability of industry-produced teaching resources. A discourse analysis was conducted and five discourses discerned regarding teachers' practical evaluations of industry-produced teaching resources: (1) the curriculum discourse, (2) the educational design discourse, (3) the practical discourse, (4) the correct science content discourse, and (5) the partiality and bias discourse. The teachers draw on the different discourses to different degrees, and the teacher agency achieved in specific situations will vary. Based on the results a tool aimed at strengthening teacher agency in the practical evaluations of teaching resources from the industry is proposed. The study also contributes to a critical discussion on the influence of industry on the local education policy arena and suggests directions for strengthening teacher agency in situations where teachers evaluate and make decisions about the use of industry-produced teaching resources.

In many Western societies, there is a concern about the tendency of young people not choosing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and occupations. In response, different initiatives have been launched. If one believes that science should have a place in more young people's lives, an important question is to what extent recruitment campaigns communicate messages that open up for STEM education to become relevant in young people's identity formation. Here, we analyse a Swedish government-initiated, primarily Internet-based recruitment attempt (‘The Broad Line Campaign’) aimed at increasing the number of young people choosing the natural science programme in upper secondary school. The campaign is based on marketing principles and deliberately draws on identity issues. The data analysed consists of campaign films and written resources describing the campaign. Data are analysed by use of the constant comparative approach in order to produce categories describing different messages about why to engage in STEM education. These messages are then analysed from an identity perspective using the concept of subjective values. Our results show that the messages communicated in the Broad Line campaign emphasise utility value, attainment value and relative cost rather than interest-enjoyment. The campaign communicates that the natural science programme is to be associated with a high attainment value without establishing relations to the field of science. Finally, potential consequences of the communicated messages in the campaign are discussed in light of previous research.

Many different actors, including government, academy and industry, are engaged in school- and recruitment-STEM-initiatives. The aim is to shed light on industrial initiatives, what actors are involved and what different repertoires are being used when motivating engagement in STEM-initiatives. The data collected consists of web-materials where industrial actors describe their engagement in STEM-initiatives and provide reasons for their engagement. The method for analysis is discursive psychology. The results show that a variety of constellations of industrial actors are engaged in STEM-initiatives and that the initiatives draw on a variety of discursive resources. In our analysis we identify the following interpretative repertoires: 1) The securing competent labor repertoire, 2) The developing specific job skills or competences repertoire, 3) The bright future repertoire, and 4) The general increase interest in science repertoire. The results of this study may contribute to the self-reflection of industrial actors on how the choice of resources and repertoires may afford and constrain possibilities for breaking the cultural patterns of selection to STEM education.

Young people's interest in pursuing science and science-intense educations has been expressed as a concern in relation to societal, economic and democratic development by various stakeholders (governments, industry and university). From the perspective of the scientific communities, the issues at stake do not necessarily correspond to the overall societal aims. Rather, initiatives to recruit young people to science are also ways for the scientific community to engage in the social and cultural reproduction of itself. For a community to survive and produce a future, it needs to secure regeneration of itself in succeeding generations. The aim of this study is to, from a perspective of social and cultural production/reproduction, shed light on an initiative from the scientific community to recruit young people to science education. This is a case study of one recruitment campaign called the Chemistry Advent calendar. The calendar consists of 25 webcasted films, produced and published by the science/technology faculty at a university. The analysed data consist of the films and additional published material relating to the campaign such as working reports and articles published about the campaign. The analysis focussed on what messages are communicated to potential newcomers. The messages were categorised by means of a framework of subjective values. The results are discussed both from a perspective of how the messages mirror traditions and habits of the scientific community, and in relation to research on students' educational choices.

Many different actors, including government, academy and industry, are engaged in school- and recruitment-STEM-initiatives. The aim of this study is to shed light on industrial initiatives, what actors are involved and what different repertoires are being used when motivating engagement in STEM-initiatives. The data analysed consist web-material where industrial actors describe their engagement in STEM-initiatives and reasons for their engagement. The method for analysis is discursive psychology. The results show a variety of constellations of industrial actors and that the initiatives draw on a variety of discursive resources. In our analysis we identify the following interpretative repertoires: 1) The securing competent labour repertoire, 2) The developing specific job skills or competences repertoire, 3) The bright future repertoire, and 4) The general increase interest in science repertoire. The results are discussed in a perspective of previous research on cultural selection mechanism and students educational choices.

Relevance’ is one of the most commonly used terms when it comes to reforms in science education. The term is used in manifold ways. It can be understood – among other things – as meeting an interest, fulfilling needs or contributing to intellectual development. Many components of relevant science education go beyond single contents and concepts; many challenges are tied to cross-curricular goals. Specifically, when it comes to the societal and vocational relevance of science education, many demands can only be met when we develop corresponding skills across disciplines and grade levels. This chapter focuses on a set of such cross-curricular goals from a chemistry education perspective, namely, education for sustainability, critical media literacy, innovation competence, vocational orientation and employability. It relates them to the idea of relevant chemistry and science education. Directions for research and curriculum development will be suggested that emerge from taking into account

I avhandlingen studeras elevers grundantaganden om världen, samt de grundantaganden som eleverna förknippar med fysiken. Det är utifrån de grundantaganden vi gör om hur världen är beskaffad som vi försöker tolka och förstå nya fenomen och företeelser vi möter, t.ex. i den naturvetenskapliga undervisningen. Exempel på grundantaganden kan vara att det existerar en materiell värld, att det inte finns något annat än den materiella världen, att en gud existerar som kan ingripa i skeendet här på jorden, att allting som finns har eller kommer att få en naturvetenskaplig förklaring, att allt som finns har en mening, eller att naturen är överordnad oss människor. I avhandlingen ligger intresset primärt på grundantaganden som vanligtvis tas för givna i naturvetenskapen samt sådana som är av intresse för relationen mellan naturvetenskap och religion. För avhandlingens empiriska studier har ett specifikt område, nämligen universums uppkomst och utveckling samt existentiella frågor relaterade till detta, valts som ram för elevernas resonemang. Avhandlingen bygger på två olika studier. I den första studien studeras elevers skriftliga svar och uttalanden under intervjuer, medan den andra studien bygger på observationer av elevers gruppdiskussioner. Gruppdiskussionerna utformades utifrån erfarenheterna från den första studien och utgjorde en del av en undervisningssekvens inom ramen för elevernas fysikundervisning. Eleverna som deltar i de båda studierna går alla det tredje året på gymnasiet och läser kursen Fysik B. Resultaten visar att det finns elever som beskriver sin egen och fysikens syn på olika sätt. Detta gäller såväl frågor om universums uppkomst och utveckling som frågor om t.ex. relationen mellan naturvetenskap och religion. Resultaten visar vidare att de grundantaganden som vanligtvis underförstås i fysiken inte med självklarhet associeras med fysiken av eleverna. I avhandlingen lyfts tre argument fram för att en diskussion bör föras, inom ramen för fysikundervisningen, kring vilken typ av grundantaganden som fysiken bygger på samt andra typer av antaganden som människor kan göra om hur världen är beskaffad. Det första argumentet handlar om att det är svårt att förstå resonemang och modeller i fysiken om man inte känner till de grundantagande som fysiken bygger på. Det andra argumentet handlar om att grundantaganden bör ses som en del av undervisningen om naturvetenskapens natur (NOS). Resultaten visar att det är vanligt att elever associerar scientistiska synsätt med fysiken. Scientism innebär att man menar att ingenting utom det som är åtkomligt för naturvetenskapen existerar. Detta utesluter möjligheten att andra möjliga dimensioner av verkligheten än den materiella existerar. Det tredje argumentet handlar om elevens identitet i relation till fysiken. Att förknippa fysiken med antaganden som inte av nödvändighet måste förknippas med fysiken (t.ex. scientistiska synsätt) kan göra att elever, som inte själva delar dessa antaganden, får svårare att identifiera sig med fysiken och kanske t.o.m. väljer bort studier i fysik när möjlighet ges.

This chapter takes as its starting point discussions about the concept of indoctrination in the philosophy of education and provides an overview of the use of the concept in relation to science education. The chapter then focuses on indoctrination through the hidden curriculum. Messages about the nature of science communicated in the classroom, which are not in line with the formal curriculum, are part of this hidden curriculum. It is suggested that widespread views about science (e.g. associating science with positivistic, scientistic, atheistic and modernistic views) could be viewed as a result of an indoctrination of students. Since these views are not necessary for science, science becomes distorted for students. Thus, indoctrination could have unfortunate consequences for students’ possibilities of identifying with science and therefore, for the possibility to achieve a desirable pluralism in science.

That nature and the universe are ordered, uniform, and comprehensible is a starting point in science. However, such worldview presuppositions are often taken for granted, rather than explicitly mentioned, in science and in science class. This article takes a worldview perspective and reports from interviews (N = 26) with upper secondary students on how they view order, uniformity, and comprehensibility. In the article, it is shown that while most students view the universe as ordered and comprehensible, it is common for students to disagree that the universe is uniform. That is, they view scientific laws as only locally valid. In addition, many of them do not know that science builds upon such worldview presuppositions. In some cases, the results show differences between students’ own views and the views they associate with science. For example, it is common for students to state that science views the universe as more comprehensible than they themselves do. The consequences for students’ interests as well as their learning of science are discussed.

In research focusing science education in western countries, worldview perspectives have been rather neglected (with prominent exceptions such as the research by William Cobern). More specifically this is the case concerning science education in Europe. Often worldview issues are instead raised mostly in relation to indigenous cultures, and to some extent in research focusing religious issues in relation to science education in western countries. However, also in secular countries such as Sweden, students' worldviews should be of interest for science educators. During the presentation I will, with the starting point in previous research by myself and colleagues, highlight the value of worldview perspectives on science education also in "secular" countries. Such a perspective could contribute to our understanding of what happens in the science classroom, and shed light on questions such as why some students have difficulties understanding science (while others have not), and why some students are uninterested in science (and others view science as very much for them). Implications for science education - research and practice - will be raised. E.g. it will be suggested that worldview presuppositions should be discussed in science class as part of other nature of science perspectives.

Frågan om varför naturvetenskap undervisas är viktig att reflektera över, i synnerhet nu när nya kurs/ämnesplaner håller på att utarbetas för såväl grundskolan som gymnasieskolan. Hur man ser på syftet med den naturvetenskapliga undervisningen är viktigt och betydelsefullt för vilka mål man ska sätta upp och vilket centralt innehåll man ska välja.

Många elever uppfattar NO-ämnena,speciellt fysik och kemi, som ointressanta, oviktiga och svåra jämfört med andra ämnen.Men om allmänheten visste mer om naturvetenskap skulle de kunna påverka samhället mer. Forskare förespråkar nu därför undervisning utifrån så kallade "socio-scientific issues". 

En aspekt av naturvetenskap är att synen på vissa fenomen ibland kan förändras genom nya upptäckter. Genom väl valda berättelser ur fysikhistorien kan dessa aspekter bli tydligare. Vi ger exempel på några olika berättelser och diskuterar med utgångspunkt från frågor om naturvetenskapernas karaktär.

It has long been argued that nature of science (NOS) is an important part of science teaching. In the literature, many different approaches to NOS have been suggested. This article focuses on a storytelling approach, and builds on data from audio recordings from three middle-school (school year 6) classrooms. The three science classes are run by three science teachers who have been introduced to NOS and storytelling during a oneday workshop. These three teachers chose to tell the students a story about Ernest Rutherford. The stories told by the teachers, as well as the whole-class discussions afterwards, are analysed with respect to what NOS aspects were communicated. The results show that many different NOS aspects, such as the tentative nature of scientific models, empirical aspects of the scientific knowledge process, as well as human aspects of science, emerge in the context of the story about Rutherford and his work on the atomic model. The results indicate promising possibilities for storytelling as an approach to NOS teaching.

The aim of this three-year study is to further contribute to the understanding of how relations between Reality – Theoretical models – Mathematics are communicated in different kinds of instructional situations (lectures, problem solving and labwork) in Swedish upper-secondary physics. A developed analytical framework from the pilot (Authors, 2015; 2019) is used to focus the analysis of the classroom communication on relations made (by teachers and students) between Reality – Theoretical models – Mathematics. The framework, results from an online survey to Swedish upper-secondary teachers on views of physics, mathematics and physics teaching, and results from classroom studies at upper secondary school during 2018 will be reported and discussed at the conference.

This chapter describes a case study of the role of mathematics in physics textbooks and in associated teacher led lessons. The theoretical framework (Hansson et al. 2015) used in the analysis focuses on relations communicated between three entities: Theoretical models, Mathematics, and Reality. Previously the framework has been used for analysing classroom situations. In this chapter, the framework is further developed and refined, and for the first time used to analyse physics textbooks. The case study described here is a synchronised analysis of a physics textbook and associated classroom communication during teacher led lessons, and contributes with an in-depth description of relations made between Theoretical models, Mathematicsand Reality. With the starting point in this case we discuss future uses of the analysis framework. We also raise questions for further research concerning how physics textbooks support and not support a meaningful physics teaching with respect to the role of mathematics and how relations between Theoretical models, Mathematics, and Reality are communicated.

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. 

Matematik är ett viktigt verktyg för fysiken och matematiken sägs varafysikens språk. Tidigare forskning visar dock att elever ägnar mycket tid åt matematisk formelmanipulation medan mindre tid och kraft läggs på att relatera fysikens teoretiska modeller och begrepp till verk- ligheten. Syftet med forskningsprojektet vi beskriver här, är att för- djupa vår förståelse av matematikens roll i fysikundervisningen gene- rellt. Vi studerar därför matematikens roll i såväl problemlösningssitu- ationer som lärarledda genomgångar och laborativa moment. Pro- jektet kommer att ge förutsättningar för en ökad förståelse av matema- tikens roll i olika typer av fysikundervisning och för att identifiera i vilka situationer som kommunikationen visar på att matematiken ut- gör hinder eller möjligheter för fysiklärandet. Genom att identifiera så- dana tillfällen öppnas också möjligheten att arbeta för att bryta oöns- kade och stimulera önskade kommunikationsmönster och förstå hur matematiken kan användas på ett konstruktivt sätt i fysikundervis- ningen. Slutsatserna från projektet kommer därför att kunna användas i lärarutbildning, lärarfortbildning och av läromedelsförfattare, liksom av fysiklärare som vill arbeta för att utveckla sin undervisning.

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.

This study adds to research on the use of mathematics in physics classrooms at upper secondary school. The aim is to look closer into what types of transfer do the teacher and textbook set up for the pupils with respect to ways of reasoning from other physics contexts as well as from mathematics. The frame for analysis is an analytical model based on relations made between Reality, Theoretical models and Mathematics (Redfors, Hansson, Hansson & Juter, 2016). Horizontal and vertical transfer is defined as mappings of new information to an activated known structure and as the creation of a new structure in the learner’s mind, respectively (Rebello, Cui, Benett, Zollman & Ozimek, 2007). Transfer occurs within mathematics and physics and also between the topics.We will focus on a physics lecture (40 min, video recorded) in a 3rd year class. When reasoning movement of charged particles in electric fields the teacher stresses hori- zontal transfer from mechanics and projectile motion. The procedure used is focused on analysing movement in “x direction” and “y direction” separately, not explicitly relating movement to the field direction. Whereas the argumentation in the textbook is based on movement in relation to the existence of a field direction. When considering velocity, the main focus is in both cases on a framework where the components of velocity is central.The tangent of a curve is a notion the students in the present study are quite familiar with from their courses in mathematics, which makes an opportunity for transfer from a mathematics context to help understanding physics. However, the notion of tangent is not used in the textbook or by the teacher in relation to velocity. Using the vector concept in this way would require students and teachers to perform a vertical transfer. This has been shown hard for both students and teachers. However, introducing this way of reasoning had made use of an opportunity for structural use of mathematics – an opportunity overlooked by both teacher and textbook.

Vad är naturvetenskap? Hur kommer naturvetenskaplig kunskap till? Hur säker är kunskapen? Varför gör man experiment? Påverkas den nya kunskapen av samhället forskarna befinner sig i? Kommer naturvetenskapen att kunna besvara alla frågor? Det här är frågor som har med naturvetenskapens karaktär att göra. Naturvetenskapens karaktär handlar alltså om vad naturvetenskap är, hur kunskapsprocessen ser ut och vad man kan säga om hur säker den naturvetenskapliga kunskapen är, i vilken utsträckning den är eller kan vara objektiv etc. Under den här workshopen beskriver vi naturvetenskap utifrån den här typen av perspektiv och hur dessa perspektiv relaterar till kursplanerna. Som deltagare får du också ta del av exempel på hur man kan arbeta med detta i NO-undervisningen.

The inclusion of Nature of Science (NOS) perspectives in science teaching (including broad and nuanced images of scientists) has been suggested as a way to emphasize citizen and social justice perspectives, and is therefore important for all students. However, so far there has been little research on how, and to what extent, NOS is communicated to students who are experiencing difficulties in the science classroom. This study focuses on how the images of scientists in science textbooks (school years 7–9) are altered in adjusted textbooks aimed at students in need of supplemental support. The adjustments between general textbooks and the adjusted books are analyzed and discussed in relation to a Social Justice perspective on science education. The results show that a number of different adjustments are made between general and adjusted versions of the books: (a) Remove an entire section, (b) Remove scientist from section, (c) Remove information about scientist (e.g., characteristics and/or activities), (d) Add scientist to section, and (e) Add or emphasize information about scientist (e.g., characteristics and/or activities). In different ways, these adjustments influence the images of scientists communicated to students in need of supplemental support. The consequences of these adjustments are discussed from a social justice perspective.

In the science education research field there is a large body of literature on the 'nature of science' (NOS). NOS captures issues about what characterizes the research process as well as the scientific knowledge. Here we, in line with a broad body of literature, use a wide definition of NOS including also e.g. socio-cultural aspects. It is argued that NOS issues, for a number of reasons, should be included in the teaching of science/physics. Research shows that NOS should be taught explicitly. There are plenty of suggestions on specific and separate NOS activities, but the necessity of discussing NOS issues in connection to specific science/physics content and to laboratory work, is also highlighted. In this article we draw on this body of literature on NOS and science teaching, and discuss how classroom situations in secondary physics classes could be turned into NOS-learning situations. The discussed situations have been suggested by secondary teachers, during in-service teacher training, as situations from every-day physics teaching, from which NOS could be highlighted.