In this paper we are interested in the relationship between disciplinary knowledge and its representation. We carry out a social semiotic analysis of a central tool used in astronomy—the Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram—in order to highlight its disciplinary and pedagogical affordances. By analysing the relationship between disciplinary knowledge and its representation in this way we claim that it becomes possible to identify potential barriers to student learning—instances where semiotic resources with high disciplinary affordance have low pedagogical affordance for newcomers to the discipline. The astronomy resource that we have chosen to analyse has played a pivotal role in our understanding of stellar evolution and as such it features prominently on all undergraduate astronomy programs. However, like most disciplinary-specific semiotic resources, today’s H-R diagram is the culmination of many years of work by numerous disciplinary experts. Over time, the H-R diagram has been revised and reworked by a number of different actors in order to reconcile it with developing observational and theoretical advances. As a consequence, the H-R diagram that we know today combines many layers of astronomical knowledge, whilst still retaining some rather quirky traces of its historical roots. In this paper we adopt a social semiotic lens to analyse these ‘layers of knowledge’ and ‘historical anomalies’ showing how they have resulted in a number of counterintuitive aspects within the diagram that have successively lowered its pedagogical affordance. We claim that the counterintuitive aspects we identify in our analysis give rise to potential barriers to student disciplinary learning. Using our analysis as a case study, we generalise our findings suggesting four types of barrier to understanding that are potentially at work when meeting disciplinary-specific semiotic resources for the first time. We finish the paper by making some general suggestions about the wider use of our analysis method and ways of dealing with any barriers to learning identified. In the specific case of the H-R diagram, we suggest that lecturers should explicitly tease out its disciplinary affordances by the use of ‘unpacked’ resources that have a higher pedagogical affordance. 

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.

This article provides a conceptual discussion of ‘ownership’ in various forms of participatory research. The discussion is grounded in our experiences from three research projects in science education. We seek to understand how and why ownership may be distributed between teachers and researchers at different stages in the research process. Looking at our projects in retrospect, we see that ownership was differently distributed at the initial stages. Then ownership distribution followed a similar pathway, as teachers gained ownership of implementation, whereas researchers reclaimed ownership of analyzing and disseminating the work. Our discussion departs from the idea that ownership relates to both ‘risks’ and ‘benefits’ as well as to both ‘rights and obligations. Thereby, we can make visible some of the circumstances that steer ownership towards the teachers or researchers. For example, we highlight that ownership distribution may be influenced by guidelines for research ethics and inequalities in terms of administrative support structures available to researchers and teachers. Based on our discussion, we suggest a number of questions to initiate and support a continuous dialogue between teachers and researchers who plan to engage in participatory research.

Att undervisa i de naturvetenskapliga ämnena (NO) i de tidiga skolåren är ett utmanande, spännande och roligt uppdrag. Dessa ämnen spänner dock över stora innehållsområden och därför kan det vara svårt att få en överblick och välja ett innehåll som är lämpligt för åldersgruppen.

Den här boken hjälper läraren att få grepp om det viktigaste innehållet i de naturvetenskapliga ämnena. Naturvetenskapens grundläggande och bärande idéer förklaras detaljerat och belyses med en rad konkreta och vardagliga exempel. Innehållet diskuteras i förhållande till Läroplan för grundskolan, förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet (Lgr 11).

Boken kan, gärna i kombination med boken Naturvetenskapens bärande idéer i praktiken, användas både som kurslitteratur för blivande lärare och som ämnesfördjupning för verksamma lärare.

Den 3:e upplagan har reviderats i förhållande till ändringarna i kursplanerna 2020.

Att arbeta med naturvetenskap i förskolan är ett utmanande, spännande och roligt uppdrag. Alla har vi väl förundrats över barns nyfikenhet och goda observationsförmåga när de möter naturvetenskapliga fenomen. Många förskollärare berättar också att det är tacksamt att arbeta med naturvetenskap. Ämnesområdet är stort och det kan vara svårt att som förskollärare få en överblick och veta vad man ska läsa in sig på för att få idéer till relevanta uppgifter att göra tillsammans med barnen.

Den här boken handlar om de bärande idéerna i naturvetenskap och är tänkt att stödja förskolläraren i strävan att få grepp om det viktigaste innehållet. Ambitionen är att dra upp de stora linjerna snarare än att ge en heltäckande beskrivning. Exempel från vardagliga sammanhang används för att visa på bärkraften i dessa idéer.

Den nya upplagan är reviderad i enlighet med förskolans nya läroplan (Lpfö 18).

Att använda berättelser som undervisningsmetod är ingen nyhet i skolan. Däremot har metoden, av tradition, inte varit så vanlig i NO-undervisningen. På senare tid lyfts, i såväl skoldebatt som forskning, elevers svårigheter med begreppsutveckling i de naturvetenskapliga ämnena. En orsak till problemen, menar många, är att elever inte finner naturvetenskapen meningsfull. StoryTelling är ett undervisningsmaterial och ett arbetssätt uppbyggt kring historiska berättelser kring ett naturvetenskapligt innehåll. Läraren gestaltar till exempel en historisk forskare och i rollen som forskaren berättar hen om sitt arbete. Det primära syftet med StoryTelling är att beskriva naturvetenskapernas karaktär. Jag blev dock intresserad av att undersöka om berättelserna också skulle kunna bidra till att utveckla elevernas begreppsförståelse. Detta har jag i den här studien undersökt genom att berätta berättelsen från materialet i en mellanstadieklass. Jag utgår i min studie från Egans teori om hur "romantic understanding" kan stödja kognitiv utveckling från en konkret och kontextberoende förståelse av omvärlden till naturvetenskapliga, generella förklaringsmodeller. Jag har filmat fyra elevgruppers diskussioner om vakuum och tryck före och efter att jag berättade en berättelse där jag iklädde mig rollen som Otto von Guericke. Gruppdiskussionerna har analyserats utifrån gruppernas användning av nya begrepp och förklaringar samt nya gester och bildliga uttryck. Samtliga grupper förändrar, i större eller mindre utsträckning, sina förklaringar kring vakuum efter att ha tagit del av min berättelse. En del grupper använder också gester och bildliga uttryck från berättelsen under sina diskussioner. Resultaten indikerar att StoryTelling kan vara ett stöd för att utveckla elevers begreppsförståelse i naturvetenskap.

A supportive relationship between teachers and students has been shown to have positive effects on students’ performance and social development. Preservice teachers’ relational competence is, however, an unexplored area. The purpose of this study is to contribute to educational research about relational competence in teacher education by introducing a Swedish project which focuses on interpersonal aspects. The study has three parts. In the theoretical part, a conceptualization of teachers’ relational competence using Thomas Scheff’s theory of interpersonal relationships is outlined. In the empirical (pilot) part, a methodology for prompting preservice teachers’ analyses of teacher–student relationships is described, as well as a thematic analysis of their responses. The theoretical conceptualization is then used together with the empirical data in the third part, in order to identify development needs of preservice teachers in terms of relational competence. According to the conceptualization, relational competence includes three sub-concepts: communicative, differentiation, and socio-emotional competence. From the analysis of preservice students’ texts, the article identifies development needs in relation to the three sub-concepts. The concluding discussion focuses on lessons learned from the study regarding how to promote teacher students’ relational competence.

COVID-19 has impacted education on all levels, with many institutions turning to online formats to deal with the global public health crisis. This study aims to carefully consider participatory risk management, given concerns about the specific impact of COVID-19 upon environmental and outdoor education. An environmental and outdoor education expedition-style university-based field course at the Laponia World Heritage Site provided the context for considering environmental and outdoor education’s response to COVID-19. Whether or how risk could be effectively managed in the unique setting during the COVID-19 pandemic was explored using action research methodology. A combination of systematic instructor observation, student–instructor communication, and surveys to student participants provided the data to consider the research question. Outcomes underscore the critical role of participatory risk management in environmental and outdoor education settings and highlight the concept of interdependence in environmental and outdoor education risk management. In addition, the research provides support for the action research idea of practitioners as researchers.

Nature play is an important component of the development of resilience in early childhood. Nature play is also an element of urban sustainability through a consideration of access to urban nature. From the foundation of access to nature play as a part of both resilience and sustainability considerations, a mixed-method case study was initiated. Spatial analysis, survey outreach, and focus group methodology have been combined to consider whether city parkland provides access for preschools to incorporate nature play, and, further, whether other barriers may exist to limit or prevent the use of city parks for nature play by preschool programs. The results indicate the existence of quality proximate access, but other factors creating barriers for broader application of nature play exist. The results also illustrate the critical role of public access to public parks as part of urban sustainability and the development of resilience in young children. The implications for the use of city parkland for nature play are presented. 

Climate resilience is an important mix of climate mitigation and climate adaptation designed to minimize current and future disruption while promoting opportunity. Given the importance of the regional and local arena for consideration of impacts of climate change trends and needs for climate action, climate resilience in one community, Duluth, Minnesota, is considered. At the core of this project is the climate resilience question: what can we currently be doing in our communities to prepare for projected climate change while simultaneously improving life for current residents and visitors? Given the growing importance of outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism in Duluth, the role this sector may be able to play in climate resilience is considered. Using action research methodology, the research process of adjusting, presenting, and conducting follow-up from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Adaptation for Coastal Communities workshop is presented. The study takes a unique look at one workshop outcome, a Duluth Parks and Recreation planning tool. Specifically, a resilience checklist is presented as a useful sample outcome of the overall process. Beyond the study community, the role of outdoor recreation to serve climate resilience is explored and affirmed.

This paper examines the meaning, assessment, and development of connection to nature (C2N) in two- to five-yearold children. It grows out of a Connection to Nature Workshop organized by the University of Florida, Stanford University, the North American Association for Environmental Education, and the Children and Nature Network to evaluate instruments that measure C2N. Defining and measuring C2N in young children emerged as a current research gap. The workshop was followed by the formation of an Expert Advisory Panel on Early Childhood Nature Connection to address this need. Through semi-structured interviews and narrative responses to a survey, panel participants provided insight on early childhood connection to nature and reviewed existing measures of nature connection for this age group. This paper presents a synthesis of panel ideas. One outcome of the analysis was a detailed description of C2N, highlighting the importance of both quantity and quality of time in nature. Quality time in nature includes opportunities for self-directed exploration, multisensory engagement with nature places, the presence of animals, and the supportive influence of peers and adults. Research implications include recommendations for mixed-method assessment strategies for young children as well as the importance of access to nature for all children.

A need for a more specific understanding of childhood geographies has motivated an investigation of one activity, childhood collecting in nature. This study examined collecting behavior, places of collecting, and the relationship of these places to environmental connectedness in adulthood. Topophilia is presented as a guide to help consider why children collect in nature and to expand upon a limited understanding of collecting behavior. These ideas are explored with a mixed-method design strategy involving surveys and semi-structured interviews with a sample of Swedish university students. Results show collecting in nature to be a widespread, meaningful, and memorable experience in the formative years of participants. Results also demonstrate potential support for topophilia as a way to understand the childhood collecting nature phenomenon. Implications include recognition of the importance of family to support children’s engagement in the natural world and proximate access to nature as a critical aspect of childhood experience.

People depend on functioning ecosystems to meet human needs and support well-being across the life span. This article considers the interest in ecosystem service valuation, the growing interest in the benefits of nature experience for children, and ways to bridge these perspectives. We focus on embodied childhood nature experiences: the physical and multisensory experiences that intertwine child and nature. Additionally, we highlight the reciprocal quality of nature and child experience relationship as an example of how this relationship goes beyond the instrumental and demonstrates relational value. Underlying this perspective is the belief that children need to be better represented in the perception and action of ecosystem valuation in environmental policy.

There has been significant interest in the values and benefits of early childhood nature experiences on children’s well-being and development. One aspect of studying the exposure of children to nature that requires more focus is the role played by early childhood educators. In particular, there is a need for early childhood environmental education training for pre-service educators. This study will explore the use of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve as an outdoor classroom for early childhood environmental education pre-service professionals. Exploratory quantitative and qualitative descriptive data from a series of three short surveys (pre/post/delayed post) provide a basic overview of pre-service teacher perspectives, experiences, and outcomes of an environmental education intervention. The results indicate that the participating pre-service educators had little to no familiarity with the environmental concepts or the biosphere reserve site before participation in the intervention. The post-intervention and delayed post-intervention results show that pre-service educators perceived that their understanding of the concept had improved. The results also show a perception of the positive role that biosphere reserve sites can play in early childhood education. Three critical implications emerged from the overall quantitative and qualitative results: (1) specific support should be given for early childhood environmental education training; (2) biosphere reserve functions provide support for efforts to improve connections to nature; (3) early childhood education has the potential to support the broadening of the biosphere reserve audience. 

Outdoor recreation management perspectives were investigated based on the general perception of increased public outdoor recreation participation during the Covid-19 pandemic and supported by survey research at local, regional, and national levels in Sweden. There is an interest in how outdoor recreation professionals perceived outdoor recreation by the public during the pandemic and whether professionals could identify specific implications from the Covid-19/outdoor recreation experience. Climate adaptation literature supports the idea that current global challenge coupled with projections for ongoing challenge requires a pro-active approach; this turn to climate adaptation for potential consideration or guidance is based on characteristics that the Covid-19 pandemic shares with climate change. Outdoor recreational professionals' review of a recent public survey and subsequent semi-structured interviews with this group were conducted to obtain outdoor recreation professionals' detailed perceptions on survey outcomes. Results show that the professionals confirm a rapid and significant increase in outdoor recreation participation. Further, professionals identified critical trends in the increase of new or inexperienced outdoor recreation participants. A positive and proactive list of implications emerged as themes of the interviews. A review and synthesis of the themes support the national goals for outdoor recreation in Sweden. Further, results indicate a current opportunity for outdoor recreation to address concerns for diminishing nature experience and support connectedness to nature. The connectedness to nature outcome further strengthens the comparison with climate adaptation strategy given the potential relationship between connectedness to nature and pro-environmental behavior.

Transdisciplinary research and collaboration is widely acknowledged as a critical success factor for solution-oriented approaches that can tackle complex sustainability challenges, such as biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate-related hazards. In this context, city governments' engagement in transdisciplinarity is generally seen as a key condition for societal transformation towards sustainability. However, empirical evidence is rare. This paper presents a self-assessment of a joint research project on ecosystem services and climate adaptation planning (ECOSIMP) undertaken by four universities and seven Swedish municipalities. We apply a set of design principles and guiding questions for transdisciplinary sustainability projects and, on this basis, identify key aspects for supporting university-municipality collaboration. We show that: (1) selecting the number and type of project stakeholders requires more explicit consideration of the purpose of societal actors' participation; (2) concrete, interim benefits for participating practitioners and organisations need to be continuously discussed; (3) promoting the 'inter', i.e., interdisciplinary and inter-city learning, can support transdisciplinarity and, ultimately, urban sustainability and long-term change. In this context, we found that design principles for transdisciplinarity have the potential to (4) mitigate project shortcomings, even when transdisciplinarity is not an explicit aim, and (5) address differences and allow new voices to be heard. We propose additional guiding questions to address shortcomings and inspire reflexivity in transdisciplinary projects.

botSTEM is an ERASMUS+ project aiming to raise the utilisation of inquiry-based collaborative learning and robot-enhanced education. The project outputs are specifically aimed to provide in- and pre-service teachers in Childhood and Primary Education, and children aged between 4 and 8, with research-based materials and practices that use integrated Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) and robot-based approaches, including code-learning, for enhancing scientific literacy in young children. This presentation presents initial results in terms of a collection of tested educational practices summarized in a freely downloadable Toolkit, and results from a qualitative analysis of implemented activities in Swedish preschools. The preliminary analysis of the implementations indicates that robots function as motivation factors in young children’s inquiry of science and engineering design technology, in both teacher and children initiated learning situations.. Also, when compared, digital programming with a use of robots promotes discussions among teachers and children that involve more versatile robotic words then un-plugged programming does. 

botSTEM is an ERASMUS+ project aiming to raise the utilisation of inquiry-based collaborative learning and robots-enhanced education. The project outputs are specifically aimed to provide in- and pre-service teachers in Childhood and Primary Education and children aged between 4 and 8, with research-based materials and best practices that use integrated Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) and robot-based approaches, including code-learning, for enhancing scientific literacy in young children. Initial results from the project in terms of a collection of good educational practices summarized in a freely downloadable Toolkit and results from a qualitative analysis of implemented activities during science teaching in Swedish preschools are presented here. The preliminary analysis of the implementations indicate that robots function as motivation factors in young children’s inquiry of science and engineering design technology, in both teacher and children initiated learning situations.

Den här boken täcker tio övergripande naturvetenskapliga teman inom ämnena kemi, fysik, ekologi, mikrobiologi, geovetenskap och teknik. Innehållet har oftast sin utgångspunkt i vardagsfenomen som barnen själva uppmärksammar. I varje kapitel får man följa barns upplevelser av, frågor om och förståelser för olika naturvetenskapliga fenomen. Genom undersökningar och aktiviteter som är beskrivna i boken utvecklar barnen sina resonemang och får ökade insikter och ett vidgat perspektiv. Boken innehåller inte bara barnens kommentarer utan en dialog mellan barn och pedagog. Genom produktiva frågor och resonemang kopplade till aktiviteter hjälper pedagogen barnen att utveckla en ökad förståelse för naturvetenskap. Dialogen innehåller också lärarens barnanpassade förklaringar för att illustrera hur man på ett enkelt sätt kan göra avancerade naturvetenskapliga fenomen begripliga för barn. 

This paper presents the potential for the Swedish Laqua system to be used as a sustainable method for on-site landfill leachate management in Northern Ireland, specifically the potential to use locally sourced filter materials from Northern Ireland as part of the filter system. Four carbon containing ashes and four types of peat were tested over a 24 hours period by a shaking test with untreated landfill leachate. Considering the results of this screening test, and the economical and sustainable supply of filter materials, one combination of ash and peat was selected to be column tested. Column testing with artificial leachate containing 7 organic pollutants (3 PAHs and 4 PCBs) and 9 inorganic pollutants showed that locally sourced filter materials effectively removed both organic and inorganic pollutants. A subsequent column test with landfill leachate for 13 weeks demonstrated it was feasible to apply the Laqua system with economical locally sourced filter materials.

Under VFU-period i NT-kurs för blivande grundlärare 4-6 implementerar och utvärderar studenterna en av dem utvecklad undervisningssekvens. Projekt har undersökt hur studenterna under VFU interagerar med två kurslärare genom en digital loggbok. 

Tio skriftliga loggböcker under genomförd VFU-period i grundskolan, årskurs 4, 5 eller 6 har samlats in. Studenterna var ombedda att dagligen ”skriva av sig” om sina erfarenheter. De fick instruktion att skriva fritt om sådant som kändes angeläget. Följande forskningsfrågor formulerades:

1. Vad skriver studenter om då de får möjlighet att föra loggbok under sin VFU? 
2. På vilka sätt har kurslärarnas feedback påverkat innehållet i loggböckerna?

Sammanfattningar av analysresultat med fokus på NT-didaktik presenteras på konferensen.

Coming to appropriately appreciate the meaning of algebraic signs is an important aspect in introductory

kinematics. However, in this educational context, the “disciplinary relevant aspects” of algebraic signs across

vector and scalar representations are extremely difficult to discern. Our study explores the “relevance

structure” that one-dimensional kinematics problems evoked for introductory level university physics

students across two very different educational systems which have, in PER terms, progressive teaching

environments: Sweden (n=60) and South Africa (n=24). The outcomes of two previous PER studies are used

to provide the analytic basis for formulating categories of relevance structure. Aspects of a contemporary

PER-developed social semiotics perspective (referred to here in terms of communication practices) are used

to discuss implications for teaching in the given educational context of introductory kinematics.

This theoretical paper introduces a new way to view and characterize learning astronomy. It describes a framework, based on results from empirical data, analyzed through standard qualitative research method- ology, in which a theoretical model for a vital competency of learning astronomy is proposed: reading the sky, a broad description under with various skills and competencies are included. This model takes into account not only disciplinary knowledge but also disciplinary discernment and extrapolating three dimensionality. Together, these constitute the foundation for the competency referred to as reading the sky. In this paper, these competencies are described and discussed and merged to form a new framework vital for learning astronomy to better match the challenges students face when entering the discipline of astronomy.

Att lära sig matematik innebär att lära sig "läsa" och "skriva" alla de semiotiska resurser som används för att kommunicera ämnet. Med erfarenheter från andra discipliner, så som astronomi och fysik, vet man att det är svårt för studenter att urskilja disciplinära affordanser av semiotiska resurser och därmed lära sig ämnet och bli en del av disciplinen. Preliminära resultat visar på att detta också gäller för urskiljandet av matematiska semiotiska resurser av olika typ. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten för analys av dessa resurser är en generell hierarki som beskriver olika grader av disciplinärt urskiljande: "The anatomy of disciplinary discernment" (Eriksson et al., 2014). Vi kommer att visa och diskutera ett antal exempel hämtade från funktioner och integraler, där disciplinära affordanser identifieras, både synliga och implicita ("appresented"), av olika komplexitetsgrad och dimensionalitet. Med dessa exempel som utgångspunkt diskuteras möjliga strategier för undervisning och lärande.

Vertical amusement rides let your body experience the tickling sensation of feeling light, but also feeling much heavier than as usual, due to velocity changes as you move up and down. Family rides offer different possibilities to visualize the forces that are experienced by your accelerating body. This paper presents a number of different ways to view and experience the motion in a small vertical amusement ride. A smartphone includes an accelerometer that can provide a graph of the forces acting during the ride. A movie from the smartphone camera lets students recall the motion which can then be analysed in more detail. The complementary representations may help students develop a deeper understanding of the relation between force and motion. The affordances of these different semiotic resources are analysed in some detail. In addition, we discuss responses from a number of students to questions about where you feel light and where you feel heavy. We find that the experience of the body is an underused resource in physics teaching.

Vertical amusement rides let your body experience the tickling sensation of feeling light, but also feeling much heavier than as usual, due to velocity changes as you move up and down. Family rides offer different possibilities to visualize the forces that are experienced by your accelerating body. This paper presents a number of different ways to view and experience the motion in a small vertical amusement ride. A smartphone includes an accelerometer that can provide a graph of the forces acting during the ride. A movie from the smartphone camera lets students recall the motion which can then be analysed in more detail. The complementary representations may help students develop a deeper understanding of the relation between force and motion. The affordances of these different semiotic resources are analysed in some detail. In addition, we discuss responses from a number of students to questions about where you feel light and where you feel heavy. We find that the experience of the body is an underused resource in physics teaching.

Learning astronomy at higher level can be both exciting and challenging. Entering the discipline of astronomy involves learning the way that astronomers communicate knowledge, using a multitude of disciplinary specific semiotic recourses to understand the multidimensional universe. A new-to-the-discipline student will need to learn to “read” and “write” all these resources in her endeavour to learn astronomy and become part of the discipline. In this paper, we present a study where university students and professors are presented by different 2D and pseudo-3D resources—representations of astronomical objects—and asked about how these objects may look in 3D, i.e. we ask them to extrapolate three-dimensionality from 2D inputs. These inputs are 2D pictorial representation and world-class 3D rotating volumetric models presented on flat screens. Data were collected using a web-based questionnaire from 53 participants in four different countries. From the results, we find that all participants struggle to find cues for depth perception in the 2D pictorial representations. As could be expected, the student participants were much worse in doing so than the astronomers, but with one exception: students used the offered motion parallax as their main cue when this was available. The astronomers used many cues in their struggle to perceive depth but surprisingly did not use the presented parallax motion to a large extent. We interpret this as follows: for the students, they lack the knowledge to use disciplinary cues and used the only cue that they know from experience, namely, parallax motion. For the astronomers, they used a multitude of disciplinary cues based on their extensive disciplinary knowledge, and did not find the new cue, motion parallax, as useful as the ones that they were used to use. In this paper, we present and discuss these results and its implication for teaching astronomy.

This paper explores the attitudes, conceptions and use of social media in net-based higher education. By using statistical and content analysis of data generated by two surveys directed to students (n = 109) and teachers (n = 77) involved in net-based higher education, we explore how social media influence the design of learning context in net-based higher education courses. By applying the affordance theory, we describe actual as well as preferred use of social media from an educational, social, and technical perspectives. The results showed that the potential use of social media have not yet been fully found in the context of net-based higher education. However, the perceived benefit of using social media differs in relation to educational topics. The potential use of social media in net-based higher education courses is discussed.

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.

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.

Avsikten med denna rapport är att presentera ett treårigt samverkansprojekt mellan forskare vid Högskolan Kristianstad och ledning med personal på samtliga förskolor i ett skolområde. Projektet rör undervisning av naturvetenskap med särskilt fokus på kemi och fysik i förskolan.

Ett skolområde i en medelstor skånsk kommun initierade ett samarbete med forskare vid Högskolan Kristianstad kring undervisning om naturvetenskap i förskolan, speciellt kopplat till det läroplanen benämner som enkla kemiska processer och fysikaliska fenomen. Projektet syftade till att studera modellbaserad undervisning och lärande i förskolan om kemiska processer och fysikaliska fenomen relaterat till hållbarhet i samhällsfrågor och barns vardagsliv. Traditionellt har arbete med naturvetenskap i förskolan handlat om naturen, om växter och djur och om miljörelaterade frågor. I samband med att den reviderade läroplanen trädde i kraft 2011 vidgades emellertid kunskapsområdet till att också omfatta kemiska processer och fysikaliska fenomen (Skolverket, 2010). Att undervisa om kemi och fysik i ett förskoleperspektiv kan av många förskollärare upplevas som svårt och behovet av kompetensutvecklingsinsatser har visat sig vara stort (Skolinspektionen, 2018). Utvärderingar visade att så var också fallet i det aktuella skolområdet.

1 juli 2019 trädde ännu en reviderad läroplan i kraft i vilken användning av digital teknik lyfts fram som ett nytt målområde att sträva mot (Skolverket, 2018). Mot den bakgrunden och i takt med projektets genomförande har kunskap som rör såväl innehåll som lärandeprocesser och undervisningsstrategier implementerats med och utan stöd av modern informationsteknik.

Projektet kan delas upp i två delar. Del I är den kompetensutvecklingssatsning som ovan kort beskrivits och del II är ett forskningsprojekt med fokus på fysik- och kemiundervisningens genomförande i barngrupp samt på projektets övergripande genomförande.

Det övergripande syftet med projektet är att, tillsammans med arbetslag och rektorer i förskolan utveckla kunskap om FyKe-undervisning i förskolan, med respektive utan stöd av digitala verktyg, samt att 8longitudinellt följa utvecklingen hos deltagande arbetslag och rektorer under ett flerårigt kompetensutvecklingsprojekt.

Flera delstudier har genomförts i projektet. Tre artiklar har hittills publicerats i vetenskapliga tidskrifter, ytterligare studier har genomförts med fokus på rektorers och arbetslags upplevelser relaterat till projektets innehåll och genomförande och delvis relaterat till digital teknik. Rapporten avslutas med några sammanfattande punkter med relation till projektets utfall.

Genom ett flerårigt projekt studeras modellbaserad undervisning och lärande i förskolor av kemiska reaktioner och fysikaliska fenomen relaterat till hållbarhet i samhällsfrågor. Forskare arbetar tillsammans med ledning och personal vid förskolor i ett skolområde. Undervisning och lärandeprocesser med och utan stöd av modern informationsteknik implementeras och analyseras. Projektet syftar till att utveckla en teoretisk ram för analys av olika erfarenheter under kemi- och fysikunder­visning i förskolan med fokus på lärarens förhållningssätt och barns agerande. I samverkan utvecklas nuvarande kunskap om hur ny digital teknik kan användas för att stödja samarbete och lärande om kemiska processer och fysikaliska fenomen relaterade till barns vardag och dagens samhälle. 

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.

With science and digitalisation emphasised further in the new Swedish preschool curriculum, there is a need to clarify teachers’ role in educating children in and about these areas. With research pointing out the importance of a conscious language use in STEM teaching, we here focus on words used by teachers and children during inquiry-based STEM activities in five different preschools. Bers’ powerful ideas about early childhood computational thinking (Bers 2018. Coding as a Playground. New York: Routledge.) were used for analysis and results highlight how digital programming and use of robots can promote a more versatile use of robotic words, compared to analogue, ‘unplugged’, programming without robots. Furthermore, it is also found that use of precise decontextualised language by the teacher seems to stimulate children’s use of words related to STEM and the object of learning. The findings add to the discussion about how teachers can scaffold children’s learning by inquiry teaching of STEM supported by robotics.

This article describes outcomes from the Erasmus+ project botSTEM, involving a theoretical framework for Science, Technology, Engineering & Technology (STEM) and robotics and teaching activities for preschool teachers and teachers educating children four-eight years old. Spanish and Swedish preschool teachers’ self-efficacy and views of teaching STEM and robotics are presented, using a mixed methodology based on a questionnaire and focus group interviews. The three-year long project has improved the preschool teachers’ self-efficacy in STEM and robotics teaching, as described in a questionnaire answered by the preschool teachers after the project. Possibilities in STEM and robotics teaching experienced by them include an increase in children’s agency, knowledge and interest, and the obstacles are mainly structural or technical. Robotics teaching also supports children with special needs when interacting with peers. The results from the botSTEM project point to the benefit of supported long-term professional development for STEM and robotics teaching in preschools.

Despite widespread calls to action from the scientific community and beyond, a concerning climate action gap exists. This paper aims to enhance our understanding of the role of connectedness to nature in promoting individual-level climate action in a unique setting where climate research and action are lacking: Canada’s Provincial North. To begin to understand possible pathways, we also examined whether climate worry and talking about climate change with family and friends mediate the relationship between connectedness to nature and climate action. We used data collected via postal surveys in two Provincial North communities, Thunder Bay (Ontario), and Prince George (British Columbia) (n = 628). Results show that connectedness to nature has a direct positive association with individual-level climate action, controlling for gender and education. Results of parallel mediation analyses further show that connectedness to nature is indirectly associated with individual-level climate action, mediated by both climate worry and talking about climate change with family and friends. Finally, results suggest that climate worry and talking about climate change with family and friends serially mediate the relationship between connectedness to nature and with individual-level climate action. These findings are relevant for climate change engagement and action, especially across Canada’s Provincial North, but also in similar settings characterized by marginalization, heightened vulnerability to climate change, urban islands within vast rural and remote landscapes, and economies and social identities tied to resource extraction. Drawing on these findings, we argue that cultivating stronger connections with nature in the places where people live, learn, work, and play is an important and currently underutilized leverage point for promoting individual-level climate action. This study therefore adds to the current and increasingly relevant calls for (re-)connecting with nature that have been made by others across a range of disciplinary and sectoral divides.