Clas Olander

Discussing a Research Programme for the Improvement of Science Teaching

A research programme for the improvement of science teaching is described, exemplified, and discussed. Briefly, the idea of the programme is that researchers in science education and teachers in schools should work together to design teaching sequences and to assess how they function in practice. Research results concerning pupils’ everyday conceptions, as well as analyses of the conceptual structure of a given area and the reasons for teaching it, play an important role when working on a design. The most important product of the design phase is a detailed guide for teachers, which we look upon as a tool for further knowledge-building. In our paper we suggest that the idea of domain-specific theories is worth examining and developing. It might contribute to strengthening science education as an autonomous discipline.

Towards an inter-language of talking science: exploring students' argumentation in relation to authentic language

In this paper we explore the idea that learning science involves appropriation of the school-science language and how it manifests in the classroom. This is done through an analysis of peer group discussions in Swedish secondary schools; discussions that served both as an arena for learning and as a research tool. In this arena, the students are offered opportunities of communicating, evaluating and arguing knowledge claims. The analysis focuses on the intersection between social languages (colloquial and scientific), and epistemological/conceptual aspects of biological evolution. We explore how words (especially Vygotsky’s meaning and sense of words) and semantic patterns manifest in the students’ talk. Specifications are made step by step in negotiations, and the groups of students talk more and more in line with school-science language. We understand this to rely on the establishment of an arena where technical terms and scientific models may be introduced, negotiated, and made sense of, in particular in relation to personal and everyday experiences. The students use an inter-language where colloquial expressions serve as an asset in sense-making.

Why am I learning evolution? Pointers towards enacted scientific literacy

This paper explores affordances in teaching evolution, especially those in which evolution is made relevant to and argued for in a grade 9 biology classroom, thus giving potential answers to the pupils’ legitimate question, ‘why am I learning evolution?’ The aim of the paper is methodological in the sense that it explores whether the notions subject focus, curriculum emphasis and intertextuality have potential as analytical tools and pointers towards enacted scientific literacy in classroom practice. The notion of subject focus (either induction into science or learning from science) and the seven curriculum emphases (correct explanation, structure of science, scientific skill development, solid foundation, everyday coping, decision making and self as explainer) are predefined and used abductively on the data set. Intertextuality is analysed more inductively: references that pupils and teacher make are sought and these intertextual links are then sorted into clusters. The findings indicate that the structuring tools have potential as descriptors in the analysis. One subject focus (induction into science) and a few curriculum emphases (especially correct explanations) are privileged, while others, eg everyday coping, are not. When the discourses of self as explainer and correct explanations compete, it is the latter that is privileged.

Representations as mediation between purposes as junior secondary science students learn about the human body

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to investigate students’ meaning-making processes of multiple representations during a teaching sequence about the human body in lower secondary school. Two main influences are brought together to accomplish the analysis: on the one hand, theories on signs and representations as scaffoldings for learning and, on the other hand, pragmatist theories on how continuity between the purposes of different inquiry activities can be sustained. Data consist of 10 videotaped and transcribed lessons with 14-year-old students (N = 26) in Sweden. The analysis focused instances where meaning of representations was negotiated. Findings indicate that continuity is established in multiple ways, for example, as the use of metaphors articulated as an interlanguage expression that enables the students (and the teacher) to maintain the conversation and explain pressing issues in ways that support of the end-in-view of the immediate action. Continuity is also established between every day and scientific registers and between organisation levels as well as between the smaller parts and the whole system.

Considering Grand Challenges in Biology Education: Rationales and Proposals for Future Investigations to Guide Instruction and Enhance Student Understanding in the Life Sciences

Abstract An international group of biology education researchers offer their views on areas of scholarship that might positively impact our understanding of teaching and learning in biology and potentially inform practices in biology and life science instruction. This article contains a series of essays on topics that include a framework for biology education research, considerations in the preparation of biology teachers, increasing accessibility to biology for all learners, the role and challenges of language in biology teaching, sociocultural issues in biology instruction, and assisting students in coping with scientific innovations. These contributions are framed by a discussion of the value of defining several potential “grand challenges” in biology education.

Understandings of climate change articulated by Swedish secondary school students

Abstract This study investigated beliefs about climate change among Swedish secondary school students at the end of their K-12 education. An embedded mixed method approach was used to analyse 51 secondary school students’ written responses to two questions: (1) What implies climate change? (2) What affects climate? A quantitative analysis of the responses revealed that ‘Earth’, ‘human’ and ‘greenhouse effect’ were frequent topics regarding the first question, and ‘pollution’, ‘atmosphere’ and ‘Earth’ were frequent regarding the second. A qualitative analysis, based on a ‘conceptual elements’ framework, focused on three elements within responses: atmosphere (causes and/or consequences), Earth (causes and consequences) and living beings (humans and/or animals and their impacts on climate change). It revealed a predominantly general or societal, rather than individual, perspective underlying students’ responses to the second question. The ability to connect general/societal issues with individual issues relating to climate change could prompt students to reflect on the contributions of individuals towards climate change mitigation, thereby constituting a basis for decision-making to promote a sustainable environment. Although the students did not discuss climate changes from an individual perspective, their statements revealed their understanding of climate change as a system comprising various components affecting the overall situation. They also revealed an understanding of the difference between weather and climate.

Analysing teachers' operations when teaching students : what constitutes scientific theories?

ABSTRACT The aim of the study is to analyse teachers’ efforts to develop secondary school students’ knowledge and argumentation skills of what constitutes scientific theories. The analysis is based on Leontiev’s three-level structure of activity (activity, action, and operation), as these levels correspond to the questions why, what, and how content is taught. The unit of analysis was a school development project in science education, where design-based interventions were conducted. Data comprised notes and minutes from eight meetings, plans, and video recordings of the lessons, and a written teacher evaluation. The teachers’ (n = 7) learning actions were analysed to identify (a) concept formation in science education, (b) expressions of agency, (c) discursive manifestations of contradictions, and (d) patterns of interaction during the science interventions. Three lessons on what constitutes scientific theories were implemented in three different student groups (n = 24, 23, 24), framed by planning and evaluation meetings for each lesson. The results describe (1) the ways in which teachers became more skilled at ensuring instruction met their students’ needs and (2) the ways in which teachers’ operations during instruction changed as a result of their developed knowledge of how to express the content based on theoretical assumptions.