Gerd Christensen

A Poststructuralist View on Student's Project Groups: Possibilities and Limitations.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how poststructuralism and social constructionism can contribute to the empirical research on groups in problem-based learning (PBL). The paper outlines the analytical complexity and shows, through empirical examples, the potentials and limitations of this perspective as an alternative to traditional group psychology. While the potentials of poststructuralism and social constructionism as an analytical complex seem to be the endeavor for relentless critique, the limitations are the ‘empty subject’ and the avoidance of any kind of normativity that leave no guidance for practice. Though both limitations raise serious problems for the practitioner, I intend to argue that the potentials of the analytical perspective are far more important than the challenges when it comes to social psychological research in groups in PBL.

Power, ethics and the production of subjectivity in the group interview

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to discuss how Michel Foucaults concept of power can contribute to the discussion of research ethics in qualitative interviewing within the field of social psychology. Minimizing power is a common aim in the ethical principles of psychology and in research interviewing. Using examples from my own research, I show that the traditional concept of power seems insufficient to capture what is at stake in group interview situations. The group interview adds a group dynamic, making it significantly more complicated than the individual interview. To account for this complexity, this paper suggests elaborating the discussion of ethics in the research interview through Foucaults concept of power as a productive force.

The Didactics of Group Work

In didactic terms, aims and means in teaching are most often described as ‘the what’ and ‘the how’ of the teaching activity (Nordenbo, 1997). While I view the aim as the (overarching) purpose or goal of the teaching activity, I interpret means as referring to methods or ‘tools’ for the teacher. In this paper, I will discuss the aims and means of group work.

Genealogy and educational research

Abstract The aim of this paper was to demonstrate how genealogy can be used as a method for critical education research. As Foucault emphasized, genealogy is a method for identifying the way in which the individuals are subjectified through discourse. The genealogical analysis in the article defines two mayor tendencies in contemporary Danish pedagogy: individualization and structuralizing. The analyses also show an example of how the two tendencies are intermingled in the Danish law of learning plans in day care institutions.