Monika Vinterek

Children’s Learning for a Sustainable Society: Influences from Home and Preschool

Although parents and preschool play important roles in developing children’s behavior and attitudes, little is known about their influences on children’ s learning of environmental, social and econ ...

Geographical locational knowledge as an indicator of children's views of the world : research from Sweden and Australia

Childrens locational knowledge is often used to clarify underlying conceptual understandings of the world in which they live. Although there has been some exploration of how European children view their world there is little recent research on Scandinavian childrens knowledge and associated perceptions of the wider world, or about Australian childrens views. Coming from opposite parts of the globe it could be expected that children from Sweden and Australia would view the world in a very different manner. This study compared childrens knowledge of countries in the world from comparable schools in both nations and found the expected influence of local geographic knowledge and social and economic place in the world on their skills and knowledge. They were influenced by their national space. However, media and popular culture also impacted on their views on the world and this impact was quite similar between the two nations.

Preschool children’s knowledge about the environmental impact of various modes of transport

ABSTRACT This study explored Swedish preschool children’s knowledge about the environmental impact of various transport modes, and investigated whether or not eco-certification has any role to play in relation to this knowledge. Additionally, this study examined children’s perceived sources of knowledge. Using illustrations and semi-structured questions, 53 children, aged five to six years, from six eco-certified and six non-eco-certified preschools were interviewed. Qualitative and quantitative data were analysed using content analysis and Orthogonal Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA), respectively. Findings revealed that most of the children had acquired some knowledge about the environmental impact of various transport modes, although some children were not familiar with the word ‘environment’. Although the complexity of children’s justifications for the environmental impact of different modes of transport tended to be higher at eco-certified preschools compared to non-eco-certified preschools, no statistically significant differences were found. Parents were reported to be a major source of knowledge.

Promoting a Historiographic Gaze through Multiperspectivity in History Teaching

In this chapter, Nygren, Vinterek, Thorp, and Taylor show how a limited educational effort may support students’ historiographic gaze—the ability to identify, learn from, and critically reflect upon divergent perspectives and popularized representations of the past. This is a rare and constructive example of implementing multiperspectivity in secondary schools. Findings show how students’ understanding of divergent historical perspectives and critical attitudes toward popular historical writing can be affected by processing and problematizing historians’ conflicting perspectives on the causes of World War One. This exploratory study also highlights differences between Swedish and English students’ historical understanding and critical attitudes and raises questions about gender differences and how history in schools may support multiperspectivity among students, not least students with lower grades.

Introduction: Epistemology of Rival Histories

Elmersjo, Clark, and Vinterek establish the framework of the book in this introductory chapter. They introduce the different approaches to teaching history introduced by Peter Seixas in 2000: the best story approach enhancing collective memory, the disciplinary approach, and the postmodern approach. By linking these approaches to different genre positions taken by historians and described by Keith Jenkins and Alun Munslow (the reconstructionist, constructionist, and deconstructionist positions), Elmersjo, Clark, and Vinterek frame the book’s general theme of teaching rival histories in an epistemological question regarding what history is and what it can be.