Susanne Walan

Teachers’ and principals’ reflections on student participation in a school science and technology competition

ABSTRACT Background The European Union asks for renewed pedagogies in schools according to teaching strategies and necessary competences for the twenty-first century, instead of the often-used transmissive pedagogies. The national Swedish competition in science and technology for grade eight, The Technology Eight, provides an opportunity for teachers to work with instructional strategies in line with suggested pedagogies. Purpose To investigate teachers’ and principals’ reflections on the competition in schools. Sample Seventeen secondary school teachers and three principals from districts in the south-western part of Sweden participated in the study. All teachers had long experience of the competition, and their classes had reached at least the regional finals during the last year. Design and methods Semi-structured interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and then analysed using content analysis. Focus was put on why the teachers decided to participate, how the teachers integrated the competition in their education and roles of the principals. Results There were various reasons for participating in the competition. Teachers reported development of twenty-first-century skills such as better cooperation between the students. They also noticed an increased interest in science and technology and how learning in the subjects was stimulated. Furthermore, the teachers found participation in the competition to be positive for them too. They integrated the competition in ordinary education and gained teaching ideas as well as found connections to the curriculum. Participating in the competition seemed to be a tradition in most of the schools. The principals’ role was to facilitate the organisation around the competition and to provide social support. Conclusions Participation in a school competition was considered as an instructional strategy with several positive outcomes. Use of this strategy can be supported by earlier suggestions to use pedagogies that are opposite to transmissive methods, enhancing students’ development of important skills for the future.

Teaching children science through storytelling combined with hands-on activities – a successful instructional strategy?

ABSTRACT Earlier studies have discussed the usefulness of storytelling and hands-on activities when teaching young children science. However, few studies have investigated the use of the two methods in combination. This study reports on five pre-school teachers’ experience of combining storytelling and hands-on activities in teaching science and their perceived effects of the combination. Interviews with the teachers and a supplementary observation served as the data material, which was transformed into narratives and member-checked by the participating teachers. Some found the combination of methods important while others argued that hands-on activities were effective without the use of stories. The teachers’ enjoyment in adopting the combinatory method and their appreciation of the stories also made a difference.