Biology didactics
Public understanding and attitudes towards genetics and genomics (PUGGS)
Contact person: Niklas Gericke
Other researchers: Rebecca Carver, Charbel El-Hani, Neima Evangelista, Jeremy Castera
Brief description of the research:
In this project, a questionnaire instrument has been developed with the aim of investigating the connections between perceptions of genetic determinism, knowledge of genetics and attitudes to the use of biotechnology based on modern genetics and genomics. A large data collection has been made with university students in Brazil, and comparisons are planned with students from Sweden and the USA.
Climate related risks in education
Contact person: Nina Christenson
Brief description of the research:
The project study how pedagogical tools developed at the Centre for Climate and safety can be used in school education.
Contemporary art and science in museum and school environment
Contact persons: Harald Raaijmakers, Birgitta Mc Ewen
Other researchers: Nina Christenson, Susanne Walan
Brief description of the research:
This licentiate study is based on the design of an educational program at the Alma Löv Museum of contemporary art in Sunne, Värmland. The program comprises analysis of existing artworks and creation of student artworks, all of which are about controversial science themes. The aims of the study are to describe the design of the museum program and to explore the student groups' successive thought process in the discussions about the works of art.
Linguistic perspectives on teaching genetics
Contact person: Karin Thörne
Other researchers: Niklas Gericke
Brief description of the research:
In this project we investigate teachers’ and students’ spoken language during genetics lessons. The aim is to contribute to the understanding of why genetics is such a challenging topic to teach and learn by focusing on how teachers present the genetics content and what opportunities student have to learn so use the specific language of genetics. A series of 45 recorded lessons have been analyzed through different analytical lenses and a variety of linguistic challenges of teaching genetics have been identified.
Textbooks and digitalization
Contact persons: Niklas Gericke, Michal Drechsler
Other researchers: Yvonne Liljekvist
Brief description of the research:
The aim of this study is to investigate teachers’ use of textbooks in contemporary Swedish schools and compare weather there are differences between teachers of different disciplines and grades. It has since long been established that the textbook is one of the main interpreter of the curricula. However the exponential growth of information and communication technology in the last decades has raised the question if there has been a paradigmatic shift in the Swedish classroom regarding this issue. The design of this study is quantitative and consists of a teacher-questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed to 1500 teachers in Sweden that were asked about their use of teaching materials. The response rate was 61 %. From the results we can conclude that the textbooks retain its position as the most important teaching material.
Transformation of concepts: the case of sustainable development
Contact person: Niklas Gericke
Other researchers: Per Sund, Gabriel Bladh
Brief description of the research:
In the project it is investigated how the interdisciplinary concept of Sustainable Development is understood and transformed into teaching practices. How do teachers of different content areas such as science, social science and language understand and transform sustainable development into teaching practices? What are they teaching, how are they teaching and why are they teaching is investigated, as well as to what degree those practices are influenced by disciplinary traditions. This project is of interdisciplinary character and conducted within the strong research group ROSE.