Papers by Jesper Sjöström
International journal of science education, Jun 25, 2024
Shaker Verlag eBooks, 2018
Different areas of subject-Didaktik has contact points to other educational sciences such as gene... more Different areas of subject-Didaktik has contact points to other educational sciences such as general Didaktik, pedagogy and education studies, the school subject/subject area, and practical teaching experience. Many areas of subject-Didaktik have in recent decades evolved from mainly practice-based methodology to quite independent research fields. This applies, for example, to the field of science education. Part of this field focuses on research on teaching and learning about interdisciplinary socio-scientific issues (SSI). Such an orientation can be connected to similar orientations in other areas of subject-Didaktik. This meeting point between different research areas of subject-Didaktik is an example of ‘general subject-Didaktik’. The focus in this paper is even beyond; it is on transdisciplinary Didaktik, where the content (in a broad sense) is central, but where the context is beyond the individual school subjects. We are especially interested in didactic models for how complex controversial issues can be used (didactic modelling) to build bridges across different areas of content and school subjects in support of reflexive Bildung and sustainability. We give examples of didactic models, which were developed during a study about the didactical dilemmas that teachers from different school subjects experienced when they were teaching complex controversial issues.
This presentation will focus one result of a study that followed groups of teachers within an Era... more This presentation will focus one result of a study that followed groups of teachers within an Erasmus+-partnership. The teachers conducted an interdisciplinary teaching about complex and controvers ...
The theme of the conference, Research, practice and collaboration in science education underlines... more The theme of the conference, Research, practice and collaboration in science education underlines aspects of great relevance in contemporary science education research: the need to reflect on different approaches to enhancing our knowledge of learning processes and the role of context, designed or circumstantial, formal or non-formal, in learning and instruction. Highlighting these themes does not mean underestimating or neglecting other important aspects of science education research and practice.
This study started in connection to two similar parallel on-going Teacher Development Programs (T... more This study started in connection to two similar parallel on-going Teacher Development Programs (TPDs) in Sweden, within the PARRISE-project (2014-2017). It is a project funded by EU, where 18 unive ...
Begreppet didaktik har en lang historia, men i Sverige fick amnet en central plats forst 1977 da ... more Begreppet didaktik har en lang historia, men i Sverige fick amnet en central plats forst 1977 da lararutbildningarna blev en del av universitet och hogskolor. Didaktikamnet skulle da ersatta metodikamnet. Tjugo ar senare blev Bjorn Andersson Sveriges forsta professor i amnesdidaktik. Han hade inriktning mot naturvetenskapsamnena, vilket gor naturvetenskapernas didaktik (nv-did) till ett sarskilt intressant exempel. Nv-did borjade pa allvar utvecklas i Sverige i mitten pa 1980-talet och de senaste femton aren har landet fatt ett flertal bade doktorer och professorer i amnet. Sedan 2002 finns en nationell forskarskola (FontD) och sedan 2005 en nordisk tidskrift (NorDiNa). Forra aret invigdes Nationellt centrum for naturvetenskapernas och teknikens didaktik (NATDID), med uppgift att stodja skolutveckling och sprida forskningsresultat inom nv-did. Internationellt kallas forskningsfaltet ”Science Education” och det har pa allvar utvecklats sedan 1960-talet med ett flertal tidskrifter och konferenser (Fensham 2003). Amnesdidaktiken har kontaktytor mot (1) andra utbildningsvetenskapliga/pedagogiska discipliner, (2) det aktuella amnesomradet (i och om), samt (3) den praktiska undervisningen (Andersson 2000; Sjoberg 2010). (Amnes)didaktikens framsta uppgift ar att forbattra undervisningen, bland annat genom att stodja lararna i sina didaktiska val och beslut (Andersson 2000; Wickman & Persson 2015). Enligt Jakobson, Lundegard och Wickman (2014) ar didaktik larares professionsvetenskap, som ”behandlar hur innehall och metoder kan anpassas for undervisning med olika grupper av elever” (p. 9). I detta bidrag fragar jag mig vad som karaktariserar nv-did idag, narmare 40 ar efter att lararutbildningarna formellt akademiserades? Hur pass valavgransat ar det som falt, hur kan det delas in och hur forhaller det sig till andra amnesdidaktiska falt samt till omraden som metodik, allmandidaktik, laroplansteori, pedagogisk filosofi, utbildningsstudier med mera? Jag vill ocksa garna diskutera (amnes)didaktik mer allmant och dess plats idag pa lararutbildningarna i Sverige.
Denna studie undersoker ett didaktiskt modelleringsprojekt dar fem europeiska hogstadieskolor ino... more Denna studie undersoker ett didaktiskt modelleringsprojekt dar fem europeiska hogstadieskolor inom ett EU-finansierat Erasmus+-partnerskap skapar amnesovergripande undervisningsarenor, dels lokalt i form av amnesovergripande temadagar, dels inom ramen for internationella elevutbyten. Det overgripande syftet med skolpartnerskapet ar en forandrad undervisning som utvecklar elevers formagor att vardera information, diskutera, argumentera och fatta politiska beslut kring tekniska innovationers konsekvenser for individ, samhalle och miljo. Som medel for detta arbetar larare och elever under en tvaarsperiod med olika kontroversiella hallbarhetsfragor med naturvetenskapligt, tekniskt och samhallsvetenskapligt innehall och med socio-politiska och etiska aspekter i olika tema. Ett belyser fragestallningar som ror anvandning av robotar och tekniker for att skapa syntetiskt liv i ett framtidsscenario placerat pa en imaginar planet kallad ”PromethEUs”. Inom ramen for ett doktorandprojekt studeras och analyseras pa vilka satt denna didaktiska modell kan erbjuda lararna redskap att utveckla och forandra sin undervisningspraktik. Hur tas elevuppgiften emot och hanteras av skolor med begransad erfarenhet av denna typ av undervisning? Hur valjer de att anvanda och anpassa den i sin nationella kontext? Vilka ”motstand” stoter de olika skolorna pa i sin implementeringsprocess och hur hittar de losningar pa dessa? Hur kan dialog och reflektion i samband med internationella utbyten bidra till transformation av lararnas referensramar och deras perspektiv pa sin undervisning? Dessa fragor undersoks genom fokusgruppsintervjuer och deltagande observationer och analyseras preliminart med hjalp av bland andra Engestrom.
Contributions from Science Education Research, 2019
This paper aims to discuss complexity as a key feature for understanding the role of science know... more This paper aims to discuss complexity as a key feature for understanding the role of science knowledge in environmental and health contexts-a core issue in Science|Environment|Health pedagogy. Complex systems are, in principle, not predictable. In different contexts, ephemeral mechanisms produce different, sometimes completely unexpected results. The "art of decision making" in complex contexts is to take scientific knowledge into account, but to interpret its meaning in terms of concrete complex contexts. This is illustrated by four empirical studies on Science|Environment|Health issues, presented midway through this paper. The findings underscore the importance of introducing complexity issues into science education. Not only are all the grand health and environmental challenges of our times highly complex, but there is also evidence that introducing complexity into science education may motivate many students for science learning and change practice in science classrooms. Truly appreciating the role
This presentation will focus one result of a study that followed groups of teachers within an Era... more This presentation will focus one result of a study that followed groups of teachers within an Erasmus+-partnership. The teachers conducted an interdisciplinary teaching about complex and controvers ...
This study followed groups of teachers within an Erasmus+-partnership, in which the teachers cond... more This study followed groups of teachers within an Erasmus+-partnership, in which the teachers conducted an intended reflexive and interdisciplinary teaching about complex and controversial issues, including socio-scientific issues. Five schools, with students aged 12-16 years, in five different countries (Croatia, Poland, Italy, Sweden and Turkey) were involved. The overall research design was inspired by research models where researchers and practitioners cooperate and share responsibility. Iterative systematic investigations have been done, when teachers with support of a teaching model created interdisciplinary arenas in their respective context. Through focus groups and participant observation, the study aims to explore potential tensions that emerge during the enactment of the interdisciplinary teaching. Preliminary results show a variety of emerging tensions that might cause didactical dilemmas. The tensions are anchored both at macro level, concerning different types of curric...
We are standing at a crucial point in Western, techno-scientific culture. Faced with profound cha... more We are standing at a crucial point in Western, techno-scientific culture. Faced with profound changes affecting the Earth systems at a global scale, current narratives of technological innovation s ...
I ett alltmer komplext, kunskapstatt och riskfyllt samhalle finns stort behov av fritankande, ref... more I ett alltmer komplext, kunskapstatt och riskfyllt samhalle finns stort behov av fritankande, reflekterande, ansvarstagande och handlingskompetenta medborgare, eller med andra ord: medborgerlig bildning (Stoltz & Olausson 2004). For mig handlar bildning om omvarldskannedom, personlig mognad och vardegrundad handlingsberedskap (Sjostrom 2006). Som jag ser det genomsyras en bildningsorienterad NO-undervisning av en humanistisk dimension (Aikenhead 2006). Forutom filosofiska och historiska perspektiv ar kontroversiella fragor dar naturvetenskapen moter samhallet, eller sa kallade ”socio-scientific issues” (Ratcliffe & Grace 2003), viktiga i en sadan undervisning. Ambitionen att perspektivera naturvetenskapen i undervisningen maste brytas ner i olika delmal. Sjalv har jag valt att fokusera pa halso- och miljokonsekvenser av kemikalieanvandningen i samhallet. Gemensamt for de flesta kemikaliefragorna ar att kemikalieanvandningen sker pa gott och ont, vilket ger goda mojligheter att anvan...
Frontiers in Education
In this article, we elaborate on the construct ChemoKnowings as subject-specific powerful knowing... more In this article, we elaborate on the construct ChemoKnowings as subject-specific powerful knowings for chemical agency in the Anthropocene era. Related to constructs such as critical chemical literacy, ChemoCapabilities, and eco-reflexive chemical thinking, we unpack the construct as an example of Carlgren’s powerful knowings, which relates Young’s powerful knowledge to the idea and tradition of Bildung. It means powerful knowledge containing embodied and relational (or tacit) dimensions. ChemoKnowings can therefore be described as embodied and relational knowledge in and about chemistry – (critical) chemical knowledge that matters meaningfully to the student, connecting them to themselves and the world, and conferring an ethical compass. By situating the teaching of ChemoKnowings within a vision for chemistry teaching as a part of a world-centered vision for schooling in the Anthropocene, ChemoKnowings are viewed as having the capacity to mobilise an ethico-socio-political action, ...
ATENA Didaktik, 2021
Många forskare menar att vårt samhälle kan betecknas som ett risksamhälle. Frågor om risk kopplar... more Många forskare menar att vårt samhälle kan betecknas som ett risksamhälle. Frågor om risk kopplar till flera olika skolämnen och inte minst till de naturvetenskapliga. En ny forskningsartikel presenterar en didaktisk modell som visar på riskbegreppets komplexitet och som hjälper lärare att behandla det på ett fylligt och mångsidigt sätt i sin undervisning.
Jag kommer i den har texten att fokusera pa lararens komplexa kunskapsuppdrag och foresla bildnin... more Jag kommer i den har texten att fokusera pa lararens komplexa kunskapsuppdrag och foresla bildning som ledstjarna. Didaktiken blir da bildningsorienterad. Jag kommer aven att lyfta fram nagra perspektiv och fragor, som du som larare kan anvanda dig av vid planering av och reflektion over bildningsorienterad undervisning.
This chapter elaborates on three commonly suggested concepts used in the rhetoric for educational... more This chapter elaborates on three commonly suggested concepts used in the rhetoric for educational reform in science education. One suggestion is to raise the relevance of science education. Up until now, the word 'relevance' in the science education literature has often been used with high degrees of uncertainty and ambiguity. Thus as the first concept, this paper presents a model for a comprehensive understanding of the meaning and dimensions of relevance in science education. Secondly, we will revisit the concept of the two visions of scientific literacy and suggest that there is a further, third vision needed for relevant chemistry education. A third input is the adoption of the philosophy of Education for Sustainable Development into science education. Some very recent ideas will also be presented for this area. The chapter elaborates on the connections of the three concepts when it comes to providing guidance for chemistry curriculum reform. Two illustrative cases from Germany and Israel will show how chemistry teaching can come up with the elaborated stages of all the three concepts to make chemistry learning relevant education for sustainability
ATENA Didaktik, 2020
Under senare år har det blivit allt vanligare med hållbarhets- och samhällsfrågor i NT-klassrumme... more Under senare år har det blivit allt vanligare med hållbarhets- och samhällsfrågor i NT-klassrummen. Vad elever redan gör och vad de vill göra i framtiden för att förbättra världen kan användas för att utveckla sådan undervisning. En ny forskningsstudie visar hur engagemanget i hållbarhetsfrågor kan se ut hos starkt nv-inriktade elever.
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Papers by Jesper Sjöström