This study contributes to research on learning environments and their design by answering the question: How do upper secondary science teachers perceive the affordances and constraints for teaching and learning provided by a new science education building? (Gibson, 1979; Young & Cleveland, 2022)

Data was collected during pedagogical walk-throughs (Frelin et al., 2022; Sigurðardóttir et al., 2021) with two groups of science teachers, right before they moved into the new building. The walk-throughs were made in classrooms and transitional spaces, e.g. corridors and a cafeteria, which may also provide innovative opportunities for student learning (Boys et al. 2014). Data consisted of photos and plans of the spaces, teachers’ individual walk-through protocols and audio recordings of teacher utterances.

The analyses were supported by Ravelli and McMurtrie's (2016) multimodal theory of the built environment, focusing on representational, interactional and organisational meaning. The analytic focus was on how the teachers saw the presence of, and interaction among, different elements of the physical environment to afford or constrain the teaching and learning of science. 

Preliminary results: Representationally, classrooms, desks and storage opportunities were generally found well suited for teaching science although blackout curtains were insufficient for some teaching needs in physics, and teachers would not always have space to help all students. Interactionally, the building was perceived as welcoming with a light atmosphere. A traditional hierarchical structure with faculty offices on the locked top floor created a social distance between teachers and students, which was partly mitigated by teachers using standing tables in the student cafeteria. Organisationally, the lockers, staircase, classroom doors and the cafeteria, usually found in a school building, together with large windows both towards the outside and to breakout spaces, helped achieve cohesion within the building.

In the framework of a design-based research project, our Physics Education Research group is currently designing a Digital Learning Module (DLM) about the interaction of cosmic radiation with matter, set in the context of space exploration. A DLM is a new digital learning format developed by our group, consisting of a series of pre-recorded explanatory and experiment videos, interactive elements, an interactive simulation experiment, and expert interviews. To establish a set of effective design principles for the design of the new DLM, we have evaluated the first DLM that we created on the topic of Positron Emission Tomography (PET). The evaluation process involved identifying principles fitting the format of the DLM by integrating different theoretical and empirical studies and then evaluating them through student interviews. In the interactive poster session, we will present how the evaluation of the PET DLM has informed the design of the new DLM, as well as its storyline, experiment videos and interactive simulation experiment. 

In the latest years and especially after the global COVID19 pandemic, digital learning environments have become an important educational aid all around the world. In light of this, our Physics Education Research group has developed a new digital learning format called a “Digital Learning Module” (DLM), consisting of a series of pre-recorded explanatory and experiment videos, interactive elements, an interactive simulation experiment, and expert interviews. So far, our group has created one DLM on the topic of Positron Emission Tomography (PET). By integrating different theoretical and empirical studies, this research seeks to identify and evaluate principles fitting the format of the DLM. The evaluation process involved first an analysis of the PET DLM in terms of the identified design principles, then 9 semi-structured interviews with high-school students from Greece and Austria as they worked through the PET DLM. A Qualitative Content Analysis of the interview transcripts has determined the set of effective design principles that will constitute the foundation of future DLMs developed by our group and can serve as starting point and reference to researchers developing similar digital learning environments elsewhere.

Engaging students in talking science in the classroom is key to their successful learning and the basis for more advanced practices such as developing critical thinking skills. Talking science, however, is challenging to many students who do not get to speak their mother tongue in the classroom. Although studies conducted in multilingual contexts like Tanzania have contributed much to the understanding of these challenges, little is known regarding which approaches teachers use to facilitate student engagement in talking science when a foreign language is used in science teaching and learning. This article investigates six teachers’ approaches to facilitating students’ science talking in a foreign language context at four secondary schools in Tanzania. The study is based on video recordings of teachers and students, and on interviews with the teachers. Thematic analysis of the collected material suggests that teacher questioning, peer reading and writing, peer and teacher evaluation and, occasionally, using students’ home language, were approaches used by the teachers to engage students in talking science. While the use of open questions and students’ home language appeared to engage learners to talk confidently in a science context, much of the teaching focused on repeating learned material. Follow-up interviews conducted with three of the participating teachers disclosed that not all of them supported open questioning techniques or the use of students’ home language. Based on these findings, recommendations for action and venues for further research are proposed.

Following the global COVID-19 pandemic, digital learning environments have gained in importance in education all around the world. A new digital learning format called a “Digital Learning Module” (DLM) was developed within the Physics Education Research (PER) group at CERN, consisting of a series of prerecorded explanatory and experiment videos, interactive elements, an interactive simulation experiment, and expert interviews. So far, one DLM has been created on the topic of positron emission tomography (PET). Aiming to establish a set of effective design principles that can be employed in the design of future DLMs or similar digital learning environments, the goal of this research is to evaluate the already existing PET DLM. In doing so, this research brings together different theoretical and empirical studies, in order to identify design principles fitting the format of the DLM. It also reviews key physics literature on PET to identify its disciplinary-relevant aspects. First, an analysis of the PET DLM was performed in terms of the identified design principles and disciplinary-relevant aspects. Then, nine semistructured interviews were conducted with high-school students from Greece and Austria as they worked through the PET DLM. A qualitative content analysis of the interview transcripts has determined the set of effective design principles that will constitute the foundation of future DLMs developed by the CERN PER group and can serve as a starting point and reference for researchers developing similar digital learning environments elsewhere.

Meaning making in science is supported by different modes, such as spoken and written language, images and gestures, all of which have different affordances. The epistemological commitments of modes are affordances that cannot be avoided. This article investigates how the epistemological commitments of modes affect possibilities for learning. Video data was collected from a learning activity where upper secondary students drew and explained an experiment representing the greenhouse effect. The analysis uses the variation theory of learning, which assumes that students learn when they notice new aspects of objects of learning by experiencing variation against an invariant background. Such variation can be created through the representations used. Findings show that, in the learning activity, variation was created in a range of modes. Some of the variation, particularly with regards to radiation, was due to the epistemological commitments of drawing. However, these aspects of radiation went unnoticed by the students, possibly because several aspects varied simultaneously. The teacher then helped the students to become aware of certain variation. Implications for the teaching and learning of science when taking the epistemological commitment of different modes into consideration include both challenges, such as when unintended variation is created, and opportunities, such as when spontaneously occurring variation can be taken up for discussion.

Som biologilärare vill man ofta att eleverna ska få möjlighet att uppleva naturen i undervisningen. Schilhab (2021) visar att upplevelser av naturen ökar förståelse av och förmåga att minnas biologiundervisning. Sådana upplevelser kan vara svåra att erbjuda praktiskt och är oftast begränsade till närområdet. Syftet med det här projektet är att undersöka om Virtual Reality (VR) kan användas i ekologidelen av biologi 1-kursen för att förflytta eleven till biom som vi normalt sett inte kan besöka i undervisningen.

Vi undrar:

• Ökar därigenom förståelsen för biomspecifika interaktioner och evolutionära lösningar?
• Upplever elever användningen av VR som positiv och motivationshöjande?

Projektet knyter an både till naturvetenskapsprogrammets programmål om att använda modern teknik likväl som ämnes- och kursrelaterade mål inom ekologin (Gy11). Argument för att användandet av VR och immersiva 360°-videos kan ge liknande effekter som besök i naturen är att eleverna blir mer motiverade, intresserade och aktiva samt att de har större kontroll av upplevelsen jämfört med traditionella media som böcker och film (se t.ex. Ferzli et al 2019; Rosendahl & Wagner, 2024; samt Lege & Bonner, 2020).

Inför arbetet med VR svarade eleverna (N=40) på några inledande frågor och skattade sin vana av VR. Under arbetet med VR jobbade eleverna med ett frågeformulär om biom kopplat till innehållet i några av läraren utvalda VR-klipp (360°-video där eleverna med VR-glasögon kunde se sig om både uppåt, nedåt och åt sidorna). Efter arbetet med videomaterialet fyllde eleverna i en enkät där de utvärderade arbetet.

Det insamlade materialet analyseras med innehållsanalys, och preliminära resultat visar att många elever har uttryckt att de tycker det var ett motivationshöjande och lärorikt sätt att jobba.

Att som lärare ta till sig nya sätt att presentera material är relevant när de ger mervärde för inlärning. VR har stor potential i undervisning då det kan öka elevernas upplevelse av biologin.

This paper describes a lab to help students develop their understanding of rotational motion. The focus is on moment of inertia, which the students investigate by rolling cylinders down a ramp and determine in two different ways for a bicycle wheel. The most important and original part of the lab is the exploration of the gyroscopic effect, where measurements of precession and rotation frequencies are made using the variation of the detected magnetic field, enabling the calculation of the moment of inertia. The lab is received well by the students and can be done with relatively simple equipment easily accessible to them.