This study investigated students’ meaning-making of polymeric concepts during modelling and discuss students’ creation of visible representations in chemistry. The analysis combines a phenomenographic and social semiotic approach and leads to the finding and description of 21 different meaning-making processes. We refer to meaning-making as the outcome of translative communication through representations, discerned by students, where the collective meaning of created representations that build on each other constitutes the meaning as a whole. The study took place in three Swedish upper secondary chemistry classes. Data were collected from eight groups of 3–4 students (n = 30). Video, audio recordings and photos taken during modelling were analysed to investigate students’ meaning-making during the modelling process. The results show translative changes between and within semiotic resources, indicating meaning for students’ learning of polymeric concepts. Additionally, the representations produced during modelling were essential resources connecting the submicro and macro levels by creating a ‘bridge’ between levels. The results show that the modelling activities practised by all groups were multimodal. The study acknowledges that teachers can use the social semiotic lens as a tool to evaluate students’ modelling in addition to the importance of translative processes during modelling. © 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

The study at hand was conducted within a regional collaboration project named “From Great to Excellent” (FGTE), carried out between four Swedish municipalities and a small Swedish university. The FGTE project, highly influenced by a prior Canadian project of the same name, was a school development project grounded in an analytical approach involving all school levels. The basic idea in FGTE was that organisations learn from each other and make each other better, and where research is added, quality follows. Initially, each municipality had their own development focus and between them, they agreed on a number of priority professional research areas. Within the project, the participants were divided into groups where some served as so called “hosts” and some served as so called “critical friends”. During the FGTE project, the critical friends and the hosts worked together to solve different development projects at different school levels. Simultaneously, the participants were undertaking a course in analytical competence arranged by the university with the purpose of enhancing joint competence. The questions addressed here are closely connected to the notion of risk in partnerships in education. Firstly, there were four different municipalities operating on three school levels, each with individual research and/or development focus for their respective school level. Secondly, the participants from the municipalities undertook a university course in analytical competence. Critical questions to express were: What distinguishes the partnerships in the FGTE project between the four municipalities regarding their individual development projects? What type of risks present themselves in the FGTE project, in regard to the four municipalities as well as to the small university? In this chapter, we will critically examine how these development projects unfold in the groups within the duration of the FGTE project. Results show that difficulties arise when professionals from different organizations and different hierarchical levels within these organizations come together in joint collaboration work. In addition, results also showed that the individual development projects that the different schools worked on within the project, shifted in focus during the project.

This study investigated how modeling in chemistry affect second language learners’ descriptions of polymeric concepts. The aim was to investigate how chemistry discussions mediated by representations, contribute to second language students’ development in the language of chemistry. The study took place in three multilingual upper secondary classes. Participating students were (n = 16) second language learners and (n = 14) first language learners. There were in total eight different first languages represented. Data comprised polymeric concept descriptions, audio recordings, and photos taken during modeling. The concept descriptions were analyzed by an inductive content analysis which was then used for a deductive analysis of the modeling-activity. The results show that 65% of second language learners concept descriptions showed an increased clarity, and 45% showed increased use of chemical concepts after the modeling-activity. This study highlights how students in a multilingual context develop their language of chemistry by discussing chemistry scaffolded by representations. The results show that second language learners in a multilingual context benefited from the modeling-activity. As such, the study acknowledges that modeling contexts can be used in teacher education, both in-service and pre-service, to highlight the importance of the role of representations when teaching in the multilingual context.

In the wake of a Swedish negative trend in international school measurements (for example PISA; OECD, 2013) during a ten-year period (2006-2015), many Swedish municipalities felt the urge to make substantial changes to improve the outcomes of student success. Consequently, several development projects throughout the country were implemented. One such initiative was “From Great to Excellent” (here further referred to as FGTE); a three-year long collaboration project carried out between four Swedish municipalities and a small Swedish university. The main purpose with FGTE was to reduce the gap between the student’s potential (what they could achieve) and their actual school achievement. This overall purpose referred to all forms of schooling (pre-school, primary school, (upper) secondary school and adult education), which face the similar kind of challenge in students’ ability to reach their optimal capacity and goal fulfillment in learning, hence the project participants came from three school levels: pre-school, primary school and (upper) secondary school and adult education. Furthermore, the project's organization consisted of a steering group (with people in leading positions from the participating municipalities), an operational process group (with school representatives from the participating municipalities), and a research group (consisting of three researchers from a small Swedish university). In order to enable progression and create conditions for change, the project participants consisted of different kinds of functions within the schools, such as school leaders, policymakers, and practitioners, so not just teachers.

Research points to the beneficial aspects of school-to-school collaboration in school improvement (Ainscow et al., 2006; Sammons et al., 2007; Cox-Petersen, 2011; Muijs et al., 2011; Muijs, 2015; Hargreaves & O’Connor, 2017). For example, according to Hargreaves and O’Connor, (2017) there is evidence that collaborative relationships benefit schools and Cox-Petersen (2011) indicate that there are great many benefits of creating partnerships among schools, businesses, universities, families, and other community groups, as well as many examples of professional partnerships to enhance the education of. Partnerships in education in the FGTE project emphasize the collaboration between schools, rather than on businesses, families, and other community groups (social contracts).  

This presentation is drawn from our chapter; Coming to Terms with Feedback from Critical Friends: Reflections of Risks in a Swedish Regional Collaboration Project, in a forthcoming book by Springer about risks in partnership. In our chapter we discuss the difficulties that arise when professionals from separate school organizations and from different hierarchical levels within these organizations come together in joint collaborative development work, guided by two questions: 1). What distinguishes the partnerships in the FGTE project between the four municipalities regarding their individual research questions? and 2). What type of risks present themselves in the FGTE project, in regard to the four municipalities as well as to the small university? The aim of this presentation is to recaptualise and summarize the primary results of the collaboration that developed within the FGTE project, to shed some light on what partnerships in education could mean in terms of obstacles and opportunities and its potential implications for school improvement.

Previous research has shown an increased student interest and enhanced learning when the school science content is related to other familiar contexts. This is particularly evident in intervention studies, which aim to integrate the school science content with students’ everyday life. In this article, we analyse how teachers, in authentic situations, relate science content presented in lesson introductions to other contexts such as everyday life or other school subjects. The data consists of observations of lesson introductions in grade nine, from six different schools, in all eight hours of video recordings. The results point to that teachers adopt a variety of ways in order to integrate the science content to other contexts, such as relating to students’ everyday life, to different language perspectives or to other school subjects and thereby initiate hybrid contexts. However, the results indicate that the teachers in this study initiate hybrid contexts to a low extent and seemingly ad hoc, in the moment. It is likely to believe that if students are to benefit from contextualization as a means for enhancing interest and learning, learning activities need to relate science content to other relevant contexts in a more comprehensive way. © 2021 University of Oslo, Norwegian Centre for Science Education. All rights reserved.

This study focuses on if and how second language learners' explanations of polymeric concepts and scientific language in chemistry develop through Modelling Based Teaching in a multilingual context. The study is conducted in three multilingual classes, with eight different first languages represented, in an upper secondary school in Sweden. In the theoretical framework of Modelling-based Teaching in science education, MBT, along with this study, models are understood as epistemic artefacts, related to many of the scientific practices in which chemistry argumentation is an essential part of the activity (J. K. Gilbert & Justi, 2016). Previous studies have shown that conducting a more student-active approach in chemistry teaching leads to the development of students' use of scientific language (Abir & Dori, 2013; Ehdwall & Wickman, 2018).

 In addition to MBT enabling a student-communicative approach to chemistry, MBT is also multimodal. Students' explanatory models can be expressed in many ways. When students fail to verbally express their thoughts about a scientific phenomenon, they can use non-verbal representations such as drawings, concrete models, or gestures to support their argumentation (Gilbert & Justi, 2016). Studies show that nonverbal representations, in modelling, are common when students attempt to express their ideas more clearly, by substituting or explaining specific scientific vocabulary (Mendonça & Justi, 2013). These aspects justify the use of MBT in a multilingual teaching situation. Concerning students who are not taught in their first language and who have not yet developed their second language or scientific language corresponding to the level of the teaching, non-verbal argumentation can be of great help to understand processes, contexts, and concepts and to develop a scientific language. The result indicates that students with Swedish as a second language in a multilingual context benefit from the MBT-activity in developing explanations of concepts and scientific language. 

Previous studies have pointed to the benefits of involving students’ everyday life experiences in lessons and in contextualizing the sciencecontent to enhance learning and positive attitudes toward school science. However, most of these investigations have been conductedas intervention studies. By contrast, the present study explored how teachers, in authentic situations and without interventions, relatedthe school science context to other contexts. We analyzed a total of 490 min of lesson introductions in Swedish Grade 9 classes. Theresults revealed that teachers employed contextualization at the intersection of science content and the everyday life context, the schoolcontext, and the language context. Furthermore, it appeared that contextualization was created in the moment, as a way of explicatingthe scientific content. Compared to intervention studies, the present study shows that occasions of contextualization are rare. It ispossible to conclude that the use of contextualization in science learning situations could be viewed as a teacher competence and mustbe explicit in teacher education and professional development to achieve the benefits of enhanced student interest and learning shownin the mentioned intervention studies. 

Elever i både svensk skola och internationellt har svårt att beskriva vad som händer med vattnet från det att en person dricker vatten tills dess att personen urinerar ut vätskan.  Problematiken att beskrivningen av själva förloppet som även på en enkel makronivå kräver att personen kan förstå kopplingen mellan flera olika organsystem (minst matspjälkning-, cirkulations- och utsöndringssystemet). I ett flertal studier har det även påvisats att det finns flera olika ickevetenskapliga förklaringsmodeller som elever men även vuxna använder sig av då de skall förklara vad som händer med vattnet i kroppen. Andra studier visar att det är övergångarna mellan organsystemen som gör att förståelsen blir problematisk inte minst för att förklaringen kräver en kunskap i det icke synliga, dvs mikronivåer. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka vilka förkunskaper som studenterna på grundlärarprogrammen har om vattnets väg genom kroppen då de börjar läsa kurserna i naturvetenskap och vad de har för intentioner, dvs. vad de anser eller tror är viktigt kunskap, då de i ett senare läge skall undervisa. Empirin till denna studie är insamlad i en grupp av lärarstudenter inriktning åk f-3 och en annan grupp med inriktning åk 4-6. Informationen är insamlad via en enkät som består av en ritad figur där studenterna ritar och beskriver vad de tror händer i kroppen från det att de dricker vatten tills det att vätskan urineras ut. Därutöver finns det även på samma enkät ett antal kunskapsfrågor med flervalsalternativ samt några öppna frågor som knyter an till deras blivande profession som lärare. Analys och sammanställning av enkäten pågår i skrivande stund och kommer att redovisas på konferensen.     

De senaste åren har förändringar skett i svenska skolor. Klassrumssituationen har på många skolor förändrats från en- eller tvåspråkig till flerspråkig. Ett större antal elever i Sverige har begränsad kunskap i svenska men deltar i samma undervisning och på samma villkor, som elever som har svenska som förstaspråk. De naturvetenskapliga disciplinerna, främst kemi upplevs av många elever som svåra då kemi är abstrakt och innehåller många ämnesspecifika begrepp. Detta innebär en stor utmaning för lärare att erbjuda undervisning anpassad till alla elever oavsett modersmål. 

Denna studie har för avsikt att undersöka den naturvetenskapliga begrepps- och språkutvecklingen hos elever som har svenska som andraspråk och som deltar i ett modellbaserat lärande i det flerspråkiga sammanhanget. Studien har genomförts i tre olika klasser, i totalt åtta flerspråkiga grupper med 3-4 deltagande elever per grupp och undervisningen har handlat om polymerer och polymerers egenskaper. I studien finns åtta olika förstaspråk representerade. Undervisande lärare och majoriteten av eleverna har svenska som förstaspråk. I studien ses lärande som en sociokulturell aktivitet med fokus på hur naturvetenskapligt språk utvecklas genom interaktion med andra. Vid datainsamlingen användes olika metoder. För att undersöka elevernas förståelse för relevanta ämnesspecifika begrepp svarade eleverna på en begreppsenkät före, under och efter klassrumsaktiviteterna. Ytterligare data samlades in från elevdiskussionerna med hjälp av ljud- och videoinspelningar. Enkätsvaren och gruppdiskussionerna har analyserats utifrån elevernas begreppsförståelse, begreppsanvändning samt naturvetenskaplig språkutveckling. Studiens preliminära resultat visar på att majoriteten av deltagande elever som har svenska som andraspråk uppvisar en progression i begreppsförståelse, begreppsanvändning samt naturvetenskapligt språk inom undersökt ämnesområde, vid en modellbaserad undervisning. 

Då forskning kring huruvida elever, i det flerspråkiga sammanhanget, utvecklar sitt naturvetenskapliga språk vid modellbaserad undervisning är begränsad, kan denna studie ge användbar information huruvida modellbaserat lärande i kemi kan vara ett undervisningssätt för att förbättra naturvetenskaplig begrepps- samt språkutveckling hos elever med svenska som andraspråk.