Gunnar Höst

Linköping University | LiU · Department of Science and Technology (ITN)

Reflektioner från praktiken är en texttyp där lärares hantering av didaktiska utmaningar i den egna undervisningen står i centrum. Syftet med texttypen är att lärare ska kunna få möjlighet att dela med sig av vetenskapligt grundade reflektioner om hur den egna praktiken kan utvecklas. Men vad innebär det att reflektionerna är vetenskapligt grundade...

Background The subject of technology looks different depending on context. There is also an epistemological complexity to technological knowledge in technology education. Purpose To gain a deeper understanding of the epistemological foundations of the subject of technology and technology teaching, the teachers’ views are needed. The aim of this st...

Skollagen kräver att skolan ska vila på vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet. ATENA Didaktik ger stöd för detta genom att dels publicera artiklar om publicerad forskning skrivna för lärare, dels genom artikeltypen ”Reflektioner från praktiken”. Denna texttyp erbjuder en plattform för lärare att dokumentera och dela kritiskt prövade erfarenhet...

Teknikdidaktisk forskning är ett fält som växer, och vi har sedan starten av ATENA Didaktik publicerat ett antal artiklar om sådan forskning. Här ger vi en överblick över dessa artiklar utifrån tre olika teman. Vi hoppas att detta ska hjälpa läsare att hitta intressanta texter om relevanta frågeställningar för lärare som undervisar i teknik.

Vilka är utmaningarna och riskerna när lärare ska integrera programmering i sin undervisning? Det undersöker Peter Vinnervik i sin avhandling. Resultaten visar att lärare står inför flera olika utmaningar, såsom brist på kunskap om programmering och hur de kan undervisa inom området. Samtidigt ger läroplanen inte så mycket vägledning kring implemen...

Kod innebär konstruktion av en teknisk lösning och kan därmed ses som ämnesinnehåll i teknik. En studie fann att elever i årskurs 1 och 4 värderar kodens ändamålsenlighet efter hur den är att läsa eller skriva, och inte vad programmet ska utföra. Forskarna ser även en möjlig progression i programmeringskunnande, från naturligt språk till abstrakt o...

En designprocess kopplad till undervisning om modern teknik kan vara ett sätt att kombinera teknikundervisning om begrepp, modeller och teknikutveckling med utveckling av teknisk bildning om hållbar utveckling. Det visar en studie där elever fått designa och diskutera framtidens hus.

Kontextbaserad undervisning kan bidra till engagemang och lärande i naturvetenskap. Men det är viktigt att det finns en kontinuitet mellan undervisningen, kontexten, och det naturvetenskapliga innehållet. Forskare har i en studie undersökt hur en lärare undervisar om infektionssjukdomar med Ebola som kontext. Resultaten visar att kontexten kan bidr...

I en doktorsavhandling utforskar Emelie Patron lärares användning och elevers erfarenheter av visuella representationer av kemisk bindning på gymnasiet. Hon fann bland annat att lärare arbetar med visuella representationer på fem olika sätt, för att hjälpa eleverna att fokusera på viktiga delar av det som visas. En slutsats är att lärare behöver st...

Att rita kan hjälpa barn att lära sig naturvetenskap och om hur bilder används inom naturvetenskapen. Forskare har undersökt hur lärare genomför aktiviteter där barn och elever i yngre åldrar får rita i den naturvetenskapliga undervisningen. Resultaten visar hur upplägget påverkar vilket lärande som blir möjligt. Att lärarens syfte, normer och det...

En fråga som både är aktuell och akut för många lärare är hur vi kan arbeta på ett språkutvecklande sätt för att stärka nyanlända och flerspråkiga elever i alla ämnen. En annan fråga som också är viktig är hur vi kan arbeta språkutvecklande i naturvetenskap och teknik så att alla elever oavsett språklig bakgrund gynnas i sin kunskapsutveckling. Int...

Understanding deep evolutionary time is crucial for biology education and for conceptualizing evolutionary history. Although such knowledge might help citizens contemplate their actions in the context of human existence, understanding deep evolutionary time is a demanding cognitive endeavor for students. The enormous magnitudes of evolutionary time...

In technology education, assessment is challenging and underdeveloped as it is a nascent practice and teachers do not have a well-defined subject tradition to lean on when assessing students. The aim of this study is to explore Swedish secondary technology teachers' cognitive beliefs about assessing students' learning of technological systems, in r...

Visual images are crucial for communicating science in educational contexts and amongst practitioners. Reading images contributes to meaning-making in society at large, and images are fundamental communicative tools in public spaces such as science centers. Here, visitors are exposed to a range of static, dynamic, and digital visual representations...

When studying attitudes toward technology education, the affective attitudinal component has primarily been the focus. This study focuses on how the affective, cognitive and behav-ioral attitudinal components of technology education can be incorporated using a two-step survey: the traditional PATT-questionnaire (PATT-SQSE) and the recently develope...

There is not one single global version of technology education; curricula and standards have different forms and content. This sometimes leads to difficulties in discussing and comparing technology education internationally. Existing philosophical frameworks of technological knowledge have not been used to any great extent in technology education....

I det här numret presenterar vi texter som spänner över många utbildningsnivåer och typer av innehåll. Flera av texterna handlar om laborativ undervisning, och vi relaterar dessa till den systematiska översikt som Skolforskningsinstitutet presenterat om detta forskningsområde. Numret tar också upp olika former av kommunikation i klassrummet, forskn...

Att bygga och konstruera är ett vanligt teknikinnehåll i förskolan, men det finns inte så mycket forskning om hur undervisning om detta går till. I en studie undersöker därför forskare hur förskollärare undervisar om konstruktioner. Resultaten visar att förskollärarna använde fyra olika strategier, nämligen att engagera, vägleda, koordinera och vis...

Naturvetenskapliga undersökningar är en viktig del av naturvetenskapen. Men trots att förmågan att genomföra dem är framskrivet i kursplanerna är det inte säkert att eleverna därmed också utvecklar kunskaper om vad som kännetecknar naturvetenskapliga undersökningar. En stor internationell studie har undersökt vilken syn elever har på detta. Resulta...

Förståelse för ekologiska samband är viktigt för lärande om hållbar utveckling. I en studie undersökte forskare hur elever i årskurs 6 resonerar om näringsvävar. Resultaten visar bland annat att elever kan ha svårt att skilja på flödet av energi och kretsloppet av materia.

Tekniska system finns nästan överallt i samhället, men det är ett område som innehåller utmaningar för undervisningen. I en ny studie beskriver forskare hur elevers nivåer av kunskap varierar inom olika aspekter av tekniska system. En slutsats är att det kan vara värt för lärare att satsa på områden med särskilda utmaningar, till exempel deras syft...

The prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse of waste is promoted by the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but many countries lack both necessary resources and infrastructure for sound waste management. While literature pinpoints the need for an engaged public and suggests a range of factors and supportive actions that may...

Virtuella laborationer gör det möjligt för elever att labba utan att vara i en laborationssal. Men hur står sig digitala laborationer mot fysiska laborationer? Allt mer forskning undersöker detta, och resultaten visar att det är viktigt för lärare att ha tänkt igenom målet med laborationen för att kunna bedöma om en virtuell eller en fysisk laborat...

Under tre terminer har hela utbildningsväsendet i Sverige varit hårt prövat av pandemin covid-19. Vi är fortfarande långt ifrån att kunna summera dess långsiktiga effekter. Utöver belastningen så har situationen också fört med sig nya sätt att arbeta, tänka och vara. Redaktionen för ATENA Didaktik vill med detta temanummer uppmärksamma och stödja d...

The rapid development of 21st century nanoscience calls for the urgent promotion of both nano-skilled scientists and a nano-literate citizenry. However, the conceptual and cognitive challenges of accessing the counterintuitive and imperceptibly small nanoscale remain a significant barrier for learning and understanding. In response to these challen...

Public understanding of contemporary scientific issues is critical for the future of society. Public spaces, such as science centers, can impact the communication of science by providing active knowledge-building experiences of scientific phenomena. In contributing to this vision, we have previously developed an interactive visualization as part of...

Välkommen till första numret av ATENA Didaktik - en digital, professionsvetenskaplig tidskrift om ämnesdidaktisk forskning inom de naturvetenskapliga ämnena och teknik. Tidskriften vänder sig till lärarprofessionen och forskare, och vår förhoppning är att den ska ge lärare bättre förutsättningar att bygga undervisning på vetenskaplig grund och bepr...

Forum för forskningsbaserad NT-undervisning (FobasNT) är en konferens som arrangeras av Nationellt centrum för naturvetenskapernas och teknikens didaktik (NATDID). Konferensen vänder sig till lärare och forskare inom de naturvetenskapliga ämnena och teknik, med syftet att skapa dialog och erfarenhetsutbyte om hur undervisning kan utvecklas genom at...

Educational research on attitudes shows that both teaching and student learning are affected by the attitudes of the teacher. The aim of this study is to examine technology teachers’ perceptions of and attitudes towards teaching technology in Swedish compulsory schools, focusing on teachers’ perceived control. The following research question is pos...

Hands-on digital interactivity in science centers provides new communicative opportunities. The Microcosmos multi-touch table allows visitors to interact with 64 image “cards” of (sub)microscopic biological structures and processes embedded across seven theme categories. This study presents the integration of biological content, interactive feature...

Educational videos on the Internet comprise a vast and highly diverse source of information. Online search engines facilitate access to numerous videos claiming to explain natural selection, but little is known about the degree to which the video content match key evolutionary content identified as important in evolution education research. In this...

Antibiotic resistance is typically used to justify education about evolution, as evolutionary reasoning improves our understanding of causes of resistance and possible countermeasures. It has also been promoted as a useful context for teaching natural selection, because its potency as a selection factor, in combination with the very short generatio...

With integration of nanoscience and nanotechnology into everyday life, it is important that the public has a scientific foundation upon which to evaluate their perceived hopes and fears of ‘nano’. Various tools assess attitudinal and affective dimensions of nano, but little research has been directed to instruments to evaluate the conceptual knowle...

Molecular visualization is a crucial feature of learning progression in molecular biosciences. This is closely linked with learning about fundamental molecular recognition processes such as protein-ligand binding, which relies on grasping the importance of spatial molecular properties. Surface shape is pivotal for molecular recognition in terms of...

Learning to talk science is an important aspect of learning to do science. Given that scientists' language frequently includes intentions and purposes in explanations of unobservable objects and events, teachers must interpret whether learners’ use of such language reflects a scientific understanding or inaccurate anthropomorphism and teleology. In...

Background: From previous research among science teachers itis known that teachers’ attitudes to their subjects affect important aspects of their teaching, including their confidence and the amount of time they spend teaching the subject. In contrast, less is known about technology teachers’ attitudes. Purpose: Therefore, the aim of this study is...

Nano education involves tackling the difficult task of conceptualizing imperceptibly small objects and processes. Interactive visualization serves as one potential solution for providing access to the nanoworld through active exploration of nanoscale concepts and principles. This chapter exposes and describes a selection of interactive visualizatio...

Purpose Transitioning to independence may be problematic for persons with spina bifida (SB). Experiences of young persons with SB may provide insights into this group's needs for support. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate children's and adolescents' experiences of living with SB, their social and emotional adjustment, and their th...

Future societal and economic impacts of nanoscience and nanotechnology raise the demand for a nano-literate public as well as a nano-competent workforce. This translates into the urgent need for nano education interventions in schools and informal learning contexts. In seeking to meet this mandate, we have developed and investigated a virtual reali...

The advent of nanoscientific applications in modern life is swiftly in progress. Nanoscale innovation comes with the pressing need to provide citizens and learners with scientific knowledge for judging the societal impact of nanotechnology. In rising to the challenge, this paper reports the developmental phase of a research agenda concerned with bu...

As the application of nanotechnology in everyday life impacts society, it becomes critical for citizens to have a scientific basis upon which to judge their perceived hopes and fears of ‘nano’. Although multiple instruments have been designed for assessing attitudinal and affective aspects of nano, surprisingly little work has focused on developing...

Machine metaphors are ubiquitous in the molecular sciences. In addition to their use by scientists, educators and popularizers of science, they have been promoted intensively by the Intelligent Design (ID) movement in arguments for the necessity of a god-like designer to account for the complexities of life at the molecular level. The authors have...

Antibiotic resistance is an increasing global threat involving many actors, including the general public. We present findings from a content analysis of the coverage of antibiotic resistance in the Swedish print media with respect to the risk communication factors cause, magnitude and counter measures. The most commonly reported cause of developmen...

Haptics provides powerful cues about forces but cannot easily be integrated in all relevant applications, such as education. Pseudohaptic cues, visual information that simulate haptic sensations, have been raised as an alternative. It is, however, largely unknown how (or even if) pseudo-haptic cues are perceived by the haptic sensory modality. In t...

The present study explores the extent and precision of evolutionary explanations for antibiotic resistance in communication directed toward the Swedish public. Bacterial resistance develops through evolutionary mechanisms and knowledge of these helps to explain causes underlying the growing prevalence of resistant strains, as well as important coun...

Spina bifida is a congenital birth defect, resulting in physical and cognitive dysfunctions. Condition-related knowledge among children and adolescents with spina bifida is essential to facilitate independent management of their condition. The aim was to describe the condition-related knowledge among children and adolescents with spina bifida in a...

The advent of nanoscientific applications in modern life is swiftly in progress. Nanoscale innovation comes with the pressing need to provide citizens and learners with scientific knowledge for judging the societal impact of nanotechnology. In rising to the challenge, this paper reports the developmental phase of a research agenda concerned with bu...

Rapid nanoscientific development in a myriad of applied fields compels educational structures to develop curricular nanoknowledge for a future citizenry capable of contributing skills to a nano-workforce and in acquiring a nano-literacy. This study investigated ten Swedish upper-secondary students' interactions with a virtual reality nanoworld and...

Self-assembly is the fundamental but counterintuitive principle that explains how ordered biomolecular complexes form spontaneously in the cell. This study investigated the impact of using two external representations of virus self-assembly, an interactive tangible three-dimensional model and a static two-dimensional image, on student learning abou...

Infusion of nanotechnology applications into modern life is in progress. Nanoscale innovation comes with the ever-pressing need to provide citizens and learners with scientific knowledge for informing perceptions and attitudes surrounding the societal impact of nanotechnology. In rising to the challenge, this paper reports the first developmental p...

Recent educational research has suggested that immersive multisensory virtual environments offer learners unique and exciting knowledge-building opportunities for the construction of scientific knowledge. This paper delivers a case-based study of students’ immersive interaction with electric fields around molecules in a multisensory visuohaptic vir...

I takt med en ökad tillgång till bilder och andra visualiseringar i skolan så ökar även behovet av forskning kring hur elever använder dem. Visualiseringar är ett kraftfullt hjälpmedel i biologi men lärare bör vara uppmärksamma på fallgropar, menar forskare vid Linköpings universitet.

Visualizing molecular properties is often crucial for constructing conceptual understanding in chemistry. However, research has revealed numerous challenges surrounding students’ meaningful interpretation of the relationship between the geometry and electrostatic properties of molecules. This study explored students’ (n = 18) use of three visual re...

Swift scientific advances in the area of nanoscience suggest that nanotechnology will play an increasingly important role in our everyday lives. Thus, knowledge of the principles underlying such technologies will inevitably be required to ensure a skilled industrial workforce. In this paper we describe the development of a virtual educational envir...

To help in interpreting the polarity of a molecule, charge separation can be visualized by mapping the electrostatic potential at the van der Waals surface using a color gradient or by indicating positive and negative regions of the electrostatic potential using different colored isosurfaces. Although these visualizations capture the molecular char...

This study aimed to investigate students’ assignment of chemical polarity using three visual modes representing electrostatic potential. The modes consisted of coloured lobes that indicate regions of negative (red) and positive (blue) potential, a colour gradient that maps the potential on the molecular surface and a novel representation that uses...

Surprisingly, very little empirical work has explored the application of students’ knowledge about electric fields to a chemistry context. In response, this paper reports a pilot study that investigated students’ conceptions about electric fields, and how interaction with a haptic virtual model impacts understanding of electric fields around molecu...

Although immersive haptic virtual technologies are emerging rapidly in modern education, few methods exist for delivering data on the pedagogical merits of such models in the molecular life sciences. This paper reports on a selection of methods that we have used to obtain and analyse data on students’ learning and interaction with a haptic virtual...

Enzymes capable of benzoate ester hydrolysis have several potential medical and industrial applications. A variant of human carbonic anhydrase II (HCAII) was constructed, by rational design, that is capable of hydrolysing para-nitrophenyl benzoate (pNPBenzo) with an efficiency comparable to some naturally occurring esterases. The design was based o...

A histidine-based, two-residue reactive site for the catalysis of hydrolysis of designed sulfonamide-containing para-nitrophenyl esters has been engineered into a scaffold protein. A matching substrate was designed to exploit the natural active site of human carbonic anhydrase II (HCAII) for well-defined binding. In this we took advantage of the hi...

The effect of modulating the shape and the size of the hydrophobic pocket on the esterase activity and specificity of human carbonic anhydrase II (HCAII) for esters with different acyl chain lengths was investigated. Following an initial screen of 7 HCAII variants with alanine substitutions in positions 121, 143 and 198, detailed kinetic measuremen...