STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) research emphasises interdisciplinary approaches to developing skills needed for the 21st century. In this paper, we explore three aesthetically rich mathematical activities involving dance and bodily performance (e.g., creative body postures) with 6-year-old students. Supported by an embodied perspective of task design and a Deweyan view of aesthetics, we argue that a high degree of bodily engagement and a high degree of task integration allow space for creativity and imagination that may involve aesthetic dimensions. Specifically, we argue that body postures, bodily rotation, rhythm, and fluency in composite sequences of movement may connect art and mathematics in a way that treats the students as active creators of aesthetic experiences, in contrast to other STEAM approaches that do not consider bodily performance as a way of connecting art and mathematics.

This study explores how assessment is presented in Swedish early years’ steering documents and considers risks for young gifted students in relation to assessment (or lack thereof). Document analysis was undertaken on, firstly, Swedish curriculum documents for the preschool and for the compulsory school, and secondly, mapping materials used in the preschool class with six-year-old children. Results show that assessment is not a term used in Swedish early years curricula. Instead, preschool teachers are asked to evaluate their own practice; preschool class teachers are asked to engage with mapping and only to consider working toward later assessment goals in year 3 of school. A plethora of alternative assessment terms are used in the curriculum without definition. Giftedness is also invisible in the curriculum. However, the mapping materials used with six-year-old students in the subject areas of mathematics and Swedish do encourage teachers to consider children who achieve mastery early. Further, these materials provide supportive questions and activities for teachers to use in exploring further. The specific examples of assessment discourses and the need to consider gifted children are combined in this article to highlight aspects of teacher work that are important for the educational rights of an often-forgotten group of learners.

The focus of this paper is on young students’ understanding of time which is hardly studied. In the presented study, Swedish 6-year-olds first worked on a task about estimating time and after that they posed their own tasks about time. The research questions concern what aspects of time come to light when 6-year-olds (1) estimate the time needed for specific activities and (2) pose tasks related to time When estimating time, the arguments given by the students were based on previous experiences, personal situations, and emotions. Sometimes more than one of these were used in the same line of argumentation. The tasks posed by the students were related to estimation of a set time, estimation of a time given a specific activity, using a timer, point-of-time, and time as a context. Our study suggests estimation and measurement of time as a suitable content to enlarge students’ understanding of time in addition to the more common focus on ‘telling the time’.

Med utgångspunkt i det praktiknära forskningsprojektet Problemlösning i Förskoleklass, fokuserar vi i den här presentationen på hur lärarnas olika deltagande i en intervention samverkar med forsknings-kvalitet. Studien genomförs enligt modell för designforskning med målet att utveckla både teori och praktik avseende lärande och undervisning i matematik. Genom de snart tio år som studien har pågått har de medverkande förskoleklasslärarnas deltagande i interventionen varierat, från passiva observatörer och därmed konsumenter av forskning till att ha ansvar för såväl genomförande av undervisning som datainsamling och därmed producenter av forskning. Dessa olika samarbeten har resulterat i data där frågan om autenticitet är aktuell i förhållande till om intern eller extern validitet är utgångspunkten. Dessa olika autenticitet diskuteras på presentationen i relation till forskningskvalitet. 

I denne workshopen vil vi drøfte metodiske utfordringer knyttet til design forskning i barnehagen. Med bakgrunn i et design prosjekt for tidlig kroppslig læring om mønster vil vi gi eksempel på hvilke metodiske muligheter og begrensinger denne type forskning kan ha. Prosjektet er sterkt styrt av forskerteamet, både i planlegging, gjennomføring og evaluering. Fra vårt embodied teoretiske perspektiv, som ser på læring og tekning som situert og multimodalt fenomen, skal vi se på styrker og svakheter i design av læringssituasjoner der barna i stor grad styrer dialog og handling, kontra mer individuelle testsituasjoner der forskeren har en mer aktiv rolle. Vi vil ha et kritisk perspektiv der vi løfter alternativer og svakheter ved vår måte å løse de metodiske utfordringene på. Vi vil også se på sammenhengen mellom metodiske grep og betydningen av å ha et sett av design prinsipper for å skape struktur i gjennomføringen av denne type intervensjonsstudie. 

In mixed-ability classrooms that are common in Swedish upper-secondary school, as well as in other Nordic countries, particularly gifted learners (Skolverket, 2015) are taught alongside all other students (Mellroth et al., 2021) leaving individual teachers with limited time to create enrichment. In what way can enrichment offered online, parallel to regular classes, be used to support the learning development of these learners? In a small-scale project, upper-secondary school students were offered an asynchronous online enrichment program. The program was led by a specialist lecturer at the school (second author) who started by a short meeting individually with each student (self-nominated or identified by their regular teacher). Then, a task aiming to challenge the specific student was uploaded to the student’s individual OneNote. For some tasks, students could choose to reveal guiding questions further, the chat function could be used to pose questions. Once completed, the student uploaded the solution and notified the lecturer who then uploaded a new task and afterwards provided feedback on the solution. The students were allowed to work with the tasks during regular mathematics classes but decided themselves on the pace and timing. The flexibility of the program offered the students an opportunity to adjust to their own needs and desire (Mellroth & Szabo, 2022). Some students worked on a regular basis with the tasks; others only occasionally. Thus, the daily challenge (Rogers, 2007) was offered continuously and consistently and the autonomy of the students (e.g., Leikin & Sriraman, 2017; Szabo, 2017) was accounted for. The students could either write their solutions directly in OneNote, or upload pictures of handwritten solutions. For the lecturer it gave the opportunity to give detailed and personalized feedback. Consistent with research stating that these students gain specifically from straightforward feedback (Leikin & Sriraman, 2017; Szabo, 2017). The online environment also enabled to effectively offer instructional differentiation as suggested by Szabo (2017) as the lecturer easily could adapt comments or offer alternative solutions despite the students going through the program at a different pace. In-depth interviews with the participating students are planned, to investigate their perceptions of stimuli and support through the online enrichment program. Leikin, R., & Sriraman, B. (Eds.) (2017). Creativity and giftedness – Interdisciplinary perspectives from mathematics and beyond. SpringerMellroth, E., Bergwall, A., & Nilsson, P. (2021). Task design for differentiated instruction in mixed-ability mathematics classrooms: Manifestations of contradictions in a professional learning community. Mathematics Teacher Education and Development, 23(3), 78–96. Mellroth, E. & Szabo. A. (2022). Talented upper secondary student’s perception of online mathematical challenges. In S. A. Chamberlin (Ed.) On the Road to Mathematical Expertise and Innovation. Proceedings MCG 12. (pp. 311 – 313). VTM-Verlag.Rogers K. B. (2007). Lessons learned about education the gifted and talented: A synthesis of the research on educational practice. Gifted Child Quarterly, 51, 382-396.Skolverket (2015). Särskilt begåvade elever – stödmaterial.Szabo, A. (2017). Matematikundervisning för begåvade elever – en forskningsöversikt. Nordic Studies in Mathematics Education, 22(1), 21–44. 

If students are to build knowledge, it is important to connect disciplinary knowledge to students’ everyday knowledge when teaching. In this study, the relationship between disciplinary- and everyday knowledge in subject-teaching is analysed, based on the semantic dimensions used in Legitimation Code Theory. Un-packing disciplinary concepts through concrete examples implies a shift towards a context-dependent everyday knowledge, while re-packing them entails a shift towards disciplinary abstractions and context-independent generalizations. Over time these shifts constitute so-called semantic waves argued to facilitate students´ knowledge building. Earlier research suggest that the form of these semantic waves can differ between school-subjects. Therefore, this article examines semantic waves in two contrasting subjects – Mathematics and Social Science Education, aiming at a better understanding of how and why semantic waves differ. The results reveal that the forms of semantic waves differ between the two subjects. In Mathematics, when teaching different geometrical concepts, the semantic shifts through un-packing and re-packing were frequent and evenly distributed. When teaching about pricing and household in Social Science, un-packing activities dominated, making shifts biased towards everyday knowledge. These differences are discussed in terms of semantic waves constituting a different pulse when making knowledge-building possible in Mathematics and Social Science.

The empirical data in this study are from a series of two lessons on measurement implemented in seven classes with 119 six-year-old students in Sweden. Both problem solving and problem posing were shown to be important in early mathematics when students in this study worked on one problem-solving task and one problem-posing task on measurement. As there are few studies specifically on problem posing in early mathematics and on young children’s understanding of measurement, this study adds knowledge of value for both teachers and researchers. In the study, paper-and-pen work from the students was analysed together with interviews conducted after the students had worked on the two tasks. When solving the task on measurement, the students discerned shape, size, distance, and number as mathematical aspects of measurement. When asked to pose a similar task, only size and number reoccurred as mathematical aspects of measurement. However, other features from the problem-solving task reoccurred in the posed tasks: similar drawings were used in combination with questions on measurement as the mathematical content.

Which dimensions of instruction can be reliably captured using student perception surveys, is subject for debate. The aim of this study is to empirically explore the validity and limitations of two different measures of cognitive activation: systematic classroom observations and student perceptions. 34 video-recorded lessons from ten lower secondary mathematics teachers in Iceland were analysed using an observation system and compared to 217 responses to the Tripod student perception survey. The results indicate that for the cognitive activation dimension, the connection between observer ratings and student perceptions is weak, raising questions about the validity of different measures of instructional quality.