Ämneslärarens arbete didaktiska perspektiv är en grundbok som i första hand riktar sig till blivande ämneslärare, men kan med fördel även läsas av verksamma lärare. Boken behandlar den utbildningsvetenskapliga kärnans alla delar.
This study investigates students’ conceptions of the causes and processes that form eskers and erratics, types of glacial and glaciofluvial landforms which to date have been little researched in geoscience education. The data collected for the study included 134 responses to an assignment completed by 12- to 13-year-old students in the Swedish national geography test in 2013. The responses were sampled and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings show that many of the students held alternative conceptions regarding the causes of these landforms, which included landslides, meteor impacts and human activity. Although some students were able to give a scientific explanation that considered the possible causes and relevant processes involved in the formation of erratics, many students did not give a full account of these processes. Furthermore, only a few students were able to describe the relevant processes involved in the formation of eskers and were more likely to discuss alternative or glacial processes rather than glaciofluvial processes. Given the lack of research on students’ understanding of glacial processes and landforms in geoscience and geography education, this study contributes with new knowledge of students’ conceptions of eskers and erratics and makes a theoretical contribution to research on students’ alternative conceptions and understanding of sequential and emergent processes in geoscience. The findings provide specific insights for teachers and are useful in the design of classroom practices that can change alternative conceptions and strengthen scientific conceptions.
The aim of this study was to investigate students’ conceptions of causes, processes and consequences of earthquakes and to examine their geographical understanding of such hazards in terms of spatial and societal-nature relations. Data consists of 134 responses from 12 to 13-year-old students who had completed an assignment in the Swedish national test in geography (2013). The responses were analysed using content and thematic analyses. Data was complemented with interviews. Results show that many students hold alternative conceptions of processes causing earthquakes at different plate boundaries, and why poor societies are more severely affected by earthquakes than rich societies. Furthermore, results show that students have a limited understanding of the extent and location of earthquakes in the world. We conclude that instruction aiming to develop students’ understanding of earthquakes as a geographical phenomenon and hazard may integrate map-reasoning skills with examples that support contextual thinking. We also suggest that in order to develop students’ relational thinking on society and nature, instruction can utilise the concept of “capital”. Furthermore, teaching needs to take in to account and design instruction to meet students’ alternative conceptions that societal consequences of earthquakes are solely predetermined by natural factors such as climate or heat.
The aim of this study was to investigate students' understanding of the Gulf Stream as a geographical phenomenon and in relation to geospatial conceptualizations focusing on the geographical concepts of location, distribution and interaction. Data consists of 134 responses from 12-13-year-old students who completed an assignment in the Swedish national test in geography (2013). The responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. Data was complemented with interviews in 2017. Results show that many students hold alternative conceptions of the Gulf Stream in relation to geographical concepts, which implies that instruction should focus on students' geographical contextual understanding, including map-reasoning skills.
This paper has its origins in the EU Comenius funded GeoCapabilities project. From its outset, the project developed and researched the notion of powerful disciplinary knowledge (PDK) as an underlying principle of curriculum making in the context of secondary school geography teaching. The work, led from the UCL Institute of Education and involving school teachers, teacher educators and other stakeholders across eight mainly European jurisdictions, was framed by Young and Muller's 'three educational scenarios' (Young & Muller, European Journal of Education, 45, 2010 and 11). The three futures heuristic is discussed as a means to distinguish qualities of curriculum thought. Future 3 scenarios, which posit teachers as curriculum makers with responsibility to engage in essential 'knowledge work', provide a principled platform on which to develop ambitious educational classroom encounters. Knowledge working with PDK and (as we go on to argue) other powerful ways of knowing the world, is seen as a bridge between social realist epistemological principles and practical classroom content selections. This opens the possibility of responding to Deng's (Journal of Curriculum Studies, 54, 2022) call for developing practical theories of content with teachers. Although the authors are geographers in education drawing on different international perspectives and traditions, the paper addresses matters of interest applicable to a variety of specialist subject domains across the secondary school curriculum.
One of the ideas of the GeoCapabilities project(s) is to open up an international debate on the purposes and values of geography education. In line with this, the aim of this article is to examine some central perspectives used in GeoCapabilities, such as curriculum thinking, the teacher as 'curriculum maker' and the perspective of powerful knowledge, and explore them in relation to the continental and Nordic traditions of Didaktik and subject matter didactics. This is especially done through a reading of the German educationalist Klafki and his theory of categorial Bildung and an application of his framework of Didaktical analysis. This highlights how the perspectives of powerful knowledge and capabilities in GeoCapabilities mirror the perspectives on material and formal Bildung by Klafki. Drawing on his idea of educational potential and exemplary relevance, an example of knowledge-led curriculum thinking in geography is presented using a case based on the time-geographical perspective for a brief Didaktical analysis. Such exemplary cases can function as subject didactical models for curriculum thinking. The article concludes with some remarks on the knowledge turn and indicates some future challenges for geography education.