The aim of this study is to describe in what way preschool activities contribute to the development of children's knowledge of different forms of numbers; symbols, ordinal and cardinal. Video -recordings from three different groups of preschool children age d 3 to 5 years old have been analyzed based on variation theory (Marton, 2015) to describe the children’s discernment of numbers. The activities were planned and enacted by preschool teachers. The teachers’ intentions were to teach the children numerosity (Hannula - Sormunen et.al., 2016). The activities offered learning possibilities during the activities, e.g. to sort digits by magnitude, value or just to match symbols. The video -recordings were analyzed to capture what as- pects of the numbers the children were offered to discern, and what aspects were not offered to discern during the different activities. Simultaneous discernment of numbers in different forms are important for children’s future mathematical performance (Hannul- Sormunen et.al., 2015). The fi ndings unveil the teachers’ challenges to design preschool activities offering children simultaneously discernment of num- bers’ different forms. The activities mainly make the children discern numbers as symbols to match or as magnitude, while the cardinal form occurred only to a limited extent.

This study analysed how preschool teachers differently enacted the same mathematical activity for preschool children to discern numbers, and how this affected the children's learning opportunities during the activity. The analysis was based on variation theory and Chi's taxonomy of learning activities. Two Swedish preschool teachers' enactment of the same mathematical activity for 27 children aged 4-6 years was studied. Video recordings of what the children were offered to discern were used in the analysis. The results indicate that variations in how the teachers chose to enact the activity produced two different learning opportunities for the children. Differences in what aspects were made discernible were closely linked to the characteristics of the activity implemented. The enactments differed even if the same game was chosen and the same amount of time was used in the play-based activity. In one preschool group, there were few opportunities to discern more than the nominal form of numbers; the other preschool group had an activity focused on all number forms simultaneously. In addition, in the latter group, the children had the opportunity to develop equinumerosity. The results suggest that the activity with limited variation was more appropriate for learning with undeveloped knowledge; the children with more developed understanding required a more varied design. This study contributes to the knowledge of how the design of an activity affects children's learning differently, which is important when planning learning-based preschool activities.

I konventionen om rättigheter för personer med funktionsnedsättning (2008/09:8) fastslås att personer med funktionsnedsättning ges nödvändigt stöd inom det allmänna utbildningssystemet för att underlätta deras ändamålsenliga utbildning. Även i Malmö högskolas policy dokument (2016-2018) inkluderas ett förhållningssätt som ska byggas på mångfald. I studenters rättigheter och skyldigheter (Mah, 2011) eftersträvas en arbetsmiljö som stödjer studenters lärande och främjar deras fysiska och psykiska hälsa. I studenthälsans undersökning ”Hur mår våra studenter” (Mah, 2015) pekar resultaten på att en eller flera funktionsnedsättningar skulle kunna vara en riskfaktor i vissa avseenden. Vidare att funktionsnedsättning minskar sannolikheten för att uppleva sig klara av sina studier och ökar sannolikheten för att uppleva sig trakasserad och diskriminerad. Larsdotter Frid och Krantz (2012) visar att det är problematiskt att tillgängliggöra den konkreta undervisningssituationen för studenter med funktionsnedsättning. Syfte: Med detta som bakgrund finns det ett behov av att kartlägga och identifiera universitetsutbildares upplevda och uttryckta behov av kompetens avseende t.ex pedagogiska anpassningar av studenters studiesituation. Metod: En webenkät skickades ut till 2 fakulteter vid ett lärosäte (A) och en vid en fakultet vid ett annat lärosäte (B). Totalt svarade 131 (svarsfrekvens). Pågående analyser kvalitativa såväl som kvantitativa (SPSS). Resultat: Det finns tendenser som uppvisar en skillnad i upplevd kompetens mellan lärosäten där en större andel anställda vid lärosäte B uppger både högre och lägre kompetens jämfört med anställda vid lärosäte A. Anställda vid lärosäte A tenderar att uppge ett större kompetensutvecklingsbehov när det gäller studenter i behov av anpassningar av studiesituationen. När den egna kompetensen skattas högt tenderar behovet av kompetensutveckling också skattas högt (73%) bland anställda vid lärosäte A medan anställda vid lärosäte B skattar lågt kompetensutvecklingsbehov (39 %). Anställda vid båda lärosätena uppger god kännedom om styrdokumenten. När det gäller kompetens om olika funktionsnedsättningar skattar anställda vid lärosäte B högre kompetens än anställda vid lärosäte A oavsett funktionsnedsättning. Störst skillnader ses i kompetens gällande neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar samt hörsel-, och synnedsättningar. Diskussion/implikationer: Tolkning av materialet pågår.

Background Physical education (PE) teachers in practically all countries are expected to help their students develop movement capability. To achieve this objective, teachers need certain knowledge and competencies. The question of how PE teachers should develop their capacities to achieve this task has received only limited research attention. Aim The broad objective of this paper is to contribute to the literature on how PE teachers can develop knowledge and competencies in the area of movement capability related to students' learning. The specific aim is to identify aspects of the design of instruction in physical education that enhance teachers' actor-oriented transfer of movement pedagogy knowledge, during a collaborative professional development intervention. Method The study is an analysis of three conducted learning studies in PE at upper secondary schools in Sweden. The studies involved seven PE teachers from two different schools. Our empirical material consists of (a) notes from team meetings (n = 14), (b) lesson plans (n = 9), (c) video-recorded and transcribed lessons (n = 9), and (d) results of students' learning outcomes (n = 9). Findings PE teachers' analysis of their own teaching sequences in teams supported their actor-oriented transfer of movement pedagogy knowledge, which developed their abilities to further elaborate their instruction in new teaching situations. Moreover, teachers gained insights into how to further develop the quality of instructional design as expansions of earlier experiences. Lastly, a relationship between PE teachers' actor-oriented transfer and students' increased learning of movements was found. Conclusion Our conclusion is that collaborative professional development for PE teachers, which supports actor-oriented transfer, should be offered to enhance teachers' movement pedagogy knowledge.

Despite the increasing popularity of studies on teachers' national curriculum adaptations, there is no comparative study elucidating teachers' adaptations in centralized and decentralized educational contexts through sense-making theory lenses. This paper presents a comparative case study of Turkish and Swedish senior classroom teachers' curricular adaptations concerning sense-making theory. We get data through non-participatory lesson observations, interviews, and document analysis from two teachers teaching third-grade mathematics in each country (Izmir and Malmo). Findings reveal that both Turkish and Swedish senior teachers frequently extend, replace/revise and omit the mathematics curriculum. Turkish teachers provided extensive evidence about their adaptations and even tried explaining their reasons whereas Swedish teachers perceived the changes they made in the classroom as teaching rather than adaptations, due to different levels of centralization. Additionally, Turkish teachers responded with parallel structures and assimilation to the national curriculum, and Swedish teachers responded only with assimilation. However, a Turkish teacher's assimilation mediated fewer adaptations while both Swedish teachers' assimilation mediated more adaptations (extension and replacing/revising). We conclude by drawing implications for research on teachers' adaptations and sense-making.

The ontological assumptions in phenomenography are based on the supposition that there is only one world, but different people construct their discernments of the world in different ways - their own ways - which results in an indefinite number of ways to discern the world. This is true for all instances, which means that we as researchers also capture our subjective perspectives of respondents' discernments in our research projects. This is a challenge, as we have so far mainly used interviews or respondents' texts as data material in phenomenographic analysis, which means we only capture what we discern from data in a subjective way. In analyzes based on variation theory, we claim to gather and analyze data to give a solid ground to understand what aspects of a phenomenon the respondent has discerned and what aspects of the object of learning they need to discern to develop their knowledge further (critical aspects). By that, there is a tension in our research approach, as this might indicate that there is an object of learning which is separeted from the subject and by that objectified, which is in contradiction with our non-dualistic standpoint. However, the relativistic stance in our framework gives us an acceptance for that there are objects which are the same to everyone, thus experienced differently depending on your previous experiences avoiding the objectivistic standpoint. Our methodological approaches rely on the utterances of the respondents which gives us access to experiences and discernments which the respondents are aware of and decides to share with us. Questioning if there is more to understand than what the respondents express, we have used eye-tracking as a method to understand what focus, and by that what becomes possible to discern from an object, respondents have. The results show differences in focus which gives different affordances for discernment, which the respondents are unaware of. In one study, we have used a new method to capture respondents' disernment, going beyond what they actually describe by their own expressions, namely eye-tracking. The results show differences in viewing-pattern, where respondents with an initial global overview of the material ended up with a more develpoed understanding about the content. I will discuss the method, its implications, how it was used in the conducted study, in what way this method can contribute to our research approach.

This paper synthesises research evidence regarding enablers and barriers for children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) in the inclusive early-years Swedish preschool context. Focusing on current norms, this chapter presents a review conducted using purposeful sampling. The Swedish preschool curriculum sets expectations for children with ASC, which can be challenging. It is therefore important to discuss how norms can hinder the development of children with ASC. Some of the core goals of the curriculum are difficult for children with impaired social skills, low impulse control, impaired perceptual ability, and hyperactivity to achieve. Understanding the challenges experienced by children with ASC, and a sound ASC knowledge symptoms among professionals, can improve the opportunities for children with ASC to develop their full potential in inclusive preschool settings. Optimal development of preschool children requires a dynamic view of each child’s challenges and strengths, and expanding existing norms to create more inclusive learning environments in the future.

In this study, I reflect critically on my own experiences as a university teacher of students’ expressed knowledge about the academic subject of didactics at the beginning and end of their first semester as students in the Master’s Programme in Didactics. My reflections are made using a phenomenographic approach to learning, which regards learning as a qualitatively deeper and different way of understanding content. The results of the study are expected to deepen my understanding of knowledge expressed about didactics in two different student groups, and give insight on what is critical for knowledge development in higher education. The first course design consisted of 12 lectures in total by 12 different teachers representing different fields of didactics, such as general didactics and subject-based didactics in different specializations. The second course design consisted of eight seminars where course literature about didactics was discussed, together with three seminars in smaller groups wherein the students in each specialization of didactics met. A comparison between the groups is made, based on a qualitative analysis of the responses on an open question before and after the first semester forms the basis of my own reflections. The analysis aims to establish in what way the students’ explanations of didactics might have changed during the courses, and if there are differences in this development which could be explained by differences in course design. In the first student group, 10 students (in-service teachers) answered both questionnaires, and 11 students in the second group answered both questionnaires.

Providing this postgraduate education for teachers within teacher education aim to enhance research links in teacher education and the capacity to educate teachers in undersized areas. The postgraduate school has two goals. Firstly, it aims to develop skills and contribute with knowledge for Swedish special education teacher training. One of the main areas in need of improvement in particular is special didactics for students with neurodevelopmental disorders/conditions (NDD), which 10% of all students in Swedish schools are estimated to have (Boyle et al., 2011). Another area in need of research-based knowledge is education for students with intellectual disabilities. Our intention is to maintain a strong focus on five areas to build upon a common base of knowledge needed for teacher educators in special education: 1) Theory of Special Education Research, 2) Special Didactics of Mathematics, 3) Special Didactics of Language-, Writing-, Reading and Hearing, 4) Special Didactics of Intellectual Disorders, and 5) Inclusive Education for Students with NDD. Due to existing United Nations conventions, we must also take into consideration how to help students with low intellectual abilities. To avoid stigmatizing students, we will emphasize a relational and functional environmental perspective as an approach in pedagogical practice to visualize, analyze and discuss the meaning of relations. We will also help draw attention to the relationship between the students as well as that of student and teacher to enhance inclusive learning (Aspelin, 2012; Aspelin & Persson, 2011). The doctoral students can choose their study object within a wide range of special educational challenges. Secondly, we intend to study how professional development can be developed so that it can give and gather feedback in special didactics during the program using various professional development models for teachers such as improvement science (Lewis, 2015), teaching research groups (Yang, 2009), and learning and lesson studies (Pang & Ling, 2012). By that, we strive to enhance the teacher educators’ readiness to educate teachers who are required to supervise and guide colleagues with the aim of improving the teaching and learning for students in SEN. In their role to teach students, we strive to foster a generic competence to regard the relationship between teachers and students as a powerful tool to create inclusive learning environments, which take into consideration the students’ perspectives. The research program, which has received nearly 40 million SEK to run thr program 2018-2022, will be presented during the session.

Forskare från Malmö högskola, Lunds universitet och Högskolan Kristianstad har under våren genomfört en pilotstudie för att studera mötet i trepartssamtalen mellan student, handledare och VFU-lärare i ämneslärarutbildningen. Mona Holmqvist, docent Malmö högskola redogör för resultat och slutsatser.

Purpose – Collaborative professional development for inclusive teaching is a limited area of research,although there is an extensive need for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) teachers. Researchfindings of how teachers’ professional development can contribute to support the development of powerfullearning situations for all students are presented in this special issue. The aim is to contribute to the knowledgeof how the use of lesson study can develop teachers’ capabilities to offer high-quality education for studentswith SEND.Design/methodology/approach – The guest editor presents each of the papers and introduces key themesand concepts.Findings – The collection of papers is divided into two themes; the first has a focus on lesson study used byteacher educators during SEND in-service training. In this theme, the teachers are the students who arestudying different fields of SEND, supported by teacher educators. The second theme studies different forms oflesson studies carried out by researchers and teachers in the collaboration focused aspects of content that are ofimportance for students in SEND.Research limitations/implications – The papers focus on areas of education with a limited researchtradition, and as a result, the studies may be seen as starting points for further research. The results so far lackgeneralisability. Therefore, the researchers have to test the findings further under different conditions and withwider groups of teachers and students.Practical implications – The results of the papers can be used to develop both SEND teacher education, andcollaborative professional development for in-service SEND teachers. This issue will, therefore, be of interest toschool and system leaders.Originality/value – The papers contribute initial findings from an under-researched area and also combinelesson study with methods and designs not previously explored.

Denne artikkelen beskriver hvordan lærerne kan bruke teoretiske antakelser om læring – fra et variasjonsteoretisk perspektiv – som verktøy for å utvikle matematikkundervisningen i skolen. Lærernes undervisningsevne påvirkes både av deres forståelse av innholdet og av hvordan de forstår elevenes forståelse av dette innholdet. For å støtte lærernes arbeid ville det være ønskelig om de kunne benytte seg av godt underbygde resultater fra undervisningsutviklende forskning der for eksempel læring og undervisning er blitt studert systematisk i klasserommet. Ettersom dette området fortsatt er uutforsket på mange måter, mangler vi forskningsresultater som viser hva som kjennetegner betingelser for læring, og hvordan kunnskapsutvikling skjer i klasserommet. I Sverige er det gjennomført en grundig undersøkelse av hvilke forskningsresultater lærerstudenter får ta del i. Undersøkelsen viser at de møter få elementer av undervisningsutviklende resultater fra studier i klasserommet (Wahlström & Alvunger, 2015). I stedet er det først og fremst beskrivende og tolkende forskning som er blitt prioritert i pensumlitteraturen for lærerstudiet.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a review of the most frequently cited English articles of five models of collaborative professional development for mathematics teachers, aiming to describe the character of the development addressed and its quality issues.

Pedagogikämnets tydlighet och status har i många fall varit mer utvecklad i Sverige än i andra länder (Dahllöf, 1990), särskilt i mitten av 1900-talet. Sundberg (2009) har genomfört en analys av pedagogikämnet som akademisk disciplin och konstaterar att det skett stora förändringar. Den akademiska positionen anses ha försvagats, samtidigt som ett brukarfokuserat eller professionsperspektiv har utvecklats som på sätt och vis också breddat ämnet. En brist på kommunikation mellan olika teoretiska avgränsningar inom disciplinen har lyfts fram vid utvärderingar, liksom en trend att ämnet rör sig mot en mer pragmatisk specialisering kopplad till olika professioners tillämpning. Samtidigt är och har forskning alltid varit en angelägenhet för samhället, med mål att bidra till framtida utveckling. Forskning handlar således inte om vad vi forskare vill berätta, utan snarare om vad andra vill lyssna till. Har vi, inom det pedagogiska fältet, i tillräckligt hög grad bidragit med resultat som väckt intresse hos andra discipliners forskare och samhällsmedborgare? Eller har pedagogiken som akademisk disciplin, som inledningsvis var tydligt förankrad i samhällets behov, blivit ett särintresse för oss som arbetar med pedagogisk forskning? Vid Malmö Högskola finns ett mål att vi ska vara en global förebild för hur lärosäten genom forskning och utbildning tar en aktiv roll i hållbar samhällsutveckling. Det är således en tydlig diskurs som gäller för forskningen. Frågan är hur vi definierar och tolkar vad det innebär att bidra till samhällsutvecklingen, och på vilket sätt vi argumenterar för den forskning som vi företräder. Ett sätt att göra sin argumentation kraftfull är att bidra med resultat som på ett framgångsrikt sätt bidrar till lärande och utbildning i samhället. Att det står utom all tvekan att samhällets utveckling är beroende av vår kunskap. 18 Detta måste dock ske på två sätt, dels genom spridning av resultaten i akademiska tidskrifter, dels genom spridning till brukare, vilket i sig kan vara motsägelsefullt. Vid Malmö Högskola arbetar vi med att bygga upp en pedagogisk forskningsplattform, RePESE (Research Platform for Education and Special Education) för att stärka den pedagogiska forskningen i samverkan med andra discipliner. Vi välkomnar därför olika discipliner och skilda forskningsinriktningar. Det är ett genuint försök att skapa en arena för kraftfull tillväxt, där forskare ska känna sig välkomna oavsett teoretisk tillhörighet och trygga i att deras utgångspunkter behandlas på ett respektfullt sätt. Syftet är att vi ska utgöra varandras kritiska massa och på ett bättre sätt utveckla den gemensamma kunskapsbasen inom pedagogisk forskning. Under presentationen presenteras bakgrunden till plattformens tillkomst samt den forskning som vi initierar under de kommande åren.

There has been an increasing interest for ecosystem services in society recently, and this interest has also influenced education. In this study, the aim is to develop knowledge about how this new school-phenomenon can be understood by students in grades 7 to 9, with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Ecosystem services literacy aims to help inform decision-makers for a sustainable environment in the future, and by that developing students’ knowledge in the field becomes crucial as the students are tomorrow’s decision makers. Participants were students with ASD in grades 7 to 9 (N=11) and controls (25 in grade 7 and 25 in grade 9). The 11 adolescents with ASD (4 female and 7 male) were aged 13-16 years (M=15, 18 years) who met DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) criteria for ASD. The school is an ordinary compulsory secondary school (grades 7 to 9). The data consisted answers of 4 tasks in both groups (ASD N=44 and controls N=200). The data material consists of answers form four questions, related to two core contents in the Swedish Biology syllabus, namely: (A) Animals, plants and other organisms’ life. Photosynthesis, combustion and ecological relationships and the importance of knowledge of this has, for example, Agriculture and Fisheries, and (B) Ecosystems in the environment, relationships between different organisms and names of common occurring species. Relationships between organisms and the inanimate million.Task (1) four sentences including needed information in to solve the task; (2) cartoon with one person asking a question and four alternative answers, (3) 8 sentences describing the foods way from to the kitchen and the difference between animal and vegetable food-production. A statement was made before the question was given: ‘school serves vegetarian food twice a week. How will this affect our environment?’ The qualitative analysis of the data shows different difficulties students in the two groups have in understanding the meaning of the tasks. The students with ASD had difficulties in finding the global overview of the content of the task to create an overall understanding of the intention of the task and how to answer the given question. On the other hand, the students without ASD make assumptions grounded in their own everyday ideas which made them end up with an incorrect answer as they did not relay on the information given in the tasks.

The aim of this study is to unveil research in science education addressing societal issues by a systematic review of peer-reviewed articles written in English and published between 2007 and 2017. Hofstein, Eilks, and Bybee (2011) found that education is not in line with the interests and needs of neither the society, nor the majority of the students’ interests. They also claim that students do not find the science classes interesting and by that, the possibility to affect the students’ way of acting in the future becomes limited. As societal issues are strongly connected to current problems, the reason for limiting the timespan is to keep focus on articles addressing the challenges we face in our society currently. A research review design was outlined (Hart, 2014). Peer-reviewed international scientific English-language articles at ERIC EBSCO, were searched to try to find what kind of research have been published on the topic. ERIC was invented in 1966 and provides access to 1.5 million bibliographic records. The first search with the search words “education” and “societal challenges” resulted in 91 hits. The analysis has been done in several steps (Cooper & Vanetine, 2008), finding including and excluding criteria while analyzing the abstracts, and then analyzing research aims, questions, methods and results. The results present the research conducted, but also the research areas not yet studied.

The aim of this study is to examine reasons for the increasing amount of pupils with autism (Wing, 1996) who refuses go to school. Three hypotheses were examined; (1) students are subjected to excessive demands in respect of social interaction and participation; (2) today's school policy in Sweden places high demands on pupils' executive ability, which means that it is expected they manage to organize and plan their work independently; and (3) students' problems may be reduced if they are exposed to a less amount of excessive stimuli. Data from 1.799 questionnaires and 15 interviews are analyzed. The results show that there is an unwittingly lack of deeper understanding about the pupils' specific deficits, which results in teachers forcing their pupils into situations which become impossible for them to cope. Offering the pupils opportunities for seclusion in the inclusive settings to help them sort their impressions and recover, as well as written or visual disposition to guide how to work with the tasks they have to solve would increase the quality for inclusive education and increase the possibility for the pupils to cope.

This research explores teacher educators' self-reported preparedness to teach students with special educational needs. Teacher educators are concerned with preparing the next generation of teachers who will, in turn, be addressing the needs of students with special educational needs within schools. Being able to address this important task also in their own teaching at the teacher education program is important for their own credibility. In total, 104 teacher educators at two university faculties completed an online questionnaire with questions about teaching students with special education needs. The results showed a significant difference between the educators' self-reported professional development needs. At University B, educators rated their own competence as well as the organizational ability to meet students with special educational needs higher than educators at University A, regardless of disability One explanation for the differences in self-rated competence might be due to the mandatory courses about how to teach students with special educational needs, shaping a community of practice with a shared knowledge among the teacher educators at University B. However, the experienced challenge lies in difficulties to transform the knowledge of what is required and expected into practical solutions for teaching students with special educational needs.

The aim of this study is to investigate if lecturers’ preparedness to include students with special educational needs (SEN) is enhanced by professional development courses offered at their universities. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2011) states that people with disabilities should be given the necessary support within the public education system to facilitate their education, which also applies to higher education. Disability reduces the likelihood to complete secondary education and increases the likelihood of experiencing harassment and discrimination during education (Pijl, Frostad & Mjavatn, 2014). In turn, this may cause unemployment. Different kinds of disabilities are differently treated; an inclusive approach is stronger towards students with visible disabilities, while students with invisible disabilities are less inclusively treated (Moriña Díez, López, & Molina, 2015). This point at a lack of understanding of the needs SEN students have, with unequal learning possibilities for SEN students with invisible disabilities. Results also unveils the lack of basic training for lecturers to support SEN students (Naik, 2017). One of the SEN student group with invisible disabilities are students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The challenges of higher education are prominent for this group, more than 50% of young adults in this group are neither being in employment nor included in higher education, and the lecturer’s knowledge of ASD is limited (Cai, & Richdale, 2016). As previous research has pointed out teachers’ expressed lack of readiness to teach SEN students in higher education, this study aims to answer the following research questions; 1. How do higher education teachers consider their own and their university’s competence to educate SEN students?, 2. How do higher education teachers rate their work with SEN students in higher education?, and 3. What competence do higher education teachers find necessary to teach SEN students? Lecturers from two university faculties managing teacher and special education programs answered a questionnaire about their skills to teach students with SEN. At university A (UA), SEN at higher education was not included in the mandatory courses for lecturers at the faculty, while at university B (UB) the courses included content about teaching SEN students. In total, the questionnaire was answered by 104 lecturers (65 at university A, and 39 at university B). The results show a significant (p=0.012) difference between the teachers’ needs of professional development. At UB, lecturers rate their own competence as well as the organizational ability to meet SEN students igher than lecturers at UA. Lecturers at UB are rating higher competence regardless of disability. Lecturers at UB rate higher competence regarding visual impairment (p=0.085), hearing impairment (p=0.076) and neuropsychiatric disorders (p=0.082) compared to lecturers at UA. The result show the need and importance of mandatory courses about SEN in higher education to foster an inclusive learning environment.

The aim of this article is to elucidate how teacher researchers use a theoretical framework as mediated tool to create boundaries in communities of research practices (CoRPs) and how this effects student learning. If, and in what way, knowledge developed in one practice can be used to inform the next is also examined. Two teacher researchers implemented two CoRPs each, one as internal participant and one as external participant. In total, 202 students, 22 teachers, 2 teacher researchers, and 1 researcher participated. The qualitative analysis is framed by Wenger’s three boundary dimensions: engagement, imagination, and alignment. The results show that teachers’ actions in the second practice, no matter if they were internal or external participants, are characterized by a higher degree of security and knowledge and the lessons implemented are more effective regarding the students’ learning outcomes than in the first. The results show that knowledge develops in an interaction order regardless of the internal or external community order. The result from the first team informs the starting point for the second team, and knowledge boundaries are transferred by the teacher researcher from one CoRP to the other.

Trepartsamtalet. 15 inspelade videosamtal mellan lärarstuderande, handledare och besökande vfu-lärare.

This study aimed to contribute to knowledge about research on educational superintendents as decision-maker through a systematic review of research on this topic undertaken between 2000 and 2022. A literature search followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach. Of the 313 articles identified, 36 met the inclusion and quality criteria of the mixed-methods appraisal tool (MMAT) 2018. Six main areas emerged in research on superintendents' decision-making tasks: policy implementation (n = 9), contextual issues (n = 7), general decision-making processes (n = 7), decision-making competence (n = 5), gender (n = 4), and values/ethics (n = 4). Results showed that most articles (28) were about research in the US. The review identified a lack of research about superintendents' tasks as decision-makers, such as 1. knowledge about the significant differences between superintendents' roles as decision-makers in urban and rural areas, 2. professional development programs for superintendents' as decision-makers, and 3. studies about gender issues as the majority of teachers were women, while the majority of superintendents as decision-makers are men.

Även om vi kan "se" instanser av ljus är det svårt för barn i de tidiga skolåren att förstå vad ljus är. I denna studie beskrivs elevers förståelse av ljus genom att studera på vilket sätt de tecknar skuggor från ett föremål belyst av en ljuskälla. Syftet med studien är att skapa ny kunskap om hur elever i åk 3 förstår begreppen ljus och skugga och på vilket sätt detta kan stimulera elevers intresse för fysiska fenomen. Forskningsfrågorna är: På vilket sätt visar eleverna sin förståelse av ljus genom att teckna skuggor? Vad kan vi förstå av barns förståelse av ljusets riktning genom att studera hur de tecknar skuggor? Genom en variationsteoretisk ansats för analys synliggörs vilka aspekter som eleverna redan har urskilt och vilka aspekter som behöver bedömas för att utveckla deras djupare förståelse av fenomenet.

This is a systematic literature review aiming to systematically synthesize research of teachers’ collaborative professional development (CPD) for inclusive education. In total, 21 articles out of 55 from three data-based met the inclusion criteria. Cohen’s kappa was used to measure the agreement, found that the agreement between the raters was 0.72; substantial agreement. The results show that the definition of inclusive education differs, from the right to school attendance to full inclusion by participating in the same classes as other peers in the same age groups and environment. By that, models for collaborative professional development also vary. Most studies were small-scale projects without controls or data showing evidence for enhanced teacher or student outcomes or satisfaction. Accordingly, we could not obtain results showing powerful CPD models. We instead defined research gaps in systematic and evidence-based studies of collaborative professional development models for inclusive education. However, participation in professional development trainings resulted in teachers having more positive attitudes towards inclusive education. Results were also found that show that teachers who were most positive about inclusion also had the highest risks of burnout. Finally, results of the CPDs’ effect on students’ knowledge development in inclusive education was limited.

In this study, a total of 18 in-service teachers participated in one cycle of a learning study (Marton, 2015; Holmqvist, 2011) aiming to study development of academic literacy. The study was guided by variation theory (Marton 2015; Holmqvist, Gustavsson & Wernberg, 2008). The object of learning is academic literacy, a subject of importance for all teachers, as their professional work is supposed to be conducted on scientific based knowledge. The capability to read and understand scientific publications, and to judge the scientific value of different sources used by teachers, are crucial for the quality of teachers’ professional work. The study was designed following the steps of a learning study. This means collaborative discussions among the teachers, in this case the researchers who are the authors of this abstract, testing the participants’ knowledge before the teaching activity, by designing and implementing instruction offer the participants to discern the critical aspects of academic literacy to gain deeper knowledge, analysis of post-tests to describe the learning outcome, and to present the results. The lesson was focusing on the structure of, and differences between, scientific and popular scientific texts. Two texts were used presenting the same study and by the same author. By that, the in-service teachers were offered to see the same topics differently described based on the two different genre’s requirements. The results show how the participants in the pre-test focuses on the texts’ similarities, with an unawareness of genre differences. In the post-test, the differences in genre is described. A limitation of the study is that the two texts used in pre and post-tests are focusing slightly different topics, which is discerned and focused by the participants – an aspect not critical for developing academic literacy at a general level.

References

Holmqvist, M. (2011). Teachers’ learning in a learning study. Instructional science, 39(4), 497-511.

Holmqvist, M., Gustavsson, L. & Wernberg, A. (2008) Variation Theory – An Organizing Principle to 

Guide Design Research in Education. In Kelly, A.E., Lesh, R., &. Baek J. (eds) Handbook of design research methods in education, p 111-130. New York: Routledge. 

Marton, F. (2015). Necessary conditions of learning. London: Routledge.

This theoretical contribution aims to discuss and point out in what way Q-methodology merged with phenomenography can contribute to a more systematic and solid analysis of respondents’ expressed experiences, as well as how phenomenography can contribute as an analytical tool to find viewpoints and statements providing a Q-sorting. Since the start of the development of the research approach, phenomenography has focused on respondents’ conceptions or experiences, and qualitative differences between differently expressed phenomena captured during a qualitative analyze. Critic has been raised against the de-contextualization during the analysis, and by that, neglecting differences of experiences in relation to contextual aspects. Lately, there is a claim that the development of phenomenography as a methodological approach has been sparse, instead there has been a focus on variation theory to enhance the theoretical stance based on the approach. In this paper, the two methodological approaches are discussed, and aspects of strengths which can be used to contribute to each approach’s development are based in previous research. 

The aim of this study is to generate new knowledge about how pupils in grade 4 understand the concepts light and shadow, informing our knowledge about pupil knowledge development as well as to contribute with results to improve science education. In total 18 pupils in grades 2,3 and 4 (8-11 years old) participated in group interviews consisting of 3 pupils in each. During the interviews, children were asked questions, and made drawings of light and shadows. Data consists of 6 group interviews and 18 drawings. The result shows how the pupils mainly experience light and shadows as reflections of light, and by that neglect e.g. shadows on the floor under a table under a lamp hanging from the ceiling. Instead, in their drawings they show how the light produces reflections of the lamp, table and table legs at the walls and on the floor. The strong linkage between shadows and reflections/ images suggests that introducing a model of light seems necessary to provide for alternative explanations of shadows.

The aim of the study is to analyse teachers’ efforts to develop secondary school students’ knowledge and argumentation skills of what constitutes scientific theories. The analysis is based on Leontiev’s three-level structure of activity (activity, action, and operation), as these levels correspond to the questions why, what, and how content is taught. The unit of analysis was a school development project in science education, where design-based interventions were conducted. Data comprised notes and minutes from eight meetings, plans, and video recordings of the lessons, and a written teacher evaluation. The teachers’ (n = 7) learning actions were analysed to identify (a) concept formation in science education, (b) expressions of agency, (c) discursive manifestations of contradictions, and (d) patterns of interaction during the science interventions. Three lessons on what constitutes scientific theories were implemented in three different student groups (n = 24, 23, 24), framed by planning and evaluation meetings for each lesson. The results describe (1) the ways in which teachers became more skilled at ensuring instruction met their students’ needs and (2) the ways in which teachers’ operations during instruction changed as a result of their developed knowledge of how to express the content based on theoretical assumptions.

This study investigated differences and similarities in outcomes of analyses based on phenomenography and variation theory. We used the same data for both analyses to highlight the assumptions of each approach. Participants were 198 students (grades 7–9) who provided written answers to the question ‘What is learning?’. The phenomenographic analysis identified qualitatively different categories representing different ways participants’ conceptualised learning, separated by critical aspects that distinguished each category. This analysis found six categories, seeing learning as: extended skills, process, investment, feelings, object-knowledge, relationships, and feelings. The variation theory analysis identified aspects constituting the object of learning, with critical aspects being those not yet discerned by the learner. Aspects and features identified in this analysis were: learner (skills, abilities, pre-knowledge, attitudes), learning activities (brain, listen, repeat, practicing), learning source (teacher, school, learning materials, friends, Internet, places/persons outside school), content/ object of learning (facts, information, activity), and outcomes (job, enhanced future, development, performance, widening knowledge). Aspects and features not yet discerned are critical, and must be made discernable for the learner to enhance their understanding. This use of critical aspects differs from phenomenography, in which critical aspects identified qualitatively different ways of seeing learning (i.e., categories of collective experiences). In variation theory, aspects (dimensions) and features (values of the dimension) relate to individuals’ understanding in specific contexts (e.g., a school class). A major difference between phenomenography and variation theory is the perspective of collective- and individual-expressed discernments. In phenomenography, a person may belong to several categories, whereas in variation theory, the aspects an individual has discerned reflect the way that person understands the phenomenon. This means the outcome of variation theory can be used to design and test the outcome of instruction, whereas the outcome of phenomenography provides information about general assumptions of how a phenomenon can be discerned.

This study aims to discuss in what way the same data material unveil different outcomes based on what approach used: phenomenography or variation theory. ‘Conception’ is the unit of description in Phenome nography (Marton & Pong, 2005), and an analysis based on phenomenography focuses both the referential and structural aspect. In this study, students’ statements of what learning is, are analyzed. The distinction between the approaches lies in separating th e structural dimension between conceptions and within an object. Traditionally Phenomenography has focused the differences between conceptions of the same phenomenon, whilst Variation theory focuses on the internal structure within the object. The analysis describes how 198 students in grades seven to nine in the Swedish secondary school, describe what learning is. The results of the phenomenographic analysis unveil different pools of meanings of how learning is conceptualized differently. The results from the analysis based on Variation theory describes what aspects an features the delimited phenomenon ‘learning’ consists of. Hence, a combination of Phenomenography and Variation theory of the same data set bring an understanding of how differently the same phenomenon can be seen, and what critical aspects are included or excluded to define a category. On the other hand, critical aspects used in an analysis based on Variation theory do not describe the differences among ways of seeing the same thing, but the variation within the phenomenon, how it is and can be differently structured. Using ‘learning’ as the phenomenon is challenging, as the concept is abstract and imprecisely.

Central coherence is the ability to gather information from the environment to shape a coherent meaningful whole. Having a weak central coherence, like individuals with ASD usually have, means they tend to divide the whole in parts, while individuals without ASD rather try to shape a whole gestalt of the parts. How school-tasks are designed is of importance for all students, and McMaster, van den Broek, Espin, Pinto, Janda, Lam, Hsu, Jung, Leinen and van Boekel (2015) have studied how task design to establish coherence have to make the students identify how different events or facts lead to or depend on each other can be developed. However, if the students do have impairments in central coherence this issue becomes even more important.

This study investigated beliefs about climate change among Swedish secondary school students at the end of their K-12 education. An embedded mixed method approach was used to analyse 51 secondary school students’ written responses to two questions: (1) What implies climate change? (2) What affects climate? A quantitative analysis of the responses revealed that ‘Earth’, ‘human’ and ‘greenhouse effect’ were frequent topics regarding the first question, and ‘pollution’, ‘atmosphere’ and ‘Earth’ were frequent regarding the second. A qualitative analysis, based on a ‘conceptual elements’ framework, focused on three elements within responses: atmosphere (causes and/or consequences), Earth (causes and consequences) and living beings (humans and/or animals and their impacts on climate change). It revealed a predominantly general or societal, rather than individual, perspective underlying students’ responses to the second question. The ability to connect general/societal issues with individual issues relating to climate change could prompt students to reflect on the contributions of individuals towards climate change mitigation, thereby constituting a basis for decision-making to promote a sustainable environment. Although the students did not discuss climate changes from an individual perspective, their statements revealed their understanding of climate change as a system comprising various components affecting the overall situation. They also revealed an understanding of the difference between weather and climate.

This study analyses the effect of pictures in reading materials on the viewing patterns of dyslexic adults. By analysing viewing patterns using eye-tracking, we captured differences in eye movements between young adults with dyslexia and controls based on the influence of reading skill as a continuous variable of the total sample. Both types of participants were assigned randomly to view either text-only or a text + picture stimuli. The results show that the controls made an early global overview of the material and (when a picture was present) rapid transitions between text and picture. Having text illustrated with a picture decreased scores on questions about the learning material among participants with dyslexia. Controls spent 1.7% and dyslexic participants 1% of their time on the picture. Controls had 24% fewer total fixations; however, 29% more of the control group's fixations than the dyslexic group's fixations were on the picture. We also looked for effects of different types of pictures. Dyslexic subjects exhibited a comparable viewing pattern to controls when scenes were complex, but fewer fixations when scenes were neutral/simple. Individual scan paths are presented as examples of atypical viewing patterns for individuals with dyslexia as compared with controls. © 2016 The Authors. Dyslexia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

This study used video feedback in a collaborative development study to help improve teachers’ perceptions of the learning needs of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and intellectual disabilities (ID) and enhance their active participation in the classroom. Crucially, teachers need the necessary skills to discern students’ subtle communications, as students with ASD and co-occurring ID may have reduced or non-existent verbal language and may express their needs mainly through behaviours. The first author video recorded ten classroom lessons and collaborated with three teachers to discuss the recordings in six meetings over the course of one semester.

The data used for this analysis were taken from the first (February) and last (June) collaborative meetings of the semester. The results show how collaborative video feedback can influence teachers’ judgements about students’ learning and further their professional development; the subtle signals that students use to communicate become more visible when the video recordings are viewed multiple times. The collaborative discussions facilitated the teachers’ understanding of students’ behaviours and actions. In addition, the teachers’ focus shifted from identifying general aspects of their students’ behaviours to their skills and knowledge.

The scientific explanation for shadows is counterintuitive. It focuses on the local absence of light. Perception of a figural shadow on the other hand, usually is a figure-ground experience, with the shadow representing the ‘positive’ image in the foreground and the illuminated environment the ground. Learning to explain shadows is a content of elementary and middle school curricula and a considerable number of studies that deal with childre’ns conceptions of light and shadow are available. The first section of the poster shows that these findings can be structured by very few critical aspects of learning that belong to a set of phenomenographic categories (study 1). The second section of the poster shows how these findings are taken up for a current learning study in which the introduction of a model of light in primary school is focused (study 2). This is due to the insight, that exploring shadows does not provide a suitable basis for developing the knowledge needed for their explanation. Shadows rather distract attention from light. Therefore, teaching intends to provide exploration, insights and knowledge in contexts different from the ones they are later applied to. Methodologically the current study is based on a design-based research approach, more specifically a learning study. The methodology of learning studies was developed in Sweden and Hong Kong and combines the idea of lesson studies with variation theory. The model of light can also be viewed as the basis for cumulative learning towards understanding radiation in general.