The youth movement “Fridays for Future” has spurred new interest from the research community aboutthe way in which young people engage in politics and governance of social and physical environment.The recent wave of youth activism originated from school strikes concerning the failure of the adults totake any serious measures against climate change. Over the past two years, there is a growing researchinterest to study how youth articulate their concerns about the present and the future, and how adults payattention to these, and act on these demands in practical terms e.g., if, and how these translate into currentsocial and political affairs. Youth research trending in the last decades has investigated why youth politicalorganizations fail to attract young people. Researchers have investigated the ways in which young peopleengage politically e.g. via social media, rather than being loyal to traditional political parties. Much ofthis literature is research done on the young, but more recently a new strand of research has been emergingwhere researchers work with the young, in order to gain a better understanding of how social and politicalengagement can be articulated.

An important part of the biology subject matter in school is the biological processes in the human body and health. In the Swedish curriculum these are present in all years of the compulsory school. Anyhow, students do not have an overall understanding of health and bodily functions. The misunderstandings of the nutritional processes of the human body have been reported by several authors. We have been teaching physiology to preservice teacher and biology students for several years trying to reach a better understanding of processes in the human body. The present study shows teaching of health and body starting with a discussion about ticks and the various diseases they spread in the Stockholm area. Nine preservice teacher students participated in four weeks of biology studies, including ecological processes and organisms’ life cycles. The last week was devoted to body and health. The idea was to begin with the circulatory system as students often focus on the various functions of the organ but forget to link it to the blood system. By connecting to the students' previous knowledge of organisms and ecosystems to body and health, we started with an introduction of tics by going out collecting and investigating their morphology and life cycle and continued with a video clip showing how the virus and bacteria are spread through the blood. The following lessons contained function of body systems, nutrition and the immune system. After this the students wrote reflections from three different lessons about their learning and what was surprising. They also wrote a lesson plan for teaching body and health in primary school (year 4-6). At the end of the course, the students had an examination in three parts where one was concentrated on body and health. Results from the reflections and the written exam showed that the students understood the interaction between the different parts of the body better and the importance of the circulatory system, but also between different organisms and how they may affect each other. The inclusion of ticks in the course increased the understanding.

Because of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the year 2020 many countriesclosed down education on all levels. The students are supposed to conduct their studiesat home with digital support from their institutions. In science teaching, with laboratorywork, field studies and other types of practical work as important parts of the studies andalso the reflective parts, usually often in dialogue form, are suffering. At home the studentseems to lack ability for a deeper understanding, especially as teachers showed anincreased tendency to base their grading on written texts. This creates a general lowerdegree of understanding outside the classroom as texts easily may be copied withoutcontent knowledge. In the classroom the presence of, not only the teacher, but also otherstudents, stimulate or trigger the wish of deeper understanding. Thus, the teacher hasto behave otherwise when working in the digital word compared to in the classroom.Based on interviews with teachers and out our own experiences we here present somebasic problems of science teaching in a pandemic world and how they may be solved.Thus, some principles for the design and structure of homework tasks useful for teacherswill be presented. The suggestions presented will hopefully promote deeperunderstanding of learning processes and their environmental dependence.

New understanding is realized by creative learning where students are involved in meaningful learning, ownership of learning, control of learning processes and innovation. In order to produce learning situations where creative learning is achieved, teachers have to create trustful atmospheres where students are allowed to think and discuss without critical evaluation from the teacher. It is also important to create practical exercises in which theoretical models are processed and connected to observations and subject matter. During several years we have developed courses in science with the goal to promote students to become independent learners and explorers out of their own prerequisites as future professional teachers. We have investigated different methods and designs of teaching; conceptual understanding and conceptual change theory, discourse-based understanding and Dewey’s view of learning. In this study we are focusing on exploring the variation of students creative learning through a chemistry course. Permitting the particulate subject matter of chemistry to demonstrate as universal dramaturgical framework for conceptual learning and embodied experience. Chemistry involves considerable amounts of abstract conceptual thinking, molecular understanding and language. The focus of our study is the exploration of how conceptual abstract molecular understanding of phenomena in nature emerges through different teaching approaches, and imagination transformed into universal understanding, which provides the students with a sense of empowerment and a positive outlook on their future profession as teachers.

Using information and communications technologies (ICT) in the classroom requires new skills on the part of educators. We have elicited current best practices for professional development of educators from the participants in this workshop, what knowledge teachers need and how it is best imparted. We found that even given their different starting points, teachers in different regions are often feeling unsure about how to use ICT in a pedagogical context, and there is no clear consensus on how to best train teachers in this use, but that the digitalisation of schools will require a long-term commitment from school management and political leadership.

Inom många högskolor och universitet pågår just nu ett arbete med att utveckla strategier för digitalt och flexibelt lärande. Det finns mycket som tyder på att digitaliseringens betydelse fortsatt kommer att öka. Den digitala kompetensen och infrastrukturen behöver därför förstärkas, och det blir av särskild vikt inom högskolepedagogiska sammanhang att arbeta fram pedagogiska former som tillvaratar digitaliseringens möjligheter och svarar på omvärldens förväntningar på flexibilitet och tillgänglighet. Inom ramen för den här workshopen kommer vi därför tillsammans undersöka vilka digitala verktyg som lärare vid högskolor och universitet använder sig av för att bedriva undervisning som främjar ett digitalt och flexibelt lärande. Workshopen syftar till att dela med sig av de praktiker och resurser som används för att lära av varandra, samt påbörja arbetet med att formulera praxis för hur vi kan utveckla stöd inom den högskolepedagogiska verksamheten för att främja lärande med stöd av olika digitala verktyg. 

Regeringen har gett Universitetskansler ämbetet (UKÄ) i uppdrag att följa upp pedagogiskt utvecklingsarbete vid högskolor och universitet i Sverige. I uppdraget har det ingått att formulera en nationell strategi för digitalisering av högre utbildning och forskning (UKÄ, 2020). Då digitaliseringen av undervisningen gynnar livslångt lärande, breddad rekrytering och hållbar utveckling, och då studenter i en digitaliserad värld ställer högre krav på användandet av digitala verktyg för kvalitet i undervisningen är det av stort intresse att dela erfarenheter kring användningen av digitala verktyg. Även om de nämnda krav och förändringarna är aktuella, så är frågan om digitalisering och olika digitala verktygs roll i undervisning inte en ny fråga. Digitala verktyg används redan i undervisningen inom högskolor och universitet i varierande grad, och det finns en stor mängd forskning kring lärande med digitala verktyg som visar på både den pedagogiska potentialen hos de digitala verktygen (Josefsson et al., 2019), men också på nya utmaningar som ställs på lärare när verktygen ska integreras i praktiska undervisningssituationer.

Inom ramen för workshopen kommer att vi inledningsvis att arbeta med att kartlägga vilka digitala verktyg som deltagarna använder sig av i nuläget och skapa möjligheter för att dela med oss av framgångsrika exempel. Därefter kommer vi att arbeta praktiskt med att ta fram förslag på hur ett antal digitala verktyg skulle kunna användas i specifika undervisningssituationer utifrån ett antal olika scenarios som kommer att presenteras för deltagarna. Deltagare vid workshopen förväntas vara aktiva och arbeta tillsammans i olika tvärdisciplinära grupper/team som arrangörerna kommer att skapa vid workshopens uppstart.

Referenser:

Josefsson, P., Jää-Aro, K.-M., Lundmark, S., & Mutvei Berrez, A. (2019). The implementation of digital tools in teaching: A qualitative case study at a Swedish primary school. 11th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, 2382–2387. 

Universitetskanskler ämbetet (UKÄ) (2020). Pedagogiskt utvecklingsarbete - rapportering av regeringsuppdrag. Url: https://www.uka.se/om-oss/var-verksamhet/regeringsuppdrag/pedagogiskt-utvecklingsarbete/pedagogiskt-utvecklingsarbete--rapportering-av-regeringsuppdrag.html

Systemtänkande är en av de viktiga nyckelkompetenserna som utbildning för hållbar utveckling ska bidra till enligt UNESCO. Denna kompetens bidrar till förmågan att se hur de 17 hållbarhetsmålen hänger samman i ekonomiska, sociala och ekologiska dimensioner (Stafford-Smith 2017). Systemtänkande ger kompetens att analysera komplexiteten i de ständiga förändringar vår värld genomgår och hur olika faktorer påverka varandra till att ge utfall som inte kunnat förutses om faktorerna studerats varför sig (Wieck et al 2011). Systemtänkande finns i alla discipliner men dessa beskriver och analyserar komplexa system påolika sätt. Naturvetenskap och ingenjörsvetenskap använder ofta matematiska eller schematiska modeller; samhällsvetenskap och humaniora analyserar genom beskrivande redogörelser; tidiga systemekologer beskrev komplexa system med bilder och i humaniora kan vi hitta poesi för systemanalys.

För att blivande studenter ska bli attraktiva på arbetsmarknaden behöver de kunna tillämpa systemtänkande, vilket ger dem en större förmåga att möta utmaningar med en holistisk syn. I utbildning inom de flesta discipliner finns inslag av systemtänkande men studenterna har ofta svårt att ta till sig betydelsen av att förstå komplexa system och hur de ska användadet för problemlösning. Det kan vara svårt att “se skogen för bara trän”. För att öka kvaliteten i undervisningen behöver systemtänkandet synliggöras i kurserna t.ex. genom lärandemål i kursplanerna och med praktiska moment där man tillämparsystemtänkande vid problemlösning.

I workshopen vill vi undersöka vilka undervisningsmoment i olika discipliner som redan berör komplexa system och systemtänkande och vilka som skulle kunna. Arbetet delas i tre delar: Först en introducerande föreläsning. Därefter bjuds deltagarna in att ge exempel på undervisningsmoment som kan ingå i en kurs i en diskussion i mindre interdisciplinära grupper. Under den tredje delen av workshopen kommer vi diskutera på vilket sätt man kan genomföra undervisning för systemtänkande. Finns det finns gemensamma drag eller olikheter mellan de olika ämnen om hur man undervisar systemtänkande?

Stafford-Smith, M., Griggs, D., Gaffney, O., Ullah, F., Reyers, B., Kanie, N., Stigson, B., Shrivastava, P., Leach, M., &O’Connell, D. (2017). Integration: The key to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability Science, 12(6), 911–919. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-016-0383-3

Wiek, A., Withycombe, L., & Redman, C. L. (2011). Key competencies in sustainability: A reference framework for academicprogram development. Sustainability Science, 6(2), 203–218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-011-0132-6

Creative learning involves meaningful learning, ownership of learning, control of learning processes and innovation when new understanding is realised. In order to produce learning situations where creative learning is achieved, teachers have to create trustful atmospheres where students are allowed to think and discuss without critical evaluation of the teacher. It is also important to create practical exercises in which theoretical models are processed and connected to observations. During many years we have tried to develop courses in science with the goal to promote students to become independent learners and explorers out of their own prerequisites. Different methods and designs of teaching have been investigated and the variation of the student’s creative learning was observed. To continue this development, we here are investigating a chemistry course. Chemistry involves considerable amounts of abstract thinking. Further, as many students had bad experiences from school this was a challenge. 17 preservice teacher students were trained by one teacher to become independent and creative in their own learning of chemistry. The course of 10 full days over three weeks included practical activities mixed with discussions in groups followed by discussion with the teacher in order to connect theory with practical exercises. The students wrote short reflections after each week answering the questions: What do you take with you from your own learning processes and/or in meeting other’s learning processes? What surprised and/or amazed you most? The three reflections where analysed by qualitative methods scoring demonstrations of professional development, process thinking and learning processes. Our results showed that students negative to chemistry changed their opinion and enjoyed thinking of phenomena in everyday life with chemical perspectives. All students expressed the importance of practical exercise and group discussions in their own learning. The reflections contained detailed chemical explanations, concepts used properly and were describing their learning processes. They also used their experiences when they discussed how to design teaching situations. Thus, the design of the course promoted creative thinking and deepened their understanding of chemistry.