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.

Scientific revolutions may be characterized by the replacement of some fundamentaltheories by others, changes of scientific practices, transforming the world, and reachingpopular consciousness. The theory of evolution by natural selection by Darwin is a goodexample. The expressions of the theory may change over time; Darwin’s hypotheseswere in an ordinary language, today often presented as mathematical models. Thus, thetheory is explanatory only if the context is well-known and the concepts used are clear.Artificial and natural selection differ, as the (artificial) action based on the choices ofacting individuals to reach specific long-term goals, are completely different from the(natural) act (active or passive) by organisms to achieve something within the nextminute. Thus, for humans it may be hard to identify the natural selective forces leadingto changes, although it is possible to use the perspective of Darwin on cultural activities.The theory of organic evolution was developed more than 150 years ago, and explainsalmost all of the phenomena in biology. Anyhow, the use of the theory in biology teachingis astonishingly low. Almost all teaching from primary schools to universities, is basedon facts or simple mechanisms between individuals. Biological communities on differentlevels from biotopes to biomes may be included in the curricula but only a small numberof students seem to understand the evolutionary background and its processes. In orderto increase the understanding of evolutionary theory, some ideas how to reform teachingin general and how to create a better understanding, through fieldwork, observations innature, discussions etc., are presented.

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.

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.

Observation is a skill necessary for the development of knowledge in science and is used,e.g., in studies to notice patterns and connections between abiotic and biotic factors, or inlaboratory experiments where detailed observations are necessary to achieve understanding.Observation does not only include viewing details but also hearing, smelling and tasting toget all available information from the senses. How students perceive the information dependson their previous personal experiences. It is therefore essential for students to practice theability to observe and to understand the contextual importance for learning. Here we presenta study where 55 pre-service preschool teacher students attended a science course for 10weeks with a variety of exercises. Late in the course they visited a Natural History Museum, agreenhouse with plants adapted to Mediterranean climate conditions and an art museum.Evaluation of written reflections after the visits were done by using the quality marker 4R’sof Doll’s (Relations, Recursion, Richness and Rigor) for the Natural History Museum and thegreenhouse and Roland Barthes concepts studium and punctum for the art museum. Ourresults showed that the students described their experiences from the visits in a personal waywith high quality. The variation of activities was important for the students’ ability to observeand to understand how to design pedagogic activities for children in preschool.