Active learning is commonly defined as an instructional approach that actively engages students in the learning process, aiming to foster improved and deeper comprehension. However, a previous study comparing mechanics labs offered students a choice between probe-ware (MBL) labs [FMCE normalised gain: 48%] and experimental problem-solving labs [18% gain]. Although both options were considered to employ active learning, the substantial difference in gains was noteworthy and contradicted existing literature conclusions. Consequently, a followup study was conducted. Analysis of video recordings from the labs revealed that students in the problem-solving labs exhibited interactive learning characteristics according to the ICAP framework, but made limited use of physical concepts in their modeling of phenomena. Nonetheless, they successfully achieved the intended goals of developing skills in experiment planning and mathematical modeling of physical systems in the experimental problem-solving labs. This study suggests the necessity to move beyond surface interpretations of "active learning" and delve into the specific ways in which students are actively engaged in a learning environment. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of a critical and thorough discussion of active learning methodologies.

Teknikens betydelse för samhället blir större för varje dag som går och formar också stora delar av våra liv. Våra hem är fyllda med olika apparater som, utan att vi egentligen tänker på det, ansluter oss till tekniska system som i sin tur försörjer oss med vatten, el, telekommunikation och annan infrastruktur. Tekniken spelar också en viktig roll i yrkeslivet, oavsett om man arbetar med att utveckla ny teknik, att underhålla teknik eller att använda teknik i sitt arbete. Behovet av att förstå tekniken har alltså aldrig varit så stort som nu varför vi valt att sätta samman denna antologi. Boken är skriven med blivande och verk-samma lärare i fokus. Vi har därför valt att lyfta fram en bred förståelse för teknik och teknikundervisning, samtidigt som vi försökt visa hur denna förståelse kan vara ett verktyg för att utveckla undervisning. Målet för oss i redaktionen har med andra ord varit att skapa en blandning av texter som med varierande konkretion belyser den konstruerade världen ur ett flertal olika perspektiv... 

There is a growing interest in engineering education that the curriculum should include collaborative design projects. Collaboration and collaborative learning imply a shared activity, a shared purpose, a joint problem-solving space, and mutual interdependence to achieve intended learning outcomes. The focus, in this study, is on engineering students’ collaborative group practices. The context is a design project in the fifth semester of the problem-based Architecture and Design programme at Aalborg University. Students’ collaborative work in the preparation for an upcoming status seminar was video recorded in situ. In our earlier studies video ethnography, conversation analysis and embodied interaction analysis have been used to explore what interactional work the student teams did and what kind of resources they used to collaborate and complete the design task on a momentmoment basis. In this paper we report from a one-hour period where a group of four engineering students do final designs in preparation for the status seminar. Using recorded multi-perspective videos, we have analysed students’ fine-grained patterns of social interaction within this group. We found that the interaction and collaboration was very dynamic and fluid. It was observed that students seamlessly switched from working individually to working collaboratively. In collaborative work students frequently changed constellations and would not only work as a whole group, but also would break into subgroups of two or three students to do some work. Our results point to the need to investigate group practices and individual and collaborative learning in design project groups and other collaborative learning environments in more detail and the results challenge a naïve individualcollaborative- binary.

CONTEXT: There is a growing interest in engineering education that the curriculum should include collaborative design projects. The problem-based and project-based learning context of this study is a design project in the fifth semester of the problem-based Architecture and Design programme at Aalborg University. The students had the task to design a real office building in collaborative groups of five to six students. PURPOSE: Collaboration and collaborative learning imply a shared activity, a shared purpose, and a mutual interdependence to achieve the intended learning outcomes. In earlier studies we have highlighted the cognitive importance of tools and the use of a wealth of bodily and material resources in students’ collaborative interactional work in the design project. In this study, we focus on students’ collaborative group practices in the design project. The fine-grained details of collaborative work in engineering students design projects are currently underresearched. METHODOLOGY: The preparation for an upcoming status seminar was video recorded in situ. Video ethnography, conversation analysis and embodied interaction analysis were used to explore what interactional work the student teams did and what kind of resources they used to collaborate and complete the design task. Complete six hours sessions of five groups were recorded using multiple video cameras (two to five cameras per group). OUTCOMES: The fine-grained patterns of social interaction within groups were found to be complex and dynamic. In the video recordings it was observed that students often changed constellations and break into subgroups of one, two or three students to do some work and to congregate later as a whole group. Thus, we found that the patterns of collaboration in groups practical day-to-day work were not static but displayed a myriad of different patterns. CONCLUSION: Our results challenge a naïve individual-collaborative binary and point to the need to investigate group practices and individual and collaborative learning in design project groups and other collaborative learning environments in more detail. Physical settings in active learning environments should make fluid collaboration patterns in students’ collaborative work feasible and it should be encouraged by instructors.

This study aims to investigate affordances of models and modelling in design projects in technology education. To learn more about affordances when working with models and modelling, four Swedish technology teachers were interviewed using a narrative approach. Despite a small number of informants data were rich, containing detailed descriptions of sequences where students used models and modelling in ways not planned by the teachers. By using a qualitative, generic inductive approach, the narrative interviews revealed seven different affordances of models and modelling in the projects: Seeing different solutions; Finding possibilities and limitations in solutions; Representing an idea, structure or function; Communicating solutions with drawings; Making problems and solutions visible; Trial and error and learning from mistakes and finally Taking inspirations from each other’s solutions. Some conclusions and implications of the study are that when the students can see and use a wide variety of materials when modelling, they are more creative in finding solutions to design problems. The use of conceptual design in schools, leading to students performing trial and error using models to solve problems, might also be connected to the importance of a variety of materials. In the study, teachers describe how their students used models, trying different solutions, representing ideas, and trying, failing and trying again. All these modelling activities are important parts of a design process and might prove that the doing itself is a process of reflection.

Laborationer ses vanligtvis som ett väsentligt inslag i teknisk- och naturvetenskaplig utbildning. Ett av de många syftena med laborationer är att stärka, utveckla och fördjupa studenternas förståelse av verkliga fenomen (det vill säga objekt och händelser) och sambandet mellan verkliga fenomen och teoretiska modeller och teorier. Ett annat huvudsyfte med laborationer är att utveckla studenternas förmåga att samarbeta i experiment och empiriskt undersöka och beskriva tekniska system, naturliga och tekniska föremål och naturliga och artificiella fenomen.

I samband med distansutbildning är det generellt en utmaning att utforma laborationer på ett bra sätt så att de avsedda lärandemålen uppnås. Detta gäller inte bara specifikt situationen med ”påtivingad” distansundervisning som uppstod i samband med COVID-19-pandemin, utan det gäller i allmänhet alla typer av av undervisning "off campus".

I denna artikel beskrivs preliminära resultat från en litteraturstudie i syfte att få en översikt av vad som rapporteras i den ämnesdidaktiska forskningslitteraturen om laborationer som utförs som distanslaboratorier eller som hemlaboratorier inom naturvetenskapliga och tekniska utbildningar. Det finns en rätt omfattande litteratur som beskriver fjärrlaboratorier och onlinelaboratorier. Men, med få undantag är litteraturen främst inriktad på de tekniska aspekterna av att fjärrstyra laborationer och mindre på den pedagogiska utformningen och studenternas lärande. Förutom olika former av ”onlinelaboratorier” och fjärrstyrda laborationer lyfts olika former av hemlaborationer och laborationer med digital utrustning som kan införskaffas till en så låg kostnad att studenterna själva kan äga eller låna den som intressanta alternativ för framtiden.

Labwork is usually seen as an essential element in engineering and science education. One, of the many purposes, with labwork is to strengthen, develop and deepen students' understanding of real phenomena (i.e., objects and events) and the connection between real phenomena and theoretical models and theories. Another main purpose of lab work is to develop students' abilities to collaborate in experiments and empirically investigate and describe technical systems, natural and technical objects, and natural and artificial phenomena.

In connection with distance learning, it is in general a challenge to design labwork ina good way so that the intended learning outcomes mentioned previously are achieved. This does not only apply specifically to the situation with “forced distance teaching” that has arisen in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, but generally applies to all kinds of “off campus” teaching and learning.

I have carried out a comprehensive exploratory review of what is reported in the science and engineering education research literature regarding laboratory work conducted as distance labs or as home labs. In my paper I will present initial results from my literature review. I have found that there is, indeed, a quite substantial literature describing remote labs and online labs. However, with few exceptions, the literature is mainly focused on the technical aspects of remote labwork and less on the pedagogical aspects. In addition to various forms of "online" labs and remotely controlled labs, I will highlight different forms of home labs and labs with low-cost equipment as an interesting option.

In this paper, we explore the notion of ecotones and argue how it can contribute to postdigital thinking. We do so using two empirical examples as backdrop for our discussions. We argue the concept of ecotones can add to postdigital research particularly in relation to addressing problematic dichotomies such as the digital vs analogue/material. We highlight how the notion of ecotones has a conceptual dimension having to do with tensions, diversity and richness emerging in the meeting between two entities. Secondly, we discuss how ecotones have a spatial and material dimension. Through the analysis of empirical examples, we discuss how the notion of ecotones can contribute to postdigital theory and analytic approach to dichotomies, such as the digital vs analogue/material. Further, we discuss ecotones in relation to hybridity and liminality, which are similar concepts.

In engineering education there has been a growing interest that the curriculum should include collaborative design projects. However, students’ collaborative learning processes in design projects have, with a few exceptions, not been studied in earlier research. Most previous studies have been performed in artificial settings with individual students using verbal protocol analysis or through interviews. 

The context of this study is a design project in the fifth semester of the PBL-based Architecture and Design programme at Aalborg University. The students had the task to design a real office building in collaborative groups of 5–6 students. The preparation for an upcoming status seminar was video recorded in situ. Video ethnography, conversation analysis and embodied interaction analysis were used to explore what interactional work the student teams did and what kind of resources they used to collaborate and complete the design task. Complete six hours sessions of five groups were recorded using multiple video cameras (2 – 5 cameras per group).

The different collaborative groups did not only produce and reach an agreement on a design proposal during the session – in their design practice they used, and produced, a wealth of tools and bodily-material resources for representational and modelling purposes. As an integral and seamless part of students’ interactional and representational work and the group’s collaborative thinking bodily resources such as “gestured drawings” and gestures, concrete materials such as 3D-foam and papers models, “low-tech” representations such as sketches and drawings by hand on paper and “high-tech” representations as CAD-drawings were used.

These findings highlight the cognitive importance of tools and the use of bodily and material resources in students’ collaborative interactional work in a design setting. Furthermore, our study demonstrates that a focus primarily on digital technologies, as is often the case in the recent drive towards “digital learning”, would be highly problematic.