This study aims to investigate upper secondary school students’ engagement in computer-supported collaborative learning while interacting with a digital interactive visualisation of the carbon cycle. Task-based interviews were conducted with student pairs who used the visualisation to complete a carbon cycle activity, focusing on the transformation and movement of carbon compounds between carbon reservoirs. Drawing on an activity theory framework, the analysis identified contradictions and alignments among elements of the learning activity system. Findings indicate that students’ ability to construct system-based explanations was enhanced by access to key scientific concepts, effective interaction with the visualisation, and guided instructional support. Students’ development of explanations was sometimes obstructed when they engaged task-irrelevant concepts, lacked access to concepts or made unhelpful interpretations of the visualised information. Furthermore, a collaborative and socially supportive learning environment played a critical role in fostering collective sense-making and active engagement with the complexities of Earth system processes.

Developing environmental literacy for sustainability requires systems thinking, a challenging task that can be enhanced through interactive visual learning environments. This study investigates how adaptivity influences pupils’ performance and perception of a learning tool called Tracing Carbon, aimed at improving systems thinking skills related to the carbon cycle for grades 7-9. Data were gathered from 69 pupils across four classes as they used Tracing Carbon in their science lessons. The pupils were assigned to experimental (adaptive task and quiz difficulties) and control (random task and quiz difficulties) conditions. Performance and perceptions were evaluated through quiz logs and questionnaires. The study’s initial findings indicate that adaptivity can positively impact pupils’ performance in classroom settings. For the adaptive condition, performance correlated with higher cognitive engagement and learning satisfaction. In contrast, the random (control) condition showed a negative correlation between learning satisfaction and cognitive load, indicating a preference for less demanding tasks in the random condition. Despite potential study limitations, such as a relatively small sample size, preliminary analyses indicate that the adaptive condition improved quiz performance and reduced cognitive load compared to the random condition. Future analyses will be conducted to examine links between adaptivity and the number and type of errors in both tasks and quizzes, and pupils’ learning outcomes.

Facing environmental challenges like climate change and environmental degradation has increased theimportance of acquiring systems thinking skills. Systems thinking skills can empower students andcitizens to understand the interconnectedness of the earth’s subsystems and make informed decisions. Developing these skills is a challenge that could potentially be scaffolded bywell-designed interactive learning environments. Nevertheless, despite researchon interactive learning environments in science education, little has been reportedon the empirical process of designing such environments and integrating them into teaching practice.This research program fuses science education research with design practice and plans a multi-stagecase study in formal learning contexts. It focuses on an adaptive interactive learning environment fordeveloping grade 7-9 pupils’ systems thinking skills in the carbon cycle context and is associated withthree stages. Stage 1 is an explorative iterative design process that integrates multiple perspectives,including theoretical drivers, a design team, science teachers, and pupils. The process resulted in TracingCarbon, an adaptive interactive visual learning environment with multiple learning tasks and quizzes inthree modules. Stage 2 is currently investigating the influence of Tracing Carbon on the development ofpupils’ systems thinking skills in classrooms as a pre-/post-test design. Stage 3 is an ongoing process thataims to integrate the learning environment into classroom science teaching practice by employing aDesign-Based Research method. By involving two science teachers fromdifferent schools, stage 3 focuses on teacher-researcher co-creation of carbon cycle lesson plans. Thisstage aims to explore the influence of integrating the Tracing Carbon lesson plans on pupils’ learningprocesses and emergent teaching approaches. The first stage of the case study has been completed, andthe subsequent stages are in progress. Future work includes exploring the applicability of findings fromformal learning contexts in informal learning contexts such as digital science centers.

Reflektioner från praktiken är en texttyp där lärares hantering av didaktiska utmaningar i den egna undervisningen står i centrum. Syftet med texttypen är att lärare ska kunna få möjlighet att dela med sig av vetenskapligt grundade reflektioner om hur den egna praktiken kan utvecklas. Men vad innebär det att reflektionerna är vetenskapligt grundade? Ett sätt att se på det är att didaktiska kunskaper och andra användbara forskningsresultat används som redskap för att adressera didaktiska utmaningar med syftet att göra undervisningen mer framgångsrik. I artikeln ger vi exempel på lärare som gjort detta och hur de kommunicerat sina erfarenheter.

Artificiell intelligens (AI) förekommer allt mer i diskussioner om skola och utbildning. En utmaning för lärare är att följa med i den tekniska utvecklingen och bristen på adekvat kompetensutveckling. Men även etiska frågor är viktiga, något som diskuteras relativt lite i relation till den svenska skolan. Etiska frågor handlar bland annat att som lärare gå bortom färdiga råd och själv reflektera etiskt kring sin användning av AI i klassrummet. Syftet med artikeln är att lyfta forskning som presenterar etiska principer relevanta för AI i skolan på olika organisatoriska nivåer. Vi ger utifrån detta exempel på etiska dilemman i relation till AI, eleven, läraren och skolan.

Background The subject of technology looks different depending on context. There is also an epistemological complexity to technological knowledge in technology education. Purpose To gain a deeper understanding of the epistemological foundations of the subject of technology and technology teaching, the teachers views are needed. The aim of this study is to examine how teachers discuss technology education, with a particular focus on how they talk about technological knowledge. Sample 19 Technology teachers from compulsory school in Sweden participated. Design and methods Through focus groups, teachers views of knowledge in technology education were collected and then analysed. Results The results consist of three parts. Firstly, it was found that the teachers were unfamiliar with discussing epistemology in technology education. Secondly, interpreting their views of knowledge in technology education through a theoretical framework for knowledge in technology education yielded examples of knowledge from the three constituent categories: technical skills, technological scientific knowledge, and socio-ethical technical understanding. Finally, an inductive analysis revealed two categories based on the teachers broader views of knowledge: civic capabilities and engineering capabilities. Conclusion Overall, the results provide an understanding of teachers ways of describing technological knowledge. The teachers perceived the term knowledge in a broader way than traditional epistemology, including capabilities in their descriptions. We propose a new perspective on the character of knowledge and capability in technology education, called technology education competence. The results of this study point to important aspects of the nature of the subject, which might lead to reflection about what knowledge should be considered of value in the future regarding research but especially development of curricula.

Climate change is a critical challenge facing society, and understanding earth systems, like the carbon cycle, has become an essential component of educational curricula around the world. The Swedish compulsory school curriculum emphasises learning about the carbon cycle and its connection with various biological and environmental issues. Understanding the carbon cycle is complex and requires recognising the carbon reservoirs, how carbon atoms circulate between reservoirs, and various dynamic relationships that exist within the system. These characteristics align with systems thinking skills, a crucial aspect of learning and teaching science. Assaraf and Orion (2005) have summarised eight hierarchical characteristics of systems thinking in the context of earth systems and have proposed the Systems Thinking Hierarchical (STH) model to describe how students learn about complex earth systems. The hierarchical levels of this framework include system thinking abilities that comprise analysis (e.g. identifying components), synthesis (e.g. relating components), and implementation (e.g. understanding hidden dimensions).

The carbon cycle is often taught through simplified and static diagrams in school textbooks, which can make learning about this abstract cycle and its interrelating components very challenging for high school students in grades 7-9 (e.g. Düsing, Asshoff, & Hammann, 2019). An example of a common difficulty in this context is to understand how carbon atoms move between various organisational levels. To address such challenges, carefully developed interactive visualizations that guide pupils through the components of the carbon cycle can help scaffold their systems thinking skills. Contemporary research in this area includes work on interactive learning environments in STEM contexts and adaptive feedback for supporting the learning of complex natural systems (Linn et al., 2014; Vitale, McBride, & Linn, 2016). Although these environments have proved promising, there remains a need to explicitly involve teachers in the design process, as well as connect established theoretical frameworks to learning goals of school science curricula. In this regard, not much effort has been directed to pedagogically-informed design and implementation of adaptive interactive learning environments for developing learners’ systems thinking. In fact, very little work has reported systematic design processes as an empirical contribution in the development of science education interventions (e.g. see Bopardikar, Bernstein, & McKenney, 2021).

In response, as part of a larger research program, the purpose of this work is to provide a theoretically and teacher-informed design process of an adaptive interactive visual learning environment that supports the development of grade 7-9 learners’ systems thinking skills in the context of the carbon cycle.

To respond to this aim we describe our iterative and theory-based design process by highlighting the main design activities and the rationale behind them, including: 1) content conceptualisation, 2) pedagogical (teacher) input, and 3) adaptive characteristics. The outcome of this process has resulted in an adaptive interactive visual learning environment with multiple learning tasks and quizzes organised in three modules. Each module is designed with coherent learning objectives aligned with a hierarchy of systems thinking skills and the Swedish school curriculum. Pupils interact with the learning tasks through three core mechanics including: A) dragging and dropping cards to complete a diagram, B) drawing arrows to complete the partial and global cycles, and C) clicking on the icons to reveal more information. Pupils’ interaction with this learning environment is supported through various forms of immediate (e.g. automatically correcting a misdrawn arrow) and delayed feedback (e.g. visual and textual verification of a correct response following a task response). Focusing on the carbon cycle, our work aims to provide a personalised learning experience for learners in grade 7-9 in scaffolding different levels of systems thinking.

Skollagen kräver att skolan ska vila på vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet. ATENA Didaktik ger stöd för detta genom att dels publicera artiklar om publicerad forskning skrivna för lärare, dels genom artikeltypen ”Reflektioner från praktiken”. Denna texttyp erbjuder en plattform för lärare att dokumentera och dela kritiskt prövade erfarenheter, för att på så sätt bidra till en kollegial professionell dialog och byggandet av beprövad erfarenhet. I den här texten fördjupar vi oss i vad Reflektioner från praktiken innebär och ger en översikt över de artiklar som hittills publicerats.

One of the most important educational challenges in developing environmental literacy for sustainability is understanding systems thinking. For example, grasping the effects of humanity’s disruption of the natural carbon cycle is crucial for making informed choices about climate change. Although development of systems thinking skills is challenging, they could be promoted through interactive visual learning environments. In the present study, we explore pupils’ use and assessment of a newly developed interactive learning environment, termed “Tracing Carbon”, designed to support grade 7-9 pupils’ systems thinking skills in the context of the carbon cycle. Data were collected from two classes (n=63) that engaged with Tracing Carbon as part of their science class. Performance was assessed by analysing log files of interactive tasks. Further information was gathered from the number of errors and perceived difficulty in pupils’ responses to quizzes in the system. The results indicate that the errors made when performing tasks can be related to misunderstandings such as believing that trees obtain their nutrition from the soil rather than from carbon dioxide in the air. Moreover, the quiz items that were designated “easy” were associated with fewer mistakes and a lower perceived difficulty rating than quiz items designated as “hard”. Future qualitative analysis could reveal links between the hierarchy levels, the number and type of errors in both tasks and quizzes, and aspects of the communicated carbon cycle content.