Syftet med projekt Meningsskapande i Naturvetenskap och Teknik genom Skönlitteratur (MNTS) var att utveckla undervisningen i naturvetenskap och teknik i förskolan och åk F-6 genom att integrera skönlitterära böcker i undervisningen. Projektet var ett forsknings- och utvecklingsprojekt där samverkan var en viktig del. Samverkan byggde på ett samarbete mellan forskare vid Linköpings universitet, medarbetare från Utbildningskontoret, Norrköpings stadsbiblioteks medarbetare, skolbibliotekarier samt förskollärare och grundskolelärare i ett antal av Norrköpings kommunala skolor och förskolor. Projektet har finansierats av Norrköpings fond för forskning och utveckling.

Although using computers is the most common strategy to teach programming, “unplugged programming” (UP) has gained in popularity within educational settings. UP refers to the act of programming without a computer. However, research on UP has mainly focused on upper primary, middle-and high school students. The limited number of studies on UP in early primary school are, in addition, mainly quantitative effect studies. In this case study, we focused on the UP-classroom practice in early primary school during one lesson in technology (grade 1, 6-7-year-old students). The programming content, or the object of learning, that was in focus during the lesson was students’ capability to understand the idea of sequencing commands. The aim of the study was to explore what aspects of the object of learning emerge as critical in the UP classroom. Our analysis revealed that the students, to be able to understand the idea of sequencing commands, needed to discern several rather detailed aspects. Importantly, one can’t take for granted that these are aspects they discern when observing or interacting with programmable artefacts out of school. Rather, the results imply that it is a content that needs to be explicitly dealt with in the primary technology classroom.

Since 2018, programming is a content in the technology subject in Sweden. Thus, teachers must develop new subject-specific competence to be able to realize their teaching in and about programming. This is especially challenging for primary teachers since primary technology education is a young subject and lacks a common professional base of proven experience. Research focusing on the classroom practices that are now taking form, and which are based on teachers’ use of tutorials provided from different resources, is scarce. Hence, our understanding of which programming-related knowledge is possible to develop through participation in these practices is very limited. As a novice, understanding the meaning of programming assumes an understanding of what a computational device may—or may not— ‘understand’ in relation to a human. When it comes to introducing early primary pupils to the concept of programming, there are examples of tutorials describing activities that focus on this very issue. In the study reported in this chapter, we explore an activity during an introductory lesson in programming in an early primary classroom, where the teacher used such a tutorial aimed to prompt reflections about the differences between a human and a robot. The aim of the study was to explore what content is constituted and hence what knowledge pupils are enabled to develop during this introductory activity. The results showed that the constituted content focused on a central difference between human and robot; humans, as opposed to robots, have own will and ability to think. However, the analysis also showed that the pupils had ideas beyond this rather narrow content, and that classroom conversations with the youngest pupils about the differences between a human and a robot are, in several ways, challenging to orchestrate.

Although digital technology is an important part of young peoples lives, previous research implies that they have a limited understanding of what programming is and its connection to the digital devices they encounter every day. In order to create conditions for meaningful teaching in and about programming in technology education, more knowledge about younger students pre-understanding and experiences is needed. In the light of this, the aim of this case study was to explore young pupils descriptions of the concept programming, in connection with being introduced to programming as a teaching content in technology education. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with 16 children in year 1 (7-year-olds) in a primary school in Sweden. In their descriptions of programming as an activity, the pupils mainly used technological descriptions-a theory of artificial mind perspective. However, when they talked about the objects with which they associated programming, psychological descriptions-a theory of mind perspective-were more clearly present. Then, a less pronounced distinction between humans and machines was made. Anthropomorphic references were used, such as when the pupils referenced childrens culture such as movies and television programs. However, the term programming was difficult for many of the pupils to grasp. They also had difficulty in finding a function for programming, as well as explanations and arguments for why they learn programming in school. The results of this study indicate that these 7-year-old pupils perceive programming as something complex. This at the same time as they describe how programmed and programmed artefacts (including AI devices) are highly present in their everyday lives, in their leisure environments, and in school. This mirrors how technology has become an intelligent and active agent, rather than a mere tool in their lives-an aspect that teachers may forget to take advantage of.

The overall aim of the school subject technology is to develop pupils’ understanding of technological solutions in everyday life. A starting point for this study is that it is important for teachers in technology to have knowledge of pupils’ prior conceptions of the subject content since these can both support and hinder their learning. In a previous study we found that when pupils (age 7) talk about digital technology and programming, they often refer to out-of-school experiences such as films, television programmes and books. Typically, their descriptions include robots with some form of intelligence. Hence, it seems like children’s culture may have an impact on the conceptions they bring to the technology classroom. In light of this, it is vital that technology teachers have knowledge about how robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are portrayed in children’s culture, and how pupils perceive these portrayals. However, knowledge about these aspects of technology in children’s culture is limited.The purpose of this study is to investigate how artifacts with artificial intelligence are portrayed in television programmes and literature aimed at children. This study is the first step in a larger study aiming to examine younger pupils’ conceptions and ideas about artificial intelligence. A novice conception of artificial intelligence can be described as an understanding of what a programmed device may, or may not, “understand” in relation to a human, which includes discerning th edifferences between the artificial and the human mind. Consequently, as a theoretical framework for investigating how artificial intelligence is portrayed in children’s culture, the concepts of Theoryof Mind (ToM) and Theory of Artificial Mind (ToAM), are used. The empirical material presented in this paper, i.e. four children’s books and a popular children’s television programme, was analysed using a qualitative thematic analysis. The results show that the portrayal of AI is ambiguous. The structure and function of the robot has elements of both human and machine, and the view of the human fictional characters of the robot is sometimes that of a machine, sometimes of a human. In addition, the whole empirical material includes portrayals of AI as a threat as well as a saviour. As regards implications, there is a risk that without real-life experiences of robots, the representations children’s books and other media convey can lead to ambivalent feelings towards real robots.

Kemi har under stora delar av 1900-talet varit ett ämne som elever tidigast mötte i årskurs 5. Då behandlades ofta fenomen som smältning, stelning, kokning och avdunstning. Dessutom studerades egenskaper hos luft och vatten. Att elever innan de börjar högstadiet skulle resonera kring dessa fenomen i termer av vad som sker på submikronivå, med hjälp av antaganden om enkla partikelmodeller, har aldrig varit ett uttalat mål för undervisningen i kemi förrän introduktionen av Lgr 11. I den här studien har en grupp bestående av två lärare, en rektor och fyra forskare utformat och genomfört undervisning om egenskaper hos luft samt fenomenen smältning och stelning med elever i årskurs 3 och 4. Eleverna har inte bara beskrivit det som skett med egna ord, utan också lärt sig att beskriva det som sker på submikronivå i ord och bild. För att kunna göra detta har de, tillsammans med läraren, utvecklat enkla partikelmodeller. Projektet har kallats "Animerad kemi” och är ett forskningsprojekt finansierat av Skolforskningsinstitutet.

I flera jämförande internationella studier hamnar de finska eleverna i toppen. Hur bedrivs kemiundervisningen i finlandssvenska klassrum? Rapporten består av sex kapitel där författarna bl.a. tar upp följande frågor: Vad kännetecknar undervisningspraktiken i en finlandssvensk klass? Vilka texter används i klassrummet? Vad betraktas som viktig respektive mindre viktig kunskap? I ett av kapitlen analyseras vilka frågor läraren ställer till eleverna och vilken feedback som ges. I studien ingick fyra lärare, och i det avslutande kapitlet analyseras deras provkonstruktion och bedömningsarbete.Texterna vänder sig till alla som är intresserade av bedömningsfrågor, kunskapsfrågor, lärande och undervisning. Forskningsprojektet är finansierat av Vetenskapsrådet.