Kemi har under stora delar av 1900-talet varit ett amne som elever tidigast motte i arskurs 5. Da behandlades ofta fenomen som smaltning, stelning, kokning och avdunstning. Dessutom studerades egen ...

The issue of this article is what chemistry specific seeing is made available for students to develop during laboratory activities. Using a sociocultural perspective seeing is understood as a culturally developed ability - what is possible for us to see depends on what tools we master in a specific practice. Language is considered to be the most powerful mediating tool. In this study, we analyse what chemistry specific seeing is mediated to students during a session of experiments. As an analytical tool we use a dual-pronged model: general – specific aspects and macro level – sub-micro level. The results indicate that the “seeing” that is mediated to the students tends to involve only specific aspects at macro level. During the review of the experiments the specific aspects on sub-micro level were given little attention, but with no clear reference to the observations the students did during the practical work. Consequently, the students were given little guidance towards a scientific way of seeing during the observed session of experiments.

This study describes the dilemma of making science interesting on the one hand, and to introduce students into a scientific teaching practise on the other in a laboratory based teaching practise. The study was conducted in a grade four class in Swedish compulsory school by video- and tape-recorded classroom observations. The recordings and copies of students’ writing and drawing were analysed by using a two-fold strategy. Firstly, the constituted content was analysed by focusing the classroom communication, the tools used and the teacher’s guiding. Secondly, the various laboratory experiments where analysed in order to identify the potential chemistry content. The result indicates that the constituted chemistry content is reduced and sometimes wrong in relation to the potential content. This can be explained by a teaching tradition that focuses on the importance of making science interesting and fun. However, striving for this may create a learning-situation where students do not learn how to use tools to make relevant hypotheses and observations. What can be regarded as irrelevant hypotheses and observations is not questioned. Further, right or wrong results in the scientific practise are not dealt with neither in the self-produced texts nor in the classroom discussions. One main conclusion is that students enjoy the lessons but the introduction into the scientific practise is not facilitated.

Vilket kemiinnehall gors tillgangligt i finlandssvenska och svenska klassrum? : kemitexter som redskap for naturvetenskapligt larande

I flera jamforande internationella studier hamnar de finska eleverna i toppen. Hur bedrivs kemiundervisningen i finlandssvenska klassrum? Rapporten bestar av sex kapitel dar forfattarna bl.a. tar u ...